What's the media’s role in a sustainable ocean?
According to an analysis performed after the finale of BBC's "Blue Planet II,", there was a surge of interest in plastic recycling, with online searches for the term increasing by 55 percent; as well as a doubling of the number of searches for the dangers of marine plastic pollution. | Image credit: BBC Earth/YouTube
When telling stories about the current state of the world’s oceans, a panel of
media representatives at SB Oceans agreed it’s about finding the perfect balance
between bleak and inspiring: Bleak enough to make people care; inspiring enough
to make people act.
As Hollywood film producer John
Woldenberg put it:
“You have to have enough tragedy to get people uncomfortable, but also enough
inspiration so that people feel there is a pathway forward.”
Orla Doherty, a BBC producer, recalled the intention behind the popular
“Blue Planet II”
series.
“The plan was to bring the ocean back into everyone’s living room, through
storytelling and jaw-dropping cinematography. But its power was that it was all
hand-in-hand with scientists,” she said. “We were understanding our oceans and
making discoveries during filming.”
Doherty is now taking her “Blue Planet II” experience into a collaboration
between the BBC, OceanX and filmmaker James Cameron to produce a new
series for National Geographic Channel that will follow pioneers,
scientists, filmmakers aboard a specially adapted vessel, capable of making
ocean discoveries like never before.
“’Blue Planet II’ showed the animals. What we are trying to do with this series
is to show the humans coming face-to-face with the ocean, and how they react to
what they see,” Doherty said.
Blathnaid Healy, EMEA Director at CNN Digital International, explained
how CNN views its role: “Lots of CNN’s audience have never seen the ocean.
Because of that, our role is to help bridge that gap, so that you can understand
the function of the ocean wherever you live.
“The content we produce reaches millions and millions of people. Our audience is
wanting to know what they can do. We’re trying to move the focus of our coverage
to solutions, so that people can feel empowered that they have some role in the
next decade,” she said.
Joe Ruffolo, Executive Producer at OceanX,
said: “Our job is to tell these stories in compelling ways. We need to make it
seem approachable and exciting.”
Cruise ship giants carving out ways to minimize impacts at sea
MSC Cruises' new MSC Ocean Cay Marine Reserve — constructed in 64 square miles of protected waters — saw the planting of nearly 80,000 trees, plants and shrubs; sustainable infrastructure components including solar power and advanced closed-loop wastewater management; and the removal of 7,500 tonnes of industrial scrap metal and waste from the ocean. | Image credit: MSC/TR Business
“The blue economy is not just this abstract thing that is coming in the future.
It is here and now,” said Ruben Eiras, kicking off the evening plenary
session on Day 2 of SB Oceans.
Eiras runs Portugal Ministry of the Sea’s Bluetech
Accelerator, designed to help startups find
the cash and the partners they need to bring their ideas for ocean conversation
to reality. “We have just begun to explore the full potential of our oceans.”
It is a notion not lost on the two speakers that join Eiras onstage next. Tara
Russell and Linden Coppell are leading the sustainability efforts for two
of the world’s biggest cruise lines — Carnival and MSC (Mediterranean
Shipping
Company),
respectively. Both companies will no doubt lean on the upcoming innovations the
Bluetech Accelerator will champion as they look for innovative ways to reduce
the impact of their ships once out on the ocean. Both have looked at ways to
improve the drag and efficiency of their huge vessels as they make their way
through the water. Both have looked at alternative
fuels,
such as biofuels and hydrogen fuel cell technology. And both have looked at
engine components and the way they are being used to boost fuel efficiency.
But there is still a long way to go in making the cruise industry — which makes
up a relatively tiny percentage of all sea-faring vessels — as responsible as
possible.
“There is a gap between what we can achieve now based on current technologies
and fuel availability, and where we want to be,” Coppell told delegates.
Russell agreed, pinpointing the need for the world’s ports — where cruise ships
spend a considerable amount of time — to be able to support efforts, from
providing clean energy generation, to promising to keep the waste that has been
segregated onboard in the same state before being recycled on shore. This is
especially important to Carnival, as “waste has become a new form of wealth as
we get even smarter in our operations on board.”
Cruise ships are like small cities on the sea, and have both a huge impact and a
great opportunity to create positive impact — whether that’s in the energy they
use or the products they sell within the hundreds of onboard retail units. But
as Russell concluded, “there’s a real need for more collaborative solutions,
where governments, businesses and funders can jointly achieve things much more
quickly.” Watch this space.
Retailers: The gateway to ocean-conserving consumer choices
L-R: Jill Kauffman (moderator), Christoph Mathiessen, Katherine Bryar, Vanessa
Romeu, Laura Rodriguez and Arnault Chaperon
Retailers are playing a significant role in increasing the availability and
consumption of sustainably sourced seafood, according to a panel of retailers,
producers and sustainability standards on the final day of Sustainable Brands
Oceans.
Christoph Mathiessen, Sustainability Developer at IKEA Food, said:
“IKEA’s commitment in 2015 to only sell ASC-certified salmon — as part of its
People & Planet Positive sustainability
strategy
— massively increased awareness of the standard, and now 30 percent of all
salmon is ASC-certified.”
How did IKEA, a furniture business, make such an effect on seafood? “If you stay
invested in your brand, stay committed to sustainability and make it central to
your brand, then you can have a strong impact,” Mathiessen explained.
Katherine
Bryar,
Head of Global Branding and Communications at
BioMar, agreed.
“Consumers want
to have something that is sustainable, but how do you decide what is
sustainable? By using the detailed information and science now available,
retailers are able to decide what ingredients are sustainable. Brands like IKEA
have been able to put sustainability in their brand identity,” she said.
In the past, retailers had to educate consumers on the benefits of sustainably
sourced
seafood.
But that is now changing, according to Vanessa Romeu, Director of Corporate
Communication at Lidl Portugal. “A new wave of consumers has become very
aware of the topics of sustainability and oceans, and are now looking for these
products,” she said.
With new technology, such as BioMar’s Discover
tool,
anyone can now find a whole host of information about their fish purchases.
“People want to have access to the information themselves to make decisions,”
Bryar said. “Using QR codes, consumers can make their own decisions and don’t
have to rely on the sustainability standard or retailer to make that decision
for them.”
There is, however, a fine line between transparency and too much information.
“We have a billion customers a year coming into our stores. They want
sustainability but they don’t want to spend time on it,” Mathiessen argued.
“More transparency is good, but it is not what consumers spend their time on.
You have to build trust that the brand is answering these questions.”
With a focus on responsible sourcing, Arnault Chaperon from Pirinea — a
French fish farmer in the Pyrenees — has seen a change in retailers’ priorities.
“We are definitely at the end of a cycle,” he said. “Previously, each year
retailers tried to buy more at a lower price. Now they want to buy sustainably,
and we see a change in negotiations with retailers.”
In fact, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) encourages retailers to
work with their existing suppliers to improve their
sourcing.
“The idea is to work with your own supply chain to transform and engage them to
use sustainable practices, not to change to new suppliers,” explained Laura
Rodriguez, Programme Director for MSC Spain and Portugal.
This brave new world sees retailers and suppliers working together to meet the
needs of the sustainability-savvy consumer.
Solving the plastic waste crisis: Drop rivalry, measure success and don’t stop talking about it
L-R: Kristin Hughes, Yui Kamikawa, Taylor Maddalene and Erin Simon
The hot-button sustainability topic of the decade was once again dominant at the
opening of Day 3 of SB Oceans.
This time, the discussion focused on the role of collaboration in stopping ocean
plastic waste — and, in particular, how companies can best work with NGOs and
non-profits to make an impact.
“Plastic waste in our oceans is a truly unifying issue, and there is real energy
and momentum around solving this urgent crisis,” said Erin
Simon,
WWF’s Director of Sustainability R&D. There was agreement across the
on-stage panel — with representatives from National
Geographic, The
Coca-Cola Company and the World Economic Forum — that the systemic nature
of the challenge will only be solved by a coming together of private and public
sectors, as well as civil society groups.
Right now, examples of collaborative efforts to solve the plastic waste problem
are thin on the ground.
Taylor Maddalene, Director of the Plastics Initiative at National Geographic
Society, the non-profit arm of the organisation, reinforced the need for
powerful storytelling: “Corporations are trying to keep up with expectations on
this issue — and we can help them navigate that.”
She also pointed to the Ocean
Plastic Innovation
Challenge,
part of Nat Geo’s Planet or Plastic? initiative that is supporting a
wider accelerator program for those with “unique skillsets to push innovation”.
Elsewhere, Kristin Hughes, Director of the Global Plastic Action
Partnership at the World Economic Forum, said
that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s
recent decision to put their rivalry aside for the Every Bottle Back
initiative
shows what can be achieved when companies work together.
Coca-Cola’s Senior Manager for Global Sustainability, Yui Kamikawa, proudly
presented its ‘design, collect and partner’ strategy, tasked with helping to fix
our broken make, use, throwaway system.
“There is a big risk to inaction on this challenge — not just for society but
for our business, too,” he said. “When we make commitments on plastic waste,
they are not plucked out of thin air. We know we can’t solve this challenge on
our own — and setting aspirational goals that we don’t yet know how to meet
underscores the need for us all to work together.”
Maddalene concluded the session by stressing the need for measurable outcomes.
”To keep up the momentum, we need to all understand what success looks like.
There is still a criticism that company commitments are not going far enough.
So, companies will need to better articulate success, as well as pointing to the
challenges that remain.
“Longer term, we will all need to keep messaging on plastic pollution right in
front of consumers, and make it fresh and relevant. This is a global issue that
is both visible and sticky, because it touches people every day.
“But we have an opportunity to drive change, every time somebody spends their
money.”
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Content creator extraordinaire.
Tom is founder of storytelling strategy firm Narrative Matters — which helps organizations develop content that truly engages audiences around issues of global social, environmental and economic importance. He also provides strategic editorial insight and support to help organisations – from large corporates, to NGOs – build content strategies that focus on editorial that is accessible, shareable, intelligent and conversation-driving.
Published Nov 19, 2019 1am EST / 10pm PST / 6am GMT / 7am CET