A video that tells the story of the problem and the threat of plastic to our seas, which are nothing other than one single great ocean. A video to tell us that each of us can do something concrete every day to reduce plastic consumption. A video that previews Alex Bellini's next adventure, 10 Rivers 1 Ocean, launching in 2019. We watched the video, we liked it, and so we decided to interview the Italian adventurer and explorer to find out about his next undertaking and understand what drives him in the defence of the planet.

Three and a half years on a boat made of recycled plastic to travel the ten rivers responsible for almost all plastic pollution in the sea, with the aim of fostering a new sense of understanding and respect for our planet.

Your next adventure, 10 Rivers 1 Ocean, retraces the same journey a plastic bottle makes from the river to the Pacific Ocean. Why did you choose this theme?
I want to tell the story of plastic's journey, from rivers to the sea. Plastic pollution is a topic that many of us care about, but few people know its origins. By sailing the 10 rivers I can explain how 80 per cent of the plastic that populates and pollutes our oceans originates from rivers.

When it comes to plastic, I think it's necessary to redefine the concept of collective responsibility — we are all responsible for plastic pollution, and the victims are our children, who find microplastics on their plates.

In the same way, there is only one ocean — the old definition of Atlantic, Pacific, Indian is now outdated. We are immersed in one single great ocean; what pollutes the South China Sea today could, in a short time, find its way to the Mediterranean through the thermohaline ocean circulation that drives the movement of water masses.

When will you set off for 10 Rivers 1 Ocean?
Departure is planned within the first two or three months of 2019. The date has not yet been set — we are in talks with local institutions in China to obtain all the necessary permits. The cultural difference puts me slightly on guard; I wouldn't want my journey to be misunderstood in terms of its true mission of raising global awareness of the plastic problem, which is why I would like my project to reach an institutional level in the countries I will visit.

I will be sailing in a vessel I am building, made from recycled plastic; my team and I have estimated we will continue the adventure at a pace of three rivers per year, finishing in mid-2022.

So it will be quite a lengthy adventure…
Just as we cannot solve the plastic problem in a day, we cannot think of creating a project of such significant impact in a single day either. It will be three years of commitment. Together with my team, my wife and my family, we want to send a very concrete message. This journey gives us the opportunity to come into contact with people who are already putting solutions into practice, and together we can become agents of change.

Of all the issues you have encountered in your travels, why did you decide to make a video denouncing plastic pollution?
I chose plastic because I realise that human beings, however sophisticated, are still driven by very basic impulses. We are simple living creatures who switch on and off according to simple dynamics — there is no point in grand theories; instead, it is necessary to talk about concrete problems whose everyday effects people can recognise. Plastic is one of them. Precisely because the message must be very clear and understandable to everyone, I decided to focus on the plastic problem, fully aware that it is only one of the many threats having a negative impact on the world, but it is also the one we can most easily try to reduce — you only need to change some very basic habits to see a concrete result.

What should we do to awaken global awareness of the plastic problem?
There are two things that need to be said. Personally, I don't believe that the circular economy is a solution. In Italy there is neither the know-how nor the infrastructure yet to pursue a circular economy. Reducing plastic consumption is the only viable path. The second point, which is in fact the premise, is the need to learn, to inform ourselves, to know exactly what is happening. Without knowledge we cannot understand, and if we cannot understand we cannot act. Knowledge is the only weapon of defence.

That said, we need to recover a sense of personal responsibility — we can truly change the fate of the world. We have to save the world; if we don't, no one else will. For example, there are still people who think it's fine to serve coffee in a plastic cup, but fortunately there are also people who are convinced we must save ourselves, and they are actively carrying forward their own small campaign. Every battle against plastic today has the opportunity to grow ever larger, because there is no longer a "us and them" between those who pollute and those who suffer the consequences of pollution — we are all involved. We need to build connections, working groups around this problem, because only together can we make it.

What actions can we take to counter the invasion of plastic?
I have a very clear idea of what needs to be done. I live in England, where three-quarters of primary school children spend less time outdoors than prisoners do. It is an indicator of the fact that we are losing touch with nature, and if we lose that, we also lose the ability to recognise how human beings and nature, in order to coexist peacefully, must live in connection with one another, not in domination over one another. We have spent centuries dominating nature — that is our tendency. We not only want to be comfortable, we want to dominate other living species because we have the intelligence and the stupidity to be able to do so.

If we want to rediscover a dialogue with nature, we must also rediscover the pleasure of coming into contact with it — that is the weak link. Never before have we been so distant from nature; we need to rebuild the connection between human beings and nature, if only to make ourselves aware that our actions have direct consequences on the Planet. The moment human beings and nature become two completely separate entities, it will be the end.

Why did you decide to become an adventurer?
To answer this question one has to go back to my university days, when I was studying banking and finance and beginning to look out at the world of work. My life seemed set on a course very different from the one I am on today.

I was born and grew up forty years ago in a mountain village, Aprica, and I always had a very strong bond with nature, which I was unfortunately losing during my university years. In a period of identity crisis I no longer knew how to answer simple questions such as: who am I? What do I love most about life? It was clear that my heart was asking me to do certain things, while with my head I had decided to do others. So at the age of 20 I decided to drop out of university to dedicate myself to living experiences — sometimes extreme ones — with the ultimate aim of knowing myself. To live adventure not as a form of performance, but as a form of self-exploration.

Over the course of time, over these 20 years, I have come to realise how adventure can become a powerful vehicle for sharing stories and metaphors, and how my mission carries added value if I manage to give it a purpose even nobler than the adventure itself. Adventure does not become the ultimate end, but the instrument through which I can convey the messages that matter most to me.

What does the future hold for us?
For a long time human beings lived through the various ages that followed one another as each one simply continuing from the last. Today the future that lies before us is not the continuation of the present, but the consequence of it. If we want to live in a sustainable future we must act now, because the future is the consequence of our actions in the present. That is the great difference between past ages and our own.

Can we make it?
I am of the view that it is never too late, but we must act now and not wait for someone else to do it in our place. In doing so, we need to rediscover a sense of connectivity, to think about acting all together, on a large scale, and to do it now. From today we must stop consuming plastic products, we must start being astonished again when someone offers us plastic packaging, from small bottles all the way to bags. We need to recover a slightly "ignorant" gaze — a very simple one, like that of children who marvel at things. If we stop marvelling at the spread of plastic, we also stop asking ourselves questions, and then we will have lost our battle.