Q2-Spring-2016_Alert-Diver

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I was working with land animals again, I was on an
island and still involved with the ocean. I collaborated
with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the
Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine
Sanctuary and the Hawaii Invasive Species Council. I
began doing educational videos for the zoo and became
a regular on the local news channels. Then Mutual
of Omaha had a contest to find the next host of Wild
Kingdom, and boom! When I won, I had the mind-
blowing realization that I likely wouldn’t have gotten the
job if it weren’t for diving. The diving was critical for
developing the experience and credibility that helped
me land the job. And now, instead of being limited to
the people in front of me on the boat or in the zoo, I
can share messages about wildlife and conservation with
countless people around the world.
So what’s next?
I started a company called the Creative Animal Inc.
as a speaking platform to raise awareness about the
interconnectedness of everything. Recently
our team started a nonprofit outreach
called the Creative Animal Foundation
to develop a curriculum to take to
corporations and schools all around the
United States. This nationwide tour will
connect people to the planet, empowering
them to engage their inner ceative animals and find
ways to live, work and play more sustainably.
Of course you see some really beautiful things while
diving, but you also see the impact of pollution.
What have you seen that has affected you the most?
Ugh. The trash. It’s so bad. And most of it is plastic,
which never disappears. It just breaks up into smaller
and smaller pieces. Animals throughout the food chain
ingest it and absorb the toxins. Take tuna, for example.
Tuna are large predators that eat smaller fish, which
are full of these chemicals, and this concentrates the
toxins as they move up the food chain. When we eat
tuna, we are ingesting the toxins, too.
Then you see animals being strangled by or
choking on trash. It’s heartwrenching to see an animal
struggling with something that could very well have
been yours. Witnessing these things really resonated
with me, and that’s why I’m so incredibly determined
to teach people about plastics and the ocean. Why, for
example, are we even using straws?
I think the key is to learn about how truly
connected we all are — to the food web
that sustains us and to that plastic. It
doesn’t just affect wildlife, it ultimately
affects humans as well because everything
is connected. I think that’s the most
important thing I can teach. AD
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