[Coral-List] Dive In To Earth Day 2006 press release

[Flo Depondt]

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 3rd, 2005
Contact: Florence Depondt, The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL)
Phone: (415) 834-0900 ext.313
Email: divein at coral.org

*** Photos and Promotional Materials Available ***

EARTH DAY TO SEE COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE TAKE A STAND IN PROTECTING 
DELICATE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
Thousands get ready to participate in Dive In To Earth Day 2006 
celebrations and make a difference

San Francisco, CA – What comes to mind when you think of Earth Day?  
Most envision planting trees, picking up garbage in local parks, and 
children creating colorful arts and crafts to learn about the Earth’s 
ecosystem. Since it’s establishment in 2000, Dive In To Earth Day has 
been broadening people’s knowledge of Earth Day to include the 
education and conservation of our planet’s aquatic ecosystems. It has 
given communities an opportunity to voice their concern of the rapid 
degradation of their local aquatic environment and an opportunity to 
reverse this trend by organizing hands-on, educational conservation 
events such as underwater cleanups, reef restoration projects and 
snorkel tours for kids, among others.

“Dive In the Earth is an incredible program that will not only foster a 
better understanding of our beautiful and delicate underwater world,” 
explains Host Committee member and World Champion Freediver Tanya 
Streeter, “but it also brings communities together for a necessary and 
essential cause.  With the efforts of Dive In and the thousands of 
incredible participants, more light is being shed on the urgent need to 
protect this vast and threatened world.”

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) launched Dive In To Earth Day in 2000 
to remind Earth Day celebrants that the 72 percent of the planet 
covered by water requires urgent attention. Dive In has become a huge 
driving force for environmental awareness and now generates 24% of all 
registered international Earth Day activities, engaging communities in 
over 103 countries and territories.  The number of participants has 
grown exponentially from 5,000 in 2000 to a staggering 75,000 in 2005 
with more getting involved with the realization that Dive In is having 
a positive and long lasting of impact on aquatic ecosystems worldwide.

According to Brian Huse, Executive Director of CORAL,“Coral reefs 
support over a quarter of all known marine species in over 100 
different countries. And as an integral part of one of the most complex 
ecosystems on the planet, the underwater environment requires worldwide 
education and active conservation.  Dive In the Earth is, and will 
continue to try and achieve that exact goal.”

Dive In To Earth Day is celebrated annually throughout the world by 
environmentally conscious dive clubs, local schools and community 
groups, among others. Whether organizing beach cleanups along the 
Californian coast in the USA, educational activities for children in 
Sweden, reef surveys in Mexico and underwater cleanups in Thailand, 
Dive In organizers instilled greater positive environmental awareness 
on their community and motivated hundreds of thousands of participants 
to become more involved with conservation on a daily basis. “The most 
rewarding aspect of organizing a Dive In To Earth Day activity is the 
spreading of the environmental message by educating the people of what 
our irresponsible actions lead to and how to act responsibly to prevent 
various forms of pollution even before they occur” said Venkatesh 
Charloo of Barracuda Diving India who organized an underwater cleanup 
at Grande Island, Goa. “The participants learn and absorb valuable info 
and leave with a sense of having done something socially responsible as 
a community based effort.”



The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is a non-profit coral reef conservation 
organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. The Coral Reef 
Alliance is a member supported non-profit organization dedicated to 
protecting the health of coral reefs by integrating ecosystem 
management, sustainable tourism and community partnerships. CORAL 
coordinates Dive In To Earth Day in partnership with Project AWARE 
Foundation (www.projectaware.org) and with the support of West Marine, 
Earth Day Network and the International Coral Reef Action Network 
(ICRAN).
For more information on Dive In To Earth Day, please visit: 
http://www.coral.org/divein

# # #

--------
Florence Depondt
Program Coordinator
The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL)

417 Montgomery Street, Suite 205
San Francisco, California, USA 94104
Phone: 415-834-0900 ext.313
Fax: 415-834-0999
Email: fdepondt at coral.org
Web site:  http://www.coral.org/divein
--------
Have you signed the Dive In Pledge yet?  Show that you care about coral 
reefs.  http://www.coral.org/diveinpledge.html

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) coordinates Dive In To Earth Day in 
partnership with Project AWARE Foundation, and with the support of West 
Marine, Air Pacific, Earth Day Network and the International Coral Reef 
Action Network (ICRAN).

Need information on how to better protect coral reefs of your region?
Share success stories or post inquiries on the CORAL Discussion Board.
http://www.coral.org/cdb