Nicole Gordon - eXXpedition

September 12, 2019

by Soraya Abdel-Hadi
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Join Mission Leader Sally Earthrowl (@PlanetEarthr

Join Mission Leader Sally Earthrowl (@PlanetEarthrowl) next Thursday at 19:30 BST for a talk at the Royal Geographical Society!

Whilst living and teaching in Indonesia, Sally Earthrowl became acutely aware of the issue of plastic polution on the island of Bali, but also around the world. This propelled her to join eXXpedition: an organisation running all female sailing voyages carrying out scientific research into plastic pollution and advocating for the solutions.

In this lecture, Sally will be talking about her experience of sailing across the North Pacific Gyre and the Caribbean Sea, the scientific findings, the community discussions and how our actions can make a positive difference.

Sign up to attend via the link in our bio!

Huge thanks to @outsidetv for sharing the story of

Huge thanks to @outsidetv for sharing the story of eXXpedition Round the World Leg 1 - an exhilarating voyage from Plymouth to Azores! This documentary is a great insight into the challenges of science at sea and the resilience of a group of passionate women on a mission 🙌

Congratulations to our talented crewmember @nomadmnemonics, Marcia, for directing and producing this great piece.

Watch the Dispatches episode “Sirens of The Sea” now on OutsideTv.com (link in our bio)

With thanks to the many great organisations who have supported our journey and share our vision of tackling ocean plastic through scientific research and empowering leaders; @wearetraveledge
@tomragroup
@redensigngroup
@11thhourracing
@rothys
@copernicus_eu
@plymuni
@universityofga
@perkinelmer
@sap
Slaughter and May
Mercator Ocean
Navarino
@aquapac
@arboretumlondon
@barrusspecialproducts
@continentalclothing
@dopper_official
@ecoworksmarine
@fifthcolumnshirts
@geckoenergy
@gillmarine
@leapness
@lirosropes
@marlowropes
@mapbox
@meteogib_
@navionics
@oceansafety
@seagoyachting
@spinlockhq
@transporter.energy
@thetripgroup
@wightshipyardco
@wildnote_
@zerosixzeromap

This week we kicked off Virtual Voyage Leg 6: Braz

This week we kicked off Virtual Voyage Leg 6: Brazil! ⁠
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For this leg, 9 women are joining us from Brazil, UK, USA and Australia!⁠
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Tomorrow we’ll be introducing the new multidisciplinary crew, who range from journalist to scientist to mental health therapist and entrepreneur.⁠
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Welcome to the new crew!

Our virtual voyage crew learning more about eXXped

Our virtual voyage crew learning more about eXXpedition’s science programme in an early morning session with Mission Leader Sally (@planetearthrowl)

In the video, you can see our Science Lead (@_winniecj) taking sediment samples to be analysed back in the lab for microplastic content!

How can you create an impact? In the final sessio

How can you create an impact?

In the final session of Virtual Voyage South Africa, our crew got together to share how they planned to take action going forwards. Here are some of the ways that the crew intend to become changemakers in their communities:

“I am going to try and find a way to educate others about plastic waste while also going into the field and doing the hands-on work myself.” - Brittany

“Reduce my own waste, while bringing the topic of plastic pollution into a changing career path.” - Peggy

“Raise awareness by talks about microplastic pollution in my local diving community.” - Claudia

“Create a new art series inspired by the eXXpedition voyage.” - Lula

“Low waste workshops.” - Isabelle

“Develop learning experiences to use with children at school or home (and eventually adults).” - Helen

“Start a platform to enable and encourage philosophical problem solving of environmental issues.” - Adele

“Reduce/zero waste, storytelling, education.” - Laura

“Write articles and a workshop on body burden at menopause.” - Kay

Thank you to all the brilliant crew members who joined us for Virtual Voyage Leg 5: South Africa!

Stay tuned - our virtual voyages will be heading to Brazil next!

📸 @nomadmnemonics

There are just 7 days left to support the In-Mind

There are just 7 days left to support the In-Mind Eco crowdfunder! @inmind.eco

Support an exciting solution developed by two brilliant eXpedition ambassadors, Rachel O’Callaghan @_rachelocallaghan and Marena Brinkhurst @marena_b, who have come together to create a resource to find zero water shops around the world.

In–Mind is an online resource for minimising our use of plastic, wherever we are in the world. From the USA, to the depths of India, to islands in Indonesia, Australia and back around to Chile. Across the world there are a huge amount of zero waste stores opening up, brands launching, and people offering alternatives to plastic. ⁠In–Mind is collection of those — a global community of stores, refill deliveries and brands — all visible in one place.⁠

The initiative was founded by eXXpedition ambassador Rachel O’Callaghan, who began reducing her use of single-use plastic nearly 5 years ago. After travelling to places around the world and finding stores to shop plastic free, Rachel felt inspired to create a resource where we can find them all in one place.

Rachel and Marena are currently crowdfunding to launch a fully searchable website where you can find zero waste shops, online stores, refill trucks and deliveries, and more zero waste shopping options.

We’re thrilled to see two multidisciplinary women from our community come together to develop such an exciting solution to the plastics issue and we are proud to be supporting their venture!

Support the crowdfunder via the link in our bio!

Photo by @clairejane12

Recording their litter on @universityofga Marine D

Recording their litter on @universityofga Marine Debris Tracker App, our leg 5 crew picked up the most litter during their survey of all our virtual voyages so far!⁠
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The crew collected almost 2000 pieces of debris, including 80 pieces of plastic food packaging, 185 hard plastic fragments, 78 plastic bottles, 143 foam fragments and 210 cigarettes amongst the most commonly picked up kinds of debris.⁠
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If you would like to take part in a litter survey in your local area, head over to debristracker.org to learn more!

Last weekend, Leg 5 of our virtual voyage crew too

Last weekend, Leg 5 of our virtual voyage crew took part in a litter survey in their local area, at sites across the globe! Here’s what our virtual voyage crew had to say:

“Yesterday, I walked the local beach. An area designated as no smoking. Most of the trash collected was fag ends!”- Kay @newton.kay

“For my first transect, along the LA River (River being a loose term as it’s currently dry), I found 119 items! Mostly hard plastic bits, papers and cardboard but also a pan, a lunchbox, an ink cartridge, etc. So much litter!” - Brittany @brittgoeszerowaste

“In one pic you can see snails have crawled inside a discarded cider bottle and I think had become trapped. 😞 And a plastic chair dumped in a pond! I picked up over 200 individual pieces of litter in 2 hours. It only took that long as many people stopped to talk to me about what I was doing and to thank me. Imagine what we could clear if we all did our part ❤️” - Helen @unlikelygenius

“This is what I sorted out of 500ml of surface water from my dive site, taken from the beachside in an area of driftet shadow, where also many organic parts had assembled.” - Claudia @ClaudiaHaltern

“Many plastic fragments melted with the sand and also a lot of primary micro plastics! I just picked up what I'm going to use in my art work.”- Lula @water.journey

Stay tuned for tomorrow when we’ll be revealing the results of the survey!

Apply for an eXXpedition virtual voyage bursary pl

Apply for an eXXpedition virtual voyage bursary place!

We are excited to offer some bursary positions for participants who identify as being female, ideally from or connected to Brazil, the Caribbean or the Arctic (where we will be 'sailing to' on our next Virtual Voyage programmes).

Inspired by many of the best parts of eXXpedition’s at-sea missions, our virtual voyages take crew on a two week journey from wherever they may be in the world!

Virtual voyages are designed to give guest crew an in-depth understanding of the true impact of the plastics issue, forge and deepen relationships within the eXXpedition global community, develop solutions-based thinking and result in an action plan to apply crew superpowers to solve the problem.

Apply now via the link in our bio. Voyages start soon, so please apply ASAP!

📸 @sophiebolesworth

Mission leader @planetearthrowl was all set for an

Mission leader @planetearthrowl was all set for an early science workshop this morning with our virtual voyage crew! From analysing microplastics samples in real time via the microscope and FTIR machine, to showcasing how plastic samples can be taken from different depths at sea, our virtual voyage crew took a deep dive into the science behind microplastic pollution and how we can employ different techniques to gain a better understanding of its composition, abundance and distribution!

Follow our Journey#exxpedition