October 13, 2023 • 30 mins
Ever contemplated the impact of discarded flip flops on our marine life? Get ready to have your eyes opened as we connect with Erin Smith, CEO of Ocean Sole. In this enlightening episode, Erin pulls back the curtain on the global crisis involving these seemingly innocuous footwear items that are wreaking havoc on our oceans.
Strap in as Erin walks us through the journey of these discarded flip flops- from poverty-stricken areas to the vast oceans, and to the coastlines of Kenya. She paints a vivid picture of how hot emerging markets contribute heavily to the flip flop debris in our oceans due to poor waste management and lack of infrastructure. Most intriguing is the journey of these flip flops, carried by the currents to our beaches, ending up as a significant part of marine debris.
But it's not all doom and gloom. Ocean Sole is transforming this crisis into an opportunity. Hear how this organization gives new life to discarded flip flops by turning them into breathtaking pieces of art. Discover the unique challenges and innovations involved in this process, and the uplifting impact it has on local communities. From providing jobs to promoting environmental awareness, this inspiring tale of turning waste into wonder will leave you in awe. Join us in this inspiring journey as we learn how art and sustainability can come together to make a difference. You're definitely going to say, "Wow, I didn't know that!"
Ocean Sole
Interview with: Erin Smith
Things that make you say "Wow"!
For more episodes and additional information visit the Two Chicks and a Hoe website and our Facebook page.
Big thanks to our Producer, Casey Kennedy.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
There are thongs in Australia, jandals in Japan,
slops in South Africa, chinalisin the Philippines and Puerto
Rico.
It's Junk class.
On the east coast of the UnitedStates they're called
click-clacks or clam diggers.
I've heard friends call themgoaheads.
(00:29):
I don't know where that onecame from.
Archeologists have evendiscovered an ancient Egyptian
pair made from leather datingback to approximately 3,500
years ago.
Well, I call them flip flops andI love my flip flops.
I've been wearing them foryears and even wear them in the
winter.
Yeah, I'm the one that wearsthem with socks, but I do have
(00:54):
the luxury of having a choice ofshoes.
I could wear tennis shoes whenit gets cold if I'd like, but
over 3 billion people can onlyafford that one type of shoe,
the flip flop.
And, as our next guest has said, they hang on to them, they fix
them, they duct tape them, theymend them and then they usually
discard them.
The average lifespan of a flipflop is about two years.
(01:17):
Well then, what happens to them?
They're thrown away, but somany of them end up in the ocean
due to poor waste management,stormwater discharge or
littering.
Flip flops are among the top 10items of marine debris found on
beaches.
The numbers are staggering.
Some estimates suggest thatover 200 million flip flops are
(01:42):
discarded globally each year and, because of the ocean currents,
tons of them wash up on theEast African beaches.
Hi everybody, it's Vanessa fromTwo Chicks and a Ho, the
podcast that talks to amazingpeople doing wonderful things
for the world, and today we'rechatting with one of those
people.
(02:19):
Globally, 3 billion people ayear purchase new flip flops and
once they are used, most arediscarded in dumpsters and
waterways, eventually making itto the oceans.
And they're so popular becausethey are affordable options for
shoes.
They're made from ethylene,vinyl acetate and other plastics
that do not biodegrade but theydo photodegrade, meaning that
(02:42):
they break down into smaller andsmaller pieces, adding to our
plastic soup pollution in theoceans.
Today, on Two Chicks and a Ho,we're talking with Erin Smith,
the CEO, or the chief soulmate,of an organization that is
working on alleviating thisproblem of discarded flip flops.
Hi, erin, welcome to Two Chicksand a Ho.
(03:03):
Thank you so much for beingwith us here today.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Thank you so much for having me really honored to be
here.
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
So tell me, tell me about this incredible program
that's coming out of Kenya OceanSoul, ocean Soul.
That's a big question, isn't?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
it, yeah, well, no, it's a good one.
So, yes, ocean Soul and we playon the word soul in terms of
the foot soul and it is a.
We're a social enterprise inKenya that was founded many
years ago but has morphed intomore of a global brand.
We started off as a smallproject through the founder and
(03:45):
trying to just help some localwomen create some artifacts
based on flip flops and othertrash that they'd found in the
sea, and it's now grown intoliterally a global brand where
we are fulfilling online andselling, you know, from
Australia to to, you know, kindof Arkansas, and to, you know,
(04:07):
japan, to everywhere, brazil.
So it's great.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So I understand I had read on your website that the
origin of this incredibleprogram started with a turtle
hatching project.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, so basically what happened is in North
there's an archipelago of Kenyathat goes all the way from Kenya
up to Somalia and in therethere's some island called
Kewayu.
On that island it is anotorious sea, you know, turtle
nesting area, and Julie Church,who's our founder, was working
(04:45):
for, I think, wwf at the timeand witnessed all the local
ladies cleaning the beaches and,you know, went down there and
said you know what's happening.
She said will these sea turtlescome?
And our you know our beachesare so dirty, not only with flip
flops but toothbrushes andother types of plastic that
we're used to seeing.
And they were cleaning up thebeaches for the sea turtles.
(05:06):
But what Julie observed wasthat the ladies were taking the
flip flops and using those askind of toys or play things with
their children and that kind ofwith the local ladies kind of
started the whole idea of okay,first of all, why are there so
many flip flops and, second ofall, what can we do with them
both to make something out ofthem also to help that local
(05:29):
community?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow, wow.
So I have seen myself in Congothe children taking anything.
There is no garbage, they takeeverything and make something
out of it.
And toys, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So they're very resourceful in that way and you
know, especially in the mothers,you know there's not, as you
know, not a lot of income and anopportunity to buy those types
of toys for them.
So they're really resourcefulin trying to find anything.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So, Erin, where do all these flip flops come from?
I mean, okay, you know there'sthree billion flip flops, but
they're not all in Kenya.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
No, they're not.
So what is where did we call it?
What the flip flop, right?
So the big issue is especiallypeople.
I think in kind of first worldmarkets or you know kind of
modern economies, we use flipflops as a you know kind of
fashion footwear.
What's happened is you knowkind of in more hot emerging
(06:28):
markets where you know peopleare living below the poverty
line and it's quite there's adirect correlation almost with
the amount of flip flops thatare sold and the amount of
people in poverty, because it isin a very affordable shoe.
So this is a shoe that'sproduced mostly in China or
India or even in Kenya.
We have them.
They're in markets that canfulfill the demand.
(06:51):
Most of these individuals youknow we've done some studies
have two shoes a church shoe andsome flip flops.
They probably purchased flipflops two or three times a year
because they break down becausethey're so cheaply made.
So it's kind of an uglybusiness as well.
There's a whole backstory interms of the flip flop market in
these, how they're made forthis level of affordability, but
(07:16):
they're from.
So if you kind of take that andmap the world, especially below
the equator, you know where youdo have high human population,
emerging markets, hot, you knowhot weather.
That's where you see theabundance of flip flops, and so
I can tell you how they kind ofget to the ocean too.
Yes, please do that yes.
(07:36):
Yes.
So what happens is is, you knowthese individuals they're not
sitting there throwing flipflops into the sea and you know
throwing them into the waterwaysand you know, purposely
trashing earth.
You know they are disposing ofthem, you know, in a very humble
and honored way.
However, these countries don'thave the infrastructure to deal
with the volume and particularlythis type of medium, which is
(07:59):
this rubber base, as you said inyour introduction.
You know kind of a very almostlethalish kind of rubber, and so
they clog waterways, hugelyhazardous to in these villages,
because, as you've been there,you know there's not that
infrastructure.
These flip flops get caught upin rains and waters and flooding
, they block clean water access,they block sewage.
(08:21):
In Ethiopia I think it was in2017, there was a huge landslide
that killed hundreds of peoplein Ethiopia and if they went
back and looked at it, it wasfull of rubber.
So, whether it was tires orflip flops or anything, that's
what causes because they're soheavy.
So these, yeah, these flipflops find their way through
(08:45):
villages, through thesewaterways, through these rains,
into rivers, into, and then theygo out into the ocean.
And it's funny.
I've been to Haiti, I've beento Guatemala and I've been, you
know Kenya, obviously we'vestudied, and I was just going
down to Columbia and whathappens is, if you follow where
the sea turtles are hatchingbecause the marine life returns
and they follow the tide, sodoes the trash, and that is why
(09:08):
you find a lot of times you'llfind a correlation where you see
the sea turtles hatching and anabundance of flip flops and or
other types of garbage on thosesame beaches.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, it's quite fascinating.
It's quite connected.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yes, yeah, you know, to use your garden.
We've been hoeing away tryingto find why is this?
Because that was my firstquestion when I kind of got
involved was we need to answerthis question?
Why are there so many?
And so we really I've workedwith an anthropologist from
London.
We've, like, done some studies.
We've, you know, just kind ofI've looked at, you know, marine
(09:42):
research, tidal things, andsure enough, if you overlay kind
of the data and volumes ofwhere these tides are and where
this abundance of, you know, sealife is moving around our
oceans, sure enough that's whenyou see equal amount of trash.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Wow, so everything.
So where the turtles are going,the trash follows.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
The trash follows.
It all goes together Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Okay, so eventually this is ending up on the East
African coasts.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah.
So the tide to Kenya and Somalia, because actually a little bit
north of us as well we are on abig tidal, big, huge kind of
Indian Ocean tide that reallystarts kind of down in Indonesia
and kind of works its way andyou can kind of look on these
marine maps and see these tides,and so we have a big tide that
(10:58):
lands on our shores, and so thatis one reason that we have all
these flip flops on our ocean.
The other reason is the samethat we've observed in other
countries is Mambasa is aco-located town kind of on our
Indian Ocean, and also a riverthere, waterways there.
I've seen this in Haiti andagain Guatemala and Colombia.
(11:21):
They have a dump site there andback in the day when there
wasn't 55 million people inKenya, the dump site was just
kind of there, and what'shappened over time is the
monsoons will come into thesedump sites and pull all that
trash out, sends it straight out, and then the tides hit it and
hit back to our ocean.
So that's also one of ourproblems of why things get to us
(11:45):
.
And then the other is theclassic riverways, villages get
flooded and those dump sites oreven local village kind of just
shoes around in a village willget caught up into a big river
and that goes out to the ocean,and then we'll hit a tide and
come back.
So that's why we have so many.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Wow, okay, so the flip flops themselves are coming
from across the seas all overAsia and coming through with the
currents to the shores, andthen it's coming from the
waterways locally as well, goingout to the ocean and then going
back and hitting the shoresagain.
So you know, originally, one ofmy questions was I'm thinking
(12:26):
you're picking up all of thesethousands and thousands of flip
flops, you must see less andless of them, and I'm thinking
you're seeing more and more ofthem, aren't you?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Now more and more with the population increase.
I mean, kenya itself in thelast 10 years has gone from like
20 million to 55 million people, you know, and this is
happening across our continentand some of the other continents
.
So you know, you see, in termsof that growth, you know,
obviously the all the plastic ofthe consumption is, you know,
(12:56):
exponentially growing, flipflops being one of them.
So we, what we do, how OceanSoul has kind of organized
itself, is we've taken twoapproaches.
One is, you know, obviously, weclean beaches and you know the
ocean mamas and we have what wecall.
You know they organizethemselves and they all, they
clean everything on the beaches.
And you know we take the flipflops and we buy the.
(13:19):
We pay that most of them arepaid, you know, as employees and
what their job is.
But they also go and take someof the other trash to some of
the other recycling, whetherit's recycling into art or
bricks or some other formation,and those ladies have that
income.
The other thing we do is we'vekind of like, if you think of,
you know, avon or remember theold encyclopedia sales, you know
(13:41):
we have these pyramids whereyou have like a senior person
pop and then they self organize.
So what we've done is reach outall over Kenya, especially along
the waterways, into the riversthat we have in the big areas,
and we have people that organizethemselves and get multiple
people involved in thesecommunities and they all clean
(14:03):
it and then they bring a bigstacks of flip flops to us and
we buy them.
So they make their incomethrough the purchase of the flip
flops and this has reallyworked as a great business model
because you know we get directemployment.
You know we help communities.
They can grow as much as theywant, they can be as little as
(14:23):
they want, so they can go outand they also reach into their
communities and can cleanlocally where they live, versus
just on the ocean.
So we kind of combat both ofthose problems before things get
to the oceans but are in therivers or on the ocean from the
beaches.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
So you're not only giving them jobs, but you're
creating stewards for theenvironment, their own
environment.
Love it, correct Love it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So let's talk.
So a few months ago I was inKenya and I was at the Nairobi
Airport and I saw this life size, very colorful baby elephant
and I was like, ooh, you knowwhat is this?
And I've seen bits and piecesat Curio shops and what have you
, but I'd never seen anythinglike that.
And I recognized then that itwas.
(15:10):
You know, with the signage itwas made from flip flops.
I saw your guys' name and I waslike that's it.
I need to dig deeper into this,I need to hoe deeper into this
so that listeners can get abetter understanding of the
impact that you guys are having.
But the fact that, again, weknow we're hearing about all the
plastics, but the flip flop endof things never even imagined.
(15:32):
So tell me, erin, you get allthese flip flops.
Tell me about the artworkthat's being created, how?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
it started was kind of just like I said, a
grassroots project where youknow, we had local guys kind of
making art from this.
What we figured out is theartist.
There's an artist in communityin Kenya and you'll see that in
other continents and othercountries around the world where
you know, and they were carvingfrom wood.
So they were cutting down treesin order to make their couriers
(16:04):
you know whether it was awooden giraffe or salad spoons,
you know things like that we'veall seen in our travels.
They became our targetemployees because obviously we
needed just to teach them how to, you know, not cut down trees
so save trees and to learn touse this medium of flip flops.
So that was really a big ahamoment of how we could grow.
(16:27):
So this is our artist incommunity and they're very, very
talented, as you've seen.
And so what we did?
So once we kind of figured outokay, how are we going to carve
this stuff?
What we do is we bring in theseflip flops, you know, kind of
by the keyless.
We recycle a million and a halfflip flops a year, so over a
ton of week.
So it's huge volume of flipflops that we reform.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
A ton, a ton a week, that's it for this week, wow,
kind of weak More.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And so what?
You know, we get all theseflip-flops that buy or we clean
up and we have them.
They come to our workshop, weweigh them, we sort them, we
clean them.
You know we employ ladies.
We're about 50% female, 50%male.
I really try to make thatbalance.
The women are not naturalcarvers so we have to work with
apprenticeships.
But we've had five women kindof really become senior carvers.
(17:16):
They wash them, disinfect themand, you know, get them ready,
sort them by color for theartisans.
Then we, if they're smaller,they get kind of pressed
together with some glue, youknow, in a big presser and they,
you know, basically start withlike just think of a size of a
foot but like maybe six of themtogether, you know, in a
(17:37):
flip-flop kind of block and theycarve some of the smaller bits
from that.
You know, obviously, as theyget bigger.
What we use is we also collect.
It's called polyurethane.
It's very disgusting stuff thatyou see inside of a
refrigerator.
So it's this really hazardouskind of horrible like stuff that
(17:57):
floats in our beaches.
A lot, a lot of like.
You know, kind of dump sitesuse them when refrigerators and
containers that are full of yourrefrigerator.
So we have that stuff andthat's what will shape the
biggest thing.
So, like that elephant you saw,they will have pulled all the
polyurethane together, they willglue it together into a big
lump.
They'll carve it with justmanual knives into the shape of
(18:19):
an elephant and then they layerflip-flops all over it, like two
or three layers of that, tocreate the color and to create
the kind of shape, and then theycan do all the details around
it.
So that's the process and youknow, obviously we sand it and
wash it and carve it and we'vemade huge things.
We've made a life-size Hondacar, we have made 18-inch a
(18:41):
giraffe, I mean, you know, I cango on with some of the creative
things that we've made over theyears.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And you do custom work right.
People want a land rover.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So most of our business is kind of I really,
you know my background isbusiness like I was in private
equity and high-tech and stuff.
So I'm constantly diversifyingrisk because you know we need to
be kind of out there.
We're a little bit like GirlScouts, you know.
If I'm not hustling cookies,you know we're not able to do
good, you know, to our artisansand to the environment.
(19:14):
So we're always like on themove for more cookie sales.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It's like focus.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I get about 50% of our revenue or, you know, income
comes from very largeinstallations.
We've gone to Saudi Arabia,we're off to China, we're going
to Goa I mean we've been allover America where we do either
businesses buy big you knowpieces for their lobbies or
whether we do like aninstallation of you know kind of
(19:41):
a storytelling where it's allmarine life, you know things
like that.
So people get very creativewith our art because we can make
it and they come up with atheme or a mission.
You know that they want to amessage that they want to get
across, and then we make art forthat.
So we do that.
And then about another 25%, Iwould say Zoo's, aquariums,
boutiques, you know kind ofwhere you'd see them and you
(20:03):
know, for sales, yeah, and thenthe rest is probably online or
with tourists coming to Kenya.
We have a shop not a shop, buta fulfillment center here in
Florida.
I spend half my time in Kenyaand here because we do all of
our US and export stuff out ofhere in the Northern Florida
area.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So all the big pieces , whether they're commissioned,
let's say you know, in for SaudiArabia, are they?
Is everything made in Kenya, orare you actually taking
artisans to those countries forthe big commission stuff?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So both the answer to that is both.
Everything is mostly made inKenya.
You know we will do the designprocess.
We're quite detailed.
It's funny I think people arequite surprised how professional
we are when we interact withclients, especially in a big
installation.
We do a lot of designs.
We do a lot of sometimes 3Dgraphic designs.
You know we have to estimate,like if there's metal involved
(20:57):
in other pieces.
So we do, we do all of that andsometimes we're hired, like
when we went to Saudi Arabia, weonly completed 50% of it and
then we go over there with theartist and they complete it.
So they're kind of doing it inexhibition, showing people how
it's made and people can see thework that's there.
So it's either or depending onkind of what you know kind of
(21:18):
the client would like to expose.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Wow, that's amazing.
Wow, so, so you're taking sofrom Kenya?
Then you you're talking aboutColumbia, and we all know that
there's plastic crap everywhereand waterways.
Are you taking this model tothe next country?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Well, so Nirvana to us is to go, like there is a
problem in Haiti.
Haiti is obviously a verydifficult country to work in but
, like we are talking right nowin Columbia, we have some people
that are very keen Englishgentlemen that live down that
way have fallen in love withthis.
There's a huge flip-flopproblem there on the beaches and
(22:00):
so we're looking at potentially, if it works, where we can go
into another country, teachthese artisans.
You know the skills they canmake maybe indigenous products,
so maybe Columbia makes moreparents and to you know iguanas
and we know we find things thatare kind of local, like our
safari line is, you know, veryKenya and in you know, east
(22:21):
Africa specific, and you'll findthings that are relate to that
country, make those and thensell those globally to you know
our clients and so we're lookingat a lot of things that are
related to you know our clientbase and to people.
So ideally, that would beperfect world we operate, where
social enterprise in Kenyabecause it's very difficult to
be a nonprofit kind of, you know, in a country like that there's
(22:43):
a lot of anyhow background andthings like that and we did that
specifically because a lot ofbusinesses want to buy you know
big pieces and they want thattax break or they want to, you
know kind of as part of theirCSR initiative to support us or
do a fundraiser for us.
(23:04):
So that's given us some abilityto kind of go out and
potentially find money to dothose kind of projects and go to
Columbia, versus kind of ustrying to self-fund it from you
know selling cookies, if youwill.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Right, wow, wow, so you're coming, so you're
actually in America already.
You're in Florida, but not witha shot per se, okay, but that's
kind of one of your mainheadquarters, so to speak, for
so you know, we're here inFlorida.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You know I live in Kenya.
I live in Caliphia, in theIndian Ocean, in, you know, our
workshops in Nairobi and I spendmy time back and forth.
We're in Florida because myparents, you know getting
elderly are here and so we,instead of kind of living in
other places, I probably like tolive.
We're here, and so I set up thefulfillment shop here.
So all of our online purchases,things like that all based in
(23:57):
in kind of outside of theJacksonville area.
So we're here and, yeah, I comeover.
I've got a great team here inAmerica.
Most of the employees,everybody's in Kenya.
Most of these, you know, ladies, are kind of social, you know,
working for a nonprofit.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
On top of the fact that you're taking pollution out
, you're making something out ofyour creating this incredible
artwork.
You're giving people jobs,you're cleaning up the
environment.
Then part of your proceeds alsogo back into marine
conservation.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, so we try to every year.
We, you know, not just cleaningup beaches, but we try to find,
you know, a project, you know alot of its sea turtles.
We love, like we're working ona project right now in Kenya
where we're trying to get abeach kind of to recognize as a
sea turtle haven.
So we're working on that.
We'll donate money to differentprojects.
We've tried to partner.
(24:47):
It was quite interesting.
We, we thought at one pointwe'd make a panda and sell the
panda and give it to, like, youknow, save the panda or whatever
, and it gets the messaging getsa little bit lost.
We're very, I think our modelis so open in terms of
collaboration and partnershipand there's so much we can do.
We're a bit like a Rubik's Cube, you know.
I mean you can spin us, are we?
(25:08):
an art yeah so we're a community, you know.
Are we like a social impact?
Yes, you know, ourreconservation, yes, yeah, you
know, it becomes that likesometimes and I learned this
because I, you know, quiteambitious in doing good it's
like it can get lost, you know.
So we try to stay with marineconservation, try and try to
find a few partners to do that,work with and, you know,
(25:31):
hopefully just fund that wherewe can.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Nice, very nice.
Yes, I can understand you are.
You have kind of your fingersand all the good stuff which I
love.
Yeah, that's exactly why wewanted to talk with you guys to
so tell me I know this is whatyou're most.
You know, it's one of thosefluffy questions what's your
most popular piece?
What's the most popular thingthat you guys sell?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
So I would say the giraffes by far, because they're
gorgeous.
I think the giraffes aredefinitely.
We have branched out to doingdogs and cats, dogs and cats,
and so those do really well,especially in America.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
American love their dogs.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah, we love our dogs, and then the turtles.
Turtles do really well from amarine life and sharks.
It's funny the East Coast ofAmerica is all about the sea
turtle and the West Coast is allabout sharks, and so it's quite
interesting.
You know different regions inthe different, but by giraffe
I'd say giraffes by the farthestyou know, or the you know, I
(26:34):
mean they're just, our giraffesare beautiful, I mean they're
just.
They take a life of their own,they have eyelashes, they have
these gorgeous, you know facesand you know and and they can
you know, for in a room they cankind of be anywhere in a corner
, they can move around, you know.
So so they're quite.
Yeah, definitely a standoutpiece.
(26:56):
Yes, yes, colors always are verystandout ish.
You know, the colors are alwaysso bright.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
And so you can see all of it.
So, listeners, you can go checkout all of these pieces at
ocean soul, calm and that'socean.
And S O L E dot com.
Check out the giraffes, checkout these really custom pieces
that they've done life sizeelephants, the Honda that Aaron
was talking about and those two.
You can see the artisans atwork.
There's videos all over theplace on the artisans at work
(27:27):
and the marine conservationefforts that they're involved in
with the turtles.
Everything's on their websiteand it is a great place to
peruse for your own shoppinggift.
Whatever.
That is your participation inremoving the flip flops from the
ocean and our local waterways.
Anything else you'd like toshare with us?
Speaker 2 (27:48):
No, but thank you for having me and I just hope you
know I love going and talkingabout ocean soil.
As you can tell, I get verypassionate about it.
I'm so passionate about thepeople.
I think they work really hard,so dedicated, and you know my
job is to steward them into abetter life.
And you know the participationof people.
You know purchasing or donating, or I mean people can host a
(28:11):
beach cleanup.
We'll do that in people's names, you know they can.
You know, do meals if they want, because some people gravitate.
They don't really aestheticallylike our art.
They appreciate it but maybe itdoesn't fit their house.
You know which we get becauseit's full of color.
But you know there's other waysto participate and help and
spread the word.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
So I love it, thank you.
Thank you for sharing that,because you're right.
Sometimes, you know, art is inthe eye of the beholder, is it
not?
Yes, good Again, oceansoulcom.
There are some really coolthings happening that one day
might phase out the use ofethylene vinyl acetate that is
used to make flip flops andending up in the oceans.
(28:53):
For example, adidas isexperimenting with renewable
materials.
They are collaborating withParley for the oceans, using
illegal deep sea gill nets andrecycled ocean plastics to make
shoes.
They're also experimenting witha material called AM silk,
creating biodegradable shoespackaged along with an enzyme
(29:16):
solution so that, when ownersare done with their sneakers,
they can dissolve them.
That's fascinating.
It may be a while before theseshoes find their way to 3
billion flip-flop wearers, but Ifind it hopeful that mega
companies like Adidas and, Ihope, so many more, are working
on solutions to clean up oceanplastic pollution.
(29:38):
Check out Oceansoul's websiteto see the beautiful art being
created by some of the 3 billiona year purchase flip flops Art
that supports local Kenyanartisans, cleans up beaches,
provides jobs, createsenvironmental stewardship,
brings awareness to oceanpollution and inspires hope.
(29:58):
Oceansoul, that's S-O-L-Ecom.
Thanks for listening.
I hope you tell your friendsand take care of each other.
There are thongs in Australia, jandals in Japan,
slops in South Africa, chinalisin the Philippines and Puerto
Rico.
It's Junk class.
On the east coast of the UnitedStates they're called
click-clacks or clam diggers.
I've heard friends call themgoaheads.
(00:29):
I don't know where that onecame from.
Archeologists have evendiscovered an ancient Egyptian
pair made from leather datingback to approximately 3,500
years ago.
Well, I call them flip flops andI love my flip flops.
I've been wearing them foryears and even wear them in the
winter.
Yeah, I'm the one that wearsthem with socks, but I do have
(00:54):
the luxury of having a choice ofshoes.
I could wear tennis shoes whenit gets cold if I'd like, but
over 3 billion people can onlyafford that one type of shoe,
the flip flop.
And, as our next guest has said, they hang on to them, they fix
them, they duct tape them, theymend them and then they usually
discard them.
The average lifespan of a flipflop is about two years.
(01:17):
Well then, what happens to them?
They're thrown away, but somany of them end up in the ocean
due to poor waste management,stormwater discharge or
littering.
Flip flops are among the top 10items of marine debris found on
beaches.
The numbers are staggering.
Some estimates suggest thatover 200 million flip flops are
(01:42):
discarded globally each year and, because of the ocean currents,
tons of them wash up on theEast African beaches.
Hi everybody, it's Vanessa fromTwo Chicks and a Ho, the
podcast that talks to amazingpeople doing wonderful things
for the world, and today we'rechatting with one of those
people.
(02:19):
Globally, 3 billion people ayear purchase new flip flops and
once they are used, most arediscarded in dumpsters and
waterways, eventually making itto the oceans.
And they're so popular becausethey are affordable options for
shoes.
They're made from ethylene,vinyl acetate and other plastics
that do not biodegrade but theydo photodegrade, meaning that
(02:42):
they break down into smaller andsmaller pieces, adding to our
plastic soup pollution in theoceans.
Today, on Two Chicks and a Ho,we're talking with Erin Smith,
the CEO, or the chief soulmate,of an organization that is
working on alleviating thisproblem of discarded flip flops.
Hi, erin, welcome to Two Chicksand a Ho.
(03:03):
Thank you so much for beingwith us here today.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Thank you so much for having me really honored to be
here.
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
So tell me, tell me about this incredible program
that's coming out of Kenya OceanSoul, ocean Soul.
That's a big question, isn't?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
it, yeah, well, no, it's a good one.
So, yes, ocean Soul and we playon the word soul in terms of
the foot soul and it is a.
We're a social enterprise inKenya that was founded many
years ago but has morphed intomore of a global brand.
We started off as a smallproject through the founder and
(03:45):
trying to just help some localwomen create some artifacts
based on flip flops and othertrash that they'd found in the
sea, and it's now grown intoliterally a global brand where
we are fulfilling online andselling, you know, from
Australia to to, you know, kindof Arkansas, and to, you know,
(04:07):
japan, to everywhere, brazil.
So it's great.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So I understand I had read on your website that the
origin of this incredibleprogram started with a turtle
hatching project.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, so basically what happened is in North
there's an archipelago of Kenyathat goes all the way from Kenya
up to Somalia and in therethere's some island called
Kewayu.
On that island it is anotorious sea, you know, turtle
nesting area, and Julie Church,who's our founder, was working
(04:45):
for, I think, wwf at the timeand witnessed all the local
ladies cleaning the beaches and,you know, went down there and
said you know what's happening.
She said will these sea turtlescome?
And our you know our beachesare so dirty, not only with flip
flops but toothbrushes andother types of plastic that
we're used to seeing.
And they were cleaning up thebeaches for the sea turtles.
(05:06):
But what Julie observed wasthat the ladies were taking the
flip flops and using those askind of toys or play things with
their children and that kind ofwith the local ladies kind of
started the whole idea of okay,first of all, why are there so
many flip flops and, second ofall, what can we do with them
both to make something out ofthem also to help that local
(05:29):
community?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow, wow.
So I have seen myself in Congothe children taking anything.
There is no garbage, they takeeverything and make something
out of it.
And toys, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So they're very resourceful in that way and you
know, especially in the mothers,you know there's not, as you
know, not a lot of income and anopportunity to buy those types
of toys for them.
So they're really resourcefulin trying to find anything.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So, Erin, where do all these flip flops come from?
I mean, okay, you know there'sthree billion flip flops, but
they're not all in Kenya.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
No, they're not.
So what is where did we call it?
What the flip flop, right?
So the big issue is especiallypeople.
I think in kind of first worldmarkets or you know kind of
modern economies, we use flipflops as a you know kind of
fashion footwear.
What's happened is you knowkind of in more hot emerging
(06:28):
markets where you know peopleare living below the poverty
line and it's quite there's adirect correlation almost with
the amount of flip flops thatare sold and the amount of
people in poverty, because it isin a very affordable shoe.
So this is a shoe that'sproduced mostly in China or
India or even in Kenya.
We have them.
They're in markets that canfulfill the demand.
(06:51):
Most of these individuals youknow we've done some studies
have two shoes a church shoe andsome flip flops.
They probably purchased flipflops two or three times a year
because they break down becausethey're so cheaply made.
So it's kind of an uglybusiness as well.
There's a whole backstory interms of the flip flop market in
these, how they're made forthis level of affordability, but
(07:16):
they're from.
So if you kind of take that andmap the world, especially below
the equator, you know where youdo have high human population,
emerging markets, hot, you knowhot weather.
That's where you see theabundance of flip flops, and so
I can tell you how they kind ofget to the ocean too.
Yes, please do that yes.
(07:36):
Yes.
So what happens is is, you knowthese individuals they're not
sitting there throwing flipflops into the sea and you know
throwing them into the waterwaysand you know, purposely
trashing earth.
You know they are disposing ofthem, you know, in a very humble
and honored way.
However, these countries don'thave the infrastructure to deal
with the volume and particularlythis type of medium, which is
(07:59):
this rubber base, as you said inyour introduction.
You know kind of a very almostlethalish kind of rubber, and so
they clog waterways, hugelyhazardous to in these villages,
because, as you've been there,you know there's not that
infrastructure.
These flip flops get caught upin rains and waters and flooding
, they block clean water access,they block sewage.
(08:21):
In Ethiopia I think it was in2017, there was a huge landslide
that killed hundreds of peoplein Ethiopia and if they went
back and looked at it, it wasfull of rubber.
So, whether it was tires orflip flops or anything, that's
what causes because they're soheavy.
So these, yeah, these flipflops find their way through
(08:45):
villages, through thesewaterways, through these rains,
into rivers, into, and then theygo out into the ocean.
And it's funny.
I've been to Haiti, I've beento Guatemala and I've been, you
know Kenya, obviously we'vestudied, and I was just going
down to Columbia and whathappens is, if you follow where
the sea turtles are hatchingbecause the marine life returns
and they follow the tide, sodoes the trash, and that is why
(09:08):
you find a lot of times you'llfind a correlation where you see
the sea turtles hatching and anabundance of flip flops and or
other types of garbage on thosesame beaches.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, it's quite fascinating.
It's quite connected.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yes, yeah, you know, to use your garden.
We've been hoeing away tryingto find why is this?
Because that was my firstquestion when I kind of got
involved was we need to answerthis question?
Why are there so many?
And so we really I've workedwith an anthropologist from
London.
We've, like, done some studies.
We've, you know, just kind ofI've looked at, you know, marine
(09:42):
research, tidal things, andsure enough, if you overlay kind
of the data and volumes ofwhere these tides are and where
this abundance of, you know, sealife is moving around our
oceans, sure enough that's whenyou see equal amount of trash.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Wow, so everything.
So where the turtles are going,the trash follows.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
The trash follows.
It all goes together Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Okay, so eventually this is ending up on the East
African coasts.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah.
So the tide to Kenya and Somalia, because actually a little bit
north of us as well we are on abig tidal, big, huge kind of
Indian Ocean tide that reallystarts kind of down in Indonesia
and kind of works its way andyou can kind of look on these
marine maps and see these tides,and so we have a big tide that
(10:58):
lands on our shores, and so thatis one reason that we have all
these flip flops on our ocean.
The other reason is the samethat we've observed in other
countries is Mambasa is aco-located town kind of on our
Indian Ocean, and also a riverthere, waterways there.
I've seen this in Haiti andagain Guatemala and Colombia.
(11:21):
They have a dump site there andback in the day when there
wasn't 55 million people inKenya, the dump site was just
kind of there, and what'shappened over time is the
monsoons will come into thesedump sites and pull all that
trash out, sends it straight out, and then the tides hit it and
hit back to our ocean.
So that's also one of ourproblems of why things get to us
(11:45):
.
And then the other is theclassic riverways, villages get
flooded and those dump sites oreven local village kind of just
shoes around in a village willget caught up into a big river
and that goes out to the ocean,and then we'll hit a tide and
come back.
So that's why we have so many.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Wow, okay, so the flip flops themselves are coming
from across the seas all overAsia and coming through with the
currents to the shores, andthen it's coming from the
waterways locally as well, goingout to the ocean and then going
back and hitting the shoresagain.
So you know, originally, one ofmy questions was I'm thinking
(12:26):
you're picking up all of thesethousands and thousands of flip
flops, you must see less andless of them, and I'm thinking
you're seeing more and more ofthem, aren't you?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Now more and more with the population increase.
I mean, kenya itself in thelast 10 years has gone from like
20 million to 55 million people, you know, and this is
happening across our continentand some of the other continents
.
So you know, you see, in termsof that growth, you know,
obviously the all the plastic ofthe consumption is, you know,
(12:56):
exponentially growing, flipflops being one of them.
So we, what we do, how OceanSoul has kind of organized
itself, is we've taken twoapproaches.
One is, you know, obviously, weclean beaches and you know the
ocean mamas and we have what wecall.
You know they organizethemselves and they all, they
clean everything on the beaches.
And you know we take the flipflops and we buy the.
(13:19):
We pay that most of them arepaid, you know, as employees and
what their job is.
But they also go and take someof the other trash to some of
the other recycling, whetherit's recycling into art or
bricks or some other formation,and those ladies have that
income.
The other thing we do is we'vekind of like, if you think of,
you know, avon or remember theold encyclopedia sales, you know
(13:41):
we have these pyramids whereyou have like a senior person
pop and then they self organize.
So what we've done is reach outall over Kenya, especially along
the waterways, into the riversthat we have in the big areas,
and we have people that organizethemselves and get multiple
people involved in thesecommunities and they all clean
(14:03):
it and then they bring a bigstacks of flip flops to us and
we buy them.
So they make their incomethrough the purchase of the flip
flops and this has reallyworked as a great business model
because you know we get directemployment.
You know we help communities.
They can grow as much as theywant, they can be as little as
(14:23):
they want, so they can go outand they also reach into their
communities and can cleanlocally where they live, versus
just on the ocean.
So we kind of combat both ofthose problems before things get
to the oceans but are in therivers or on the ocean from the
beaches.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
So you're not only giving them jobs, but you're
creating stewards for theenvironment, their own
environment.
Love it, correct Love it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So let's talk.
So a few months ago I was inKenya and I was at the Nairobi
Airport and I saw this life size, very colorful baby elephant
and I was like, ooh, you knowwhat is this?
And I've seen bits and piecesat Curio shops and what have you
, but I'd never seen anythinglike that.
And I recognized then that itwas.
(15:10):
You know, with the signage itwas made from flip flops.
I saw your guys' name and I waslike that's it.
I need to dig deeper into this,I need to hoe deeper into this
so that listeners can get abetter understanding of the
impact that you guys are having.
But the fact that, again, weknow we're hearing about all the
plastics, but the flip flop endof things never even imagined.
(15:32):
So tell me, erin, you get allthese flip flops.
Tell me about the artworkthat's being created, how?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
it started was kind of just like I said, a
grassroots project where youknow, we had local guys kind of
making art from this.
What we figured out is theartist.
There's an artist in communityin Kenya and you'll see that in
other continents and othercountries around the world where
you know, and they were carvingfrom wood.
So they were cutting down treesin order to make their couriers
(16:04):
you know whether it was awooden giraffe or salad spoons,
you know things like that we'veall seen in our travels.
They became our targetemployees because obviously we
needed just to teach them how to, you know, not cut down trees
so save trees and to learn touse this medium of flip flops.
So that was really a big ahamoment of how we could grow.
(16:27):
So this is our artist incommunity and they're very, very
talented, as you've seen.
And so what we did?
So once we kind of figured outokay, how are we going to carve
this stuff?
What we do is we bring in theseflip flops, you know, kind of
by the keyless.
We recycle a million and a halfflip flops a year, so over a
ton of week.
So it's huge volume of flipflops that we reform.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
A ton, a ton a week, that's it for this week, wow,
kind of weak More.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And so what?
You know, we get all theseflip-flops that buy or we clean
up and we have them.
They come to our workshop, weweigh them, we sort them, we
clean them.
You know we employ ladies.
We're about 50% female, 50%male.
I really try to make thatbalance.
The women are not naturalcarvers so we have to work with
apprenticeships.
But we've had five women kindof really become senior carvers.
(17:16):
They wash them, disinfect themand, you know, get them ready,
sort them by color for theartisans.
Then we, if they're smaller,they get kind of pressed
together with some glue, youknow, in a big presser and they,
you know, basically start withlike just think of a size of a
foot but like maybe six of themtogether, you know, in a
(17:37):
flip-flop kind of block and theycarve some of the smaller bits
from that.
You know, obviously, as theyget bigger.
What we use is we also collect.
It's called polyurethane.
It's very disgusting stuff thatyou see inside of a
refrigerator.
So it's this really hazardouskind of horrible like stuff that
(17:57):
floats in our beaches.
A lot, a lot of like.
You know, kind of dump sitesuse them when refrigerators and
containers that are full of yourrefrigerator.
So we have that stuff andthat's what will shape the
biggest thing.
So, like that elephant you saw,they will have pulled all the
polyurethane together, they willglue it together into a big
lump.
They'll carve it with justmanual knives into the shape of
(18:19):
an elephant and then they layerflip-flops all over it, like two
or three layers of that, tocreate the color and to create
the kind of shape, and then theycan do all the details around
it.
So that's the process and youknow, obviously we sand it and
wash it and carve it and we'vemade huge things.
We've made a life-size Hondacar, we have made 18-inch a
(18:41):
giraffe, I mean, you know, I cango on with some of the creative
things that we've made over theyears.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And you do custom work right.
People want a land rover.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So most of our business is kind of I really,
you know my background isbusiness like I was in private
equity and high-tech and stuff.
So I'm constantly diversifyingrisk because you know we need to
be kind of out there.
We're a little bit like GirlScouts, you know.
If I'm not hustling cookies,you know we're not able to do
good, you know, to our artisansand to the environment.
(19:14):
So we're always like on themove for more cookie sales.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It's like focus.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I get about 50% of our revenue or, you know, income
comes from very largeinstallations.
We've gone to Saudi Arabia,we're off to China, we're going
to Goa I mean we've been allover America where we do either
businesses buy big you knowpieces for their lobbies or
whether we do like aninstallation of you know kind of
(19:41):
a storytelling where it's allmarine life, you know things
like that.
So people get very creativewith our art because we can make
it and they come up with atheme or a mission.
You know that they want to amessage that they want to get
across, and then we make art forthat.
So we do that.
And then about another 25%, Iwould say Zoo's, aquariums,
boutiques, you know kind ofwhere you'd see them and you
(20:03):
know, for sales, yeah, and thenthe rest is probably online or
with tourists coming to Kenya.
We have a shop not a shop, buta fulfillment center here in
Florida.
I spend half my time in Kenyaand here because we do all of
our US and export stuff out ofhere in the Northern Florida
area.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So all the big pieces , whether they're commissioned,
let's say you know, in for SaudiArabia, are they?
Is everything made in Kenya, orare you actually taking
artisans to those countries forthe big commission stuff?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So both the answer to that is both.
Everything is mostly made inKenya.
You know we will do the designprocess.
We're quite detailed.
It's funny I think people arequite surprised how professional
we are when we interact withclients, especially in a big
installation.
We do a lot of designs.
We do a lot of sometimes 3Dgraphic designs.
You know we have to estimate,like if there's metal involved
(20:57):
in other pieces.
So we do, we do all of that andsometimes we're hired, like
when we went to Saudi Arabia, weonly completed 50% of it and
then we go over there with theartist and they complete it.
So they're kind of doing it inexhibition, showing people how
it's made and people can see thework that's there.
So it's either or depending onkind of what you know kind of
(21:18):
the client would like to expose.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Wow, that's amazing.
Wow, so, so you're taking sofrom Kenya?
Then you you're talking aboutColumbia, and we all know that
there's plastic crap everywhereand waterways.
Are you taking this model tothe next country?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Well, so Nirvana to us is to go, like there is a
problem in Haiti.
Haiti is obviously a verydifficult country to work in but
, like we are talking right nowin Columbia, we have some people
that are very keen Englishgentlemen that live down that
way have fallen in love withthis.
There's a huge flip-flopproblem there on the beaches and
(22:00):
so we're looking at potentially, if it works, where we can go
into another country, teachthese artisans.
You know the skills they canmake maybe indigenous products,
so maybe Columbia makes moreparents and to you know iguanas
and we know we find things thatare kind of local, like our
safari line is, you know, veryKenya and in you know, east
(22:21):
Africa specific, and you'll findthings that are relate to that
country, make those and thensell those globally to you know
our clients and so we're lookingat a lot of things that are
related to you know our clientbase and to people.
So ideally, that would beperfect world we operate, where
social enterprise in Kenyabecause it's very difficult to
be a nonprofit kind of, you know, in a country like that there's
(22:43):
a lot of anyhow background andthings like that and we did that
specifically because a lot ofbusinesses want to buy you know
big pieces and they want thattax break or they want to, you
know kind of as part of theirCSR initiative to support us or
do a fundraiser for us.
(23:04):
So that's given us some abilityto kind of go out and
potentially find money to dothose kind of projects and go to
Columbia, versus kind of ustrying to self-fund it from you
know selling cookies, if youwill.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Right, wow, wow, so you're coming, so you're
actually in America already.
You're in Florida, but not witha shot per se, okay, but that's
kind of one of your mainheadquarters, so to speak, for
so you know, we're here inFlorida.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You know I live in Kenya.
I live in Caliphia, in theIndian Ocean, in, you know, our
workshops in Nairobi and I spendmy time back and forth.
We're in Florida because myparents, you know getting
elderly are here and so we,instead of kind of living in
other places, I probably like tolive.
We're here, and so I set up thefulfillment shop here.
So all of our online purchases,things like that all based in
(23:57):
in kind of outside of theJacksonville area.
So we're here and, yeah, I comeover.
I've got a great team here inAmerica.
Most of the employees,everybody's in Kenya.
Most of these, you know, ladies, are kind of social, you know,
working for a nonprofit.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
On top of the fact that you're taking pollution out
, you're making something out ofyour creating this incredible
artwork.
You're giving people jobs,you're cleaning up the
environment.
Then part of your proceeds alsogo back into marine
conservation.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, so we try to every year.
We, you know, not just cleaningup beaches, but we try to find,
you know, a project, you know alot of its sea turtles.
We love, like we're working ona project right now in Kenya
where we're trying to get abeach kind of to recognize as a
sea turtle haven.
So we're working on that.
We'll donate money to differentprojects.
We've tried to partner.
(24:47):
It was quite interesting.
We, we thought at one pointwe'd make a panda and sell the
panda and give it to, like, youknow, save the panda or whatever
, and it gets the messaging getsa little bit lost.
We're very, I think our modelis so open in terms of
collaboration and partnershipand there's so much we can do.
We're a bit like a Rubik's Cube, you know.
I mean you can spin us, are we?
(25:08):
an art yeah so we're a community, you know.
Are we like a social impact?
Yes, you know, ourreconservation, yes, yeah, you
know, it becomes that likesometimes and I learned this
because I, you know, quiteambitious in doing good it's
like it can get lost, you know.
So we try to stay with marineconservation, try and try to
find a few partners to do that,work with and, you know,
(25:31):
hopefully just fund that wherewe can.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Nice, very nice.
Yes, I can understand you are.
You have kind of your fingersand all the good stuff which I
love.
Yeah, that's exactly why wewanted to talk with you guys to
so tell me I know this is whatyou're most.
You know, it's one of thosefluffy questions what's your
most popular piece?
What's the most popular thingthat you guys sell?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
So I would say the giraffes by far, because they're
gorgeous.
I think the giraffes aredefinitely.
We have branched out to doingdogs and cats, dogs and cats,
and so those do really well,especially in America.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
American love their dogs.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah, we love our dogs, and then the turtles.
Turtles do really well from amarine life and sharks.
It's funny the East Coast ofAmerica is all about the sea
turtle and the West Coast is allabout sharks, and so it's quite
interesting.
You know different regions inthe different, but by giraffe
I'd say giraffes by the farthestyou know, or the you know, I
(26:34):
mean they're just, our giraffesare beautiful, I mean they're
just.
They take a life of their own,they have eyelashes, they have
these gorgeous, you know facesand you know and and they can
you know, for in a room they cankind of be anywhere in a corner
, they can move around, you know.
So so they're quite.
Yeah, definitely a standoutpiece.
(26:56):
Yes, yes, colors always are verystandout ish.
You know, the colors are alwaysso bright.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
And so you can see all of it.
So, listeners, you can go checkout all of these pieces at
ocean soul, calm and that'socean.
And S O L E dot com.
Check out the giraffes, checkout these really custom pieces
that they've done life sizeelephants, the Honda that Aaron
was talking about and those two.
You can see the artisans atwork.
There's videos all over theplace on the artisans at work
(27:27):
and the marine conservationefforts that they're involved in
with the turtles.
Everything's on their websiteand it is a great place to
peruse for your own shoppinggift.
Whatever.
That is your participation inremoving the flip flops from the
ocean and our local waterways.
Anything else you'd like toshare with us?
Speaker 2 (27:48):
No, but thank you for having me and I just hope you
know I love going and talkingabout ocean soil.
As you can tell, I get verypassionate about it.
I'm so passionate about thepeople.
I think they work really hard,so dedicated, and you know my
job is to steward them into abetter life.
And you know the participationof people.
You know purchasing or donating, or I mean people can host a
(28:11):
beach cleanup.
We'll do that in people's names, you know they can.
You know, do meals if they want, because some people gravitate.
They don't really aestheticallylike our art.
They appreciate it but maybe itdoesn't fit their house.
You know which we get becauseit's full of color.
But you know there's other waysto participate and help and
spread the word.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
So I love it, thank you.
Thank you for sharing that,because you're right.
Sometimes, you know, art is inthe eye of the beholder, is it
not?
Yes, good Again, oceansoulcom.
There are some really coolthings happening that one day
might phase out the use ofethylene vinyl acetate that is
used to make flip flops andending up in the oceans.
(28:53):
For example, adidas isexperimenting with renewable
materials.
They are collaborating withParley for the oceans, using
illegal deep sea gill nets andrecycled ocean plastics to make
shoes.
They're also experimenting witha material called AM silk,
creating biodegradable shoespackaged along with an enzyme
(29:16):
solution so that, when ownersare done with their sneakers,
they can dissolve them.
That's fascinating.
It may be a while before theseshoes find their way to 3
billion flip-flop wearers, but Ifind it hopeful that mega
companies like Adidas and, Ihope, so many more, are working
on solutions to clean up oceanplastic pollution.
(29:38):
Check out Oceansoul's websiteto see the beautiful art being
created by some of the 3 billiona year purchase flip flops Art
that supports local Kenyanartisans, cleans up beaches,
provides jobs, createsenvironmental stewardship,
brings awareness to oceanpollution and inspires hope.
(29:58):
Oceansoul, that's S-O-L-Ecom.
Thanks for listening.
I hope you tell your friendsand take care of each other.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.