 Me in Grand Bend, Ontario * photo by Deb Schwedhelm Photography I love the beach. I love being near water and feeling sand on my toes and enjoying everything about spending a day making sandcastles and jumping in the waves. Our lakes and oceans can be a great way to relax and enjoy the summer break from school or a vacation from work.
We need to keep focused on protecting our lakes, rivers and oceans. If we don't, we'll lose the chance as the water just will be overwhelmed with pollution. My friend, Scott Hammell sent me another great video to watch. I just had to share this video of Pacific White Sided Dolphins. Imagine if the ocean was so murky from pollution that we couldn't see the dolphins? No one wants this. They are beautiful and so playful. I hope you enjoy this video and will be inspired to keep our lakes, rivers and oceans clean. Every little bit helps. All you have to do is try. I hope you'll help me... For our oceans and endangered marine life.
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 This last month has been so awesome. I've had a chance to share my message and raise awareness about protecting our planet.
In the month of March and April I spoke at a number of events including: a day long school event about ocean conservation, TEDxWaterloo Youth, a plastics workshop for echo-hydrology professors planned by the University of Waterloo and then last week, I spoke to 1500 students at the Count Me In Conference in Mississauga. To top it off in the best way, my mom took me to see Rob Stewart's movie, REVOLUTION. It was incredible. I loved Revolution because we see the harm that we are causing and how much this is affecting us, our oceans and marine life. We see that TIME IS RUNNING OUT and we need everyone of us to join the fight to save our oceans. We see that the oceans have a thriving role in every part of survival and existence. We see that without a change, our oceans will disappear. We see that we need to act NOW! I cried when I watched REVOLUTION (and so did my mom...). I cried when Rob swam with the Whale Sharks. I saw their beauty. I saw their worth, but I also see that these amazing creatures will be gone. I cried during the movie REVOLUTION when I saw youth being rejected for speaking from their hearts, and for caring about our planet. This is NOT right because youth are changing the world. Youth are our future. Youth are our present. Rob tells us that if we all join together and raise awareness, we will save our planet and our oceans. This is the best message and exactly what our world needs to hear now, on Earth Day and every day.  Let's stop the slaughter. This morning, with my parent's help, I sent my first real email. I wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I am so upset about the City of Toronto's decision to overturn the ban on eating shark fins and shark fin products. I have to do everything I can to stop the cruel slaughter of these fantastic fish.
If you are reading this blog, I really hope that you help me be a voice for change. We can't keep killing sharks. Too many are dying. It isn't right. We can stop it. Please believe we can make a difference. Dear Prime Minister Harper, Imagine if you were a shark. Your kind has been on our planet for over 400 million years. You date back before the time of dinosaurs. In the last few years, you can't understand what is happening to all of your friends and family. They are being killed for their fins and then thrown back in the ocean to die. It is cruel and painful and you are so sad watching it happen. You are afraid for your life, every single day. My name is Maddie. I am a 9 year old girl from Waterloo, Ontario who is in grade 4 at The Kitchener-Waterloo Bilingual School. I am passionate about saving our sharks and oceans. With every breath with take, with every drop of water we drink, we are connected to the oceans. Sharks are a key part of the oceans. They are the top of the food chain and we kill over 70 millions sharks every year in the most cruel ways. Sharks are amazing, powerful and majestic fish. No creature has more or less right to be alive. At a federal level, please make the eating of shark fins illegal in Canada, the country I am so proud to call my home. Keeping our oceans balanced will help them stay healthy and help our fisheries for generations to come. I am very upset and crying about the City of Toronto's decision to overturn the eating of shark fins and shark fin products. Please, please help me stop the slaughter of these amazing fish. We need them to stay alive for the health of our planet. Here is a link to the article in The Globe and Mail. Thank you for spending the time to read my email. It would mean to much to me if you answered my email and helped me with my call to action. I would like you to know that I blog about our oceans at www.coolclicksplanet.com where I write about ways to save our planet. I am the first International Ambassador for AfriOceans Conservation Alliance at www.aoca.org.za I put my faith in you, Maddie Cranston, Ocean Warrior  Desire2Learn Mobilize Conference Nov 26 Wow. I can't believe it. It seems like so long ago when Mr. Shawn McEwen asked me if I would like to speak at Desire2Learn's Mobilize Thought Leader Conference at Bingeman Park on November 26. It is tomorrow! Crazy! I am sooo excited to get to share my message about saving our sharks and our oceans. Even more cool is that I get to talk about technology and social media. I love technology. It has done so much for me. Because of social media, I can blog and I get to read nice comments from people who read my blog. It encourages me and pushes me forward to keep sharing my message. I also use Twitter. My 'handle' is @sharkwarriorjr. I like to tweet about guess what? You know it -- saving our oceans and our endangered sharks. Yup, its true. I like to use technology and I research on the Internet A LOT. I follow my heroes at AfriOceans Conservation Alliance - Lesley Rochat (Founder and THE Shark Warrior) and Terry Corr (Head of Education). I also watch amazing videos about the oceans, sharks and all kinds of marine life. Oh, back to tomorrow's conference. I'm stoked to listen to all the other presenters. The agenda looks really awesome! Check it out at D2L's Mobilize Conference. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get to talk to the other presenters and lots of the attendees. I'm really hoping to meet Jian Ghomeshi, the host of Q on CBC Radio. My parents are fans of Q and I am too. I couldn't believe that Jian interviewed Van Morrison and Goyte. Jian and I have a few things in common including the fact that we both LOVE to eat Pistachios. Jian is the closing keynote speaker at the Mobilize Conference tomorrow. Who says you can't be excited for Monday to arrive. With D2L's conference tomorrow....I can't wait!! One more sleep to go!!!
 Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share with you through my blog. With my parents help, I just recorded a YouTube message for my fellow AfriOceans Warriors. On December 1 in Cape Town, South Africa, 17 tribes of children will compete in the Warrior Challenge.
This is part of the educational work that AfriOceans Conservation Alliance does. My friend and the Head of Education, Terry Corr, helps children learn about saving our oceans and marine life (especially sharks). I am sooooo excited to be an ambassador for them. I can share my video on December 1, after the Warriors see it to start their challenge. I also changed schools this week. I'm back in a school where my message is supported and my work to save our oceans is encouraged. I will have a chance to talk to my class about ways to reduce, reuse and recycle and how we can save our planet from the harm we do. We pollute and over fish and we kill sharks. The more we know about the mistakes that are made, the more children can help make a difference. We can all learn, grow and make changes for the good of our planet. If we believe, we can all make a difference. Will you join me? Will you try? Please, our oceans and our endangered sharks need your help. Thank you. With the supervision of my parents, I get to use a MacBook to do research on the Web about my passion for saving the oceans. I've learned about some amazing people. There are a few I really want to tell you about. One amazing lady who is my inspiration is Lesley Rochat. She loves sharks and the oceans so much. She is a Shark Warrior and Marine Conservationist. How kewl is that? Seriously. I want to be a Marine Zoologist and Conservationist when I grow up.
On my Home page, I have some Cool Clicks about "Rethinking the Shark". I'm so stoked that I found these videos. Lesley is an incredible photographer too. She dives and takes the best photos. Then there is Surfer Kelly Slater. His home is the ocean. He is serious about saving it. I'm glad that there are awesome people in the world who want to do what I do --- save our oceans! Cool Click on Kelly's video. My mom loves to surf and I get to watch her. She thinks Kelly rocks too. Even movie stars like Ted Danson are into saving the oceans and being an ocean hero. Cool Click here to see them talk about taking the Oceana pledge. Ted narrates this great video that talks about what's happening to our oceans because of pollution and overfishing. Oceana is a great organization. To learn more, Cool Click here. I still support The National Geographic Society, but Oceana is the perfect organization for me as it is all about helping saving the oceans! I'm inspired by all these great people and when I feel sad about the harm done to our oceans and marine life, I watch my Cool Click videos and know that I'm not alone. I know there are others like me who want to make a difference. With my mom just back from San Francisco, which is by the Pacific Ocean, I'm really ready to start working on my presentation for Ignite Charity. This is a super kewl new event. It is where people get to talk for five minutes about a charity they are passionate about. My passion is the ocean and saving all the amazing animals that live in it!
My mom does lots of presentations, so she is going to help me get ready for mine. I make Keynote presentations all the time as something for my Save the Shark Club and fundraising for Oceana. This presentation will be different. I have to talk in front of lots of people and my slides will change every 20 seconds. My mom says she will help me with a 'Plan B', but I don't need it. I love the oceans so much and want to share my message with the world. Thank you for this chance, Ignite Charity. You rock!!! I created this site with the help of my mom who inspired me because she is a blogger. I also wanted to blog because one day in Science, my teacher, Mrs. Bradley, told us about how little fresh water is left on our planet. The amount has dropped a lot and it makes me really sad. So sad that I cry whenever I think about it. So, I want to tell you how to save water, how to save our oceans and the animals that live in it. Our planet is precious. Help me save it.
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Maddie Cranston,
--Ocean Warrior "We never know the worth of water till the well is dry." ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732 Archives
April 2018
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