VOLVO OCEAN LOVERS FESTIVAL - AUGUST NEWSLETTER |
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Hi there Ocean Lovers, we have new festival dates! With the support of Volvo, Waverley Council and our many partners and supporters we have made the decision to move the festival dates out of COVID’s way and have a new home from March 10 to 13, 2022. We look forward to bringing you the same exciting program of entertainment and Science in your Swimmers back on Bondi Beach. |
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Hope On The Horizon A touch of early spring in the air might see you ducking into the ocean for some lockdown levity right now. One of our stated festival goals is to create a sense of community and hope for the ocean. Times seem a bit bleak right now, but Hope is a powerful vision leading to the future. So, we were dwelling on that vision. We have smart scientists sharing solutions, eco entrepreneurs leading the way with outstanding innovations and conscious consumers taking actions and decisions to drive a more sustainable future. Some of the characteristics of being hopeful include cultivating optimism, enhancing your perception of control, building problem-solving abilities and overcoming negativity. All great attributes for these testing times. We actually have heaps of hope to share. Take time for a read here, about the incredible Sydney Institute of Marine Science projects we will showcase at Bondi Icebergs. It’s Australian innovation heading around the globe to help the ocean. And you can tune into their Science Week podcasts here. | | |
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Special Offer For Ocean Lovers Plastic Free and Dry July are over but you can keep supporting a plastic free ocean with wine. Top up your cellar supplies during the COVID lockdown with free delivery of The Hidden Sea’s wine and support cleaning up the ocean with every bottle you buy. As a bonus offer to our followers you can get 20% off a 6-pack case of wine by ordering on their website and use the code VOLVOOCEANLOVERS. The Hidden Sea is a wine brand with a strong purpose – and they have partnered the Festival. For every bottle of The Hidden Sea purchased, in partnership with ReSea Project, they will remove and recycle the equivalent of 10, 500ml plastic bottles from our ocean. Since July 2020 they have funded the removal and recycle of over 3 million plastic bottles from the ocean. Their bold goal is to remove and recycle 1 billion plastic bottles from the ocean by 2030. Cheers to that! | | |
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Share Your Song For The Seas Our Ode to the Ocean Competition is back! We are on the lookout for budding ocean friendly artists with a chance to get on-stage to share and perform your song at our Festival. Entries are now open to groups and individuals, as well as schools, to submit an original song. The competition is for all-ages entry and there will be prizes for the finalists as well as an invite to perform at the Festival on March 13th next year on the solar powered Sunshine Stage at the Festival Hub beside Bondi Beach. For some great inspiration check out last year’s winner Sadie Musto aka ‘Girl on the Hill’ with Shimmering Blue which she re mastered and launched here on bandcamp to great feedback. Wishing her luck in lockdown for HSC. | | |
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Meet The Scientists Dr. Olaf Meynecke is one of our festival presenting scientists and a marine biologist studying marine megafauna – the big beasts of the seas - like whales. He is running research programs to help improve whale health and analyse impacts on them from climate driven changing ocean conditions. With his passion to educate and engage the public he has established Humpback & High Rises which brings some citizen science to whale watching and also celebrates with a Gold Coast Whale Festival. For those who can travel – make a date for August 28th - there is every chance the whales will visit too. | | |
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Litterarty Extended With current lockdown extended and new festival dates we are giving our Litterarty student entrants more time to create their amazing artworks until the end of this school year. Plus our partner COOL Australia are supporting teachers with an offer of Free Teacher Professional Development Courses. Get in touch if you want to know more. One of the artists who contributed to the overall 2020 winning artwork called ‘Straws No More For A Happy Future’ was Year 4 St Catherine’s student Cleo Nelson. “Litterarty was a very fun experience because we got to think outside the box and save creatures and promote sea turtle wellbeing by creating a fishmeran’s net using old straws from the canteen,” she said. The schools has stopped using straws to protect the ocean so art was a perfect recycling outcome. There is plenty of time to get students involved in some inspiring creativity for the ocean. IMAGE - Pre-School Students from Kincoppal Rose Bay working on their 2021 entry. | | |
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The Ocean Impact Pitchfest Our friends at Ocean Impact are running their second Ocean Impact Pitchfest. If you’re a startup or entrepreneur working to improve the health of the ocean then this is for you! The Ocean Impact Pitchfest aims to find, support and accelerate startups and innovations that are transforming the health of the ocean. With $150,000 in cash prizes and an additional $150,000 of products and in-kind support to help accelerate the Winners and Finalists this is an opportunity not to be missed! See here for all the information about this year’s Pitchfest including the $50,000 cash prize for the Winner and the #HPGenerationImpact Incubator for a young (35 and under) Australian innovator. Applications are open now and close on 21st September 2021. | | |
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Ocean Legend Joins Us Ocean loving legend Lisa Blair is joining our Ambassador line-up. Lisa is an adventurer, speaker, author and sailor who holds multi-world records including the first woman to solo circumnavigate Antarctica, the subject of her book Facing Fear, and an incredible journey she spoke about at our first festival in 2019. She also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest solo, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of Australia and was the first women to do so. As a trailblazing explorer, she has been awarded the Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure winner. Lisa is a fierce supporter of climate action with her boat aptly named ‘Climate Action Now’. She is currently preparing to take on her second attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica later this year and will be completing citizen science by taking ocean health readings and microplastic samples as she sails around the Southern Ocean. Her vessel is emblazoned with stickers from the public with their promises on climate action. Jump on her website to show your support and you can even sponsor a degree of her trip for 100% tax deductible donation. |
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To Watch Mission Blue - Sylvia Earle On Netflix Now! MISSION BLUE is a documentary about legendary oceanographer, marine biologist, environmentalist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle , and her campaign to create a global network of protected marine sanctuaries. Sylvia Earle is a friend of our festival and in 2009 founded an NFP of the same name, Mission Blue. Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to inspire an upwelling of public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas – Hope Spots. Their team implements communication campaigns that elevate Hope Spots to the world stage through documentaries, social media, traditional media and innovative tools. In 2019 Ocean Lovers Festival championed and secured a Hope Spot for the Sydney Coast region including the famous Sydney Harbour. This feature documentary is an eye-opening wake-up call to save the ocean. The film also sheds light on Sylvia’s remarkable personal story and professional journey, from her earliest memories exploring the ocean as a young girl to her days leading daring undersea missions, offering insight on the sacrifices, difficulties and tough choices she faced along the way. As a witness to oceanic and marine life change over the past 60 years, Sylvia is a steadfast warrior, leading the charge to restore the ocean to health before it’s too late. |
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