Help me to clean the ocean!
Donation protected
Help me to clean the ocean!
Please help me to fund my volunteering trip: Researching plastic distribution in the ocean as part of the Ocean Cleanup.
My name is Moritz and I am a PhD student in oceanography (Université Laval, Québec, Canada).
This picture shows me working on an icebreaker in the Arctic.
At the same time I am also a volunteer for the ocean cleanup . You might have heard about the ocean cleanup since it got a fair amount of media attention. If not, it is a huge effort started off by Boyan Slat from the Netherlands to design, test and deploy large structures in the ocean that can clean the ocean from plastic waste. It's not a project centered on the Netherlands, but a wordwide effort which will have a huge positive effect on life in North America!
Much of the vast amounts of plastic we use daily can end in watersheds worldwide and ultimately end up in the ocean. Once plastic waste gets to the ocean it is not only a hazard for marine mammals and seabirds directly as seen on the shocking pictures that went viral some time ago.
See the images here (content might not be suitable for all audiences).
Plastic pieces are also eaten by smaller animals that live in the ocean, for example fish. Bad news for us is that it has been proven that plastic eaten by fish in the ocean can very well end up on your plate in the form of toxic chemicals [1].
The ocean cleanup essentially wants to clean up as much as possible of that plastic, making the ocean a safer place for animals and humans alike. The biggest part of the ocean cleanup is to build the structures that clean the plastic out of the water. However, the actual distribution of the plastic in the ocean is not well understood. So, in order to design an effective cleaning solution, the ocean cleanup also undertakes research missions to study the plastic in the ocean.
This is where you come into the game:
As a volunteer of the ocean cleanup I have now the opportunity to go on such a mission in the Atlantic. We will be onboard a sailing ship (the Sea Dragon, Pangaea Explorations) and sample the Atlantic garbage patch for plastic.
Starting in Bermuda (British Overseas Territory) and ending in the Azores (Portugal).
As you can see google maps suggests that it would take you about a day to get from Bermuda to the Azores, we will however be underway for 18 days (from June 26 to July 13).
The trip is all but a leisure cruise. Rather, we will be sailing the ship ourselves and deploy equipment in the ocean to sample plastic. The most important equipment is the net trawl, which will collect plastic particles from different depths.
The size of plastic particles from different depths will be measured among other things and the findings of the study will help the ocean cleanup to understand the plastic distribution better.
Since I am a student living on a tight salary I would like to ask you for support to cover the airplane tickets from Québec, CAN to Bermuda as well as back from the Azores. On top of that will be expenses for some nights in hostels pre and post departure. Unfortunately Bermuda is pretty expensive.
Thank you and have a great day,
Moritz
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Join the Ocean Cleanup on Facebook !
If you are into science have a look at this scientific article which already came out based on earlier missions:
Reisser, J., Slat, B., Noble, K., du Plessis, K., Epp, M., Proietti, M., de Sonneville, J., Becker, T., and Pattiaratchi, C.: The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea, Biogeosciences Discussions, 11, 16207-16226, 2014 .
References:
[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/12/250438904/how-plastic-in-the-ocean-is-contaminating-your-seafood
Picture credit:
Title photo: Paul Kennedy, Getty (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140404-garbage-patch-indian-ocean-debris-malaysian-plane/)
Me: Jessy Barrette
Fish with plastic: Alan Austin (http://www.seaturtlecamp.com)
Sea dragon: Pangaea Exploration (http://panexplore.com)
Plastic net trawl: The ocean cleanup (http://www.theoceancleanup.com )
Please note that the opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily the ones of the Ocean Cleanup and that I am not asking for money for the Ocean Cleanup. I am a volunteer with them, but I am asking here for support to cover my own expenses.
Please help me to fund my volunteering trip: Researching plastic distribution in the ocean as part of the Ocean Cleanup.
My name is Moritz and I am a PhD student in oceanography (Université Laval, Québec, Canada).
This picture shows me working on an icebreaker in the Arctic.At the same time I am also a volunteer for the ocean cleanup . You might have heard about the ocean cleanup since it got a fair amount of media attention. If not, it is a huge effort started off by Boyan Slat from the Netherlands to design, test and deploy large structures in the ocean that can clean the ocean from plastic waste. It's not a project centered on the Netherlands, but a wordwide effort which will have a huge positive effect on life in North America!
Much of the vast amounts of plastic we use daily can end in watersheds worldwide and ultimately end up in the ocean. Once plastic waste gets to the ocean it is not only a hazard for marine mammals and seabirds directly as seen on the shocking pictures that went viral some time ago.
See the images here (content might not be suitable for all audiences).
Plastic pieces are also eaten by smaller animals that live in the ocean, for example fish. Bad news for us is that it has been proven that plastic eaten by fish in the ocean can very well end up on your plate in the form of toxic chemicals [1].
The ocean cleanup essentially wants to clean up as much as possible of that plastic, making the ocean a safer place for animals and humans alike. The biggest part of the ocean cleanup is to build the structures that clean the plastic out of the water. However, the actual distribution of the plastic in the ocean is not well understood. So, in order to design an effective cleaning solution, the ocean cleanup also undertakes research missions to study the plastic in the ocean.This is where you come into the game:
As a volunteer of the ocean cleanup I have now the opportunity to go on such a mission in the Atlantic. We will be onboard a sailing ship (the Sea Dragon, Pangaea Explorations) and sample the Atlantic garbage patch for plastic.
Starting in Bermuda (British Overseas Territory) and ending in the Azores (Portugal).
As you can see google maps suggests that it would take you about a day to get from Bermuda to the Azores, we will however be underway for 18 days (from June 26 to July 13).
The trip is all but a leisure cruise. Rather, we will be sailing the ship ourselves and deploy equipment in the ocean to sample plastic. The most important equipment is the net trawl, which will collect plastic particles from different depths.
The size of plastic particles from different depths will be measured among other things and the findings of the study will help the ocean cleanup to understand the plastic distribution better.
Since I am a student living on a tight salary I would like to ask you for support to cover the airplane tickets from Québec, CAN to Bermuda as well as back from the Azores. On top of that will be expenses for some nights in hostels pre and post departure. Unfortunately Bermuda is pretty expensive.
Thank you and have a great day,
Moritz
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Join the Ocean Cleanup on Facebook !
If you are into science have a look at this scientific article which already came out based on earlier missions:
Reisser, J., Slat, B., Noble, K., du Plessis, K., Epp, M., Proietti, M., de Sonneville, J., Becker, T., and Pattiaratchi, C.: The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea, Biogeosciences Discussions, 11, 16207-16226, 2014 .
References:
[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/12/250438904/how-plastic-in-the-ocean-is-contaminating-your-seafood
Picture credit:
Title photo: Paul Kennedy, Getty (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140404-garbage-patch-indian-ocean-debris-malaysian-plane/)
Me: Jessy Barrette
Fish with plastic: Alan Austin (http://www.seaturtlecamp.com)
Sea dragon: Pangaea Exploration (http://panexplore.com)
Plastic net trawl: The ocean cleanup (http://www.theoceancleanup.com )
Please note that the opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily the ones of the Ocean Cleanup and that I am not asking for money for the Ocean Cleanup. I am a volunteer with them, but I am asking here for support to cover my own expenses.
Organizer
Moritz Schmid
Organizer
