October 5, 2024

Hi and welcome to newsletter #46 of OneBeautifulPlanet.org!

This message goes to my 219 subscribers, with a big Thank you for signing up. If you have just subscribed, check out the Newsletter archive. I wrote the first issue in June 2023, and an overview of the effort at the 100th subscriber milestone.

Rosalind “Roz” Savage

I start most newsletters with a person, animal, or plant that inspired or intrigued me. It is a moment of reflection and gratitude, meant to find lessons and nurture curiosity. I previously featured animals like the albatross, the oyster, and the fossa, and luminaries such as Buckminster Fuller and Sylvia Earle.

Rosalind “Roz” Savage is best known for her incredible ocean rowing feats, setting multiple world records as the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. A former business consultant turned environmental advocate, and now fresh Member of the British Parliament, Roz accomplished seemingly impossible yet deeply compelling goals to raise awareness about environmental issues, particularly the degradation of world oceans.

Before becoming an ocean rower, Rosalind earned a law degree from Oxford University and led a fairly conventional life as a management consultant in London. But after a period of self-reflection, she decided to give it all up and pursue what she truly yearned for: a more meaningful life path. Inspired by a desire to test her limits and raise awareness for environmental causes that genuinely moved and interested her, in 2005 Roz embarked on a solo rowing journey from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, covering 3,000 miles across the open ocean in 103 days. The journey was fraught with challenges, from equipment failures to harsh weather conditions, but Roz completed it, becoming the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic from west to east.

After her Atlantic crossing, Roz took on even greater challenges. In 2008, she began rowing across the Pacific Ocean, covering 8,000 miles in three stages over several years. Her journey took her from California to Hawaii, to Kiribati, and finally to Papua New Guinea, making her the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. Amazingly, en route to Hawaii, Roz was given an essential resupply of water by the two-man crew of the JUNK raft, also on a journey from California to Hawaii: they were running low on food as their voyage was taking longer than expected, and she was able to donate them some of her surplus.

In 2011, she completed the third of her major solo ocean rows by crossing the Indian Ocean (the actual route, daily locations and destination were kept secret because of the danger from pirates), becoming the first woman to row solo across all three major oceans—Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. Along the way, she set four Guinness World Records.

Throughout her voyages, Roz Savage became increasingly aware of the environmental threats facing the world’s oceans. She saw firsthand the impact of plastic pollution and overfishing, which fueled her passion for environmental advocacy. Partnering with organizations like the Plastic Pollution Coalition, she used her expeditions to raise awareness about the urgent need to protect marine ecosystems. In addition to the physical demands of rowing, Roz’s journeys required immense mental strength: spending months on the open water in complete isolation, she faced extreme loneliness and fear, yet persevered. In her memoir “Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean”, she shares the personal challenges and lessons learned from her time at sea.

Roz's mental and physical fortitude were not just a tool for survival—they became the foundation for her activism: her legacy as an ocean rower and environmental advocate showcases the immense power of individual action and determination. Her example encouraged others to take responsibility for their impact on the planet and make meaningful changes, such as reducing plastic waste and promoting sustainable living practices. 

I found Roz’a achievements on the open seas deeply humbling and inspiring. Maybe not all of us can give up a lucrative career and start rowing across the ocean, but why not take even the smallest steps we can in our own lives, to protect our one, beautiful planet. Every little bit counts!

Sources:

• https://medium.com/@mattprioruk/roz-savage-how-adventure-had-an-impact-on-my-life-6e47f251f0e4

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roz_Savage

• https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/roz-savage-why-i-gave-job-and-husband-row-across-pacific/women-in-business/article/1485058

Mindset

“Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” 

— Captain Charles J Moore

In The Works

Cleanups

Over the past few weeks I completed a few solo cleanups, and one with my friend and fellow volunteer Daniel. In under an hour, we filled to the brim four 13-gallon trash bags with litter from a roadside area right above Pencoyd Landing, across the Schuylkill river from Wissahickon and Philadelphia.

Ironworks at Pencoyd Landing was established as specialty iron foundry in 1852, and has recently been reinvented as a modern hub of fun and hospitality. Newly refurbished, it was a finalist in the 2023 AIA Pennsylvania Architectural Excellence Design Awards for Preservation Architecture. I am deeply thankful for Daniel’s help, especially as this is his second event with One Beautiful Planet after our Ardmore cleanup in early July.

New Collaborations and Organizations Supported

I recently came across several groups doing lots of great environmental work throughout the United States. I am supporting several already, and added them to the Partners page. Here’s a quick summary of each:

Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage (OLAUG)

This is surprisingly refreshing, and motivating group of self-described old ladies, “aged 64-85 and counting, who swim in the freshwater ponds of Cape Cod collecting trash”. They are serious about their mission, diving regularly in the more than 900 ponds throughout Cape Cod, Massachusetts. However, as you can tell by their name, they don't take themselves too seriously and have a lot of fun. If this is what some folks do in “retirement”, what can YOU do?

Friends of Mount Vernon Trail

The Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail was formed in 2018 by a group of dedicated trail users: runners, walkers, families, and bike riders from the Washington DC region. Through their website I learned about (and signed up for) iNaturalist, an app that recently won the Heinz Award for the Environment and allows users to take and submit photos to the community of nature enthusiasts. Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science as findings are shared with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use submitted data. Very cool!

Algalita Marine Research And Education

Algalita is an environmental organization from Long Beach, California, and an early mover to end plastic pollution nearly 30 years ago. Through the work of oceanographer and boat captain Charles J Moore (see his quote above!), they were among the first to bring attention to the swirling soup of plastic pollution in the Pacific – now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I wrote previously about the work of The Ocean Cleanup to remove plastic from this very area, so it was great to learn about how it was discovered in the first place: Charles J. Moore, returning home through the North Pacific Gyre after competing in the Transpacific Yacht Race in 1997, came upon an enormous stretch of floating debris. Moore alerted other oceanographers and wrote about the extent of this garbage, and the effects on sea life, drawing attention to these impactful issues in an otherwise remote part of the world.

Articles

When is the last time you have seen the Milky Way with all its splendor, on a cloudless night? My latest article argues that the night sky is part of Earth’s beauty, and that protecting it through combatting light pollution is just like other forms of environmental action: something everyone must embrace.

If you found this newsletter helpful or interesting, please share it. Thank you. And of course, if you would like to collaborate in some way, whether in writing, or volunteering together at a cleanup, please let me know.

Razvan