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Marine Conservation Is In Trouble — Why People Aren't Concerned About the Ocean · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Marine conservation is in trouble. Ocean
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  protection is in trouble. I am here on
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  the beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii,
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  and I've seen some things that make me
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  worry. And not just here, but I see it
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  happening everywhere. The regular
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  conversations I have in person and
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  online. People are not concerned about
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  the ocean. And that is a problem. That's
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  what we're going to talk about on today's
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  episode of the How to Protect the Ocean
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  podcast. Let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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  exciting episode of the How to Protect
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  the Ocean podcast. I'm your host Andrew
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  Lewin. And this is the podcast we find
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  out what's happening with the ocean, how
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  you can speak up for the ocean and what
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  you can do to live for a better ocean by
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  taking action. And on today's episode,
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  we're going to be coming to you from the
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  beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii, where
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  I've been here for the past 11 days. This
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  is my 11th day of a family vacation, a
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  long, long overdue family
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  vacation. And I am in paradise.
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  This island is gorgeous. We've been to
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  all parts of the island, the east, the
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  west, the north shore, and it is in the
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  south and it's beautiful. It's absolutely
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  stunning. We've seen Hawaiian monk seals
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  on the beach. We've seen Hawaiian monk
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  seals resting in areas that have been
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  just phenomenal lookouts.
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  We've seen whales playing in the water on
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  lookouts as well. We've seen whales just
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  on a whale watching tour. We've seen sea
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  turtle. I just got splashed by water and
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  it's very, very refreshing in this hot
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  sun this morning. But we've seen sea
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  turtles, we've swam with sea turtles that
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  are here all of the time. And it is
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  absolutely phenomenal to see some of the
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  protections or the sea, the protections
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  that are enacted through the endangered
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  species act with the sea turtles and with
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  the Hawaiian monk seals.
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  And the volunteers that come out to help
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  protect them working with government to
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  be able to say, Hey, you know what? We
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  love these sea turtles. We love these
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  Hawaiian monk seals and we want to
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  protect them as much as possible.
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  The people here, some of you may or may
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  not be able to see over my shoulder,
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  there are some people who are just
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  enjoying surfing earlier this morning.
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  There were people paddling and it was
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  just been amazing to see
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  how many people use the ocean.
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  How many people continue to be connected
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  to the ocean here on the beautiful island
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  of Oahu in Hawaii? And this is something
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  that is a dream of mine to be here is my
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  second time here. And it's something that
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  I just enjoy seeing the ocean each and
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  every day. It's definitely inspired me
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  even more to bring you
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  messaging about the ocean.
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  And I want to talk about today because I
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  feel as though marine protection, marine
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  conservation is in trouble. There are a
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  lot of people, whether you speak to them
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  online, whether you speak to them in
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  person who are not
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  worried about the ocean.
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  In fact, not only are they not worried
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  about the ocean, they just don't know a
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  lot about the ocean. I don't blame them.
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  It's not necessarily their fault. We just
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  don't have a lot of resources that they
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  can go to on a regular basis that are
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  part of mainstream TV or mainstream TV.
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  Or mainstream movies or mainstream news.
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  The only time we see news is when there's
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  a tragedy or there's climate change or a
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  quote unquote shark attack. That's where
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  we start to see us talking about marine
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  conservation or marine protection. Even
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  in documentaries, we see the major
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  problems around ocean conservation or a
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  certain part of climate change.
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  But we are not seeing the solutions. They
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  just focus on the problems because it
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  makes good TV. It makes good
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  documentaries. It makes people click on
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  articles. But it doesn't provide people
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  with hope. It doesn't provide people with
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  the education needed to be able to say,
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  hey, you know what? The ocean's in
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  trouble and there's a way around it.
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  We can actually protect this place, but
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  we need your help. We need your not only
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  day to day life, but understanding of how
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  the political system works, understanding
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  of who will vote for what, how people can
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  change, whether it be in government
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  levels, whether it be federal, state or
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  provincial or local levels, or whether it
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  be you as a person or as a community to
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  be able to bring ocean conservation to
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  the forefront of what we need to do.
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  Every second breath that we take is due
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  to the ocean. Think about that for a
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  second. Every second breath is due to the
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  ocean. The oxygen produced by the ocean
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  provides us with every second breath we
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  take. If we destroy the
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  ocean, we destroy ourselves.
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  Humans need the ocean and we need to
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  learn about the ocean. We need to hate to
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  say it. Subscribe to channels like this
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  to be able to say, hey, you know what? We
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  need to learn more about what we can do
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  with the ocean, how we can protect it and
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  how we can learn more about it.
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  I've been here for the last 11 days with
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  my family and it's been phenomenal to
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  see, but there have been some
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  disappointing things that I have seen. I
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  haven't seen a lot of signs around town
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  talking about, hey, you know what?
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  Discard of your garbage, discard of your
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  plastics or don't use single plastics.
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  This is not to say a lot who is against
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  using single plastics or for using single
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  plastics. This is about saying general
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  messaging around tourist spots where
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  tourists need to be educated and how we
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  act in and around the
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  ocean is extremely important.
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  I've come here to try and not only visit
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  and enjoy and connect with the ocean, but
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  I want to take care of the ocean while
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  I'm here and make sure that anything that
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  I do, whatever footprint that I leave is
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  minimal on the ocean. I love to be
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  connected. I've gone snorkeling.
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  I've gone whale watching. I've gone to
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  the different beaches to see sea turtles
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  and gone on long hikes to look out at
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  these beautiful views. And I want to
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  protect that. I want to see albatrosses,
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  which I have to see that
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  they're absolutely amazing.
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  I want to see just beautiful things that
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  are around town. I want to see this. I
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  want to see the culture and there's a lot
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  of that here. What there isn't a lot of
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  is the emphasis on how important the
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  ocean is to the Hawaiian
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  culture, to the Polynesian culture.
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  I would love to see that in different
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  places, but not enough. And I would love
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  to see that even more in every country,
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  including my own in Canada, see more of
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  the integration of indigenous populations
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  and how their culture integrates with
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  ocean protection and how
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  Canadians can do more of that.
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  And that's something that every platform,
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  including mine, has to bring to light is
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  the fact that we need to talk about the
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  ocean. We need to talk about how ocean
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  protection will actually help us in the
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  end, how we decrease the amount of money
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  we spend on natural disasters, how it
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  actually decrease the amount of money we
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  spend on changing the environment and
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  making things more
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  concrete instead of more natural.
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  The amount of money that we lose because
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  of the lack of ocean conservation,
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  because of consequences of climate
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  change, because of consequences of losing
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  land to build concrete structures to
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  fortify that land and not understanding
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  the actual processes that go around it is
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  extremely harmful and
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  extremely expensive.
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  And we always talk about the economy when
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  it comes to voting a new government in
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  which my country is about to do. And we
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  never really talk about the ocean. We
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  never really talk about how important it
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  is to protect it, how important is to
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  protect fisheries, how important is to
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  our safety in terms of climate
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  change and natural disasters.
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  This is something that's extremely
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  important. It takes a lot to restore, but
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  it doesn't take a lot to conserve. It's
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  less money to conserve and protect. And I
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  feel that this is a call to action to
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  say, hey, you know what, we need to make
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  sure that we protect this ocean.
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  So that's the message today. That's the
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  message I've been thinking about for the
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  last 11 days as I arrived on this
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  wonderful island of Oahu in the Hawaiian
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  Islands and seeing the culture and seeing
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  the connection to the ocean of the people
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  here who surf, who canoe, who paddle, who
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  kayak, who dive, who
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  snorkel, who just enjoy the ocean.
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  And the tourists come here every day and
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  enjoy this place. And we want to see it
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  protected as well as other beautiful
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  ocean places, including in my country,
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  Canada. And to be able to say, hey, you
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  know what, we did a great job here. We've
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  protected ourselves.
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  We've been able to protect our every
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  second breath and we've been able to
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  protect the ocean. So hit me up on a
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  comment down below if you're watching
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  this on YouTube or Spotify. If you want
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  to help protect the ocean and you want to
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  know more about the ocean.
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  If you want you can DM me on Instagram if
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  you're listening to this on a podcast on
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  your favorite podcast app. And of course,
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  hit me up on Instagram if you're
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  listening to this on the audio form, you
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  can hit me up at how to protect the ocean
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  that's at how to protect the ocean.
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  And of course, you can go to speak up for
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  blue.com to get access to me, as well as
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  all my other episodes and learn more
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  about the ocean on the podcast how to
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  protect the ocean. I want to thank you so
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  much for joining me on today's episode of
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  the how to protect the ocean podcast from
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  the beautiful island of
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  Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.
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  I'm your host Andrew Lewin from the true
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  north strong and free. Enjoy the day.
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  Talk to you next time
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  and happy conservation.