As part of their mission to put sustainability on the agenda, DAN Europe (Divers Alert Network) is hosting a six-month Sustainable Tour across Europe. DAN Europe will be using TOOL’s matchmaking platform TOOL Spawn to find innovative & sustainable companies they can meet and showcase along the way. This provides great opportunities for TOOL member companies.
DAN Europe is a TOOL partner and an international non-profit organization dedicated to the health and safety of divers. Their aim is to be the most trusted organization worldwide in terms of diver safety and emergency services, health, research and education.
Thrilled by the wonders and incredibly colorful marine ecosystems, the 1960’s was a time when the oceans became a frontier for human exploration through scuba diving. At the same time scuba diving became a recreational water sport, plastic also begun to litter our Oceans. It hasn’t stopped ever since.
Almost forty years ago, DAN Europe begun leading the industry keeping divers safe while scuba diving. Now, through their Sustainable Tour, DAN Europe signal their mission to not only safeguard scuba divers but also the oceans at large. An initiative at this scale is unforeseen in the scuba diving industry.
If nothing is done, by 2050 most coral systems in the oceans will be gone. There will be more pieces of plastic in our Oceans that marine life that exist on them. Scuba divers will no longer find any of the wonders that spurred sport to grow in the 1960s or still in existence nowadays.
Roadtrip to Save the Oceans
The diving communities growing environmental concern explains the background for the Sustainable Tour. With much of the tourism and sports industries stuck due to lockdowns all around Europe, some may think now is not the best moment to launch a tour. Plans for the initiative however, were developed during the pandemic. DAN Believes ocean protection has long been overdue, and that there’s no time to lose.
The tour will have two passionate scuba divers and DAN Europe Ambassadors, Manu Bustelo and Alana Alvarez, travel some 11,500 kilometers across Europe in an electric vehicle. Along the way, they will meet and greet with stakeholders (institutions, policy makers, like-minded corporations) and the whole diving community (divers present at major dive sites, dive centers, shops and bases, equipment manufacturers, dive training agencies, etc) to address three major threats – increasing CO2 levels, plastic and chemical pollution, and biodiversity loss – and to boost change. The tour alligns with, and will promote UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Check out the map below to see if DAN Europe is traveling to where you live!
Opportunities for TOOL Members
In recent years DAN Europe has adopted a more sustainable approach, addressing issues such as ocean conservation and plastic waste. These values are also incorporated into their new mission statement. The tour will not only help them signal their shift in priority towards sustainability but also help them gain partners and customers in the European market sensible to CO2 emissions reduction.
TOOL and DAN will be collaborating for their upcoming Sustainable Tour, providing great opportunities for TOOL member companies. Through TOOL’s soon-to-launch matchmaking platform TOOL Spawn, we will connect DAN Europe Ambassadors Manu and Alana, with our amazing ocean & sustainability innovators in the TOOL community.
DAN Europe Ambassador Manuel Bustelo declares that “Sustainability is a driving force globally, directing strategies and decisions now, and the diving industry is particularly concerned”, adding “We’re happy to have DAN Europe embrace this project and drive the change we all need.”
DAN and TOOL, Common Goals
We love the ocean, and so does DAN Europe and their 100.000+ members. Throughout the tour, DAN will be meeting with change-makers and businesses that are in the forefront of ocean action, such as TOOL members. Their plan of bringing together startups, corporate groups and legislators, mirrors TOOL’s mission of bridging the gap between diverse stakeholders who share a common motive.
DAN also shares our goal of empowering the young generation of changemakers, what we call, generation cleanup. They have partnered up with NGO EarthEcho International, co-founded by Philip Custoe, an organization that reaches out to and mobilizes students and youth interested in sustainability. Together with TOOL, DAN hopes to connect youth with each other and provide them the resources to be leaders in sustainable action.
Stay tuned for further details on the Sustainable Tour and more info on how TOOL members can get involved.