In the Spring of 1970, long before I was a scuba diver, I “played hooky” from high school to attend the first Earth Day celebration at the University of Nevada, where I heard Dr. Benjamin Spock speak about the importance of conserving the earth’s resources and protecting the environment. This was the first time I was exposed to such ideas. Since then I have been fortunate to be involved in many conservation efforts, but for me, none have been as important as the guardianship of our ocean, lake, and river waters.
These days there are many activities and events throughout the world that honor Earth Day (April 22nd). My personal interest and involvement lies with Project AWARE, a non-profit organization created by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). Project AWARE’s mission is to “Protect the Ocean, One Dive at a Time”.
Although this organization has been active in many areas of marine conservation over the past few decades, in recent years Project AWARE has focused on the marine debris problems and solutions.
In support of Project AWARE’s goals of cleaning up marine debris and to stop the continuing pollution of our waters with trash, Maui Dreams Dive Co. and the Maui Diamond II conduct volunteer underwater clean-ups every few months. In the years that we have been collecting underwater debris, we estimate that we have accumulated over 3,000 pounds of trash from the coral reefs surrounding Maui.
To be part of the solution, join Maui Dreams’ next clean-up, which is scheduled for Earth Day April 22nd.
Prerequisites for divers include:
- Advanced Open Water Diver certification
- Project AWARE Specialty certification (which we offer at a hugely discounted price!). Here’s the link to the free, downloadable manual. It’s a large file, so give it a minute!
- We always need a couple of snorkelers two, so for their prerequisites as well as the rest of the details, please click here.
- Advance sign-ups are required and if you still need to get your Project Aware certification completed, that must be done by the end of business on April 20th for you to participate.
To see the effectiveness of clean-ups around the world, check out the Dive Against debris map on the Project AWARE website and you might also enjoy Ten Tips for divers to protect the ocean.
We also invite you to visit our site for info on more Project AWARE Specialty certifications such as Coral Conservation, Fish Identification, and Shark Conservation. We offer these classes on demand.
Happy Earth Day! -Teri
