Taking action for climate change by surfing

thank you

thank you

[Applause]

what have i gotten myself into

what have i gotten myself into you know

that feeling

you know that feeling it’s the feeling

you get when you

take on a challenge which at the start

seems

way too big for you it’s like you know

after the christmas holidays

you’ve gained some weight you start

running in january you know and after

one kilometer you’re like

what have i got to myself into or it’s

that ikea cupboard you want to

piece together on your own

and the manual said you knew two people

to put it together see you falling apart

what have i got to myself into now i can

get that feeling and i had that feeling

last week walking back

from my local supermarket oh sorry

walking back from my local local

supermarket now

you might think i’m a bit weird by

telling you this but i get that feeling

when i walk down the street and i see

plastic bottles

plastic bags candy wrappers

laying out in the street we are

plasticizing

our earth we are plasticizing our earth

now i know there’s been this great surge

in awareness

around plastic pollution we all know it

the harms and effects

we have all these cleanups going on

everywhere

but does it change anything did you

realize by actually helping

where it might be helping those

companies putting out that plastic

on the market in the first place we are

aiding them we

are keeping them in the shadows by

cleaning up

they don’t have to change as long as we

clean up

that’s what i’m thinking about when i

walk down the streets and i see

that plastic litter laying there and i

think

to myself i’ve been working on fighting

plastic pollution for

the last few years but despite all my

effort

is it worth it what have i gotten myself

into

my name is i’m the plastic

soup surfer and i build boards from

plastic waste

and i use those boards for expeditions

and campaigns now i’ve been surfing

since i was eight years old

and um in six years ago i built my first

board from

plastic waste which was washed up on the

beach of my local my local surf beach

and i built this board and it was it was

about awareness this project i surfed

that board 350 kilometers down the dutch

coast

350 kilometers

and something happened those three days

of surfing

i started off as a surfer making a

statement on a board made from plastic

waste

and i got off three days later as an

activist

as the plastic soup surfer

two years later i built this board

a board made with 60

plastic bottles did you know these types

these like half liter plastic bottles

are littered in the netherlands up to 35

million

each year 35 million of these small

plastic bottles littered

every year which is a hundred thousand

in our streets

in our parks in our waterways one

hundred thousand each day

when well there’s a solution to this to

stop this

littering and it’s called bottle

deposits

bottle deposits you pay a little extra

when you get your bottle

15 cents and then you return it to the

store

you get your 15 cents back has nothing

to do with awareness

you just want your money back 15 cents i

want my money back

i think it’s a great idea so i built

this board

and all that board i surfed

from scheveningen all the way to england

200 kilometers a record attempt

but i did not do that because i wanted

a line in the guinness book of world

records i did that

because i wanted deposits on these small

plastic bottles and this was the kickoff

to a petition a petition which asked

deposits and i got 55 000 signatures

because of that kickoff to that campaign

and for those wondering i never got that

line in the guinness book of world

records i did get

that what did i get myself into a moment

somewhere in the middle of the north sea

and we did manage to get to the other

side as you just saw but

uh it was very different from then we

had planned

now fast forward a few months

up one back yeah fast forward

i’m in my car i’ve got a small red car

got it with me now

55 000 sugar hearts in the trunk

filled stacked and the smell

of these sugar hearts is penetrating the

car and i have to actually roll down the

window well actually bust down the

window

but anyway i have to i have to roll it

down because it’s just so penetrating

and even though it’s very cold outside

it’s february it’s valentine’s day

i have to roll down the window and i’m

bringing these 55 000 sugar hearts

to parliament to the hague

55 000 big heaps and i’m going to give

them to

the politicians over there and this is

basic psychology if you give

if you give something you’re more likely

to get something back so i’m giving them

these sugar hearts and what do i want

from these politicians

i want their signature so i’ve written

my own resolution

just same formal language they do same

form of language

and it’s it has a pros promise it says

we 55

000 people want you to commit to 90

percent

less littered plastic bottles 90

lit less littered plastic bottles

doesn’t say deposits right but everybody

knows 90

less littered bottles can only be

achieved by

deposits and something amazing happens

all these politicians sign my resolution

two days later there’s a big meeting

and my resolution which is then called

the plastic soup server resolution

is actually adopted without vote

and then after that it is used for

policy in the netherlands which we’ll

see deposits only small plastic bottles

next year july that’s what happened

and i’ve had that what do i get myself

into a moment

very very often i’ll show you

i’ve just done my first hour

um what can i say

well what have i gotten myself into

that’s what i’m thinking

so this wasn’t my first this so this

wasn’t my first and it wasn’t my last

what have i got to myself into uh moment

like i showed you i’ve served all the

the entire dutch coast

350 kilometers didn’t finish that uh

i paddled down the entire river right

that was the start of that

i did finish that did get that what did

i get myself into a moment

um i built a surfboard a 3d printed

first in the world 3d

printed windsurf board from recycled

plastic

in 2018 and windsurf that from france

back

didn’t make that either

so i know those moments of what did i

get myself into

after that we used uh bailiffs

dividers to go up to oh sorry i’ve

missed one

uh video so this is me paddling down

the anterior river ryan 1 000

kilometers we used

that attention to go up to the ceos

of companies like heineken and coca-cola

i used bailiffs to go up to them

we developed judicial instruments like

the formal notice

to offer to them

we together with a very famous

litter picker here in the netherlands we

had we went up to swedes wrappers

sweet companies like antaflu and we had

them change their wrappers from plastic

to wax paper just last winter

we had the entire reed dutch retail and

wholesale

stop and recall all

plastics all fireworks with plastics

and it’s being discussed in brussels at

the moment just last week we had the

entire retail

ban water water balloons and plastic

confetti just last week

and you might think

i don’t blame you for thinking maybe

these are very small steps

if you’re talking about plastic

pollution

in the global scale and they are they

are they are small steps

but they are big steps in the heads of

the ceos

this is stopping plastic pollution at

the source

these ceos these people in charge

they are making different decisions

because awareness yes of course it’s

important but i’ll tell you why it’s

important awareness

awareness is important to increase

societal pressure

awareness is important to have ceos

and politicians get the feeling that the

measures they

take are popular that’s why awareness is

important but awareness as such

it isn’t it doesn’t change a thing

sorry because why because we are stuck

we are stuck in a throwaway society

plastic is the catalyst to this

throwaway

society plastic is always the easiest

cheapest choice if you leave it up to

the consumer

they will always choose the easiest and

and the

cheapest choice you leave it to the

responsibility

of the consumer things don’t change just

think

about covid as a parallel

what we need to do is we need to focus

we need to unite and we need to change

those in charge in my last project

i just came back from paddling down uh

the netherlands

from maastricht to scream ago 550

kilometers

and i visited all these schools and i

asked these schools

all these pupils in the classrooms to go

to their mayors to the local mayors

and ask him for separate plastic waste

collection in their classrooms

and i hope by doing so that these kids

these pupils will get that experience

of talking to somebody in charge and

having them change

so what happens when you talk to those

in charge what happens well

there’s this world famous civil rights

activist

mahatma gandhi you probably know him and

he taught us

they will ignore you they will laugh at

you

they will fight you right and there’s

this unknown dutch activist who says

you will get that what have i gotten

myself into

moment afterwards so how do you fight

that

how do you get the strength to carry on

how do you make sure that frustration

and anger

doesn’t burn you out for me and i guess

it’s for everybody

it’s about staying positive it’s about

having fun

for me that’s surfing i always feel

privileged when i’m on my surfboard and

i have my team

around me helping me out i feel

privileged that i can be there i feel

privileged because i

love the physical challenge i love

creating brainstorming with them around

our next campaigns

but what really keeps me going is the

support

of so many the feeling that we are

making

a change that is my real drive my real

goal now

you i i mean i hear you you’re probably

saying well

we can’t all be full-time activists what

can i do what

can i do and i hear you

i guess what can i do well the default

of course and i don’t have to explain

that you know using your own no

littering not using

or taking your own uh plat

bags uh taking reusable cups that’s the

default you all know that

but i’m asking you to take that next

step

that email to that supermarket manager

keep it fun but send that email

sign that petition vote green

share that facebook event but also go to

that facebook event

go to that beach cleanup because

cleaning up is important but make sure

that the results

you show that to those in charge

because we need to change those in

charge to really stop

plastic pollution we need to change our

throwaway society

and they will ignore you they will laugh

at you they’ll fight you you’ll get that

what did i get myself into a moment

and you’ll find the strength to carry on

by working together by uniting

and only that way we will

and we can change those in charge

thank you