Hawaii - Message in the Waves

I have just been moved, angered, saddened and inspired by the BBC's Natural World on Hawaii - Message in the Waves.

The programme itself was easy to follow, had a very strong message and reminded us about the importance of, not only understanding issues ourselves, but also passing on this ownership to children too.

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Many of us have the privilege of being able to play a small part in the education and knowledge of our children. A lot of us will do this as parents and will take on this enormous responsibility as best as we are able. Some of us are lucky enough to have an influence on a wider audience as part of the work we do. Having seen this programme, I absolutely know that we must not waiver in our attempts to move and inspire our children (our, as in a global context) to become better, more informed young people.

Whether it is just inspiring children to read, to pick up a book and so start to broaden their horizons, or to do exactly as they do on Hawaii and draw in children to the heart of a huge ecological challenge, it is our responsibility to keep doing it.

We all know how hard it can be to convince young people to do things, and try things, that they don't think is cool, that their friends don't do and that they would normally give no thought to. But we need to keep going and teach, engage and inspire them at every opportunity, celebrate every little success and never give up on anyone. Only by doing this can we hope to make a difference and, even if that difference is only part of our own small back yard then we have done our 'job'. Lots of small back yards make many vast plains.