Kicking us off we had Sue Ranger share the background and mission of the We Are Ocean collective and Nicola Bridge start the summit with the first speakers.

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Easkey Britton

Easkey is the first Irish person to be nominated for the Global WSL Big Wave Awards but there’s more to her than surfing. Easkey is a scientist, academic and social activist, with a PhD in Environment and Society, She is always one to look in places others aren’t for the answers to difficult questions.

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Emily Cunningham

Recognised as one of “30 under 30” global environmental leaders in 2020 by the North American Association for Environment Education, Emily is an advocate not only for our wild seas, but for the people and communities that depend on them.

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Cal Major

Cal is an ocean advocate, vet and world-record SUP adventurer. She is passionate about reconnecting people to the ocean to nurture stewardship of our blue spaces and for mental health, and is the founder of Paddle Against Plastic and the charity Seaful.

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Hanli Prinsloo is a multiple freediving record holder who works to reconnect people with the ocean through transformational ocean experiences. She is the founder of the I AM WATER Foundation and co-founder of I AM WATER Ocean Travel. Her passion is freediving with marine megafauna around the world advocating for marine protection and responsible travel. www.hanliprinsloo.com

and breathe!

Dan is a creative activist, strategist and designer who has spent over 25 years working across diverse sectors. He is motivated by the practices of care, connection, responsibility, ethics, creativity, participation and collaboration and believes they are particularly relevant in these incredibly challenging times. @dansolo

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Education: Changing Lives

Among us there are many and varied educators who have passion, knowledge, skills and tools that are being put to work to prepare, engage and empower people to meet the challenges of today. With time of the essence, could we be collectively focussing our energy to make sure that we are not only changing lives but contributing to changing the world.

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Diversity - One Ocean for All

There are social, cultural, economic, geographical barriers preventing someone from connecting with the Ocean. With a growing recognition of the need to break down these barriers and enable more diverse and inclusive access to and connection with blue space, we ask - What can we do now to promote more diverse, equitable and inclusive blue engagement.

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New Audiences - Learning from Lockdown

The pandemic has brought huge personal and professional challenges - but it has also brought learning and unlocked new audiences. If we focus on the learning - what are the key things we should bank to make sure we, as an ocean literacy community, are resilient and can continue to have impact in these and future challenging times?

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Building community through conversation

On the face of it communication is just a transfer of information, but we all know it’s very seldom a case of ‘us’ telling ‘them’ that connects with hearts and changes minds. In those magic moments where communication cuts through and engages people - making them feel part of the transaction rather than on the receiving end - the community of people who connect with the ocean grows.

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Summary notes

The rising climate and Ocean narrative

We know that the work to connect ocean and climate in the public consciousness is ongoing and that there are already people who have dedicated a lifetime trying to draw attention to key issues and advocate for change. If we want to bring something to the party rather than jumping on the bandwagon - how can we, as a collective, most helpfully contribute to accelerate awareness and action on this issue?

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We reviewed 16 ocean literacy reports, 6 nature connection reports and 7 communication toolkits.
Our biggest takeaway? Most of the reports focused on the 'what' should be communicated as opposed to 'how' we should communicate.
We explored the more 'heart focused' approaches to connection people to the ocean, and found five common stages that form the basis of our approach.

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Explore the framework here