Our oceans matter, that's why we've recently teamed up with Australian non-profit organisation Clear Tides to help protect and conserve our oceans through the launch of our new charity tees here. Covering over 71% of the Earth’s surface, our oceans are home to an abundance of marine species, all of which are at risk due to pollution, climate change and human impacts. Clear Tides is dedicated to educating society on how to reduce human impact on our environment, as well as advocating for habitat protection and the restoration of ocean abundance.
This week, we were fortunate enough to sit down with marine biologist, full-time ocean lover and Founder of Clear Tides, Jessica Brading on her vision and goals for improving our oceans.
What inspired you to start Clear Tides and why?
I have always loved the ocean and it was a dream job of mine since I was a little girl to be a marine biologist, so during the final year of my marine biology degree I realised that there were so many issues in our oceans that were unknown to the general public. With so many problems and so many scientists throwing around big terms and length research papers I realised there wasn’t a link between the general public and the science! So I wanted to create a organisation that just made it accessible and provided information to everyone so they could be fully educated on the problems faced by the ocean!
I also realised there was a massive disassociation between the horrific images we see on tv etc and how we act. So I wanted to educate people on the reality, that this is happening in OUR oceans and give them active solutions on how they can help. The ocean has always inspired me, it’s beauty always caught my attention so when I was educated on the problems I wanted to share them and help people take a stand.
What are some of Clear Tides' missions or goals for 2019?
2019 is going to be a bit of a different year for us! I’ve recently moved to Hawaii for a year to work on a sail boat as well as do some shark research so our goals are a bit up in the air with me being so far away. I would love to get clear tides running in Hawaii and run a few beach cleans over here and we are also going to keep running events in Sydney too so we are expanding our team and I’ve got some awesome volunteers taking control of some things!
As for school talks, our goal was to increase those this year as they are so influential for the kids but with me being away we aren’t sure how that will pan out!
Basically this year is our year for networking, continuing to expand and just inspire and educate people :)
What are some of your favourite initiatives that Clear Tides has undertaken?
My ultimate favourite would be the school talk we did! It was a trial day consisting of 8 x school talks at a local school for years 5 and 6 and it was such a success we can’t wait to do them more regularly!
The kids are the future so we believe it’s so important to educate them on the reality of the oceans condition and inspire them and their friends to take action. It was so amazing to see how mind blown some of the kids were about some of the statistics and then we worked together to come up with solutions on how we could fix it individually in our everyday life.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to make a conscious effort to protecting our oceans and supporting the cause?
The first most important thing you can do is reduce your plastic usage! Start with straws, water bottles and plastic bags and then week by week be more conscious of how much waste you are producing and think of solutions as to how you could reduce this. Secondly, eating susutainably caught fish is essential! And lastly, get talking! Talk to your friends and family about how you want to improve your lifestyle behaviours and inspire them to do so to! Talking about the issues faced by our oceans and creating solutions together is the #1 way to start a movement.
What are some other ways that we can help?
Sharing our website, Facebook and Instagram really helps us spread our message in the best way possible! Also attend as many local events as you can - beach cleans, documentaries, whatever is is, support your local community in trying to do good for our environment.
with $5.00 AUD from every purchase will go towards Clear Tides' mission.
