Oly Rush (Environmental Campaigner & Ultra Swimmer): Passion fuelled fight against Plastic Pollution

Success on the South Coast is all about showcasing interesting people doing amazing things in the local community.

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My guest for episode #17 is Oly Rush, an environmental campaigner who takes on incredible ultra swimming challenges in aid of raising awareness of plastic pollution through his charity PROJECT PLANET EARTH.

- - - KEY TOPICS OF THE CONVERSATION - - -

In this episode we discuss:

• The moment that led to Oly giving up the rat race to fight plastic pollution
• The “life or death” mindset that drives Oly to complete incredible swimming challenges
• Oly’s charity Project Planet Earth - beach cleans & school visits 
• THE GRAND SWIM documentary chronicling Oly's world record attempt to swim around Grand Cayman
• Oly’s view on the true meaning of Happiness & Success

- - - CHAPTERS - - -

00:00:00 - Guest Intro
00:02:17 - Intro ("A sunny new podcast...")
00:02:44 - Welcome… 
00:03:10 - Oly's Passion: Protecting the Ocean
00:04:03 - How Oly's childhood & competitive swimming fueled his passion
00:05:53 - The turning point: Plastic pollution at Chapman's Poole
00:09:57 - SWIM JURASSIC: Raising awareness through his first ultra-swimming challenge
00:12:34 - Swimming Challenge #2: Circumnavigating the Isle of Wight
00:16:11 - How support from friends & family helped Oly out of a dark place
00:18:15 - THE GRAND SWIM: Documentary chronicling Oly's Grand Cayman challenge
00:20:52 - The most challenging aspects of this 37 hour (95km!) swim
00:22:00 - Staying Safe: the threat of Sharks & dangers of reefs in Grand Cayman!
00:12:44 - Walking out of the water…
00:25:25 - The recovery: physical injuries & mental impact...
00:27:17 - Coming back to reality… importance of keeping busy & setting another goal
00:28:07 - Impact on the Grand Cayman Community -  the government's broken promises
00:31:42 - Making it into the Guiness Book of World Records
00:32:52 - Passion & Purpose: the importance of having a greater purpose…
00:36:00 - Resilience & staying motivated: Stay in the moment & forget the finish line
00:37:02 - Patience, Purpose & Gratitude
00:39:08 - PROJECT PLANET EARTH: Oly's charity & mission 
00:40:12 - The small things: How to lessen your impact...
00:41:30 - Need for Funding 
00:42:32 - School visits: Inspiring the next generation
00:45:21 - Plastic Pollution - the stats & Scale of the Problem
00:47:22 - Signs of hope
00:48:52 - The circular economy… and Circular11
00:51:42 - Future Plans & Next Challenges
00:52:07 - Rewind to a previous challenge - wimming around the Greek Island of ITHACA
00:53:02 - ISLE OF WIGHT No. 2: Repeating the challenge in 'skins' (no wetsuit)
00:54:52 - PROJECT 150: The Longest non-tidal assisted open water swim
00:57:24 - Maximising the impact…
01:00:33 - What is happiness? Being content - "a flat, calm ocean"
01:03:22 - Oly's favourite thing about living in the area - the Jurassic Coast
01:04:34 - What is success? Achieving that state of contentment
01:05:29 - Skills for Success - Hyper focus, fueling & a strong purpose
01:06:55 - Positive effect on family & friends - the 'ripple' Oly is most proud of
01:07:42 - Life by Misadventure - Importance of slowing down, being more compassionate towards animals & becoming vegan
01:10:05 - Thank you, guest links & wrap-up

GUEST Links:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/oly-rush
• Website: https://www.bikingvikingrides.co.uk
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/olyrush

Watch THE GRAND SWIM at: https://www.waterbear.com/watch/the-grand-swim

Special thanks to Mike Coggan & Steve Garay from Grizzly Productions (www.grizzly.co.uk) / The Biome Project (www.biome-project.co.uk) for allowing us to feature clips of their fantastic short film ‘RUSH’ and ‘THE GRAND SWIM’.

PROJECT PLANET EARTH - Oly’s Charity:

• Website: www.projectplanet.earth
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/projectplanet.earth

You can donate at https://projectplanet.earth/donate/ 

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#OlyRush
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INTRO MUSIC: 'Generator' by CALL ME ANIMAL. 

If you like the sound of it, check out 'Arron Sans' (the singer/songwriter) at https://www.arronsans.com or https://www.instagram.com/arronsans.