Mark Haver is a young ocean leader and policy advisor. As the chair of the Sustainable Ocean Alliance's Youth Policy Advisory Council, Mark was tasked with guiding the creation of SOA's Global Blue New Deal. The Global Blue New Deal is a comprehensive document penned by young leaders from around the world and developed by a community of young professionals representing 38 countries. The document's creators seek to outline the key challenges to ocean health and climate stability while also proposing focus areas for interventions and regenerative action and policy at all governance scales.

After a rigorous review process, Mark presented the Global Blue New Deal at COP26 in Glasgow as a means of increasing understanding among leaders and delegates about the ocean-climate nexus and how vital the ocean will be to a resilient future for our planet. Mark joins us in this interview to put the Global Blue New Deal into context through what was achieved at COP26 and what work remains. His message walks a fine line of outrage and optimism, often identifying solutions that must be embraced regardless of action by the world's leaders. The knowledge, technology, and solutions needed to solve climate change already exist, but the disinclination of those in power to act increasingly threatens the future of the communities that they represent.

The most important takeaway from this conversation is that Mark and other young people like him are motivated, highly capable, and are united by a core certainty that they "are guided by truth and that truth is science". While they may not want to be the sole reason for hope for the planet, they are driven by a sense of stewardship that people of all ages should embrace.

This episode of the Enduring Curiosity Podcast is sponsored by Enduring Curiosity, in association with the Sustainable Ocean Alliance and Sustainable Ocean Alliance - Charleston hub.

Show Notes:

Guest - Mark Haver

Host - Grey Gowder

Music (via Epidemic Sound) - "Deep in the Blue" (Instrumental Version)  by Ingrid Witt

Photo courtesy of Secret Travel Guide on Unsplash.

Produced by Lugus Films Media