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The Ocean Connection We Are Losing, And Why It Matters · How To Protect The Ocean

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  People protect what they love, and ocean conservation
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  really starts with connection.
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  That's what we're gonna be focusing on today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast 'cause this is Oceans Day, folks.
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  It is Oceans Day.
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  It's a day where we take the time to celebrate this beautiful
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  blue planet that we have.
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  Over 71% of the ocean covers this planet.
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  It provides oxygen for every second breath that we take.
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  And it's time that we reflect on that and what the ocean provides us, not
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  only from a resource perspective, but also from just a beauty perspective
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  and a cultural perspective.
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  I think it's something that we forget a lot of the times, whether it be the ocean,
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  whether it be lakes, whether it be rivers.
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  I think it's time that we start to really value what we do in and around the ocean,
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  and really start to talk about that and remember that when we're actually working
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  in and around the ocean when we're talking about industries and things like that.
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  So we're gonna talk about that on today's episode 'cause this is the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast, where you get your weekday ocean news update.
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  If you are listening to this on your favorite podcast app and
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  you haven't followed the show yet, please follow this show.
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  It helps us get to the top, to the top of the charts in Apple
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  Podcasts as well as Spotify.
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  It just helps us get there so we can get in front of more people,
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  and people can find a resource.
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  That's what I want to do with this podcast, is get people to find a resource
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  for the ocean where they can learn and they can find out how they can protect
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  the ocean better in their daily lives.
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  So let's get into it 'cause, like, here's the thing, is I always love Oceans Day,
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  but every day is Oceans Day for me.
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  We talk about it literally five days a week.
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  And we think about the ocean each and every day.
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  Not everybody does.
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  You may not, and that's fine.
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  It doesn't really matter.
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  The fact is I used to hate Oceans Day in a way because it was just like only one day.
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  People only look at it for one day.
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  And then it turned into an Oceans Week 'cause there were events all week in
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  certain spots like Washington, DC, and Toronto and all over the place.
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  And then of course they have, like, Climate Week before that here in Toronto.
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  Although we don't really talk a lot about the oceans, unfortunately,
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  when we talk about climate, which is a thing that we need to do more.
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  Which is why people should listen to this episode more, this show,
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  especially this episode because we're talking about Oceans Day.
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  And you know, like, let's be honest, I saw a post on LinkedIn.
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  Unfortunately, I can't remember who did it, but it was a friend of mine who
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  said, "A lot of the times we focus in on what the ocean can do as a resource."
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  What can it give us?
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  Can it give us critical minerals?
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  Can it give us power?
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  Can it give us fish, like food?
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  Can it give us security?
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  A lot of the times we forget to talk about the cultural
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  ties that we have to the ocean.
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  There are a lot of coastal communities.
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  I mean, 60% of the people on this planet live along coastlines.
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  There is more than just using it as a resource, is that what it provides us.
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  It provides people with culture, provides it, you know, they're in their
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  stories from a religious aspect and a cultural aspect and historical aspect,
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  is how we discovered different places on the planet was through the water.
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  It was how we discovered new medications.
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  I know that's kind of acting as a resource, but the exploration and the
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  beauty is the reason why we go to the beach on a vacation, because we want to
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  go and just enjoy the calm blue water,
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  or the calm, productive waters of the ocean.
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  Whether you're in the tropics or whether you're in temperate
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  or whether you're in the Arctic environments, you can enjoy the ocean.
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  One thing that I'm doing after I record this is I'm getting ready
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  to go to a trip to Halifax for a conference for my work at Pisces Oceans.
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  And I'm looking forward to it.
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  It's been a while since I've been to Halifax.
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  My wife and I worked there when we were younger, over 20 years ago, and I did my
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  master's out there at Acadia University.
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  And during that time, I got to live by the ocean for like, it was two years.
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  It wasn't a lot of time in my life, but I got to live.
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  It was a dream of mine to live by the ocean.
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  And we would go down to the harbor front, and we would look at just the ocean.
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  We would look in, we'd see the jellyfish that were around there.
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  Let's be honest, like it's a pretty big port.
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  The water quality has something to said, but we got to see a
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  lot of cool things in that.
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  We got to see whales come into the harbor.
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  We got to see dolphins come into the harbor over that time.
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  We got to go on the harbor, like on these boats, these sailboats that would
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  take you around and do a harbor tour.
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  And it was really invigorating.
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  It was one of those things where you're just like, "I get to just sit
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  here with my ice cream from Cowies."
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  That's if you know Halifax, you know Cowies.
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  And share with at the time was my girlfriend, but was gonna be my
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  wife, and now is wife of 21 years.
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  And we got to sit and just chat about life and look out on the ocean And
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  it was just this calming sensation for both of us where we just got
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  to live and be around the ocean.
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  You could smell the ocean.
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  Sometimes good smells, sometimes not so good smells.
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  There's this feeling you get when you live around the ocean.
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  And you can tell when you meet somebody that's from a coastal area.
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  They're a little bit more laid back, they're a little bit more
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  nature-focused, and they enjoy the ocean.
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  They enjoy being in nature.
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  And I think there's a lot of people who enjoy it in different ways.
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  You got people who go on beach vacations or there's like fishing
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  or there's whale watching, surfing, which I've never been good at.
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  Scuba diving, which I do.
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  Just working on the water, it's something I've been able to do over my lifetime.
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  And then just simply like listening to the waves.
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  It's really cool to just be there and just listen.
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  Close your eyes, like maybe lie in a park that's by the ocean
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  and just listen to the waves.
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  Listen to those crashing up against the wall, sometimes gently,
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  sometimes a little bit more harshly.
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  But it's so much fun.
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  And I think what happens is we lose sight of that.
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  We lose sight of what the ocean brings us from a mental health
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  aspect, what the ocean brings us from, just like a feeling of peace.
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  Just a feeling of enjoyment.
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  You see people kayaking the ocean, you see people on their boats, you
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  see people recreational fishing.
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  It brings a lot of joy to a lot of people.
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  And I feel like a lot of the times, even when you listen to this podcast,
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  especially when you listen to this podcast, we talk about conservation.
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  We talk about major issues that have been seen in and around the ocean.
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  I had, um, a listener give some feedback on Spotify.
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  And she loved the podcast, but she was saying, "Hey, you know what? The five
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  episodes is a lot. It plugs up my feed." Which I'm working on that, by the way.
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  That'll come out in probably about a week.
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  And she was saying, "Hey, look, I love the episodes, but I can't
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  listen to them all the time," 'cause a lot of topics are pretty heavy.
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  And it's true.
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  I never thought about it that way.
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  Sometimes you lose sight of that 'cause you're trying to bring optimism, but a
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  lot of the topics that we talk about on this episode, it can be pretty heavy.
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  Like, they're not something that you would just sit back and relax
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  and listen to, although some people do, some people don't.
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  But they're heavy topics.
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  They're a little bit different than some of the other podcasts that
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  are out there that are, like, maybe more popular, a little bit more
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  relaxed that you wanna listen to.
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  And I feel the same way.
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  Like, when I listen to podcasts on, like, marketing and, like, entrepreneurship
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  and all this, it's something that I like.
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  After a while I'm like, "I need to just kind of relax and just get a
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  podcast that's maybe talking about sports or talking about life and just
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  lifestyles in general, and just, like, a comedy show that's not…" Like,
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  trying to get a comedy podcast that's not male-dominated or alpha male kind
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  of stuff, just, like, regular stuff.
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  It's difficult to do more than you think.
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  But we try and do that.
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  So, like, I had that feedback and it was great to hear because, like,
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  people wanted to hear about this.
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  But a lot of the topics that we talk about can be heavy.
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  And so last week we talked about cold water species.
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  We talked about the blue shark, the mola mola, the ocean sunfish.
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  Talked about leatherback sea turtle.
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  We talk about the animals that you see in tide pools, which I'm hoping
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  to kinda do a little bit when I go to Halifax, and explore those.
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  And I think that's something that when you're able to be there all the
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  time, and you're able to go, like…
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  Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world, and if I'm able to go to the Bay of
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  Fundy when I'm out there, which I probably won't, but I always wanna go, you just
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  see those, when the tide recedes and you see all this open, basically mud flats.
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  And you see all these animals kinda scurrying around or hiding
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  under a rock, these crabs, the scallops that are underneath.
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  It's just so cool.
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  It's just so cool.
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  And you get to witness that live, right in person.
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  So I talk about the ocean, but I grew up around Great Lakes.
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  And not a lot of people can be by the ocean.
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  But you can be by a river, you can be by a lake, you can be by a stream.
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  I highly recommend that if you live by a body of water, that you make
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  the time today, especially today on Oceans Day, to just go and enjoy.
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  Enjoy the water, enjoy the calm, the peace, and really reflect
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  on what you want this year to be for you and living within nature.
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  A lot of the times, we think we are at the top of nature, and we control things.
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  And yes, we do have a huge influence, but we're not at the top of the food
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  chain when it comes to the planet.
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  Yes, we affect it and yes, we can control a lot of things, but we
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  don't really control the weather.
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  We don't control the climate.
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  We can affect it, but we don't control it.
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  We live in sort of this, like, pyramid with all the other
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  animals, and we're part of that.
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  And so, like, think about where our place is on this planet, and the influence that
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  we have and the ability to protect and destroy what this planet has naturally.
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  And it's not about manipulation for money.
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  It's not about trying to gouge the ocean and its resources for everything
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  that it has until we have nothing left, but we got all this money.
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  It's about living in peace with the ocean.
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  It's about respecting the ocean.
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  And I'm gonna leave you with this.
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  I've talked about it before on the podcast, but if you're new here,
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  you haven't heard me talk about it.
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  I was at the World Ocean Summit in Montreal just a couple months ago.
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  It was a huge summit.
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  It changed my life, really.
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  Got me a new job with Pisces Oceans, which is the sponsor
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  of this show, but it's great.
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  It literally changed my life.
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  But one of the things that I heard that really changed my life is Ken Paul, who's
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  an indigenous person who lives in Canada, and he's got a lot of work, he does a lot
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  of work with indigenous groups as well as non-indigenous groups around the ocean.
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  And he talked about how there's been, like, this lack of respect
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  that we've had for the ocean, that a lot of people have for the ocean.
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  It's just we don't respect the ocean.
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  We just use the ocean for what we need it for.
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  And that was really powerful for me.
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  If we start to respect the ocean, and in every decision that we make, the ocean is
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  part of that decision, like the health of the ocean is considered in each part of
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  that decision, we become a better people.
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  We become a better species.
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  Our planet becomes better.
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  We are not just ripping it to shreds so that we can get an extra buck.
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  We are taking care of it because it's taking care of us.
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  And I think that's what I wanna leave you with today because I think it's extremely
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  important to say, "Hey, you know what?
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  We need to build this out as a community, and we need to have this community enjoy
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  the ocean and respect the ocean and speak highly of it in every decision
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  that they make." Whether it's buying something at the convenience store or
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  bring your reusable water bottle wherever you go and grabbing that water or drinks
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  wherever you go, that's important.
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  Those are important decisions that we need to make in a collective.
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  And I think also, as you look forward, is to say, "Where's my community? Where is my
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  community?" I was on another call a couple weeks ago where Chad Nelsen was speaking,
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  and he's the CEO of Surfrider in the US.
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  A great, great guy.
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  He's been on the podcast a number of times.
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  And something that really stood out for what he said about, just, like,
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  the ocean in general and the community that's around the ocean is, like, a lot
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  of the times the people, like when we go online, and I ask this question, I'm
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  like, when we go online and we talk about the ocean, we talk about the climate,
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  we get attacked right away, whether it be from bots or from like crazy
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  people who come on and just be like, "Climate change isn't real.
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  The ocean sucks.
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  Who cares, Mick?
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  I don't care about a sea turtle and a plastic straw," all that blah, blah, blah.
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  And it makes it hard to comment on things or to bring about this type
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  of awareness in certain circles.
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  But the community that we want, the community that we have are the
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  people who are, care about the ocean.
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  And that's what, you know, places like Surfrider does, is that those community,
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  you can come there as a collective.
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  So you come for the community, you come for the commonality of, "Hey,
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  let's protect the ocean. I care about the environment," and then
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  you stay for the cleanups, and you stay for the impact that you do.
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  And I think that's what we need to find.
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  For those of you who are listening to this episode because you're
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  looking for that community, we can have that community here.
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  I'd love to start that online community where we're together, and we're
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  talking about the ocean back and forth.
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  I may start the conversation through this podcast, but we
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  can have this type of community.
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  So give me some time and we can have this community.
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  I think it's kind of a new thing, a new year.
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  I always like to look at the Oceans Day as a bit of a new
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  year for me, like a new start.
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  I have a couple of them.
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  There's the New Year, actual physical annual January 1st New Year, there's
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  the New Year of Oceans Day, and then of course there's the New Year I always
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  consider as my birthday, 'cause it used to start, right, so it's September 5th.
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  It used to start right before school, and so I used to think it was a new year.
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  But Oceans Day has come to be like a new year, and one thing I wanna
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  do in this new year is interact more and build this community together
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  so that we can have this community.
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  And I would love to do that by opening up my Patreon for this community.
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  So if you go to speakupforblue.com/patreon, we can
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  have this community of fun where we get together once a month, we talk about
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  the ocean, we can have a good time.
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  I'm gonna put up some things right now.
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  Go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.
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  This is where you're gonna get the different feeds.
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  So you're gonna get a feed where you can just get the interviews that I do, and
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  you're gonna get a feed where you get both the interviews and the solo episodes.
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  You'll get it through Patreon.
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  I'll have instructions on there.
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  That part will be for free.
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  If you wanna join the community at large, there will be a little bit of a fee.
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  So, it'll be a lot of fun.
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  I can't wait to do it.
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  But yes, you can support the podcast.
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  A lot of people have reached out.
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  It's like, "Andrew, I wanna support you and the podcast that you do."
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  I do have an editor, and I do have a lot of expenses that go around it,
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  so it'll help me pay for this and continue to have these conversations.
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  But if you go to speakupforblue.com/patreon, you'll
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  be able to join the community there.
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  That's it for today's episode.
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  Happy Oceans Day.
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  I wanna thank you for joining me today, the next few weeks, the next
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  year, and then all the ones who have been with me since the beginning
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  and your journey throughout that.
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  I wanna thank you so much for the support.
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  I wanna thank you so much for joining me.
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  Looking forward to talking to you tomorrow.
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  We're gonna talk about why protests, especially around certain things that
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  could affect the climate, which could affect the environment, like in data
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  centers, have been working, and why we shouldn't stop in these days when
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  people are attacking the environment.
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  We're gonna talk about that tomorrow.
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  So follow this episode so you can get in touch with me tomorrow, and you can
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  get this episode tomorrow where we talk about data centers and protests and
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  some of the wins that we've been seeing.
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  All right, that's it for today's episode.
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  Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.