Whenever I met people from the conservation organisation and I told them that I am interested in what they do, they always ask me whether I am from the media or representing another organisation or if I am a student / researcher. And of course, my answer is "No" - then they would give me a puzzled look as if wondering if I'm not part of any of those categories then why I would be interested in conservation work.
Ermm. Uhm. Haha.
Then I come to explain that I am just a concerned diver that wants to help if whatever ways I can and that’s true. I don’t work in media so I would not be able to make a news coverage that can be read or watched by many people, I don’t work in other conservation / social organisation that I can offer any mutual agreement to work together, I am not a researcher or a student in any way so I would not be able to give my mind or help in the scientific field or publishing any study paper to support the conservation work.
Maybe, in a greater scale, I am no use for them.
So what can I offer? My time and my support.
If you need someone to work with you on doing something, here I am. As a volunteer, as a donation supporter, as whatever I can do to help and support with what I have and able to do.
Apart from that,
I start from my own habit, trying to reduce the waste of plastic bottles by bringing my own refillable drinking bottle, switching from using plastic straws into stainless / bamboo straws or no straws at all and bringing my own utensils to use rather than plastic spoons. Not an easy transition, for sure, but worth it. As a diver, I also promoting good diving practice that is ocean friendly.
It might be a small act and you might start to wonder, “What kind of impact can a single person do?”- Well, I believe the small act will intrigue people and spark a conversation. They would start to ask why I do that and then I can explain why. If they buy what I'm telling them then maybe they will get interested in doing the same with a possibility, they will tell other people too. That could start a chain reaction right? We will never know, but I believe that an effort no matter how small it is can bring an impact in some way.
I also talk a lot about conservation issue with people that I know.
A girl from church called me “Shark Girl” because I was campaigning to stop consuming shark’s fin, some fellow divers even called me an “Environment Fighter” because I always scold them whenever I saw them poking the sea creatures, a colleague decided to stop consuming shark’s meat and telling her family to do the same after I told her the facts of consuming shark's meat, another colleague encourage me to establish a coral conservation foundation and people, whenever they find interesting articles, movies or anything about ocean and conservation, they would tell me about it and in a way, making them aware of the issue as well.
Those might be small things, but everything big starts small.
Some people think of conservation as something big to work on it alone, but from what I know, everyone starts small. It starts when we care then we do something about it starting from what we can. All the organisation or community that take part in conservation work starts from small then with persistence and a lot of hard work, they make their voice heard to a greater audience and from there they get people to help them with their conservation work.
No effort is too small or too insignificant when it comes to standing and fighting for a cause. Everything that we do out of care, out of our passion, out of our heart will never go in vain. At times, we might find that it's not working, but it doesn't mean that we fail, it's just that we need to learn more, we need to change the way we do things and find something that can work better and effectively.
Conservation is a lot of work that requires everyone's participation, not everyone cares and not everyone gets it. I get through that too. I get through the time where people mock me or tease me, I get through the time where I want to do something but I don't know where to start and how to start, I get through the time where I am frustrated because it seems like no one else around me understand. So, I start from what I can, talking about it and let people know and suddenly I am surrounded by people who care about the same cause. Then I got the chance to be involved in some organisations / communities that have conservation work going on, that’s my happy moment.
Of course I still have a long way to go, a lot of things to learn about conservation and I won’t stop doing what I can, I believe that eventually people would start to understand and start to care.
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