Sylvia Earle and Drew Richardson encourage Dive Community to be a Force for Good

Dr. Drew Richardson, PADI® Worldwide President and CEO, and Dr. Sylvia Earle, legendary oceanographer and President and Chairman of Mission Blue™, joined together at DEMA Show 2017 to discuss the critical role divers play in ocean conservation.

“Change comes when people care, and there are no better messengers to communicate the beauty and fragility of the ocean than divers who have a direct, emotional connection to the ocean,” says Earle.

Recognizing that the dive community has tremendous influence on the ocean conservation movement, PADI and Mission Blue formalized a partnership in June 2017. The partnership’s focus is to ignite support for marine areas in a network of locations targeted for enhanced protection. Together, PADI and Mission Blue aim to empower all divers to make a tangible impact during and after their dives by collecting and broadcasting their observations, scientific and otherwise, as well as connect them to local conservation efforts and best practices.

“We don’t get to live in an ideal world, we live in this one,” says Richardson. “Training one million new divers each year across the planet, PADI has the reach and influence to mobilize divers to be citizen activists. The diving community can be a powerful change agent that can engage in strategic alliances, have a strong voice and get involved in real solutions to mitigate the problems that threaten our ocean planet.”

Throughout its history, PADI has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to environmental conservation through its course offerings and alignment with organizations such as the Project AWARE® Foundation, to protect and preserve the planet. At last year’s DEMA Show, PADI announced its Pillars of Change social and environmental responsibility initiative. Devised to elevate the PADI mission to be best in and for the world, the Pillars help connect the PADI community to ocean causes they care about. The Pillars of Change focus on building awareness of important issues affecting ocean health, strengthening dive communities and forming global alliances that will engage and mobilize PADI Dive Centers, Resorts, dive professionals and divers to be a force for good.

To learn more about how you can get involved, visit www.padi.com/forceforgood.