Dive Into Your Imagination

Lilly Tougas is an 8 year old on a mission to save the planet!  At such a young age she has already done more to protect the planet than most people accomplish in their whole lives, including traveling all the way to China to represent the U.S. in the “Green Olympics” in 2008!  This is one Cool Kid who is sure to inspire us all!

What inspired you to make protecting the planet such a big part of your life at such a young age?
I have had a passion for planet conservation since I was three years old.  I am always making sure to turn lights off, to save water, and always to recycle.  I even used to have a "message of the week" for the answering machine that would say something like, "we're not home, leave a message and don't forget to recycle!"

Learning that the planet was precious and we must take care of her means a lot to me. I got paint with the artist Wyland for ocean conservation, and when he gave me a medal to be a "Youth Ambassador of the Planet" I decided that it was my job to take action!

Elizabeth Garfinkle is our most recent cool kid, but with her internship at the Santa Barbra Museum of Natural History she sounds like she is already a cool scientist!  She is only a sophomore in high school but she already knows how to use a Scanning Electron Microscope and is writing her own scientific paper! 

What is it like to volunteer at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH)?  What is your favorite part of having this experience?
Volunteering at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is great.  Every time I go to work there is something or someone new and exciting for me to work with.  The biggest challenge is to make sure everything I do is absolutely correct because it eventually goes into the museum’s collections for display and research.  It is also great working with world-class invertebrate zoologists.  I get to meet their friends who are authors and researchers from all over the world, and also get invited to many scientist-only events.  Best of all I get the opportunity to work with the scientists and learn from them.

Emily Goldstein believes that every single person can make a difference in climate change!  She is a freshman at the University of Louisville where she is studying biology with a minor in ecology, and hopes to get her PhD in wildlife conservation in the future.  When she isn’t working hard at school Emily is busy saving the world!  In 2007 she was chosen as one of 16 teens from around the world to attend a leadership camp in the Arctic studying polar bears, and has since been busy inspiring others to help her on her quest to save them!

Tell us about your leadership camp in the Arctic! What kinds of things did you learn while you were there? 
It was such a privilege to be able to go to the leadership camp!  I met fifteen other teens from around the world that were all passionate about the bears and their ecosystem.  We spent ten days out on a tundra buggy lodge learning about the bears and how climate change is affecting them.  I went there already with a passion for the Arctic, but was amazed at how much I learned while I was there.  Polar Bears International brought in scientists and experts to teach us how to take our experience back to our community and try to educate people about what is happening.  We observed the bears and all of the animals there daily, taking notes and helping the scientists with research data.  I was able to see many bears, and many other Arctic animals, including Arctic hares, caribou, ptarmigans, Arctic fox, and even a lemming!  While I was there, I discovered that the issues that are affecting the Arctic now are soon going to be affecting every place on the planet.  It was an eye-opening experience.

Jacqueline Vandelaar is only six years old and is already one very cool kid!  Jacqueline is a kindergartner in Key Largo Florida where she spends lots of time swimming in the ocean, and even snorkeling with manatees!

Tell us about snorkeling!  How did you learn?  What was the experience like?
I actually learned to snorkel in Maui.  I practiced in the pool and got really good by trying to get quarters and dimes my parents threw in for me to find.  Trust me, I caught on fast that way. 
Then they took me out to the ocean and showed me how to hold onto a boogie board so I only had to worry about looking at all of the fun stuff in the water with my mask and snorkel on.  It was amazing.  Last year, I learned how to use the Sasy equipment here in Key Largo.  I especially love this because I get to use an air tank and a BCD.

How was your trip to the Channel Islands?
My trip to the Channel Islands was great, unforgettable, and will always stay with me. Every dive was uniquely significant and every dive seemed to be better and better. After my first time living on a boat, every aspect of diving and underwater videography has forever changed.

Conner is one of the coolest kids I know. He joined us for an underwater photo and film expedition off the coast of Southern California. We dived together for four days. Conner had never been on a boat overnight and LOVED the experience of waking up every morning at a dive site. The only trouble he sometimes had was wiggling into his wetsuit as the water temperature was around 68 degrees. We dived with sea lions, black sea bass, garibaldi, kelp forests plus so much more. If you know of any other cool kids we should interview, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Share the gift of the ocean today! Ocean animals are better than any cartoons! To view Conner's photos click here!

I just got back in the states, and it was a long journey! Filled with so many great experiences that I will never forget. Overall, it was a great way to see how all of the different countries and continents have such different waste disposal systems. Some good, some bad. Each country also showed me how different everybody lives in this relatively small world. If you go across a border from France to Spain, it feels like you in a different world. After all of that travelling it is definatly nice to be back in the states, but also I now realize how appreciative we should be. It's been great blogging, and i am truly thankful to have the opportunity to do so.