I am tied up on several projects this week so wasn’t able to go in person to the press conference yesterday at the Ocean Institute of Dana Point kicking off an innovative contest for Orange County school kids to support water conservation.
Luckily, Derek Sabori, general manager of Volcom’s V.Co-Logical Society, took some photos for me and wrote a little something about the scene at the press conference and why Volcom is participating.
First, here are the details about the contest and the heavy-hitting international conference on water it is tied to.
The contest is related to the International Conference on Water Scarcity, Global Changes, and Groundwater Management Responses which is being held at UCI December 1 – 5.
Heavy hitters are sponsoring the conference – including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The contest, called Water Innovation Now 2008, challenges Orange County students to create solutions to promote water conservation and increase awareness about California’s water crisis. The contest will reach more than 500,000 K-12th grade students and 27,000 teachers.
The winners will get to showcase their projects to international conference delegates on December 3rd at Ocean Institute and win cool prizes with action sports stars.
The first place prize is a trip for the winner and his or her parents/guardians to the Tavarua Resort in Fiji for a surf vacation. Other prizes include “hang out” sessions with professional athletes, including surfers Rob Machado and Rochelle Ballard, and skaters Danny Way, Bob Burnquist and Geoff Rowley.
Frank Scura at the Action Sports Environmental Coalition (ASEC) has been working hard on the project, and the industry has really gotten behind it. Here’s a contest poster, above, that showcases all the brands that are participating.
Here’s Derek’s report from the press conference:
“The press conference was great. Ends up I was on the panel with the Superintendant of Schools, Rob Machado, Danny Way, and Frank Scura (ASEC). National Water Research Institute, Disney Environmentality, and Ocean Institute reps were also on hand.
“The time was spent on bios and intros and each of us had the mic for a few minutes explaining how we came about supporting this contest and why it was important to us. Lots of positive energy up there!
“For us (Volcom), this is a unique opportunity to work alongside the school district to excite the kids about innovating change. It’s a chance for them to speak to us and it’s a chance for them to be rewarded by some of the brands and athletes that they look up to.
“It’s a win-win for everyone and we’re looking forward to seeing what kind of water conservation solutions the kids come up with.”
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