This document discusses several environmental issues and proposes an eco-challenge to address them. It notes that water bottles do not decompose for thousands of years, 10% of plastic produced ends up in the oceans, and 2/3 of pallets are used once and thrown out. The eco-challenge proposes creating boats from recycled materials like pallets and water bottles to provide affordable transportation for fishing jobs, helping address poverty while reducing waste.

1. Eco-ChallengeAlexander Huff, Bobby McDonald, Patrick Witt

2. Location Ghana, AfricaTotal area is 238,535 km2 and 3.5% is made up of waterPopulated areas are not living in poverty anymore but rural areas are very poorLife Expectancy is 59 years as of 2009

3. Water Bottle StatsWater bottles do not decompose for thousands of yearsFrom 1997-2007 water bottle consumption doubled in the U.S.76.5% of bottles end up in landfills

4. What Happens To The Ocean?Decompose very slow and drift in the ocean for many years.Each square mile of ocean has 46,000 plastic pieces floating in it.Ten percent of plastic produced every year worldwide ends up in the ocean. 70% of that number winds up on the ocean floor, where it will probably never degrade

5. What Happens To Old Pallets?2/3 of this is used once then thrown out1/4 of all wood in landfills is used palletsBusinesses send hundreds of millions of pallets to landfills, spending billions of dollars in the process

6. How can we Help?Create a boat that uses recycled materials.This will give the poor an affordable way to start making money through jobs like fishing.

7. Current solutions Ideas that other people have come up with that could be used and modified to help our idea.

8. CostUsed pallets can be bought for as cheep as six or seven dollars.Water bottles are practically free. Altogether we should be able to make this for around 15 dollars.

9. Benefits Help the poor by giving them an affordable way to start making money by doing something like fishing.