Welcome, PLANET OCEAN!
We are so excited to finally share PLANET OCEAN: WHY WE ALL NEED A HEALTHY OCEAN with the world. This incredible book incorporates multi-media to teach readers how all our lives are interconnected with the ocean. Take virtual dives to the Coral Triangle in the South Pacific, the Arctic at the top of the world, and join our Dive Team in the Salish Sea! We want to show you our underwater backyard and why the ocean is important to us. Diving changed our lives. It inspired us to become a voice for our ocean and now we want to inspire you.
PLANET OCEAN provides foundational knowledge on the importance of the sea while readers learn about a variety of ocean ecosystems. Follow along and discover the power of storytelling. Our Dive Team is thrilled to be featured alongside many influential communities working to heal our ocean. We are taking action in real time and want you to join us. If you don’t have your copy of PLANET OCEAN yet, you can order it now!
For our Dive Team, learning about ocean pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch encouraged us to stop using single-use plastic. Abbey met Annie when she was 15 and hasn’t used a single-use plastic water bottle since. This is just one example of how powerful stories can be. Each of our teammates has a different experience learning about the ocean—but one thing is the same—it changed our lives. Our hope is that by weaving together stories from around the world, we can create a paradigm shift in how others view the ocean. PLANET OCEAN shares our philosophy that everyone possesses the power to inspire each of our communities into action, uniting for our ocean.
It’s no secret that PLANET OCEAN did not happen overnight. In fact, it has been years in the making and a pandemic delayed the release. Even before many of us learned to dive, Annie has been inspiring future ocean explorers and activists all over the world. Our Dive Team has been growing since its initiation nearly eight years ago—and so have our kids! What an amazing journey our team has gone through together. Our Dive Team is full of ocean activists, scientists, artists, storytellers, and advocates. As motivated young people, we are ready to take control of our future and rebuild the world’s relationship with our ocean.
From the beginning, Annie taught us that every breath we take connects us to the ocean. Every decision we make also impacts the ocean, whether it’s using single-use plastic, which photodegrades to become microplastic ingested by sea life, or decreasing our carbon footprint to raise awareness about climate change. Annie empowers our Dive Team to use this information to change our own lives and the lives of the people around us. By sharing our love for the ocean, we can inspire our families, friends, and even complete strangers to consider our connection to the ocean. You will understand the power of story when you read and share PLANET OCEAN in your community.
We are motivated to use our voice to stand up against injustices. In 2019 our Dive Team went to the Washington State capital to address representatives about a plastic bag ban. You’ll find Dive Team member Kalil Alobaidi’s story in PLANET OCEAN along with his inspiring speech. Divemaster Elizabeth Zajaczkowski found her voice through diving and uses her story to help save our local beach. Our Dive Team uses different outlets to share our stories. We have artists, photographers, and aspiring film directors on our Dive Team. Divemaster Abbey Dias shares her story about learning to dive in a video featured in PLANET OCEAN as does Nico Ponnekanti. He shot and directed an inspiring film asking viewers to dive deeper than the surface in our understanding of the ocean.
This fall, our Dive Team created the My Underwater Backyard project at Edmonds Underwater Park to showcase the amazing life found under the surface of our local water. We worked hard to learn photography while diving in dry suits and write stories to show our community why our local park is worth protecting. Our stories are featured on our new website and in a monthly column with My Edmonds News. In between our public appearances, you’ll find our Dive Team members conducting school projects about the ocean, running ocean clubs, and participating in underwater clean ups.
In 2020 we were recognized as PADI AmbassaDivers for elevating diving in our community and promoting ocean activism. Now, as we continue to inspire our community, our Dive Team’s hard work is featured throughout PLANET OCEAN and will serve to inspire many.
This is a book that changes lives, one that will eventually show the love of being read over and over with a worn-out spine. PLANET OCEAN will be referred to as being the source of inspiration for any future explorers, artists, and activists. We understand that by sharing our transformative ocean stories, we can inspire communities around the world. We want people to love the ocean so they will care about it, protect it, and be motivated to create change in our society. If we want to protect our ocean for futures to come, we must act now.
We all have a story to share. Read PLANET OCEAN. You will learn how to create your story, then share using #PlanetOceanBook and #OurOceanAndYou. Join our Dive Team in this world-wide movement to protect our ocean. It is a team effort that starts with you.
Bring the ocean to your home and school today. Give the gift of the ocean and inspire ocean explorers of all ages. If you don’t have kids of your own, consider purchasing a copy for your local school library or a family on your block! PLANET OCEAN thanks you and so do we.