Our Journey

We touched the stars with our imagination for thousands of years until one day we were able to walk on the moon. Sooner than we think, space will become a new tourist destination.

However, while we visualize a future in the sky, the structures that sustain our planet are being destabilized beneath our feet. It may sound catastrophic, but this is reality. We all know about Global Warming and its irrefutable effects—massive species extinction and the depredation of our natural resources. This is happening before our eyes, but too often we look away.

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Glenn Himes. During the spring of 2018, I experienced the reality of a world crumbling at the foundations. I traveled with my brother to the Maldives to see the impressive coral reefs located around those atolls and islands in the middle of the open sea. The reefs are a feat of nature that, in the 18th century, led Charles Darwin on an expedition to study this unique phenomenon. But as we submerged, instead of witnessing the swarms of dazzling marine life we expected, we discovered an endless coral cemetery, with only faint glimmers of its former splendor remaining.

When we researched the problem, we discovered that the high temperatures recorded in 2016 killed more than 60% of the reef, spreading out across 800 kilometers of islands in the Maldives. We also found that in the last 30 years human-driven climate change has killed more than 50% of the reefs worldwide.

What took half a million years for nature to create, we humans have destroyed in only three decades, perhaps without even realising what was happening or understanding the consequences of our actions. When my brother and I reemerged from the ocean, it was difficult to express the sadness and anger caused by our discovery. Our consumption-based economy is causing irrefutable damage to the world and we are doing little to nothing to stop it.

Just months before this trip, we founded an organization designed to address the problem of plastic pollution in the oceans. But the magnitude of the destruction we witnessed in the Maldives—combined with its knock-on effects in other ecosystems—prompted us to search for a convincing way to raise the profile of the issue. We realised that if we wanted everyone to witness the fragility of the coral like we had, we had to eliminate the obstacle of diving proficiency without losing any aspect of safety.

submarine

Removing this one obstacle would mean that we could get opinion leaders, decision makers, governments and industry representatives to submerge in the oceans and witness the problem firsthand. Then we could urge them to seek—and crucially implement—powerful actions to stop the destruction.

That’s why we’ve decided that a portion of the revenues obtained from the Himes workwear line (our sustainable clothing startup) will be allocated to acquire the latest in hydro-space technology. We will invest in a state-ofthe- art compact submarine that will be used in our “The Oceans Need Us” Project. This project, plus the reduction of plastic in the ocean, are the prime environmental commitments of Himes.

With these actions, we will affirm as a team and as a brand that our planet is first.

glen sign