Open Water Diver & Dive Against Debris eLearning Bundle
Advanced Open Water & Enriched Air eLearning Bundle
Emergency First Response
FREE – Introduction to Scuba Diving Online
Marine Debris
Shark & Ray Protection
Adopt The Blue
AWARE Week
Create ocean change 14 – 22 September 2024
Your Participation this AWARE Week Will Turn the Tide on Plastics
As the global community of divers and Ocean Torchbearers™, we’re joining forces for the 7th Annual AWARE Week, 14-22 September 2024, to tackle the marine debris crisis. PADI AWARE Foundation is the only organization representing divers and the dive industry at the international policy table, and your participation will help turn the tide on plastics. This year we encourage you to lead or host Dive Against Debris® events and other conservation activities, teach PADI AWARE® courses to educate your divers about key threats facing the marine environment and how they can positively impact ocean health, and help us rally 10,000 signatures for the Global Plastics Petition.
Take Action This AWARE Week
The power of PADI AWARE lies in you – passionate PADI Professionals with first-hand experience of the ocean and a desire to protect it. Here’s how you can take local action for global impact this AWARE Week – and beyond.
Teach the Dive Against Debris Specialty Course
Dive Against Debris is not just a PADI AWARE specialty course; it’s also a powerful citizen science program that provides tools to remove debris from dive sites and gather crucial survey data to forward essential conservation measures to help rid the ocean of marine debris.
As of 1 July 2024, All PADI Assistant Instructors and higher are now automatically eligible to teach the Dive Against Debris Specialty. Learn how to activate this new PADI AWARE Member Benefit here.
Through this course, your divers can participate in regular Dive Against Debris surveys and become part of the solution. You can now offer the Dive Against Debris Specialty as a digital product to your customers and as an easy add-on to your PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses.
Make Every Dive a Survey Dive
Whenever you dive, you can submit your data and that of your divers to the Dive Against Debris program to support PADI AWARE Foundation’s policy work to create a standardized global monitoring solution for marine debris. To do so, quality data is required. And as divers, we have the skills to gather data that no other community can. By acting as citizen scientists, our data is instrumental in achieving the protection our ocean and its inhabitants need.
Host AWARE Week Dive Against Debris Events
One of the easiest ways to get involved in AWARE Week is to host a Dive Against Debris event or other conservation activity. Engage students in your local conservation efforts such as a community-wide Dive Against Debris event that invites everyone in to help at or below the surface or a workshop that highlights the primary issues affecting your local marine ecosystem and ways to help.
Divers can also find your AWARE Week event and conservation activities through your listings on the Conservation Activities Locator. Log in to the Extranet to register your event now. It’s easy! Simply create a Conservation Activity and tag as an “AWARE Week” Special Event.
Support the Petition for a Strong Global Plastics Treaty
The Global Plastics Treaty represents a unique and crucial opportunity for a worldwide coordinated initiative to effectively resolve the ongoing plastic pollution crisis at all stages of the life span of plastics. PADI AWARE Foundation has taken an active role in the global treaty negotiations – and they need your voice. Your support will help ensure that:
- The rate at which plastic waste enters the ocean is substantially decreased
- Avoidable plastic products that commonly enter the ocean are eliminated
- Governments recognize that the diving community is critical in tracking the impact of the treaty.
Sign our petition demanding a strong Global Plastics Treaty that tackles the marine debris crisis. Help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures during AWARE Week by rallying your community to sign too.
AWARE Week Marketing Toolkit – COMING SOON
Check your official PADI Pros marketing hub to access marketing tools to promote your conservation efforts.
Share Your Stories & Events
The PADI AWARE community chooses to be ocean optimists. Together, our actions – big or small – can and do inspire and empower others all over the globe to join our mission to save the ocean.
Tag @paditv and @padiaware on your social media stories and posts and use the following hashtags to tell us your AWARE Week stories. You might even be featured in our social media posts and celebratory photo albums!
#AWAREWeek #SaveTheOcean #DiveAgainstDebris #AdoptTheBlue #LocalActionGlobalImpact #EveryDiveaSurveyDive
As a PADI Dive Professional, you are already a leader of the Ocean Torchbearer™ Community. By signing yourself and your dive center up to the Ocean Torchbearer database, you are choosing to become a Mission Hub and stay engaged with current conservation actions that you and your divers can take to save the ocean.
Whatever your conservation experience, your leadership counts and you can make a difference. Join us today to magnify the dive community's collective conservation power, and get ready to be called upon to lead action for meaningful change.
Click on any of the PADI Torchbearers below to learn more about their story.
Host an AWARE Week Event
Add your Dive Against Debris surveys and events, conservation courses, and activities to the Conservation Activities Locator for divers to find and book!