Hi Roz,
I’ve been watching the vessel traffic like we had talked about but unfortunately they don’t seem to track traffic in your area. I found another source and they only show one ship, the Iron Yandi, which has already made it through the cut.
On the plastic front I think you are spot on. I’ve been seeing lots more TV coverage for reusable shopping bags and on commercials for stores. The hard thing with products like bottled water is unlike “sugar daddies” and “designated drivers” bottled water is a product and big money is behind that. Big money companies are always a tougher vessel to turn.
Wishing fair winds, calm seas and safe travels between all the shipping traffic.

I’m working on ideas, Roz. When you get back to land, you should research the ways that HIV prevention and safer sex have been successfully promoted. Our tendency to buy plastic stuff that we’ll throw away without a thought to what happens to it afterward seems like a behavioral epidemic to me.

It’s all well and good to change the culture around use of plastic bags & containers, but don’t merchant ships dump their trash directly into the ocean? My husband worked on them some years ago and that was common practice then.

Where we live (Washington State) there’s city and county recycling programs for plastic bottles, bags & containers, and grocery stores give cash discounts for customers using their own bags.

It still doesn’t solve the problem of all the *non* recyclable plastic (and styrofoam) being used in commercial packaging…

Thanks Kenny for your attempt to watch the shipping in the area where Roz is. I gave up on looking at Shipwatch when I found that they only tracked ships that had registered with them. In some ways I feel that Roz may be safer with ships around – perhaps less prone to pirate attacks. A catamaran was boarded and the owners held at gunpoint recently, but that was a lot further north west than where Roz will be going. Rita.

I have just looked at http://www.mtspng.com/ which mentions that they are awaiting Roz in Papua New Guinea. Sir Peter Barter of the Madang Resort is proving to be a tremendous help in preparations for Roz’s arrival, much of it based at the Medang Resort which will be hosting her stay in Madang. He is not alone, of course, there are other local people too offering help and a warm welcome. Rita.

Ran across this blog by accident and am appalled by the ignorance of it. Don’t normally comment, but I couldn’t let this one go. Not sure who signed you up to decide what constitutes a “sin”. You have more plastic in your boat and being used on this row, why isn’t that a “sin”?
- “It makes me wince when characters in books are portrayed using plastic bags. Maybe we could write to any authors who commit this sin to ask them to specify reusable bags in their next novel.” -

Plastics are essentially petrol chemicals or oil. Plastics are used in many, many things (not just bags and bottled water) people use each day such as polyester (clothes/carpet/curtains/candles wax/ wax for milk cartons), in important medicines such as the active ingredient in pain reliever medicines ( acetylsalicylic acid), and even in boat resins to keep them afloat.

Obviously you have no idea about plastics in the real world. The real issue is that people need to reduce, re-use, and recycle. Recycling materials uses far less energy than creating them. Recycling one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power one 60 watt light bulb for six hours.

You obviously have no real knowledge or credibility/credentials to speak on environmental issues and can’t really believe anyone with common sense in the general public would sign up for this malarkey. I can think of a number of other ways to support environmental awareness without being as staggeringly selfish and stupid as rowing. How about donating the money to the cause, for example. Or taking your professional expertise and working directly (or volunteering) for a group. Oh wait – that won’t make you the center of attention. Get off the high horse and join the little people in the land of reality.

Looks like Thomas has not been around very long! I would be very interested in one of your oars! They are very beautiful, and would go very well with the paddle from Hawaii on my wall. Maybe you could auction them off? I am on Abaco Island this weekend, there is very, very little plastic on the beaches here, and it is so beautiful too! Sometime you might drop by here on your travels, it is heaven on earth. Excellent snorkeling right out the back door! I have rented a moped instead of a car, but I am the only one I have seen so far! Best of luck getting to Madang, and hope to see you in Australia!

Thomas: If you have only now found Roz’s blog you cannot have any idea how much history she has with this issue. I suggest that you read her blogs from at least the start of her Pacific row and preferably also her book.

If you lack the time for that then at least read her blogs for this leg of her row where she describes the (largely) plastic trash she rowed through

Roz has influenced many people in many countries, including some who have considerable influence in their spheres.

If you seek to criticise someone, at least make sure you know something about that person beyond your initial impresssion.

Make your custom magnet at SupportOurRibbons.com

Oops, sorry, I though I was posting an image, not a link! It pertains to Thomas and my irritation at what appeared to be arrogant judgment without having read about Roz’s history and blogs. Please forgive the post–there isn’t a delete button to get rid of it once submitted!!!

I’m still (quietly) here, rooting for you, Roz, and impatiently waiting each day for your blog post to go up. Still, also, looking for more ways to reduce/reuse/recycle and spread the word (and having a little success here and there).

Claire’s point is very imortant. No-one is seriously proposing to ban plastics; the problem lies in the way that waste plastics are disposed of. Because they are not bio-degradable they must be recovered and either recycled or sequestrated so as not to cause harm. A reduction in consumption helps, obviously.

Wow, Thomas, thank goodness you came around and set us all straight. My god what were we thinking!
Kidding aside though, do the rest of us the respect of reading some more of this story, Roz’s writings, and the related sites she refers to in her podcast, etc. You’re so right about lots of plastics, everyone agrees. Clearly we could use your passion, just temper it with a little humanity and some context. I think you’ll see that what is motivating all of us is a common goal of cleaner oceans and a cleaner planet. Roz is rowing to call attention to this goal and it works.

When I first read your request for a slogan, I was baffled. Joan’s was the last comment posted. Two of her phrases jumped off the page at me: “throw away without thinking” and “behavioral epidemic.” Something there, but what? Intuitively, I knew they were somehow the answer to the plastic conundrum: Plastic is such a wonderful invention … but something has gone horribly wrong. http://j.mp/OurTodayIsForever illustrates the undeniable devastation from plastics that have slipped out of our control ….

It has taken my subconsious all day to sort it out — frankly, I am glad I was not around to get pulled off course by the turmoil Thomas tossed our way. I think I have a phrase worth considering …

Treat life with fairness, through PLASTIC AWARENESS

Roz, you know I wish I was there wherever, the obvious “couch potato” is to physically defend your honor and suddenly it dawned on me, a pretty, intelligent, lady that can row even 8 hours a day is well suited to defend herself! And may times you row more hours and you are making such an impact and bringing the sin of intangling and destroying what God trusted to us to protect and use wisely, so that future generations may have an equal chance if not better! Obviously we have stepped on the toes of someone who cares more about a paycheck that others! But remember, mosquitoes are always with us, sucking up our blood and only giving disease in return! …….very proud of you Roz!

I know that the focus recently has been very much on the issue of our carelessness with plastics and the terrible cost to the environment and the oceans, but I want to say that another arena in which we can make a difference is with young “expecting” parents considering what type of diapering (if any) they plan to do with their baby. Every baby wearing “disposable” diapers goes through approximately 5,000 before they are potty-trained and the vast majority of those diapers (often with their contents) go straight into the landfill. In many countries babies wear no diapers and their mothers become as attuned to their elimination needs as they are to their breastfeeding needs, resulting in a much less environmentally costly approach. Some families in north America are using “diaper-free baby” principles, while others select a diaper service, or cloth-diapering, as a way of reducing waste. Those of us who can work directly with young people, or can share relevant materials through social media can do so much to raise the question of using disposables with a generation that has (for the most part) assumed this as the norm. Just another thought about a way to address a big contribution to how we harm our environment and a way to start mitigating that particular form of damage.

“Plastic fantastic” is a good assonantal phrase which, while in my opinion less pejorative in connotation than one might wish, should engender interest in your cause oxymoronically. I call myself a writer.

This page may be history, but in case anybody comes back to read it, it appears that Roz has come up with a slogan … read or listen to her interview the day she completed her epic row, June 4th on Radio Australia:

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201006/s2918692.htm

Just found an excellent resource for how to reduce the use of plastic in daily life:

http://fakeplasticfish.com/plasticfreeguide/?awesm=fbshare.me_ANgAU

Will also post on the Facebook pages. There are some excellent ideas there.