Ep.25: Sargassum Collection Benefiting Local Community with Andrés Bisonó León
Our guest today is Andrés Bisonó León who is the CEO and co-founder of SOS Carbon. He is from the Dominican Republic and studied mechanical engineering and finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. SOS Carbon started as an R&D based at MIT in 2018. After successfully validating the technologies and system, the leading team developed a spinoff project. SOS Carbon is an environmental service company whose mission is to provide the most cost-effective & responsible solutions for sargassum collection and disposal. SOS Carbon efforts have also focused on involving local communities and acting as liaison between government agencies, private sector, academic institutions, and countries across the Caribbean with the goal to join forces to effectively compact the problem.
- What sargassum means to Andrés (8:17)
- Goals of SOS Carbon - Sargassum as a beneficial resource and opportunity! (9:00)
- Andrés history and passion for sargassum and giving back to the community (10:21)
- Partnering with colleague at MIT for technology-based solutions (12:30)
- Effects of sargassum in the Dominican Republic and Caribbean-wide (15:28)
- Local villages, mangroves and ecosystems are effected by sargassum events (19:20)
- SOS Carbon ("Sargassum Ocean Sequestration of Carbon") and carbon sequestration (22:00)
- Collaborations with MIT & local agencies and institutions for open-ocean solutions technologies (24:10)
- "We (SOS Carbon) were really sequestering a positive amount of carbon, meaning that our system wasn't going to require more energy than what we were going to sequester." (26:50)
- Continued work with other experts and teams to create the best system to manage the sargassum problem (29:13)
- Blue economics, ocean carbon sequestration and impact of sargassum on tourism (30:13)
- The many benefits of Littoral Collection Method (LCM) for fishing community and ecosystems (34:05)
- Uses of systems outside of sargassum specifically (38:00)
- Working together as a team to integrate communities and create opportunities (41:07)
- Associated costs (in USD) for the SOS Carbon hardware, fleet and the formal employment platform (44:16)
- Addressing by-catch within SOS Carbon solutions (47:21)
- Contact info and closing (50:11) *see below*
Transcript
Learn more about Andrés Bisonó León and SOS Carbon:
֍ Website
֍ SOS Carbon Tech (Open Ocean)
֍ SOS pilot on Rio Ozama (same river where The Ocean Cleanup has Interceptor 004)
We love to hear from you, feel free to drop us an email to SargassumPodcast@gmx.net, and connect with us on social media: facebook, twitter, Instagram, linkedin.
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