More conservation news (and a beach cleanup in Okinawa)
Well I start today’s update on a similar note to the last one. That is, environmental damage to our oceans. This time it’s in Lebanon and was caused by the recent fighting there between Lebanon and Israel. To quote from the BBC website:
“Up to 15,000 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil spilled into the Mediterranean when Lebanon’s Jiyyeh power plant was bombed in mid-July by the Israeli military.
The oil slick drifted north for 150km. The clean-up operation only began a month after the bombing, when the conflict ended”
The story in pictures is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/middle_east_lebanon_oil_spill_clean_up/html/1.stm
From my last entry, I’m sure everyone knows how I feel about protecting our oceans and the world we live in. This is a side of the fighting that would probably go unnoticed by most people. Everyone was worried about the destruction and loss of life, and rightly so. But this is the first time I have heard of this oil spill in the Mediterranean, and I’m sure it has not been widely reported in the media. But these are things we need to be aware of, so that we can help prevent them happening in the future. People’s health & livelihoods are affected, not to mention the loss of life of marine animals.
We all need to do our part, and for the people in Okinawa, we have a chance to help out next month. OCEAN, the Okinawa Ocean Culture & Environment Action Network is organising a beach cleanup on November 19th at Kuraha Beach in Onna Village. This is pretty central in Okinawa and relatively easy for everyone to get to. There will be teachers, military staff and Okinawans all helping out and having fun together. In addition, this is the last cleanup of the year and so there will be a party afterwards at Coconut Moon close by. If you’ve no plans for that day, then it would be great if you came along. You’d feel very welcome and can have the knowledge that you are helping to make Okinawa that little bit more beautiful. For more information, head over to www.okinawaocean.org.
In other news, it was a busy weekend of diving once again. I got 2 more OW students certified on Saturday, which brings my total up to 4 now with 2 pending. The numbers are going up slowly but surely. The encouraging thing is that I can see these 2 students turning into regular divers. One of them has a lot of natural ability in the water and could probably take diving as far as they wanted to go. Hopefully she’ll aim for the Master Scuba Diver certification in the future. Then on Sunday I dived with a newly certified diver from Itoman. She’s in Okinawa with an organisation called GEOS and has fallen in love with the ocean. The dives were pretty cool (a one-way dive from Kadena North to Kadena Steps, followed by a dive at Sunabe: Ark Dive) and we saw a big octopus and an eel that I’m still trying to identify. Not sure what type it was but am almost certain it wasn’t a standard moray eel. When I find out what type it was I’ll let you know.
So a 4-day week, but with a student debate contest on Friday and then 5 potential DSDs on Saturday. That should be interesting as it’s the first time I’ve taught DSD. Will be in touch a little later during the week. Until then, take care and dive safely.
or Discuss this Article
Awesome Dave! Thanks so much for spreading the word about protecting our oceans and about the OCEAN end of the year clean up. It will be a great opportunity to meet like-minded people who are all concious about saving our oceans! Can`t wait to dive again and explore more of Okinawa`s beauty underwater.
Aloha,
Jenna
Jenna,
Thanks for the comment. I’m glad you like the blog and my writings. I’ll keep talking about OCEAN and the environment - just keep giving me snippets of information to post thoughts about!
See you beneath the waves soon.
Dave
Good stuff Dave.
It is important to be AWARE!