The Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch poses as large a problem for the Earth as its size. According to this Wikipedia article, its real size is still relatively unknown, but is estimated to measure anywhere as large as Texas to the continental United States. It is unfortunate that many are still completely unaware of this particularly insidious problem, which is why it is the topic of my blog today.
I first read about this environmental crisis in the book by Alan Weisman – The World Without Us a few years ago, but it really wasn’t until I saw the “cause” in Facebook, that it really started to hit me. The graphic pictures, videos, peoples’ opinions, and links to other blogs and websites aggregated in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s Facebook page really highlighted the magnitude of the problem and drove me to further research and action. Be sure to check out these images from Google Images.
Through my research, I discovered Project Kaisei (whom I am currently volunteering for), an impressive non-governmental organization dedicated to bringing about a solution and cleaning up the massive mess of marine litter that is threatening to choke up the ocean’s life completely.
Project Kaisei was founded by Doug Woodring who currently resides in Hong Kong. While there are other groups that dedicate themselves to this cause, Project Kaisei is unique because they are the only group that has organized expeditions to study and clean-up the patch. According to Mr. Woodring, they are also constantly in communication with a number of large organizations about converting the collected trash into commercially viable products like clothing or blankets for use in passenger aircrafts.
The Story of Project Kaisei and Oceanic Health - Doug Woodring from Sustainable Brands on Vimeo.
Below is a transcript of my recent interview with Mr. Woodring. The interview reveals more about Project Kaisei, their goals, and in the spirit of my blog, how technology and the digital medium, especially social media have helped and will continue to help them achieve and fulfill their aims. A big THANK YOU to Mr. Doug Woodring for taking the time to talk with me!
How did you first learn about the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
At a technology conference in Hong Kong in late 2008. I was surprised that I had not heard of it before, as I have worked with environmental technologies and issues for many years. So, I thought that someone should at least make a documentary on it.
Why did you decide to get serious about it, and what drove you to action?
Through some mutual friends, I met Mary Crowley and George Orbelian (both co-founders) from San Francisco, all in the same weekend. None of us knew each other, but we are all from the Bay Area, and we all had similar ideas and interest to do something about the issue, since no one really was doing anything yet. This is a case of the Tragedy of the Commons – it is international waters, but there are no governments who “own” the problem, and therefore, no one you can call on directly to clean it. We have all contributed to the issue, from all countries. I then met experts in the plastic industry, and some had solutions for turning plastic into fuel or other secondary products, so we quickly moved from thinking of just a movie, to actually being the organization that could bring together a collaboration of technology, science, solutions, education, policy, etc.
How was project Kaisei started?
The three of us started it, but a lot of the momentum and push came from here in Hong Kong. People who heard about this issue were so amazed, that we could see there was a lot of interest and energy to support this type of project.
How did it get to where it is today?
Lots of work, but we have a compelling story, and an issue that the world’s press likes to follow, as this problem has snuck up on us over the past 50 years, and no one really saw it coming. It also helped that we got recognition from UNEP, Google Earth, were the first NGO to work with Scripps Oceanography, and a few other things that showed that we were working on some big things.
What role did technology and the social media play to help you get it to where it is today?
We created an iPhone application so that we could send videos via satellite to a map on Google Earth of our expedition. This meant that the world could follow us on our trip, and learn from afar. We were Google Earth Heroes as a result. The video is on our site, or you can Google it – Google Earth Hero Project Kaisei.
How do you make use of social media for Project Kaisei and how successful have they been for you?
We currently have two Facebook pages:
Between our two Facebook pages, we have well over 5000 fans and about 1000 on Twitter. Fans and followers have posted very encouraging notes on Facebook especially, and even shared their own environmental endeavors. We do read everybody’s posts, and many share their own opinions, observations, and ideas that have in turn led to other good ideas, which we have enacted.
We have accrued so many fans in less than a year, and it is completely due to the viral effect of social media. One friend tells another, another friend sees his/her friend is a fan of Project Kaisei and “likes” us. Facebook has also been helpful to a certain extent with several fund raising events. For example, earlier this month, we had a fundraising match from Jack Johnson, and fans of Facebook have been extremely helpful in spreading the word and getting donations in. We do have some options for donating through Facebook, but to be honest, we have not made use of Facebook for fundraising efforts as aggressively as we would like to. We are building a new Facebook application however, that will be directly aimed at increasing donations, and this should be in place soon.
For a non-profit organization like us, social media like Facebook is invaluable and very effective advertising on many levels. It also does help that what we do is current and provocative to a certain extent, and people do like advertising the fact that they are supporting such a “sexy” cause in their Facebook profiles.
We also have in the pipeline a plan to build new platforms on Facebook, which will be more interactive than our current page.
Have you managed to generate huge publicity using social media?
Yes, as you can see from the stats I just gave you. But publicity for us goes in spikes, as it depends what we are doing to raise the PR level. Expeditions can cause big spikes and a huge influx of comments from our followers on Facebook. That being said, we are a small team, so it is hard to keep the stuff updated all the time, and we do not always have something going on that is worth public fanfare. When the comments and the words of encouragement do come in, it really does help more than you think. It is nice for us to know that people appreciate the hard work we put into this cause.
Govt Action - What sort of Govt aid/intervention have you received?
We have not done anything with the governments yet. As I said earlier, this is an international issue, and it is outside of the 200 mile limits of all countries.
Do you have any plans to drive them to action?
We are working on creative, market changes, that would be driven by other industry groups, or by consumers. We are planning a second Facebook application that will hopefully help to impact some influence on policy decisions for recycling, but I’d rather not elaborate on that at this point as we are still in its early stages.
What are your plans for the future of Project Kaisei? What do you hope technology can help you with to achieve these goals?
We are working on some pretty neat things, including an IPhone app at some point if we find a sponsor, the two innovative Facebook apps that I mentioned earlier, and a global application that would allow for community reporting on the world’s oceans/rivers, overlaid on a global map. Technology is key to getting information out to the public on environmental issues. Often they do not have the information, and if you can give it to them, now with images/videos, it can really help to tell the story and get critical mass on an issue in a short period of time.
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