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\u201cEight million tons.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Christine Spiten lets the number sink in for a second \u2026 \u201cThat\u2019s how much plastic enters the sea every year from our cities and rivers. It threatens not just local ecosystems and the wider environment, but also us \u2013 our food sources, our livelihoods, our very existence. It is the fastest growing environmental problem we face. And it demands action. Now.\u201d <\/p>\n Spiten doesn\u2019t like wasting time. The 30 year old Norwegian is a former national sailing champion, co-founded pioneering underwater drone company Blueye Robotics in 2015 \u2013 with the goal of making underwater exploration more accessible, for both individuals and industry \u2013 was shortlisted for Nor-Shipping\u2019s Young Entrepreneur Award in 2017 and, in 2019, decided to use her passion and business network to help the World Wildlife Fund. She is now their Senior Advisor, Plastic & Circular Economy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI was sick of being at the \u2018end of funnel\u2019,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThrough my work with Blueye I wanted to help people fall in love with the ocean. To both reveal and immerse them in the beauty beneath the waves, hopefully sparking a lifelong interest and passion. People care for things they experience, enjoy and understand. Blueye drones open up a new world of wonder.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHowever,\u201d she adds, \u201cI also saw at first hand, through both research projects and commercial and recreational use, just how much pollution was entering our oceans. I saw it\u2019s impact and felt, I don\u2019t know\u2026 a little powerless. I wanted to change that. I wanted to help address the problem at its source \u2013 to try and block the funnel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut that,\u201d she says with an air of marked understatement, \u201cis a challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n Collaborating for change<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spiten wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s rare to speak to someone that oozes this much ambition. She speaks with a calm, focused manner that belies the obvious energy she possesses. A quick look through her CV reveals various business founder and board roles \u2013 including a position as a co-Captain of EnterpreneurShipOne, an organisation working to tackle ocean challenges through collaboration and innovation – and an advisor job with Rev Ocean, Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge R\u00f8kke\u2019s not-for-profit research organisation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is what I love doing, working with the ocean\u201d she states. \u201cAnd if I can help affect positive change then it\u2019s the ultimate win-win.\u201d <\/p>\n Spiten\u2019s chief responsibility is to work with the corporate sector to help bring about transformation in how business addresses the use (and ownership) of plastics, helping enable a more circular economy and drastically reducing waste. Her remit ranges from engaging with FMCG firms through to political initiatives and collaborations. With her established business network and profile through Blueye, the maritime sector is an obvious area of focus. And initial success.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI was delighted to announce our collaboration with the Grieg Foundation earlier this year,\u201d she notes. \u201cThat\u2019s a clear example of how we can work together with industry on a solutions-orientated approach \u2013 utilising commercial expertise and assets to deliver on environmental objectives.\u201d <\/p>\n The two partners have set their sights on the Philippines \u2013 both home to the majority of Grieg Group\u2019s seafarers and, sadly, a major ocean polluter. The sprawling archipelagic nation is the world\u2019s third most plastic-polluting country, after China and Indonesia, despite the fact that around half of its 100 million strong population depend on ocean fishing for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christine Spiten, Nor-Shipping\u2019s latest #ACTION hero, is profiled here, explaining how she left Blueye for the WWF and a mission to stop the ocean’s plastics problem the problem at its source.\u00a0\u201cEight million tons.\u201d Christine Spiten lets the number sink in for a second \u2026 \u201cThat\u2019s how much plastic enters the sea every year from our …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[10783,3117,2565,208,8208,10784,10785],"class_list":["post-16706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news","tag-christine","tag-cleaning","tag-interview","tag-ocean","tag-plastics","tag-spiten","tag-wwf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/16707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Empowering move<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u00a0![](\"https:\/\/imagesedit.marinelink.com\/images\/storage\/w656h434\/368bbd7d.jpg\")
Plastic pollution in the Philippines. Photo Courtesy Norshipping<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
And it looks like she\u2019s already scored some double victories.<\/p>\n
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Local impact<\/strong><\/p>\n