Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Announcing the first The Dive Bus INTERNATIONAL Clean Up event...


... and you're invited!
 
Greetings from sunny Curacao. We hope you're doing well and haven't gone too #coronacrazy yet...
 
Apologies for the lack of Blog posts for some time. We’ve been lucky enough to be keeping fairly busy with building and implementing COVID-19 considerations, shore diving adventures and fun PADI dive courses and heaps of #seriouslyfun stuff on social media. 
 
We've also been working on some fun ways to keep you diving - even if you can’t get wet - coming up soon, so watch this space.
 
And, of course, there was the recent, fun and awesome Dive Bus Special Summer Community Clean Up.  Here's how that went:
 
 
If you don't see a video above please click here ðŸ˜Š

We were blown away by how many Dive Bus divers got in touch wishing us good luck for the Special Summer Clean Up - and wishing they were able to be here and join in. We really appreciated your support and messages, it meant a lot to all of us, thank you. 
 
And you got us thinking about if or how we could enable Dive Bus divers everywhere to be able to join our next one, as it coincides with this year's World Clean Up Day and AWARE Week.
  
So please consider yourself officially invited to join in and be a part of:
 
The first ever Dive Bus INTERNATIONAL Clean Up!
 

Starting on World Clean Up Day and running until the last day of AWARE Week, the first ever Dive Bus International Clean Up is a fun way for you Dive Bus divers (and your non-diving buddies, family and / or work colleagues) to join in, make a difference and become a Torch Bearer for our oceans. 
 
Wherever you live.
 
World Oceans Day is specifically focused on achieving the United Nations SDG Goal 14 -  one that's close to our hearts and yours, that so many of you have helped achieve on, what became our monthly Project AWARE Adopt a Dive Site clean ups for 15 years (can you believe it?!). 
 
By joining in the first Dive Bus International Clean Up Event, you’ll be supporting both of these important organizations in reaching their goals.

Without even getting wet (unless you choose to).

And you get to choose what, where, when and with who, you want to do it.

Because you, your family, friends, neighbors, pets, colleagues and maybe even random strangers, are hereby officially invited to be part of the first EVER Dive Bus International Clean Up Event. 
 
 "What, when and where the heck is The Dive Bus INTERNATIONAL Clean Up Event?"

You get to decide.

Pick an area nearby that you're familiar, with that needs your help to clean it up. Somewhere you can easily follow social distancing and other COVID-19 safety precautions, relating to social distancing, hygiene and handling trash. 

Like the ocean or other body of water that’s safe to dive. 

Or a dry / land clean up, somewhere near to a body of water - a beach, river, lake or canal bank - where trash can easily end up. 

Or if you don't live near a body of water, then woodlands, fields and / or other areas of natural beauty would work just fine. Or your own street or local grocery store parking lot.

This short, sweet Project AWARE Journey of Trash video may help you choose your ideal clean up location, explaining how and why every piece of trash that you remove and dispose of properly, is a piece of trash you won't meet on your next ocean dive adventures:

 

Once you've decided on a location, arrange your own Clean Up event and become one of the teams of Dive Bussers cleaning up around the World on the same weekend. Remote but connected. Working together - apart. 

"How do I arrange a Clean Up event??"

Wherever you choose to clean up, the main consideration is ensuring that you and your buddies stay safe and follow local COVID-19 advisories while cleaning up. It’s easy to get engrossed in clearing away the trash and lose focus on important safety measures. Like wearing gloves, as trash can be sharp - and sometimes, yucky.

It's easy to set up your own a Clean Up event. The challenge comes in planning it, doing it and measuring your success. Safely - and without doing more harm than good. Smart planning and prep is the difference between your event being a huge success and a whole bunch of fun - or not. 

And that's what makes planning part of the fun! 

So if you're interested in planning, finding out about and / or taking part in a Dive Bus International Clean Up event that another Dive Busser is arranging near you, we've set up a special facebook group for like-minded* divers who care about our oceans and our reefs, too.

(* slightly bonkers / #seriouslyfun)

Within the facebook group, we'll be posting tips and info on how to set up, run and report on your Clean Up success, and sharing tools you'll need for sorting, measuring and reporting the trash you remove on the Project AWARE Dive Against Debris database. 

And you can meet and message us and the other folks taking part - potential new, like-minded dive buddies for to meet on your next Dive Bus Curacao vacation 😎. 

Sound like fun? See you in the special facebook group!


Join in the first Digital World Clean Up Day, too

If The Dive Bus International Clean Up doesn’t sound like your kind of thing? Or 'Heck yeah it 's my thing!' and you need something else to do in front of the tv, in your favourite chair, check out and take part in the Digital World Clean Up Day too.

Most of us are guilty of having a bunch of trash stored on our smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs and even servers, taking up storage space. 

The carbon footprint of the internet and the systems supporting it, account for about 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions. That's similar to the amount produced globally by the airline industry. Studies estimate that in a decade, the internet network will produce 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. 

Spending an evening with a glass or wine or a beer in front of the tv, deleting old or unused files, apps, photos and videos, can extend the life of your devices and save a huge amount of CO2 emissions.

Suzy started this a few weeks ago while researching this Blog post - and has deleted gazillions of ancient files from her phone and laptop. Many of which she didn't even know were there. Having now, single-handedly significantly reduced the world's impact on carbon emissions, she'll be doing digital clean ups a lot more frequently from now on. 

Try it, it's hugely rewarding!

Looking forward to seeing you in the facebook group and getting the first ever Dive Bus INTERNATIONAL Clean Event goin' ON!