MST is excited to share a new opportunity open to anyone and everyone who wants to take their love of the ocean to the next level: The Caribbean Reef Expedition and Environmental Documentary Workshop.
M/V Explorer Docked in Hilo, Hawaii. Photo credit: Emily Tripp.
The expedition is organized through the Northwest Explorers, the Pacific Northwest Chapter of The Explorers Club, and will take place aboard Semester at Sea’s M/V Explorer. A small group of people will join the first leg of Semester at Sea’s Enrichment Voyage, Tropics and Transit, from December 10-21, 2014. During the voyage, this group will study the coral reefs of the Caribbean and create an environmental documentary on a topic of their choice.
During the Caribbean Reef Expedition, participants will:
- Learn about several marine environmental issues, including ocean acidification, plastics in the sea, overfishing and more.
- Learn how to make a documentary and leave with a completed project.
- Be trained in research techniques and contribute to coral reef research.
- Have the opportunity to go SCUBA diving in six different Caribbean locations.
The expedition is led by Dr. Ed Sobey, a Fellow Emeritus of The Explorers Club, a faculty member with Semester at Sea, and author of 29 books. He’ll provide the environmental background that participants need to better understand marine environmental issues and choose their topics.
Patrick Behan and Andrew Sobey will be the expedition’s documentary experts and workshop leaders. Patrick is a filmmaker and digital artist who recently worked on the Sundance-award-winning documentary Chasing Ice. (MST featured another one of his projects, A Natural Response.) Andrew Sobey is a freelance filmmaker based in Seattle who has taught video production for kids and adults for over 10 years. He’s also the founder of Ecology 180, which breaks down complicated environmental issues into a series of three-minute videos that make the topic much easier to understand.
Dr. Sobey believes that this expedition will have a big impact on conservation efforts because individuals will be more effective than NGOs when it comes to engaging their friends with environmental messages.
“If we can unleash an army of committed activists, we can change the world,” he explained in an email. “Not from the top down, but from the bottom up.”
For more information, including the itinerary and pricing, check out the full expedition description: The Caribbean Reef Expedition and Environmental Documentary Workshop.
Copyright © 2014 by Marine Science Today, a publication of Marine Science Today LLC.
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