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NEWS
Beach AND Underwater Cleanup – A Collaborative Effort
NEWS
FAILSAFE diving with the new Poseidon Tech Rebreather
“Two rebreathers in one” enhances safety in the silent WORLD
Johnson Controls (JCI), a global leader in
automotive experience, building efficiency
and power solutions, through its Dubai
manufacturing facility, partnered with the
Filipino Scuba Divers Club UAE (FSDC) in a
beach and underwater cleanup program in
early May. This was held as part of the Blue
Sky Involve initiative, Johnson Controls’ Global
Social Responsibility Program.
On the morning of May 4 th , Cleanup Day, 42
Johnson Controls employees and their families
and FSDC divers got together to collect the
rubbish that littered the beautiful Jumeirah
beach and its underwater environment. Magdy
Mekky, Johnson Controls Vice President
and Managing Director – Middle East, led
the Johnson Controls team with example,
motivating them to exceed expectations.
Johnson Controls’ “Blue Sky Involve” is an
employee-driven volunteer program which
encourages employees to form volunteer
groups and contribute to the local community
by supporting environmental stewardship and
leadership development projects. Earlier this
year, personnel from Johnson Controls Dubai
manufacturing facility approached FSDC to
propose a CSR activity in line with the“Blue
Sky Involve” initiative. FSDC responded with a
plan for a Beach and Underwater Cleanup that
would engage Johnson Controls employees
in improving the environment and spreading
awareness about the marine environment. The
plan was supported by the Emirates Diving
Association in its mission to conserve, protect
and restore the UAE’s marine resources.
Subsequent to approval from Johnson Controls
US based head quarters and detailed analysis of
safety concerns, the teams started working on
the project immediately, and the first step was
a permit from Dubai municipality. The open
beach at Jumeirah was chosen as the venue.
The beach cleanup was manned by 27
volunteers. Close to 4,000 cigarette butts were
collected and disposed in an environmentally
responsible manner. The underwater cleanup
with 15 divers resulted in the collection of
several hundred kilograms of plastic bags and
other trash. Plastic bags which take thousands
of years to degrade constitute the single
largest threat to the underwater environment
resulting in the death of fish and turtles due
to choking and ingestion. The information
recorded was summarized and sent to the
Ocean Conservancy through EDA to be used
in educating the public, business, industry and
government officials about problems arising
from marine debris.
For this Cleanup Day, participants who
gathered the most amount of debris were
given special gifts courtesy of Johnson
Controls. Mr. Mekky likewise recognized the
contributions of FSDC, led by Tina Vitug
(Chairman) and of EDA, represented by
Reema Al Abbas (Project Manager).
Poseidon introduces its new family member, the Poseidon Tech at
Rebreather Forum 3 in Orlando, Florida. The world’s first rebreather
to have a fully automatic bailout system, the Poseidon Tech features a
redundant back-up rebreather with fully automatic switching. In brief,
you can say it’s two rebreathers in one.
In the event of a malfunction, the Poseidon Tech’s safety system switches
from the primary to secondary rebreather without missing a breath –
or you missing a beat. With a secondary dive computer, nothing gets
lost in the switch. This gives the diver time to evaluate the situation,
enabling them to make better decisions. The diver can then make
manual additions to the system, or leave the system in automatic mode.
Peter Swartling, CEO of Poseidon Diving Systems, says that Poseidon
Tech takes diving to a whole new dimension:
“Poseidon Tech means we can offer divers greatly enhanced safety for
technical diving. Poseidon’s aim is to increase the level of automation
by using smart systems that monitor every breath, make adjustments
accordingly and interact with the user only when they need to know
what’s going on. The introduction of Poseidon Tech is a giant step
towards the perfect diving experience.”
Poseidon Tech brings the diver all the benefits of rebreather diving;
getting closer to marine life, much more time underwater, silent, bubblefree
operation along with this new and enhanced level of Poseidon’s
patented safety technology. Poseidon Tech is designed and built for one
purpose: the less a diver has to think about the equipment, the better
their dive will be.
Poseidon Tech will be available for sale from November 2012. Pricing
will be announced at that time.
More detailed information is available at: www.poseidon.com
If you have further questions, please contact:
Marcus Benér | Marketing Executive, Poseidon Diving Systems
E-mail: marcus.bener@poseidon.com
Tel: +46 708 776 688
Poseidon Diving Systems AB Poseidon was founded by divers, for divers.
When Ingvar Elfström launched the world’s first series manufactured
single hose regulator in 1958 it became an immediate sensation.
The company currently has over 2,000 sales agents worldwide. Its
headquarters and manufacturing are located in Gothenburg, Sweden.
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JUNE 2012, DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 25