Tag archives for David de Rothschild
World Water Day: How Long Can You Last Without Water?
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 22, 2011 National Geographic Explorer David de Rothschild pictured aboard the Plastiki, a boat made of post-consumer plastic bottles which embarked on a voyage from San Francisco to Sydney one year ago yesterday. The expedition made de Rothschild one of our 2010 Adventurers of the Year. Op-ed by David de Rothschild; Photograph courtesy of Adventure Ecology If…
Meet the Adventurers of the Year: Voyager David de Rothschild
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 17, 2010 Each day we will feature one of the 2010 Adventures of the Year here on our blog. Get to know them all in our photo gallery, then vote for your favorite for the People’s Choice award—every day. You can even vote for a new favorite each day, if you can’t pick just one. Photograph by Court Mast The Voyager David…
David de Rothschild’s Plastic-Bottle Boat Approaches End of Voyage in Australia
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on July 20, 2010 By Greer Schott; Photograph by PLASTIKI When Adventure first reported on David de Rothschild’s 8,000-nautical mile voyage on his plastic-bottle boat in 2008, we wondered: Was his noble goal–to raise awareness about the Eastern Garbage Patch by the sailing from San Francisco to Sydney on a boat made of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles–too lofty to…
David de Rothschild’s Plastiki Sets Sail! – Video
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 22, 2010 Just in time for World Water Day (today) and after nearly four years of development, eco-adventurer David de Rothschild has launched his most ambitious expedition yet. The Plastiki, an innovative catamaran made from 12,000 post-consumer plastic bottles, set sail on Saturday for a 100-day voyage from San Francisco to Sydney. Their mission is to witness…
Go Green: Eco-Voyagers Take on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 3, 2009 And the award for green cause of the year goes to . . . the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. After decades of anonymity, the floating trash pile located midway between California and Hawaii had a breakout 2009—luring news crews, a trio aboard a raft made of junk, a zero-impact rower, and some hipsters from Vice…
Plastiki Update with Expedition Coordinator Matthew Grey: Plastic-Bottle Boat Nearly Ready For Testing
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on November 25, 2009 About seven years ago, NG explorer and Adventure Ecology founder David de Rothschild had an ambitious idea: to build a boat out of plastic bottles and sail from San Francisco to Sydney, stopping at the Pacific Garbage Patch and other environmentally challenged zones for an unmatched, interactive adventure. Constructing this Kon-Tiki-inspired vessel presented innumerable challenges. But now, after…
David de Rothschild: Environmentalist, Author, Explorer, Now TV Host
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 23, 2009 Text by Daniel Grushkin For Eco-Trip: The Real Cost of Living, de Rothschild investigates how everyday items can be environmentally destructive. The eight-part series premiered April 21 on the Sundance Channel. ADVENTURE: After watching a few episodes, I’m certainly more hesitant to eat salmon, but what’s the larger goal of this series? DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD: Simply…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Inside the Plastiki Headquarters at San Fran’s Pier 31
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 26, 2009 Text by Thayer Walker, read previous coverage of this expedition here The view from Pier 31 makes a pretty good case for those who would argue that San Francisco is the world’s most beautiful city. To the east, the Bay Bridge connects the city to Treasure Island and beyond; Alcatraz, a prison as stunning as…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
How to Build a Plastic-Bottle Boat
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 16, 2009 Text and photographs by Thayer Walker Once you move past the fact that they both float, two-liter plastic bottles and sailboats share little in common. To David de Rothschild, this is good news. To his boat builder, Mike Rose, it is not. (Read previous dispatches >>) When de Rothschild began toying with the idea in…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Building the World’s Most Unlikely Boat
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 10, 2009 Text by Thayer Walker; Boat rendering and photograph courtesy of Adventure Ecology Last October, we brought you the story of David de Rothschild, the British explorer who plans to sail 11,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in a 60-foot catamaran made of used two-liter plastic bottles and other recyclable materials.…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Video Peek the Birth of the Boat
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 9, 2009 Here's a little update from David de Rothschild and our friends working on the Plastiki. Their departure date is now schedule for late April or early May. Stay tuned for updates from our Plastiki correspondent. Until then, learn about this incredible (dangerous, foolish, and innovative) expedition on the very cool Adventure Ecology website. David de…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Message in a Bottle—Reconsidering Plastic
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on January 14, 2009 One thing I find interesting about waste and trash is the way it’s viewed and disposed of tends to sit differently within Western culture than other parts of the world. Outside of the West, there is almost an inherent recycling culture and sense of responsibility to reuse because waste is fundamentally a resource, either for…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
A Megatransect of the Pacific
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 17, 2008 In the case of the Plastiki, we wanted to raise awareness of the challenges our oceans and its inhabitants face by creating an expedition that reaches across the whole of the Pacific, from San Francisco Bay to Sydney Harbour. It would be short-sighted of us to solely focus on the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch. I wanted to…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Destination: The Eastern Garbage Patch
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 8, 2008 When I first starting looking into how we could make an expedition around waste, I came across a report by Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who actually discovered and named the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which talked about this vast expanse of debris in the middle of the Pacific Ocean held in place by swirling…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Five Tips For Young (at Heart) Adventurers
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on November 10, 2008 1) Aim big. Don’t be afraid to aim for the thing you really want the most. In other words, follow your dreams. 2) Find a good team. It’s essential to have a strong support network of people around you who can help throughout the expedition from the planning stages through to the actual journey itself.…
David de Rothschild: Voyage of the Plastiki
Building a Boat of Out of Plastic Bottles
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on September 23, 2008 David de Rothschild, a National Geographic Visiting Fellow and founder of Adventure Ecology, will depart in March 2009 on a 7,500-mile voyage from San Francisco to Sydney (see the route map) in a boat made of plastic bottles. Find out more about the expedition in a feature article by Contributing Editor Paul Kvinta ("Voyage of…
