Liv Wheeler, Co-Founder of Trees To Seas, works at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as their Training Coordinator for the Scientific Diving Program. This has given her insight to current issues surrounding Hawaii’s marine environment, and direct connections with the research being conducted. She is currently working on her Masters Thesis on invasive algae and methods to control it’s spread. Before her time at the University Liv worked on Oahu as a Dive Instructor for many of the dive shops. She started clean up dives for local divers on the island to remove marine debris from the reefs. She traveled to the Caribbean, initiated a lion fish removal program in Belize, and began experimental studies on sea urchin algal removal in Jamaica. With TTS teammate Phil Dustan a series of expeditions occurred always surrounding the concept of stewardship and empowering the community they would visit. “ I feel that participation is the best way to get involved and truly make a connection between a person and their environment. This connection is what inspires people to think, and become conscious of how their choices affect the greater community around them.” Liv, is now creating communities of divers with a purpose. The purpose is to be stewards of the planet. That is where the phrase “trees to seas” comes from. The idea that we are all connected, from the depths of the ocean to the tops of the trees and beyond.