Floris van Hees and Ivar Smits are Dutch sailors on a voyage of discovery around the world as the "Sailors for Sustainability”. Since 2016, they have been documenting success stories of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being put into practice. To encourage others to follow these sustainable solutions, the sailors describe them in their articles, blog posts and videos. Over the past eight years, they have visited 40 countries and documented more than 60 examples of sustainable living. They themselves live as sustainably as possible by using the wind to propel their tiny floating home across oceans, harnessing renewable electricity, buying local and seasonal food, and using sustainable products.
Messrs. van Hees and Smits are currently in Canada, preparing to sail back to continental Europe via Greenland and Iceland. For the?UN Chronicle, they reflect on their adventure and what they have learned so far.
How it all started
“We were very worried”, sailor Ivar Smits recalled, citing the reason for embarking on the Sailors for Sustainability voyage around the world. Thanks to modern science, including such tools as satellite measurements and oceanographic research, we know that our world is in peril. Climate breakdown, the mass extinction of plants and animals, deforestation and pollution threaten our biosphere. In addition, economic and financial crises are impacting much of the world, while social inequality is rampant and getting worse. The problem, we realized, was not overpopulation but overconsumption. The richest 20 per cent of the world's population consume more than 80 per cent of the Earth’s energy and raw materials. It became clear that humanity had to fundamentally change course to survive on this planet, yet a hopeful perspective was lacking.
We asked ourselves: what if we looked for solutions to sustainability challenges? When people learn from the good example of others, those success stories may motivate them to change their behaviour. We decided to sail our small vessel,?Lucipara 2, around the world, seeking to highlight techniques and practices that showed how we could live in harmony with nature and each other. It was an ambitious proposition because there are so many aspects to living sustainably. Therefore, we decided to take a broad approach based on the SDGs.
Inspiring solutions everywhere
Before setting sail, we contemplated an example from our home country, the Netherlands, that could serve as an inspiration for others. We agreed that our??has many benefits for planetary and human health. The cycling lifestyle in the Netherlands could not have flourished without government policies, infrastructure and support from lobbying groups. We soon learned that the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, was following a similar strategy. To achieve its goal of?, the city was supporting cyclists and pedestrians by giving them better infrastructure. Denmark, we learned, is also at the forefront of?. It may not be the most engaging topic, but saving energy is an important part of the solution, we found.?
Of course, the energy we need should be generated by renewable means, such as wind, solar and geothermal production. The Danish island of??showed us that wind energy can cover all electricity needs. The key ingredient for the successful installation of wind turbines for Sams? was community involvement. The island’s inhabitants were involved in the decision-making and could become co-owners and beneficiaries of the energy and profits, which removed all initial resistance. Neighbouring Norway produces enough hydropower energy to stimulate the?. Further south, in Spain, we saw that solar energy could be used to generate??on a large scale, even at night. We believe that these examples merit imitation in the rest of the world, depending on the local conditions. By leaving fossil fuels in the ground and using renewable energy sources, we can drastically reduce CO2 emissions and limit the worst consequences of the climate breakdown.
We also became hopeful about our food supply, thanks to agricultural initiatives that are based on community and cooperation with nature. In Germany, we visited a??farm, where produce is grown organically in a closed nutrients loop and supplied directly to 400 members. In Brazil, a farmer turned a deforested, poisoned and barren piece of land into a??that yields more harvest per square metre than industrial monoculture agriculture, without the use of synthetic fertilizers or agricultural poisons. The farm looked like a jungle and was full of insects and birds. In??and?, we saw how much land can be saved and animal suffering avoided when people eat less meat. Consuming more plant-based food is also cheaper and healthier. Such crops can be grown using?, as we found in New Zealand, which restores the soil and enables it to absorb a lot of CO2.
Fundamental changes
The many solutions for future-proof energy and food supplies made us feel optimistic, but we realized that changes in those fields alone won’t get us to a more sustainable and equitable society. In many areas, other fundamental changes are needed, such as making the economy circular, and changing legislation and the ways in which we organize work. Even our monetary system needs a major overhaul. Fortunately, we also found examples in those areas.?
The way homes are built is of major significance for global emissions. In Ushuaia, Argentina, we visited an “earth ship”, a house built with?. It even produces its own energy and collected rainwater for drinking and plumbing needs. The circular building provided a stark contrast to the surrounding area, where shacks of corrugated iron are encroaching on the natural world. When nature is destroyed on a large scale, it makes sense to prosecute those responsible. International?, which criminalizes the large-scale destruction of ecosystems, aims to do just that. Equally important, as the late Polly Higgins, a Scottish barrister and environmental lobbyist, explained to us, is the deterrent effect ecocide law can have on States, companies and individuals who consider destroying ecosystems for financial gain.?
We learned that??offers perspectives for reducing inequality. In the Basque Country of Spain, the model is used by a large conglomerate. The employees of the company are also co-owners and are involved in decision-making. The result: long-term thinking and commitment, better wages and less inequality and unemployment. More radical than changing the way businesses are owned and operated, however, is the idea that our monetary system should become more local and circular. In Sardinia, we became acquainted with the?, a digital currency that is used between Sardinian businesses and their employees to support the local economy and make it more circular.
Sustainability from within
Most of the solutions we have described are tangible examples of sustainability in action. Yet our sailing journey also made us realize that the most important ingredient for a sustainable future is sustainability from within. By that we mean adopting a different way of perceiving the Earth and our role in it. “Everyone has a green heart, we just need to learn to use it more,” Chris Dews reminded us in Ibiza while showing us his?. If someone truly lets their green heart speak, behaving sustainably becomes second nature.
Such a mind-shift is perhaps more difficult to achieve in Western culture, as its fast pace leaves little time for reflection. We found that by going?, head space is created again, the beauty of nature is appreciated and material wealth becomes less important. We experienced similar revelations while sailing through untouched natural areas, such as those in Patagonia. Some of these places were well protected because their beauty and value were recognized. New Zealand went a step further by granting?. The legislation was based on the Māori worldview that humans are the guardians of nature. It teaches that it is our collective responsibility to take care of nature and pass it on to future generations in a good state. The New Zealand law aims to improve the protection of nature. At the same time, it is an example of how adopting a different worldview can save our precious planet.?
Similarly, in South Africa we learned that the life philosophy??has great potential for society and our planet. At the centre of ubuntu is the understanding that we are all part of a community and we all benefit from helping others and sharing with those in need. The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu further extended this concept, emphasizing that we humans can only exist because of our planet.?“I am because we are” and “we are because the planet is”,?.
Collecting pieces of a puzzle
We like to think of the sustainable solutions we have documented as pieces of a large, complex jigsaw puzzle. As we collect more and more pieces, the contours of an ecologically sound and socially just society become more visible. That image can act like a compass to guide our behaviour. It is an image based not on some utopia but on success stories that have already been realized somewhere in the world. At the same time, we realize that the puzzle is far from finished. There are still plenty of solutions to discover and people to inspire.?
All hands on deck
Our journey has made us more hopeful about the future because we have found so many concrete opportunities to deal with nature and each other in smarter and better ways. The next challenge is to make all those good examples successful everywhere. When someone asks us what they can do, we say, never underestimate your own influence. Apply the sustainable solutions we describe in your own life and be a role model. After all, you are more than just you. You are a member of a family and community. You are an employee or employer, a consumer, voter and investor. To achieve a truly sustainable society, systemic change is needed, but that change cannot come without the support of large groups of people. That is why it is so important that as many people as possible contribute to sustainable change. As there is a lot to do and time is running out, it really is all hands on deck!
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Get in touch!
You can contact the Sailors for Sustainability if you have ideas for sustainable solutions, or if you would like to interview us or partner with us in any way. We also give online and live presentations about our sailing trips, the sustainable solutions that we have described, and ways in which everyone can bring them into practice. You can subscribe to our e-mail newsletter on our?, subscribe to our?, and follow us on?,??or?. If you like our stories, please share our posts, consider a donation or support us on?. For more information, visit us at?ttps://sailorsforsustainability.nl/supportus/.
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The UN Chronicle is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
