The 'Vibe Shift' for Oceans and Planet Is Here –2022 Was Simply the Beginning.

The 'Vibe Shift' for Oceans and Planet Is Here –2022 Was Simply the Beginning:?

A Note from our President and Founder | Dr. Deborah Brosnan

?2022 was remarkable. Despite the headwinds that our world encountered, I ended the year more optimistic and hopeful. Progress for climate, oceans, and our planet is everywhere once you look. Last year brought a global vibe shift unseen in decades – an uprooting cultural inflection point causing established norms to undergo a rare sea change. This shift can be evidenced in the way we interact with one another, a new generation’s activism, how we do business, expectations from the companies we support, and our socio-cultural values.?

?The vibe shift for our oceans and climate-change in 2022 carried new tides of hope and action.?As I reflect on where we’ve come this past year, so much of our work is a testament to our community – you! – and the solutions we’ve created together to restore and protect the oceans.?

?Launching a Movement: OceanShot

In October, we officially launched?OceanShot?– a first-of-its-kind coral restoration project created by myself and philanthropist businessman John Paul DeJoria in collaboration with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. We’ve been working with our global and local partners, including PADI and Global Citizen Forum and we dropped our first set of designed coral modules off the coast of Barbuda, supporting an ecosystem that will thrive into the future.

In the three months since our launch, my team out-planted over 300 corals from their nursery of over 2,000 corals, comprising five species. To date, 21 different species of fish and invertebrates have moved into these resilient corals.?We incorporated AI technology, including that developed by Nature Counts Foundation, to help us monitor the reefs and aid in future decision-making.?

2023 will see the project expand, scaling to protect other coastal communities in danger from the impacts of the climate crisis. This year, we are launching the inaugural OceanShot Innovation Center to leverage new technologies that create replicable and scalable solutions. I can’t wait to share more about this with you in the coming months.

Our Modern Revolution: A New Model for Scientific Inquiry

I am a huge supporter of academic research. But the current academic model can take up to seven years from project inception to peer-reviewed publication. Young professors must usually wait until they have tenure and sufficient grant funding to fully implement their ideas – meaning many are into their forties before they can get started.

When it comes to the climate crisis, we are so out of time. Rachel Kropa, Managing Director at the FootPrint Coalition, and I beckoned in a new scientific model at WebSummit to address the impacts of a rapidly-warming planet at the speed these solutions are needed. There’s been a change in how scientists interact with society and how money funnels into environmental solutions: Let’s use this change to finance climate solutions, nature-based environmental projects in 2023.

Resilience in Crisis: Turning 2022’s Climate Reckoning into Action

Last year, the destructive impact of the climate crisis was felt in every community around the globe, making clear that the dangers of a warming planet cannot be ignored. Take note: This is a moment for resilience, not fatalism. At a featured SXSW session, John Paul DeJoria and I talked about turning this momentum into a vibe shift for our oceans – something I also reinforced at Collision Conference in Toronto with Neanda Salvaterra of Financial Times publication. Let’s be clear: We need to transition to net-zero emissions, and away from exclusive-dependence on fossil fuels. New financial models are needed for this transition and moderating at the Economist, World Ocean Summit this year I had a chance to connect with people like Preeti Sinha, the executive of the UN Capital Development Fund, leveraging public-private partnerships, and others, like SWEN Blue Ocean and MoonJelly, are heralding in a new era of climate and community-based funding. We will be working with more of these efforts in 2023.

The Impact of Nature-Based Solutions:?

To combat climate change and build resilience, Deborah Brosnan & Associates focuses on nature-based solutions, restoration, and blue carbon. In addition to restoring and leveraging coral reefs here’s highlights of what we were up to in 2022:

·??????We conducted the first ever blue carbon mangrove assessment in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. We hired and trained several talented individuals from the local community, and partnered with the US Naval Academy, and Smithsonian Institution.?

·??????As I discussed with world climate leaders in 2022 at the Doha Forum and World Ocean Week Explorers Club, we will be leveraging results from our assessments for two major mangrove restoration in St Barths and Antigua and Barbuda.

·??????We helped to advance the first 2.5 miles of a 7-miles of ?dunes and native vegetation restoration that we designed and is underway with Discovery Land Company and BOC.

·??????Our local team started monitoring sea turtles just 3 years ago. This year, we convened the first annual regional sea turtle symposium on Barbuda, supported by PLH/BOC and Discovery Land Company. And in 2022 we started looking at nature-based solutions to zoonotics using OneHealth approaches.

Giving Back to Community

Wherever we work, we are part of the community. Giving back is part of our ethos. In these communities, there are many talented individuals who simply need support and training to shine and step into their potential. This year we supported several local efforts including Barbudan GO-Oceanfest, training local fishermen in diving so that they can expand their skills; mentoring and advancing women in STEM to create technical jobs and opportunities that would otherwise not have been available.

The vibe shift is here; we are in it.?We will continue to ride these shifting waves to meet the needs of the moment in 2023. From all of us at Deborah Brosnan & Associates, we thank you for the opportunity to work with you and for what you have contributed to this movement. We look forward to continuing this journey with you in 2023!

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