JOHNSON CO. (WSIL) -- A 12-year-old from Harrisburg is using his love for scuba diving to clean up the environment.
Tanner Sheldon has been diving at Mermet Springs in Johnson County for a year and a half. Right now, he said he is certified in dry suit, perfect buoyancy,Ìýfish identification, CPR, and stress and rescue, to name a few.
The 7th grader has always loved being in the water. He is passionate about cleaning up pollution in the ocean and all the waterways. Tanner has cleaned up local creeks and lakes and hopes to do more clean-ups in oceans around the world. He said his passion for diving came after seeing videos from a social media influencer.
"It came from this Youtuber I watched. His name is DALLMYD, and his videos were really interesting, and it inspired me to want to clean up the environment and also just dive for fun because it looked really interesting," Tanner.
Tanner has started his own Youtube channel called Turtle Boi, and he recently collaborated with another local diving Youtuber named Jacob Grubbs from the Youtube channel Chaos Divers.
"DALLMYD inspired me to do this, so I'm going to try to spread his message," added Tanner.
Tanner's dream is to one day dive with , whose real name is Jake Koehler.
When he gets older, he hopes to have a career in diving, or search, or with National Geographic, or maybe be a Marine Biologist. Tanner also hopes to inspire others about the importance of keeping the waterways clean.Ìý
If you would like to follow Tanner and his underwater adventures on Youtube, click .
