Cecilia’s Report: Maiden Voyage Bali 2015
My passion is scuba diving, I go underwater whenever I can, wherever there’s water: oceans, rivers, lakes, submerged caves, water is my natural element. I recently did my 1000th dive, and I still love every dive, every dive is different and brings me new experiences, but there was something missing…
This year I finally found what it was, and I finally managed to combine my passion with my principles: I, like many, see mankind destroying our planet, or more precisely making its planet unlivable for humans. I wanted to DO something, but didn’t know where to start.
Well, I’ve found it! A lot of our problems start from how we treat our water, our oceans; having such a strong inner connection with water helped me find the way. Maker Ventures*, The Hydrous**, WOW Bali*** — they have given me the opportunity to be a part of their first collaborative project which took place over 7 days in Bali in October 2015.
Together:
- we built 3 underwater robots from kits (OpenROV)
- we learned to 3D scan corals
- we learned about the Bio-Rocks and
- learned about WOW Bali and its award winning Dynamic Wellness Framework.
We worked with the community of Taman Sari resort, we met youth delegates from Costa Rica and the Philippines, we discussed with delegates from Reef Conservation and Coral Reef — and we brainstormed. Throughout the 7 days we continually shared ideas and discussed possible solutions, we focused on ways to work together with the ocean countries to address plastic issues, to track coral decease and degradation, to monitor the effects of global warming on the oceans and its creatures, to find ways to bring awareness of the problems to those who have no idea of what is happening.
But where I see the most value of this experience is in the awareness that it doesn’t end here — that these projects will be worked on and they will become a reality — because these people ARE COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE. The projects we started will continue, they are only the beginning. We involved the youth, we connected with other countries adjacent to the oceans, we gave them the possibility to share their problems as well as their best practices. Everyone left the workshop enriched and full of ideas.
I now need to find a way to convey my experience to my friends and colleagues, but most of all I feel I have a duty to reach out to my fellow scuba divers and find the ones that, like me, are looking for a way to be a part of Ocean Conservation. I need to show them how easy and at the same time how rewarding it is to participate in activities that help protect our oceans, our water and all the lives that depend on it. I now have a mission!
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For more information, check out this video and presentation:
Promo Video linked from YouTube — prepared by Sly Lee https://youtu.be/3n90o9OF5-o
Presentation by Cecilia Dobner —
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62680325/Makercorps-Bali2015-embed-videos.pptx +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
