Journal Entry #1

May 28th 2021:

I wish to live in a world without pollution, without cars honking and skyscrapers that reach grey clouds. I want the world to have its life back, for the animals to live at peace and our trees to grow tall. I want the wildlife in our oceans to thrive, I want there to be fish left in the sea 50 years from now, and I want my grandchildren to be able to experience the magnificence of sea creatures. But how is this possible when humanity is contaminating our planet at an exponential rate? Plastic is being thrown into the ocean by the tons, and our everyday fish are disappearing. Manta rays have become endangered and about 90% of big fish and sharks are gone. But what can we do? It is now not a matter of stopping the damage, because the damage is already done. It is about saving what little we have left and finding ways to inform communities about sustainable practices to create “no-take zones” which will eventually restore some of the loss. This project aims to get involved in the Reef explorer and Aware Manta Conservation program with Connect Ocean. I want to learn more about all of their projects and spend my time contributing my skills to help, inform, and spread awareness on their projects. This will not only deepen my understanding of our oceans and the harm we are doing but allow me to do the same for my local community. This kind of project is so important to me because I have been fortunate enough to have grown up in a place like Costa Rica. Living in a place like this has made me so thankful for the ocean life I have been able to experience every time I go to the beach. It has given me the opportunity to learn how to scuba dive and snorkel and swim and now it is my turn to give back. I have collaborated with Connect Ocean before and I love their mission, which is why I am so excited to work with them on this. During this project I hope to carry out a series of dives, first to complete my deep dive certification, and second to go out with Connect Ocean and help collect, record and publish their data into the GIS system. This passion to help our planet has been with me since I was little, but I gained a unique perspective on our local mangroves while volunteering with Rochelle Jaggli and Felipe Zhar’s CAS projects last year. For this reason, I believe a project like this will be a great fit, I know that I will face challenges along the way, diving is not an easy task but it will make me feel so empowered and I cannot wait to make a change, even if that change starts small. Diving in our oceans and going deeper into the project may open up a whole new door of interest for me and influence my life after high school. I have always been interested in working for a company based around our planet so I cannot wait to see where this goes.