© Adventure Ecology
A young aristocrat who set out to jolt people into confronting the problems facing our planet through daring feats, David de Rothschild has fought his way across the Arctic ice and sailed around vast plastic gyres in the Pacific.
By Nancy Wegner
David Mayer de Rothschild was born in London in 1978. The son of England’s famed Rothschild banking family, he first studied politics and computer science at Oxford Brookes University, later adding a distance-learning degree in naturopathy. One of the earliest chapters of his life as an adventurer was a 100-day expedition crossing the Arctic from Russia to Canada with his team, which made him the youngest Briton ever to reach both the North and South Poles. Expeditions into Ecuador’s rainforest followed, and by early 2009 he had set his sights on an altogether stranger project: building a catamaran out of plastic and sailing it across the Pacific.
Crossing the Pacific on the Plastiki
That plan became reality in March 2010, when David de Rothschild crossed the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney aboard his catamaran in just four months. What made the vessel remarkable was its construction: 12,500 recycled plastic bottles. He and his crew logged 7,500 nautical miles at sea to draw attention to the staggering scale of ocean pollution.
His aim was to prove that PVC isn’t waste, but a recyclable material — one sturdy enough to build a ship from. The voyage carried him past the so-called garbage patch, a mass of seafarers’ waste that already spans an area larger than Texas. The boat’s design drew on the traditions of ancient Polynesian seafaring, when islanders covered vast distances relying on a fully self-sufficient system for food and water. De Rothschild’s catamaran carried a waste and water system built directly into the cabin’s outer shell, which doubled as a reservoir, collecting and filtering rainwater. Solar panels topped the roof, and on deck, a “canoe garden” grew its own plants.
In summer 2014, a book chronicling the Pacific crossing was published, letting readers relive the adventure of David de Rothschild and his crew alongside additional insight into the world’s oceans and sustainable seafood.
The Lifestyle Brand “The Lost Explorer”
The Plastiki mission wasn’t the only way this young environmental adventurer set out to change the world. In 2016, he founded the lifestyle brand “The Lost Explorer” — part lifestyle magazine devoted to environmental issues, part collection of sustainable fashion and natural cosmetics. His goal was clothing that let you have adventures in style: pieces equally at home camping in the wild or walking into a business meeting, a versatile, high-quality wardrobe for every occasion, made with the planet in mind.
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The collection includes relaxed shirts in natural tones (from €53.41), cotton-linen trousers (from €173.57), outdoor jackets (from €756.59), and Corkshell backpacks (from €400.55).
A Cosmetics Line for Adventurers
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The cosmetics line includes the “Traveler’s Protection Balm,” a cream built from natural shea butter and oils that heals and protects the skin (approx. €32.04).
The “Volcanic Face Scrub” facial exfoliant stands out for its unusual ingredients — perlite, a volcanic mineral, and blood orange (approx. €35.60). There’s also a range of moisturizers, including the “Prickly Pear Lightweight Moisturizer,” made with prickly pear, neroli oil and turmeric root extract to keep skin hydrated (approx. €42.72).
The fashion and natural cosmetics collection is available at: http://thelostexplorer.com. More on the Plastiki mission at: http://theplastiki.com/ The book on the mission, “Plastiki – Across the Pacific by Plastic: An Adventure to Save Our Oceans,” is available for around €24.60.
