Education and Promotion
Although the prototype S/V Greenheart will be a working cargo ship, engaged in aid delivery and fair trading, our greatest contribution will be in the realm of education and promotion. The focus of our aid & trade freight service will be some of the world's poorest regions, where every ton of cargo will be appreciated. Still, the number of tons of aid & trade that S/V Greenheart can deliver is not significant on the global scale. However, as a promotional platform and educational vehicle, the Greenheart ship will have few rivals.
She will be a highly visible, attractive example of sustainability principles in operation. Add to this the proven newsworthiness of oceangoing sailing ships, the unique design, solar power plant and the charitable motives of Greenheart, and we expect to enjoy broad access to media around the world. We intend to exploit the promotional potentials of her arrivals, port stays and departures, to the greatest possible advantage for the causes of
- environmental protection
- international cooperation
- renewable energy use
- fair trade, and
- appropriate technologies
Local and international organizations promoting these causes will be encouraged to use the high-profile, publicity- generating image of a green sailing ship powered by solar cells to secure media exposure in both the developing and developed communities along our itinerary. The media focus our ship can attract will be most efficiently used by organizations already active in these fields, so we are offering our cooperation with their publicity efforts.
The educational activities of the Greenheart Project will be directed at three different groups using three distinct methods.
Trainees from impoverished coastal communities with sailing traditions will be hired as crew and given on-the-job training and instruction in electronic communication and navigation, the monitoring and maintenance of the photovoltaic modules and electric drive motors, and import/export documentation and international clearance. We hope that these trainees will be able to apply these skills in sustainable poverty abatement programs in their home waters. Greenheart intends to remain active in promoting this type of sail & solar appropriate technology for application in selected regions. We will be making all the data from our operations available to university-level development studies, and pertinent research agencies in an effort to establish the viability of this new type of marine transport.
Secondly, Greenheart will maintain an educational website directed at school-aged children. We expect to attract schoolteachers and their students in the fields of Science, Geography and Social Studies with an interactive, real-time window on our operations and activities. S/V Greenheart's satelite communications, multi-lingual crew, and stimulating itinerary make her an ideal educational aid for teachers in many countries. The opportunity for students to see sustainable practices in action can only help to prepare another generation of contributors to world solutions.
A third educational thrust will be towards the general public in all of the ports that S/V Greenheart visits. By inviting the public aboard during our port calls, we hope to propogate the idea that sustainability is a viable option for an enterprise; commercial, or charitable, or both. The living, working example of a modern international and cooperative enterprise that neither burns oil, nor produces pollution, nor exploits the disadvantaged, yet is successful, should inspire people around the world to re-learn the principles of sustainability and to try and apply them. Public participation is a vital component of Greenheart's operations, especially in developed nations. We hope to attract and educate our guests by exhibiting the unique technological aspects of the ship and the pressing social & ecological concerns of our trading partners in the developing world.
For more information on the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, go to the UN cyberschoolsbus. It's cool!