For our future generations… and the ocean

More than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by oceans which contain an estimated 50-70% of all life on our planet. But only less than 10% of that water space has been explored so far. Oceans not only provide us the opportunities to relax and enjoy nature, but their health is indispensible for the air we breathe and part of the food we eat every single day. In addition, oceans are responsible for a large number of jobs in costal areas and molecules that can be found in marine organisms are used for traditional and modern medicine.

Less than 1% of total marine areas are coral reefs but they harbor about 25% of all marine species. The health of coral reefs in many parts of the world is declining due to a variety of direct local human pressures such as over fishing, destructive fishing techniques and land-based activities affecting water quality. In addition, indirect effects such as increased CO2 emission caused by the modern world, enhances the so-called Greenhouse effect and is responsible for the warming of the oceans and changes in ocean chemistry. It is still unknown how many species, potential molecules and other important resources can be found in our oceans and how the oceanic system is going to adapt or react to those global changes.

What can we do to preserve the oceans for our future generations? There are several possibilities such as marine habitat conservation and restoration, creation of protected marine areas, saving each species one by one, beach cleanups, driving high-mileage cars etc., that can be achieved by our politicians, by communities, non-profit organizations or individuals.

But all those solutions can only be realized if there is a commercial benefit, or if - more importantly - the projects are driven by highly motivated and engaged individuals or groups. We believe in the latter, and that forming and educating the future generations of those highly motivated individuals that will be able to fight for their believes is an important point to protect the future of our oceans. We also believe that educating the future generations will have the most impact because children have a dual role as influencers (in regard to their parents) and future decision makers.

A couple of years ago, we started to create [Kahi Kai calendars][1] in which we present individual portraits of sea creatures to showcase their beauty, elegance and their fragility. Kahi Kai photographers donated the images for free and 100% of the proceeds from selling the calendars, distributed around the world, was used last year to provide Hawaiian school classes with a set of those calendars. With these calendars in the classrooms, children can talk about those sea creatures in their classes on a monthly basis, but also discuss about them at home with their families and friends. We hope that this will foster discussions about marine life, reflections about this endangered habitat, ultimately leading to actions that can help in the preservation and restoration of our unique oceans.

The 2012 calendars are available now and you can order them online by clicking here. Please help spreading the word and allow us to extend that project to other regions of the world. Mahalo!

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” (Baba Dioum, 1968)