David Mayer de Rothschild
| David Mayer de Rothschild | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 August 1978 London |
| Website | |
| http://www.adventureecology.com/ | |
David Mayer de Rothschild (born 1978) is a British adventurer, ecologist, and environmentalist[1] and head of Adventure Ecology, an expedition group raising awareness about climate change. He is a member of the Rothschild family, the youngest of three children of Victoria Lou Schott (born 1949) and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (b. 1931) of the Rothschild banking family of England.[1][2] His middle name "Mayer" is taken from the name of the founder of the Rothschild family banking empire, Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
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[edit] Early life
The second youngest heir to his family’s banking fortune, de Rothschild was born in 1978 in London, England. His mother, Victoria Lou Schott, is American, daughter of Marcia Lou Whitney and Lewis M. Schott.[3] He is the younger brother of Anthony de Rothschild and Jessica de Rothschild. As a teenager, de Rothschild was a top-ranked horse jumper on Britain’s junior event team. He later gave up the sport to pursue his education, stating in an interview with The New Yorker “I realized there was more to life than spending hours and hours and hours on a horse.”[4] After leaving Harrow School in 1996 he attended Oxford Brookes receiving a 2:1 B.Sc (Hons) in Political Science and Information Systems. In 2002, de Rothschild studied at the College of Naturopathic Medicine, London where he received an advanced Diploma in Natural Medicine, ND.[5]
By age 20, de Rothschild had started his own music merchandising business and sold it. In 2001 he bought a 1,100 acre organic farm in New Zealand, and was invited to take part in a Polar expedition. This experience turned de Rothschild into an enterprising eco-adventurer.[6]
[edit] Involvement
In 2006, de Rothschild spent over 100 days crossing the Arctic from Russia to Canada, which saw him become one of only 42 people, and the youngest British person, to ever reach both geographical poles. He had already become one of only 14 people ever to traverse the continent of Antarctica, and was part of a team that broke the world record for the fastest ever crossing of the Greenland ice cap.
As part of Adventure Ecology’s ARTiculate series, de Rothschild led a field trip expedition to Ecuador in 2007. The group spent time in the Ecuadorian rain forest, documenting the damage international oil companies had caused by drilling the vast oil reserves.
In March 2010 de Rothschild and a crew of 5 began an expedition to sail across the Pacific on a catamaran partially made from reclaimed post-consumer plastic bottles called the Plastiki.[7] The Plastiki successfully completed its journey to Sydney on 26 July 2010.[8]
In November 2011 de Rothschild and a small crew mounted an expedition to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest as part of the ARTiculate series, with the goal of better understanding and publicizing the effects of the controversial Belo Monte dam project. This expedition was supplemented by articles on Myoo.com and culminated in an art project developed with local children[9]. When asked by Outside Magazine reporter Caty Enders about whether an expedition could make a difference in a pressing issue like the Belo Monte dam de Rothschild replied that "it would be naïve to think that this mini art-based adventure into the Amazon is going to change what has been in motion for the last 36 years. But when you see someone in the road and they’re dying, do you keep walking and say, Oh, they’ll be dead soon? That’s the reality when you embark on an adventure like this, you may never know the true outcome until many years later" [10].
[edit] Plastiki
In the summer of 2010, de Rothschild launched the “Plastiki,” a 60-foot catamaran was built from approx. 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles and a unique recyclable technology called Seretex. Seretex, which was developed by de Rothschild and his team, was meant to reuse PET in a novel way, finding new uses for a waste product. The Plastiki and its crew sailed over 8,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney. Along with the Plastiki de Rothschild launched a platform for community interaction and sharing stories called "Myoo" (the name comes from the pronunciation of "community"). The Plastiki was named one of 2010's fifty best inventions by Time Magazine[11].The Plastiki is named after the Kon Tiki, a raft used by Pacific explorer Thor Heyerdahl[12].
The construction of the ship is notable not only for it's use of recycled plastic bottles as a primary building material, but also using reclaimed and environmentally-friendly materials throughout. In April, 2007 he told Good Morning America: "Every part of the boat, even down to the glue we used to stick the boat together, [it] is a glue we made and had to engineer specifically for this project. It's made of cashew nuts and sugar….every part of the boat - from the interior with reclaimed materials, reclaimed fabric, is all trying to do our best and showcasing there are a lot of solutions out there,"[13].
In 2009 The New Yorker's Jon Colapinto, wrote about the Plastiki, comparing it's creator, de Rothschild, to adventurers like Sir Richard Francis Burton and Sebastian Snow[14].
[edit] Accolades
David de Rothschild was awarded the accolade of "Emerging Explorer" by National Geographic,[15] was appointed an "international ambassador" by NGO Clean Up The World[16] and nominated as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum.
[edit] Literary work
In 2007 de Rothschild wrote The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook: 77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change—Or Live Through It (ISBN 978-1-59486-781-1),[17] with afterword by Kevin Wall, which was the official companion book to the Live Earth concert series. In 2008 he was the Consultant Editor for Earth Matters: An Encyclopedia of Ecology[18] wrote action graphic novel, The Boy The Girl the Tree with artist Simon Harrison[19] and wrote the Foreword to True Green Kids:True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet.[20]
In 2008, alongside others including Zac Goldsmith, David Cameron's environmental advisor, de Rothschild helped to write the commentary for the book Antarctica - The Global Warning.[21]
De Rothschild is a HuffingtonPost.com blogger, commenting on environmental issues [22].
[edit] References
- ^ a b 7 February 2009 The Sunday Times Magazine
- ^ http://thepeerage.com/p19565.htm
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/06/090406fa_fact_colapinto
- ^ McKinley, Jesse (17 April 2009). "After the Silver Spoon, a Green Life". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/arts/television/19mcki.html. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ Ivanova, Nadya (19 October 2009). "Alternative Adventure: Eco-explorer David De Rothschild to Travel the Pacific in Plastic Ship". Circle of Blue. http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/alternative-adventure-eco-explorer-david-de-rothschild-to-travel-the-pacific-in-plastic-ship/. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ van Beynen, Martin (23 January 2010). "Absentee landlord: Little on the horizon to calm investment office". Christchurch: The Press. pp. A13.
- ^ Green message in 12,500 bottles, Australian Geographic, 27 July 2010
- ^ http://www.treehugger.com/culture/david-de-rothschild-prepares-new-adventure-amazon-interview.html
- ^ http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/David-de-Rothschild-Challenges-Belo-Monte-Dam.html
- ^ The 50 Best Inventions of 2010, Time Magazine, November 11, 2010
- ^ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/06/090406fa_fact_colapinto?changecurrentdate%20John%20Colapinto,%20“Message%20In%20a%20Bottle,”%20The%20New%20Yorker,%206%20April%202009
- ^ http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Green/david-de-rothschild-sailing-australia-plastiki-boat-made/story?id=10300495#.Tw4JWXPlCcc
- ^ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/06/090406fa_fact_colapinto?changecurrentdate%20John%20Colapinto,%20“Message%20In%20a%20Bottle,”%20The%20New%20Yorker,%206%20April%202009
- ^ National Geographic: David de Rothschild
- ^ Profile
- ^ http://getgreenwithstyle.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/green-book-review-global-warming-survival-handbook/
- ^ London: Dorling Kindersley, 2008. ISBN 9780756634353
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boy-Girl-Tree-David-Rothschild/dp/0984304703
- ^ National Geographic Society. ISBN 9781426304439
- ^ Antarctica: The Global Warning, The Five Mile Press Pty. Limited, 2008
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-de-rothschild
[edit] External links
- [2]
- NZ Business/ Farming: British Heir Sells Off Chunk of Farm
- David de Rothschild sets sail in what could be his boldest adventure yet -- to Plastic Island on Plastiki
- Adventure Ecology website
- http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/david-de-rothschild/plastiki-text]
- National Geographic Emerging Explorers
- Outside Magazine, June 2006 Article
- The TH Interview Part 1
- John Colapinto, “Message In a Bottle,” The New Yorker, 6 April 2009
- Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders, 20 April 2009
- Sundance Channel: ECO TRIP - About David de Rothschild
- David de Rothschild Replies to Oil Shale Plea
- [ http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-millionaire-artist-aiming-to-bring-environmental-issues-to-the-worlds-attention-395947.html]
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]
- [6]
- [7]
- [8]
- [9]
- and http://tunza.mobi/articles/david-de-rothschild%C2%A0adventurer-environmentalist-and-unep-climate-hero/
- [10]
- [11]
