junk raft

{{Short description|Raft made from recycled materials}}

File:The Junk Boat Challenge at Leeds Waterfront Festival 2016 (geograph 5012371).jpg

A junk raft is a type of home-built watercraft made of plastic bottles or other recycled materials constructed by artists and community-minded groups organizing recreational flotillas,[http://raftplan.com/links.aspx Poppa Neutrino, the grandfather of the Junk Raft], Home Made Rafting Association[https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=12295361 Poppa Neutrino, Still Sailing Along], NPR profile[http://inhabitat.com/2009/04/04/eco-art-swoon-swimming-cities/ ECO ART: Swoon's Junk Rafts], by a Brooklyn street artist[http://www.swimmingcities.org/ Swimming Cities of Serenissima], art boats made of junk sailing across the Adriatic Sea to the Venice Biennale or by environmentally concerned individuals seeking to draw attention to the problem of floating debris and the need for recycling.[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/?type=flash Junk Raft Publicizes Plastic Pollution], PBS NewsHour, Nov. 12, 2008[http://www.seattleboatshow.com/index.cfm?p=junkraft Seattle Boat Show features famous Junk Raft] It can also be an improvised small, functional watercraft from readily available materials.*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030910164552/http://www.hindu.com/2003/08/28/stories/2003082802732000.htm Plastic Bottle Boat by Balachandra Kurup of Kerala, India], featured in The Hindu, Aug. 27, 2003[http://rincon.surfrider.org/jun01_2005.asp "El Padrino", Plastic Bottle Kayak by recycling enthusiast Jesus Roman of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407085150/http://rincon.surfrider.org/jun01_2005.asp |date=2014-04-07 }}, Surfrider Foundation

== {{Visible anchor|JUNK Raft Project}} ==

The JUNK Raft Project was organized by Dr. Marcus Eriksen, Joel Paschal and Anna Cummins in Long Beach, California in 2008, to bring attention to the issue of plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The project was launched with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, after founder Charles J. Moore encountered the patch in 1997.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Plastics-t.html?scp=1&sq=Garbage%20Patch&st=cse Donovan Hohn (June 22, 2008), "Sea of Trash", New York Times] Organizers hoped to "creatively raise awareness about plastic debris and pollution in the ocean," specifically the Great Pacific Garbage Patch trapped in the North Pacific Gyre, by sailing 2,600 miles across the Pacific Ocean on a {{convert|30|ft|m|adj=mid}} raft made from an old Cessna 310 aircraft fuselage and six pontoons filled with 15,000 old plastic bottles. Crewed by Dr. Marcus Eriksen of the Foundation and film-maker Joel Paschal, the raft set off from Long Beach, California on 1 June 2008, arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii on 28 August 2008. On the way, they gave valuable water to record-holding ocean rower Roz Savage, also on an environmental awareness voyage, when her supplies dwindled.{{cite web

|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-28-1679732347_x.htm

|title=A raft made of junk crosses Pacific in 3 months

|publisher=USA Today

|date=2008-08-28

|access-date=2009-09-30

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|archivedate=2010-03-31

|url-status=dead

}}{{cite web

|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26436974

|title=Raft made of junk bottles crosses Pacific

|publisher=NBC News

|date=2008-08-28

|access-date=2009-09-30

}}{{cite web

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7571663.stm

|title=Mid-ocean dinner date saves rower

|publisher=BBC News

|date=2008-08-20

|access-date=2009-09-30

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325004644/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7571663.stm

|archivedate=2010-03-25

|url-status=dead

}}

The construction of the JUNK Raft began in April 2008 and was finished the following month. The huge undertaking of constructing a seaworthy raft from "junk" was aided by volunteers from the environmental education programs of Bell Elementary School, Green Ambassadors, Muse Elementary School, Santa Monica High School, and Westbridge School for Girls. The volunteers lent a hand by cleaning bottles, fastening bottle caps, and stuffing them into the recycled fisherman's net pontoon forms.{{cite web

|url=http://junkraft.blogspot.com/2008/04/students-helping-to-build-junk.html

|title=Students Helping To Build Junk

|publisher=Blogspot.com

|date=April 2008

|access-date=2010-04-14

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708044720/http://junkraft.blogspot.com/2008/04/students-helping-to-build-junk.html

|archivedate=2011-07-08

|url-status=dead

}}