Nine
More Women Shaping Our Seas &
Surfing
Written
by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
This is the fourth year for SurfWriter
Girls annual Women Making Waves story focusing on nine amazing women
who are making a difference in the life of our oceans and the sport of surfing.
Like the ninth wave in a set, which
is bigger and more powerful than the rest, the women profiled this year have
had a powerful impact on the environment and the world around us.
So, take a look at Women Making
Waves 2019 and meet nine more incredible women. Scientists, surfers,
entrepreneurs, educators, artists, and more. SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and
Patti Kishel are excited to introduce you to this lineup of dynamic women.
Inna Braverman is the Co-Founder of Eco Wave Power, a renewable energy
company that generates energy from waves. Chosen as one of MSN’s 30 Most
Influential Women of the 21st Century, the Israeli entrepreneur constructed an R&D
power station in Jaffa Port, Israel, and installed
the first commercial-scale wave energy array in Gibraltar. With degrees in
political science and literature, Braverman is adept at communicating with
diverse audiences and building a wave of support for ocean-powered energy.
Elena
Christopoulos, Commissioner, City of Santa Monica,
CA, scientist and sustainability expert, says, “It only takes one voice to
change the world.” Working with government agencies around the world, she has
20 years of experience managing programs to accelerate the use of renewable energy as a
solution to urban challenges and economic development. Helping communities
utilize green energy sources from wind turbine to solar, analyze feasibilities
and estimate costs, Christopoulos skillfully navigates both the technical and
political aspects of the energy sector.
Courtney Conlogue, two-time winner of the US Open of Surfing (2009 &
2018) and multiple World Surf League competitions, has been surfing since she
was four years old. A surfer who works on her mental game as much as the
physical one, she describes competitive surfing as “performing a dance on
water.” Saying it’s important to “express herself in the ocean,” Conlogue also
expresses herself through her artwork and has become an accomplished painter
who was included in Huntington Beach’s Women of Surfing: Art & History
exhibit.
Alexandra Cousteau, Explorer, oceans advocate, Co-founder Oceans 2050
and Senior Advisor for Oceana, is as much at home under the sea as she is on
land. Carrying on the work started by her grandfather pioneering marine
conservationist Jacques-Yves Cousteau, she started the Oceans 2050 initiative
to restore lost coastal habitats by creating and managing marine forests that
provide habitat for marine life. She is also a champion of Oceana’s work to
curb overfishing around the world in order to increase ocean biodiversity and
safeguard seafood for the future.
Nancy Estabrook Downes, the Southern California Campaign Organizer at Oceana and former
California Regional Manager for the Surfrider Foundation, is working non-stop
to protect the world’s oceans and beaches.
"Who
am I?" she asks. "I'm a surfer, musician, artist and activist. I am
simply nuts about the ocean.” With over
25 years of experience in ocean conservation, campaign planning and strategy, project management, fundraising, and more, Downes is a
grassroots activist and advocate for the planet.
Michele Halvorsen, Ph.D., Director Ocean Sound and Marine Life, CSA Ocean
Sciences Inc., investigates the potential impacts of sounds on marine life.
Specializing in auditory systems and hearing sensitivities, Halvorsen is
discovering how sounds from pile driving, turbines, barges, Navy sonar, and
other sources affect the physiology of fish and turtles. Working with business
and government clients around the world, she is helping them to understand the
environmental aspects of marine projects and to mitigate injury to sea animals
Emily M. Klein, Ph.D., Distinguished Service Professor of Earth and Ocean
Sciences, Duke University, studies the depths of the ocean to learn how
volcanoes create new land. Using remotely operated underwater vehicles to map
the ocean and collect rock samples, she has been on numerous oceanographic cruises investigating
volcanic regions. Klein’s work has led to breakthroughs in understanding
petrogenesis, the origin and formation of rocks, including the discovery that
magma doesn’t always travel straight up from the magma chamber to the ocean
floor.
Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Founder, Lincoln Sarnoff Consulting and former Executive Director 5 Gyres Institute, is a leader in the sustainability movement. Looking at everything
from plastics in fashion to drink straws, she is studying the impact plastic
pollution has on our oceans. “Washing one synthetic fleece jacket releases as many as
250,000 micro-fibers” into the environment and ultimately the ocean, says
Lincoln Sarnoff. Working for “common-sense legislation” to manage plastics use
and production, her Ted Talk “Can one straw save the world?” calls on us to say
“No” to straws.
Rebekah Steen is an ocean and beach artist whose vivid watercolor
paintings are inspired by the things that bring her joy – “nature, surfing,
tropical escapes, the imperfectly beautiful moments of life, and, of course,
the water.” Steen, who studied art in
the U.S., France and Italy, was an art director for Zambezi, Inc. and TBWA
Chiat Day. She has designed for Rip Curl and Vans and is known for her rad blog
Goldfish Kiss that celebrates a laid-back tropical lifestyle filled with art,
fitness, beauty and inspiration.
Leaders in their chosen fields, each
woman shares one thing in common – a passion for the world we live in and a
desire to make it better.
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Sunny Magdaug and Patti
Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications
wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com
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