Atlantic Rising’s Message in a Bottle
It’s about a month now since the Atlantic Rising team released their “Message in a Bottle” from the deck of tanker Safmarine Bayete and entrusted it to the Atlantic Ocean. The “bottle”, a 1.5m capsule buoy, contains a collection of letters from the thousands of school students that have joined the Atlantic Rising network.
Click this link to view a video of the launch: “Message in a Bottle“
The messages were collected from pupils along the east coast of the Atlantic as the team made their way around the 1meter contour. The pupils have taken this opportunity to communicate with their Atlantic neighbours, describe their local environment and discuss their concerns for the future of our planet. These concerns cover a range of topics, from environmental…
“Global warming makes the glaciers melt and so that has a big impact with the localities on the seaside. That’s why I really worry about the future of my dear island.”
To the more personal…
“I don’t like bad smells but I like to meet different people.”
The basis though, is that these young people are inspired to play some part in preserving the future of our planet. That was the aim of the Atlantic Rising project. Engaging with young minds and promoting the idea of a learning, sharing community that’s dependent on one another and united in a common goal.
For the bottle itself, the design echoed that of a spar buoy. That is, long and deep so as not to be rocked about too much by waves. It also needs to have a bit of extra buoyancy on top though, just in case any sea creatures decide to climb on it. After it was built, the finishing touch was to paint the buoy with special paint that helps to deter barnacles and seaweed growing on it. The bottle holds the messages along with an onboard satellite tracker that communicates its location directly to the Atlantic Rising website.
The “Message in a Bottle” concept will also help us to illustrate and promote an understanding of how important ocean currents are in distributing heat within the earth’s climatic system. This will hopefully also inspire some though about the ways in which these currents might be affected by global climate change and the knock-on effect it would have on the countries around the rim of the Atlantic Ocean.
At the time of writing, the buoy was just off the coast of Brazil. You can keep up to date with its progress on here on the Our Planet page, on the Atlantic Rising page or via Facebook.
Tags: Atlantic Rising, Go Beyond, Land Rover, Message in a bottle
