British Airways And Iberia Express – An Inconvenient Truth For Your Underwear.

Some say that flying is still romantic, still exhilarating, still the high-life. Others waffle on about the journey being as much a part of the experience as the destination. This may be true if you don’t mind standing in queues for no apparent reason, being subject to intrusive security checks by guards who can barely dress themselves, eating plastic food from plastic containers and generally being herded hither and thither by airline staff who are so orange you worry their liver is about to explode. However, if none of the former appeal, we suspect that like us, the act of travelling by air is a complete pain in the rectum. We have just returned from the island of La Palma in the Canaries (we will be posting photos, videos and more on La Palma in the coming weeks). The Canary Isles, you have to agree, is not exactly the most far-flung destination one can imagine visiting. Yet, the whole process of getting from London to La Palma and back again has been one of the most irritating travel experiences ever. Due to the dates we needed to travel on, we were unable to get a direct flight. So on a dreary Thursday, at the ridiculous hour of 5:30am, we arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 (T5) for our British Airways flight to Madrid. From Madrid we would connect to an Iberia Express flight to La Palma. We queued, as you do, at check-in for what seemed an eternity before being ushered forward by a smiling orange-faced queue handler. Here, we did what normal sane people do and clarified with the check-in agent that our bags would be checked all the way through to La Palma and then inquired if the flight was on time and that no delays were envisaged - we had a connection to make and we didn’t want to miss it. The girl on the desk gave a sigh and smiled at us in much the same way a frustrated teacher might smile at a particularly stupid group of pupils. Of course the bags would be checked all the way through, the check-in girl insisted, after all British Airways and Iberia have merged and are, for all intents and purposes, the same airline. As for delays, the check-in girl gave us another dismissive smile and informed us that we had two hours in Madrid, which would be plenty of time wouldn’t it? Oddly we believed her. Her face was the same colour as her arms for one thing and she seemed very certain that all was fine. This sort of certainty, for the seasoned traveller, normally starts alarm bells ringing, but it was early and we were still half asleep so we accepted her reassurances. Then it was off to security. Belts off, cameras on, laptops and tablets in the tray; no liquids, no creams, no lotions and definitely no sarcastic remarks, otherwise the men and women who failed to pass the Burger King recruitment test will take delight in frisking you roughly and delving with Neolithic carelessness through your personals.

Finally we entered the inner sanctum of T5. This is the home of British Airways, it’s their palace, their crowning glory, and it is quite dreadful.  T5 has apparently won awards for being the best terminal in the world. Who exactly runs these awards? T5 looks as if it was designed by someone who was obsessed with Meccano and wants their parents to see how very, very clever they’ve been. “Look mum. Look at how I held the roof up with these sloping struts! It’s like I’ve created a class and steel circus big top isn’t it? Look at the joints and the windows and the shiny doors and the stairs and just everything”. Perhaps the parents are indeed impressed, to us however, it just looks unfinished. The dull metal fixtures compete for the world dullness award with dull flooring, which in turn competes with the dull decoration. All are outdone though by the dull looks on the dull people who staff the very, very, dull shops and cafes. In short T5 is dullness times a thousand, which is very dull indeed – but we digress.

It was now 7.00am. The flight was supposed to depart at 7:30 and we arrived at the allotted gate at the time indicated by the information displays. 7:10 came and went, as did 7:20 and oddly 7:30. We began to worry. The flight to Madrid would take two hours and if we didn’t leave soon our “plenty of time” to make our connection would quickly become “no time at all”. Finally, at 7:50, a voice that sounded like an asthmatic talking through a pillow bing-bonged onto the tannoy. We had no idea what was said, but like everyone else at the gate we assumed that boarding would soon commence so we joined the quickly forming queue and waited. And waited. And waited some more, whilst non-existent First Class, Executive Club, Platinum Club, Executive Platinum Premier Club and Business Club passengers were invited to board first. British Airways appears to have more clubs than a caveman’s conference. At last at 8:20 we took our seats on-board and argued amongst ourselves about whether we’d make our connection. At 08:30 the Captain made an apologetic announcement for the delay and explained that it was all due to an administrative error. What an administrative error meant was anyone’s guess. Perhaps someone had handed air traffic control their dry cleaning receipt rather than a flight plan or maybe it was just airline speak for “we’re a bit crap at this flying lark”. Whatever the reason we took off an hour and ten minutes late and we all agreed the trip had got off to a bad start.

We arrived at Madrid with forty minutes to spare, which quickly dwindled to thirty as the aircraft taxied to furthest reaches of the earth. The plane door opened and with uncharacteristic rudeness we thrust our way to the front and were off and running. We ran up escalators, down escalators, along marathon length corridors and onto a terminal shuttle that travelled slower than a snail with cramp. We held up our passports and swotted grumpy immigration officials aside, shoved security officials out of the way with surprising ease, and with lungs bursting and legs aching we made the connection. Unfortunately our bags didn’t. The baggage agent at La Palma gave the usual apologies and asked us what our bags looked like. Perhaps it was frustration or perhaps it was just rage at an airline that can’t transfer bags between flights in thirty minutes when the passengers, us! Can run non-stop for twenty-five minutes, navigate through security bureaucracy and generally be forced to act without consideration for our other passengers in order to make the flight that we snapped and in unison screamed: “They’re bags, they have handles on them, you carry belongings in them and more importantly they have got your bloody airline baggage tag on”! Suffices to say this didn’t have any affect, clearly this baggage agent was more than used to being shouted at. Paperwork was filled out, tracking codes issued and dismissive smiles exchanged but in the end twenty-four hours of the trip were wasted before our bags containing our wetsuits; fins, masks and underwear finally arrived.

Bad luck you might say. Bags get delayed all the time etc and lightening doesn’t strike twice. Well you’d be wrong. Lightening does sometimes strike twice and it did. Our return flight from La Palma to Madrid was due to leave at 14:55. It left at 15:35. Again on arrival the aircraft taxied half way to France before stopping and again we had to hurtle up and down escalators, onto the snail shuttle, through passport control and security and again we made the connection with minutes to spare and again our bags didn’t. The baggage agent at Heathrow was as hardened to our rage as her Spanish colleague at La Palma. BA and Iberia must mishandle a great many bags, as not a single member of staff in either country is remotely concerned about their passengers’ plight. Again we had to fill out forms and describe our bags and again a very unapologetic apology was offered and again with seething rage at the inconvenience we went on our away. 

Now some of you will no doubt say, so what? Just claim on your insurance or from the airline. But this misses the point. For one thing the airline knows the bags were delayed, they told us. They knew where they were and they knew what flight they’d be arriving on. In short why does anyone need to make a claim, the airline should accept that they have deprived their customers of their personal belongings and compensate there and then. A £100 or 100 Euros up front would be a start. Secondly airlines say they will only compensate for essentials, but essentials are open to interpretation. Some people think Marks and Spencer’s underwear is an acceptable essential others wouldn’t be seen dead in anything less the Dolce & Gabbana - quite literally. So what exactly is essential? Do you buy the most expensive deodorant because you like it, or the cheapest because you know the airline will argue that smelling of something cheap and musky is essentially better than smelling of sweat, and much better than smelling nice at their expense!

Thirdly there is the issue of making the claim itself, a long laborious task that most of us suspect is designed to deter the claimant in the first place. There is also a principle at stake here. We refuse to have some bean counter in a shiny suit decide how much our misery and inconvenience is worth. The loss of our twenty-four hours in La Palma cannot be measured simply in pounds and pence. And we refuse to wear I LOVE LA PALMA t-shirts, nasty underwear and cheap deodorant just because they are the “essentials”. In short, we don’t want a meaningless apology, nor are we interested in selective compensation we simply want our bags. How does an airline mishandle the bags in the first place anyway? If BA and Iberia expect passengers to burst a lung making a connection due to earlier delays on their other flights, the least that we passengers can expect is that they do the same to ensure that our bags make it onto the same flight. After all we’re the customers and we entered into a deal – you fly us, and our luggage, to our destination at the same time and in exchange we’ll give you cash. If you can’t do this, let us carry larger items in the cabin. BA isn’t going go do that though, in fact they are talking about reducing cabin baggage – so there will be more luggage for the baggage pixies to play hide and seek with. Of course there is an alternative and that is not to fly with BA or Iberia again and guess what? We won’t be.

Update: it’s twenty-four hours since we arrived back at Heathrow and do you know what’s happened? Yep. Nothing. We’re still waiting for our bags and according to the BA baggage helpline; they are experiencing a large volume of calls at the moment. Now there’s a surprise.

No Peace For The Wicked From This Man’s Green Organisation

The oceans are under assault. Plastic waste, chemicals, effluent and industrial pollution threatens to suffocate the life out of the marine environment. Over fishing by floating factories is decimating fish stocks and through the problem of by-catch; dolphins, turtles, seabirds and a host of other species are being killed in the nets. Sharks, the supposed super predators of the ocean, are having their dorsal fins mercilessly hacked from their bodies and then thrown back into the sea to drown in order to supply a nutritionally useless soup to the restaurant tables of China and South East Asia on a scale that beggars belief. Illegal fishing is rampant throughout the ocean threatening extinction for some species and Whalers from Japan and Norway still ply their trade unencumbered by the anger of people across the world. Many people are concerned about these outrages and insist that something must be done, but what exactly. Well, some say we should all gather together with painted placards and protest outside embassies and national parliaments. Others suggest legal solutions should be pursued through the courts and international organisations like the United Nations. Others still, insist that we should all look to get involved personally and organise things like beach clean ups or buy recycled boardshorts or hold candlelight vigils for haddock. And others still, suggest that scientific solutions should be investigated without delay, as only science can stop the ensuing environmental massacre. 

Such activities have their place in the environmental activists tool kit but let’s face it; demonstrating, holding prayer meetings or hiring a bunch of snazzy dressed lawyers rarely achieves much. As for scientific solutions, well they might work for pollution but what scientific breakthrough is going to stop a harpoon smacking into a whales flesh or make a rich Chinese bloke turn his nose up at his shark’s fin soup. Faced with such an onslaught; protests, boycotts, church raffles and decade long law suits become nothing more than self righteous “ middle class” smoke that actually obscures the damage that has and is still being done. What’s needed is something far more meaningful and far more dangerous than many of us would contemplate, something that many legal minds would call piracy. Enter stage right, radical defender of the seas, troublemaker and self-confessed pirate Paul Watson, co-founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Paul Watson, who likes to be called Capt. Paul Watson, (wow what an ego) was a founding member of Greenpeace but disagreed with the way the organisation was heading and was ousted from the organisation in 1977. Soon after he co-founded the Sea Shepherd Society. The Society’s mission was to take the fight direct to those who were committing the offending acts that so many environmentalists complain about but yet do nothing themselves to stop. He successfully led campaigns against the seal hunting trade, exposed the massacre of dolphins in Taiji and in the 1990’s used his ship to ram and sink twelve Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd still undertakes annual operations against whaling activities in the Antarctica. There are those, including the Greenpeace Foundation, who condemn Watson and Sea Shepherd, calling them violent, but Watson is unrepentant.

“Pirates get things done without bureaucratic red tape… Yes, we be proud pirates, however we are disciplined pirates with our own special code of honour. That code demands that we do not cause injury or death to our enemies… We operate within the framework of international conservation law meaning that we only oppose unlawful exploitation of marine life… We do not target legitimate operations, even if we disagree with them. We are not a protest organisation, we don’t hang banners, we intervene against illegalities.” 

Watson cites the United Nations World Charter for Conservation, which he says, allows for nongovernmental organisations to intervene in order to uphold international law. “We have been called vigilantes. And indeed, we are vigilantes, because when the law exists but enforcement does not, a vacuum is created that allows for the actions of vigilantism…” 

The activities of Sea Shepherd have not just invoked commendation from what Watson calls the green crowd of protestors, banner wavers and lobbyists. The Japanese government is a particularly fervent critic as are other governments and global companies who have labelled Watson and Sea Shepherd as eco-terrorists. Watson’s activities have led to more than a few brushes with the law too. In 2002, after being invited to lead a fight against over-fishing by the Costa Rican Government, Watson boarded a vessel suspected of illegal fishing and escorted it to harbour. On arrival however, it was the Sea Shepherd crew that were arrested. Many believe that the crew of the fishing vessel had friends in high places. Fearing an unfair trial – being self professed pirates probably wouldn’t have helped - Watson and his crew fled. Watson was arrested ten years later in Frankfurt in relation to the Costa Rica incident, but skipped bail before he could be extradited. He therefore appears to remain a wanted man yet seems unfazed about court action against him in the US and other jurisdictions, and the more whalers, sealers and illegal fisherman rail against him the more he believes he’s winning.

“The more enemies we recruit from that crowd of ecological criminals, the more successful and credible we become.”

And successful they have become, Sea Shepherds activities and adventures are posted all over the web, they’ve had their own television series called Whale Wars and have stopped the issue of whaling from falling off the more mainstream environmental agenda. In 1998 they even planned to use a submarine in their actions against whalers, an idea that prompted the Canadian Navy to rebuke the organisation publicly by saying: “no one at Sea Shepherd know anything about operating a submarine and it is ridiculous for Sea Shepherd to acquire one.”

It was rebuke that Paul Watson savaged with buccaneering style by replying: “Since World War II, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has boarded more ships, rammed more ships, engaged in more high seas confrontations and sunk more ships than the Canadian Navy. They are hardly in a position to presume to judge what we are competent or capable of doing.”

No one apart from the Japanese and Norwegians seem to think that whaling is acceptable and the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, is as pointless as it is sickening. So whether you agree or not with Paul Watson and his Society’s methods there is no doubt that he has shown a courage and commitment that few of his fellow environmentalists have. In truth while illegal fishing is rampant, whilst the Japanese still pretend that slaughtering whales on mass is necessary for scientific research (seriously how many whales do you have to kill before you work out what a whale is?) and Sharks are killed in their millions for their fins whilst all the while the United Nations, national navies and law enforcement agencies the world over sit by and do nothing, we need Paul Watson. We need the volunteers of Sea Shepherd and thousands more like them.

Some of you out there may be content to paint catchy slogans on placards and hang banners from bridges. You might even prefer to hold a jumble sale or hold an all night candlelight vigil in the hope that such demonstrations might prick the conscience of hardened whalers or stop illegal fishing. We however are slapping on the eye patches and raising our frothing glasses in salute to Paul Watson and all the souls in Sea Shepherd. Hoist the Jolly Roger me hearties  Argggh!

More information on Sea Shepherd is readily available on the web. However we’ve added some pertinent links below. You can sponsor Sea Shepherd directly via their website click here. The more adventurous amongst you might even want to volunteer for active service in one of their many operations or simply help out in their onshore activities if so click here.

The Taiji dolphin slaughter video – caution graphic content

Whale Wars on Youtube

Sea Shepherd in Paul Watson’s own words

Clean Up The Oceans – We’re Going To Need A Bigger Pair Of Boardshorts Riz!

Some time ago we wrote a piece on “Gentleman Surfer” and Designer Riz Smith and his idea of turning ocean plastic into boardshorts (click here for that post). At the time we thought that Riz’s idea, although probably well intentioned, was a bit gimmicky and unlikely to have much, if any effect on the billions of kilos of plastic that are dumped into the ocean annually. Now however, after doing a bit more research into the issue of garbage entering the marine environment, we think that Riz’s idea is not just gimmicky, it’s impact on the problem will literally be a drop in the ocean. In fact it will be a drop in a billion oceans. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 6.5 billion Kilos of plastic waste gets dumped into the oceans every year. 80% of which comes from inland sources. Some of this waste is swept up by the currents and concentrated into great whirlpools of plastic. The most well known concentration, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has become so large that it has been nicknamed “The Plastic Continent”. Not all plastic though, bobs about on the ocean waiting for Riz to pluck it up and mutate it into a pair of snazzy shorts (yours for just £80 or thereabouts), 70% eventually sinks to the bottom where it accumulates to create the marine equivalent of a 1960’s chintzy carpet. This no doubt horrifies the more fashionable of the fishes but more importantly it prevents exchanges between water and sediment and thus before you can shout “boardshorts, boardshorts, get your boardshorts, two for 120”, the entire environment is suffocated to death and ocean biodiversity takes another blow to its chin.

Plastic is not the only problem either. Every year thousand of tonnes of chemical pollutants enter the oceans. Some come from the disposal of everyday items such as detergents, paint, cosmetics, medicines etc. Others, such as hydrocarbons, mercury, lead and various acids come from industrial processes. Then there is the contamination by human sewage and animal waste. For instance around 80% of wastewater in developing world is dumped untreated into the ocean, even in the more developed world, sewage treatment plants don’t always prevent contaminants, pathogens and the foul smelling stuff from reaching the oceans. This not only has a devastating affect on the marine environment it presents a direct threat to human health.  

Then there is the problem of agricultural waste. Intensive farming and the over use of nitrogenous fertilisers has led to a problem know as eutrophication. No, we didn’t know what it meant either and had to look it up. Eutrophication, for those of you who aren’t scientists and therefore not used to just making words up, is defined by the US Geological Survey as: “The process by which a body of water acquires a high concentration of nutrients, especially phosphates and nitrates. These typically promote excessive growth of algae. As the algae die and decompose, high levels of organic matter and the decomposing organisms deplete the water of available oxygen, causing the death of other organisms, such as fish. Eutrophication is a natural, slow-ageing process for a water body, but human activity greatly speeds up the process.”

In other words, the pollution of coastal waters with nitrogen based fertilisers leads to explosive blooms of algae, which when they die and decompose, depletes the available oxygen and once again the marine environment is suffocated creating hypoxic or dead zones. There are now an estimated 400 such dead zones around the world. One of the largest is in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi enters the ocean.

So let’s face it Riz, selling recycled plastic boardshorts might get you into the pages of the Guardian and one or two other newspapers, but it’s going to do nothing to stop the environmental catastrophe going on in our oceans. So what can be done? Well as we have mentioned in our original post you can give your support to a myriad organisations attempting to do something practical about the problem. For instance there’s the Great Ocean Clean Up Project, The Marine Conservation Society and Project Aware amongst many others. All of who are doing great things. There is also the Let’s Do It Mediterranean Project (LIDM). On May 9^th 2015, Civic activists from around the Mediterranean will get together for an organised assault on the huge amount of waste and litter that plagues the region. LIDM is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme and has been doing amazing things since 2007. So get up, get involved and if you can’t, at least spread the word.

In truth though and despite the great efforts of the organisations mentioned and their supporters (that means you), real change will only come when there is a revolution in people’s daily habits. We live in a throw away culture and that needs to change pretty damn sharpish. So having had a bit of a ponder about the issue, we think we’ve hit on an idea that might help and you won’t have to buy a single pair of boardshorts. Besides being careful about how you dispose of things like not pouring paint down the drain or flushing cotton buds down the pan (seriously! Stop that) you can do something very, very simple. You can stop buying bottled water! OK we know that if you’re travelling to the more tropical, disease infested, parts of the world, drinking bottled water is your only option. Even in parts of the Mediterranean the water treatment process leaves a lot to be desired and so again bottled water is a good idea but here in the UK? In France? In Germany? Do you really need to buy gallons of plastic encased H2O?  In the UK for instance, the water that comes from the tap is not only clean and safe it tastes no different than the most expensive bottled stuff you can buy. Think about it, all you need to do is buy a simple reusable flask or bottle, fill it up from the tap and you have clean, hydrating water wherever you go. In one single change, we could clear the supermarket shelves of all those utterly unnecessary plastic containers. We could also end the wretched travesty of waiters in over-priced restaurants trying to sell you water for £20 a bottle because it’s been filtered through volcanic rock. It really is that simple. So wherever you are in the UK, when someone tries to sell you over-priced, over-blown and quite unnecessary bottled water, think of the environment, think of your hard-earned cash, think of how pathetic all that expensive advertising about naturally filtered water is and then in a clear, proud voice retort: “No thanks mate! Make mine tap!

And as we have mentioned before, if you see someone throwing a plastic bottle in the sea - chuck them in after it!

Clean Up The Oceans By Buying Plastic Shorts?

Riz Smith, who has been variously described as a designer, gentleman surfer and conservationist, has come up with an idea to rid the oceans of plastic litter. He’s going to turn your Evian bottle into designer boardshorts. On his website, Riz states: 

Umm... Bees?

Our mission is to make beautiful boardshorts for a beautiful plastic-free ocean.  Experts estimate that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile of the ocean. We don't want our shorts to end up littering landfills or oceans. So, in an effort to do our part, we’ve developed the Rizcycling programme.

Rizcycling means working with our customers to create a perpetual loop that transforms waste and worn out swimwear into beautiful new products.  

We will be working with our partners The Marine Conservation Society in 2015 to hold 10 Riz-sponsored beach clean-ups that gather 25,000 pieces of beach plastic.

Our ultimate aspiration is to turn ocean and beach plastics, the water bottles that end up floating in the sea or littering beaches, into beautiful shorts

We are working with fabric manufacturers and other brands to figure out how this process can work, so that by 2016 our first short can be made from ocean plastics.

Riz Smith, through his contacts with The Marine Conservation Society will collect loads of plastic bottles from the oceans and make them into boardshorts. We, the customers, will then buy the shorts and when they wear out or we tire of the style, we’ll hand them back to Riz in return for a discount on another pair. Closed loop recycling as Riz calls it.

Riz's closed loop system

That sounds like a brilliant idea. Buy some shorts and the oceanic plastic problem is solved. Now if Riz makes a yellow and blue bikini the Ukrainian issue will be solved too!

The thing is, after pondering a bit, we started to see some flaws in the idea.

Firstly lets look at the numbers. On his website Riz mentions that experts estimate (the word expert and the word estimate used together can easily be read as: some blokes say) that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile of the ocean. 

Seriously! In every square mile? That doesn’t sound right to us.

Wouldn’t it be better to say that: if you separate out all the plastic in the ocean into equal square mile sections, there would be 46,000 pieces in every section – at a guess. (Sorry but one of us is very pedantic about statistics) To make a start on this vast mountain, Riz is going to organise 10 sponsored beach clean-ups this year that will gather 25,000 pieces of plastic. That’s not even one square mile of ocean sorted out, but never mind 10 beaches get cleaned and that’s a good thing, but who is doing all this collecting? Are beach clean-ups going to be the way that the company gets it’s raw materials if so will it be yearly sponsored collections? Will the collectors eventually be paid?

The reason we ask, is that imagine that Riz’s idea takes off, imagine he starts making some serious money. Would you give your free time in order to provide a cost free labour source for a profit making business? And what if the collections are taking place, not in the UK or rich western countries but poorer ones? Are the citizens of those countries going to be asked to do the collecting for nothing? Eventually, someone, somewhere is going to want to see some money for all the effort.

The 5 Ocean Gyres where plastic accumulates

Another problem is that most of the oceans plastic is not in fact littering beaches. Instead it is floating in huge Gyres the largest of which, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, contains around 1/3 of all oceanic plastic. So even if you did clean up all the beaches in the UK or even the world, you won’t have cleared a fraction of the circulating oceanic plastic.

An even bigger issue with this is that Riz doesn’t seem to have solved the issue of how he is actually going to turn oceanic plastic into boardshorts. In his own words, it remains an aspiration and that’s why he is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds so that he can work with manufacturers and others to see how the process will work. Umm… !

Despite this issue, Riz has set a target of 2016 for the first boardshorts to be made from recycled ocean plastic. What if this aspiration can’t be achieved? What if the manufacturers think it is economically unviable or just that the manufacture of such items is unfeasible. 

 

Riz currently sells his boardshorts, made from recycled fabric, for £80 a pop. Now that’s pretty pricey for a pair of recycled shorts and there is no reason to assume that those made from plastic are going to be cheaper. Obviously Riz might be going for a bit of exclusivity in his branding, a sort of snob value for the denizens of Hampstead and Notting Hill and he might not be remotely interested in mass marketing to the rest of us. Which does tend to raise another possibility. He might not sell very many shorts at all. So all that collected plastic will have to be turned into something else – like bottles for instance.

Of course we don’t imagine for one minute that Riz Smith is not a genuine guy, genuinely thinking about new and imaginative ideas to promote ocean conservation and he may have seen an opportunity to create a sustainable business model. After all the Great Ocean Clean Up project (the most successful crowdfunding project in history) has published their feasibility study on cleaning up the ocean gyres and maybe Riz has realised that if they are successful in 2019, there’s going to be a lot of plastic available for recycling.

Any idea that promotes the preservation of the ocean environment, or actually does something about it, is always to be welcomed and there are a great many organisations out there doing great things.

However, this particular idea has been making us argue between ourselves so much that our beer went flat. Conservation and business rarely mix; when money and profit become involved the lines become very blurry indeed. Add to that fact, that despite our hopes that Riz is onto something, we get a sense that this is a bit gimmicky, a bit fashion world tokenism that generates sales by playing on middle class guilt. Sure you drive a petrol guzzling 4X4 and chuck away more rubbish than the population of Timbuktu but don’t worry, just buy a pair of Riz Smith’s boardshorts and a bag for life and the Karma is balanced. So no matter how well intentioned, this idea seems to be really nothing more than a good selling point for Riz’s boardshorts and we doubt it will do anything to deal with the problem except maybe to highlight the issue at the odd dinner party in London. If you fancy a pair plastic shorts then be our guest, but if you truly want to help with the conservation of the ocean - get involved or donate to these organisations below. And If you see anyone chucking a plastic bottle into the ocean, do what we do - chuck them in after it!

 

Project Aware

Marine Conservation Society

The Ocean Clean Up Project