Ecoble - Latest Comments in Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

eagle81954 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:14:06 -0000

ola Richie
good seeing you teddie & Tini said to say Hi!
e-mail me and I'll send you the pictures of our visit
Regards'
Ken

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

johnsam — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:08:11 -0000

well, ritchie it,s about a year since i ran into you at the hostel I never did make it down to see your island I was into my own craziness I forget the dudes name in the wheelchair was it will? anyway I'm leaving the states once again need to hit the island I know you don't remember me but if there is anything I could bring down from the states let me know Cool runnins Sam

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

E_lizzy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:29:42 -0000

That is amazing.. I want one!

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

sytropinreviews — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:03:35 -0000

Its looks really great.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

anitadelariviere — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:09:05 -0000

Absolutely Fabulous!! What a life!
I do hope you get enough bottles and can set sail round the world, and with your animal family too! What fun!
Can I be your first B&B guest?

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

fishyfishy — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:53:00 -0000

good idea - this could then in turn catch fish to complete his slice of paradise!

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Harrison — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:15:27 -0000

How much does it cost?

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

douglas descloux — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:35:44 -0000

you must be one of those dumb people, where do all the fish, millions of sea birds, and all the other animals shitin the ocean. and when I'm on a 32' cod jigger fishn Alls there is, is a 5 gallon bucket to crap in where does it go the ocean. we are all animals in our own way. GET OVER IT!!! and before u type some crap about people and pets shiting the ocean U should think abot it first. born and raised on an island on boats in Alaska and I hate trash.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

douglas descloux — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:19:40 -0000

how dumb can one person be, think about where the bottles came from. humans make garbage all over the world. just about every body uses plastic. where did he get the bottles ....really. there is sooooo muuuch garbage on this planet it just F***Kin sickining. yuuuck ,nasty, gross. thats why its called recycle.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

douglas descloux — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:09:25 -0000

if only the rest of the world would see trash as treasure. i luv what you did. my wife suggested that you use fish nets for some type of under security netting.some teathered pound test line

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

andrew steven lester — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:09:50 -0000

Hi Richart! I think your idea is perfect! i have always dreamed of doing something like this, but always just thought it was a crazy idea. Now i see that you have done it! it is amazing. and you have got SO many wheels turnin in my head now. I am VERY interested in building my own floating island for me and my girl. just wondering about some laws against doing this. . .do you know if you can just build one anywhere? or do you have to have permits? or what>? I have some GREAT ideas on building a self sustaining floating island, and i WILL build one as soon as i can figure out the legalities of building this. is it better to build in mexico than america? or maybe somewhere els? . . .if you could start all over and do it all again. . . .where would you start building at and why? THANK you so much for the inspiration. and keep on keepin on man! hopefully we will meet one day, . .. maybe in the middle of the ocean! lol.
Andrew

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Richart Sowa — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:10:06 -0000

Thanks for your compliments and criticisms too,,,,Doug are you aware that a trash raft without plants growing on it crossed the atlantic ocean about 8 years ago and that two guys also crossed from california to Hawai on a raft of plastic bottles in nets an they studied the flotsom and jetsom in the pacific gyre? If the Titanic had only had plastic bottles packed in the balast compartements it may very well not have sunk! As I write now there are sadly probably boats sinkingnside and they could have plastic bottles iinside their hulls to make sure they continue to float even if they break in two* The Island which was wiped onto the shore by hurracane emily was not finished or ready for the ocean,,,and now we have a new one in the lagoon at isl mujeres,,,please come and see for your self. The edges are now stronger and as time passes shall get even stronger. I do know that the mangroves after one year maintain themselves by sucking nutrients from the water and therefore cleaning it and shedding leaves to give a layer of compost. Sea life flourishes in the shade and soon the bottle base is covered with seaweed mollusks and even corals* The vegetation also gives out oxygen into a depleting atmosphere and because of their fast growth can be often pruned to provide wood for constuction. These Islands if there were enough could provide licing space for millions of people and animals extending the planets ecology onto lakes rivers and the ocean.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Bongo — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:12:05 -0000

dude the whole island was washed up on shore pretty much still intact so the bottles didnt go to see. check it out on wikipedia

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Doug — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:33:16 -0000

Sorry to say this is not new...I can find people living on garbage dumps all over the world. So his floats, it is still nothing more than a dump. Our dump here in the frigid north has grass...trees...deer and so on. If you think this is ecological you are an idiot. And, the claim it is self sustaining is laughable.
Did you notice how it sinks when he walks near the edge? When a storm comes at sea, this will be wiped out in no time at all...tho the bottles will still be intact. It only takes a 12" wave of water to knock a man off of his feet...what happens when you get 6 foot swells?
Novel maybe, practical, no way.
And if he did go to sea...currents could put him in the North Atlantic. enough said.
Those who can find a way to make this sensible voted for obama...Gee, maybe there is some money is the stimulus package for this too!

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

don — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:14:35 -0000

me and my friends are going to build our own version of this island. we have a good source of bottles from our high school but we are trying to figure out how much weight an average water bottle can suporrt.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

krip — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:42:10 -0000

Floating + Island = Boat

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Burt — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:48:12 -0000

just remember this Alex, you're one in a million on this planet and one day you may find yourself in someone else that thinks just like you. you're a leader so don't follow the idiots!

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

1243 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:44:28 -0000

wow unbelievable what a nice one were did u get the 250,000 bottles and use a miniral woters in the world wowwwww

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

mylene — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:01:45 -0000

i was so amazed on what he made. i wish i could make my own island....

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Scott_Roberts — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:34:31 -0000

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Just get me some broadband access and a few hotties, and I'd move there myself.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Gary Millichamp — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:06:35 -0000

Mr. Sowa is a true frontier blazer in an age when we need to look further down the road for new and inovative solutions to ecological issues. Maybe as he moves forward in his endevour he will inspire even more people to think outside the box, or at the risk of sounding cliche, "Realize that there is no box"! I find that Mr Zowa's accomplishmet has seemingly opened somewhat of a pro and con discussion. Also some questions regarding his procurment of something as abundant as sand. You have got to be kidding! I think that there is a part in most of us that would love to see him succeed and that we should embrace his attempt to look past what we see as normal and forge new ideas. Richart, you are a true inspiration to me and I wish you the best of luck.

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Pranav — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:37:00 -0000

I am writing from India.Saw this man's island on Ripley’s Believe-it-or-Not two days ago.I was spellbound after seeing his island.I wonder how he thought about this.This is innovation.He has done something that no one of us might have even thought about.I think he is an inspiration to the humanity and is truely on a next level of human thoughtfullness. I am completely taken over by him and would like to meet him and congratulate him on his success.
Richart has shown that a human heart can make you attain anything that you dream.What's required is the belief in oneself.He is 'The Environmentalist' in the true sense of the word.I remember lot of faces who have touched humanity from all across the world.Some of them are leaders, some artists and some are very common people.Now I would remember one more:Richart Sowa.I support you Richart and wish you all the very best.May lord always be with you. ~Pranav from India

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:52:08 -0000

some one said something abouthim trasfering invasive species, I belive ther is really no so thing. It's just evolution in progress, how do you think species get where they are to begin with?

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Reverend Loveshade — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:38:07 -0000

Whether Richie Sowa succeeds in making a long sea-going voyage or not, in my eyes this man has succeeded in doing something not that many people have dreamed of, but something that virtually no one dreamed of. Hats off to you, Sowa!

Re: Man (Re)Builds Mexican Island Paradise on 250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles

Rishi — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:10:30 -0000

Heaven Hi to you all*

It,s Rishi here or Rieshie, actually on my passport Richart Sowa (I like to play with names),
Most of what is said above is true. I like it, but the part about the disaster and the island littering the area I thought was rather unclear. So I would like to add that it was hurracane Emily which destroyed Spiral Island and that the debri was localized within a few hundred feet on a beach where construction of condos was about to begin. In fact that was the very reason why Spiral Island was moored in such a vunerable position at the end of a rock pier and only one week away from sailing to a more natural location and It took only one week to clean it up with the help of Puerto aventuras,s clean up team. I was tying to get it back in the water, the mangroves were sprouting again after only a few days.
Yes there are many natural Island so why build an artificial one?
Have you ever thought that if the oceans do rise how much land we will lose?
Have you ever thought about how we will sustain ourselves as a human species as the population increases and recources are used up?
And think how exiting and how much fun it would be to travel around the globe on an Island, even go to wher the flotsom and jettsom trash is gathering and use that to enlarge and as it grows it becomes stronger with the outer salt resistent plants protecting the inner more vunerable ones and Islands like that could even provide a way to survive like arks through times of global trouble!

The net fruit sacks and nets which hold the bottles beacame interwoven with salt resistent mangrove roots, they had grown to over 7 meters tall in only 5 years, which is higher than the mangroves on shore where they were taken from. I transplanted the young mangroves in the dry season when most young mangroves wither from lack of water.There was always water for the roots on the Island as it rose and dropped with the changing levels, so they grew much faster and stronger on the Island. The mangrove roots actualy provided a very good organic buffer stopping bottles rubbing together and wearing thin with the movement of the waves. This and the fact that they were in the cool water away from destructive solar rays ensured their long life. In fact after 6 years some of the first bottles to be put in the Island were checked and found to be fine. Sea weed quickly grows on the nets and bags making sure that fish do not get trapped by filling in the gaps and adding a slippy covering, then shell fish and corals start to grow in turn providing a habitat for many other types of marine life.
My dry compost tiolet was built on a platform over a waterproof tarp above the mangrove roots. There was no leakage into the ocean and with a light covering of leaves also no unpleasant odor, this made usable compost for plants such as bananas, melons, tomatoes etc.
The sand I took from the beach actually helped the passage of boats into the marina because the prevaling winds almost constantly blew sand into the marina,s entrance. I would take some from the edge where there was too much. Yes sand can be washed off easily and with the new Island the beaches will hinge back and fit together like a puzzle for travelling in open waters.
The new spiral Island Jouxsqey will be opening in August 2008,,,please come and explore this amazing possibility of making selfsustainable land on the ocean, from TRASH to TREASURE* ISLAND!

If there are any other questions please post them to the website spiralislanders.com

Love peace and Joyfulfun,,,Richart Sowa