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Plastiki: 100 days at sea to highlight plastic pollution and overfishing
photo by Kaight Taylor (kaight_ashbury on Flickr Creative Commons)
Eco-warrior and youngest air to a banking fortune, David de Rothschild set out in April on a well-publicized trip from California to Australia aboard a vessel constructed from recycled plastic bottles. The raft, christened the Plastiki, is set to arrive in Sydney in about two weeks time. The purpose of Rothschild’s journey: To draw attention to marine pollution – particularly from plastics – and the overfishing of the world’s oceans.
Oceanographers estimate that there may be as much as 100 million tons of plastic suspended in the waters of the eastern garbage patch, a soup of plastic and other trash drawn together by the swirling ocean currents of the North Pacific gyre. According to the UN Environment Program, plastic debris kills over a million sea birds per year and more than 100,000 marine mammals. Beat that, BP!
From an article in the Observer:
You don’t see it at first, but when you get into the sea, and under the water, you realise that it is all like a soup, millions and millions of tiny fragments of plastic, suspended in the water. It is mostly microscopic, but once your eye adjusts you start to see the reflectiveness of some of the larger pieces. The red fragments stand out most clearly.
–David de Rothschild
One observation that has particularly struck Rothschild during Plastiki crew’s three-month journey is not just the shocking amount of plastic in the ocean, but also the lack of fish. Not surprising when 80% of the world’s fish stocks have been exhausted.
Plastiki also makes a statement by what it uses for power: wind, sun and sea turbines.
From an article in the Sydney Morning Herald:
This final leg of the journey will be the most challenging of the three-month journey. This journey is about shifting our mindset from waste management to resource management. Australia is in a very fortunate position that it is a developed nation that can use its resources such as solar power to become a leading country at the forefront of reducing climate change.
–David de Rothschild
What’s next for Rothschild and co: A worldwide campaign to spread awareness about environmental issues such as climate change and resource management; and to promote sustainability.
Graham Land
Additional resources:
AFP – ‘Plastiki’ bottle ship to complete Pacific voyage
Tags: australia, climate change, David, fish, marine, ocean, plastic, Plastiki, Pollution, Rothschild, Sydney
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