Tired Earth: An Interview with Cassia Patel, Program Director at Oceanic Global Foundation

This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli

Tell us about Oceanic Global

Oceanic Global inspires us to care deeply for the ocean and provides solutions to protect it. The international non-profit sheds light on humanity’s essential relationship to the ocean and empowers individuals, communities, and industries to create positive change. Oceanic Global creates educational experiences, consults on sustainable operations, and engages local communities to generate measurable impact for our collective wellbeing. #CareDeeply | www.oceanic.global

Which countries does Oceanic Global operate in?

US, UK, Spain, Barbados, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Maldives, Cameroon, Israel.

Tell us about the Oceanic Standard?

Oceanic Global’s (OG’s) industry solutions unify a global movement around responsible consumption and provide tangible sustainable solutions to set a new industry standard. OG’s industry solutions program is a set of research-backed guides and badge verification system that helps various industries minimize their environmental footprint and adopt sustainable operating practices. Industry-specific guides support shifts in operational infrastructure connects businesses with approved sustainable vendors, and serves as a resource for political action and reform. #TheOceanicStandard | www.oceanic.global/oceanic-standard 

What projects concerning plastic pollution is Oceanic Global involved in?

Overarchingly our focus is to drive behavior change at both a grassroots level as well as an industry level. Across our efforts we view tackling plastic and waste as a gateway to taking further action towards responsible consumption.

At the grassroots level, we have a Hubs Program to inspire local leadership and community-scale action focusing on awareness, education, lifestyle behavior changes and policy reform. At the industry level, our program The Oceanic Standard (TOS), supports businesses in creating scalable behavior change by transitioning towards products and services that are healthier for our communities and shared blue planet. 

Tell us about Oceanic Global’s partnerships with the UN and UNEP

Oceanic Global is the official nonprofit and production partner to the United Nations World Oceans Day 2021 virtual event hosted by the UN Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (DOALOS). This is our third year as the production partner to this annual event and we went virtual for the first time last year in 2020. Traditionally the event takes place in a 500-capacity room at the UN HQ in NYC, although in going virtual through the pandemic, last year we had 350,000+ people tune in on the day-of from191 regions around the world and 60M+ social media impressions since. We are excited to grow that global reach this year!

Tell us about your various art projects to raise awareness concerning our oceans

Core to our mission is the intention to engage new audiences in ocean conservation and to spread awareness and action for our blue planet as well as a shared and regenerative future. Since our inception with an educational immersive experience Oceanic x Ibiza, we have continued to focus on weaving educational calls to action into universal passions such as art, music, fashion, and technology.

A few recent examples include our educational partnership with Arcadia Earth, our London Hub’s Short Film Festival, our NYC Hub’s Conscious Coloring Book, and most recently our World Oceans Day 2021 Art Gallery led by highschool student Sophie Goldstein.

How can people get involved with Oceanic Global?

Checkout our projects: https://oceanic.global/projects/ 

Reach out: [email protected]

Let’s get social: (IG @oceanic.global | FB @Oceanic.Global | TWTR @OceanicGlobal) 

Anything else you might want to add

Tune into United Nations World Oceans Day on June 8th: https://unworldoceansday.org/