Collaborations
Building a bigger, wider and more inclusive blue movement.
Thank you for supporting my work through our Patreon campaign, Through your support over the past two decades I've been able to work using a truly radical and artful collaboration model, partnering with many great people, businesses, agencies, and organizations. I've listed some of them below, so you can get an idea of how seriously I take building relationships and sharing as part of our efforts to create common knowledge and a Blue Mind Groundswell.
If you'd like to stay in touch, please join my e-list.
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” ~ Charles Darwin
The Live Blue Foundation is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, a network that connects businesses, consumers, and nonprofits, empowering all of us to drive big, positive change. #LOVEBLUE #LIVEBLUE
Members of our team have stood on the summit of Mount Everest, set world records in Antarctica, saved sea turtles from extinction, surfed waves the size of mountains, guided expeditions to the North Pole and have ranked 4th in the World Wingsuit League. We take this wild wisdom from our adventures and translate it to the boardroom. Leading cross-functional business teams, consulting with Fortune 500 companies, all whilst partnering with neuroscientists and clients from all corners of the globe. I am a strategic advisor to the AIP Group.
I co-founded BBT with Brad Nahill to drastically increase the number of baby sea turtles being released into the oceans around the world. Six out of seven species of sea turtles around the world are endangered or threatened. SEE Turtles launched this initiative to reverse this decline by saving one billion baby turtles around the world over the next decade. In addition, we launched a program designed to build capacity for turtle educational programs at key turtle habitats around Latin America. For every dollar that we raise, we can save one turtle hatchling through our partner conservation organizations around the world. To date, we have saved nearly 1 million hatchlings at nesting beaches in El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and elsewhere.
Biosphere Foundation’s primary goal is to inspire intelligent stewardship of our earth’s biosphere.
Its projects aim to contribute to the existing body of knowledge about the biosphere and to inspire individuals to get involved through either “hands-on” fieldwork or community-based outreach programs.
We started the BMP with a bag of marbles at an event in the New England Aquarium’s IMAX theater. The idea? Pass a blue marble through every person's hand on earth, with a simple message of gratitude along with it. That's bold. But since we launched back in 2009, millions around the world have hopped on board this blue bandwagon.
Blue Mind is a fast growing groundswell that reconnects people to water by linking ocean and waterway exploration, restoration and water conservation with neuroscience, psychology, public health and well-being. This involves an annual summit, smaller gatherings, workshops and training, research collaborations, communications campaigns, and a small grants program through The Ocean Foundation, the fiscal sponsor for The Live Blue Foundation.
I serve on the Blue Parks Science Council to help in the selection of annual awardees. Marine Conservation Institute launched Blue Parks to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. The Blue Parks initiative is an innovative strategy to incentivize decision makers to establish protected areas that safeguard marine life, promote opportunities for sustainable tourism, health and wellness. We invite you to join us on our journey to secure lasting conservation for our oceans.
A Community Engaged Surf & Yoga Camp that shares Blue Mind and the Blue Marbles Project with all of their guests and students. A Costa Rican surf camp offering guests the opportunity to engage with the local community, (re)connect with nature through the "silent" activities of surfing and yoga, and return home having experienced a week of simplicity. Awakening your inner surfer begins with Bodhi Surf Camp in Uvita, Costa Rica.
As Chief Evangelist for Water (CEH2O) at Buoy Labs, my job is to reconnect people to their Blue Mind – at home and wherever we roam in the world – helping them to Live Blue. Buoy helps us remove worry from our lives and add more joy, creativity and relaxation.
Catamaran Literary Reader features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and the visual arts. Based in the Tannery Arts and Digital Media Center Studios, in Santa Cruz, CA., Our mission is to capture the vibrant creative spirit of The West Coast in writing and art from around the world and to present diverse international voices around the themes of the natural world and the environment, personal freedom and innovation, and the artistic spirit.
Small batch, handmade organic soap made on the SLOWCOAST in California. Every bar of soap saves a baby sea turtle, feeds a child or plants a tree. And each bar of soap leaves you smelling good and holding a blue marble in gratitude.
California Academy of Sciences
I've been a Research Associate in the Department of Herpetology, my academic home, since 1999. The Academy is the oldest research institution in California located in Golden Gate Park in a fantastic state of the art green building. I like it. @calacademy
CBS, Fox, Spectrum, HLN News
Since 2009 I have partnered on content development with producers and on-air talent at several news networks, focused on water, wildfire and general environmental topics. Search the archive of my site for links!
I am a Senior Fellow at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies' Center for the Blue Economy where I mentor students, work on innovative research, and teach a course on Blue Mind. The CBE provides leadership in research, education, and analytics to promote a sustainable Blue Economy. Through this work, we demonstrate the importance of ocean and coastal resources for regional economies, and help improve policy and business decisions in this era of accelerating coastal climate change impacts.
I served on Coastwalk’s advisory board. Coastwalk is a California-wide non-profit organization that advocates for coastal protection and access via the California Coastal Trail and offers fun and educational walking tours of the California coast for people of all ages. In summer 2003 ten of us trekked 1,200 miles from Oregon to Mexico along the Coastal Trail.
I was a Principal Investigator on Project GLOBAL, a 3 year an assessment of the world’s bycatch of seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and named a Duke University Marine Lab Distinguished Conservation Scholar in 2006. I did my Masters work at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
I'm on Earthwatch's advisory board as well as a former Principal Investigator on Earthwatch sea turtle research projects in Baja California Sur, Mexico. I’ve worked with Earthwatch in many ways for the past two decades. If you’re looking for an intelligent, meaningful way to spend your next vacation, you’ve found it.
I serve on the advisory board (and named!) EAL, a highly collaborative and effective organization that protects and conserves the natural and cultural environment of the Bahia de Loreto region by empowering civil society and government to jointly create healthy and prosperous communities.
Proud to be one of the founding fathers of EcoDads. A Next-Generation Parenting Movement that is: Fixing Education, Creating a New Economy, and Producing Environmental Stewards. Join us!
Environmental Visual Communication Program
I'm a Science Advisor for the Environmental Visual Communication Program. Positioned at the Convergence of Science and Art, the Environmental Visual Communication program is designed to fill a recognized void of individuals who possess a blend of environmental science skills and the ability to effectively communicate to a variety of audiences. With a focus on strategic messaging and technical savvy, students will learn to use photography, videography, multimedia, and design principles to bridge environmental competencies with thoughtful communication through diverse media channels. Fleming College is delivering this Environmental Visual Communication Ontario College Graduate Certificate program in a truly unique learning environment – at the Royal Ontario Museum in downtown Toronto, Canada.
Esalen is a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research. We work toward the realization of a more just, creative, and sustainable world, seeking answers to questions unlikely to be explored by traditional universities and religions. We sponsor pioneering initiatives and offer personal, spiritual, and social transformation programs for residents, interns, and workshop participants.
I serve on the Floatation Tank Association Board of Advisors. As the voice of the floatation industry for over 20 years, it is of primary importance to FTA to recommend best practices and encourage members to establish and maintain a high level of professionalism. As the industry expands internationally, FTA’s guidelines set the level of quality and integrity expected from the floatation community throughout the world.
Frontiers for Young Minds: Science mentors provide input and guidance during the review process helping Young Reviewers understand the importance of their role and their connection to the scientific community.
I love collaborating with FF to further our shared mission to foster ocean ambassadors and future leaders to protect the ocean. Listen to or watch this conversation with my colleague and friend Richard Hyman - a diver and leader I truly admire - that kicked off their Blue Earthpodcast series.
Ghost Ranch is an education and retreat center located in northern New Mexico that fosters well-being and spiritual health through this historic, inspiring southwest landscape.
I serve as an advisory board member for Grounded, an initiatve led by Julia Jackson to elevate the conversation about climate change and our food systems through cutting edge conversations over good organic wine.
I am the co-founder and an advisor to this two-decade strong grassroots sea turtle conservation network that now includes thousands of people in more than 50 coastal communities throughout Mexico. @grupotortuguero
Heirs to Our Oceans is a rising tide of young leaders around the globe who are taking the ocean crisis into their own hands, educating themselves and others, bringing hope and solutions to the surface, and creating waves of change that will ensure the health of our blue planet for their generation and for future generations.
ICAPO is a network of individuals and organizations, ranging from local fishermen to conservationists to heads of government, with one thing in common; a desire to learn about and save hawksbill turtles in the eastern Pacific Ocean. ICAPO was officially formed in June of 2008 at the 'First Workshop of the Hawksbill Turtle in the Eastern Pacific" held in Los Cobanos, El Salvador.
IFF is most fascinating. I serve as an advisor to IFF on the Hyperbolic Coral Reef project. You’ll love it and you’ll love them.
I serve on the Advisory Council for the IFTF, based on Palo Alto, California. The Institute for the Future (IFTF) is an independent nonprofit research group. We work with organizations of all kinds to help them make better, more informed decisions about the future. We provide the foresight to create insights that lead to action. We bring a combination of tools, methodologies, and a deep understanding of emerging trends and discontinuities to our work with companies, foundations, and government agencies. We take an explicitly global approach to strategic planning, linking macro trends to local issues in such areas as: Work and daily life, Technology and society, Health and health care, Global business trends, Changing consumer society.
International Sea Turtle Society
I served as the 2008 President of the ISTS and on the Board of Directors, through 2010, and remain very involved in the Society.
IUCN Marine Turtle Specialists Group
I served as the Eastern Pacific Region Vice Chair for many years and remain an active member. The IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) is part of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Comprised of more than 230 expert members in over 80 countries, the MTSG is the global authority on marine turtle research and conservation.
I'm a founding innovator with Kumu, an innovation lab incepting and incubating transformative activism with a focus on emerging and future enviro-social issues.
Little, Brown and Company is my wonderful publisher for Blue Mind. The Live Blue Campaign
“Live like you love the ocean” is the simple message of this campaign, launched in late 2006. Live Blue seeks to reconnect people to water and promote the “blue mind movement” through neuroconservation and positive ocean-friendly living, eating, travel, thinking and political change messages. We've shared millions of blue marbles as simple tokens of gratitude. Watch for many people and orgs adopting the “live blue” mantra, including the ISTS, Oceana, New England Aquarium, and Save Our Shores! The #LiveBlue campaign has now evolved into The Live Blue Foundation, however watch for the Live Blue book coming summer of 2020.
Our Mission: The Live Blue Foundation was created to put Blue Mind science and best practices into action—safely getting people near, in, on and under water for life.
Our Vision: We recognize that water is medicine for those who need it most and everyone else. Our vision is a world where everyone understands and has access to the cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, physical and spiritual health benefits of waters and oceans–their #bluemind.
Our Activities: Based on a decade of research, outreach, a global network of experts, and the groundswell created by the book Blue Mind by Dr. Wallace J Nichols, we identify leading organizations around the world who reconnect people with water throughout their lives and provide tools needed to put #bluemind in action.
I'm on the board of Local Catch, a Community Supported Fishery (CSF) for Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. LCMB offers CSA-style weekly shares of fresh, local, sustainable seafood to its members.
True believers in the "radical collaboration" model, the Lonely Whale team has been fantistic to work with on our two decades long effort to end plastic pollution as well as to share Blue Mind among our peers.
Coming soon into your subconscious brain. Neuroactivism.org is a bridge between the neuromarketing community and the value-driven world incubated by Kumu, an Innovation lab for Transformative Activism.
We share our data with the Ocean Biogeographic Information System Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations, a spatially referenced online database, aggregating marine mammal, seabird and sea turtle observation data from across the globe.
Connecting youth for conservation, Ocean Connectors has linked people and animals around the world for more than a decade. The Ocean Connectors program began in name in 2001 with pen-pal letter writing exchanges between youth in the US, Japan, and Mexico, following the path of migrating loggerhead sea turtles. The program expanded to link youth in Watsonville, California with children in Nayarit, Mexico focusing on olive ridley sea turtles. Today under the leadership and vision of Frances Kinney, Ocean Connector continues to grow, educating and inspiring many young people along the migration routes of ocean animals.
I served as a past member of the Ocean Council and remain an active collaborator and supporter of Oceana, a leading global ocean advocacy group with offices around the world.
Advocates for wild, healthy oceans for more than 30 years. I served as a Senior Scientist in OC’s Santa Cruz office from 2006-2008, focusing on bycatch in fisheries and sea turtle biology and conservation as well as working to grow the base of the ocean conservation movement. Be sure to sign up for the annual International Coastal Cleanup.
Ocean Courier is a conservation and sailing adventure that trumpets the critical need for ocean stewardship efforts worldwide. OC's goal is to transform all citizens into concerned activists driven to take intelligent action in their own communities. Ocean Courier will travel to marine areas in jeopardy, marine sanctuaries, and other ocean areas of ecological interest to celebrate or protect. OC will introduce passionate citizens and scientists engaged in ocean conservation efforts.
TOF provides the fiscal sponsorship for eleven (yes, eleven!) projects that I’m involved with. Not to mention dozens of other projects working to make the ocean stronger, healthier, and more full of the abundance we need.
I serve on OD's Advisory Board. Oceanic Defense is an international education organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense teaches people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives.
SEE Turtles is an Oceanic Society-sponsored program that works to protect sea turtles through ecotourism. By participating in one of their sea turtle-focused volunteer vacations in Latin America, you can gain hands-on experience while supporting field-based conservation.
In 2004 Tim Dykman and I co-founded / co-direct Ocean Revolution to collaborate with Indigenous Communities to support projects, provide funding skills, facilitate knowledge-transfer, and create international networks capable of influencing local, regional and global action; bringing recognition to these communities, helping to assure justice, and providing a framework for responsible economic development. @oceanrevolution
Ocean Voices is a project by sound artist Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols designed to collect spoken voice recordings from people around the world responding to a few personal questions about the ocean. The voices will be combined with music written by Halsey, into real-time generative audio collages based on the preferences of individual listeners. This website currently is the primary vehicle for collecting those voices, but as soon as enough are collected to seed the system, this site will also generate the streaming audio collages thereby spreading the words of all participants around the globe.
I served on Otter 501's Advisory Board. Blending original footage and the tools of social media, OTTER 501 is a unique hybrid of fact and fiction that takes the traditional wildlife documentary into a new style of storytelling.
I served as an Advisor to Passionfish. Passionfish was the single largest endeavor uniting diverse stakeholders to discuss fishery and seafood sustainability—and doing so in the company of the seafood and culinary industries whose members profoundly influence consumer demand.
I advise and work with Peak Teams as a neurofacilitator. PT strives to Lead Positive Change both in work and play and believes in living the principles they talk about. Every member of the team seeks out challenging experiences that help them learn and grow.
Planetary Coral Reef Foundation
I serve PCRF’s as a scientific advisor and board member. The Planetary Coral Reef Foundation (PCRF) was founded in 1991 to address the coral reef crisis. Since its inception, PCRF has pursued an unprecedented global mission to preserve coral reefs through innovative programs in science, education, and technology.
I worked with PPC founders to position and brand this leading coalition dedicated to the remediation of plastic pollution worldwide. I currently serve as the chair of their Science Advisory Board. @plasticpollutes
PLUCK.faS.TiC [pluhk-fas-tik] -adjective
Definitions: 1) alternative to plastic conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; fun and creative alternatives to single use plastic. 2) extraordinarily good quality in reference to an alternative to disposable, toxic plastic. 3) an exclamation in response to someone using a reusable or biodegradable alternative to disposable, single-use plastic as in: “wow, that’s a pluckfastic refillable glass water bottle (or coffee mug or shopping bag or take-out container) with the pluckfastic.org sticker on it!” @pluckfastic
Together with Dr. Hoyt Peckham, I co-founded ProCaguama, a network of individuals, fishermen, and organizations aimed at restoring endangered loggerhead turtles to the North Pacific. Dr. Peckham now directs the project throughout the Pacific as part of Grupo Tortuguero.
I served as a Conservation Science Advisor to ProPeninsula. ProP worked to build the environmental movement on the Baja California Peninsula.
A G-Star collaboration with Pharrell Williams, owner of Bionic Yarn. Learn more about it here while you listen to Pharrell’s special version of Happy.
Since their founding, I've worked closely with RED to help design expeditions and advance their business. The RED Sustainable Travel project was founded in 2009 upon the idea that conservation and socioeconomic well-being go hand in hand, an approach that runs counter to models that place NGOs and academia at the center of conservation rather than people. Since its founding, the RED project has shattered paradigms, changed lives, and created natural resource stewards in rural communities throughout NW Mexico.
I was a founding member of the Advisory Board for RPI, a global reef advocacy, and education group.
I’m a board member of SOS, an inspiring Santa Cruz-based ocean group fighting for our coast and ocean, keeping it cleaner, safer and free of oil platforms for three decades!
I serve on the Vision Council for STW’s World Surf Reserves Program. In 2012 I was honored with Save The Waves' annual Wave Saver Award, joining some of my ocean heroes who have been past recipients.
TSE offers individual, customized, affordable internship packages to U.S. graduate and undergraduate students. Our interns go to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, or Brazil and earn college credit at San Diego State University or their own university. Interns can work at a sea turtle research center on the beach or in a university lab, collect data in the field for their paper, and immerse themselves in the local culture and language. The foreign sea turtle organization receives a flow of skilled science students, collaboration with an American university, and joint publication opportunities.
I’m on the Board of Directors for seaturtle.org which is basically the first place you should go to learn about sea turtle research and conservation around the world. Michael Coyne is a genius.
I serve on the STF board and support their efforts to protect sea turtles and keep our coasts healthy in many ways. Their team works tirelessly in Costa Rica and Oregon for our ocean.
SEEthe WILD.org and SEEturtles.org
A program I co-founded with Brad Nahill to connect people who love sea turtles, and other ocean and terrestrial wildlife, with the best places to see those wild animals, learn about them AND help local people. Sign up for a seeTURTLES.org partner expedition now!
I serve on the Science Advisory Panel for Sempervirens. Preserving Redwood Forests Since 1900, the Sempervirens Fund protects and permanently preserves redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests, wildlife habitat, watersheds, and other important natural features of California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, and encourages people to appreciate and enjoy this environment. As a resident of California's SLOWCOAST region, this is personally very important to me.
I'm on the advisory board of Shark Stewards whose mission is to restore ocean health by saving apex predators such as sharks, and protecting critical marine habitat through the establishment of marine protected areas and shark sanctuaries, and through fisheries policy, education and advocacy.
A campaign of Ocean Revolution aimed to bring awareness about the #1 seafood in the U.S. and the destruction related to trawling for shrimp and farming shrimp.
I serve as a practitioner mentor and advisor for the wonderful Smith Fellows Program of the Society for Conservation Biology.
SUFB scours the scientific journals for information on the latest Ocean Conservation material and provides it to you in a way that you can understand. We also conduct interviews with various people and organizations around the world who are using innovative techniques to do Ocean Conservation.
Julie Starke is a good friend and a highly skilled creative that collaborates and connects with people, places and things to shine a light on the positive and support those using their voices for good.
I'm on the Advisory Board for Sustainable Surf, a California-based 501(c)(3) non-profit charity organization founded by social entrepreneurs located in the heart of the Southern CA surfing industry and at the nexus of sustainable business in Northern CA. Our Mission: Be the catalyst that transforms surf culture and industry into a powerful community that protects the ocean playground. We believe that surfing can become the premier showcase of people and businesses working together to solve environmental problems while having fun.
SWOT is a partnership among Oceanic Society, the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG), Duke University’s OBIS-SEAMAP, and an ever-growing international team of local organizations, scientists, and conservationists. Together, this powerful group—the SWOT Team—seeks to create a permanent global network of specialists working to accelerate the conservation of sea turtles and their habitats, pooling and synthesizing data, and regularly sharing the information with audiences who can make a difference.
TTO connects select business and their customers with an opportunity to support ocean conservation by making a small tip, and receiving a blue marble in gratitude. To become part of TTO get in touch!
Turtle Island Restoration Network + Sea Turtle Restoration Project
I was a board member for a decade and long-term supporter of STRP, advocates for sea turtles, salmon, and their habitats around the world for over 30 years.
UBB supports ocean protection through the sale of their sustainable products. For every item sold, they clean a pound of trash from our shores and donate to conservation organizations like the Blue Mind Fund. I am a founding member of their Ocean Advisory Board.
I've worked with, supported and advised several Waterkeepers from Baja to the US. Waterkeeper programs provide a voice for waterways and their communities worldwide.
WiLDCOAST/COSTASALVAjE
I’m a co-founder of WiLDCOAST and served as co-director for five years. The WiLDCOAST team works tirelessly to protect coastal wildlands and wildlife.
The 5 Gyres Institute sails the world's oceans and fresh water ecosystems to better understand the scope of plastic pollution and its implications for human health. With the knowledge gained from at-sea research, 5 Gyres employs dynamic communication tools for advocacy, education, and outreach to the public at large. A global problem requires a global solution, and it's our goal to engage with activists, educators, industry, and policymakers to solve the marine the plastic plight. By coupling ordinary citizens with scientists at sea, we cultivate ambassadors with an authentic, firsthand vantage to engage at different touch-points in society, whether it's politics, business, arts or grassroots activism.
