By Jonathan Martinez - Florida Catholic
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
Students at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami listen intently to environmental activist Pete Bethune.
MIAMI � Sharing his real life adventures and passion for the world�s oceans, famed activist Pete Bethune of New Zealand visited Immaculata-La Salle High School�s oceanography class and club on Oct. 15.
Bethune, best known for his role in the Animal Planet reality show, �Whale Wars,� shared with the students his adventures, including circumnavigating the planet in a boat powered by bio-fuels; his love for the earth�s oceans; and his desire to protect them. The overriding message to students: �You have to be involved.�
Since 2005, Bethune�s passion has been promoting bio-fuels as a way to replace hydrocarbon fuels. �I knew I had something to prove so I designed and built a 78 foot tri-hull wavepiercer that ran entirely on renewable fuels and we (his team) circled the world in 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes in 2008.�
It was in the middle of this quest, amidst the beauty and the vastness of the oceans, that Bethune found his calling for marine conservation and protection.
Not long after his round the world adventure concluded, he joined the Sea Shepherds and the cast of �Whale Wars� and set out to stop illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary in Antarctica. It was there that his beloved ship was �struck by a Japanese whaling vessel.�
Soon after, in a strategic move to both stop whaling and to garner retribution for the sinking of his vessel, Bethune boarded the Japanese ship responsible for sinking his wavepiercer to serve the captain with a bill and to perform a citizen�s arrest.
Students sat captivated in the school library listening to every word and taking it all in.
�He�s been a big idol for me. I�ve seen him on Animal Planet and the fact that he has so much determination to go out and save the environment, I want to do that myself and save marine life,� said Nick Alfonso, a senior.
�I hope the kids here become a little bit passionate and get out and make a difference; and maybe someone here will come up with a wonderful idea because we all have something extraordinary in us. But you got to believe in yourself and go out and actually make it happen and be unafraid of failure,� said Bethune.
For boarding the Japanese vessel, Bethune spent five months in prison. He is now traveling the world sharing his adventures and promoting activism to saving the oceans and the environment. In September of this year, he created The Pete Bethune Junior Activist Club. Its main goal is to unite the youth from around the world on Facebook to discuss conservation and sustainability, all while inspiring them to take action.
�Don�t leave it for other people to do. We all have a role in this. You guys (Miamians) are blessed with an amazing waterway but you are also trashing it. Give me 10 minutes and I can find about 10 different projects kids can get involved in, from picking up trash on the coast line to stopping people from speeding where the manatees are,� Bethune said after his presentation.
He left the students with this challenge: �Make some noise, and (make) people aware of what is going on and when you see something wrong tell someone about it.�
�I wanted the kids to hear first hand some of the efforts being done worldwide to conserve our oceans and that�s very inspiring to them, especially to meet someone that has actually done it,� said Rebecca Shaw, the marine science teacher who invited Bethune to the school. �I�m hoping his story, his struggles and his advice will drive some of them to action.�
Bethune, best known for his role in the Animal Planet reality show, �Whale Wars,� shared with the students his adventures, including circumnavigating the planet in a boat powered by bio-fuels; his love for the earth�s oceans; and his desire to protect them. The overriding message to students: �You have to be involved.�
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
Pete Bethune's message to today's generation of students: Don't wait for others to act. Get involved in saving the oceans and environment.
It was in the middle of this quest, amidst the beauty and the vastness of the oceans, that Bethune found his calling for marine conservation and protection.
Not long after his round the world adventure concluded, he joined the Sea Shepherds and the cast of �Whale Wars� and set out to stop illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary in Antarctica. It was there that his beloved ship was �struck by a Japanese whaling vessel.�
Soon after, in a strategic move to both stop whaling and to garner retribution for the sinking of his vessel, Bethune boarded the Japanese ship responsible for sinking his wavepiercer to serve the captain with a bill and to perform a citizen�s arrest.
Students sat captivated in the school library listening to every word and taking it all in.
�He�s been a big idol for me. I�ve seen him on Animal Planet and the fact that he has so much determination to go out and save the environment, I want to do that myself and save marine life,� said Nick Alfonso, a senior.
�I hope the kids here become a little bit passionate and get out and make a difference; and maybe someone here will come up with a wonderful idea because we all have something extraordinary in us. But you got to believe in yourself and go out and actually make it happen and be unafraid of failure,� said Bethune.
For boarding the Japanese vessel, Bethune spent five months in prison. He is now traveling the world sharing his adventures and promoting activism to saving the oceans and the environment. In September of this year, he created The Pete Bethune Junior Activist Club. Its main goal is to unite the youth from around the world on Facebook to discuss conservation and sustainability, all while inspiring them to take action.
�Don�t leave it for other people to do. We all have a role in this. You guys (Miamians) are blessed with an amazing waterway but you are also trashing it. Give me 10 minutes and I can find about 10 different projects kids can get involved in, from picking up trash on the coast line to stopping people from speeding where the manatees are,� Bethune said after his presentation.
He left the students with this challenge: �Make some noise, and (make) people aware of what is going on and when you see something wrong tell someone about it.�
�I wanted the kids to hear first hand some of the efforts being done worldwide to conserve our oceans and that�s very inspiring to them, especially to meet someone that has actually done it,� said Rebecca Shaw, the marine science teacher who invited Bethune to the school. �I�m hoping his story, his struggles and his advice will drive some of them to action.�
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
Environmental activist and Animal Planet presenter Pete Bethune describes his adventures to students at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami.
