David Mayer de Rothschild - Involvement

Involvement

In 2006, de Rothschild spent over 100 days crossing the Arctic from Russia to Canada, which saw him become one of only 42 people, and the youngest British person, to ever reach both geographical poles. He had already become one of only 14 people ever to traverse the continent of Antarctica, and was part of a team that broke the world record for the fastest ever crossing of the Greenland ice cap.

As part of Adventure Ecology’s ARTiculate series, de Rothschild led a field trip expedition to Ecuador in 2007. The group spent time in the Ecuadorian rain forest, documenting the damage international oil companies had caused by drilling the vast oil reserves.

In March 2010 de Rothschild and a crew of 5 began an expedition to sail across the Pacific on a catamaran partially made from reclaimed post-consumer plastic bottles called the Plastiki. The Plastiki successfully completed its journey to Sydney on 26 July 2010.

In November 2011 de Rothschild and a small crew mounted an expedition to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest as part of the ARTiculate series, with the goal of better understanding and publicizing the effects of the controversial Belo Monte dam project. This expedition was supplemented by articles on Myoo.com and culminated in an art project developed with local children. When asked by Outside Magazine reporter Caty Enders about whether an expedition could make a difference in a pressing issue like the Belo Monte dam de Rothschild replied that "it would be naïve to think that this mini art-based adventure into the Amazon is going to change what has been in motion for the last 36 years. But when you see someone in the road and they’re dying, do you keep walking and say, Oh, they’ll be dead soon? That’s the reality when you embark on an adventure like this, you may never know the true outcome until many years later".

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