Speaker David de Rothschild’s Accomplishments Include…
David is an adventurer, environmentalist, eternal optimist and the founder of myoo.com a group that uses exploration, adventure and storytelling as a way to give nature a voice. David is leading a new generation of action-oriented change makers and reigniting a collective spirit of hope that the fate of our planet can be rewritten. Driven by his immeasurable curiosity for the natural world he has ventured to some of the most remote and fragile ecosystems on our planet in order to bring widespread attention and innovative solutions to urgent global environmental issues.
Underlying this is David’s unwavering belief that we must work together and question a ‘that’s just the way we’ve done it’ mentality, best exemplified in the Plastiki project. In early 2010 David and the team at MYOO designed and built a one of a kind, fully recyclable catamaran made buoyant by 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles and sailed 8,000 miles across the Pacific to alert the world to the devastating effects of single use plastics. The message and journey was seen and heard around the world by millions.
In November 2011, as part of MYOO’s ARTiculate series, David and a core crew travelled into the heart of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest to discover the effects the controversial Belo Monte dam project is having on the local community.
Beyond the physical feat of these adventures is David’s relentless passion for educating others in his light-hearted, humorous, manner. He has taken his call to action to millions of individuals across all demographics— from children to world leaders, NGO’s to NASA, industry to non-profits, Oprah Winfrey to Nickelodeon.
The bigger the challenges the more David rises to it and it is this unique resolve that has led UNEP, National Geographic, Clean up the World, World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative to recognize David as a Climate Hero, Emerging Explorer, a Global Clean Up Ambassador, a Young Global Leader and member of the Clinton Global Initiative Lead.
With numerous adventures, several books, a Sundance channel TV and a National Geographic documentary under his belt, David is always debating, collaborating and innovating solutions for a more sustainable planet and driving individuals and groups alike to unlock their human potential and dream big.