Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue Voyage Raises Money and Awareness to Save Oceans | Gimundo

Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue Voyage Raises Money and Awareness to Save Oceans

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle led 100 artists, activists, and influencers like Leonardo Di Caprio and cartoonist Jim Toomey on a tour of the Galapagos, raising $15 million to conserve the oceans.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on April 13 2010

We love the TED Conference, which spotlights idealists and innovative thinkers who are going to change the world. Each year, TED gives three $100,000 prize to creative thinkers to fund their plans to change the world. Last year, one of the prize-winners was Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer and activist with one passionate wish: “I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.”

One year later, Earle has just completed a landmark mission with her prize winnings: The Mission Blue voyage. From April 6th to 10th, Earle led a diverse group of scientists, explorers, innovators, artists, and other influential figures that included actor Leonardo DiCaprio, ocean rower Roz Savage, cartoonist Jim Toomey, musician Damien Rice, and explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau on a journey through the Galapagos Islands.

Throughout the four-day journey, each of the boat’s speakers gave seminars on their particular areas of focus: Barton Seavor, a renowned chef in Washington, D.C., led a discussion of sustainable seafood; National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry showed an astonishing slide show of ocean images; and ocean researcher Daniel Pauly provided background information on the oceans’ destruction, along with many other memorable speakers.

After taking in the speakers’ words and the magnificent sights of the Galapagos, the Mission Blue passengers were inspired to action: driven by a passion to protect the world’s oceans, the participants began working together to create strategic initiatives that would raise awareness of ocean pollution and help to conserve the spots most in need of protection. Participants made plans to help educators teach children about the need for ocean conservation and to permanently protect the Sargasso Sea, among other ideas.

And what’s more, they put their money where their mouths are: by the time the passengers disembarked, they had collectively pledged more than $15 million to help protect the oceans. So while the journey may be over, the real mission has only just begun.

Learn more at the Mission Blue website.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Celebrities, Green, Heroes, Non-Profits, Science,

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