Marine Conservation Is In Trouble — Why People Aren’t Concerned About the Ocean

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Marine conservation is in trouble. Ocean

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protection is in trouble. I am here on

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the beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii,

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and I've seen some things that make me

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worry. And not just here, but I see it

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happening everywhere. The regular

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conversations I have in person and

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online. People are not concerned about

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the ocean. And that is a problem. That's

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what we're going to talk about on today's

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episode of the How to Protect the Ocean

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podcast. Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody, welcome back to another

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exciting episode of the How to Protect

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the Ocean podcast. I'm your host Andrew

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Lewin. And this is the podcast we find

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out what's happening with the ocean, how

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you can speak up for the ocean and what

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you can do to live for a better ocean by

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taking action. And on today's episode,

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we're going to be coming to you from the

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beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii, where

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I've been here for the past 11 days. This

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is my 11th day of a family vacation, a

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long, long overdue family

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vacation. And I am in paradise.

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This island is gorgeous. We've been to

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all parts of the island, the east, the

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west, the north shore, and it is in the

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south and it's beautiful. It's absolutely

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stunning. We've seen Hawaiian monk seals

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on the beach. We've seen Hawaiian monk

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seals resting in areas that have been

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just phenomenal lookouts.

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We've seen whales playing in the water on

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lookouts as well. We've seen whales just

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on a whale watching tour. We've seen sea

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turtle. I just got splashed by water and

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it's very, very refreshing in this hot

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sun this morning. But we've seen sea

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turtles, we've swam with sea turtles that

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are here all of the time. And it is

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absolutely phenomenal to see some of the

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protections or the sea, the protections

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that are enacted through the endangered

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species act with the sea turtles and with

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the Hawaiian monk seals.

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And the volunteers that come out to help

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protect them working with government to

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be able to say, Hey, you know what? We

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love these sea turtles. We love these

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Hawaiian monk seals and we want to

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protect them as much as possible.

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The people here, some of you may or may

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not be able to see over my shoulder,

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there are some people who are just

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enjoying surfing earlier this morning.

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There were people paddling and it was

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just been amazing to see

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how many people use the ocean.

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How many people continue to be connected

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to the ocean here on the beautiful island

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of Oahu in Hawaii? And this is something

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that is a dream of mine to be here is my

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second time here. And it's something that

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I just enjoy seeing the ocean each and

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every day. It's definitely inspired me

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even more to bring you

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messaging about the ocean.

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And I want to talk about today because I

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feel as though marine protection, marine

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conservation is in trouble. There are a

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lot of people, whether you speak to them

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online, whether you speak to them in

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person who are not

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worried about the ocean.

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In fact, not only are they not worried

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about the ocean, they just don't know a

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lot about the ocean. I don't blame them.

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It's not necessarily their fault. We just

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don't have a lot of resources that they

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can go to on a regular basis that are

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part of mainstream TV or mainstream TV.

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Or mainstream movies or mainstream news.

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The only time we see news is when there's

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a tragedy or there's climate change or a

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quote unquote shark attack. That's where

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we start to see us talking about marine

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conservation or marine protection. Even

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in documentaries, we see the major

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problems around ocean conservation or a

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certain part of climate change.

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But we are not seeing the solutions. They

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just focus on the problems because it

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makes good TV. It makes good

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documentaries. It makes people click on

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articles. But it doesn't provide people

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with hope. It doesn't provide people with

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the education needed to be able to say,

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hey, you know what? The ocean's in

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trouble and there's a way around it.

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We can actually protect this place, but

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we need your help. We need your not only

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day to day life, but understanding of how

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the political system works, understanding

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of who will vote for what, how people can

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change, whether it be in government

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levels, whether it be federal, state or

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provincial or local levels, or whether it

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be you as a person or as a community to

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be able to bring ocean conservation to

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the forefront of what we need to do.

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Every second breath that we take is due

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to the ocean. Think about that for a

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second. Every second breath is due to the

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ocean. The oxygen produced by the ocean

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provides us with every second breath we

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take. If we destroy the

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ocean, we destroy ourselves.

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Humans need the ocean and we need to

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learn about the ocean. We need to hate to

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say it. Subscribe to channels like this

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to be able to say, hey, you know what? We

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need to learn more about what we can do

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with the ocean, how we can protect it and

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how we can learn more about it.

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I've been here for the last 11 days with

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my family and it's been phenomenal to

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see, but there have been some

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disappointing things that I have seen. I

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haven't seen a lot of signs around town

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talking about, hey, you know what?

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Discard of your garbage, discard of your

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plastics or don't use single plastics.

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This is not to say a lot who is against

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using single plastics or for using single

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plastics. This is about saying general

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messaging around tourist spots where

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tourists need to be educated and how we

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act in and around the

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ocean is extremely important.

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I've come here to try and not only visit

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and enjoy and connect with the ocean, but

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I want to take care of the ocean while

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I'm here and make sure that anything that

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I do, whatever footprint that I leave is

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minimal on the ocean. I love to be

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connected. I've gone snorkeling.

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I've gone whale watching. I've gone to

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the different beaches to see sea turtles

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and gone on long hikes to look out at

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these beautiful views. And I want to

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protect that. I want to see albatrosses,

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which I have to see that

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they're absolutely amazing.

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I want to see just beautiful things that

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are around town. I want to see this. I

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want to see the culture and there's a lot

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of that here. What there isn't a lot of

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is the emphasis on how important the

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ocean is to the Hawaiian

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culture, to the Polynesian culture.

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I would love to see that in different

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places, but not enough. And I would love

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to see that even more in every country,

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including my own in Canada, see more of

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the integration of indigenous populations

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and how their culture integrates with

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ocean protection and how

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Canadians can do more of that.

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And that's something that every platform,

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including mine, has to bring to light is

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the fact that we need to talk about the

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ocean. We need to talk about how ocean

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protection will actually help us in the

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end, how we decrease the amount of money

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we spend on natural disasters, how it

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actually decrease the amount of money we

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spend on changing the environment and

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making things more

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concrete instead of more natural.

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The amount of money that we lose because

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of the lack of ocean conservation,

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because of consequences of climate

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change, because of consequences of losing

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land to build concrete structures to

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fortify that land and not understanding

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the actual processes that go around it is

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extremely harmful and

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extremely expensive.

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And we always talk about the economy when

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it comes to voting a new government in

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which my country is about to do. And we

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never really talk about the ocean. We

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never really talk about how important it

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is to protect it, how important is to

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protect fisheries, how important is to

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our safety in terms of climate

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change and natural disasters.

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This is something that's extremely

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important. It takes a lot to restore, but

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it doesn't take a lot to conserve. It's

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less money to conserve and protect. And I

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feel that this is a call to action to

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say, hey, you know what, we need to make

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sure that we protect this ocean.

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So that's the message today. That's the

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message I've been thinking about for the

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last 11 days as I arrived on this

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wonderful island of Oahu in the Hawaiian

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Islands and seeing the culture and seeing

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the connection to the ocean of the people

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here who surf, who canoe, who paddle, who

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kayak, who dive, who

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snorkel, who just enjoy the ocean.

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And the tourists come here every day and

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enjoy this place. And we want to see it

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protected as well as other beautiful

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ocean places, including in my country,

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Canada. And to be able to say, hey, you

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know what, we did a great job here. We've

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protected ourselves.

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We've been able to protect our every

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second breath and we've been able to

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protect the ocean. So hit me up on a

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comment down below if you're watching

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this on YouTube or Spotify. If you want

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to help protect the ocean and you want to

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know more about the ocean.

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If you want you can DM me on Instagram if

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you're listening to this on a podcast on

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your favorite podcast app. And of course,

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hit me up on Instagram if you're

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listening to this on the audio form, you

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can hit me up at how to protect the ocean

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that's at how to protect the ocean.

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And of course, you can go to speak up for

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blue.com to get access to me, as well as

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all my other episodes and learn more

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about the ocean on the podcast how to

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protect the ocean. I want to thank you so

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much for joining me on today's episode of

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the how to protect the ocean podcast from

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the beautiful island of

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Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.

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I'm your host Andrew Lewin from the true

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north strong and free. Enjoy the day.

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Talk to you next time

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and happy conservation.