The Voyage: Roz Savage
Hawaii
03 May 2007, In hiding, working on book

A contact in Hawaii sent me this appalling picture of rubbish on a beach - and maybe the most horrifying thing about it is that this island is uninhabited. It is Kaho'olawe Island in Hawaii, and all the rubbish has arrived via the ocean. Much of it comes from Korea and Japan, as evidenced by the language on the plastic bottles. Once in a while volunteers arrive for a clean-up, and the rubbish is helicoptered out.

If this is the amount that ends up on the beach of a small island, how much more must be still swilling around in the ocean.... and who can clean it up from there?


| | More
Ruined Oceans
01 May 2007, Woodside, CA

A sad commentary on the state of the oceans, by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston... see this article in the Times.

It makes me sad that the ocean I will be setting out across this summer is a less magical, and more dangerous, place than it would have been forty years ago. If it has changed this much in the space of one lifetime, what does the future hold? Will there be any whales left at all? Or will the oceans be criss-crossed by a series of container ship superhighways?

What IS all this stuff being shipped around the world anyway? Is it really necessary, or dictated by the desire for financial gain rather than common sense?

According to Wikipedia, the world's biggest container ship is 400m long and can carry 14,500 containers, a cargo worth up to $300 million. Between 5 and 6 million units are in transit at any one time. This "entails a great deal of risk" says Wikipedia.

I guess they mean financial risk, but I'm thinking more of the risk to a little 24-foot rowboat...

| | More
Offline
30 Apr 2007, Woodside, CA

From May 1st I will be off on my travels again. I am flying back to the UK for various meetings and a one-woman, self-imposed writer's retreat to work on my Atlantic book.

I will have only occasional access to internet, but will try to keep up my blogs using my mobile phone to post updates. But please forgive any longer-than-usual gaps between blogs from now until my return to the US on May 15th.

| | More
National Environmental Trust
30 Apr 2007, Woodside, CA

The National Environmental Trust is currently featuring me and my east coast adventuresome counterpart, Margo Pellegrino - see oceanlegacy.org. Margo sets off on May 7 on her outrigger journey from Miami to Maine in a bid to inspire others to take an active role in the stewardship of our oceans. See her website - miami2maine.com - for more details.

You may also notice that Margo's website bears a passing resemblance to mine - we now share the same webmaster, Tim Harincar at Sailblogs, since I passed on the recommendation. It can sometimes feel like a solitary path, getting ready for a big expedition, so it's been fun to compare notes with Margo as we both prepare for our respective launches.

(But enough of that now, Tim - I need you back working on MY site now!!)

Good luck Margo - you go girl!!

| | More

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
Powered by XJournal