UNEP 26 Jul 10;
Message in a bottle to beat waste has global impact to create change
After sailing more than 8,000 nautical miles and spending 128 days crossing the Pacific, the world's largest ocean, in a boat made of 12,500 plastic PET bottles, the Plastiki expedition and her crew have safely and successfully reached their planned destination of Sydney to cheers of welcome and support.
Sydney/Nairobi, 26 July 2010 - Arriving at Sydney Heads at 11.10am local time with a 12 knot south south easterly breeze, the Plastiki triumphantly sailed into Sydney Harbour to cheers of welcome and support from a small spectator flotilla.. The historic expedition was completed in four legs : San Francisco - Kiribati - Western Samoa - New Caledonia before reaching the Australian Coast (Mooloolaba) on Monday 19 July and continuing on to Sydney.
"It's an incredible feeling to finally arrive in Sydney. We had great faith in the design and construction of Plastiki and while many people doubted we'd make it, we have proved that a boat made from plastic bottles can stand up to the harsh conditions of the Pacific." expedition leader, David de Rothschild said.
De Rothschild, 31 from the United Kingdom, paid tribute to his fellow adventurers, Jo Royle (Skipper), David Thomson (Co-Skipper), Graham Hill (Founder of Treehugger.com), Olav Heyerdahl, Matthew Grey, Luca Babini (Photographer), Vern Moen (Myoo Media Film maker), Max Jourdan and Singeli Agnew (National Geographic Film makers) for their skill and commitment during the voyage.
"Jo and the rest of the crew did a remarkable job sailing the Plastiki safely across the Pacific and it is due to their collective efforts that we've been able to raise global awareness of the issue of plastic waste in the world's oceans.
If there's waste, it's badly designed in the first place, and we need to start taking a serious look at the way we produce and design every product we use in our lives," De Rothschild said.
The Plastiki was officially welcomed by Sydney's Deputy Lord Mayor, Phillip Black and the US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich when she docked at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour. Plastiki will be on public display for the next month at the ANMM.
Over four months ago on March 20, 2010, under the watchful eye of a global audience, an inspiring yet experimental and innovative one-of-a-kind catamaran set sail under the shadow of San Francisco's world famous Golden Gate Bridge. Carrying a crew of six intrepid explorers, the Plastiki set out on an epic and demanding mission described by the San Francisco chronicle as the "adventure of the century".
The pursuit of this audacious and unrivalled ocean expedition: to alert the world to the shocking and unnecessary effects of single use plastics on the health of our oceans and its inhabitants. According to Expedition Leader and founder of Adventure Ecology, David de Rothschild, this is a complex, challenging and now hugely catastrophic issue that scientists estimate is causing devastation on an unprecedented scale - every year at least one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die when they become entangled or ingest plastic pollution.
David de Rothschild and the crew of the Plastiki have been on a mission to not only beat waste but to create a global message of hope by spotlighting some of the real world solutions. After braving the full extremes of the Pacific Ocean one of the largest and most challenging oceans in the world, the crew have fulfilled their ambitious quest to effect a "global message in a bottle", while setting a new precedent within the sailing and adventure community.
David and his team's sheer determination to raise awareness of plastic pollution has seen the crew tested to the limit. From massive ocean swells and 62 knot winds to the sweltering 100 degree heat and doldrums of the equator; ripped sails, dangerous reefs and the intimidating endless blue horizon; the team has been driven to endure and overcome the challenges by an infectious shared passion to give our oceans a voice. Their unwavering belief in the mission and the philosophy that if we work together and are not afraid to rise up to the challenge and tackle the 'just that's the way we've done it' mentality we can ultimately 'beat waste' and drive home the solution, has seen them succeed against the odds
The adventure began four years ago for David after reading the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) report 'Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas'. He developed a vision to show that ultimately, waste was the result of a combination of inefficient design and a misunderstanding of how to use and more importantly how to dispose of plastic. David decided that by creating a seaworthy ocean going vessel that gains 68% of its buoyancy from 12,500 post consumer 2-litre plastic bottles and an innovative smart new PET super structure made from a uniquely recyclable material called Seretex, he could help effect change. The process of construction proved that waste is a valuable resource whilst also capturing the imagination of people around the world to believe that anything is possible if you're not afraid to break new ground. The journey has generated opportunity for tremendous curiosity, discovery and innovation as well as a platform for discussion, debate and now action.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, UNEP said: "Like millions upon millions of people around the world, we have marvelled at the ingenious, intrepid and inspirational voyage of David de Rothschild and the crew of the Plastiki. The message they have conveyed to politicians and the public is simple?if we collectively carry on using the seas and oceans as a dustbin, human-beings will soon turn the once beautiful and bountiful marine environment from a crucial and economically-important life-support system into a lifeless one. Society needs to turn the tide in 2010 by turning wastes and pollution from a problem into an opportunity for a low carbon, resource efficient global Green Economy so urgently needed for a sustainable 21st century."
Throughout this incredible journey the Plastiki crew?Expedition Leader David de Rothschild, Skipper Jo Royle, Co-Skipper David Thomson, Olav Heyerdahl, Graham Hill, Luca Babini, Matthew Grey, Max Jourdan, Singeli Agnew and Vern Moen? have had a daily routine of living aboard a sustainable ecosystem in the middle of the ocean alongside the visual exposure to plastic waste discarded in the ocean. According to De Rothschild, this experience has served to reaffirm the necessity and urgency to eliminate dumb, single use plastics in our everyday lives and help safeguard the delicate balance of our planet's oceans.
David de Rothschild, Adventure Ecology Founder said: "While the successful and safe arrival of the Plastiki into Sydney may mark the end of the actual expedition it also marks the start of arguably the most important and critical chapter in the Plastiki's mission to beat waste; a chapter of change! It's change that can dramatically shift our daily habits away from an unnecessary and destructive addiction to single use plastics but even more importantly and urgently a change in attitudes towards understanding, valuing and protecting one of our planet's most precious and important natural systems, our oceans.
"To achieve this lessening of humanity's increasingly destructive stranglehold on our natural environments is going to require a radical shift in the current system and the stories that we tell ourselves and each other. No longer is it acceptable to continue just articulating our Planet 1.0 failures, we must now show leadership and vision to support the stories, individuals and initiatives that help us to dream bigger, undertake more compelling adventures and fundamentally inspire, motivate and innovate solutions. Our failure to achieve such an outcome will undoubtedly leave humanity's ability to live on this planet, as we know it, in the balance. The time to give ourselves a chance of survival is truly upon us," David de Rothschild said.
The plastiki story:
* The Plastiki Expedition was conceived and developed after Adventure Ecology founder; David de Rothschild was inspired by a UNEP report named 'Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas' in 2006 and Thor Heyerdahl's epic 1947 expedition, The Kon-Tiki.
* A compelling and pioneering expedition was created with the goal to not only inform, but to educate the world that waste is fundamentally inefficient design.
* Design, research, development, construction and sea trials took place in San Francisco.
* The Plastiki set sail from San Francisco on 20th March 2010.
* Crewed by six people at any one time ?David de Rothschild (Expedition Leader), Jo Royle (Skipper), David Thomson (Co-Skipper), Graham Hill (Founder of Treehugger.com), Matthew Grey (Expedition Co-ordinator), Luca Babini (Photographer), Vern Moen (Myoo Media Film maker), Max Jourdan and Singeli Agnew (National Geographic Film makers).
* Completed in four legs ? San Francisco ? Kiribati -Western Samoa -New Caledonia before reaching the Australian Coast.
* Tens of millions of people are now aware of the Plastiki and her message. Since launch over 90 media interviews have been conducted from the vessel, resulting in more than 300 print articles, 200 radio and TV broadcasts, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. There are over 800,000 search terms relating to Plastiki and 52,200 related images on Google.
The vessel:
* The Plastiki's core principles of 'cradle-to-cradle' design and biomimicry were realised by a multifaceted team from the fields of marine science, sustainable design, boat building, architecture and material science.
* The Plastiki receives 68% of her buoyancy from 12,500 reclaimed plastic soft drink bottles and the super structure is made of a unique recyclable plastic material made from a self-reinforcing PET called Seretex.
* The mast is a reclaimed aluminium irrigation pipe. The one-of-a-kind sail is hand-made from recycled PET cloth.
* The secondary bonding is reinforced using a newly developed organic glue made from cashew nuts and sugar cane
* The Plastiki is 'off-the-grid' relying primarily on renewable energy systems including; solar panels, wind and trailing propeller turbines, bicycle generators, a urine to water recovery and rain water catchment system and a hydroponic rotating cylinder garden.
Why?
# It is estimated that almost all of the marine pollution in the world is comprised of plastic materials. The average proportion varied between 60% and 80% of total marine pollution.
# In many regions in the northern and southern Gyres, plastic materials constitute as much as 90 to 95% of the total amount of marine debris.²
# Scientists estimate that every year at least 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die when become entangled in plastic pollution or ingest it.³
# According to Project Aware, 15 billion pounds of plastic are produced in the U.S. every year, and only 1 billion pounds are recycled. It is estimated that in excess of 38 billion plastic bottles and 25 million styrene foam cups end up in landfill and although plastic bottles are 100% recyclable, on average only 20% are actually recycled.
# The Plastiki crew noted that whilst many thousands of miles away from land, humanity's fingerprints were visible throughout. On one day alone a garden tray, two jerry cans, buoys and a large white PVC tray floated by, with the usual plastic bags, bottles, lids and styrene foam containers. Whilst swimming they continually noticed that beneath the surface there are millions and millions of molecular pieces of plastic photo degraded by salt and sunlight, often known as mermaid's tears.
# During the entire voyage the Plastiki crew have seen no sharks and have only caught a couple of fish, whereas during the Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947 they ate fish everyday and couldn't enter the water for fear of sharks, whilst the Plastiki have seen hardly any.
The Plastiki's philosophy:
# It's about recognizing that waste is fundamentally a design flaw (it does not appear in nature).
# It's about a better understanding of the materials and their lifecycle's used in our everyday lives and using cyclical 'cradle-to-cradle' philosophies rather than linear thinking when it comes to how we design our world.
# It's about being curious and open, being prepared to let go of assumptions in order to undertake a new 'Planet 2.0' way of thinking and acting.
# It's about being collaborative and curious so to engage multiple perspectives, skills, opinions and organizations.
# It's about re-integrating back into the web of life by recognizing and reducing our human fingerprints on the natural world.
# It's about moving on from just articulating the problems to inspiring action of the solutions.
# It's about encouraging the world to reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink and ultimately refuse single use plastics.
# It's about acknowledging that the list of solutions available is far greater than the list of problems.
# It's about delivering a spectacular global "Message in a Bottle".
What Next?
* A lasting legacy of the Plastiki will be its capacity to shift public thinking and perception from plastic as the enemy to plastic becoming part of the solution. To solve the plastic pollution and waste issues at large will require a re-think of how we currently use, reuse and ultimately dispose of plastics and waste products.
* Post arrival the Plastiki crew will take part in a number of talks, keynotes and discussions to explore the solutions to the increasing damage of the natural world resulting from plastic pollution. The vessel itself will be exhibited at the Australian National Maritime Museum as a representation of the available solutions in our repairing and reintegrating with the natural world.
* Long-term projects include the Plastiki Pod; each pod will be tailor made to help solve ecological issues specific to each of the islands that the Plastiki visited during her voyage across the Pacific. Short term and long term solutions will be addressed with educational resources made available to the local communities.
* One of Plastiki's goals and lasting legacies will be to see a significant reduction in the amount of manmade waste heading out to landfill and sea. We believe that with a small effort and some smart thinking everyone could reduce their use of single purpose plastic bottles, plastic bags and styrene foam. It's achievable if we work together on making small changes in our lives like the MyPlastiki pledge or remembering the 5R's: reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink and ultimately refuse plastic waste. To make your pledge for a plastic free ocean and more positive, ecological initiatives please log on to myplastiki.com
The 8,000-mile green voyage (by the seasick billionaire)
Jerome Taylor The Independent 26 Jul 10;
Money will get you a lot of things, including a 60-ft catamaran built almost entirely out of recycled plastic bottles, held together with organic glue made from cashew nuts and sugar cane. But the joy of stepping on to dry land after navigating such a vessel on a gruelling 128-day journey across the Pacific is one of those things that money simply can't buy.
Yesterday David de Rothschild, scion of one of the world's richest banking fortunes, could finally put the regular bouts of chronic sea-sickness behind him as he and his five crew mates birthed their unusual vessel, the Plastiki, in Sydney Harbour after four months at sea.
De Rothschild, who set off from San Francisco in March, was hit particularly hard. The billionaire environmentalist admitted spending much of the opening stages of his odyssey bent over the side of his ship's recycled hull before his sea legs finally returned and he could keep a meal down.
But as the crew struggled to manoeuvre the notoriously tough-to-steer vessel into port outside the Australian National Maritime Museum yesterday, the 31-year-old joked that they had one final challenge to complete – parking. "This is the hardest part of the journey so far – getting it in!" he yelled from the boat.
It was the end of a remarkable journey which had been made to raise awareness over the huge levels of plastic waste in our oceans and saw the Plastiki's crew having to battle near hurricane winds, temperatures of 38C, a diet of rehydrated food and that scourge of land lubbers and hardy sailors alike – sea sickness.
De Rothschild came up with the idea after reading a UN report on plastic pollution in the world's oceans. A poster boy for the modern environmental movement, he prides himself on using none of his family fortune to fund his eco-adventures. He named his ship after the original Kon-Tiki voyage in 1947 by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl who sailed 4,300 miles on a raft made from balsa wood and other materials from South America to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.
Despite the unusual materials used in its construction, the ship held up remarkably well despite meeting a series of major storms in the Tasman Sea. At one point the crew had to negotiate winds of 60 knots, 12 knots less than a hurricane. Recalling the storm in a video blog, De Rothschild said: "I remember being woken up by Mr T [co-skipper David Thompson] shouting 'all hands of deck'. I'd always been apprehensive of the Tasman Sea and what we were going to face. This was kind of like my own worse nightmare coming to fruition."
The route took the vessel close to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an enormous mesh of plastic and chemical sludge that circles a series of gyres in the heart of the ocean. The vortex is thought to be up to six times the size of Britain, containing millions of tonnes of non-biodegradable rubbish that wreaks havoc with marine and bird life.
Some of the crew members had to wrestle with more than just the day-to-day discomforts of living in a cabin of just 20ft by 15ft as it ploughs through 8,000 miles of ocean. Jo Royle, the ship's captain, was the only woman on board and said she was looking forward to spending some time with less hirsute companions in the coming weeks. "I'm definitely looking forward to a glass of wine and a giggle with my girlfriends," she said.
Vern Moen, a filmmaker who was documenting Palstiki's voyage, had a particularly emotional end to his journey. He was greeted by his newly born son on arrival in Australia. He was able to watch the delivery of his child on a grainy internet connection using Skype. "It was very, very surreal to show up on a dock and it's like, 'here's your kid'," he said.
'Plastiki' bottle ship completes epic Pacific voyage
Julian Swallow Yahoo News 26 Jul 10;
SYDNEY (AFP) – A boat crafted from thousands of plastic bottles sailed into Sydney Harbour on Monday, completing an epic trans-Pacific voyage to highlight the benefits of recycling.
The "Plastiki" catamaran, made from 12,500 bottles and the brainchild of an heir to Britain's Rothschild banking fortune, was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers as it ended its 15,000-kilometre (9,000-mile) journey.
"It's totally overwhelming," said project head David de Rothschild, the banking scion and environmentalist. "We're so excited to be here."
The Plastiki, which takes its name from Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition from South America to Polynesia on a raft of balsa husks, set off from San Francisco in March.
The boat, carrying six crew, travelled through a waste-strewn area of the north Pacific and made stops in the Line Islands, Western Samoa and the French territory of New Caledonia before leaving for Australia.
The Plastiki's bottles are lashed to pontoons and held together with recyclable plastic and glue made from cashew nut husks and sugarcane, while its sails are also made from recycled plastic.
The crew relied on renewable energy including solar panels, wind and propeller turbines and bicycle-powered electricity generators, and used water recycled from urine.
They were able to keep in touch with supporters via satellite through a website, blogs, and use of social-networking sites such as Twitter.
Skippers Jo Royle and Dave Thomson said sailing the Plastiki was "completely different" to any other vessel they had ever sailed, but that they had always been confident it would complete the journey.
"She's got here without ever a doubt in any of our minds," said Royle.
The idea was hatched after de Rothschild was left "dumbfounded" by a United Nations report into marine ecosystems and biodiversity, and the realisation "there are just these amazing human fingerprints all over our oceans".
And while he said the impact of the voyage had exceeded his expectations, the amount of degrading plastic floating in the ocean had confirmed the scale of the problem.
"Here you are in the middle of nowhere seeing ... these plastic items. They photo-degrade, get smaller and smaller, until they end up getting ingested by fish" which are then eaten by people, he said.
The United Nations Environment Programme says more than 15,000 pieces of debris litter every square kilometre (0.4 square miles) of the world's oceans, and another 6.4 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into seas each year.
De Rothschild declined to endorse either Prime Minister Julia Gillard or opposition leader Tony Abbott for Australia's August 21 elections, where environmental issues will be a key factor.
"I would urge any politician to give nature a voice," he said. "Vote nature first."
The Plastiki will be on display at Sydney's Maritime Museum for the next month.
Boat of plastic bottles ends 4-month Pacific sail
Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press Yahoo News 26 Jul 10;
SYDNEY – A sailboat largely constructed from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles has completed a 4-month journey across the Pacific Ocean meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste.
The Plastiki, a 60-foot (18-meter) catamaran, and its six crew weathered fierce ocean storms during its 8,000 nautical miles at sea. It left San Francisco on March 20, stopping along the way at various South Pacific island nations including Kiribati and Samoa. It docked Monday in Sydney Harbour.
"This is the hardest part of the journey so far — getting it in!" expedition leader David de Rothschild yelled from the boat as the crew struggled to maneuver the notoriously tough-to-steer vessel into port outside the Australian National Maritime Museum.
A crowd of about 100 erupted into cheers after the Plastiki finally docked. De Rothschild — a descendant of the well-known British banking family — exchanged high fives and hugs with his crew, pumping his fists into the air in victory.
"It has been an extraordinary adventure," he said.
De Rothschild, 31, said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 that said pollution — and particularly plastic waste — was seriously threatening the world's oceans.
He figured a good way to prove that trash can be effectively reused was to use some of it to build a boat. The Plastiki — named after the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl — is fully recyclable and gets its power from solar panels and windmills.
The boat is almost entirely made up of bottles, which are held together with an organic glue made of sugar cane and cashews, but includes other materials too. The mast, for instance, is recycled aluminum irrigation pipe.
"The journey of the Plastiki is a journey from trash to triumph," said Jeffrey Bleich, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, who greeted the team after they docked.
During their 128-day journey, the six crew lived in a cabin of just 20 feet by 15 feet (6 meters by 4.5 meters), took saltwater showers, and survived on a diet of dehydrated and canned food, supplemented with the occasional vegetable from their small on-board garden.
Along the way, they fought giant ocean swells, 62-knot (70 mile-an-hour) winds, temperatures up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) and torn sails. The crew briefly stopped in Queensland state last week, after battling a brutal storm off the Australian coast.
Skipper Jo Royle also had the particular challenge of being the only woman on board.
"I'm definitely looking forward to a glass of wine and a giggle with my girlfriends," she said.
Vern Moen, the Plastiki's filmmaker, missed the birth of his first child — though he managed to watch the delivery on a grainy Skype connection. He met his son for the first time after docking in Sydney.
"It was very, very surreal to show up on a dock and it's like, 'here's your kid," he said with a laugh.
Although the team had originally hoped to recycle the Plastiki, de Rothschild said they are now thinking of keeping it intact, and using it as a way of enlightening people to the power of recycling.
"There were many times when people looked at us and said, 'you're crazy,'" de Rothschild said. "I think it drove us on to say, 'Anything's possible.'"
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