Increased demand for The Green Blue from sailors
The Green Blue is a programme created by the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine to promote environmental awareness among boat owners.
Record-breaking round the world yachtsman Mike Golding, who is patron of The Green Blue and also chair of World Sailing’s Sustainability Commission, was at The Green Blue’s stand at the Green Tech Boat Show and said: “I first got involved in 2007 and at that time we were [Mike’s Vendée Globe campaign] sponsored by Ecover, which was the first time that I became aware of many of these issues. As time has moved on, we’ve all realised that our lovely green sailing sport is not as green as it should be and could be. There are an awful lot of areas that need to be tackled, whether it’s green propulsion or ground anchors to protect the seabeds. The breadth of it is all covered under The Green Blue banner. There’s a phrase – ‘educate rather than legislate’ – and that has always been the RYA’s and British Marine’s approach. Try and educate people so that we don’t end up with unreasonable legislation. Maybe we’ve moved further than that now, maybe the need is greater, so The Green Blue is more relevant today than ever.”
The Green Blue’s Campaign Manager Kate Fortnum said: “15 years ago it was a nice to know rather than a need to know. Over the last four years that’s dramatically changed, partly due to The Blue Planet e¡ect with David Attenborough highlighting the impacts of plastic pollution, and so the general public is more aware of environmental issues and that filters into the boating community. Now the demand for The Green Blue in terms of providing advice and information has increased rapidly. Where the Green Tech Boat Show comes in is that industry can provide products and facilities to better enable the customer to be more sustainable. There is a lot people can do in terms of changing their behaviour on the water and ashore, but there are always barriers where technological solutions are needed. For example that might be bilge filters to prevent oil being pumped out into the water, it might be eco-moorings to protect the seabed, while still allowing people to anchor in their favourite cove. Of course there’s also big focus on decarbonising of vessels and there are companies here creating inboard electric and outboard engines to help us tackle climate change.
“Thinking about where The Green Blue started, it is exciting that we now have an event totally focussed on green technology. It’s really positive. A lot of that is down to customers knowing they want to protect the waters they sail in. Having that demand is helping companies produce new products.” thegreenblue.org.uk