“This planet and the oceans are the natural resource bank account. We should be living off the interest that it bears, rather than eating away the capital. Right now, we’re eating, eating, and eating away as much of the capital as possible. There are many countries that are living off credit in that scenario rather than on interest.”
Fabien Cousteau
Parley Berlin took place during Fashion Week from July 2-4, 2013. The three-day event series brought together 24 speakers for ‘Parley Talks’, featuring keynote presentations to discuss the growing threat of plastic pollution in the oceans. Collaboration sessions and a Blue Carpet Party were held to form alliances for The Vortex Project: an initiative started by eco-material innovator Bionic Yarn, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and Parley to clean up beaches and shorelines, boost new technologies, and turn ocean plastic into smart consumer products to create funding and awareness to address plastic pollution.
The Vortex Project is based on the belief that we must harmonize the human economy with the ecosystem of nature in order to make a serious impact. Speakers for Parley Talks in Berlin included, Captain Paul Watson, Pharrell Williams and his partners in Bionic Yarn, Tyson Toussant and Tim Coombs, Fabien Cousteau, Fisher Stevens, David de Rothschild, David LaChapelle, Graham Hawkes, Tom Sachs, Dianna Cohen, Roy Vercoulen, Graham Hill, Margareta van den Bosch, Zem Joaquin, Jurgen Mayer H., Felix Hallwachs, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Wellemeit, Anders Lendager, Tobias Nolte, Lukas Kronawitter and Tomas Saraceno.