UBB is a for-profit company with unprecedented environmental initiatives. As such, we're changing what it means both to be in business and what it means to do environmental good.
As our business grows, so does our environmental work. And we expect to encounter more and greater challenges as we remove more and more trash from oceans and waterways around the world. To help us address these challenges and overcome our obstacles, we've called on other leaders of the Blue Movement to guide us. The United By Blue Ocean Advisory board includes scientists, environmentalists, and advocates for the health of our oceans, and each member has committed to helping UBB spread the Blue Movement.
Please read about our board members here and be sure to visit their sites to learn about the good work each member is doing.
Wallace J. Nichols (aka "J")
is an American marine biologist, conservation activist, and outdoor enthusiast. He earned a BS in Biological Sciences from DePauw University in 1989, a Master of Environmental Management in Economics and Policy from Duke University in 1992, and a PhD in Wildlife Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona in 2003.
Nichols is currently a Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences, founder/co-director of OceanRevolution.org, an international network of young ocean advocates, and founder of LiVEBLUE, a campaign to better understand and deepen our emotional connection to the sea. He is particularly active in Pacific Sea Turtle research and conservation efforts and sustainable fisheries. Nichols advises a group of creative graduate students, has helped start many conservation nonprofits and projects and is a frequent contributor to mainstream magazines and websites. He lives on California's SLOWCOAST with his family and a lot of animals, both wild and domestic. wallacejnichols.org
Stiv J. Wilson is the Communications and Policy Director for The 5 Gyres Institute, a globally focused nonprofit engaged with the issue of marine plastic pollution. 5 Gyres works through research, education, outreach and action to create solutions to stopping the flow of plastic to our shared oceans. A journalist/photo-journalist by trade, Wilson changed course to work on ocean issues full time after sailing to the North Atlantic Gyre in 2009.
After subsequent expeditions, sailing 25,000 nautical miles witnessing such incredible environmental degradation in our oceans, first hand, he has devoted his life to solving the problem. On land he works as a grassroots organizer leading campaigns to enact common sense policy on single use plastics, and is a leading expert in the field of waste management, recycling, the plastics and chemical industry and policy. His writing on the subject has appeared in dozens of publications around the globe.
To date, he's lead campaigns in Portland, Oregon to eliminate single use plastic bags, lead a campaign to ban the sale of single use water bottles in Grand Canyon National Park and continues to advise and consult on plastic reduction campaigns domestically and internationally. He's a Surfrider Foundation WaveMaker Award recipient, and a consultant to The United Nations Safe Planet Campaign on Hazardous Wastes and Chemicals. He resides in Portland, Oregon and spends most of his free time at the beach in his 84 VW Westfalia, surfing and playing with his beach loving dog, Porkchop. www.5gyres.org
Bruckner Chase is an endurance waterman and ocean advocate whose 2010 solo, twenty-eight mile swim across Monterey Bay launched both the BLUE Ocean Film Festival and his own full-time career as an ocean advocate committed to moving others from awareness to personal, sustainable action to benefit our oceans.
Through his non-profit, Bruckner Chase Ocean Positive, Inc, his global mission is to positively impact how we feel, think and act towards our oceans utilizing extreme ocean endurance adventures and innovative aquatic immersion initiatives to inspire a personal exploration of the oceans while creating opportunities to preserve and protect those waters and the communities around them. Working closely with his wife and University of Pennsylvania Social Policy PhD candidate, Michelle, the couple have developed programs from New Jersey to Amerika Samoa to empower individuals, teach ocean swimming skills, address problems of drowning and create new opportunities to protect local waters. Launching in 2013, Bruckner’s Blue Journey program will nationally and globally expand the programs they have piloted in Amerika Samoa and the East Coast.
Bruckner received a Community Services Block Grant from the American Samoa Department of Commerce for the Toa o le Tai youth program and received a 2011 National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation Hollings grant for projects in the two Samoas. Aside from being an accomplished athlete on land and in the water he is an advisor to Special Olympics International for open water swimming, a professional member of the United States Lifesaving Association, a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, an instructor for the Upper Township Beach Patrol and a former retail executive in project management and development.
