I'm Koen. A start-up veteran and a former executive of the tech industry. A few years ago, I decided to travel the world with my camera and to tell stories. At the same time, I try to do my part in leaving the planet in a better state than when I arrived here. Stories about how we treat the planet, and stories about how our modern way of living affects things we take for granted. Over the past years, I've got more traction every month in both domains. I'm telling stories about society. I focus is on how the world we live in changes with the technology we add to it. At the same time, I seek solutions for one of the most significant side effects of that evolution: single-use plastic.

Besides your financial support, I need your input: what can I do different, what do you expect, where can we co-create the next project? I work with corporations on CSR projects, but with your help here I can further develop my independent projects. (If you are representing a corporation, drop me a message if you would like to find ways we can collaborate).

Two of my projects require more time, money and equipment than I currently have. That's why I started this Patreon campaign. With your help, I'll be able to keep on working on these two programs:

1. No Excuse For Single Use
When the oceans die, we die. And while many great initiatives are helping this cause, I believe I can do my part and make a difference. As a dive instructor, I'm too often too close to the devastating impact plastic has on our oceans. We need people and technology to clean this, but at the same time, we need to stop the flood of plastic. 311 million tons are produced every year. Most of it as single-used packaging. I'm working on projects and programs to build awareness and change behavior.

One of the deliverables are the websites and blogs on NoExcuseForSingleUse.com and PlasticStrawsSuck.com. They are in their early stages and need more time to become part of a larger platform.

We spend billions of dollars to sell our products (and the plastic they come in) in new markets. We flood South America, Central America, Africa and Asia with bags, boxes, cups, straws... while we haven't got a penny available to promote responsibility in people when it comes to plastic. We can't blame others for their waste if we never told them what impact their behaviors have. Our core program will be teaching school children what Reduce -> Reuse -> Recycle means, how they eat the plastic they throw in the street when they catch a fish in a few years, and so on.

In my wildest dreams, we'll use a ship as an eco-tourism destination, where (paying) volunteers will sail with us, and combine a vacation of leisure with volunteering and teaching.

Getting there takes time, energy and more. Things I can pay for with your Patreon donations.

2. The New Nomads showing the New Society
After years in technology, I saw first hand how the digital evolution changes our society. And during my recent years of travel, I lived as a digital nomad, able to do my job remotely thanks to technology from anywhere in the world.

That is the backbone of my documentary: Finding elements in the way we live and work together: new ways of life we adopted during the industrial revolution that now can change or disappear. The documentary will use the digital nomads as the metaphor to show what these changes could be.

Boarding Today - the travel stories - are just a start of what the whole project is about. While we move away from the industrial age into the information age, we see that elements of our lifestyle are not as certain as we imagine. The New Nomads and the New Society is the story of what this means on us, on our children and on the planet we call home.

Your support will allow me to offset the carbon of my travel, to spend more time on these projects, to buy the equipment and pay for the platforms and technology I'm using.

Koen

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