ODA shares at school

By Founder and President Kurt Lieber

In addition to conducting debris removal dives, I've been giving lots of presentations lately.

I thought I'd share a couple of them with you, including some pictures of the fun!  I sure wish that during my school years, I had had the opportunity to learn about issues like ocean health from people who were working in the field. My hope is that the pictures and video I share with these students will bring these issues to life for them.

In early March, I gave a one-hour presentation to the students at Marymount School, in Santa Barbara.  ODA volunteer Tim Pearson has been teaching science and ocean-related classes there for a long time. Tim facilitated this opportunity for ODA to give a presentation informing the kids about some of the not-so-nice things that are happening to our oceans. 

There were about 120 students in the audience, and I could tell by their questions that not only were these young people paying attention-they were actively thinking about how to eliminate abandoned man-made debris in our oceans!

In mid-March, I had the honor of giving a talk to about 140 kids at Hollywood Beach School.  This school is about a mile from where ODA's vessel the Clearwater is currently docked, and some of the students had helped out with our Channel Islands Harbor cleanup a few weeks ago.  I had a great time, and the kids fired questions at me until the bell rang!  Thanks to Shawn Kelly and Steve Upham for making it possible for me speak there.

Note: If you know of a school, dive or boat club, or any other gathering where you think people would enjoy a lively video presentation, let us know! We love to talk about the importance of the oceans. Contact us at info@oceandefenders.org