No IFs or BUTTs

NO IFS OR BUTTS is a campaign created by Ocean Beer to bring attention to one of the top plastic polluters in the world: the cigarette butt. We aim to make people aware of the grave damage they do to our ocean and its marine life and how easy it is to avoid this. 

 

Cigarette filters break down into microplastics causing significant harm to animals and marine life that ingest this plastic and thus enter the food chain. Estimates are that we are indiscriminately discarding at least eight million cigarette filters into the environment every minute. We casually flick them into the street, out a window, or put them out on the beach.  

 

At Ocean Beer we hope that we all come together to stop this extinguishable habit. Cigarette butts are plastic. They pollute and negatively impact what we love and need to be healthy. For us, there are no ifs or butts when it comes to ocean health. It is time to turn the tide on this! 

Ocean Culture Life
About Ocean Culture Life

Ocean Culture Life is a community with an unconventional approach to marine conservation: They bring Ocean Storytellers and Ocean Guardians together to give voice to the ocean, highlighting the importance of emotional connection to the sea. They concentrate on the interconnectedness between water and earth and promote collaboration in order to foster a healthy blue planet.

GET INVOLVED

Check out the work of another one of our grantees, The Trash Traveller, who organised the world’s biggest Butt Pick Up Campaign:

Next time you walk down the street, count how many butts you see (cigarette butts), and you will realise how massive the issue is. Help the planet by picking them up or by speaking out next time you see someone flick a butt!  

LEARN MORE:

MICHAEL ROSEN

Michael Rosen has experience at a partner and co-founder level in private equity and venture capital funds. He has evaluated, executed and managed investments across many sectors and stages, raised capital, managed teams and worked closely with portfolio companies. He was the COO of a listed investment vehicle, and most recently the CIO of Ocean Born Impact where he oversaw investment strategies focused on companies that positively impact planetary health, emphasizing areas such as the energy transition, clean transportation, sustainable production, and enabling technologies.

 

Earlier in his career, Michael served as a Partner at Pamplona Capital Management, where he was responsible for identifying and managing investment opportunities across various sectors. His career began as an Analyst in the Financial Sponsors Group at Merrill Lynch in London.

 

Michael continues to make and support impactful investments that combine environmental sustainability with technological innovation, leveraging his extensive experience in finance and investment management. His investments include impact-focused businesses such as Olio (food waste), Skin Analytics (Al for skin cancer detection), Bramble Energy (hydrogen fuel cells), and CHOOOSE (carbon-offsetting and mitigation).

 

Michael graduated from Oxford University in 2001 with a first class degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), and in 2024 he published his first novel, The Consciousness Company, about a start-up company.

 

Michael is currently a venture partner for the impact fund, Mustard Seed Maze, and is happy to talk about private equity, venture capital and impact investing.