On August 23, 2017, the ship Race for Water docked at the military port of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Thanks to the valuable support of the Dominican Army, the Swiss Embassy, and the Swiss Dominican Chamber of Business and Tourism, the Race for Water Odyssey team carried out numerous field actions. An opportunity for the teams to meet the locals and thus present the missions of the foundation while raising awareness about plastic pollution.
Think Innovation
Barely arrived in the Dominican Republic, the Race for Water Odyssey was at the heart of the «Think Innovation: waste and energy for sustainability» conference. With over 150 experts, this cycle of conferences is organized every year in Santo Domingo by the Dominican-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Tourism and brings together a panel of local and international specialists in the field of energy and new technologies.
The Minister of the Environment launched this conference with a poignant speech on the state of our oceans and the paramount importance of their preservation. The Swiss Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires then recalled the essential role that technology can play in such a challenge and the place of choice that Switzerland holds in technological development.
Marco Simeoni, President of Race for Water, and Camille Rollin, specialist in plastic waste to energy projects were invited to speak for 45 minutes and presented the Foundation’s vision of the growing contamination of the oceans by plastic waste. They reminded the essential role of oceans in the production of our oxygen and presented some frightening figures on the extent of plastic pollution in less than a century of existence of this so-called revolutionary material. Marco and Camille wanted to demonstrate how using advanced technology to transform plastic waste into energy could counter this scourge and have large social, economic, and environmental benefits. Alongside the Foundation, experts then discussed more precisely the island’s issues, describing in detail the context in which the Dominican Republic operates in the field of energy management and waste treatment.
«In addition to showing interest in our Odyssey, our convictions and the solutions we offer, several guests and speakers such as the President of AES, the largest electricity supplier on the island, or the Minister of the Environment then came to visit us on board our ship. Think Innovation enabled us to meet with a panel of local experts, whether they are entrepreneurs, industrialists or members of the government.»
Marco Simeoni
Thank you to Gaetan Bucher, President of the Dominican-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Tourism and his teams for this beautiful event.
At university
Invited by the Pontificia Universidad Catalica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) of Santo Domingo, the members of the Odyssey of Hope also gave a lecture in front of a student audience particularly sensitive to the environment. «Our role was to educate these students about ocean preservation and plastic pollution. The results of scientific studies carried out on our first expedition in 2015, on the beaches located in the heart of the five ocean gyres are unquestionable. The ocean is full of plastic with a terribly harmful impact on biodiversity and the entire food chain. This problem must be dealt with at the source at all costs, and waste must be prevented from reaching the water. Each of us has our share of responsibility and can contribute to the solution,» says Camille Rollin …
