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GEEC-ing out at Girls Underwater Robot Camp

By Courtney Mattison

When it comes to women’s education these days, opportunities abound—especially to get young women interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). As of 2013, only about 25% of American STEM degree holders were women, but universities, nonprofits and the White House alike are working hard to change that by introducing programs and incentives aimed at inspiring girls and women to pursue careers in STEM fields. One especially exciting new organization is called Global Engineering & Exploration Counselors (GEECs). Founded by National Geographic Young Explorer and submarine pilot Erika Bergman and marine science and technology communicator and educator Samantha Wishnak, GEECs is creating opportunities for teenage girls to explore the ocean (and their interests in STEM) using underwater robots, also known as remotely operated vehicles or ROVs.…

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Marine Protection in the Spotlight at Our Ocean Conference

By Courtney Mattison Hope was in the air during this week’s Our Ocean Conference in Valparaiso, Chile, where over 400 government leaders, researchers and ocean conservation advocates gathered for two days to make and support commitments to protect marine biodiversity. Seeking solutions to illegal fishing, marine plastic pollution, ocean acidification and climate change, Our Ocean 2015 focused on encouraging the use of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a tool to regulate harmful human activities that threaten ocean health.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet led the way in announcing the establishment of the Nazca-Desventuradas marine park—which will cover a surface area of more than 297,000 square kilometers (over 114,000 square miles) surrounding the San Ambrosio and San Felix islands—and a commitment to create a second marine protected area encompassing over 600,000 square kilometers around Easter Island.…

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Mission Blue Film Wins an Emmy!

We’re tremendously excited to announce that the Nextflix original documentary Mission Blue won the 2015 News & Documentary Emmy® Award for Outstanding Editing – Documentary and Long Form! While Mission Blue founder and National Geographic Explorer in Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle has been spreading her message of hope for years, this message—our Mission Blue—has leapt to the next level of awareness in the global public consciousness.
The documentary, directed by Bob Nixon and Fisher Stevens and edited by Peter R. Livingston Jr., began inspiring people across 40+ countries in August 2014. Honored with this Emmy® Award, we anticipate that Dr. Earle’s simple message of ocean conservation—of respect for our planet and what sustains us—will reverberate through the homes and hearts of Netflix’s global audience now deeper than ever before.…

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Artists & Scientists Return from Arctic Expedition

A team of 60 of the world’s leading marine scientists, photographers, filmmakers and fine artists recently returned from an expedition to the icy waters of Norway, Greenland and Iceland to explore and document the impacts of climate change on the fragile high Arctic region. The two-and-a-half-week Elysium Artists for the Arctic expedition was orchestrated by photographer Michael Aw—director of the Ocean Geographic Society—who co-led the trip alongside Mission Blue founder and National Geographic Explorer in Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle and acclaimed photographers David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes and Ernie Brooks. The team traveled from North Spitsbergen to North and East Greenland and on to Iceland aboard the 71.61-meter MV Polar Pioneer—a Finnish ice-strengthened research vessel specially charted for the expedition.
The team experienced incredible panoramas of glaciers, icebergs and mountains, went snorkeling and diving in frigid high Arctic waters and documented numerous polar bears, walruses, Arctic hares and kittiwakes.…

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Uniting Ocean and Earth for Climate Action

By Courtney Mattison  This winter, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris will feature one of the largest gatherings of world leaders to ever address global warming. The stage is set for all United Nations member states to come together and create an international agreement on the climate with the goal of keeping global warming below 2°C. In anticipation of this opportunity, President Barack Obama announced an action plan to combat climate change in June. Also this summer, Pope Francis demonstrated a masterful understanding of the science behind global warming and urged Catholics to take immediate action to combat greenhouse gas emissions in his recently released encyclical. Even China, the world’s heaviest polluter, has committed to significantly reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.…

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A Big Blue Happy Birthday to Dr. Sylvia Earle!

From the bottom of our blue hearts, we here at Mission Blue want to wish Dr. Sylvia Earle, our founder, the happiest birthday. Her unparalleled dedication to pushing forward the ocean conservation agenda on the world stage is only matched by her indefatigable passion for being beneath the waves with the creatures of the blue every chance she gets. Happy Birthday, Dr. Earle!

In celebration of Dr. Earle’s birthday, we bring you, dear reader, two special gifts.
The first, from famed creator of Sherman’s Lagoon and Mission Blue board member, Jim Toomey, you can see above. Indeed, the creatures of the sea are big Dr. Earle fans and also are also wishing her well in their own underwater way. Feel free to download this image and share around social media!…

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Life in the Gulf of California Hope Spot

The Gulf of California, a 700-mile narrow sea between Baja and mainland Mexico, is home to over 800 species of fish, 2000 invertebrates, as well as whales, dolphins, sea turtles and sea lions. The area includes 256,000 hectares of mangroves, 600,000 hectares of wetlands and 70% of Mexican fisheries. Simply put, this area is one of the most productive ocean regions in the world. That is why it is a Mission Blue Hope Spot.
On the recent Mission Blue Hope Spot expedition to the Gulf of California, we had a chance to dive with the local marine life. Since Dr. Sylvia Earle was leading the expedition, we also had the opportunity to compare marine life in the Gulf of California with what it was when Dr.…

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Cashes Ledge: the Gem of New England

Led by Dr. Sylvia Earle, the Mission Blue team recently returned from a Hope Spot Expedition to Cashes Ledge, a pristine biological hotspot off the coast of New England. It contains Ammen Rock, a peak so tall that it disrupts the Gulf of Maine current, creating massive upwellings of cold nutrient-rich water that fuels an explosion of life from plankton and squid to mackerel, tunas, billfish, sharks, seabirds and a high diversity of marine mammals. The area is home to the largest cold water kelp forest on the Atlantic seaboard and provides a nursery for important New England fish species like cod, pollock, Atlantic halibut, and white hake. Check out the map for a better sense where the Cashes Ledge is located.…

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Gills Club Interviews Dr. Sylvia Earle

Our partners at the Gills Club recently interviewed Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle. Learn more about the Gills Club and their amazing work on their website.

Why did you start studying marine biology?
My first encounter with the ocean was on the Jersey Shore when I was three years old and I got knocked over by a wave. The ocean certainly got my attention! It wasn’t frightening. It was more exhilarating than anything else. And since then life in the ocean has captured my imagination and held it ever since. I started out as a kid and never did grow up. The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids. They ask questions and have a sense of wonder.…

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Protect the Grand Canyons of the Ocean

By Courtney Mattison

Hidden below the surface of Alaska’s icy waters lie the world’s largest underwater canyons, both more massive than America’s Grand Canyon. Home to orcas, walrus and fur seals, albatross and kittiwakes, king crab, squid, salmon and coldwater corals, brittle stars and sponges, the continental slope and canyons of the Bering Sea (known as the Bering Sea “Green Belt”) are home to an immense diversity of wildlife. Spanning more than 770,000 square miles between Western Alaska and Russia’s Siberian coast, the Bering Sea is an area of immense ecological value is also the source of more than half of the seafood caught in the United States and is subject to devastating commercial fishing tactics. This week, Mission Blue is launching a petition to urge Alaska’s North Pacific Fishery Management Council to protect the Bering Sea canyons and Green Belt.…

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