Knowing the damage that plastic litter inflicts on land and marine life, the lack of education about rubbish in South America, and a need to fund our bus shipment from Colombia to Panama, we initiated ‘Clean up the Caribbean’.
Check out the video below to learn what we did.
Since the beginning of the Submarine With Wheels adventure, we were shocked by the amount of rubbish littering the ground, the ocean, and the side of the road. Waking up in paradise was bliss but the myriad of trash everywhere was taking away from these beautiful surroundings.
WHY WAS IT CREATED?
We believed litter was everyone’s responsibility. “Clean up the Caribbean” aimed to promote positive rubbish disposal and educate locals and travellers to be litter conscious and pick up rubbish instead of just walking past it. We helped create a ripple effect. We wanted to reach out to as many people as possible, influencing younger generations, locals and travellers to unite forces and make a difference, eventually leaving no trace of rubbish in the Caribbean.
WHAT WAS THE DEAL?
With “Clean up the Caribbean,” every $5 donation we received towards our go-fund-me online webpage, we picked up one bag of rubbish. We were able to fundraise $2625 AUD and pick up a total of 525 bags of rubbish.
WHO STARTED IT?
Nadine, Danielle, Barney and Leve, a group of people who met through the bus – formerly known as the (Yellow) Submarine With Wheels back in Chile, 2017. From just travel friends who all took part in the bus adventures from Chile to Colombia we grew into a bus family. Nine months in, less than halfway to the goal: Chile to Canada, and faced with an exorbitant shipping cost to get the bus from Colombia to Panama, our bus family was faced with the dilemma of potentially selling the bus or getting creative with a solution. So together we started the “Clean up the Caribbean” campaign to tidy up the environment and raise money to help ship the bus.
WHAT DID IT MEAN TO US?
Other than environmental interests, we were fighting to save the (Yellow) Submarine With Wheels adventure and keep our wheels rolling. There is no road to drive between South and Central America: the only way to cross was to ship the bus via a Roll-on-Roll-off cargo service that cost $3950 AUD. With this being way over our set budgets, I was faced with potentially selling the bus.
At this point we had all been traveling with the bus for 9 months and not even halfway to the goal: Chile to Canada. The bus had brought all four of us together and made us a family. It was our once in a lifetime adventure we were not ready to give up! With that in mind and the rubbish issues we had witnessed, we started our campaign and go-fund me page.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The campaign was a success. We were able to promote positive rubbish disposal and litter consciousness. We enjoyed the effects we had on local communities. To pass on our knowledge and create awareness among tourists and locals about keeping the coast clean in order to sustain the environment that we all live in.
We were all fortunate to be able to travel. It let us see other people’s situations and be more humble and grateful for everything we have. Clean up the Caribbean allowed us to give something back on this incredible journey – to not only travel but to visit places and leave them better than when we arrived.
I will always remember and be forever appreciative that continuing the bus adventure was only possible due to the kind support of family, friends and fans.
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