GCRA
OVERVIEW
FAQ
NEWS
ARTICLES
PHOTOS
REEF ISSUES
RESTORATION
PAPERS
LINKS
|
|
|
|
Children Volunteer to Help Save the World's Reefs The following is an unedited letter from a child in Washington State who volunteered to help GCRA save coral reefs. Shan and Dalia raised $55.91. Thanks. Dear Dr. Goreau, My name is Shan Aladin. I am 6 1/2 years old, and I live in Bellevue, Washington. My mother took me to see "Into the Deep" (IMAX) a few months ago. After seeing this film, and reading some books on the subject, I feel very sad about the coral reefs. I don't want the coral reefs to die, and want to help save them. Tomorrow, I will be setting-up a lemonade stand on my driveway. My little sister and I have made signs and artwork that describe the coral reef situation. The lemonade is free, but I will ask people to make a donation to help save the coral reefs. I want to send the money I earn to you. Maybe it can help one of your divers or scientists do more research. I hope this helps. Love, Shan
Dear Shan, Thanks for your heart-warming letter and congratulations on your efforts to help coral reefs! We wish adults, especially divers, cared as much as you do! We will be glad to post your letter on our web site, a photograph of you and your sister at your Save the Reefs Lemonade Stand, and copies of the artwork and materials you present. We have a children's program that provides masks and snorkels and fins to Kuna Indian children in Panama so they can learn about the reefs around them. The idea was first developed by my daughter, Marina, when she was 6 years old. You can see more about this at: http://globalcoral.org/Childrens%20Program%20Panama.pdf What we do that nobody else does is to restore coral reefs using our Biorock method, which makes corals grow 3-5 times faster, heal more than 20 times faster, survive high temperatures 16-50 times more, builds up huge fish populations, and turn eroding beaches into growing ones using power from the sun or tidal currents. Our method is the only one that can keep corals alive where they would die, and restore whole reefs in a few years in places where they can't recover naturally. There are many articles and photos on our web site. The best and most recent article is in the current issue of Asian Geographic Magazine, and you can find it at: http://globalcoral.org/Asian%20Geographic%20Biorock%20Article.pdf Amazing as our results are, we have never yet had any funding from governments or large funding agencies, because they still don't seem to realize that all reefs we look at are damaged, and without restoration we will have very little left soon as global warming, pollution, and new diseases increase. So small private donations are our only source of support. Thanks for your help! Dr. Thomas J. Goreau Hi, Tom -- |
|
