Why Sharks Are So Important with Jordan
Jordan 0:00
Hey everyone. Welcome back! If you're new here, hello, my name is Jordan! Jordan LoMonaco and I'm one of the co-hosts on this series. And today, I'm going to tell you a little bit about my story. But I should preface and say, I definitely feel more imperfect than I do eco-hero. I am much more of an eco-worrier than an eco-warrior. Because of that, despite starting a storytelling series, it never really crossed my mind that I would share my own. Not because I didn't have one, but rather, it honestly felt like my story is only now just beginning. But that isn't entirely true. There is one aspect of my story that I think might be worth mentioning, you know, today of all days. So we're going to start at the beginning, not quite at the beginning of my life. But at the beginning of my environmental awakening, the catalyst and inspiration behind how I even got into the environmental movement. And it all begins with sharks.
[intro music]
Jordan 1:04
Hey, this is Jordan!
Mimi 1:05
And this is Mimi.
Jordan 1:06
And welcome to the Imperfect Eco-Hero podcast.
Mimi 1:09
The series that connects community, normalizes imperfections and empowers heroes.
[end of intro music]
Jordan 1:18
Many of you might not be aware of what today is. Not the day you're actually hearing this episode, but the day we're filming it. Today is a special one for me, that I don't often talk about. Today happens to be January 31, 2021. Likely a month before you guys actually are hearing this. And to the average person, that day might not mean much. But today happens to be a bit of a sad day for me. And I know, I know I'm sorry to be starting off this whole episode on a sad note, but I swear it does get happier. So yeah, today happens to mark the three year anniversary of the death of my eco-hero, an eco-hero that changed my life. And before I get more into who this eco-hero was, I figured I should give you a bit of background to how I even stumbled upon him. While I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, my whole life — even still living in the same house I've been in since I was practically born — my family has not.
They actually have quite an interesting story. So my family immigrated here from Italy. My dad's family is from the beautiful island of Sicily. And my mom's family is from the rural mountain towns of Abruzzo. So they lived in some of the most beautiful parts of Italy. But, at least on my mom's side, they didn't quite have the same luxury I have now of getting to kind of escape and enjoy nature. In the same...in that same way. My mom's family, and my dad's father's side too, kind of grew up in abject poverty. Both came from large farming families, where the priority was just to, you know, sustain the farm to live. I know my grandparents even barely went to school because they had to devote every waking minute to supporting the farm, and the family to get food on the table. And the conditions they worked in were not ideal. I know my mom's parents didn't even have shoes until their teens and they had to make them in their teens. My grandma in particular used to tell me how hard it was during the winters for her to even like, get from town to town in the snow without shoes. I think to this day, she's still traumatized by nature and by animals from these experiences. And I know like she had seven siblings, they couldn't fit in their tiny one bedroom house. So they often had to sleep outside or...or in the barns and they had a lot of unpleasant experiences with animals.
Jordan 4:15
So coming to Canada was definitely more of an escape than anything. And being like any immigrant family with, you know, not a lot of money to their name, when they got here, all they knew of was to work. And that's exactly kind of what they did with no education and no real knowledge of the language. They just worked a lot and they did just about everything. Even my parents as they grew up, did the same. My mom used to do all the accounting and run the books for my grandma, when she opened up her store — which I will definitely get into a bit later — and my dad had even had to lie about his age to work in the supermarkets just to, you know, support his family.
So escaping to nature just wasn't something they knew anything about and they definitely did not have the time or money to even make that a thing, up until my grandma opened up her own business. Which, to this day, still kind of blows my mind considering she's had up to grade three education, didn't speak English, and yet managed to launch one of the most successful textile businesses in the city. Anyone and everyone used to get their curtains from Angela Textiles, right at Eglinton and Dufferin.
Not gonna go too much into any more because I could spend a whole podcast talking about how cool my grandma is but because of this business venture she was able to buy property out in Florida. Because at the time you know, Florida was unlike anything they had ever experienced. You get like the warm weather, the beaches, the big cities, all of the amenities and you get a chance to relax in a way that, you know, for my family, they just never did before and that property is still in the family today and was really the first and only chance I got as a kid to really be out in nature having, you know, grown up in a big city like Toronto. We always went to Florida every year since I was born for, like, roughly two to three weeks and we spent every day and every hour outside and on the beach. Something like you definitely didn't do in Toronto and because you know, I'm pretty much translucent - I'm so white I could be a vampire - I didn't really spend my time tanning on the beaches; where I spent every waking second was in the water in the oceans. Which is kind of I think where my relationship with nature kind of started to evolve a lot was I really liked being in the water I have really bad vision and two left feet, so being on land was never...never an easy thing for me I was pretty much horizontal most of the time whenever I was on land which is great when you're in the water because it's—
Mimi 7:11
Yeah, it's perfect!
Jordan 7:12
That's what's perfect, so the water was—
Mimi 7:13
You found your element!
Jordan 7:14
I did. I also used to get prescription goggles, so I was like, I can see...! And it was nice. I really loved the ocean. It kind of was this little escape because the outside world felt so loud and so quick, and like, everything was moving, everyone was kind of going places, but in the ocean it was just...everything was slower, like it was quieter, like, not too many... there weren't too many people in the ocean, at least not as far as I went out. And it was just like, a lot of like fish...was predominantly what I saw and I used to like just chase them — chase them! They were way faster! — I used to follow them for, like, hours because they were just so interesting. I was like where are they going? What are they doing? Everything kind of looked like it was flying, like it was, it...I don't know, the water, it was, like, this little like escape for me, I was and—
Mimi 8:02
Yeah! You're entering a whole other world, right?
Jordan 8:04
Like a little portal.
Mimi 8:05
Yeah.
Jordan 8:06
But then you always have to kind of come back up for air, and I was kind of my one big thing, is like...every time I got asked what...what I wanted my superpower to be was to breathe underwater cause, I was like, I like it...almost more, like, it's just so interesting! It was the ocean and that kind of lifestyle has always stuck with me. If anyone knows, I, like, live and breathe in the water. Not literally, but I'm always in it in some capacity.
Mimi 8:31
I don't know, maybe I've become more paranoid in, like, my older age but now, like, I'm a lot more aware of, like, the dangers that can be associated, especially with ocean swimming. So I think probably there was a time in my life where I saw nothing but, like, happiness and joy of, like, running into the water and swimming in the water and being in the water. But I think now when I enter the water, there's a lot more...—cautiousness.
Jordan 8:57
—Fear?
Mimi 8:58
Yeah, not fear but cautious—
Jordan 9:00
—cautious?
Mimi 9:00
Yeah, I'm not scared of the ocean or scared of the water, I'm just a lot more aware of the dangers that...that could put me at risk and could also put the other people I'm with at risk. And I think—
Jordan 9:12
So you're talking about dangers in terms of not...not necessarily the creatures and, like, the fish or the animals...
Mimi 9:14
Nooo.
Jordan 9:18
More of just, like, I'm assuming, like, rip currents and...
Mimi 9:20
Yeah rip currents, winds, temperature changes, the way some, like even just, like, the act of drowning...like drowning doesn't look like how we imagine it to look like. It's a very silent act, you know, so it can happen so quickly. So, I think I'm a lot more aware of that too.
Jordan 9:40
But you're not scared of the the animals, because that was something—
Mimi 9:42
No! Noo.
Jordan 9:42
—that my family was very...like, they were obviously afraid of rip currents too but, no for them, when I used to swim in the ocean, they were like, you gotta be careful there's sharks, because sharks were kind of everywhere in Florida, shark attacks are like the biggest thing they talk about—
Mimi 9:56
Yeah that...those like one freak attack stories, right?
Jordan 9:59
Yeah. What with sharks, it's like the news tends to say there's...there was tons of shark sightings, or sharks were always the scourge of the ocean. And like...
Mimi 10:08
Yeah, even this last summer, I think there was one, maybe a couple of great white sharks that were up near Atlantic Canada. And like, there were stories about them in the news, every day! It was just like, there's one shark that was like...
Jordan 10:21
—there!
Mimi 10:21
There, yeah! [laughs] There were...to be fair, I think there were a couple incidents, but it was just like, so blown up in the news, you know, like...
Jordan 10:31
Which is...which is so funny, and I can definitely get into this, but I just did...just to, like, tell our listeners, you're more likely to get crushed by a vending machine than you are to get attacked by a shark. Just, I didn't know that, but you were four times more likely to get crushed by a vending machine.
Mimi 10:46
Woow!
Jordan 10:47
You're more likely to get killed by a cow. Than..than...
Mimi 10:51
Yeah, I believe that, I actually do believe that!
Jordan 10:53
Sharks only kill five people a year, just putting that into perspective to anyone, like, it's...it's so small, and we kill millions a year. So I think the...I think the...I think it's been blown out of proportion that sharks are very scary, but I only know that now. And that's kind of where my story kind of leads into why I'm even telling it. So to anyone who doesn't know me, my uncle is a limousine driver. He owns his own limousine business. And in Canada, he's pretty popular, specifically when Canadian soldiers die like he's, he issues us the limo that drives them. But every now and then he does some fun stuff, including driving some celebrities for like, TIFF events, or what's the other big one here, MTV?
Mimi 10:56
Mm hmm.
Jordan 11:45
So one year, when I was in my teens, I think this was around 2007. So I would have been 13/14. He had got asked to drive this Canadian filmmaker who was producing, like, who was showcasing his first documentary at TIFF, ever. And my uncle is a...avid scuba diver and loves the oceans and loves sharks, and Shark Week. And this filmmaker also happened to be a shark activist. And so his whole documentary was called Sharkwater. And so my uncle had such a good experience with him that he told us about it. And so we, like, watched it, because we were like, "Okay, cool!" Like, I don't know who this Toronto dude is, who was like in his early 20s. My uncle had such a positive experience talking to him and driving him, and even just hearing about his documentary. So we watched it. And from that kind of point onwards, it changed my life. It really opened my eyes to, one, how amazing sharks are. And to anyone that knows me, I am obsessed with sharks. Sharks are my favorite animal of all time. I have like every single stuffed version of a shark in my room and tons of shark teeth and prehistoric shark artifacts in my room I—
Mimi 13:07
I think that was the very first thing I learned about you.
Jordan 13:09
And this was all because of Sharkwater. And this really awesome conservationist and like, shark activist, and whose name was Rob Stewart. If you like sharks, or you were into conservation, he was kind of like this rising star who was born in Toronto, and was this famous underwater photographer, who like, had been photographing since he was 13. And he graduated, I believe, from Western [University, in London, Ontario]. And when he was studying, he was doing biology, he actually studied in Ontario, Jamaica and Kenya to do his degree and...which was really cool. And yeah, that was kind of...so after he graduated, he spent like the next four years traveling the world as chief photographer for the Canadian Wildlife Federation and their magazines. And he was leading expeditions to, like, some crazy remote places all around the world. And it was through these projects that he ended up making this really big discovery about sharks. And I figured the best person to kind of explain that is Rob Stewart himself. So I'm going to play you a little clip from one of his documentaries where he kind of goes into detail about this.
[plays audio clip]
Rob Stewart 14:31
As a kid, I fell in love with sharks. Sharks were like the last dragons and the last dinosaurs we have on the planet. And for me, if I could have had a pet dragon I would have but sharks were kind of like the next best thing. I became a biologist and a wildlife photographer specializing in sharks. One particular photo assignment, I went to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador to photograph hammerhead sharks. The most exciting assignment of my life. Found a fishing line that would stretch from Earth to outer space with hundreds of dead and dying sharks.
[instrumental music]
Rob Stewart 15:18
The word got out around the world that shark fins mean money, a single pound of shark fins can fetch 400+ dollars. The people all around the world started thinning sharks, pulling sharks out of the water, cutting off just their fins and throwing the rest of the body back, wasting 95+ percent of the animal.
[end of audio clip]
Jordan 15:39
Sharks are also kind of like a really high commodity.
Mimi 15:43
Yeah.
Jordan 15:44
And especially out in. out in Asia, in particular, shark fin soup is a...is a really big delicacy. To have shark fin soup, you need shark fins. But, the rest of the shark is pretty much not usable. And so, if you caught sharks long lining, what a lot of...a lot of these...I guess you could call them fishermen...would do is they would cut the fins off the sharks that they caught and essentially throw them back into the—
Mimi 16:13
—throw the rest of the shark.
Jordan 16:15
The problem there is that sharks can't swim without their fins. There's actually many species of sharks that if they stop swimming, they...they drown. So oftentimes, why shark finning is so brutal, is that when the fins come off, they're alive, and then they essentially just drown to death. And so they were doing that a lot. And at the time, Rob Stewart loved sharks, and he did not know that was going on, so he kind of wanted to make people aware of it. And so he used to take, like, these really crazy print media photos, and was trying to get people's attention. But like, if you don't know and photos don't really do the best job at kind of telling the story, so he started to film it. And that's kind of how he embarked on his...on his career. And it took him four years, kind of crossing over 12 countries, and that documentary resulted in Sharkwater. But like he initially wanted to spend it, just kind of capturing the beauty of sharks and...but it ended up turning into like this really crazy human drama, filled with like corruption, espionage, attempted murder charges, mafia rings, and even on this thing...on this journey, it was actually quite dangerous. He actually contracted West Nile disease, tuberculosis, dung fever and flesh eating disease, like he almost pretty much died trying to film this documentary. And so it was kind of a big deal. No, like, there wasn't too many shark, like, positive film out there. And because of his story, too, like, it became the most, I think it was...Sharkwater made history with like, having the largest opening weekend of any Canadian documentary.
Mimi 18:00
Wow!
Jordan 18:01
It was the most award winning documentary of the year—
Mimi 18:04
That's impressive!
Jordan 18:04
—winning 35 awards. Yeah, it was, like it was huge. But for me, I guess as a kid, what why it was so...eye opening is, I guess, at that time around 13/14 year...I'm not aware of — at least where I live in Toronto, and with where my...how privileged I am in my family, like — I wasn't aware of what people were doing around the world, like this was kind of before the time we really spent a lot of it online. Like I was online on MSN most of the time and that was...that was essentially it. So I wasn't really aware of...kind of what climate change was or what people were doing to other animals around the world. Like I...I only knew what, like, I saw in my day to day life. Like I wasn't aware that, like, just kind of the horrors that people will exploit literally anything for money and like, people could...I couldn't even fathom people treating sharks like that. Like watching sharks literally just die just for their fins, for me, just didn't make any sense. Like I was like, why would...Why would they do that? Why? Like, it wasn't just a little bit like there...there's like over 100 million sharks die, like, a year. Like, it's a...an insane amount. There's like, I think it's, like, 11,000 sharks die every hour. And so just for mostly their fin.
Mimi 19:20
Wow...Is that still true, that stat? Or was that at the time?
Jordan 19:22
I think it's even more. No, I think it's even more I read about that stat recently. But like Rob Stewart kind of, he was so impassioned by it that he actually started his own charity called the United Conservationist. And they created a new movement called the Fin Free movement. This movement was literally just to tackle that problem, and trying to get countries and cities, especially ones that had a lot of illegal fishing, to ban the selling and catching of sharks. And that was kind of what his mission was with both United Conservationists and Fin Free...was to share this story and try to inspire people to see...sharks are actually not that scary, and they're so important. And they're, like, the apex predator of the oceans. If we remove them, like, our ecosystems would crumble. They have a huge impact on the economy and the health of our oceans, and as everyone knows, the oceans are hugely important part of our climate system. Oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. And around 30% of the carbon dioxide we have emitted to, so sharks control the health of our oceans, and the oceans are controlling a lot of our climate systems. Sharks are, like, a pivotal piece in all of that, and how they were just treating them was terrible. And so, I actually ended up joining that movement when I was 13/14. Then, I signed up to be an ambassador, like, the little I was on Instagram or not even Instagram at the time, I think it was like...
Mimi 19:39
Probably Facebook, right?
Jordan 20:25
...Facebook. Yeah, I was...I was...I was sharing stuff, I was...I was...I was like, I want to...I want to help. But I ended up joining his, um, his, like, the actual organization, United Conservationist, and I kind of helped with their social media at the time, I was helping them just kind of run some of their pages, trying to get people—
Mimi 21:14
Very cool!
Jordan 21:15
—engaged. And yeah, that was kind of the start of me just kind of wanting to give back and make positive change. And, and because, you know, he did it. And he did it being just an average person who just stumbled upon this problem and made it his life's...life's goal. And yeah, that kind of led him to, to his second documentary Revolution, where he realized that the problem extended far beyond just sharks. And I can go into full detail explaining, you know, what his documentary was about, but I figured he should do it. And so I'm going to let you guys listen to a little clip from his second documentary.
[plays audio clip]
Rob Stewart 21:57
I set out to make a film to save sharks. And I'm in way over my head, we have a decision to make, and we don't have much time.
Rob Stewart 22:10
This is no longer just about saving the oceans. It's about saving ourselves.
Erich Ritter 22:17
The whole landscape of ocean issues has changed, we are going to lose everything in our oceans, the oceans have the potential to go belly up in the next 20 years.
Rob Stewart 22:27
The last time the oceans went down was 65 million years ago. And it took almost all life on earth with it.
Charlie Veron 22:33
What the oceans do, the terrestrial world will follow.
[end of audio clip]
Jordan 22:38
That was kind of a short clip from the trailer of his second documentary Revolution, which was essentially about the environmental collapse that we know of as climate change. Except he didn't want to just focus on the negative like with Sharkwater, he also had, like, the second half of his film was highlighting all the people, especially young people who are doing something about it. And...which is why I loved his mission, was, he was trying to bring, like, conservation and activism into people's lives, like average people, like you and me. And his kind of motto for both United Conservationists, and what he really pushes was that, you know, conservation is the preservation of human life on Earth. And he believed that, like, together as a community by raising awareness and creating, like, a community of change, like, we can inspire unified environmental activism and the over the world through you know, positivity. Like he really strongly believed that if people were just more aware of these issues, and not only just more aware, but given tangible solutions to tackling the problem, he believed, more people would come together. And that was what was missing, often in the movement was...was that and so yeah, that was kind of what Revolution was, is he wanted to take the messages he learned in Sharkwater. And I believe he traveled to about 15 countries, like everywhere from the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to all the deforestation happening Madagascar, to the Alberta tar sands, he went to marches,... And he was just trying to get people to realize that our actions are kind of interconnected with what we're seeing in the environment, with environmental degradation, specie loss, ocean acidification, pollution, the food waste, but most importantly, everything that we were doing to the planet was making it unlivable for us.
And I think that was something that I...you never really think about. Because we know the things that we do, our actions affect other people. They affect the planet they...they affect a lot of things. We're making Earth unlivable for everything on it, and humans are one of those things on it.
Mimi 25:00
So he really flipped the narrative.
Jordan 25:02
100%! He was saying like, not only do we need to be better conscious consumers, and we need to be making better choices that affect the planet, and animals and other people better. It wasn't just for that, like we were doing it also for ourselves, because if the Earth un...inhabitable, humans can't live on it anymore. And that was kind of a perspective that I had never seen done with climate change. Even now, like, it's not something you of-...often think about. It's always either always "hey, the actions we have affect the planet, and this is how it's affecting the planet". But we never go that extra step of being like, "down the line, we're making it unlivable; every action we have reduces the amount of time Earth remains liberal livable for humans". And that was something that stuck with me to this day, was just kind of that...that message. I don't know if you've ever thought of the problem like that. But that was something that always stuck with me in his second documentary. And that's why I helped do a lot of media for it. I was like, I think this is incredible. Like, I think people need to see it, but I never really understood the problem. Back when I was like, 18, I barely know now.
Mimi 26:15
Yeah, I mean... I think yeah, I think a few years ago, that definitely wasn't the narrative, at least from what I...like the information and storytelling that I was consuming, that it was yeah. The narrative was more about, like, the impacts on wildlife or the impacts... You know, that classic image I think we mentioned in one of our other episodes, but that classic image of like the polar bear, you know. And that is, of course, concerning and there's so much value in that, but especially in the last couple of years, we've really seen, like, the narrative around like the Anthropocene you know, like humans destroying all life, including human life. I think that's been a lot more prevalent. But yeah, I'm not familiar with Mr. Stewart's work but...but what you're saying yeah, is like if he was one of those first people to really bring that idea to the public. I think that's...that's astounding and incredible.
Jordan 27:15
It was at the time, like, his second documentary did huge and like I said, it's always stuck with me and like, what I liked was he never just stopped there either. Like, it was always about, like, here are so many other ways you can be helping, here's like, how you can take part. And if you can't, like financially take part or physically take part, share this information, like help educate, like, be an ambassador. And I think that that program, he started like doing...and it's an a program that a lot of companies have now adopted, but what I liked about it at the time, was it wasn't being used that often like to be an ambassador for change, even if all you were doing was changing your Facebook cover photo to be like, I support sharks. Like, at the time, I never really realized its importance. But like, I...for me, I felt like I was doing something like, I think we talked about it...
Mimi 28:07
You felt empowered by it.
Jordan 28:08
Yeah, that idea of, like, empowering average people, like, to do and make positive change. And it doesn't need to be like marching. Or I have to go picket in front of some government building. It was just like, hey, let's just share a positive message to people, let's get people to really think about their choices.
Mimi 28:29
Yeah, there's so many varieties of ways that you can bring meaningful changes in your daily life. Right?
Jordan 28:36
Mm hmm. And that was kind of what he pushed. And again, I like that idea of being an amb...like that ambassador idea is what I guess I really liked.
Mimi 28:45
Because that makes you an active agent in the movement. Right?
Jordan 28:48
Exactly! No matter how big or small, like, he gave you, like, like, it was like this wide spectrum of options and everyone on that...any...anything you could do, you were a part of something bigger than yourself.
Mimi 29:01
I would love to know, like, after, because it kind of seems like all of this started during that TIFF period, and then you really started to ramp up your research on this and, and understanding his work. I would love to know what your trips to Florida were like after that, like how you viewed water, how you viewed the creatures in the water, and also how your family reacted to the changes that you had?
Jordan 29:26
Well, they...what was great is they did it with me like that was what was so nice was—
Mimi 29:30
Oh amazing, yeah!
Jordan 29:30
—they watched it as well with me. They fully supported, maybe not quite as much as I was gung ho about sharks, but—
Mimi 29:38
Yeah!
Jordan 29:38
—I think it helped a lot of us remove that fear of the ocean and appreciate it a lot more. I think we just valued our time more in the ocean, and I definitely think we...
Mimi 29:50
So there was a change in the next year you went back.
Jordan 29:53
100%! From that first Sharkwater there was a change permanently. I think we were just kind of all aware, not even just within the ocean. Because he again just didn't focus on the oceans, like if we make better choices for the planet and other people, and like it can lead to all this positive change. And we all felt that we all...we all wanted to go into the water more we all, we...after that, every year on the Discovery Channel, they have a week dedicated to sharks. We've...I've watched it every year since then. And we watch it as a family. We love it, like, sharks have become—
Mimi 30:23
That's incredible!
Jordan 30:24
—this...I don't even know what it's become for us, but it—
Mimi 30:27
I...Yeah! I love how this, like, symbol of fear in your family transitioned into a symbol of connection among your family.
Jordan 30:36
Exact...That's a good way of putting it. For me, it was also hope, as well. Like shark, for many people who don't know anything...but sharks are really cool, but they've also existed longer than the dinosaurs have. They've survived through more than we have. And I think sharks are just known for their strength and their resilience. And again, it was one of those things. I don't know if I could relate to them a lot. But I just...it felt, I don't know, I just felt like it really transformed the way I saw myself in the world. And I've been following...I was following his journey through all of this. And he actually was filming his third one, too, like he, he ended up wanting to really highlight the corruption that is the multi billion dollar industry of pirate fishing, with all the new changes to the laws and regulations because of the Fin Free movement. The problem kind of changed but got worse. And again, I don't think I'll be able to explain it as well as he could. So I'll let you guys listen to another clip of him explaining the problem, this new one.
[plays audio clip]
Rob Stewart 31:38
Now that people have to land sharks with their bodies and fins attached. They've created industries out of the bodies. And right now we know we're killing about 150 million sharks a year. And aside from fin, sharks are turning up in cosmetics. They're in lipsticks, and moisturizer, and eyeliner. They're in pet food, livestock feed, and they're even renaming shark things like rock salmon, flake and white fish. So we don't know we're eating a 450 million year old super-predator.
[end of audio clip]
Jordan 32:04
And that was kind of you know what his third documentary was trying to show Sharkwater: Extinction was the massive illegal shark fin industry and the political corruption behind it. And this, you know, the conspiracy that's leading to the, to the actual extinction of sharks, and it was so important, like his first documentary up until now had like, inspired 90 countries to have banned shark finning, or the trade of shark products. And that was kind of his legacy. But unfortunately, like his first documentary, he came into a lot of problems and issues and, you know, safety concerns. And unfortunately, this time around, he wasn't as lucky.
[plays audio clip]
News Reporter 32:51
Yesterday, at 5:13pm, a Coast Guard command center was notified of a diving accident near Alligator Reef off the coast of Florida. That's where Rob Stewart had been doing a routine dive with two friends while shooting the sequel to Sharkwater called Sharkwater: Extinction.
[end of audio clip]
Jordan 33:07
There was a lot of controversy surrounding Rob's death, whether it was you know, faulty scuba gear, or a lack of oxygen at the surface, because both him and his diving partner had that accident, both surface too quickly. So it's something called an acute hypoxia. So when they just don't have enough oxygen coming...coming into them. And so the problem was, Rob's partner was taken out of the water first before losing consciousness, whereas Rob lost consciousness in the water and he lost control of his breathing loop, and essentially drowned.
Mimi 33:47
That's tragic. I'm so sorry to hear that.
Jordan 33:50
It really was a big tragedy. The loss of Rob Stewart, especially for me, hearing that it happened in Florida of all places was one that I think, to this day, I haven't really gotten over because that was kind of where I fell in love with him, fell in love with the oceans, fell in love with sharks, was so inspired. And that's kind of where it was the end of him and I don't know if it was bad luck, but I also haven't gone back to Florida to really know how that feels. And not...that was not by choice. It was just...I've started working full time. It's hard to get—
Mimi 34:31
Circumstances, yeah.
Jordan 34:32
Yeah, like, circumstances. It made it...but it's...it's...it's interesting. And now when I think of Florida, unfortunately, I think of him. And I've been trying really hard to not think of it as a negative. But it...yeah, it was. It was a weird...it came back weird, like a weird full circle for me. And what Florida represented and I haven't really thought about it too much, you know, with everything happening in life but when I was thinking about my "story", I, yeah, realized how fundamental he kind of was to where I am right now. And like how he planted that seed of wanting to do...make positive change in the world, but he's not here anymore. And so it's this weird desire to want to keep his legacy kind of going. ‘Cause a lot of positive change happened since his movies. And they actually, luckily, filmed enough of it right before he died, and they actually did release his third—
Mimi 35:29
So they did! Wow!
Jordan 35:30
They filmed just enough of it. And yeah, and they finished it in his legacy. Like he It was a huge Kickstarter campaign to finish it once he...once he passed away, but luckily, a lot of his friends that were there helping him and the lot of footage that they had, they...they did it in his honor. So I would highly recommend.
Mimi 35:48
What's the film called?
Jordan 35:49
Sharkwater: Extinction. Ironically.
Mimi 35:52
Wow.
Jordan 35:53
I would watch all of his if you could, because they really did lead to positive changes. But just so you guys know more than 100 countries have now banned shark finning because of this. And 41 countries have banned the kind of like, both the shark finning, shark fishing, and like, shark fin trade. So 100 have just banned shark finning, but like they could still catch shark, but 41 countries have, like, banned it all completely.
Mimi 36:18
Wow.
Jordan 36:19
And yeah, that was a lot of his, his doing this little one guy from doing...who used to be a photographer, like he was not a filmmaker, he wasn't an activist. He was just a 22 year old photographer, who then got thrusted into this life. And...
Mimi 36:34
Yeah, that's, that's so incredibly as-...inspiring. I was gonna say aspiring but it's inspiring.
Jordan 36:39
It's aspiring as well, if I could, if I can do a fraction of that I—
Mimi 36:46
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by his story?
Jordan 36:49
All the time. He was the inspiration behind why I even...even suggested doing something on stories because I was so much of what he did is...he wanted to share positive stories of change. And a lot of what he did is what I'm trying to do here. It's pressure in the sense that I still haven't kind of found my place in this...in this movement. Like in this climate movement, I've kind of always struggled with figuring out, not even just within this movement, like what the heck I want to do with life, I think the best way to explain who I am is I'm kind of a Jack of all trades, master of none, I do a lot and I do everything but I haven't really stuck to one thing yet because nothing is kind of felt right. Like I, I wish I loved something as much as he loved sharks. So there's been a pressure for me to just kind of find that. And that's kind of what I'm hoping to do with this podcast, too, is to talk to people, maybe get inspired and figure out what I want to do. He had a...he had a saying, lighting really resonates with this. He said, um, he always says like: "Take what you're good at, and take what you're passionate about, and smash them together. And that's how you kind of live a life of purpose". Like I think, like, with a lot of people we’re just trying to struggle out...struggle with, you know, where we fit in, in this climate movement.
Mimi 38:04
Yeah.
Jordan 38:05
And kind of what that...what that looks like, and I think people should constantly never stop doing it. Like I definitely haven't. I wouldn't say anything I'm doing currently has worked out so well, so far. But I hold on to like, what he said once, I was actually listening back to one of his...one of his talks and figured I share it because this is kind of yeah, like what I hope people take away from this podcast, too, is that, um, time right now is, is pretty crucial in our history. There's never been more of a time for people to kind of step up into this challenge and become kind of the hero, we need to save the planet. Each one of us kind of has a part in that journey. And I hope that this podcast, his story, a lot of these stories that we're hopefully going to tell will inspire people to kind of find their part in it. And if it's not sharks, although it's a great place to start, if you kind of want your mind blown about how cool sharks are, it's gonna be something else. But whatever it is, like I hope people find it and lead by Rob's example of just kind of empowering the people around you planting that seed of how everything we do kind of has an effect, and just kind of figuring what your inspiration is and then kind of launching it and that's kind of, yeah, what he tried to do in his legacy and what I hope he's still doing with all of his work that's out there and what I hope we can do. Like our little part and all of this.
[outro]
Mimi 39:50
Thanks for listening to this episode of Imperfect Eco-Hero. Stay connected with us through our instagram @Imperfect_ecohero or email us at imperfectecohero@gmail.com. If you want to learn more about our podcast or see resources related to this episode, visit our website imperfectecohero.com.
