David de Rothschild

Adventure Ecology (founded in 2005 by David de Rothschild) has opened its doors for the public to visit its amazing new project: The Plastiki – Mission Control, at San Francisco’s Pier 45.

The Plastiki is a 10,000 nautical mile voyage across the Pacific Ocean on a boat made almost entirely out of reclaimed plastic soda bottles! The mission of the voyage is to beat waste.

The Pier 45 headquarters is an interactive activity and educational centre where people will be able to learn every aspect of the adventure, and really feel a part of it. It’s great for both children and adults.

Guests leave the interactive educational center with a better understanding of the effects that waste has on the planet. And once the expedition sets sail, ‘The Plastiki – Mission Control’ will screen live feeds, webcasts, blogs, voice files, photography and short films that document the crew’s amazing adventures as they negotiate the vast and volatile waters of the Pacific.

David de Rothschild founded Adventure Ecology to build on the idea that through “edutainment,” one can call attention to humanity’s impact on our Earth’s most remote and fragile ecosystems, but also help to articulate and promote a better understanding of one of the most pressing ecological issues of our time: waste.

San Francisco is so lucky to be home to the headquarters for this inspirational, international project, which is receiving major technological support from HP (the official technology provider for the expedition.)

David de Rothschild at the Center’s Opening
(photo via flickr.com)

“This partnership is not only of great significance due to the long-term mission of Adventure Ecology to promote and influence smarter ‘Planet 2.0’ ways of working, but also because of the exciting opportunity for us to help support HP’s ongoing commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its products, services and operations,” says de Rothschild.

“It is our shared vision to create a smarter, more sustainable ‘Planet 2.0’ way of living, through inspiration, education, storytelling and the empowerment of individuals. This partnership has all the right ingredients to create the agents of change that will help to sculpt our future.”

During the voyage, the Plastiki vessel will pass through a number of environmentally sensitive regions, including the Great Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, where plastic pollution twice the size of Texas has accumulated.

HP is equipping the Plastiki vessel with energy-efficient and durable technology that will be used to document and capture data from these regions to better understand the impact of pollution on the environment. With HP technology, the crew will be able to gather information, capture and store their story, and communicate with their land-based crew.

Other important partners for the Plastiki are IWC Schaffhausen and Kiehl’s.

We hope you’ll visit the Plastiki Mission Control Center at Pier 45 soon. It’s open this Summer, Wednesdays to Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

At the center, visitors can:

· View exhibits of the boat-building process, from plastic bottles to the final design
· Learn about the effects of waste on the planet and understand some of the solutions to combat the problem
· Track the Plastiki journey on animated maps with information on each stop along the voyage
· Interact with the Plastiki crew by sending text and webcam messages at the “your planet your voice” station