GlobeSailor had the immense privilege of visiting Tara and meeting its crew. But, what about you? What does the Tara Foundation mean to you? Since 2003, Tara has been taking action and fighting for the environment. This legendary boat has become a platform of top-quality scientific research.
Tara Expeditions was born both from a passion for the sea and from the committed humanist vision of Agnès B and Etienne Bourgois. In collaboration with various scientific institutions, the expeditions achieve concrete results. ‘Tara Expeditions’ also raise public awareness regarding the environment, encouraging politicians to take action and the necessary measures to protect the environment.
The Tara Foundation explained in some figures: 11 scientific expeditions, 400,000 km of sea covered with stops in more than 60 countries, more than 60,000 samples collected, more than 70 scientific publications, 45,000 children brought on board, 2 million visitors at exhibitions.
Since 2006, numerous researchers have been sailing the seas on board this schooner. Tara is therefore also an extraordinary human adventure. This boat has welcomed on board hundreds of people: scientists, sailors, cooks, and on board individuals lead lives that differ slightly from the norm. Living there 24/7, the numerous tasks at sea leave little time for distractions: few stop-offs and no internet connection nor television. In all honnesty, what would you do?
Plankton : the true lungs of the earth.
The last operation « Tara Pacific » collected more than 36 000 samples. After 2 and a half years of exploring coral reefs and measuring the effects of climate change and their capacity to adapt facing changing conditions, the scientific boat returned to its home port, Lorient La Base, at the end of October 2018. The data collected from these expeditions should enable us to take a large step in our global understanding of the oceans and reefs.
From north to south and east to west, plankton, the first link in the oceanic food chain, were closely studied. Without them, marine life would not exist. They produce 2/3 of the oxygen in the planet! Yes, we’ve been lied to our whole lives! As surprising as it may seem, trees are not the only source of oxygen. Why do they not teach us that at school? It is not the gigantic forests that contribute the most to the renewal of oxygen in the air that we breathe, but rather these microscopic plant-like organisms.
And yet, at this moment in time, we hardly know anything about their ability to adapt to evolving environmental conditions. The study that Tara is carrying out is a real priority. It is urgent to raise environmental awareness and to bring issues concerning the ocean and the climate into the light. This will help us to better understand climate change and how to preserve coral biodiversity that has been decreasing in recent years.
2 days of sailing to be won!
Christmas has come round early with GlobeSailor ! Enter to win two days of unforgettable sailing on this legendary boat! After returning to Lorient for a little maintenance, Tara will take to the seas once more next summer for a tour of Europe, from Sweden to Monaco.
The lucky individual will be announced on the 17th December 2018 by email and our social media.
In two clicks, you can enter into our prize draw until the 16th December!