Thrilled to celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8th with a virtual panel of marine scientists, climate activists, community organizers and cultural producers and discuss these important issues.
2020 will be undoubtedly remembered as a year of unprecedented level of anxiety for the entire planet, and yet witnessing how local communities came together to support those on the frontlines, and examples of international collaborations to fight one common enemy, instilled hope in those of us who have been
advocating for the same level of global mobilization to combat another lingering existential crisis, the climate emergency.
Among the ecosystems that are most at risk from climate change and man-made pollution, are the coral reefs and as a consequence the survival of many of the species that live off these incredibly complex systems is under threat. Warmer waters, along with land ice melt, are also the driving causes of sea level rise, an issue that Miamians are all too familiar with. And with the sea rising, communities are being displaced as developers are looking for higher grounds as a safer investment, a concern neighborhood like Little Haiti,
Liberty City and Little Havana have been battling with in recent years.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
OLIVIA COLLINS, Director of Programs, The Cleo Institute
Born and raised in rural Canada, Olivia has lived in many places, before settling in Miami in 2017. She has over 15 years of experience in the environmental field from natural building to corporate social responsibility to grassroots community development. She received her bachelor’s degree in Social Justice & Sustainability from San Francisco State University and several years later completed her master’s in Environmental Impact Assessment at Concordia University in Montreal. As Director of Programs, she helps oversee and execute CLEO’s outreach programs.
MAYRA CRUZ, Climate Resilience Program Manager, Catalyst Miami
Mayra joined Catalyst in January 2018 after graduating from Columbia University with a Masters in Public
Health in Environmental Health Sciences with a Certificate in Climate and Health. She is utilizing her knowledge of climate change and its impacts to manage the CLEAR program and build upon existing climate resilience work. She holds a Bachelors degree in Public Health from George Washington University and is excited to help build resilience throughout Miami-Dade.
DALTON J. HESLEY, Program Manager, Rescue a Reef, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
Dalton is a Sr. Research Assoc. II in Dr. Diego Lirman's Coral Reef Restoration Lab at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School. His main areas of focus are coral reef restoration, community engagement, and citizen science. In addition to being a lab associate, he manages Rescue a Reef, UM's coral conservation
program designed to support coral reef research and restoration through education, outreach, and citizen science. He obtained a Master of Professional Science degree in Marine Biology and Ecology (2015) where his
thesis centered around coral conservation, citizen science, and Rescue a Reef (Hesley et al. 2017).
DELANEY REYNOLDS, Climate Activist, Founder of Sink or Swim Project
She's been called 'one of the leading voices for the environment for her generation' by Philippe Cousteau, an 'Eco Warrior' by David Smith, and an 'incredibly valuable force of nature' by Caroline Lewis of the CLEO Institute. Delaney is a Marine Science student at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine
& Atmospheric Science in Miami, Florida and splits her time between the cosmopolitan city of a few million people and a 1,000-acre island with 43 solar powered homes in the Florida Keys called No Name Key. Like the State of Florida, Delaney's life is surrounded by water and that's where her love for the environment comes from. She is the Founder & CEO of an NGO, The Sink or Swim Project, and its popular website www.miamisearise.com, an educational and political advocacy organization focused on a variety of environmental topics including climate change and sea level rise.