Aeon for Ocean with Minnesota's Young Aeon Bashir- Helping Inlanders & Students Learn About the Importance of Our Oceans!

Aeon Bashir talks with Resilient Earth about how they are helping our planet from inland Minnesota, USA. Recorded live on KGUA public radio July 19, 2024.

Aeon for Ocean was founded by Aeon, a 7-year-old, to empower his peers to protect the ocean and this beautiful planet. Aeon has been passionate about marine life since he was 2 years old. He is an avid advocate for the ocean and its creatures. His love of the world’s oceans and his drive for conservation has inspired his parents and classmates alike.

Living in the Midwest, far from the coast, made Aeon especially curious about how people inland are connected to marine ecosystems. Our oceans are the life support of planet Earth, an interconnected system of all the Earth's waters. We are also part of this system with every breath we take and through the water we drink. At Aeon for Ocean, our mission is to educate kids on marine life while focusing on ocean conservation in schools & communities. 

Their Mission

"To educate and increase awareness about ocean conservation and marine life amongst kids and their greater role in spreading the message to drive action."

Helping people inland understand why then ocean matters, irrespective of where we live or eat seafood, and things they can do from here to help protect it is their mission. Through the

KGUA Public Radio Sonoma & Mendocino CA
KGUA 88.3FM is an independent public media station located in Gualala, CA on the Northern CA coast.

Planet Centric Media (non-profit)
Media for a Healthier Planet: Elevating The Interconnectedness of Life & Value of Natural Resources.

Mendonoma Whale & Seal Study
Founded by Scott & Tree Mercer to document the occurrence, diversity, & behavior of marine mammals.

Sea Storm Studios, Inc.
An audio/visual production company in the Sea Ranch, CA (US)

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;58;29
Speaker 1
Welcome to Resilient Earth Radio, where we host speakers from the United States and around the world to talk about the critical issues facing our planet and the positive actions people are taking. We also let our listeners learn how they can get involved and make a difference. This is Leann Lindsay host, along with Scott and Trae Mercer of Mint and Whale in Seal study in both Mendocino and Sonoma counties of Northern California.

00;00;59;02 - 00;01;30;04
Speaker 1
Today's segment is resilient to Earth Radio, and I have with me my joint co-producers and co-hosts, Scott and Tre Mercer of Minda, Noma, Whale and Seal City. They have lined up for all of us, a wonderful young guest who is making some amazing changes to our oceans and for our planet. His name is Ian Basheer and we are going to talk to him in just a moment about Ian for ocean.

00;01;30;06 - 00;01;55;01
Speaker 1
It was founded by young Ian at seven years old. He's from Minnesota, and he did this to empower his peers to protect the ocean and this beautiful planet. Ian has been passionate about marine life since he was two years old, and he is an avid advocate for the ocean and its creatures. His drive for conservation have inspired his parents and classmates alike.

00;01;55;03 - 00;01;56;11
Speaker 1
Good morning Ian.

00;01;56;14 - 00;01;58;06
Speaker 2
Good morning. Thank you for having me.

00;01;58;08 - 00;02;20;08
Speaker 1
I'm so happy to have you here to talk with us today about what positive things people are doing around the planet to help with climate action and climate balance. And it seems like you have this incredible program going, and we'd love to hear about really how you got started.

00;02;20;10 - 00;02;51;18
Speaker 2
So, yeah, thank you for having me. And I really appreciate this whole podcast and how you're taking people who are making a difference worldwide to help promote awareness. So I first got interested in the ocean when I was little around like 2 or 3 years old. When I went whale watching and I saw a lot of marine life, from whales to dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, etc. and I also noticed that there was a lot of pollution that caused the threat to these marine animals and their survival.

00;02;51;18 - 00;03;12;20
Speaker 2
And I realized that this pollution was created by humans. When I came back to Minnesota, I talked to my friends and teachers and family about, like, all the different types of whales and dolphins. And I found out that they didn't really know much about this, like the different types of whales and dolphins and how we impact the ocean.

00;03;12;22 - 00;03;35;26
Speaker 2
Because of that, I decided to start doing small presentations within my school about whales and dolphins and like how we impact the ocean and how we can help the ocean as well. So I started my school, and then a few years later, I thought that it would be even better if we could go and present to other schools and other venues.

00;03;35;28 - 00;03;55;10
Speaker 2
So after talking to some experts, I realized that I would need to start a nonprofit in order to do that. So with the help of this experts and my parents, we started the hunt for ocean as a method of promoting and sharing awareness about oceans and marine life and the impacts we have on it.

00;03;55;13 - 00;04;05;11
Speaker 1
That's wonderful. And you do have a great group of people behind you. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those people?

00;04;05;13 - 00;04;31;08
Speaker 2
Yes. I guess from the beginning, we have a bunch of experts that have helped us throughout the years, to name a few. Ted Cheeseman, Larry Marino, and then our amazing volunteers. I like going to the names, but we have an amazing group of volunteers who have helped throughout the years, in areas from education to creating content and outreach.

00;04;31;08 - 00;04;35;19
Speaker 2
And it's just been a really amazing experience to learn and grow with all of them.

00;04;35;21 - 00;05;14;20
Speaker 1
I'd like to tell our listening audience too, if you would like to find his information online. His name is spelled EEO Eoin, so look for Ian for ocean spelled that way and you will find an amazing website on a number of the things that they are doing as a group and helping to educate the next generation. And that is what is so important for continuing great work about understanding the issues at hand, coming up with solutions and then executing plans and making it happen.

00;05;14;22 - 00;05;27;00
Speaker 1
And you're helping to do that through this organization, through all the people who have been drawn to help you. You would probably welcome others to help you from far and wide, I would imagine.

00;05;27;02 - 00;05;33;15
Speaker 2
Yeah. For sure. We're always looking for more people to help, share awareness about the ocean.

00;05;33;18 - 00;05;36;22
Speaker 1
And maybe you're in Minnesota still?

00;05;36;25 - 00;05;37;28
Speaker 2
Yeah. Still around.

00;05;38;01 - 00;05;50;27
Speaker 1
Okay, so describe what kind of programs you've got there for the school systems. And how could other school systems replicate this across the country and the world? Actually, you know, yeah.

00;05;50;29 - 00;06;23;00
Speaker 2
Right now we have an online canvas curriculum for middle school and go working on creating something with high school. So this is like online materials and like there's modules and badges and all of that like materials and hands on projects that teachers can use for their students and classes. And then we're also working on comics, which, which creates a more fun way to learn about issues affecting the ocean and how we can help them.

00;06;23;02 - 00;07;03;07
Speaker 2
We're also partnering with Guided Opportunities, which is a nonprofit in Honduras, and we're providing educational material and content for them to use in their after school programs. Part of this is translating our materials into Spanish, which could be used to reach a larger U.S. community out international community. And then right now, the main focus is sort of getting back to those in-person events in school presentations where we sort of detail, especially when we present in Minnesota, like how even though the ocean is so far away and it seems like such a distant concept, like how our actions inland affect the ocean.

00;07;03;08 - 00;07;38;02
Speaker 2
And part of this is we partnered with the hydrous, and Doctor Erica Leslie, and she graciously provided us with some virtual reality headsets because we realized when we started presenting that a lot of kids inland, not only in Minnesota and many inland states, I've never even seen the ocean or been to the ocean. And we thought that for people to really care about the ocean and to be able to have that sort of connection with it, they need to first understand what it is.

00;07;38;05 - 00;07;54;09
Speaker 2
So, we used the virtual reality to sort of bring this immersive experience into the classroom, to provide students with the glimpse into the ocean and about coral bleaching and how we can help the ocean.

00;07;54;12 - 00;08;17;17
Speaker 1
That's wonderful. And my own son helps two other companies with virtual reality and augmented reality. He's in the video game design business, imagined different augmented reality type programs you could make, and some video games too. I can just see the variety of different multimedia type projects and approaches.

00;08;17;20 - 00;08;17;29
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;08;18;02 - 00;08;20;22
Speaker 1
For sure. Yeah. What question did you have?

00;08;20;24 - 00;08;29;18
Speaker 3
I was wondering, Ian, when you went whale watching in California here? Yeah. Where was that? In Monterey.

00;08;29;20 - 00;08;31;24
Speaker 2
I believe that was in Newport.

00;08;31;26 - 00;08;37;22
Speaker 3
Oh, okay. Newport. Excellent. And how old were you when you went on that whale watching trip?

00;08;37;24 - 00;08;40;28
Speaker 2
I'd say about 2 or 3 years old.

00;08;41;00 - 00;08;43;06
Speaker 3
Wow. Amazing.

00;08;43;09 - 00;08;46;10
Speaker 1
What an impact. Yeah, yeah. A young, young man.

00;08;46;11 - 00;09;12;07
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I was just wondering then when you went home to Minnesota, did you find it difficult, or was was there resistance to what you were proposing to people that we need to care about the ocean, even though we live in Minnesota or anywhere else in the country that's not near an ocean. Was was that challenging for you, or did it come pretty easily?

00;09;12;09 - 00;09;35;16
Speaker 2
I don't think there was so much of a resistance as like a lack of awareness, like people really didn't know about. The impacts we have, because when you're in the land and you spent your life in the ocean, seems sort of like a faraway concept, and it's hard to see how, like you, how you do inland can impact the ocean, which is thousands of miles away.

00;09;35;19 - 00;09;54;14
Speaker 2
But I feel like there was an earlier resistance. As much as like, like the whole idea for starting out for ocean, like the idea that people didn't know about how we impacted them. So it it's more of like just educating about how we impact and how we can help those as well.

00;09;54;17 - 00;10;08;09
Speaker 3
Absolutely. And that's why what you're doing is just so important. And it's so, inspiring actually. And, you know, that was our guest last week.

00;10;08;11 - 00;10;09;03
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;10;09;06 - 00;10;13;25
Speaker 3
And Scott has known Ted since he was ten.

00;10;13;28 - 00;10;40;01
Speaker 4
Yeah. A little younger than you are now. And, Yeah, I was thinking that when he was speaking, a greater was here. Ted's name come from you, and I'm not surprised he's helping you. He's a real early, brilliant guy. And, Lori Marino, we met at a conference about giving, granting personhood to to, animals. And she was one of the speakers of that.

00;10;40;04 - 00;10;44;29
Speaker 4
And now she's running, and I'm sure you know, that whale sanctuary idea.

00;10;45;02 - 00;10;46;27
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's a really fascinating thing.

00;10;46;27 - 00;10;49;14
Speaker 4
And and eastern Canada right now.

00;10;49;15 - 00;10;53;18
Speaker 1
So and both of you have been teachers, especially you, Theresa.

00;10;53;25 - 00;11;17;19
Speaker 3
Yeah. And when I taught seventh grade science and we decided that we would adopt a whale through the New England Aquarium program. I was on the East coast. This was a small school in New York, and we had bake sales after school, and we raised money and we adopted, I think, two whales, and they sent us a certificate.

00;11;17;21 - 00;11;28;20
Speaker 3
And it was really a fun thing to do with my students. And then later when I met Scott, he knew the whales we adopted because he knew just about every humpback whale in the Gulf of Maine.

00;11;28;22 - 00;11;31;20
Speaker 1
Because you were doing a lot of whale tours.

00;11;31;23 - 00;11;55;07
Speaker 4
Yeah. I ran whale watchers for a couple of decades from Vancouver was called New England Whale Watch. I grabbed that name early on, so I was glad to hear that a whale watching trip. You mentioned sea otters. That's actually what got me into, marine mammal interest back when I was in college. Right. So, you know, sea otters were very vital to the, the, ecosystem down.

00;11;55;08 - 00;11;58;05
Speaker 4
Were you were seeing the first whales.

00;11;58;08 - 00;11;59;13
Speaker 1
And why is that?

00;11;59;15 - 00;12;18;11
Speaker 4
Well, because they, they have a big appetite and want they to keep themselves warm, as I'm sure Ian knows. And but they eat a variety of things across the board. You don't just specialize in one. And in so doing, they also keep the urchin population down, which allows the kelp forest to grow.

00;12;18;14 - 00;12;28;09
Speaker 1
And now the two of you have been doing mending, a whale in seal study. Just summarize quickly for our audience what exactly you're doing that you're bringing to the table here.

00;12;28;09 - 00;12;31;07
Speaker 4
2 million.

00;12;31;09 - 00;12;32;05
Speaker 1
You're on Scott.

00;12;32;06 - 00;12;59;08
Speaker 4
Okay. Or three, you know. Or is Theresa. But, her nickname is tree. She's better known as tree. She and I, in 2013 or so, when she decided to retire from teaching public schools, we decided to come out here to Northern California, an area that I was more familiar with. And then Theresa was. And when we got here, we were thinking about coming out here.

00;12;59;08 - 00;13;14;12
Speaker 4
We, decided to start a program. It didn't seem to be too much study, research going out of this coast where we are right now. And so we came up with that name, Mending Alma, which is a combination of Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

00;13;14;13 - 00;13;17;01
Speaker 1
On the north California coast.

00;13;17;04 - 00;13;27;24
Speaker 4
Yeah, we're about 100 and get you, if you look at us, have you ever worry about 120 miles north of San Francisco? More or less. And, let's see.

00;13;27;24 - 00;13;32;10
Speaker 1
And the Point Arena line Hills is where you guys do most of your observations?

00;13;32;17 - 00;13;50;28
Speaker 4
Yeah. Point arena, if you find this on a map, Point Arena sticks out a little bit and there's a lighthouse and sticks out that area projects out about two miles into the ocean, which, you know, and the lighthouse is on a peninsula. It's not a lighthouse you have to take a boat to yet that gives us, a vantage point.

00;13;50;29 - 00;14;03;03
Speaker 4
And being that far out, especially with the gray whale migration that we monitor each year from here, from November, maybe to, June, when the mothers and calves go by here.

00;14;03;06 - 00;14;08;21
Speaker 1
And there's been quite a bit of whale traffic, I understand, in the last week or so. Right.

00;14;08;24 - 00;14;09;07
Speaker 4
Yeah. Oh.

00;14;09;07 - 00;14;38;29
Speaker 3
Go ahead. Yeah. Finally, I was thinking of union, when you would have love to see what we were seeing the last few days. The humpbacks are here now. Probably, feeding on anchovies, and they are close enough to shore. But binoculars, of course, help. But we've had breaching humpbacks. We've had them flipper slapping, tail lobbying, just doing all the incredible acrobatic, things that humpbacks do.

00;14;39;01 - 00;15;03;00
Speaker 3
And at the lighthouse the other day, there were lots of visitors there all lined up, and, they were looking at the ocean, taking pictures, and it was just, an amazing sight. And I said, oh, Ian would love to see this. He would love to be here. You have an open invitation to come to, to this part of California and, you know, see what we're seeing out here in the ocean.

00;15;03;05 - 00;15;05;19
Speaker 3
I know you would love it.

00;15;05;21 - 00;15;07;17
Speaker 2
Thank you.

00;15;07;19 - 00;15;13;24
Speaker 1
And, Ian, why are whales so important to our planet?

00;15;13;26 - 00;15;36;05
Speaker 2
I feel like they're important in so many ways. But I guess one of the first ways that comes to mind is, like they're vital to our ecosystem. They essentially fertilize the ocean seafloor. And that allows for, if I remember correctly, allows for more phytoplankton.

00;15;36;08 - 00;15;37;02
Speaker 1
That's right.

00;15;37;09 - 00;15;42;23
Speaker 2
And then, so the phytoplankton are really important, like,

00;15;42;25 - 00;15;45;08
Speaker 1
Like, really important to me.

00;15;45;10 - 00;16;10;03
Speaker 2
Because one of the things that we talked about in our presentations a lot is like how if you take two breaths, every second breath we take comes from the ocean from, like this photosynthesis in the phytoplankton. And I think that's just really fascinating that whales, these gentle giants, contribute so much to our ecosystem and to our lives, even though we're so far from that ocean.

00;16;10;06 - 00;16;27;25
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Whales not only provide that for the phytoplankton, the phytoplankton provides us with the oxygen, but also they sequester so much carbon over their lifetimes if they're allowed to live. And then they take that down to the ocean floor.

00;16;28;00 - 00;16;45;02
Speaker 3
That's right. Right, right. They are, they are nature's way of balancing this climate. That's the way to do it, is let the whales live. Yeah.

00;16;45;05 - 00;17;16;07
Speaker 5
Coming up on Resilient Earth Radio, Howie Garrett of the Orca Whale Sighting Network, which encourages observing ocean to increase awareness and knowledge about the community of orcas and other marine mammals in the Puget Sound. They foster a stewardship ethic to motivate a diverse audience to take action to protect and restore their critical habitat. They believe it's time to reflect, reconnect, and respond as better caretakers of this planet.

00;17;16;09 - 00;17;41;14
Speaker 5
Tune in to Resilient Earth Radio, where we are elevating awareness about these critical topics and positive efforts through our radio show and podcast. Thanks for listening. Subscribe below and find us on Facebook and Instagram. We are Resilient Earth Radio, a project of planet centric media.

00;17;41;16 - 00;17;48;11
Speaker 5
And.

00;17;48;14 - 00;18;12;24
Speaker 1
And if you're just tuning in, you're listening to a group of us talk about environmental issues and what this young man, Ian Beshear, who has formed a foundation called Ian for ocean. You can find it online. You can see the incredible lineup of talent and people who are backing him. Ian is talking to us from Minnesota.

00;18;12;27 - 00;18;19;23
Speaker 1
Ian, you must have some incredible parents, I must say. Tell us a little bit about them.

00;18;19;25 - 00;18;50;13
Speaker 2
Yeah. So they've been supporting me ever since. I really got passionate about the ocean, always sort of pushing me to take that next step and go further to really pursue my passion in the ocean. And they sort of really backed right down about starting a nonprofit, even though it is a lot of work to start a nonprofit, they really put in the time and effort to help me get to where I am today with the Emperor Ocean and everything else, and I'm just really grateful.

00;18;50;15 - 00;18;56;11
Speaker 1
And that's another thing. This is a nonprofit, so people can even just make a donation to your.

00;18;56;11 - 00;18;57;16
Speaker 2
Organization.

00;18;57;18 - 00;19;17;21
Speaker 1
As simple as that. And then how could some children, other kids around the country get involved, like right here on our Pacific coast? You know, Walhalla is a town that sits right at the junction of both Mendocino counties and Sonoma counties. We're very remote, but we have a lot of children and young folks up here.

00;19;17;24 - 00;19;36;05
Speaker 2
Yeah. One thing we always say is that whenever you get the chance to try to spread awareness about the ocean, whether it be through doing presentations in your school or talking about how we can help the ocean to your friends, your family, your teacher. Anything makes a difference. Every little actually difference.

00;19;36;12 - 00;19;41;29
Speaker 1
Do you have some tools on your website that might assist them in this effort?

00;19;42;02 - 00;19;57;17
Speaker 2
One thing that they can do is they can reach out to info at young for ocean Art. We have a lot of materials, educational materials that we would be willing to share to aid in this sharing awareness about oceans and marine life. Yeah.

00;19;57;19 - 00;20;21;24
Speaker 1
That's huge because getting over that hurdle of, well, how do we approach this? How do we bring together the materials to do a presentation? Well, you can assist them with that. Your organization can. It's not just young Ian, but he has been like the torch bearer here leading all these people forth. And they've joined him and they surrounding him and they're helping them.

00;20;21;27 - 00;20;27;10
Speaker 1
And you're still in school. Yeah. How do you balance all of that?

00;20;27;12 - 00;20;54;06
Speaker 2
Usually we just I try to make the presentations and whatever. I try to do it myself in person. But we also have a lot of volunteers all across the U.S. and sometimes international, and they've been really helpful and really awesome and like taking that and doing these virtual reality programs that are going to schools and presenting. And it's really been awesome and I'm really grateful to them.

00;20;54;09 - 00;20;56;23
Speaker 1
How do you balance all that?

00;20;56;25 - 00;21;17;28
Speaker 2
Well, I go to, online high school, Stanford, on my high school right now, so that's really helpful. And giving me some more time to work on these. Like, right now I'm sort of helping with writing scripts for comics, and it really helps that like balancing the information and the academic and all of that. Yeah.

00;21;17;28 - 00;21;20;25
Speaker 1
And boy, what a creative outlet.

00;21;20;27 - 00;21;22;23
Speaker 3
What what grade are you going into.

00;21;22;26 - 00;21;24;26
Speaker 2
I'll be going to ninth grade.

00;21;24;26 - 00;21;51;29
Speaker 3
Oh wow. Okay. Ninth grade. That's that's amazing. You can do you have any way of analyzing or do you gather statistics as to how impactful you have been and the people who are volunteering for you? Like, do you know how many different schools have tapped into your resources? Great question. Yeah, but you see, it's multi-state, right? It's not just Minnesota.

00;21;51;29 - 00;21;54;07
Speaker 3
You're across the United States.

00;21;54;09 - 00;22;17;16
Speaker 2
Yeah. For classrooms, we've presented to over 30 classrooms within the Midwest and counting like our impacts, like social media and other platforms. We've reached over 5000 people across the world. And I think that's really great. And we're always pushing to, reach more people and share more awareness. And yeah, right.

00;22;17;16 - 00;22;18;15
Speaker 1
There's no borders.

00;22;18;15 - 00;22;22;28
Speaker 3
That's it. Is that globally as well? Yeah. Are you in other countries?

00;22;23;00 - 00;22;30;29
Speaker 2
We're not in other countries that. Well, but for social media, it's there's people in other countries who do view our social media platforms.

00;22;30;29 - 00;22;35;19
Speaker 3
So that's amazing. That is really, really spectacular.

00;22;35;23 - 00;22;48;26
Speaker 1
I could imagine they could still reach out from wherever they are in the world to get assistance and get some information and materials that they could then put into their own languages and their own social impact campaigns.

00;22;48;26 - 00;23;04;04
Speaker 2
Yeah. And as I mentioned, we are partnering with guided opportunities in Honduras, in Honduras and we're translating the material onto Spanish silver. Hopefully we'll be able to share that with a much wider audience as well.

00;23;04;06 - 00;23;09;04
Speaker 1
Yeah. Honduras. Yeah. So explain how that got started.

00;23;09;06 - 00;23;49;18
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I believe that we met one person, one of the volunteers who works with us, knows, a teacher who founded the nonprofit called Guided Opportunities in Honduras. And they essentially run under after school programs for underprivileged communities there to teach them about various things, not just related to oceans. So, we decided to partner with them and provide our materials to sort of provide a baseline for them to teach their underprivileged communities and fundraise through these afterschool programs about the ocean and how they can help protect our ocean guided opportunity.

00;23;49;18 - 00;23;49;28
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;23;49;28 - 00;23;51;28
Speaker 3
That's wonderful. Yeah.

00;23;51;29 - 00;23;55;02
Speaker 1
And, Scott, what would you like to ask, young man?

00;23;55;06 - 00;24;26;29
Speaker 4
I've been curious for, well, several years since, I guess since we first met you or saw you. It was at the conference, the American Cetacean Societies Conference in, Newport Beach. And the theme that that conference was The Next Generation. You were very young then you met. You might have been nine then, you know, it might have been a couple of years, but you were new and very young, and we were wondering where you were when you first started speaking.

00;24;27;01 - 00;24;27;12
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00;24;27;15 - 00;24;29;18
Speaker 1
It's a very articulate.

00;24;29;20 - 00;24;39;26
Speaker 4
Yeah. Know. Great, very articulate voice came over the PA system and that. Where is he. How did you get invited to that. How did they know about you? The the planning committee? I wondered about that for years.

00;24;39;28 - 00;24;58;03
Speaker 2
I believe when we first got interested in, like, the ocean, we met a few experts, especially in California, and like the Newport Monterey side. And through those connections, they referred us to that ACS conference, that sort of just springboard everything from there.

00;24;58;05 - 00;25;27;17
Speaker 1
Well, you sure are an inspiration for other young people out there who are young adults. You're moving into that high school phase, and then it's college and then it's adult life. And so you you've really you've really made a great start. And you're leveraging to the online education system. And especially you can tap into Stanford. What are some of the courses that you do take online from Stanford?

00;25;27;20 - 00;25;48;27
Speaker 2
Well, overall I'm taking most of my academic courses like math, science and writing, philosophy and things like that. So mainly that through Stanford, because through Stanford you get access to a bunch of libraries and online networks, which are really helpful to leverage for like family resources and things like that.

00;25;49;00 - 00;25;53;17
Speaker 1
Nice. Well, Scott, you're doing some online Stanford courses too.

00;25;53;19 - 00;26;08;28
Speaker 4
Yeah. It sounds like you're into a little different program. If you have access to the libraries library resources, because it's not available to all of us who are depending on which program they were into. But I did just take an interesting philosophy class, the philosophy of biology.

00;26;09;00 - 00;26;09;23
Speaker 1
Really?

00;26;09;26 - 00;26;11;09
Speaker 4
Did you see that one?

00;26;11;12 - 00;26;23;29
Speaker 2
Oh, I see, I have a philosophy course that's really similar to that next year. It's called the I believe, methodology of science and biology. So I think that's really close. So we're looking forward to that.

00;26;23;29 - 00;26;25;02
Speaker 3
Oh excellent.

00;26;25;05 - 00;26;25;28
Speaker 4
Yeah. Excellent. Yeah.

00;26;25;28 - 00;26;27;22
Speaker 3
You could share notes.

00;26;27;24 - 00;26;34;03
Speaker 1
Too much I know. Yeah. Very cool. We can do a show just on that right.

00;26;34;06 - 00;26;38;23
Speaker 3
Yeah I listened in on Scott's class. Fascinating. Fascinating.

00;26;38;28 - 00;26;59;25
Speaker 1
Back to you, Ian. What are some of the things that you would like to convey to some of the listeners out there? We're not only just on the Northern California Redwood Coast here in Molalla in a long Sonoma Coast and Mendocino coast. But we do stream, we're streaming around the world, and we do get listeners from all different kind of countries.

00;26;59;27 - 00;27;07;21
Speaker 1
So why don't you give a couple of, thoughts on how they can help and get involved?

00;27;07;23 - 00;27;41;01
Speaker 2
Yeah. As you may know, the delegation places like many powers from ocean acidification to captivity, overfishing, pollution, coral bleaching, etc. like you said, we need more help now than ever to protect our oceans and some ways that all of you can help, as you can first start by making sustainable seafood choices. You can reduce the use of plastics, especially single use plastics, and you can also take and for Oceans Common Sense Plastic Pledge, which you can find on our website.

00;27;41;04 - 00;27;44;11
Speaker 1
Say that again Ian for Plastics Pledge.

00;27;44;13 - 00;27;46;27
Speaker 2
Ian for ocean. Common sense plastic.

00;27;46;27 - 00;27;51;17
Speaker 1
Pledge, common sense plastic pledge I like that, yes.

00;27;51;19 - 00;28;13;05
Speaker 2
And then another thing we always say is that you should always learn about oceans and marine life and then share that knowledge and with others, friends, family, teachers, anyone to create awareness about oceans and marine life so that more people can start caring about the oceans and make. And every single action makes a difference.

00;28;13;08 - 00;28;38;18
Speaker 1
Every small action does make a difference. And that ocean is so vast. Sometimes people don't think about what lies beneath, and yet how important and critical that is to our own livelihood of being able to remain on this planet. What lies beneath is critical to that survival. And you've got another thing called krill to whale. What is that about?

00;28;38;20 - 00;29;08;21
Speaker 2
A few years ago, we wanted to create more opportunities for younger people to share that knowledge and awareness about oceans and marine life within their communities. So we started the Cradle to Whale Ambassador program, which basically where we take krill to ambassadors and they go and present to their schools and etc. but along this path, we realized that there are some issues that pop up, like liability and such.

00;29;08;24 - 00;29;28;27
Speaker 2
So we are now switching from the krill to a program to something called the Teacher Ambassador program, which empowers students where we provide materials to the teachers and the teachers, can empower students within their classrooms and communities to share and learn about the ocean and marine life.

00;29;28;29 - 00;29;35;05
Speaker 1
And I didn't even see his title head clear. He is what head or Chief Krill?

00;29;35;08 - 00;29;35;28
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;29;36;00 - 00;29;40;18
Speaker 1
I love that you think he King krill. He could be King Krill too.

00;29;40;18 - 00;29;41;12
Speaker 3
It could be at all.

00;29;41;19 - 00;30;08;13
Speaker 1
And taking action is so important. And these are just some small ways in you're just entering ninth grade, and this is something others young adults can be doing as well. They can get involved and take action because it is important right now with the critical issues facing our planet. And ambassadorship is so important, raising that awareness, that's one of the biggest things we can do right now around the world.

00;30;08;16 - 00;30;35;24
Speaker 1
And young is two years old, but you have been able to balance both the school system and doing what you can, and then you got an organization around you that helps you implement a lot of these things. Talk about a couple of the people, or Scott, you're the one that were showing me the whole list of PhD PhDs and people who are helping on a variety of different channels.

00;30;35;28 - 00;30;45;13
Speaker 1
They help with everything from marine education to things like managing the production of things. So why don't you talk to that?

00;30;45;14 - 00;31;07;15
Speaker 4
Yeah, I was I noticed your comic book artists on your website. I'm glad you brought that up. That look really interesting. Yeah, when I went through the list, I'm measuring my iPad in here and go through it. But you had so many educators in there in one person. Who was your educator lead and you had a number of well educated educators who are here.

00;31;07;15 - 00;31;09;02
Speaker 1
I've got them right here.

00;31;09;05 - 00;31;11;01
Speaker 4
This mom.

00;31;11;03 - 00;31;16;13
Speaker 1
Executive director, and pronounce her name for us.

00;31;16;15 - 00;31;17;10
Speaker 2
Monica.

00;31;17;12 - 00;31;19;07
Speaker 3
Monica. And beautiful last.

00;31;19;07 - 00;31;20;02
Speaker 1
Name.

00;31;20;04 - 00;31;21;02
Speaker 2
Nagarajan.

00;31;21;04 - 00;31;32;16
Speaker 1
And then you've got also a director of H. You've got a director of educational programs. That's interesting. Can you talk a little bit about first your mother and then about Nicolet?

00;31;32;19 - 00;31;42;04
Speaker 2
Yeah. She's really been one of the main driving forces in all of this. Like really pushing like I mentioned, both of my parents throughout this whole journey.

00;31;42;07 - 00;31;44;22
Speaker 1
That's important to have that support, you know?

00;31;44;25 - 00;32;09;10
Speaker 2
Yeah. And I'm really grateful for all of that. And then, our director of educational programs, she's really amazing. And a lot of what she does at the end for ocean is sort of taking her background in education and sort of applying it to our educational programs and all of our volunteers. I joined Young Ocean because of their passion for the ocean, because they're 100% volunteer.

00;32;09;10 - 00;32;26;11
Speaker 2
I love it. A lot of our volunteers take like their experience in the past from educational like teaching to HR and such, and apply it to our educational programs and sharing awareness about the oceans and marine life.

00;32;26;13 - 00;32;54;10
Speaker 1
You've got a marine education program, lead. You've got an education manager, program manager. The list just continues. Community engagement manager. These are ways that they can focus on specific tasks and be able to approach that in a way that they can use their expertise to accomplish the bigger goals, because it takes a team, a village, to bring these things all over.

00;32;54;10 - 00;33;12;19
Speaker 1
You even have a publishing manager publishing an education lead. It's amazing how big this organization has grown. Tell us a bit about that kind of part of it being from your perspective and watching it grow. What has that journey feel like?

00;33;12;24 - 00;33;37;04
Speaker 2
This journey has familiar anything, especially for me from starting it way back in. I think 2017, which just just me and a few experts that we've met along the way. And now coming to an organization with over 30 volunteers and I feel like that journey has been really awesome. And I'm really grateful to all of these volunteers who all share this passion for the ocean.

00;33;37;07 - 00;33;45;14
Speaker 2
I'm really grateful to all of them and all the experts that have helped me and the organization along the way. Yeah, it's just been really amazing.

00;33;45;17 - 00;33;49;20
Speaker 1
And seven years ago for him is seven years old. Yes.

00;33;49;23 - 00;34;16;10
Speaker 3
It's so it's really impressive. Like when you look at the people who have joined you in this effort and it has, I really do think because I know you did it for me. You are an inspiring individual and it was contagious. When you spoke to us at that ACS conference seven years ago, the entire all these adults in the room, we were just mesmerized.

00;34;16;10 - 00;34;34;13
Speaker 3
And so, you know, taken with you was so sincere about your interest and your love of the ocean. And and we do realize that Scott was absolutely correct when he said the theme each year the asks has a theme, and that one was the next generation.

00;34;34;13 - 00;34;48;16
Speaker 1
And there you had the voice of the next generation, a young he was probably 7 or 9 somewhere in there. But you hear that voice and you hear that he is articulate and knowledgeable and that really gets people's attention.

00;34;48;16 - 00;35;14;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, it was amazing. But to grow your organization in this way, you want to know how special you are because you do not see this in many organizations. They kind of struggle to get people on board, and people are so dedicated like you have. So that speaks so highly of, you know, what you and your mom and dad have accomplished.

00;35;14;18 - 00;35;16;21
Speaker 3
It really has.

00;35;16;23 - 00;35;17;20
Speaker 1
Kudos to you.

00;35;17;20 - 00;35;26;23
Speaker 3
All. Yeah, yeah. Do you have plans to attend any future conferences? There's always conferences popping up. You do you ever go to the marine mammal.

00;35;26;29 - 00;35;27;21
Speaker 4
For the biennial.

00;35;27;21 - 00;35;31;24
Speaker 3
The biennials there in all around the world. It's a marine mammal.

00;35;31;24 - 00;35;33;06
Speaker 4
The next one is in Australia.

00;35;33;09 - 00;35;35;16
Speaker 3
Australia. There you go. Is a trip for you?

00;35;35;17 - 00;35;37;19
Speaker 4
It'll be this summer.

00;35;37;22 - 00;36;01;28
Speaker 2
I believe. We did do, like an online version of the marine mammal, right? Couple of years back. And then, we did, like the World Whale Conference. The I mean, that's and really amazing experts there, doctor Wally Franklin and all of his people. And it's just been really amazing. We've had a bunch of conferences and we have a few lined up, this year, and we're hoping to get more for next year.

00;36;02;03 - 00;36;02;23
Speaker 3
Good.

00;36;02;23 - 00;36;05;28
Speaker 1
Can you list some of those conferences?

00;36;06;01 - 00;36;16;02
Speaker 2
One that's coming up really soon is the oceans, 2024 conference. We're looking forward to that. And that's actually very exciting.

00;36;16;04 - 00;36;16;24
Speaker 3
Excellent.

00;36;16;24 - 00;36;21;17
Speaker 4
So the end if you, connected with the group in Colorado.

00;36;21;19 - 00;36;23;13
Speaker 2
Not not yet.

00;36;23;16 - 00;36;24;11
Speaker 4
They're in Boulder.

00;36;24;13 - 00;36;26;28
Speaker 3
Called Inland Ocean Alliance.

00;36;27;01 - 00;36;27;25
Speaker 4
Yeah. Thank you again.

00;36;27;25 - 00;36;29;25
Speaker 3
Remember? Oh. Ocean Alliance.

00;36;30;00 - 00;36;31;13
Speaker 1
Well, he's inland, right.

00;36;31;17 - 00;36;40;09
Speaker 3
You could look into that in, in Boulder yet. Right. And it's called the Inland Ocean Alliance or coalition idea.

00;36;40;11 - 00;36;40;28
Speaker 4
Coalition.

00;36;40;29 - 00;36;43;06
Speaker 3
Coalition. Yeah.

00;36;43;08 - 00;36;45;20
Speaker 2
Sure. To check that out. Yeah, that sounds really cool.

00;36;45;20 - 00;36;47;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. You would like that? Yeah. They're great.

00;36;47;27 - 00;36;50;11
Speaker 4
People. You could be a help to each other.

00;36;50;11 - 00;36;52;17
Speaker 3
Yeah, you could have a lot to share.

00;36;52;17 - 00;37;27;26
Speaker 1
Yeah. That's the thing about networking. Networking with others who have similar interests like that. And we have probably about maybe ten minutes here left on this show. And this is resilient Earth Radio, one of our newest shows and podcasts. And this is Kaga in Lalala 88.3 FM. I'm Liane Lindsey, along with my co-producers and co-host Scott and Trae Mercer of the Minda Noma Whale in Seal study, which stands for Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.

00;37;27;28 - 00;37;51;03
Speaker 1
And they're from originally back east. And whale watching was a big part of Scott's life for a long, long time. Teaching as well. Teresa teaching as well in biology and sciences. And then you collaborated with Scott on many whale activity days and companies. You've done it. Several of them where.

00;37;51;03 - 00;38;12;12
Speaker 3
We met, we actually met on, the captain Red, which was a whale at Scott's boat out of Newburyport, Massachusetts. I had taken my two young nephews because I wanted them to see whales. And, we went out that day and Ian, we saw over 40 humpback whales in that. And I was so excited to see the whales.

00;38;12;12 - 00;38;16;18
Speaker 3
But my young nephews, their eyes got as big as.

00;38;16;20 - 00;38;17;02
Speaker 1
As big.

00;38;17;02 - 00;38;17;23
Speaker 4
As flounders.

00;38;17;23 - 00;38;26;02
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I didn't know if I should watch them or watch the ocean and and watch the whales. It was a really wonderful experience.

00;38;26;02 - 00;38;31;27
Speaker 1
And seeing a whale is what got young Ian off onto this whole pasture. Right.

00;38;32;02 - 00;38;35;16
Speaker 3
What was the first whale you saw? Yeah. And was it a humpback?

00;38;35;18 - 00;38;37;14
Speaker 2
I believe it was a hangout. Yeah.

00;38;37;16 - 00;38;38;06
Speaker 1
That I'm back.

00;38;38;06 - 00;38;39;20
Speaker 2
So just amazing. Yeah.

00;38;39;20 - 00;38;41;24
Speaker 3
They are, they are indeed.

00;38;42;00 - 00;38;55;24
Speaker 1
So in these last few minutes, why don't you cover again the website, the organization, how people can get involved in some of the different aspects which now you have going in this organization.

00;38;55;24 - 00;39;29;03
Speaker 2
All right. Yeah. So yeah, again information is a way to share awareness and create awareness about oceans and marine life, especially to the animal community. Because for someone to really care about the ocean and marine life, they need to know what it is and to be able to have that sort of connection with it. And some of our initiatives that we are doing right at the moment are an online canvas curriculum for middle school, high school and our school where we basically have a bunch of materials of hands on activities.

00;39;29;10 - 00;40;03;12
Speaker 2
And we are also doing comics, which are sort of a fun way for kids to learn about issues affecting the ocean and how we can help. And then we have the Teacher Ambassador program, which is a way for teachers to empower students within their classrooms and communities to learn and create awareness about the ocean and marine life right now, we're also partnering with Kahoot Opportunities, which is a nonprofit in Honduras that specializes in afterschool programs for underprivileged communities there.

00;40;03;12 - 00;40;39;18
Speaker 2
And we're providing our educational materials and content translated into Spanish for them to use. And we're hoping to use that Spanish version to reach a much larger community. And then right now, at the moment, we're hoping to get back to more in-person activities, beach cleanups, in person presentations, and then have virtual reality programs, as I mentioned. And we are also partnering with hydrous again, recently to receive ocean education kits, which, have hands on projects.

00;40;39;18 - 00;41;05;08
Speaker 2
And a new update with the kids is that they are giving a cardboard viewer, where you can just put your phone in and it becomes sort of a virtual reality experience. And again, with those hands on projects that we can use in the classrooms. And then before I go into some ways you can help, I just want to thank all the volunteers that have helped along the journey, and the experts that are out there.

00;41;05;08 - 00;41;28;21
Speaker 2
So I want to thank you, Terry and Scott Mercer, for inviting me to be on this podcast and Leanne for hosting it. And then just some ways you can help make sustainable seafood choices. You can reduce the use of plastics, especially single use plastics, by taking that Young Ocean Common Sense Plastic pledge, which you can find on our website.

00;41;28;23 - 00;41;43;08
Speaker 2
You can also one thing we always say is always learn more about oceans and then share that knowledge with others. Friends, family, teachers to create more awareness about the oceans and marine life. And just thank you so.

00;41;43;11 - 00;42;15;09
Speaker 1
And I really like that you have the curriculum that you can share, that you're helping teachers with their programs to. You've covered this whole Latino Spanish program now, which in our community, we have a lot of Latinos, and you're doing so much along those lines, as well as using VR technology, virtual reality technology to comics, to presenting in classrooms to hands on being out, picking up trash in the ocean activities.

00;42;15;16 - 00;42;18;27
Speaker 1
You're covering a really wide range, right?

00;42;18;27 - 00;42;40;14
Speaker 3
Definitely. And and Ian, you also produce a monthly newsletter, which I find extremely interesting, informative, well-written articles. That's a newsletter I never miss. Yeah, I get a lot of them. I really do enjoy your monthly newsletters. Excellent job. Okay.

00;42;40;16 - 00;42;57;00
Speaker 2
And that's a lot of credit to our publishing team who work on the newsletters and sort of come up with these really fascinating topics and articles to publish into the insider. And we'll also be putting our comics in the newsletter coming up. Wonderful. We're also looking forward to that.

00;42;57;03 - 00;43;07;04
Speaker 1
Great. And you again, are going to be traveling. I guess the next time you'll be traveling is in October, or is it going to be the online that you're doing?

00;43;07;07 - 00;43;10;21
Speaker 2
I will be traveling to Canada for this, conference.

00;43;10;24 - 00;43;11;16
Speaker 1
Oh, good.

00;43;11;17 - 00;43;12;12
Speaker 2
Looking forward to that.

00;43;12;16 - 00;43;15;04
Speaker 1
Where in Canada is it?

00;43;15;06 - 00;43;21;00
Speaker 2
It's actually in Nova Scotia. So really close to, learning marinas. It's in.

00;43;21;00 - 00;43;23;11
Speaker 3
Halifax. Oh, nice. Yeah.

00;43;23;13 - 00;43;25;24
Speaker 4
Lafayette. Dalhousie University.

00;43;25;26 - 00;43;28;10
Speaker 2
I think it's at the convention center.

00;43;28;13 - 00;43;33;06
Speaker 4
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was wondering if Dalhousie ran that. Right. He's running the conference.

00;43;33;08 - 00;43;34;24
Speaker 1
He's not here at.

00;43;34;27 - 00;43;45;12
Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just curious. I heard that one of the biennials is run by Dalhousie and a couple of students there, and was held at that convention center. So I remember.

00;43;45;14 - 00;44;10;17
Speaker 1
We've been speaking with young Ian Bashir and I should say young adult, because he's now 14, is entering into ninth grade. We have with me my co-producers and co-hosts, Scott and Tre Mercer of Mindanao, a whale in seal study who met this young man at a conference years ago, so many years ago and now have brought him here to our show.

00;44;10;20 - 00;44;19;10
Speaker 1
And I just want to thank you again for joining us from Minnesota. And just a little bit about what it's like there in Minnesota. You've got a few seconds here.

00;44;19;12 - 00;44;44;19
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's really amazing here. And I feel like it gives a lot of opportunities to promote this awareness class. Not a lot of people know about the ocean and things like that here. So it's just really awesome here. And before we close, I just want to say thank you to again all the volunteers and experts in and rushing, and then thank you to Terry and Scott here for inviting me to be on this on the radio and podcast.

00;44;44;19 - 00;44;49;15
Speaker 2
And, thank you to land for hosting it. And I'm really grateful. Thank you.

00;44;49;16 - 00;44;56;06
Speaker 3
Been an honor to have you here, Ian. I mean, that, Just wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much.

00;44;56;06 - 00;45;04;16
Speaker 4
Yes, absolutely. And the movie reminding you about our symposium in October. Yes, yes. And being. And now you can do that again for Minnesota.

00;45;04;18 - 00;45;06;07
Speaker 2
Absolutely sure that.

00;45;06;10 - 00;45;10;14
Speaker 1
Yeah. And tell your parents. Thank you very much you guys.

00;45;10;15 - 00;45;12;22
Speaker 3
So best day you parents and your whole team.

00;45;12;22 - 00;45;22;07
Speaker 1
Their whole team, all the volunteers, everyone working for and for ocean. Thank you for listening today. This is resilient Earth radio I'm Leanne Lindsay. Bye bye.

00;45;22;11 - 00;45;22;28
Speaker 2
Bye bye.

00;45;22;29 - 00;45;24;03
Speaker 3
Thank you. Thank you.

00;45;24;06 - 00;45;33;01
Speaker 1
Good to see.

00;45;33;03 - 00;46;04;23
Speaker 1
Thanks for listening to Resilient Earth Radio, where we talk about critical issues facing our planet and the positive actions people are taking. I'm Leann Lindsay, producer and host, along with my co-producers and co-hosts Scott and Tree Mercer of The Mind and Emma Whale and Seal Study, produced in association with Planet Centric Media, C, Storm Studios and KGO 88.3 FM, a public radio station on the Northern California coast.

00;46;04;26 - 00;46;32;12
Speaker 1
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and wherever you get your podcasts. The music for the show is Castle by the sea, from international composer Eric Allman of the Sea Ranch in Sonoma County, California.