We Embark on an Epic Sailing Trip Around New Zealand (Sailors for Sustainability #120)

The borders of New Zealand's neighbours are closed, so we can't continue our sailing trip around the world. Instead, we'll sail around New Zealand! The first leg takes us from Whangarei north, along the stunning coast of Northland. We visit pristine bays, meet friends, and spot dolphins, orcas, and indigenous birds. From Mangonui, we sail to Cape Reinga, the northernmost tip of the North Island. After rounding it, we sail south to the tip of the South Island, Abel Tasman National Park, with its lush forest and golden beaches.

Warning: you'll want to visit New Zealand after watching this!

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About Sailors for Sustainability

We are Floris & Ivar, two sailors from the Netherlands 🇳🇱. We are on a sailing trip around the world in search of solutions to today’s sustainability challenges. It means that we look for examples in the fields of buildings, climate, community, economy, ecosystems, energy, nutrition, spirituality, and transportation that show that there are more sustainable or future-proof ways of doing things. By documenting proven solutions we strive to inspire people, companies and governments to change their habits and accelerate positive change.

After looking deeper into crises such as climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, pollution, inequality, and human rights abuses, it became clear to us that fundamental change is necessary for humanity to survive. We made it our mission to highlight solutions that bring an ecologically sound and socially just society closer. Solutions that people can relate to and implement in their own lives.

What excites us most is that we meet all these positive, passionate, inspiring people who are proving that a sustainable way of doing things is possible. It makes us hopeful for the future.

Floris was trained as a lawyer 👨‍💼 and Ivar as an industrial engineer 👷‍♂️. We both had busy jobs but felt something was missing. We wanted to be more ecologically and socially engaged, experience different cultures, and see our planet's beautiful natural world.

Ivar was living on a sailboat and always had a dream of sailing around the world. It seemed natural to combine the two, even more so because sailing is such a sustainable way to travel. Traveling slowly on wind energy is quite a carbon neutral way to get around.

After many, many years of working on the boat, we finally left Amsterdam in 2016. Yet we left behind more than our hometown and family and friends. We also left behind jobs and the income and security that come with them. In return, we got adventure and the unknown! We didn’t know exactly where we would go, who we would meet, how the sailing would go, and if our project would be successful.

So far, our route has taken us half-way around the world 🌏. We've documented 60 sustainable solutions, and visited over 25 countries. They are like pieces of a large, complex jigsaw puzzle. As we collect more pieces, the contours of an ecologically sound and socially just society become better visible. Yet the puzzle is far from finished. We will continue our search for inspiring sustainable initiatives. There is still plenty to discover!

Subscribe to our Newsletter 📰 there, and you'll get regular updates in your inbox!

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Our Channel Has Three Main Playlists

1️⃣ Sustainable Solutions: Videos about inspiring solutions to sustainability challenges
2️⃣ Logbook Videos: Videos about our sailing adventures
3️⃣ Impressions: Videos about particular aspects of our trip

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How You Can Support Our Mission

👉 Subscribe & Like: The more subscribers and likes 👍 we get, the more views we get, meaning more people can get inspired by the many sustainable heroes we have interviewed over the years. Help them and their initiatives get better known!

👉 Share: Feel free to share our videos on social media, embed them on websites, or use them for presentations. We believe in open-source so that as many people as possible can get access to inspiring solutions.

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We look forward to having you on board!

Floris & Ivar
Sailors for Sustainability