2008 Official Explorer
Online Journal

This June I attended the TUNZA children’s conference in Stavanger, Norway. Tunza is a United Nations Environmental Program designed to inspire, inform, and enable children and youth to care for the environment. Children get to learn about environmental issues, share experiences and opinions, and collectively voice their concerns for the environment. The conference is also intended to inspire children to implement environmental projects in their communities. This year’s conference brought together children from 105 countries and focused on energy, water and sustainability.

There were over 50 workshops and fieldtrips offered. My favorite workshop was called, “Friends and Foes.” It examined the way the world works. The only problem is; our world isn’t working too well. We have significant environmental, political, and economic problems that need to be solved. In my action group we thought about how to fix our ailing world and centered on one solution, although I’m sure that there are others. Our solution sounds simple; we ALL must work together.

My favorite part of the conference was meeting children from all over the world committed to caring for the planet. They all offered new ideas and possibilities that I hadn’t even considered. I met an Egyptian girl who started a project which recycled everyday waste into amazing and fabulous works of art. I also learned about a girl from New Zealand who works to conserve an endangered species of bird called the takahe. I met a girl from Japan who is part of a group who saves owls. Then there was a group of Malaysian children called the Tree Theatre Group, who used drama to help people understand the importance of saving the forests. And then there was a group of children from Mexico who are devoted to the conservation of Cuatro Cienigas, which is the home to dozens of species endemic to their region. Another boy from Germany is dedicated to keeping the dream of planting a billion trees all over Europe alive. All of these children demonstrated extraordinary initiative and creativity. It was an honor to be able to talk to them and learn about them.

The TUNZA conference has to have been the most fantastic and moving experience of my life. I wish I was able to go back, but I’ll be too old when the next conference rolls around. The next conference is in Korea, maybe you would like to attend it? If so just go to the Tunza webpage for more information. But even if you can’t attend, please read the commitments with the adults in your life and implement in your home! Or get your friends together and start a project caring for our precious environment.

Hi, I'm Simon Willig. I’m 12 years old and currently live in Redwood City, California. I love the oceans and all that lives in them. I'm a 2008 Official Explorer for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Over the next several months I hope to get you more interested in the oceans through the Sea Notes blog.

Right now I'm doing simple things like using compact fluorescent light bulbs, recycling and eating sustainable seafood (to learn more download the Seafood Watch pocket guides). These are all easy things that you can do to conserve the oceans.

I also like working with the organization Save the Bay at the Palo Alto Baylands reserve. (I’ll tell you more, later; keep reading.) I’ve been working with my friend Ayla (2007 Official Explorer) to create a PowerPoint presentation and assembly kit called "Save Our Seas" (S.O.S.) that can be presented at schools in your area. Come to and see Ayla and me present S.O.S, and find out how you can present it, too.

As an Official Explorer, I am excited about learning all I can from the aquarists (scientists who work at the Aquarium doing research and taking care of the animals). I also love educating the public on how to save the oceans and how to eat sustainable seafood by passing out Seafood Watch pocket guides.

February 23-24 was Shark Days at the Aquarium, my first event as an Official Explorer. I was both nervous and excited before the event.

First, we had the passing of the torch (or in this case the vest) ceremony from the 2007 Explorers. We talked about what we were looking forward to as an Official Explorer (which is basically everything). Right after getting the vest, I put it on and got down to business. I had a great time working at the event booth with 2007 explorers Ayla, Sierra and Eduardo, and 2008 explorer Alexa. We had fun helping each other figure out the answers to the Sharks and Rays activity booklet, taking turns helping Aquarium visitors find their way around, and discussing our favorite exhibits.

I had great fun at the sevengill shark feeding where divers held pieces of fish on poles. Sharks swam by and bit off the fish. It was awesome to see these huge sharks prey like they would in the wild. Later, I went with Ayla, Sierra and Alexa to Jellies: Living art and Wild About Otters to pass out Seafood Watch cards and learn more about jellies and freshwater otters.

A couple weekends later I found myself in the new exhibit Splash Zone staring at a wall of eel burrows. Among these strange, but beautiful snakelike fish were snowflake morays, honeycomb morays, white mouth morays and zebra morays. I also had a chance to see leaping blennies (cute little grey fish that actually do jump onto low rocks), and leafy sea dragons (a close but cooler relative to seahorses that camouflages amazingly well by having leaflike green appendages). I saw cuttlefish (a cousin to squid and octopus that, like its relatives, can change its skin to thousands of different colors) and a personal favorite: nudibranchs, which are brightly colored sea slugs that have stinging tentacles.

The next weekend I went to the Palo Alto Baylands with my mom and the organization Save The Bay. I helped plant native vegetation such as common yarrow and common aster to help the indigenous plant population recover and grow. I had a blast learning more about the San Francisco Baylands and their history while helping conserve the oceans.

Stay tuned to learn more about Explorer activities in my next entry. Until then (and always), this is Simon saying: THINK OCEAN!