Hold Your Breath! TEDx Ted Talk with Tanya Streeter

Watch, be amazed and inspired.  This is Tanya Streeter.  She's a world champion free diver.  Meaning, she takes a deep breath, holds it and then dives into the ocean.  In 2002, she dived to 525 feet.  Consider that for a minute...  I mean really let that sink in.  525 feet is DEEP!  The tallest structure in the San Fernando Valley (where I currently reside) is Universal City Plaza.  It's 506 feet tall.   That means if she was an extra 19 feet past the tallest building in "The Valley."

How else can we put this into perspective?  A football field is 100 yards or 300 feet.  525 feet is 1.75 football fields under water.

Never mind the actual pressure being applied to the body from the weight of the water, just try holding your breath for 6 minutes.  In fact, try that now...  see how far you get!  Try half that!

"OH!"  You say to yourself, "I SEE WHERE HE'S GOING!"

Take a moment to just appreciate how valuable your breath truly is...

Got it?

Good.

Now what?  Well, now I'm going to go OT for a second, but not really.  OT means "off topic" for those of you who needed to know that!

If you're not aware, ocean pollution is a big problem staring us in the face and it goes much deeper than just looking bad on the beach.  Ocean pollution and more specifically, plastic is doing immense damage to wildlife and the ocean.  Consider the fish who eat this stuff, then we eat the fish.  Plastic is not fit for human or animal consumption (no-duh Dave!)

The ocean to me is where I connect with God.  It is vast, magnificent, powerful, serine, beautiful and alive.  I love the ocean.  Ever since I was a kid.  I remember running along the shore, it felt like flying. 

Scientifically speaking, the ocean is where life began.  Life on this planet began in the sea and we evolved from it.  The ocean is our mother and the mother of all living things here on Earth.  Would you treat your mother this way?  Hoarders on A&E excluded, would you allow your house to become a giant pool of plastic and trash?

In the above video, Tanya will also talk about a documentary (Plastic Oceans) being done on the damage plastic has and is doing to our ocean.  Keep in mind, I'm not about to go off on some ban plastic trip, that would be too simple.  What I will say is that it is a problem.  A big problem.  But a problem should always be looked at as an opportunity.  This film will clearly show that there is a problem (opportunity) and what I've seen is heart breaking.

So, I'll end this message with 3 points and ask you to take a look at Plastic Oceans and raise your awareness just a bit...

1. Respect your breath.
2. Honor Mother Earth and do your part (recycle, don't litter - think cigarette butt out the window - then think that if you didn't smoke you would have to worry about what to do with your butt - cigarette that is...)
3. Look for opportunities to reduce your personal consumption of disposable plastic.