The concept was ambitious
from the very start:
Bridging the gap between profound science
and entertaining broadcasts. And providing
crucial and continuous information on the
climatic challenges of the ocean - using
all kinds of media. 19 years ago, ALDEBARAN
Hamburg set its sails and began to pursue
this vision no matter what.
From the beginning on,
it was clear that a land base wouldn't be
sufficient when trying to fully grasp the
world of the ocean. That's why on top of
its busy office in Hamburg's harbor region,
ALDEBARAN also operates a science and media
vessel.
Aboard the unique research
and media ship, scientists and journalists
can team up to join forces. Equipped with
a state-of-the-art radio studio and a professional
research center, the ship has been travelling
the ocean as far as to the Caribbean.
The history of ALDEBARAN
set off as early as in 1992 when marine
biologist and journalist Frank Schweikert
founded the organization. Only a few months
later the first live on the air radio show
was broadcasted from the ship in cooperation
with German broadcaster NDR.
A "Swimming Broadcasting
Van"
In the following years,
ALDEBARAN served as a "swimming broadcasting
van" for radio and TV productions.
Since 1992, more than 1000 radio pieces,
documentaries and more than 500 TV programmes
have been produced and broadcasted.
At home in Hamburg,
ALDEBARAN's land base has continuously developed
and realized events in order to raise the
public awareness on the pressing issues
of climate change and sustainability.
In 2007, ALDEBARAN even
contributed to the international "Live
Earth Concert" by realizing parts of
the PR campaign and a series of broadcasts
reaching an audience of many millions around
the globe.
In the course of the
years, ALDEBARAN has assembled a large portfolio
of environmental projects. One example is
the "Climate Week", Hamburg's
most visited climate event assembling more
than 100 actors from the field of climate
research. One of the event's locations alone,
the shopping mall "Europa Passage",
is expected to receive some 100,000 visitors
this September.
In 1995, Frank Schweikert
received the special award for environmental
journalists awarded by the German Environmental
Foundation. And in 2008, ALDEBARAN's "Oceanic
Competition" was honored as an official
project of the United Nations' "Decade
of Education for Sustainable Development".
Turning Science into
Excitement
The "Oceanic Competition"
enables student groups to pursue their own
scientific projects under the guidance of
professional scientists. During their summer
holidays, the winning teams travel the North
Sea on board of the ALDEBARAN and experience
first hand how exciting scientific research
can be.
Also this summer, another
of ALDEBARAN's many visions is going to
become reality: the "Sea Foundation"
will work to promote quick, coherent, and
attractive information on scientific discoveries
by the use of the latest media technologies.
And even though ALDEBARAN
will soon turn 20 years old, its work has
only begun: For the pool of projects to
be realized and stories to be told is as
vast as the ocean itself.
Plastiki is another
research boat that has sought to research
the problems of the marine world. Its captain,
David de Rothschild, was inspired to start
the Plastiki project after reading a study
of marine ecosystems and biodiversity by
the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and
by fellow adventurer Thor Heyerdahl's famous
1947 Pacific expedition on the Kon-Tiki
raft. Plastiki's ten-member crew set sail
from San Francisco to Sydney last year.
In the early stages
of the voyage, the Plastiki crew sailed
through the North Pacific gyre ? also known
as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and estimated
to be around the size of Texas. The gyre,
a swirling mass of marine waste, contains
some 3.5 million tons of trash and is the
largest of the world's five known gyres.
UNEP reports have found
that:
•Over 13,000 pieces
of plastic litter are floating on every
square kilometre of ocean
•Plastic accounts for over 80% of all marine
litter
•Some eight million items of marine litter
are thought to enter the world's oceans
and seas every day
UNEP has since supported
and guided the development of twelve Regional
Action Plans to address the problem of marine
litter worldwide.
