Around the Americas Sailing Expedition and Awareness Campaign Kicks Off With Support...

Around the Americas Sailing Expedition and Awareness Campaign Kicks Off With
Support From Sailors for the Sea and Pacific Science Center
These two non-profit organizations, along with generous initial underwriting
from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, prepare for epic circumnavigation of North
and South America aimed at building awareness for ocean preservation

BOSTON and SEATTLE, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Renowned non-profit
organizations, Sailors for the Sea (http://www.sailorsforthesea.org) and the
Pacific Science Center (http://www.pacsci.org), today announced a one-year
environmental sailing expedition and circumnavigation around-the-Americas. To
launch this education-based voyage and awareness project, Sailors for the Sea,
a national organization co-founded by David Rockefeller, Jr. that educates and
empowers the boating community to protect and restore our oceans and coastal
waters, has partnered with the Pacific Science Center, a Seattle-based science
foundation and nationally recognized leader in informal science and
environment education.
"North and South America are surrounded by a large, complex, and
frighteningly fragile ocean environment -- and these oceans are changing in
large part as a result of human activity," said Rockefeller, president of the
board, Sailors for the Sea founder, and member of the Pew Ocean Commission.
"The goal of this expedition is to build broad awareness among everyday
citizens of the precipitous changes occurring throughout the world's oceans
and the impact these changes have on various ecosystems and human life."
Around the Americas is an education-focused effort intended to bolster
awareness of the ocean environment and to mobilize public support for local
and national conservation programs. The oceans of North and South America are
changing rapidly: fish stocks and other marine creatures are vanishing;
acidity is rising; and the melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice is raising
the sea level and threatening low-lying areas. The world's oceans are at
serious risk.
This never-before-accomplished voyage, captained by renowned ocean sailor
Mark Schrader and supported by science partner the University of Washington
Applied Physics Laboratory
(http://www.apl.washington.edu/about_apl-uw/about_apl-uw.php), will begin in
Seattle in May 2009, with the crew traveling north through the formerly
icebound Northwest Passage and continuing along the coast, making 30
ports-of-call throughout the Americas before returning to Seattle in Spring
2010.
"Around the Americas is unlike any sailing adventure I've ever captained,
as we'll leverage its dramatic nature to bring public attention to something
so utterly important," said Commander Schrader, the project's director who
will preside over the boat. "This voyage will bring audiences throughout many
parts of the world in direct contact with the health of our oceans through
scientific observation and evaluation. Our goal is to provide a platform for
scientists, researchers and educators to bring the urgency of the issues into
the forefront for regular folks."
Together with key partners like initial underwriter The Tiffany & Co.
Foundation, Sailors for the Sea and the Pacific Science Center will provide
direct access to the project's progress through educational feeds to
classrooms, after-school programs and homes. Media events at key ports of call
will feature scientific experts discussing the relationship between larger
patterns of global climate change and the impact on local ocean environments.
About Sailors for the Sea
Founded in 2004 and based in Boston, Mass., Sailors for the Sea is an
action-oriented, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education,
programs and resources to motivate and empower sailors and other boaters to
preserve, protect, and enjoy the harbors, bays and oceans upon which they
sail. For more information on or to participate in any of the Sailors for the
Sea programs, or to become a member and support the organization, visit
http://www.sailorsforthesea.org.
About Pacific Science Center
Pacific Science Center (http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org) is an
independent, not-for-profit educational institution that inspires lifelong
interest in science, math and technology by engaging diverse communities
through interactive and innovative exhibits and programs in every county of
Washington state and beyond.
For more Information:
Dan McConnell Lauren Curley
Around the Americas Sailors for the Sea
dan.mcconnell@sea.ddb.com lpcurley@comcast.net
(206) 223-6466 (781) 383-6406

SOURCE Sailors for the Sea; Pacific Science Center

Dan McConnell of Around the Americas, +1-206-223-6466,
dan.mcconnell@sea.ddb.com; or Lauren Curley of Sailors for the Sea,
+1-781-383-6406, lpcurley@comcast.net