Being informed about the state of our environment and aware of the latest events happening, with regard to how we impact the world around us, empowers me to be a part of this change with sound reasoning. I want to make this world a better place, not destroy it, don’t you?
I’m no Greta Thurnberg, but the past few weeks have been busy, yet a slightly different kind of busy. I have spent a lot more time showing the ocean some love by increasing my role in advocacy and speaking up for the environment. I’ve been so incredibly inspired by someone who is only 16 years old, but don’t let that fool you, she is doing climate change advocacy better than everyone else. Greta Thunberg’s call to action and the energy she’s brought to making more people aware of the need to make urgent change is contagious (in a good way!) I am so amazed by the impact she has made starting with #fridaysforfuture School Strikes for Climate. I’m more than impressed with her bravery and determination! This added recent spark in the awareness of climate change all over the world has helped me get into gear to inspire others to become informed and make the choice for change.
The thing that fuels my advocacy and passion to educate is my love for the ocean. It is not just an obsession with the sea but a desire to understand what happens below the ocean surface and discover the secret life of marine animals and how we are all connected. I feel great respect for the ocean, and now I plan on showing it some without reservation.
The news surrounding the degradation of all ecosystems, including the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) report which further conveys that we need action in order to avoid furthering sea level rise, ice shelf melt, coral reef decline, 2+ degrees warming, acidification and much more devastation. You could ignore the issues or just let the facts of climate change go up in smoke with the forests of the amazon. With all the negative news we hear every day, you can’t let despair get the best of you. Take action, speak up and be slightly radical, non-violent, but radical. Which is more productive?
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for the destruction of ourselves and the planet.”
Rachel Carson
From my point of view, letting the problem overwhelm me would be counter-intuitive. So to combat ‘eco-anxiety’ I have shifted my focus from simply reading the bad news to researching what we can do to slow down the impacts of climate change, or more specifically what I can do as an individual to protect something I have so much love for, the ocean.
I can now sense there is more energy building up to change. Can you feel it? I am getting positive vibes from the world that tell me, people are waking up and a positive change is coming. We need to keep moving towards sustainability, returning balance to the relationship we each have with mother earth.
Realistically this is something which everyone should be concerned about, even if you don’t love the ocean; the overarching problem will exacerbate already pressing issues, which will soon become even bigger problems for people all over the world, many are already losing their homes to sea level rise and super storms as well as lives lost in wars over fossil fuels, droughts causing famines, displacement due to fires, etc.’
Yet thankfully there are increases in support for action on these issues. News about climate strikes all over the world are reaching the ears of more and more people. Greta Thurnberg has brought more light to the climate crisis and I think we are gaining traction now more than ever before! There is many ways we can take action but a list of them could feel overwhelming, so we’ll focus on the few I have had experience with in the past couple weeks in my hope to be an advocate for the ocean .
I organized a little gathering for World Clean up day on Saturday September 21st and a lovely lady that attended from the local ‘Hibiscus Matters’ paper even did a little write up about it! The following week flew by, until on Wednesday, Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre (aka MERC, which is where I work) hosted the screening of ‘Vitamin Sea – 1000 Miles, One Woman, One Ocean’ which is a documentary about Cal Major, who did a SUP expedition the length of the UK featuring positive solutions to plastic pollution, mental health and the importance of a connection to nature. The film was brought to us by Starboard and SUPWell during Mental Health Awareness Week.
Then on Friday the 27th, I attended School Strike 4 Climate at Aotea Square, my first ever march/strike/protest event of any kind. I thought it was great, loved the energy and saw people of all ages come out for this cause, in fact 3.5% of NZ’s population attended climate strikes all over the country to send a message to New Zealand’s elected leaders telling them that we will not stand for inaction. We want climate action NOW.
I felt the energy from the inspiring voices of the thousands of youths like Greta who are challenging “business as usual” and fighting for their future. Let’s act now. #UniteBehindTheScience
For me, ocean advocacy is often unexpected and filled with passion, for example… the morning of the strike I was driving out to Gulf Harbour to take the ferry into the city and I was listening to News Talk ZB. I got pretty annoyed listening to some of the conversations, some callers were criticizing the kids not going to school and claiming that strikes are just a ‘rite of passage’ for young people. Then another person called to suggest his solution: no one should have private ownership of a vehicle and that we can only drive on certain days and included that if we all stop flying, except for cases deemed a medical emergency, we could significantly reduce our impact. Now I’m by no means saying its a bad idea for more of us to stop flying so much, but I think his recommendation is just a little unrealistic.
So I dialed the number broadcast on the radio, I was at a light in Orewa, the phone rang then was answered and I waited till the end of the commercials and then all of a sudden I was having a chat on live radio! For the first time ever! It was brought up that New Zealand only accounts for a fraction of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, then I was asked “do you think that the young people know how much effort is already going into reducing NZ’s emissions?” To which my response was: “Yes, they are but they might become increasingly aware as they look deeper into the issue that we’re not doing enough but we need to do more. We can all do better.” Well, they changed to another topic after that… so I feel like I did my part.
Before I close, I need to be honest and say that I almost started to lose interest in blogging, even though I only just started a few months ago! I suppose it’s because I all of a sudden had some negative thoughts forming around why I’m spending time and effort doing this… because honestly there are plenty of other people writing blogs about environmental issues, how to quit plastics, why we need to protect the ocean, the climate change crisis etc… but then I saw this quote on instagram:
One day you will tell your story of how you’ve overcome what you’re going through and it will become part of someone else’s survival guide.
That helped to reinvigorate my passion to share my knowledge. And further recognize that my point of view is unique,my story will not go unheard. My thoughts are ocean inspired, backed by science, with the intention of giving hope and generating resilience. What you read here is not going to be the same as what you find elsewhere because I intend on sharing real stories of what I’ve been doing to take action and make a difference, because what the world needs right now is a mindset shift.
I hope to be able to give visitors to my website hope and inspiration, to help others to realize that their individual actions do matter. Honestly, I think that there are still many people who still need to stop seeing earth as an endless resource available for us to plunder and absorb all our waste. I like to be optimistic and think; perhaps the reason they don’t realize this is because they haven’t seen or heard of the damage we are doing to our planet. However for some, these facts are more often than not responded to by a sense of apathy, but having knowledge of the issues and connection to nature can change that.
