Yesterday I bumped in to my old friend Hugh Patterson, who has been sailing around the world for the last two years with two of his friends. They all wanted it to be more than just a circumnavigation of the world, and sure enough, their purpose materialized after some months of the voyage.
Turns out that every beach they visited, anywhere in the world, no matter how deserted, was littered with garbage at the high tide line. When they inspect the sand, it is scattered with small pieces of plastic that have been crushed and torn among the reefs and rocks from the waves.
It’s worth just thinking about this for a while. Everytime you mindlessly use a plastic water bottle, know that it could end up somewhere you don’t intend, even if you recycle it. It takes 700 years just for a plastic waterbottle to start decomposing.
At the very very least, start using a re-usable water bottle, take it with you wherever you go. Same goes for re-usable coffee mugs. If you’re doing that, re-consider some other plastic usage habits you may be able to eliminate.
Anyway, check out these videos from my sailing friend, who is part of the OceanGybe crew. Godspeed on the second half of the journey.
[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elU9OUzuGrE[/youtube]
[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7eZtugx_I[/youtube]
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