Dons Net Café Hosts Ocean Conservation Event

Dons Net Café Hosts Ocean Conservation Event

Healing Oceans Together (HOT) Day at Leadbetter Beach will focus on educating about the effects of pollution

Republished from Noozhawk.com, by Wendy Shelton | Published on 05.27.200

Santa Barbara High School’s Dons Net Café, a Regional Occupational Program class of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, is hosting Healing Oceans Together (HOT) Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 7 at Leadbetter Beach.

The event will focus on educating the community about the effects pollution has on the environment and oceans.

Activities for all ages will provide educational resources concerning the correct way to recycle materials.

The program will supportProject Kaisei’s research vessels on expeditions from San Francisco to Hawaii.

“Solving a problem starts with knowing that you have one,” said Sylvia Earle, “Explorer-in-Residence” at National Geographic’s Mission Programs. “Project Kaisei vividly shows how discarded plastics are clogging the ocean, causing a major problem for the planet’s vital ‘blue heart,’ entangling marine life and insidiously killing as it accumulates in the food chain, from tiny plankton to great whales.”

Best of all, the mission creates hope by providing ideas for positive action, she said.

Project Kaisei was recently named one of less than 10 global Climate Heroes by the United Nations’ Environment Program, projected to capture ocean plastics and detoxify and recycle it into diesel fuel. The team will be going on a 70-day mission to study and test results.

Donations will be accepted to help cover the cost of organizing the HOT Day event, with the remaining proceeds donated to benefit the Dons Net Cafe and Project Kaisei equally. A sign-up sheet will be available for those who wish to donate and are interested in preserving the oceans.

For more information, contact Lee-Ann Knodel at sbdons@hotmail.com or 805.963.8597 or Andrea Neal at andrea@nealenterprises.com or 626.808.8737.

— Wendy Shelton represents the Santa Barbara County Education Office.ta Barbara