AMAZING Clean Ocean Innovation Now A Reality!
One of our first blogs on Clean Up Oceans was about at then 19 year old, Boyan Slat (see Innovative Idea post).
We were excited about the possibilities that we first learned about in the below video (please take time for quick look – it is truly amazing).
Now, less than a year after our first post, we are pleased to learn that this amazing idea has been funded and is scheduled to be deployed in 2016 to clean up oceans (see the below press release link)!
“World’s First Ocean Cleaning System to Be Deployed”
The innovative ocean cleaning system is projected to be deployed off the coast of Tsushima, an island located in the waters between Japan and South Korea.
The system will span 2000 meters (6,560 feet), which will make it the longest floating structure ever deployed in the ocean. It is planned to be operational for at least two years, catching plastic pollution.
Within five years, Boyan Slat and his The Ocean Cleanup effort plans to deploy a 100 kilometer (62 mile) long system to clean up about half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant mass of ocean trash sitting between Hawaii and California.
Slat said: “Taking care of the world’s ocean garbage problem is one of the largest environmental challenges mankind faces today. Not only will this first cleanup array contribute to cleaner waters and coasts but it simultaneously is an essential step towards our goal of cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”
Mega Expedition
In addition, in April, The Ocean Clean Up organization announced a Mega Expedition, in which up to 50 vessels will collect more plastic measurements in three weeks than have been collected in the past 40 years combined.
The Mega Expedition will take place in August 2015, and the vessels will cover a 3,500,000 square kilometer area between Hawaii and California in parallel, creating the first high- resolution map of plastic in the Pacific Ocean.
The expedition, an initiative of The Ocean Cleanup, is supported by the Transpac Sailing Race, which is assisting in the recruitment of vessels. The City of Los Angeles will welcome Transpac this August.
Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles said: “Increasing our scientific understanding of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is essential to developing effective solutions. It’s this type of creative and large-scale thinking that we need to tackle problems like this. We’re proud to be welcoming the Mega Expedition to the Port of Los Angeles.”
“When you want to clean the oceans, it is important to know how much plastic is out there,” says Slat. “Right now, estimates vary by orders of magnitude, due to the small amount of measurements. The Mega Expedition will allow us to produce the first-ever high-resolution estimate of the amount of plastic inside the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and we are grateful for the Mayor’s and Transpac’s support.”
Congratulations to Boyat Slat and all of the those who have made this effort a reality. We will be supporting you and cheering you on!
You can learn more and help by contributing to cleaner oceans at the following links:
Preston McSwain can be found during the day working as the Managing Partner and Founder at Fiduciary Wealth Partners. To see more of his posts about his day job, investments, and on issues such as clean oceans, and education, connect with him through the following social media links: