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Team Seas, stylized as #TeamSeas, is an international collaborative fundraiser project run by YouTubersMrBeast and Mark Rober as a follow up to TeamTrees. They aim to raise 30 million dollars, which would allow them to remove 30,000,000 pounds (14,000,000 kg) of marine debris from the ocean by the end of 2021. The fundraiser is partnered with Ocean Conservancy and the Ocean Cleanup.
Background
The preceding fundraiser, Team Trees, was started on October 25, 2019 by MrBeast and Mark Rober. They set to raise 20 million dollars, which they achieved. As of the start date of Team Seas, donations are still able to be made on the Team Trees website and planting progress is updated there.
Spread
Team Seas aims to remove 30,000,000 pounds (14,000,000 kg) marine debris from the ocean by the end of 2021 by raising 30 million dollars. The project was mass released over the internet on many different social media platforms on Friday October 29th, 2021, at 1 PM (PT). On YouTube, creators from 145 countries, with a combined follow count of 1 billion, created videos about the fundraiser. Most creators explained the purpose of Team Seas and convinced viewers to donate to Team Seas throughout the entirety of their videos, while some added a short explanatory segment in theirs. Videos on TikTok also featured a donation sticker for the campaign.
MrBeast released a video on October 29, 2021, showing his team cleaning the polluted beaches of Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic as volunteers for Ocean Conservancy. Half of the video showed the experience of the volunteering for the cause and the other half concerned the project and its details.
Mark Rober released a video on the same day, featuring the Ocean Cleanup'sIntereceptor robot. In addition to being set up as a pick-up competition between the robot and a human laborer on the beach, it also included a segment on how and why the trash ends up in rivers from under-served communities and describes the actions being taken by the government and the United Nations to lessen marine pollution.
Donations
On October 29, 2021, Royal Caribbean International donated $100,000 to the effort. YouTube Originals agreed to match $400,000 of donations. The Bikoff Foundation matched every donation on October 30, 2021 for up to 1 million pounds. On November 1, 2021, Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, donated $1,200,001, beating the $1,000,001 he donated to Team Trees. Dogecoin enabled donations through the currency and is auctioning a piece of NFT art, with all proceeds donated to the project. On November 2, 2021, Patreon, matched every donation on November 2, 2021 for up to 500,000 pounds and donated on November 3, 2021.
