How deep do you dive to pledge to fight marine pollution and global warming?
Just after rahu kalam passed on Monday morning, five Chief executive officers swam 150 metres away from Grove Beach in Kovalam, dove five metres, sat on steel chairs around a U-shaped steel table and pledged to protect ocean and marine life. It took all off 35 minutes from the start to finish.
When they surfaced, they reported it had not been a pretty sight underwater. They had not spotted corals or fish, only plastic bottles, even jackfruit.
Five Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) participated in the first ever underwater conference of CEOs to draw attention of twin environmental challenges of marine pollution and global warming.
Hand gestures
Each of the CEOs had diving specialists at hand to help them. All communication was through hand gestures.
“It was an amazing experience. I was bit nervous as it my first foray underneath the sea. The sea was rough. The team made it possible. I spotted plastic bottles floating, wrappers and even jackfruit dumped. It is time we do something against the marine pollution by creating awareness among the young and old,” Ms. Hema Menon, the centre head of UST global and the lone woman in the 12- member team, who came to the shore with the plastic wrappers collected underneath the sea, said. The next time, she hoped, more women would dive into the sea and join hands to take up the cause.
It took three hours of acclimatisation in a hotel swimming pool the previous day to take the plunge.
Dr. Kumar, a city-based homeopath, said it was a tremendous experience. “The sea was turbid here and we had a difficult time holding on to the chairs.”
The next step is to form the Beach and Marine Environment Protection on June 8, World Ocean Day, to network the hotels along the Kerala coast.
