No matter what the age, we can never learn enough about the ocean. Teens4Oceans encourages teens around the world to get out there and spread the word about our ocean and how we can make a difference. Events, outreach, presentations, and media all offer the opportunity to teach your friends and spread the word in all sorts of ways. Start at your school or in other schools, at the local library, at a farmers market, set up a table outside your favorite shop. Anywhere you can, let your ocean voice be heard!
Past events include the showing of the film “The Cove” at Kent Denver School, a fundraiser hosted by numerous Teens4Oceans members. The maker of the film, Louie Psihoyos, attended the event and had a question and answer session following the viewing. A silent auction was held as well to benefit Teens4Oceans.
T4O also traveled to Biscayne National Park in Florida for an event called “BioBlitz.” BioBlitz is a culmination of ecologists, taxonomists, naturalists, photographers, families, teachers, students, as well as both governmental and non-profit organizations for a weekend of biology mania. In twenty-four hours, these scientists, including members of T4O, catelogued as many species as possible in the pristine waters of Biscayne Bay. T4O set up an educational booth, part of the students-teaching-students side of Teens4Oceans. Trevor Mendelow and the Student Ambassadors ran a booth for both days of the convention, entirely devoted to the education of local elementary school students. This was a great chance for the organization to reach out to a community as well as spread the word about the work that we do!
Teens4Oceans and Ocean Classrooms faculty and students also staffed a booth at the DEMA convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. At DEMA, members of the diving community viewed a prototype submersible camera similar to the model deployed in the United States Virgin Islands. Also on display were monitors with interactive footage harvested from camera systems in Bahia Honda and the Dry Tortugas. The three day conference allowed T4O students and educators to meet associates in underwater exploration and interact with prospective collaborators.