Protect Our Nature Demands

What is project P.O.N.D?

Environmental Protection is a beaten dog – a Phrase – in everyone’s mouth, in the focus of some and lived only by a few.

Well – what can the guy next door do to safe the planet? Donate cash? – buy a shirt from his favourite conservationist organisation. Yes – but how exciting is that?
How much can you influence a ten year old when you tell him about saving the whales and the oceans. Barely I would guess. But when you tell him about the little water where he walks along every day on his way home from school – when you make him curious, when you make him part of it.. Then he will catch fire.
How close to reality is the guy on his couch when he watches the documentary about the saving of this reef on the other end of the world? Don’t get me wrong, he thinks its cool – but he will never be part of it. Even if he wants to – how? Too far away, not enough time, money. The family, responsibilities.. It’s a great TV show but it’s not within reach..

BUT: driving to this quarry where he already played when he was a kid and DO something with is OWN HANDS and earn some credits for it.. THAT is within reach – that is COOL – because he CAN be PART of it..
Start small and grow big! That is the idea behind P.O.N.D. All of you know this one quarry or this one small pond near to the place you live. Maybe you took a bath there once as a kid – maybe you threw some stones in it some time when you were waiting for your date as a teen. Even being a diver you might never have thought about it as a habitat. What is in there? What fish, what amphibians? Is it clean or poisoned by trash thrown in carelessly?

FIND it out – Today!

Document it by film and photo. Take water samples and have them analysed, count the number of species.
Present your results! - to the owner - to the public.
Contribute it to the ISE Presentation pool of documents that are used to create awareness in schools, kindergartens, universities and other institutions where people are listening and can be motivated to be more careful with our natural resources.
This Program will spread out around the globe and encourage people all over the world to have a closer look on the gems that might be right in front of their door….

If you want to become a part of the P.O.N.D. Project – if you know a place that could be documented – If you want to present in your hometown, or if you simply want to help documenting.
Drop us a mail – we are looking forward to work with you!
ISE Headquarter is working on five different ponds / lakes at the moment and started its presentations in a school in Starnberg close to Munich. More details and results will be posted here as the projects progresses.
This Program is proudly sponsored by:

P.O.N.D Projects

Palau "Sam´s Wall"

Palau is famous among divers for its biodiversity, intact shark population
(Palau was the first country to declare its waters a shark sanctuary in 2009),
heavy drift dives along steep walls and fascinating wrecks.
The dock at the dive base of Sam's Tours would not look like a prime dive
spot at first instance. Yet, there is a resident colony of mandarin fish who
come out of the debris each afternoon. There is also a variety of macro life
that Palau is usually not known for. The dock is in the focus of this P.O.N.D.
project.

Documents:

Kloster Seeon

Lake in the south of Germany with a stunning history and a monestary on an island in the middle of the lake. Well protected and
basically untouched. Excellent water qualitiy and a pristine aquaitic life.

Documents: Images:

Suedfriedhof Munich

Big pond on one of Munichs´biggest cementaries that looks pretty nice from ourside but tunred out to be a quite poisonous.

Documents: Images:

Vouliagmeni Lake #1

Lake Vouliagmeni ("Sunken Lake"), a small brackish water lake fed by underground currents seeping through the mass of Mount
Hymettus. It was once a large cavern that collapsed following an earthquake, probably during the early middle Ages. The outline of
the collapsed cavern roof can be clearly discerned from a distance. The lake stands at a 40 cm elevation, and its water maintains
a constant 24 degrees Celsius temperature year round. It continues deep inside the mountain in an underwater cave never fully
explored, as its end seems impossible to trace even by employing sonar detection. Many underwater expeditions have been carried
out in order to chart it, and a few amateur divers have drowned trying. Because of its constant and comfortable water temperature,
the lake functions as a year-round spa. (Wikipedia)

Documents:

Images:

Vouliagmeni Lake #2

Brief summary of history, use, state, etc.: Lake Vouliagmeni, situated 25 km south-east of the centre of Athens, was formed when
the roof of an underground cave collapsed and flooded, after an earthquake occurred 2000 years ago (Chintiroglou et al., 1996).
The lagoon covers a surface area of 4000 m2 with a maximum depth of 13 m (Gontikaki et al., 2003). The ‘western’ part of the lake
is a 30 m high rocky cliff. The lagoon is 260 m long and 145 m wide with an extensive underwater channel network, that reaches
depths of 100 m. (Chintiroglou, Antoniadou, & Damianidis, 2008)

Documents: Images: