Our Good news comes from the Goodnews Network. I have reported on this ocean cleanup system before, and now there is more good news. Here’s the story in its entirety, with major typos corrected.
Boyan Slat, Founder of The Ocean Cleanup, and Joe Gebbia, Co-Founder of Airbnb – Released
Ocean Cleanup Nonprofit Gets $25Mil From Airbnb Co-Founder to Launch Massive Plastic Pollution Cleanup.
By Andy Corbley
The co-founder of Airbnb.org has just donated $25 million to support the Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup as they prepare to assemble and deploy the largest plastic capture system ever developed for use in the ocean.
The Ocean Cleanup’s pilot-scale ocean cleaning system, System 002, has been deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) located between Hawai’i and California since late 2021. It has so far removed close to 200,000 kilograms, or roughly 440,000 pounds, of plastic that otherwise would have remained trapped for decades or more.
“I’m proud to partner with The Ocean Cleanup in their crucial work to remove harmful plastics from our oceans,” said Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and Samara. “The Ocean Cleanup has created systems and technology that actually work at scale. In order for them to deploy across our oceans and rivers, they now need to scale their funding. It is my hope that this donation can inspire others to act.”
As the only group currently cleaning the trillions of plastic pieces in the GPGP, The Ocean Cleanup has streamlined its cleaning systems to be as cost-effective as possible, allowing their entirely not-for-profit income generation and any potential donations to go far.
Dutch wiz kid and Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat has been developing the capture system for a decade and has gradually enlarged and improved it based on fieldwork harvesting plastic from the GPGP. System 03 cleans ten times faster than the previous system and could clean all the plastic patches of the world’s oceans with about 10-50 systems.
“Joe’s continued support of The Ocean Cleanup’s mission has a direct impact on our operations all over the world,” said Slat. “Thanks, in part, to his generous assistance, we are able to scale up our work in oceans and rivers, helping us reach our goal of ridding the world’s oceans of plastic. On behalf of the world’s largest ecosystem, we are immensely grateful for the support.”
Slat’s work in the GPGP will go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in the 21st century. In front of him was a true leviathan of a problem—a patch of plastic trash twice the size of Texas swirling in International Waters where even the loudest climate-hollering nation-state had no desire to even crack an idea about how to clean it.
Relying only on his team and his vision of basic scientific deduction and elegant engineering solutions, Slat proved that the most absurd problem was nevertheless solvable.
His vision attracted millions in private contributions from philanthropists like Gebbia, even while government scientists sneered at his use of fossil-fuel vessels to pull the nets to capture the plastic.
Here is a photo of the system.
Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup
The good news here is that with additional funding, the oceans become closer to being cleaned. Today’s Johnku talks about this important project.
Funding by John W. Howell © 2023
To finally conquer,
The oceans plastic problem . . .
Money speaks loudly.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Fiction Favorites 
Thanks, dear John, great to read that the problem of plastic in the oceans could be solved. Now the money to do so is needed. It’s a pity although we live at the sea, nobody has heard about this project here. It needs a better PR.
Have a great weekend as well
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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They are concentrating on the Pacific plastic problem right now. I think they will expand once that problem is solved. At least I hope so. Thanks, F4. 😊
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We as well
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Great news, John! Sounds like you had a lot of clean up to do too, lols. Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs 💕🙂
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Thank you, Harmony. Have a wonderful weekend as well. 🤗
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Good find and promotion of a worthy cause. Given the enormity of the ocean, the plastic problem seems to get lost.
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The Pacific problem is one of the biggest at a trillion pieces of plastic. Let’s hope a few more billionaires get on the bandwagon.
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Such a great thing. Seems a much better use of all those riches than sending another personal rocket into space.
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I agree, Craig. Let’s take care of this planet before screwing up another one.
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Finally, somebody cares enough to get things started! Thanks, John! 🦈🐳🐠
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I agree, GP. It is a problem that money can solve. So you billionaires out there kick in a few mil and let’s solve this thing. (I wonder if anyone hears us?)😁
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This is wonderful news, John. Thanks for sharing!
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It is wonderful, Jill. Thank you. 😁
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Clean water is always a reason to be happy!!
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I’ll second that. Thanks, Annette.
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Awesome follow up report.
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Thanks, Charles.
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You’re welcome.
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Twice the size of TX. That’s hard to imagine. Like Craig said, this seems like a much better use of money than personal rockets. Have a great weekend, John!
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Thank you, Teri. Have a super weekend as well. 😁
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Wonderful news, John, thank you for sharing. It’s heartening to read the stories you share. Have a great weekend.
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You as well, Gwen
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I love this story so much, though the end irritated me. OF COURSE the government would be critical without even trying to solve the issue. Thank God that didn’t stop them from moving forward.
Thanks, John. And happy weekend.
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The Biden crew wants to kill fossil fuels and really don’t care about the consequences.
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From day one, when he killed the Keystone Pipeline. I grew up in a fossil-fuel forward community. You know how PA is; that’s where all the industry was back in the day.
I’m all for being environmentally friendly, but there has to be a sensible transition. You can’t do it overnight.
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I agree. PA is still producing a lot of quality crude. I want to know how all the electricity that will be in demand for cars etc is going to be produced. No one has an answer. when asked.
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Especially in states like California, whose grid can’t handle the demand now, yet they’re forcing gas-appliance bans. It’s scary to think about what’s going to happen.
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Very scary.
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This is good news for sure. The problem is, what will be done with all the plastic they collect? For Ocean also collects plastic, country by country, and turns it into jewelry to fund their operation. We need some plastic-eating bacteria.
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I think there are plenty of uses for the plastic. Thanks, Noelle.
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Hi John, I was shocked the first time I saw online how much plastic has accumulated in this part of the ocean. So nice to see these efforts. Thanks for sharing this story and I hope you have a nice weekend!
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I hope you have a nice weekend as well Barbara.
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I hadn’t heard this one, John — thank you for letting us know. It’s nice when money can be used for such a worthwhile cause.
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Sad thing is all it takes is money. The solution works. Thanks, Debbie.
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This is indeed fantastic news, John. Perfect JohnKu to go with it, as well.
Happy Friday to you and your girls!
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Thank you, Dale. Happy Friday to you as well.
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Thank you, kiind sir!
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😁
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I think I saw this featured on 60 Minutes a while ago. I’m so glad to hear that the investment in clean oceans has leveled up!!!
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Me too.😁
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That is an amazing machine, John. Thanks for telling us about it. IMO, it’s too bad the people who trashed the ocean can’t be held accountable.
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I’m even more basic. People who litter ought to be made to pick it up.
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There you go!
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Originally I wrote people who litter ought to be shot, but thought better of it.
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This makes me happy 🙂
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Me too, Denise.
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love it John. Thanks for sharing! ❣️
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I’m glad you liked it Cindy. Me too.
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You’re most welcome! 💗
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🤗
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I love it when people who have extreme wealth use it for such a great cause! Fantastic!
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I do too. I don’t begrudge them their Bentley but after that, come on. Cough up some dough.
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This is very exciting!! There might just be hope for the future after all!
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Maybe. 🤣
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Money indeed will get the oceans cleaned up but how long will it last. We need to educate people on how to not throw things out. That may be insurmountably.
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A problem for sure, Pam.
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I’ve heard that Boyan was only 16 when he developed this. Either way, it’s encouraging to see that the future generation is making a huge effort to clean up the mess. Thanks for sharing, John.
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It is a great story. 😊
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Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful, dear John! Let’s hope total cleaning is expected everywhere & in every sphere of our life. 🍤🍤🍤🍻
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What a great hope, Maria. I share that hope as well. 🍰🥂
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That’s great. So nice that people are willing to tackle this huge problem. It’s definitely not one that can just be swept under a rug.
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So true. A trillion pieces of plastic would take a huge rug for sure. Thanks for the visit, Betsy.
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Thanks for sharing the news, John. 🙂
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😊
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This is great!
I should look them up on line. I’d like to know what they do with all the plastic they clean up. Is it recyclable?
Your Haiku is versatile. I like it!
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Thank you, Resa. I make sure my Haiku can hold up under all kinds of conditions. 😁
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OX 😁 😁 OX
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🐂 😁 😁 🐂
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🐂🐂🐂🐂 ☄️
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☄️🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 ☄️
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The cowmets look better in the annotator.
☄️🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 ☄️
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They do for sure ☄️🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂 ☄️
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The emoji does not look like that in the selections!!!!!! It’s a comet, not a messed. up blue apostrophe.
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☄️ I get that. 😁
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I love this!!
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Me too.
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😀
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