Sailing around San Francisco Bay with SeaTrees and Materevolve
On a beautiful warm sunny day at the end of September, our Partnerships Director, Haley travelled to Sausalito, California to join the Textile x Ocean Connector Sail organized by Materevolve. The purpose of the sail was to build community and solutions at the intersection of textile sustainability and oceans.
The day included a curated program that deepened connections between attendees and helped answer questions about textile-derived ocean pollution (i.e. microfiber pollution), climate change, waste, green chemistry, ocean-thoughtful material alternatives, and more. Haley was one of the experts onboard leading a session where participants discussed the question How can businesses be a driving force in restoring blue carbon ecosystems to address climate change?
She met the group on the dock where we heard from the Materevolve team Krystle Wood and Carolynn Box. There were approximately 40 people representing various brands, material and textile experts, scientists, schools, and nonprofits. After a brief welcome and safety briefing, they boarded the 82’ classic staysail schooner Seaward, which is operated by Call of the Sea.
Everyone split into two groups to trawl for microplastics with Dr. Win Cowger and discuss microplastic research with Dr. Susanne Brander. Then the expert tastings started with three sessions during each of the two rounds. Round one included Haley, Anna Bateman of The Microfiber Consortium and Carolynn Box of Materevolve. The second round included Alyssa Pace from SWAY, Dr. Timnit Kefela from CSU Channel Islands, and Krystle Moody Wood from Materevolve. All the while they sailed around San Francisco Bay with spectacular views of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge.
After about three hours at sea, the group docked and debriefed. It was here that everyone also took part in a networking activity where they shared their asks/offers and tried to find matches within the group. Haley was excited to get a match for one of her asks, which was help finding more coastal restoration projects for SeaTrees to support. Haley and all of us here are stoked to see what comes out of the connection she made.
All in all this event was an incredible experience being able to connect with other sustainability experts, to discuss how businesses can be a driving force in restoring blue carbon ecosystems to address climate change. Some of the ideas that came out of Haley's session include providing funding, volunteering, finding innovative uses for urchins that eat kelp (i.e. dye for fabrics or use in ceramics), using better materials and thinking about end of life.
Thank you to Materevolve, Krystle, Carolynn, Call of the Sea for organizing the event and inviting us to participate. Also, thank you to AATCC CA and Coyuchi for sponsoring the event, and to Paige Green Photography for the images.