Friday, June 12, 2020

Abrigado


These days with so many big issues vying for attention we were afraid that the Oceans might get short shrift on World Oceans Day. With beaches just beginning to open up and with programming shifted to online, we feared that audiences might be distracted and not tune in.

Route Global in Brasil, Portugal and the USA is an international NGO focused on beach clean-ups, education and ocean advocacy that uses art as an activator. To celebrate World Oceans Day, they did an awesome job of organizing 3 days, June 6-8, of panel discussions with some 24 ocean related topics. And people tuned in — they watched and commented on chat and sent emojis.


The programs were recorded and are now archived on The Ocean Day YouTube channel. 

When Rubem Miranda from Route USA and Simão Filippe Route Brasil asked if we would be on a panel themed Blue Vision we were thrilled. Our cohorts included Mauro Figueiredo,(from Brasil but zooming in from Australia) a doctor in environmental law and one of those responsible for writing the law of the sea in Brasil, Sebastian Copeland (from Munich) an adventurer and fine art photographer, Captain Charles Moore (from Long Beach) who discovered the Pacific Garbage Patch and Barbara Veiga (from Amsterdam but zooming in from London) photographer and co-founder of the League of Women Across the Oceans. We were honored to be featured with such an esteemed group of ocean experts.



During the discussion we were reminded of and introduced to many ideas that are worthy of further investigation. Here are links to just a few of the mentions: 
Fritjov Capra: PDF of The Tao of Physics  about the parallels between physics and Eastern mysticism. 
Amsterdam re-envisions its public policy based on the doughnut economy.
We have long admired Captain Moore for his pioneering work in oceanography and his commitment to environmental education but we just learned about his interest in Urban Gardening. We share this love of gardening on our RanchoD blog.  
James Lovelock author of the GAIA theory 
Surfers are establishing Surfing Reserves to protect coastlines. 
M.S. Merwin's poem Place.



Obrigado to Route Global for a job well done!