Protecting beautiful water

As Justin Dearing went through his presentation on the health of oceans, he was peppered with questions and asides offered by the 50-plus students assembled in the library at the Holy Cross School Complex.

They were a curious bunch, providing follow-up comments on their parents' use of cloth bags, and awing in unison over a picture showing a seal with its nose and mouth caught in a container. The seal died as a result.

June 22 was World Oceans Day, and the following day Mr. Dearing, a conference co-ordinator with the Marine Institute and MI Ocean Net, was in Eastport to speak with students from Kindergarten to Grade Six.

"A lot of times, when you're young, you get brought up and you see what's around you and accept it as the norm. What MI Ocean Net is all about is connecting people to the reality behind a lot of the decisions we make."

Many of those decisions we on display during Mr. Dearing's presentation to the students. There were other images of animals affected by litter, including a startling picture showing a turtle with the middle-portion of its shell sunk in to astounding proportions.

This was because a metal ring was wrapped around it. Mr. Dearing speculated the turtle got caught in the ring as a baby, and as it grew, the body had to uncomfortably grow around the ring.

The images of the seal and the turtle stuck with the young children. One young girl, nearly 20 minutes after the image was first shown, asked how the seal could have come in contact with the container.

"You show a picture, and you let their reaction come out, because I guess as a young person, your emotions and reactions are really honest. They're less burdened by all the responsibilities adults deal with."

From there, he said young people can begin to think about what actions they need to take in order to protect oceans.

"I find it really inspiring, and it keeps me motivated," said Mr. Dearing. "That's why I like working with young people - there's an energy there, and a huge power for change. If you can connect them to something that's important to them, they can create change for themselves."

Complex problem

It may be daunting for some kids to know what they can do to help the ocean, given the number of activities that affect its existence. Mr. Dearing said it is important to focus on everyday decisions.

"They have a huge impact on everything around us. Whether it's how you get to school, how often you use your bike, or what you throw in the garbage, everything has an impact."

The importance of protecting the ocean should resonate with the students in Eastport, who live in an area where the fishery has been the main source of income for centuries and where there are a number of beautiful beaches.

Following Mr. Dearing's presentation, the students took matters into their own hands by travelling to the North Side Beach for a clean-up field trip.

Andy Poole, the school's physical education and the teacher responsible for bring Mr. Dearing to Eastport, said it is important for the students to have a connection to the ocean.

"There are a lot of beaches here in Eastport, and the students need to understand that in order for them to remain beautiful, we need to look after them," he said.

Adult responsibilities can be pretty immense when it comes to the ocean, which covers over two-thirds of the Earth's surface. One image he displayed of a bird covered in oil was timely given the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill, which resulted from an explosion on a deepwater drill on April 20, has resulted in an estimated 35,000-60,000 barrels of crude oil to flow into the ocean each day, according to scientists with the U.S. government.

"As a province, we have a lot of opportunity with offshore oil, and it's not about looking at that as a bad thing, but looking at how you go about it."

Coming back to his point on the consequences of everyday decisions, Mr. Dearing said it is important for oil companies to ask themselves questions about the actions they take.

"It's a big wake-up call to a lot of people, and a lot of industries," he said in reference to the events down south. "It's a wake-up call to the province, to make sure we're all set if something happens here. We may not be. It's also a wake-up call to the kids. The only reason we're drilling for oil is because we were wanting and demanding it so bad, and we weren't taking the necessary steps to be safe with it."

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