BELTON, TX — Members of the Girl Scouts of Central Texas are giving scuba diving a try as they focus on a mission to clean up our oceans.
Teens got their feet wet by trying out diving equipment in the Camp Kachina pool in Belton.
Central Texas is home to the nation’s first Scuba Diving Troop. Leaders are helping water-loving scouts from Waco, Killeen, Temple and beyond get a feel for the aquatic life. As the head out into the deep blue sea, they are sure to clean up garbage as they go.
“I like swimming and all but I’ve never tried all this. I like trying new things,” said Julissa Arias-Shotwell, a Girl Scout. “It’s actually pretty cool, I never thought I would be able to breathe underwater so it’s pretty interesting,” she continued.
The statistics surrounding ocean trash are troubling. There is an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris floating in our seas. About 260,000 tons will float to the surface, while four billion plastic microfibers sink under the waves. But scuba divers across the world are making a big dent in the problem.
“We like to do ocean clean ups, whenever we see trash we go and pick it up. Because, making the world a better place. We also use ocean and reef safe sunscreen so that it doesn’t harm the reefs when we go out,” said a member of the scuba team.
