Global Event Continues to Expand Partners and Reach

April 16, 2021 – Malibu, California, USA – Plastic Oceans International announces that the Chilean Ministry of Environment has officially endorsed their Trees & Seas event, a week-long celebration uniting forest and ocean conservation around the world, August 2 – 8, 2021.  

Chile's Ministry of EnvironmentThis year’s inaugural festival will hold its primary event on Chile’s Chiloe Island, located just off the southern coast of the country and also part of South America’s iconic Patagonia region.

“Chile and the world are facing a climate and environmental crisis that has not been quarantined, so it is very important that we all take actions that allow us to promote sustainability, as this festival does,” said Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s Minister of the Environment.

Co-organized with eco-friendly lifestyle brand, ÜÑÜ, with support from One Tree Planted, Avocado Green Mattress, Natracare, and Fundacion MERI, Trees & Seas will include dozens of coastal and forest cleanups, over 50,000 native trees planted, over 100 youth workshops, a series of discussion panels and a variety of art, music and film offerings.

Trees & Seas will unite ocean and forest conservation worldwide. Photo: Cesar Gallardo

“There’s much work to be done and having the endorsement of Chile’s Ministry of Environment is a big help to those efforts,” said Tod Hardin, Chief Operating Officer of Plastic Oceans International. “We’ll certainly scale back the number of participants at any one location this year, due to the pandemic, but we’re excited to be moving forward with an eclectic mix of activities on Chiloe Island and in over 20 other communities worldwide.”

Satellite event locations currently include Vancouver, Canada; Detroit, USA; Durban, South Africa; Douala, Cameroon; Mexico City, Campeche and Akumal, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain; Easter Island and Santiago, Chile; Santa Marta, Colombia; Galapagos Islands, Ecuador; and more. In order to make Trees & Seas as accessible as possible, most components of the event will be made available for online participation, either as a live broadcast or recorded and made available within 24 hours.

About the Ministry of Environment of Chile

The Ministry is responsible for collaborating with the President of the Republic of Chile in the design and application of policies, plans and programs in environmental matters, as well as in the protection and conservation of biological diversity and renewable and hydrological resources, promoting sustainable development, the integrity of the environmental policy and its normative regulation.

About Plastic Oceans International

A US-based non-profit organization working to end plastic pollution and to foster sustainable communities worldwide. They operate with the belief that we can and must act locally in order to create change globally, and we do so through the power of film to empower and globalize community actions. In addition to their global entity, Plastic Oceans has branches in Canada, Chile, Mexico, Europe and the Great Lakes region of the U.S.

Top photo courtesy of Cesar Gallardo.