My friend Evan (and author the amazing blog: The Better Man Project) this past weekend told me – “You have salt water running through your veins.”

Although, yes is quite a witty comment, I also find a lot of truth behind the statement within myself. I live, breathe, love, care, and exist for the sea. There’s nothing that remotely comes close to the undying passion I have for the ocean and its inhibitors. The sea is so mysterious, important, beautiful, scary, and just an overall necessity for our existence on this planet. As I’m applying and interviewing for jobs for next year, all I think about is ‘how can this job help me achieve my dream?’ – then that comes up with the question – ‘what is Chanel’s dream?’ My dream is to start my own marine conservation non-profit, or at least help run one that is already intact doing AMAZING things for this planet. 

Educating the public about the numerous hardships our planet is facing each and every day is VERY important- especially because most of the problems are result of human action. An uninformed mind, is an uneducated mind. Unfortunately,  I feel as though our government in America doesn’t always have our best intentions when making decisions that affect us all. It was after watching multiple documentaries, and reading lots of papers, that I have come to the conclusion that large corporations will the death and destruction of our planet as a whole. EVERYTHING  they do is all about what makes them the most money with the least amount of money/effort. Our personal health and the health of this planet usually get put on the back burner while overall corporation prosperity and wealth take the lead.

We only have 1 Earth, 1 life to live, and 1 chance to leave it a better place than when we arrived. I feel it’s my job on this planet to leave it a better place for future generations. 

I wanted to share this video I found while blog browsing last night, as it truly touched my heart (causing me to shed a couple of tears).

Whales fascinate me. The blue whale (featured in this video) is the LARGEST animal to EVER live on this entire globe. It used to be every time I saw a whale in the wild, it would make me cry just a little to just be in the presence of such a beautiful majestic creature.  It pains me to think that whaling is still legal in some places, and illegally still occurring in others. When you take into account their intelligence, history, beauty, mysteriousness, and importance on our planet it’s hard for me to consider the killing of these creatures voluntarily.

I can understand if a whole tribe of people in New Zealand, or the Arctic has to kill whales to feed their whole community. They cherish the death of the whale by utilizing the whole body as much as possible. But for example the Japanese- they hunt whales with very inhumane practices which has led to much controversy expressed in the Discovery Channel Show Whale Wars. My mom was pushing me to apply to be on the show Whale Wars…but I had college degree to obtain, and I couldn’t see risking my life as an option while I’m so young.

You know what, I’d like to say that salt water really does run through my veins. I’d also love if I had gills too (which would totally be my superpower if I was granted one). I hope I can come back to this post 50 years from now, and smile because I accomplished my dream. You are in charge of your own destiny and future. I’M GOING FOR IT!