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

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

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

The Waterboy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:35:54 -0000

Wow ! Just how many of you eco people are using sea shells instead of tolet paper? LOL!
This guy had a dream and he made it come true. How many of you have made your dreams come true no matter how stupid others think it is. Lets build an ARK next! but this time don't use wood!

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

GoingGreen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:04:31 -0000

kudos to this man, he should be awarded for this endeavor.

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

hgh — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:11:28 -0000

wondering how he is doing with the island now.. it been one years.. is he still staying there?

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

goat — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:34:26 -0000

Kon Tiki made it across the Pacific (well sort of). It was made of balsa, a lot less durable than PET bottles. Then again, Kon Tiki was not saddled with 60 tons of sand either.

Sailboats seem to have dealt with most of the problems he will face, so it is theoretically possible.

It does sound like he will have a lot of maintenance to do on the island. I guess it doesn't matter as he'll have lot's of free time in the middle of the Atlantic.

Hopefully he'll have all emergency devices (EPIRB, lifeboat, lifevest, etc).

Should be interesting if it happens.

Goat

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

bellfarm — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:26:15 -0000

What kind of critters got caught in the nets? Dolphins? hmm..
I admire his efforts to set a good example. At least he's trying, which is more than I can say for most of our population.
If we all try to inspire others to take better care of the planet (that we could not exist without) we might be able to turn things around in time to save it. But people are so willing to criticize and poke fun at others' valiant efforts that I am afraid that it's going to be too late, that we won't realize what we are doing until our earth is totally polluted and we have to try to find a new place to live. Who do you think they are going to pick to take with them? What do you have to offer if such a terrible (and unthinkable) thing came to be? Would they take YOU?
At least make an effort and spread the word. Support organic farmers, buy ecofriendly products, use renewable energy sources, don't litter, protest the use of styrofoam, cut down on plastic, and THINK what we can accomplish.

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

Vacation Quiz — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:29:29 -0000

I visited the original and its a lot more amazing outside of pictures I was fortunate to be friends with Barbara his X

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

Annoyed — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:09:18 -0000

Why do people leave such ignorant comments on articles like this? I think everybody has something to say, and nobody will listen to you. Get off your video games and myspace and read a book. FOX News obviously won't educate you with their FAUX stories.

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

bossm4n — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:18:09 -0000

I think we finally found a future solution to Pirate Bay's server location problem.

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

Daniel Gagner — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:39:03 -0000

About 4 years ago I built a soda bottle pontoon boat. Here is an instructables link that shows it and how it was built.

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

kevin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:34:08 -0000

there is actually a long back story they are not mentioning, he was robbed several times from mexican nationals and was considered a thief due to the worth of the recyclables he was collecting. He wouldn't last a month in open sea with that thing without a weather monitoring system

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

bobo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:02:23 -0000

What is all this talk about him not being an environmentalist because he took sand off a beach? Do you guys have any idea how much of the world is sand? You may as well be bothered that he had a few bottles of water to drink and that the water came from a river.

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

Den-E — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:41:31 -0000

To the critics i ask: since when is moving land from one point to another some enviromental risk?

And considering that the bottles would probably have ended up there anyway, at least he's trying to make something constructive from the trash we've added to the planet. Whens the last time you did something constructive with your McDonalds wrappers? But thats cool, sit back, surf the web, watch TV, eat your McDonalds and criticize... when the food runs out someone has to die and frankly i'd feel better if it were you and not me.

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

HGH — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:37:15 -0000

Regardless thats TOO sick. Its my dream, like I'm sure millions of others - but this guy did it.

Kudos.

Its beautiful.

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

Tim — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:01:56 -0000

I am very impressed... I like to see people doing things like this. Kudos to him :)

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

Eco Green — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:54:47 -0000

Everybody should sen their plastic bottles to him; I would.

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

Kingthorin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:07:07 -0000

Interesting idea. Until you get to the part where he wants to float out and tour the world. I wonder how many invasive species he'll transplant and cause ecological issues with?

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

ben — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:56:35 -0000

why doesn't he go use all the plastic already floating in the middle of the pacific?

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

ImaPwner — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:19:38 -0000

I doubt if this guy will make it very far out to sea. It's obvious his engineering skills won't hold up to what Mother Nature on the high seas will dish out to him. But hey, somebody has to feed the fishies!

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

ImaPwner — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:19:38 -0000

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

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:59:07 -0000

how dose the sand not all get washed off with the water/waves!
how dose he keep it on the island?