Fantasea Marine Research Co-ordinator, Emily Smart, was recently selected to attend The Climate Project in Melbourne, where Al Gore trained around 170 people to become climate messengers. The attendees were selected from many applicants Australia-wide, and were provided with this training at no cost, however they have agreed to conduct at least 10 presentations over the next 12 months. The presentation is the one which Al Gore presents world-wide and parts of this can be seen on the movie An Inconvenient Truth.

Former US Vice-President Al Gore initiated The Climate Project in his home town of Nashville, Tennessee where he trained 1000 people to deliver the slide show known to many as the basis of his Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth. This year he will also conduct training in the UK, Spain, India, China and Canada.

Mr Gore has explained his motivation for setting up The Climate Project was "to deliver the message to as many people as possible". After looking at many models, Mr Gore said he returned to a "grassroots, or peer-to-peer model" aimed at spreading the message contained in his powerful and well-researched climate presentation.

"The Climate Project program trains volunteers to take the science and the solutions of climate change out into the community and is building momentum around the globe," says Al Gore. "There are now 1,000 trained presenters working across the USA, hundreds in the UK."

Fantasea Adventure Cruising has also established the Fantasea Foundation which is involved in one of the largest coral reef monitoring programs in the world, "Eye on the Reef". Fantasea is actively committed to assisting the conservation and protection of the Marine Park. Emily was the only participant at The Climate Project from the Whitsundays. She will be available to local schools and interest groups to present The Climate Project presentation. 

For more information on the project go to www.acfonline.org.au or to make a presentation request, email info@fantasea.com.au.