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3. You also ran an ocean cleanup project not long ago. What can you tell us about it?
OCEAN HEALTH
Here’s a video from the clean up:
AN INTERVIEW WITH RICH GERMAN
1. What were the main influences drawing you into the world of ocean conservation? Honestly my main influences are the dolphins and whales. Since 2010 I have paddle boarded about 25,000 miles here in Laguna Beach, California and have had close to 2,000 encounters with many different species of dolphins and whales, including blue whales and orcas. I’ve been fortunate to create a deep love and connection with these animals and that is my main motivation for all work I do to protect the ocean.
2. You recently celebrated World Ocean Day. How did it go? Recently I’ve been noticing a lot more trash and plastic in the ocean. It’s become clear that plastic pollution is not a problem on the other side of the world. It’s an issue right here in my backyard paradise. So to celebrate World Oceans Day, we teamed up with 12 other local nonprofit organisations and organised the Laguna Kelp Clean Up. Close to 100 ocean lovers showed up and together we collected 4 large bins of trash that was in the ocean. It was great to see our local community come together to take a stand for the ocean we all love so much.
4. What other projects are you working on at the moment? My nonprofit Project O has two major projects at the moment. First is the Blue City Network where we are certifying cities for following best practices when it comes to protecting the ocean and waterways. We are starting with coastal cities here in California and then will move inland and globally. The intention is to provide cities and communities the support and resources needed to be true champions of the environment. The other main project is our podcast that I host, Our Epic Ocean. Launched at the beginning of 2021 I have now interviewed 25 of the top people on the planet working to create solutions to the challenges our ocean is facing.
