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Inspiration to Action: How to Make a Difference for the Ocean · How To Protect The Ocean

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  do you ever just hear about something or see something online
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  or maybe something that's in your day life where you're just like, Oh man, I
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  am so inspired to do something for the ocean, but maybe
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  I just don't know exactly what I want to do. This is
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  the episode that you want to listen to because that happened to me just recently. I
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  felt so inspired after I did an interview, it's gonna hopefully get
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  published next week, we're just in review right now, with a company, an
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  organization that is doing some great stuff
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  all around the world, but it started off with just an idea, and
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  people just acted on that idea. And there are times where I'm
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  just like, hey, I'm doing all this communication, it's really great to see, how
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  can I scale up, or how can I do something else that
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  will make people be like, oh man, Like this is what I need to do. That's
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  what we're going to be talking about on this episode of the how to protect the ocean podcast,
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  how to act for the blue. Let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm
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  your host Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how
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  you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a better ocean
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  by taking action. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about
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  taking action, acting for the blue. It's really funny, just
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  to start off, When I first started this podcast, it
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  used to be called Speak Up for Blue, and then I turned it to Speak Up
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  for Ocean Blue for some SEO stuff. But
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  it was Speak Up for Blue because I wanted to have like this speak up
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  for blue, then I wanted to have act for the blue and kind
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  of just bring it all about. And so to be like, hey, we can talk
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  about the blue, but we can also act for the blue and do certain things. And
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  I just never got around to doing that because I have
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  to pay the bills and I had to get a job and I was working other jobs while
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  I was doing this. And I just kind of continued to do that. But maybe, just
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  maybe, this will happen sometime soon. But the goal for
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  me was always to be around the ocean, was to do work, was
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  to do research, was to do conservation. And more
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  and more that I talk about conservation in science, the more and more I
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  want to do it. Especially when I, you know, I interview
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  somebody who's doing it as well. I have an interview coming
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  up. I don't want to give it away. It's a pretty big interview for me. It's somebody
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  who's never been on the podcast before in the 10 years that we've been around, but
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  it's something big. It's a company and organization that went
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  pretty much worldwide and viral almost instantly about just
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  under 10 years now. I got the
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  co-founder and CEO on the
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  podcast to talk about it. We're just in review, so it's going to come out
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  soon. When I
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  talked to this gentleman, when I talked about this organization, I'm
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  always just like, man, that is awesome.
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  Like I wish I could get something like that done. I wish I
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  could find the way to do that. And I think about his origin
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  story and the company's origin story, and I'm just like, I'm they
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  do some really cool stuff and they've been able to do some really cool
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  stuff and like the numbers that they've been able to get, not
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  in terms of revenue come in, but impact that they've been
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  able to have is absolutely amazing. And the way they
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  treat their employees is absolutely amazing. So it's
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  just when you see a company like this and an organization like
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  this, I always say company organization because they're a little bit of both. You
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  used to be like, I need to do that. Like that's something I need to
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  do before what I want to do, right? That's really what it
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  comes down to. And a lot of times we don't really think
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  that it can be done. And I think that's the problem a lot of
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  times is, and this happens with business a lot of times when you're starting your
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  own thing. And I get this fear all the time. It's like, I
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  wanna go full scale, but I've got
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  this fear that's keeping me from going full scale. Right.
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  And that could be also like not just starting your own business or starting
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  your own nonprofit organization. It could be just applying
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  for that job. You might be worried that you might get rejected because
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  you've been rejected before. You might be worried about what
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  other people say. That's fine. You know, if
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  you really want to get stuff done, it's not going to
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  be easy and you got to push through it, but
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  you can get it done. And but if you coast through
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  life and you constantly second guess yourself, you'll never
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  know what you're able to accomplish. And that's something that I have to tell myself all
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  the time. In fact, as I'm saying this, I'm like, oh my gosh, like
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  this happens in everything, not just. you
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  know, ocean conservation, but it happens in everything. So this,
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  this episode is a bit of a motivation for you. If you want to act
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  for the blue in any capacity, whether it be starting your own business,
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  starting your own organization or working for an organization or
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  working for a business that does pretty cool things, sustainable things
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  or eco-friendly things, this is your time to really think
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  like push through, push through those barriers, push
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  through that fear, push through that potential rejection and
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  just go for it. put everything together and
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  it's really interesting you know i'm talking about this night and i say this to my kids
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  i've got i've got a hockey team that i coach we just started this season and
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  it's a it's a u eighteen hockey girls so both of my
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  kids both of my girl daughters are on the same team I've
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  been waiting for this for 7 years. It's
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  three years, so they're able to be on my youngest
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  daughter's in her first year of U18, my oldest daughter's in her last year of U18,
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  and they get to be on the same team. So I'm super excited about that. I'm going
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  on a little bit of a tangent from my tension. But this analogy is really interesting
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  because we just started playing hockey again. So we've had two
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  games. We only play games. We don't have practices. We might have practices later,
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  but we don't have practices. So during the game, I
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  have to put out some coaching points. I'm the head coach, we have a great assistant coach,
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  and we basically look at every game and we're saying, let's just build.
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  This is house league, this is not rep, but let's just build on the last game and
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  let's just see what we can do. And a lot of the times what I
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  see, and this is not just girls, this is boys in
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  any sports, this is like any sport that you see, is you
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  see a lack of confidence out there. you'll see someone
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  go for the puck but not fully go for the puck, be a
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  little hesitant and not come out with the puck. And then just be
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  like, oh well. And they're worried that one, they won't get the puck and
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  two, they'll either fall or they'll get hit or there's a number
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  of different reasons but they don't wanna look bad, right? They don't wanna look bad
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  in front of everybody. And I think that's the difference sometimes
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  is when you have to put yourself out there and you have to be vulnerable and
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  you have to go for something, Oftentimes we start to
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  hesitate a little bit and we don't get what we want because the timing's not
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  there or the other person didn't hesitate or something
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  else didn't hesitate or just kept moving on. So if you don't apply
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  for a job, right away, it's going to go. I've
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  done that a couple of times. I've thought about how to approach, how do I approach this
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  job? How do I approach this job? Next thing you know, I didn't realize it, but the
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  deadline date was a past due and I couldn't get that job. It
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  was closed, right? The people who applied for it on time are
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  the people who had a chance for the job. But going back to hockey, if you don't go
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  for that puck, You're not going to get it, right? If
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  you go, if you take the puck even and you go through the
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  entire team and you get all the way to the other end of the, of the rink and
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  you shoot the puck, but you barely shoot it. You don't, you don't get down, bend
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  your knees, pull back and move your weight forward and
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  shift your weight forward and then shoot as hard as you can. It's probably
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  not going to go in. In fact, it probably won't go very far or
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  won't go very hard. But when you start to pull back all
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  the way and you start to fire it like you mean it because you're like, hey, I
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  went all this way. I went from one end to the other, went
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  through the entire team. I'm not going to waste this
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  opportunity because I'm probably going to get, what, four or five shots a
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  game. So I'm going to make sure that these four or five shots, I'm
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  going to do the best I can. I'm going to put everything into
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  it. And a lot of the times we don't do that. A
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  lot of the times we hesitate, or a lot of times we're like, well, what if I
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  don't get it? Or what if I'm not good enough? Or
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  what if I look bad? What if I fall? We
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  let those fears creep into our brain and it stops
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  us dead. And we either lose the opportunity or
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  we just let it go by. And
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  that is like, when I see kids on
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  the ice do that, I get frustrated, and
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  I tell them when they come back, I'm like, the next time you go all the way through the
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  team, shoot hard. Spend all that time to
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  shoot hard. And then the next time you go for the puck
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  and somebody else is coming, get down, put your weight in,
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  right, and lean into it and go get that puck. Or
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  the next time you have the puck and you carry it and someone comes close to
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  you, don't just let it go because you think they're going to take it away. Bend
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  your knees, get down, and go straight, or deke around
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  them, or do something with the puck. If you lose it, you lose it, but you're gonna lose it
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  anyway, because you're gonna flip it down the ice, and it's not gonna go anywhere. It's
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  all about confidence. It's all about letting, like
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  getting over your fears, and not letting your fears creep into your mind, and
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  then let them do everything, right? Like you lose those opportunities. Stop
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  that thought process. And I have to say it to
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  myself, we all have to say it, because it's scary. When you
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  start to take chances, you start to take risks, you start to
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  be vulnerable depending on what you're doing, there's
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  a risk involved. Sometimes they're higher than others, but you
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  got to go for that. You got to go for that opportunity. So when you
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  start to see other people do great stuff with
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  the ocean, going to meetings, spending
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  money and doing something, Start to think about how
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  can you set yourself up to succeed like they
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  look like they're succeeding. Because I bet you they're going through the same fears
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  that you're going through, except they're pushing through it. That's the difference.
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  They're pushing through their fears. And I think
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  that's what we need to do as a community of
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  ocean goers. Think about this. Think about how many politicians
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  are in office right now that don't deserve to be there. Think
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  about that. And there's a lot of people, a lot of you that are listening to
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  this audience who would be great politicians who would not only act
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  for the ocean and act for the environment, but you'd probably be pretty good
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  at acting for your people and representing your people. But
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  you don't go for it either because like, I don't want to deal with politics. It
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  looks scary. It looks awful. But some of you probably really good politicians,
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  but we let those fears of what like the
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  whole politics can do because we don't
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  want to do it. But with that said, with that
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  happening, you're not in office, so you can't go
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  out and make laws that will protect the ocean, that will protect the environment, that will
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  protect the economy. We let other people do it,
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  oftentimes not as intelligent, not
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  as thoughtful, greedy, and often corrupt. And
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  when we let that happen, We
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  let other people make decisions for us and we get into the positions that we're
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  at now. I'm not blaming anybody. I'm not blaming you. If you've had thoughts about going
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  into politics or you've had thoughts about acting for the blue in any kind
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  of way, then you stop. This is not a, Hey, like, what are you doing?
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  You're an idiot. No, this is like talking to myself too. I'm looking right into
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  the camera right now and I'm talking, by the way, you can check me out
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  on YouTube and Spotify with the video podcast. But
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  it's the same talk, right? It's the same talk that
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  we let fears get in our way. And we don't take
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  risks, even though we have to take risks. Going
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  back to the hockey analogy, you have to go that extra
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  mile to win. You have
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  to be better than the other team and the other team has to be better than
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  you and you're both trying your best, but you have your,
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  sometimes your best is not good enough and you have to do better. You
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  have to push that extra little bit. You have to hold onto that puck
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  a little bit longer and lean into it a little bit longer in case
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  someone's trying to push you over or trying to get the puck away and make that extra
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  move. Sometimes you need to practice that little extra
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  bit. just so you can get that
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  move down and you can use that move in a game, right?
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  Same thing with all of you who had to do math to get into university to
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  be a marine biologist or to be a scientist or to be anywhere that
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  you had to deal with math. Math was hard. Math is hard. But
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  you practice at it. I'm going through that with my girls right now. They practice at it.
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  And as they practice on it, they build their confidence. So when the test or
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  quiz come up, or even exam, they know, they've
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  seen it all. So when the teacher throws a question that might
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  be a little bit of a curveball, they've seen it. They've seen it not only once, they've
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  seen it multiple times. You have to practice and
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  it sucks and you're going to
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  struggle and you're not going to get everything you want right off the bat, but
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  you have to continue to do this. So putting in that extra work, putting
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  in that practice and giving it that extra little effort at the end
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  when it counts can set you on the path to act for
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  the blue. And that's what we oftentimes we
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  lose. We see other people doing great things, wonderful things.
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  They're like, oh man, I wish I was them. You could be them. You
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  could be doing more than that or something different that can compliment what they're doing.
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  You just haven't done it yet because that fear is just creeping into
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  your mind. And that negative self-talk is just happening
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  all the time. I'm telling you that you can do
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  it. If you put your mind to it, you can actually do what you want. Now,
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  you may not have a control over external factors, like
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  having money to start a business or having the time to put it together, but
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  you can find, you can figure out a way. People have figured out ways before.
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  That's why you see a lot of businesses that start out being Amazon, although, you
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  know, that's huge as it is and monopoly as it is, it
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  started off in a little office. You know, Apple
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  started off in a little office making a computer, one little computer, and
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  it went through its trials and tribulations. If you watch any of the documentaries
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  on Apple or Macintosh, as it used to be called, but
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  it survived, right? It
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  fought, it did what it had to do, and it went through its
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  up and downs, and now it's one of the biggest companies, tech companies in
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  the world. Now, there's a lot of questionable
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  practices by some of these companies, but they survived.
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  There are some companies out there who are doing great impact, just like
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  this one I interviewed, and they are doing fantastic work
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  and they work off of impact. They pay their people livable
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  wages and they work off of impact. And that's how they
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  measure the success of their business. Can we
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  sell a product that allow us to do this great thing that we want to
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  do and take care of all of our people? Yes. Okay.
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  Great. Now they've had some trouble. They've had some trials
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  and tribulations here in the interview, but they've been
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  able to overcome it and they're going to continue to get trials
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  and tribulations and they will be able to overcome it. It's
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  just a matter of how will they fight through it?
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  to get through and how much will they fall at the time and how
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  fast will it take to get back up? That's the effort level.
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  That's the decision-making level. That's the practice of decision-making. But we can't get
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  into that practice without doing it. Man, I need to
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  listen to myself. I really do. But I think
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  that's what it really comes down to. It comes down to your motivation. Can you
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  motivate yourself to act? Can you motivate yourself to act for
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  the blue? And we see this every single time. When
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  we see negative things about the ocean, when we see the consequences of
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  climate change, the consequences of plastic pollution, the consequences
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  of overfishing, and we're always hearing that doom and gloom around the ocean, we're
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  just like, man, that sucks. The ocean is screwed. We're
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  done. And then we just give up. But
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  there are some of us who are just like, no, no, no, no, we're not going to give up. We see this happening.
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  We understand that the ocean's in trouble. But we're going to
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  do our best to work at it. And it might just be in this one little corner of the world,
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  or this one little area that we need to do, whether it be restoration,
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  whether it be protection, whether it be policy, whether
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  it be in the field, whether it be in a lab, whether it be through
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  a business. We all pick our own little ways, but
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  once we combine them all and all those efforts, we
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  end up having a pretty big impact. And not only that, our impact
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  of what we're doing at that moment can inspire others to
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  pick up the slack and just be like, yeah, you know what? This person is doing some great
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  things. I'm going to do some great things too. It's
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  really what it comes down to. Protecting the ocean, acting
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  for the blue, comes down to how much effort we want to put in to
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  act for the blue. And it could be menial. It doesn't mean you have to change your entire culture
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  or your entire career. It means you start to
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  do a little bit more work. You start to lessen your single-use
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  plastics. You start to vote for people who
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  are talking about the environment. By the way, climate change wasn't
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  really mentioned in any of the debates. I think it was mentioned once or twice
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  in each debate. Not enough. considering the ramifications.
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  But we need to be there. We need
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  to do this type of work. We need to motivate ourselves to
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  do this. If we don't, who's going to
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  do it? Because right now, there are not many. There
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  are a lot of people, but not as many as we need. We need more people to act for the
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  blue. And you need to get that self-talk, including myself, and
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  get off our butts and start doing something. Right,
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  whether it be create things that will inspire others or
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  do some impact that will inspire others. Doesn't
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  matter. Act for the blue, whatever that might be. I just
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  saw a young woman on TikTok. She's a
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  marine biologist. And she decided
• 18:27
  that one day, you know, she looked at the plastic pollution problem, and she started
• 18:30
  to say, you know what? Like, I may not live around the coast, or I may not have
• 18:34
  a full-time job in marine biology at this point, but
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  there's something that I need to do. And she went on this mission to
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  start picking up plastic pollution throughout Europe
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  as she backpacked across Europe. And then she filmed it,
• 18:48
  and she documented it. And so now on social media, you
• 18:51
  see her go to Sweden, go to France, go
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  to Italy, go to Greece, you know,
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  go to the Czech Republic, and she's all over the place, and she's picking up plastic pollution. And
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  she's showing the plastic pollution. She's educating people
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  about the plastic pollution through her TikTok. And
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  she's got like over 100,000 followers, I think. It's ridiculous.
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  Like, it's crazy. It's awesome. Those are the people that inspired
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  me to be like, she just picked up and decided to
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  backpack across Europe, which many people do. But then while she's doing
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  that, she's like, no, I'm actually going to show that there's plastic pollution in
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  each and every country in Europe or the countries that she's traveled
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  to. And then I'm going to document that. And hopefully
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  people will start to realize how much stuff not only comes up from
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  the shore or comes up from the ocean onto the shore, but
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  it's like just distributed on land as well. Some
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  places are cleaner than others, but not all. And when they dispose of
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  things and how much waste goes on, you just don't realize it
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  within each country. And even within each region
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  or city within a country. So when
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  you start to go through social media, you start to come across people like
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  this young marine biologist woman, or
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  this massive company that goes viral every once in a while and
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  is huge around the world. Then you
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  start to like, hey, I can do this. I
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  can act for the blue as well. You just have to figure out how to get paid while
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  you do it, right? You just gotta be able to survive life while you
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  do it. And there's ways, there's always ways. I started this 10 years
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  ago, right? Almost 10 years ago I
• 20:33
  launched, actually 10 years ago I launched. I don't
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  know, almost 10 years ago I launched. And I've
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  been doing this while having a job ever since. It's
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  a lot of work. There's some sacrifice that to make, but
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  I love doing this and it keeps me connected to the ocean and allows me
• 20:50
  to get a job where I could support my family and
• 20:53
  pay for the bills. And that's important. That's
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  hugely important. So if you want to act for
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  the blue, you got to act with the inspiration. You
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  got to go through those fears, fight through the fears. and
• 21:08
  you can act for the blue as well. I'd love to hear your idea for acting for the
• 21:11
  blue. Let me know. You can put a comment on Spotify on
• 21:15
  this video or audio, whatever you'd like to do, or you can go to our YouTube
• 21:19
  channel. It's in the link below or you and leave
• 21:22
  a comment or you can just hit me up on Instagram at
• 21:26
  how to protect the ocean. That's at how to protect the ocean. But
• 21:29
  I hope you feel inspired by this episode or other episodes
• 21:33
  in the upcoming episode. And I can't wait to
• 21:37
  see what you're up to. So thank you so much for joining me on today's episode
• 21:41
  of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time. And