Ocean of the Future
This is me wearing the SodaStream VR headset. You’d be stunned at what I can see!
It was so lovely to partner with a brand who is dedicating so much time, research, passion & resources towards making an incredible change to the state of our oceans. SodaStream, you are a true force!
Last night SodaStream launched their Ocean of the Future campaign in Sydney. This brilliant campaign is all about showing people (using amazing VR technologies), exactly what is happening to our oceans right now & focusing our attention on why we must make a change & how. Presenting alongside the incredible SodaStream team & their line up of very special guest speakers, made me feel exceptionally proud to be in that room. I was in the right place, at the right time - with the right people. It’s become so clear to me over the past few years, that when you share the same set of values with another person, brand or organisation, it’s only natural to join forces and unite. The impact is greater, the awareness is wider spread & your support system is strengthened.
I've become quite a vocal activist in the sustainability/plastic-free space recently & I've decided to get even more involved! I'm very fortunate to have a platform at my disposal, that I can use to educate others about just how simple it is to change our day-to-day habits, with the goal of eliminating the 8 million pieces of plastic pollution that enters our oceans every single day. Yes you read that correctly… 8 MILLION PEICES OF PLASTIC, PER DAY.
It's shocking right? It's confronting & upsetting - and it's becoming more & more apparent that the younger generations are also very negatively effected & experience thoughts of worry & stress. The impact of the single-use plastic pollution epidemic has left 82% of Australian children feeling hopeless about plastic waste & 32% feel as though there isn’t much they can do about it. When it’s the little ones who worry - you know a devastating issue exists.
It's time to step up & make some serious changes.
We need to start & encourage continuous change for the future!! We need to support our oceans & our marine life in order to protect our beautiful country Australia & of course, the rest of the world. As well as this, we need to support the activists who are out there in the world leading the way & showing us how to follow suit. These people are modern day heroes, and it’s up to us to fuel the fire in their bellies & acknowledge all the good they’re doing.
SodaStream can save the average household over 2000 single-use plastic bottles from ending up in our oceans and environment. Amazing right? When you look at it like this, it’s phenomenal!
As part of the Ocean of the Future, SodaStream have created and launched an epic VR (virtual reality) experience … that will blow your socks off! It is an immersive VR experience is especially designed to show people how single-use plastic is affecting our oceans. Behavioural studies championed by SodaStream and run by Neuroscientists, showed that after experiencing the VR, more than three in five (64%) of participants said they were “shocked” to learn about the amount of plastic in the ocean.
It is something I encourage as many people as possible to take part in because you will leave feeling differently and hopefully you’ll leave feeling prompted to get involved in this global initiative (i.e. reducing your reliance on single-use-plastics) & make a change.
The VR experience is a visual representation of what is happening under water. You'll witness the amount of waste entering the ocean & sinking to the bottom, where it will stay for years & years & years to come (no joke). When you first put the VR head set on - you'll see just how beautiful & pristine the ocean water & life is. The marine animals are happy & healthy and harmony exists.
Slowly however, you’ll see pieces of plastic start to fall into shot. With your net, you can scoop them up and make sure nothing reaches the ocean’s bed. But then … the rubbish falls at a much faster pace, making it almost impossible to stop the waste with your net. You'll witness dolphins getting stuck amongst the rubble, whales eating the plastic items floating around them & the coral will also begin to to die. Before long, you will loose your ability to see into the distance, as all you'll see is litter. You are left helpless.
By the end of the VR experience, it’ll hit you. The reality of it all & the fact that none of this is an exaggeration. Plastic pollution is a global epidemic. It’s force is detrimental & it’s impact is traumatic.
I can’t stress enough just how powerful this activation is & how much it will force you to stop, think & act. It's certainly not just for the kids! It's for every generation. Every generation is responsible to right our wrongs and change our future.
So please, go & experience it for yourself. More details can be found on https://www.sodastream.com.au/. Members of the public can experience this from 3rd – 7th September, 2019 at The Overseas Passenger Terminal on Sydney’s Circular Quay. Follow @sodastreamau for updates.
To Daniel Birnbaum & the team at SodaStream, thank you so much for inviting me along as an ambassador last night. Not only did I get to share my own story with the room & explain what drives my personal passion on this subject, I was also lucky enough to host a panel of extremely noble activists and explore their stories, their words of wisdom and their own commitments to make a change & lead our future. The panel included;
Joel Parkinson - World Championship Surfer
Terri-Ann Johnson - Managing Director at Clean up Australia
Sophia Skarparis - Australian Geographic Young Conservationist of the year
Daniel Birnbaum- CEO of SodaStream, and the force behind this very impressive & game changing activation.
So please guys, think twice whenever you see plastic. Consider the alternatives & do the right thing. If you need some further convincing, take a look at the list below. It’s a collection of stats & research by SodaStream and oh my gosh … It will wake you up! It certainly opened my eyes & gave me a shake!
For the many other brilliant initiatives, products & innovations at SodaStream, make sure to follow them on Instagram & Facebook … they are dynamite in this field!
Elyse … #OceanOfTheFuture
93% of Aussie parents are increasingly concerned about the level of plastic entering our oceans.
The majority of Aussie parents (57%) believing their children won’t be able to enjoy the natural environment in the same way they did.
There is not one fish in the ocean that doesn’t have plastic in it
Australian children (25%) mostly blame adults for creating the single-use plastic waste problem,
After VR experience : 79% stating their intention to reduce the negative impact they have made on the environment.
Despite having access to some of the cleanest tap water in the world, according to Clean Up Australia, Australians spend an average $385 million on more than 726 million litres of bottled water every year
The nation produces, on average, 3 billion tons of plastic each year, that’s equivalent to 103kg of plastic waste per person, with only 12% being recyclable.
And then 130,000 tons of that same plastic a year from Australia finds its way to the ocean, contributing to a total of 8 million tons from around the world. So it’s easy to understand why 75% of waste removed from our beaches is made from plastic.
Members of the public can experience the VR activation, put the goggles on and see the future impact of single-use plastics for themselves at Sydney’s Circular Quay from 3rd – 7th September, 2019
A turtle sculpture was created , named, Eddy, made from 242kg of single-use plastic items, collected from the ocean around Turtle settlements in Northern Queensland, and can be viewed at the same activation site as the VR experience.
Australians can also help save its shores and oceans from the single-use plastic waste epidemic by taking simple steps such as buying SodaStream - by using its one BPA free carbonating reusable bottle, you avoid having to buy thousands of single-use plastic water bottles. It’s better for you, your wallet and the planet
