Turn plastic bottles into a boat: One guy’s quest to sail the ocean

If a boat can be made out of Popsicle sticks to be sea-worthy, why not a boat of two-liter plastic bottles? In San Francisco, not too far from Fisherman’s Wharf, David de Rothschild, environmentalist and adventurer is doing just that. He is in the process of lashing together 12,000 to 16,000 plastic bottles filled with dry ice powder in order to create two hulls for a sail boat that can travel the 11,000 miles between California and Australia.

It’s not like the sailboat named Plastiki will look like a whole mess of soda bottles bobbing on in the ocean either. A woven plastic mesh-like material will be stretched over the hulls and heated to fuse them together making the hulls and the cabin, big enough to sleep four, water tight.

During the journey, two wind turbines and solar panels will provide the juice for the batteries needed to run the computers, a GPS system and a phone. This endeavor is de Rothchild’s way of drawing attention to the need for clean, renewable energy and not make products that go to waste.

After the journey scheduled to begin in April, the plan is to recycle the boat. If the economy doesn’t perk up, who knows, maybe there will be a bunch of people looking to make sailboats out of plastic bottles. [via CNN.com]

American women found with $471,000 dollars at airport in Jamaica

When the officials at the airport in Jamaica found $471,000 on two American women a couple days ago, they took it. See, you’re only allowed to have $10,000 which I would think is ample enough for a rip roaring good time in Jamaica.

So far, according to this AP article, there’s no news on exactly why the women had so much cash. I’m wondering if they cashed out their mutual funds while they had any money left and were hoping to get their hands on some beachfront property. I’ve certainly thought about where I might live in my golden years if the economy continues to head south. Of course, with the money I’ve squirreled away, I might be looking at a shack made of driftwood.

I’m also curious about how much room the money took up in a carry-on? Was the space bigger than the banana plants that were found in the woman’s underwear at the airport in New Zealand a little while back? Also, were they allowed to keep $10,000 each? I doubt that–at least not yet. If not, what are they doing for money in the meantime? Maybe they’re gathering driftwood for a cozy shack.

I bet they’re kicking themselves for whatever they did that got themselves caught.