Ocean sustainability and preservation of marine biodiversity are critical to building a sustainable future. Covering 72% of the earth, the ocean generates over half of the oxygen we breathe. It is an essential ecosystem that supports an incredible diversity of marine life and helps to regulate the global climate system. Globally, communities depend on the ocean for their livelihoods, transportation, and food security. Climate change, pollution, overfishing, and continued human activity is putting our ocean at risk.
Join us for a timely and important conversation with Hoya alumni on why ocean sustainability matters and how you could dedicate your life to the protection of our planet. In this discussion, Daniela Fernandez, founder and CEO of Sustainable Ocean Alliance, Monica Medina, founder and publisher of Our Daily Planet, and Michael Conathan, executive director of the Aspen High Seas Initiative, will share their career paths and insights on how to accelerate change towards a sustainable blue economy.
The webinar series is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Global Engagement in collaboration with the Office of the Provost.
Featured
Daniela V. Fernandez (C’17) (moderator) is founder and CEO of Sustainable Ocean Alliance, the world’s largest network of young ocean leaders in over 165 countries. The alliance launched the Ocean Solutions Accelerator for developing technological solutions to planetary threats. She is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a member of Friends of Ocean Action. She was awarded the 2020 Rising Star Visionary Award by the Silicon Valley Forum and named a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.
Michael Conathan (C’94) is a Senior Policy Fellow with the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program. Prior to joining Aspen, he was director of ocean policy at the Center for American Progress, where he established a program focused on building collaborations to pursue solutions to the problems facing America’s oceans and coasts and developing the sustainable blue economy. He holds a M.A. in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island and a B.A. in English literature from Georgetown University.
Monica Medina (C’83) was the founder and publisher of Our Daily Planet, an environmental e-mail newsletter, and an independent consultant. Previously, Medina served as deputy director of the Environment Program at the Walton Family Foundation, and she was senior director of ocean policy at the National Geographic Society. She attended Georgetown University on an U.S. Army R.O.T.C. scholarship and began her legal career on active duty in the Honor’s Program of the Army General Counsel’s office.
