While preparing for the Smithsonian conference, owner Knut Utstein Kloster considered other ways the ship could serve a purpose. After considering the upcoming Earth Summit scheduled for Brazil in June 1992, he worked with World City America, Inc. CEO John S. Rogers in New York and Maurice Strong at the UN to make sure the ship sailed on to Rio de Janeiro after its stop in Washington DC. Agreement was made with UNICEF Executive Director James P. Grant to let Gaia sail under the UNICEF banner “keep the promise for a better world for all children.” In the United States, Gaia first anchored in New York at the East River outside the UN headquarters on Manhattan. School children read messages addressed to world leaders. After Washington DC, Gaia sailed on to Port Canaveral where astronaut Jim Lovell and Jim Lovelock addressed a crowd at the ship. From Florida, Gaia sailed to Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Manaus, Brazil. It was a 15,000-mile journey from Norway to Brazil.