I spent an inspiring week in Monterey, California attending the BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conservation Summit. In only its third session BLUE has already grown to be the premiere ocean event of its kind and collected the highest talent from the science, media, film-making, conservation, and public communities. In a week jammed by not only films, but networking events, panel discussions, luncheons and marquee events I spent all week buzzing from session to session soaking up all that I could.
My inspiration and aspiration, Dr. Sylvia Earle spoke throughout the week and I was honored to finally meet her and share some laughs. Her message for BLUE re-centered my drive to aggressively share all I have had the chance to see in our oceans and get that knowledge out to new people.
Too often particularly for young people the ocean’s problems can seem gargantuan, too large to solve, and without hope. She pronounced that now, more than ever in history is the very moment to choose to be alive living with the ocean. Over the last 30, 40, 50 years there was no way we could have known the impacts we were making on our oceans. As a global community we extracted seafood out of and disposed of waste into the ocean as if it was simply too vast to every feel the impact of our actions. We didn’t have the knowledge, technology, or tools to know what we know now. 90% of the large fish in the ocean are dead and gone. 50% of the world’s coral reefs are dead! Since the industrial revolution, there’s 30-40% less plankton (basic food chain foundation) in the global ocean. We looked out from our coastlines and saw an ocean too big to fail. There’s no way we could have known differently at the time.
But now we know. And now is the time we must change! The oceans are the life-support system for everything we know on this planet. 50% of the oxygen you breathed today was made by the ocean’s phytoplankton. 15% of the world’s protein comes straight from the ocean. The seas regulate our weather cooling the land with breezes and creating rain for the world’s agricultural regions. Now is the chance to open doors for ocean stories and ocean awareness. Now is the time to look at the world with new eyes and safeguard the blue heart of the planet.
BLUE was a week spent with many icons. I spent a wonderful evening chatting with the visionary Chris Welsh, pilot of the Virgin Oceanic submersible program. At last I met cameraman extraordinaire and fellow Aqualung ambassador Andy Brandy Casagrande IV and his lovely wife Emma. One evening I sat and chatted with Captain Don Walsh one of two men to dive to Challenger Deep (35,814 feet deep) aboard the Trieste in 1960. I was very proud to later in the week be present for the presentation of Captain Walsh’s lifetime achievement award. Another night I met Jim Toomey the cartoonist behind the brilliant Sherman’s Lagoon and the voice of the United Nations Environmental Program’s two- minute PSA campaign. During a gallery viewing I met Bryan Skerry whose beautiful photographs have inspired countless millions to take a fresh look at the ocean around them or far beyond the horizon.
Andy and Emma Casagrande
At BLUE I connected with the MacGillivray family, the drivers of MacGillivray Freeman Films the best underwater IMAX group in the world and founders of One World One Ocean campaign which does the work I love- telling ocean stories in engaging ways to inspire a global ocean conservation ethic in the next ten years. It would be a dream to work for them after the scholarship year. I listened to the passion and success of Jean-Michel Cousteau and Fabian Cousteau as they weaved together stories of ocean resilience, restoration and recovery in the face of so many challenges.
Events like BLUE are tremendously valuable to connect with others about the biggest current issues in marine conservation. Coming together in this way, together we can help bring attention to campaigns and projects that reap huge benefits for public momentum.
I learned from Blair Palese from the Antarctic Ocean Alliance about the extremely urgent fight to protect the Ross Sea. The wild south, Ross Sea hugs the Pacific edge of the Antarctic shelf. Via pollution, destruction of habitat or exploitation of fisheries every ocean has felt the pressure of a huge human population. The Ross Sea protected by thousands of snarling miles of sea is the most pristine piece of wild ocean left on our planet. Fishing fleets are just beginning to pluck the fish from those seas and there is still a chance to preserve a place we have never even studied. There are nearly 10,000 unique species in this sea and we stand now to lose treasures we’ve never even known. Hundreds of thousands of voices have already spoken up; lend your voice now to take a stand for this far away place. Leave a legacy of wild ocean for the future!
I was inspired by the GlassIsLife campaign led by Celine Cousteau and Owens-Illinois to grow the market share of glass through a PR campaign. In a world-gone-plastic, glass is superior in almost every way. Glass is beautiful, endlessly recyclable, healthy, iconic, ocean-friendly and makes food taste better. I hope you’ll visit GlassIsLife online, on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Pinterest to find simple ways to join the movement for your health and the planet’s.
Among the world’s best story tellers and ocean lovers in the sessions, I loved all the conversation focused on how critical expanding the communication about the ocean’s wonders and its plight will be. Albert II, Prince of Monaco challenged the community to move beyond making films for the “already initiated” and engage others outside the immediate ocean community. As he said, anyone already attending this conference and in this room knows they cares about the ocean we don’t have to convince them.
BLUE was a massive networking opportunity where I made some fantastic connections for the rest of my year, and friendships that will last long beyond it. I was incredibly heartened to meet a great crew of other young scientists and filmmakers with whom I know will share many great ocean adventures in the years to come. There’s a calming sense of center and real feeling of family to know you’ve found a community that together will make big change for the ocean. Among this group are filmmaker Jon Schleyer, researcher and ocean advocate Michelle Wcisel, educator and ball of energy Katie Pofahl, and producer Rachel Butler.
I’m becoming more and more enlivened as this year goes on that my real calling is to help the world know and love our oceans. I want to be the bridge to help communicate ocean messages on a big scale, to translate science and inspire people to relook at their world leading with their guts rather than trying to snare them purely academically. It’s not a tidy job description yet, but I think my enthusiasm for communicating and ability to synthesize complex information into digestible pieces holds tremendous promise for me in this industry.
Thank you to BLUE Founder and President, Debbie Kinder who donated an all-access VIP experience for me to take part in the festival. Thank you to One World One Ocean President Chris Palmer for his inexhaustible energy introducing me throughout the week and for his no nonsense kick in the pants to charge forward after my goals. BLUE was certainly one of my keystone scholar experiences of the year so far!
