207. Project AWARE

Bottle diving has provided me with a full and very satisfying hobby for many years now. Yet there is one thing about it which needs addressing...one might even say rebalancing. This is the fact that the pursuit is one of taking things away. Admittedly a bottle diver is only taking away refuse which has been discarded...but glass is chemically inert, and some bottles and jars are old and can be said to have become part of the environment. Any hobby that only takes things without giving something back is a selfish and dysfunctional one.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that the conscientious mudplugger should tip junk into the water to replace the items that he or she removes. I'm just observing that this hobby shouldn't be a one way street with nature, and that something needs to be provided in return. In my view one of the best ways to give "something" back to the environment is to render it as a service.

What you can do is to tidy the dive site up...perhaps by removing environmentally hazardous materials from the water (such as car batteries) and disposing of them properly, or it could be just by tidying up the shoreline. It's not much bother to spend 5 or 10 minutes after a dive clearing up the crisp packets, plastic bottles, used disposable barbeques, sandwich wrappers and beer cans that mindless cretins leave behind after they have enjoyed themselves and driven off with no thought for anyone or anything but themselves. So take a rubbish bag with you just for the purpose, fill it with as much rubbish as you find, and dispose of it properly when you get into town. Remember to wear a pair of stout gloves (your Kevlar bottle diving gloves will do) when handling litter, and to pick it up carefully.

There is an environmental movement of divers which is dedicated to cleanup activities of this kind. It's known as Project AWARE. Whatever type of diving you enjoy - or even if you just like walking by the seaside or along by a lakeshore - cleanups like these are a great way to preserve the natural world for the future, and to give "something" back again.