He has no secondary of higher education, but he wants to pay off his old debts: “It is part of my plan to devote most of my fortune; I want to give back to society the bulk of what I’ve earned. This ship is a part of that”.
Human pollution is slowly destroying our planet. Our lack of interest has left us with endangered species, oceans polluted, specially filled with plastic, and with no vegetation left. This is actually very serious, but we’ve not become aware of it yet.
However, there are many people in this world who daily fight to complete this mission…
Kjell Inge Røkke, a Norwegian billionaire who started as a fisherman, said he will give, according to Forbes, most of his estimated $2.6 billion fortune to help clean up the oceans around the world.
The idea of one of the richest men in his country, is to build a 596-foot marine research vessel called REV (Research Expedition Vessel,) that will suck up the plastic litter, as a way to “give back to society the bulk of what I’ve earned” he told the newspaper Aftenposten.
This way, he will be able to hoover up around 5 tons of plastic a day, which will then be recycled. What’s more, it’d be large enough to travel the world collecting waste and measuring the marine ecosystem health. According to Business Insider, the mega-yacht—which will be the world’s largest once built—can carry 60 scientists and 40 crew.
Røkke made his billions in offshore drilling and shipping companies, but now he wants to clean up the plastic that’s chocking the marine life.
A recent study revealed that 38 million pieces of plastic waste were found on an uninhabited South Pacific island.
Røkke, who suffers from dyslexia, has no secondary or higher education, and has worked on the Alaskan trawlers for several years since he was 18. In the 1980’s, he ran several U.S. companies in the Seattle area, before returning to Norway to build a shipping fleet.
After his 2005 conviction for the illegal purchase of a boat licence, Røkke served a 120-day sentence in a Norway Prison.