4 Crowdfunded Conservation Campaigns Supporting Our Oceans
Courtesy The Good Beer Co.The Good Beer Co.'s James Grugeon and Darren Kindleysides
The next wave of ocean aid is coming from a surprising source: supporters pitching in via crowdfunding
Great Barrier Beer
The name alone should garner support for the drinkable product from a Brisbane philanthropist seeking to save his country’s backyard treasure; at least half the proceeds benefit the Australian Marine Conservation Society. Originally launched on Indiegogo under the name the Good Beer Co., the project gave initial investors input on things like label design and the chance to tastetest beers — cheers to that.
The Seabin Project
This garbage bin floats in marinas and other high-traffic areas to filter out plastic waste, plus oil, fuel and detergents. The work of two Australians, one a reformed plastics designer, it has already reached its goal on indiegogo.com. Next up? The pair hopes to design a model manufactured from collected plastics.
Courtesy The Ocean CleanupAn Ocean Cleanup platform at work
The Ocean Cleanup
The promise is lofty: Boyan Slat, the 21-year-old Dutch student behind the Ocean Cleanup, says that in 10 years his project will cut the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in half. V-shaped barriers funnel plastics to a platform that serves as a storage facility. The crowdfunding campaign ended successfully, but Slat still welcomes donations.
Hornraiser
Facing a lack of government backing for research projects, University of Texas at Austin created its own crowdsourcing site called Hornraiser to explore diverse subjects such as fossils and alcoholism. Mikhail Matz’s coral genome mapping project didn’t succeed in its $15,000 goal, but he raised $9,000 — and awareness that the site exists.
