Diving in at the Deep End
Kirsten Antonchich is spending her winter swimming in rubbish – literally. Setting sail on 21st November, Kirsten will join a team of women called eXXpedition, whose aim is to discover how our oceans are being affected by plastics and toxins.
At a loss with how to deal with the global problem and inspired by the eXXpedition initiative, Kirsten approached Masons earlier in 2019 to ask for sponsorship. Karl and Cathy were immediately blown away with Kirsten’s bravery and ambition. Here at Masons, our social responsibility goes way beyond just doing what needs to be done. Sustainable and doing things properly has always been at the forefront of what we do, and this initiative fit right in to our values.
Kirsten will set sail from Antigua and will travel one of the voyage legs to gather information on our oceans. You can see the Round the World route below and watch their video here.
Over the past few years, the effects that plastic is having on our oceans has become increasingly prevalent. Kirsten decided to take part in the expedition after seeing so many horrific images of marine life that had been negatively affected by plastic waste – she was heartbroken and felt helpless when she was faced with the damage we had done, so decided the expedition was a great opportunity to do something positive that would have a lasting impact.
The eXXpedition Round the World science programme will carry out research at sea and on land. The research conducted during the mission has been designed to advance a better understanding of the plastics issue as a whole and to work with industry to pinpoint solutions and policy at a global level by addressing knowledge-gaps and delivering evidence to inform effective solutions.
According to the University of Plymouth which works in the marine life and impact field say that this study will utilise standard methods to provide a global assessment to inform on the distribution and accumulation zones of microplastics in surface waters.
We are over the moon here at Masons to be supporting something so crucial and can’t wait to keep up to date with Kirsten’s journey. We’ll be regularly posting updates on our social channels so keep your eyes peeled.
