I received some great questions from some audience members about episode 1230 where I interviewed Dr. Virginia Schutte about the Teamseas campaign and why you might not want to support the campaign, but donate directly to an organization's programs (such as the Ocean Conservancy's Plastic Pollution Program). 

Andrew Lester-Coll asked another great question today. He asked whether it was a good idea for the Ocean Conservancy to team up with the Ocean Clean Up for the #Teamseas campaign.  

Sousa Kalliovski emailed some questions that wondered what happened to the plastic after it was collected from the ocean. Sousa also asked if there are campaigns that focused on not using plastic in the first place. 

Some great questions from our Speak Up For The Ocean Blue podcast community. 

Check out the last episode for more details on the Teamseas controversy:
https://www.speakupforblue.com/show/speak-up-for-the-ocean-blue/sufb-1230-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-teamseas-fundraiser/

Connect with Speak Up For Blue:
Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakupforblue/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/speakupforblue

There are many fundraisers that occur throughout the year for the oceans and they are run by various organizations. Most of them have good intentions to help protect the Oceans. Some raise a lot of money and some not so much; however, the organizations to which you donate matter. 

There is a large fundraiser that is going on right now to help raise $30 million dollars that promises to take out 30 million lbs of trash from the Ocean. Two organizations will split the money into two equal parts. One of those organizations is called the Ocean Conservancy and they have a great plastic pollution program; however, the other organization is the controversial Ocean Clean Up. 

If you don't recall, the Ocean Clean Up is an organization that promised to clean up the Pacific Garbage Patch within 5 years of its operation. It not only failed, but it ignored many scientific criticisms and never made their environmental assessment public, but promised that everything was fine. None of their prototypes have worked even though millions of dollars were invested. 

Now the Ocean Clean Up stands to gain a lot of money through a crowdsourcing campaign called Teamseas. The campaign is not talking about the controversy surrounding the Ocean Clean Up Project thereby legitimizing their work in the Ocean. 

Dr. Virginia Schutte was asked to help raise funds for the campaign, but refused to participate due to the Ocean Clean Up being involved. 

Virginia joins me on the show today to discuss why and what you could do to help protect the Ocean. 

Make a donation to the Ocean Conservancy:
https://donate.oceanconservancy.org/page/92465/donate/1

Connect with Dr. Virginia Schutte:
website: https://www.virginiaschutte.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vgwschutte?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vgwschutte/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/VirginiaSchutte

Connect with Speak Up For Blue:
Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakupforblue/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/speakupforblue

Cryptocurrencies are making a real splash across the world as artists are making millions of dollars to sell digital art and experiences that millionaires and even billionaires are buying like there is no tomorrow. The question is: Is there a place for marine conservation organizations to help with their fundraising. Dr. Austin Gallagher thinks so. 

Austin is the Chief Scientist for Beneath the Waves, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting ocean health and using science and technology to catalyze ocean policy. Austin is also a social entrepreneur and uses innovative ways to raise funds in order for the organization to conduct its work. 

Beneath the Waves recently dabbled in the NFT market to create experiences that would help fund their work and create opportunities for people to get involved that went beyond traditional means of funding. 

Dr. Gallagher tells us about the experience and how they made tens of thousands of dollars selling a marine biology experience-type NFT. 

You can check out their NFT store here:
https://blockparty.co/creator/GB5Y7QPW7RK6L3OIIYZFB3O2L7ONXFD3NEXW7ZCITKFFGDXT2UBZSZLQ

Visit the Beneath The Waves Website:
https://beneaththewaves.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btwaves/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/beneaththewaves

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOnoswjbRReaK8KfWT9a4Bg/videos

Want To Talk Oceans? Join the Speak Up For Blue Facebook Group: http://www.speakupforblue.com/group.

Speak Up For Blue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakupforblue/

Speak Up For Blue Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpeakUpforBlue