When you travel, you witness the unexpected. Velvet fog on impossibly still mountain lakes. The elegant flow of cities far from home. Pacific Northwest storms of impossible magnitude. The bright pink glow of a sunset on pristine black granite.
Travel can be an emotionally perplexing thing. A seesaw of thoughts, ideas, and emotions that prompt us to write things we never thought possible, and — for some — the inspiration to start something new.
That’s what happened with traveller, photographer, and surfer Tim Nunn. We have been supporting The Plastic Project for sometime now and it has certainly had an impact on some of decisions. Having explored some the world’s most remote coastlines and wildernesses, Tim has seen firsthand how the careless handling of plastic affects the places we collectively view as sacred, remote, and pristine. Through photos of stunning thematic clarity, Tim creates a stark contrast between coastal sublimity and the plastic waste and clutter of humanity.
The Plastic Project is an initiative raising awareness about our everyday actions, and how they inevitably influence the world’s remotest, most sublime places. If you haven’t already, we highly encourage you to take a look at the Plastic Project website — it’s truly inspiring stuff. For us here at Passenger, it represents an important intersection between a love of travel, waves and wilderness, all while raising crucial awareness about the places we play and love, and how we all leave a mark. We caught up with Tim to relay a few essential facts about the Project, and how plastic influences us all. You can find out more about the plastic project here: https://theplastic-project.com/
As for us? We are trying to improve all the time and give back to the playground that continues to inspire us to travel and explore. Planting trees with every order ensures we give a little something back to the places we play and get inspired by. From 7th April 2017 our orders will be sent to you in recycled and re-usable paper mail mags instead of plastic.
To help raise awareness about the plastic project we’re offering a promo on our Outsider stainless steel water bottle for a limited window. For 2 weeks only, get a free Outsider stainless steel water bottle with orders over £30*. Because if we can get even a handful of our friends and followers to use 5, 10, or 50 less plastic water bottles a year, that’s a bit of a victory. See the offer to get the full details for the Outsider bottle here, and check out the rest of the Plastic Project story below.
The Plastic Project, at a glance
The Plastic Project has been everywhere.
“We have been to Canada, Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Greenland, France and England, the plan is to go from Antarctica to The North Pole, and properly show what's out there, not statistically but visually. That's the key about this project: it's about making people who are disconnected from the sea actually realise what is going on out there."
Eventually, everything ends up in the ocean.
“Waste comes from everywhere. You drop something on a road or a street and it will end up in a stream, a river, and then the ocean. If it gets blown from landfills or dumped off boats, it it all eventually ends up in the ocean. What's most frightening is that whilst a lot gets washed up on beaches — especially those on windward coastlines, like Cornwall — we only see a maximum of 30 % of what's out there. 70% sinks to the sea bed, blocking out light, and killing entire eco systems."
“If we can inspire people and make them love the ocean and our planet through surfing and adventure, then we can start a movement that will change the world” — The Plastic Project
Plastic bags and bottles are the worst...
“The most likely things to find are plastic bags, plastic bottles, packaging and fishing gear.”
...and biodegradable plastics aren’t much better.
“Biodegradable plastics are almost worse, they degrade to tiny constituent parts and get into the ecosystem even faster. There are loads of alternatives, but the problem is most alternatives are not commercially viable, yet.”
“I am a firm believer that the young are the future, and by inspiring them with surfing and adventure, I know it is working, but we all have a job to spread the word, using what I do really works, but everyone has a responsibility to change the way they live to help.”
Wanna lend a hand? Spread the Plastic Project word, or go ahead and donate here.