Eco Nomads
For adventurers who want to travel with a purpose.
For information on how to apply to become an Eco Nomad please email: info@whalebags.com
Pai, Mae Hong Sorn (Aug 2018)
Pai is a mountain valley in the North of Thailand, where our Eco Nomads, Kayla Sobala and Fran Beltri Mūnoz met with our friend and Trash Hero, Warawat Bibb Sabhavasu. Together they built their first board and went out into the canals to pick up trash. The Eco Nomads left the boards with Bibb and went on their journey, having successfully completed their mission. The incredible work then continued as the dedicated and determined, Bibb single-handedly set up a booth in Pai’s walking street to engage the local people. Here is what Bibb said,
“The bottle booth caught attention by just about everyone; over half stopped to talk and share their battle against plastic pollution. I got two people who said they will go Plogging with me tomorrow; teachers from Chiang Mai want to start a Trash Hero program at their school; local people want to borrow/rent the board to pick up the floating Kratong during Loy Kratong festival; nearby stalls shared how they had seen a bottle raft 10 years ago at Koh Lipe and it was twice as big but can hold 5 people – it was connected with a used fishing net; I sold two water bottles and gave away one plastic straw made from plant. I also added a few friends on my FB and they helped share my story.”
Vang Vieng, Laos (Sept 2018)
Vang Vieng is a small beautiful town located in the north of Laos. Our Eco Nomads were hosted by Silver Naga Hotel, as part of their volunteer program, to build a bottle board. Together with the help of some of the local Laos staff, and using bottles that were collected for weeks at the local primary school, they built the biggest board they’ve built so far. For a few days, the whole community paid attention to the building process, all very curious to see what the final result would look like. At the end of the process, they were able to test it on the town’s river and nearby lagoons. Silver Naga Hotel has showed great interest in the bottle boards. They would love to have more Eco Nomads staying with them to build more boards with their staff. They’ve said that they will continue collecting bottles and building more boards and hope to set up SUP tours on their river for their guests one day. The money will go towards Project Laos – Sustaining Communities.
During the building process, our Eco Nomads, Kayla and Fran, recorded a video of all the steps to build a bottle board. You can see the video by following the link.
World Clean Up Day 2018 coincidentally happened that same week, so our Eco Nomads finished the week by participating in a clean up in Vang Vieng with the community. It was very rewarding for the whole group to see how much of a difference they could make by cleaning up, together, for a couple of hours. The feeling of accomplishment at the end made this experience one to remember for all. Watch the video of World Clean Up Day here.
Our Eco Nomads then went into VIS (Vientiane International School) to give a talk about plastic in the ocean and how The Whale Company raises awareness. It was a very successful session, where the 40+ kids aged 11/12, engaged with our Eco Nomads and asked a million questions about the board and our mission. At the end of the talk, every child received a bamboo straw as a gift to help them start their own eco journeys.
Apply to become an Eco Nomad – email: info@whalebags.com.