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This episode features Lucia Pedrana, Exhibition and Events Organizer for the European Cultural Centre in Venice, and PhD candidate Hadi El Hage who is a Lead Curator for Public Programs at the ECC. ECC Italy is a well-established branch of the larger European Cultural Centre, a cultural organisation founded in 2002 by artist René Rietmeyer committed to further develop and enhance intellectual and cultural exchange. To achieve this, the ECC continues to expand its international network of inspired, creative, and dedicated individuals. Among our main activities are the planning and management of cultural projects and the creation of exhibitions, publications, videos, and educational programms.
Lucia and Hadi were two of the key facilitators and curators for the Shaping the City Forum that took place October 5th and 6th of 2023 in New Orleans, in collaboration with New Orleans-based NANO Architecture & Interior Design. Lucia and Hadi explain to us the importance of their international work with Shaping the City: A Forum for Sustainable Cities and Communities, organized by the European Cultural Centre. For the forum, the ECC partnered with visionary architects Terri Dreyer and Ian Dreyer, NANO’s founding partners, to showcase their extraordinary storm and flood resilient infrastructure designs for the greater New Orleans region, honored with an ECC award as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Please visit the episode 19 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Lucia Pedrana
Senior Exhibition and Events OrganizerLucia has a background in art history and art managements with experience in museum education and communication. Currently managing a group of architecture and art exhibition organizers both in curating and logistics. Developing the international university program for architecture, design, and art universities in Venice for exhibitions and educational programs. Founder of Shaping The City symposium, lecturer at European Cultural Academy.
Lucia Pedrana’s LinkedIn
Hadi El Hage
Lead Curator for Public ProgramsHadi is an Architect and urban planner combining research and project implementation competencies with a wide experience in the coordination of architecture and urbanism exhibitions. Hadi specializes in cross-sectoral and multicultural environments. He has diverse experiences in the Middle East, China, and Europe in architecture and urban planning with focus on environmental planning and policies, climate change, waterfront regeneration, coastal areas, and health of cities.
Hadi El Hage’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, we speak world renowned sculptor and designer, Zach Coffin who has helped redefine the limits of large-scale kinetic art, both ‘on Playa’ in the context of the Burning Man experience, and through publicly accessible and interactive municipal art projects in cities around the world. Zach joins us in New Orleans from his home base in the San Francisco Bay area. As Chief Technology Officer at Helios Industries, Zach is now leveraging his sculpture, engineering, and design background to develop cutting edge renewable energy microgrid gen sets that hold the promise of completely transforming humanity’s relationship to mobile energy generation, freeing us from the noise, pollution, and safety issues associated with diesel and other internal combustion (ICE) generators.
Zach shares his pithy take on the art world and the importance of climate action, as well as details about his personal journey as an artist, innovator, and climate technology developer. Along the way, we learn about origins of the now ubiquitous ‘Twenty foot equivalent unit’ (TEU) shipping container, which has since revolutionized global shipping, and how the Burning Man event has evolved with regard to large interactive art, urban planning, and sustainability.
Please visit the episode 18 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Zach Coffin
Helios Industries
Founding Partner and Chief Technology OfficerZach is a globally recognized sculptor with an extensive portfolio of installations. His primary artistic domain is the creation of large scale kinetic sculptures using structural steel, stone, and other materials. His creations are designed to evoke awe in the seemingly impossible, such as giant floating slabs of stone or massive metal structures which move gently with the wind. He achieves this by implementing his vision through detailed design, mechanical engineering and precise machining combined with a deep understanding of the properties of the metal and materials used to form his works.
Zach has been building large-scale kinetic and interactive sculpture for over 25 years. His work draws from engineering and the history of industry for a visual language that is practical and dramatic yet unadorned. He has received multiple public and private commissions throughout the United States and Europe.
Zach's Sculpture Website
Zach's LinkedIn -
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In this episode, we speak with an awe-inspiring clean energy pioneer and leader in the extremely carbon-intensive disaster response sector. Will Heegaard shares with us the inspiring history and ongoing work of Footprint Project, a small but mighty New Orleans-based non-profit that has gained national recognition for its grassroots work helping communities to not only restore critical power supplies with renewable energy generator sets, but providing the training and know-how to transform normally marginalized groups and communities into resilient, well-prepared, clean energy pioneers. Will teaches us about Footprint Project’s important post hurricane relief efforts and mission to provide clean energy to communities in crisis.
Footprint Project believes that we should not just be reacting to the next storm - we should be ready for it! They are working to break the negative feedback loop of responding to climate emergencies with fossil fuels, reimagining the traditional, response-centered cycle of disaster relief.
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Will Heegaard
Footprint Project.org
Operations DirectorWill Heegaard sees every disaster as an opportunity to build back greener. Before launching Footprint Project, Will worked as an EMT / Paramedic in Minneapolis, and deployed with International Medical Corps (IMC) to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan (2013) and Liberia during the Ebola outbreak (2015). In 2016, Will managed an epidemic disease surveillance program for IMC in Guinea, West Africa, where he piloted the installation of solar refrigeration at five remote laboratories to safely collect, store, and refer blood samples for Ebola recovery. Domestically, Will has volunteered with Team Rubicon after disasters in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Puerto Rico.
Will founded Footprint Project in 2018 to accelerate the humanitarian response industry's transition off of fossil fuels, and has steadily grown the organization from inception into a nationally-recognized leader in community-led, climate-conscious disaster response, recovery and resilience. Footprint Project's model has received accolades from Time Magazine (2022 Best Inventions), and Building Green (2023 Top 10 Industry Transforming Products), and in 2022 Will was named "Person of the Year" by Microgrid Knowledge. Will received his B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from University of California, Berkeley, where he wrote his honors thesis on the socio-political history of existential risk.
Will’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, we strike out into the solar system with Roberto Carlino, a NASA engineer and innovation pioneer with an eye on the space age technologies and systems that will facilitate humanities leap to a multi-planetary species.
As part of Deep Blue Institute interest and advocacy for technologies that support maritime urbanism, or floating cities, we recognize that many of the concepts and tech innovations that support extended space flight and habitation provide the proofs of concept for the solution sets that will facilitate the realization of remote ocean-based habitats serviced by off grid energy, water, and waste systems. Robert unique background and perspective gives us a glimpse into how humanity’s irrepressible drive to explore the solar system, and beyond, is fueling technology breakthroughs and innovation here on Earth.
After a week of meetings and community events in New Orleans, Roberto reflects on what he sees happening in terms of climate tech development and entrepreneurship in the region. He also helps us to contextualize the role of New Orleans’ own NASA Michoud facility in the broader context of the global space industry. There is much to celebrate.
Please visit the episode 16 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Roberto Carlino
NASA Ames Research Center
Software/Hardware Test Engineer and Mission Ops LeadRoberto Carlino is an Aerospace Engineer based at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, currently working on cutting-edge projects like the Astrobee free-flying robots and the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) cubesat. More recently, he was selected as primary crew for NASA’s Astronaut Analog mission Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, living and working as an analog astronaut for 45 days while “traveling” to the Martian moon Phobos. In 2022, Roberto was selected among the top 30 candidates for the European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut selection out of over 22,000 applicants. Roberto began his career at NASA Ames Research Center around 9 years ago, working on small flight projects and NASA mission proposals and later working as a Software Engineer for the mission Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) – follow-on mission of the Kepler Space Telescope – searching for habitable alien planets around the solar neighborhood.
Roberto earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Naples Federico II, in Italy, and Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands. Additionally, he holds a second master’s degree in ‘Space Systems and Orbital Platforms’ from the University of Rome, La Sapienza.
Outside of work, Roberto pursues several adventurous hobbies aligned with his passion for exploration. He is a licensed private pilot with over 150 hours of flight experience. Roberto also enjoys skydiving, scuba diving, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and hiking. Among his passions, he also loves cooking good Italian food, especially Neapolitan Pizza.
Roberto’s LinkedIn
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Mardi Gras is one of the largest celebrations in the world, sometimes referred to as “the greatest free show on earth”. A byproduct of this multi-week celebration season is an inordinate amount of waste that puts a tremendous strain on our, already fragile local and regional environment. In this episode, we speak with Brett Davis, a New Orleans native grown entrepreneur and environmental activist who is the Founding Director of Grounds Krewe, a non-profit dedicated to the Sisyphisian task of making Mardi Gras sustainable, reducing waste, recycling, while transforming the culture surrounding the LITERAL tons of plastic beads and other throws that have become a defining feature of the parades. Brett shares with us his inspiring dedication to the future health and resilience of our City, and his vision for what a more sustainable New Orleans looks like.
Please visit the episode 15 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Brett Davis
Grounds Krewe
Founding DirectorBrett is a native New Orleanian and graduate of Trinity Episcopal School, Isidore Newman, the College of Charleston and the Louisiana State University Master of Landscape Architecture program. While receiving his secondary degree, he was a research assistant in the Coastal Sustainability Studio, an interdisciplinary laboratory focused on reducing the causes and effects associated with coastal land loss. In 2013 he started a design business, Land Cover, that is still in operation, to help clients revitalize buildings and vacant lots in historically significant neighborhoods around New Orleans. Eventually, his lifelong passion for nature and travel lead him to attempt to solve an environmental problem unique to his hometown, Mardi Gras waste, and in 2018 Grounds Krewe was formed. Brett lives in the building where he grew up, formerly his family’s African Art Gallery, on Magazine street in uptown.
Brett’s Bio
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In this episode, we learn about SeaAhead’s mission to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, and stakeholders to grow an open-innovation ecosystems that produces scalable commercial solutions to modern-day challenges. SeaAhead’s Market Lead for Gulf Coast & Federal and State Agencies, Hailey Bathurst, explains how they support early-stage startups in the blue economy with infrastructure and access to funding, two important drivers for success that entrepreneurs are often missing. The result is a proven track record of bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, and stakeholders to scale real world BlueTech solution sets. Hailey tells us about the fascinating life journey that led to her current work, and explains how New Orleans fits into SeaAhead’s expansion plans for promoting Blue Economy expansion and startup support in New Orleans.
Please visit the episode 14 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Hailey Bathurst
SeaAhead; Market Lead for Gulf Coast & Federal and State AgenciesHailey Bathurst’s awareness of environmental issues began through canvassing and field managing for Clean Water Action in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts during summer and winter breaks at Roger Williams University. After graduating, she moved to Providence where she became the program manager of the Health and Wellness Initiative at Social Enterprise Greenhouse, building Rhode Island’s first health and wellness accelerator program and expert advisory council. She moved on to serve in the Peace Corps in Namibia, focusing on local economic development with entrepreneurship as a means for economic empowerment of vulnerable populations. Upon returning to the United States, Hailey worked for a scaling healthcare startup as an operations manager while earning her graduate degree at University of Chicago in international development and policy.
Hailey joined SeaAhead in 2022 to create and execute The Gulf Blue Navigator in partnership with University of Southern Mississippi and now leads SeaAhead’s Federal and State Agency work in the Southern United States. The focus of this work is to explore how SeaAhead can support innovation within State and Federal Agencies, while exploring how startups can work with these agencies to further their own development goals.
Hailey’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, we do a deep dive with Andy Kruger, CEO of BuildSOS, into the world of disaster response and how communities can better prepare for future storm events with cutting edge digital tools. BuildSOS is a key new technology networking platform that is facilitating better communication and more efficient resolution of post disaster recovery efforts. Their mission is to build and implement integrity and risk reduction systems for communities to improve disaster-related infrastructure, enhance efficiency, reduce fraud, and keep value local.. To do that, BuildSOS created a transparent, easy-to-use platform that significantly reduces the potential for fraud thus lowering the risk and amount of frustration for everyone involved in the rebuilding process. BuildSOS helps communities rebuild faster and stronger after a disaster by providing a transparent, easy-to-use process that saves homeowners, contractors, insurance companies, and local and state governments time, money, and lots of frustration by reducing fraud, finger-pointing, and risk.
Please visit the episode 13 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Andy Kruger
BuildSOS CEOAndy Kruger is a seasoned leader of several startup ventures, has 17-year tenure as an organizational consultant underpinned by a diverse skill set. His academic background includes an MBA in Management and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. Additionally, Andy authored on leadership, adding depth to his professional profile.
Andy's extensive career has been marked by his ability to drive impactful change across various industries. During his tenure at the University of California, San Francisco, from 2012 to 2022, Andy undertook the role of Director of Project Management and Organizational Consultant. Here, his strategic leadership guided numerous clinical and operational improvement projects, including the establishment of the Office of Clinical Research and over 60 projects in the School of Dentistry. Under his stewardship, these projects achieved notable improvements in clinical and administrative efficiency, patient experience, regulatory adherence, diversity and inclusion efforts, and revenue generation, even amidst the challenging backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his current role as CEO of BuildSOS, Andy's measured and professional leadership has been instrumental in guiding the company through a phase of restructuring and innovation. Andy's multifaceted skill set forms the bedrock of his leadership approach. These competencies coalesce to equip him with the ability to orchestrate organizational change, streamline operations, foster stakeholder alignment, and drive strategic initiatives. His proficiency in synthesizing data and his talent for executive-level communication are instrumental in guiding the company's transformation towards resounding success.Andy’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, we sit down with Beaux Jones, a regional point of reference and visionary leader on the front lines of developing the complex mix of policy and engineering solutions that is required to realize long-term community resilience along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. As an environmental law expert and intrepid champion of cutting edge coastal engineering solution sets, he has become a key facilitator reconciling complex state and federal regulatory frameworks with the critical need for innovative marine infrastructure planning and engineering solutions that are integral to preparing our working coast for the ongoing and inevitable impacts of coastal land loss and associated marine habitat disruption. Recently selected to be part of the prestigious ‘Committee of 100 for Economic Development’ in Louisiana, Beaux’s valued guidance and vision is helping to empower organizations, community leaders, and citizens across multiple sectors at a regional, national, and international scale. With his work (and that of his outstanding team) at The Water Institute, Beaux is laying the foundations for Louisiana’s long term global leadership and positioning as a key purveyor of high value products and services for at-risk coastal communities around the world that are already facing increasing economic, engineering, and socio-cultural challenges from the ravages of runaway climate change.
Please visit the episode 12 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Beaux Jones
Acting President and CEO for The Water InstituteBeaux Jones is the Acting President and CEO for The Water Institute. Prior to joining The Water Institute, Jones served as the environmental section chief for the Louisiana Department of Justice, where he represented the State of Louisiana and its agencies in a wide variety of matters ranging from environmental and coastal law to criminal and appellate law. He most recently worked as an environmental and coastal lawyer for the law firm Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer in New Orleans.
Jones has extensive experience representing agencies, companies, and organizations inside the courtroom and internally. He has argued cases at every level of state and federal court in Louisiana and has worked on several high-profile cases related to the Gulf Coast and Louisiana. He was on the BP spill litigation team with the Louisiana Attorney General.
Prior to becoming the Acting President and CEO, Jones was the General Counsel and Chief of Staff at The Water Institute and handled general legal matters for The Water Institute, such as contracts and immigration law. He also was a key member of the leadership team, merging the Institute’s ongoing work in science, engineering and resiliency with legal policy.
Jones earned his bachelor’s from Davidson College and his law degree from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU. He is active in a variety of community and environmental causes.
Beaux’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, we speak with Lelei LeLaulu, a preeminent thought leader, diplomat, and pioneer in the realm of United Nations sustainable development policy, island state climate resilience, renewable energy independence, and cultural preservation. Lelei shares his keen understanding of how island and coastal communities can harness the benefits of sustainable tourism, zero carbon ocean-based renewable energy technologies, and debt relief, while leveraging the transformative potential of the incumbent “bad boy” forces of extractive mining and fossil fuel industries.
From his diverse experience, Lelei gives us glimpse into the challenges and opportunities confronted by at-risk island and coastal communities seeking to effectively navigate existential climate-induced threats to their cultural heritage, economy, and way of life; exacerbated by the accelerating loss of landmasses that they have called home for countless generations. Originally from Samoa, he is a highly respected point of reference for government and industry leaders across the broad reach of Pacific, Polynesian, and Caribbean communities, helping them realize what might be the opportunities of “ocean gain”; Lelei’s alternative way of looking at the challenges of net global “land loss”.
Please visit the episode 11 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Lelei LeLaulu
Development EntrepreneurLelei LeLaulu is a development entrepreneur working at the confluence of climate change, tourism, food security and renewable energy. Lelei’s career roamed across journalism, diplomacy, international development, sustainable tourism, and consulting governments and corporates on strategic planning. He is president of the Earth Council Alliance, a member of the High Level Group reviewing the 10-year development plan of the Asian Development Bank, and set up the Global Partnership for Oceans of the World Bank. At the International Finance Corporation he advised on sustainable development, and represented the World Bank on the Blue Guardians.
Lelei co-founded the World Tourism Forum in Brazil, the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance with USAID, the Oceania Sustainable Tourism Alliance, the Caribbean Media Exchange and the Global Ocean Energy Alliance. In addition to the Pacific Leadership Program of the Australian Government, he advised the Pacific Ocean Commissioner and the Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum of government leaders.
For over a decade he was Chairman of the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific the oldest and largest non-profit development network in the Pacific islands, and for another decade he was President/CEO of the development and humanitarian agency, Counterpart International, expanding its operations to the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.
Lelei was a member of the small team which gave the UN its first major reform, was Secretary of the Task Force to Re-orient UN Public Information Activities, and Chairman for a decade of the Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service working on the release of hostages and detained people. He was a member of the team that organized the series of summits and global conferences in the 1990s known as the "Development Continuum" which defined the global agenda which led to the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to working for the Hudson Institute think tank, Lelei served as a correspondent in Africa and the Middle East, and edited the Middle East Newsletter out of New York.
Lelei’s LinkedIn
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Time Stamps:
2:40 - General panel participant introductions 6:45 - General panel subject matter and context; Greg Delaune 12:00 - Louisiana State level policy and project context; Harry Vorhoff 26:35 - Global Forcings Impacting Coastal Louisiana; Impacts and Responses; Dr. John Day 38:45 - Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences Overview; Dr. Mark Kulp 50:35 - Blue Economy Eco-Solution Space contextualization; Greg Delaune 51:15 - "The Beach" at the UNO Research and Technology Foundation role; Rebecca Conwell 1:02:00 - Idea Village and the role of startup technology regional development; Jon Atkinson 1:09:50 - Questions and commentsThis special edition of the Blue Economy Primer, available as a YouTube video which includes all associated presentation graphics, or in audio-only format, is based on the multi-sector Blue Economy panel discussion titled, Building Resilient Communities and a Regenerative Blue Economy for our Gulf Coast, which took place on May 31st, at the 2023 State of the Coast Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The panel, moderated by Deep Blue Academy, was part of the conference topic track “Preparing for Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation”.
Panel members:
Harry Vorhoff; Deputy Director, Office of the Governor, Coastal Activities Dr. John Day; Distinguished Professor in Dept. of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast & Environment at LSU, Comite Resources Dr. Mark Kulp; Chair of our Earth and Environmental Sciences department at UNO Rebecca Conwell; CEO and President of The Beach at UNO Jon Atkinson; CEO of IDEA VillageOur panelist were challenged to describe the status and potential of the regional Innovation Ecosystem supporting the technology and economic development policy initiatives needed to insure the resiliency of our at-risk coastal communities for decades to come. Where do science, policy, investment, innovation, and new technology development converge to create real world multi-sector benefit streams? Special emphasis was placed on current and emerging programs in which conference attendees can engage or derive benefits as a community, institution, or entrepreneur.
For additional background information and support materials about the panel participants, and links to the youtube version that includes all of the graphics, please visit the dedicated Blue Economy Primer webpage for this special episode.
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In this episode, we hear from James Ellsmoor, founder and leader of multiple initiatives focused on helping island states and coastal communities around the world to coordinate strategies for addressing common challenges and opportunities of building sustainable blue economies while navigating the impacts of climate change and global economic discontinuity. James is an award-winning serial entrepreneur and writer recognized on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work on building global networks that support the deployment of renewable energy systems through the empowerment of island states’ government leadership. He shares with us his deep knowledge of emerging technologies, climate change adaptation solutions, environmental policy, and how these can be balanced with sustainable tourism and blue economy development.
Please visit the episode 10 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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James Ellsmoor
CEO of Island InnovationJames Ellsmoor is an award-winning serial entrepreneur and writer. He is CEO at Island Innovation, a social enterprise, and the Co-Founder and Director at Solar Head of State, an NGO. Recognized on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work on sustainable energy, James is passionate about climate change advocacy and environmental policy.
James consults for leaders in NGOs, the private sector and government on topics related to sustainable development and entrepreneurship. His work covers climate change policy, renewable energy and sustainable travel. He has particular expertise in small island developing states (SIDS).
Island Innovation runs two key events for island stakeholders; The Virtual Island Summit and the Island Finance Forum. With the growing importance of virtual events, James, and the team at Island Innovation, use their expertise to work with island governments, NGOs and businesses to execute and facilitate bespoke online programming.
James’ LinkedIn
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In this episode, we speak with Dutch floating cities civil engineer and ‘maritime urbanism’ expert Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther, a pioneer and global leader of the seasteading community with more than 15 years of international experience in the fields of design, engineering, and policy for climate resilient floating urban development. He explains the origins of his work and lays out Blue 21’s mission to provide maritime urbanism technologies to the hundreds of millions of people who are already impacted by climate change and sea level rise, realizing that these breakthroughs need to happen during this century, while also achieving positive ecological and social impacts. Rutger lays out Blue 21’s multi sector approach to scaling the proven solution sets that will allow humanity to rely on floating cities as safe harbors during coastal storms, while establishing a new regenerative relationship with our ocean environments and providing valuable opportunities in the expanding global blue economy.
Please visit the episode 09 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther
Co-Founder and Director of Blue 21Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther is an entrepreneur with more than 15 years experience in climate resilient floating urban development. His mission is to provide floating city technology to hundreds of millions of people who are impacted by climate change and sealevel rise. This needs to happen during this century while achieving positive ecological and social impacts.
With his companies DeltaSync and Blue21, the first stepping stones towards this mission already have been achieved with iconic floating construction projects including the Floating Pavilion Rotterdam and Floating Ecohomes, Harnaschpolder Delft, the Netherlands. More recently, Blue21 was design and technology partner in realizing the Innozowa floating solar project in collaboration with TU Delft. Currently, Blue21 is working on upscaling and mainstreaming floating city technology from 'proof of technology' to 'proof of scale'. This will establish an entirely new field of expertise called 'maritime urbanism' to enable the development of floating neighborhoods and floating cities globally.
Trained as civil engineer with a MSc and PhD (both finished cum laude) of Delft University of Technology, he expanded his knowledge in various additional fields of expertise resulting in peer-reviewed scientific publications in the fields of technology, sustainability and social sciences. Rutger has been a consultant to the Dutch Delta Programme, Topsector Water, City of Rotterdam and international clients from other countries including Japan, China, South-Korea, Singapore, USA and various countries in Europe.
From 2011 to 2021, Rutger was applied research professor of water innovation at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. From 2010 to 2015 he was Editor of the Journal of Water and Climate Change of the International Water Association.
Rutger is (co) author of multiple international books, book chapters, and peer reviewed journal articles. He published together with Henk Ovink, the Special Envoy for Water of the Netherlands, about the "5 Capacities of Climate resilient Urban Areas". This framework was the foundation of the book Climate Resilient Urban Areas, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2021. International media interviews include the New York Times, Financial Times, BBC World Radio, and Discovery Channel.
Rutger’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, we enjoy an aspirational and philosophical chat with visionary French humanist, Frédéric Pons. Frédéric explains his inspiration, concept, and ongoing work toward realization of an ocean-based environmentally regenerative “Indigo Civilization”. The initiative envisions a reconstitution of humanity’s relationship with our fragile aquatic environs, supporting a philanthropic research and innovation cluster focused on the modeling of prototypes for floating, restorative, sustainable, multi-use, modular and inhabited marine ecosystems, beginning in French maritime jurisdictions, but intended to expand and codevelop shared benefits globally. Frédéric’s work is, in part, inspired by the work of The Seasteading Institute, highlighted by Joe Quirk in episode 02 of the Blue Economy Podcast.
Please visit the episode 08 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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FRÉDÉRIC PONS
Instigator and cofounder of the Indigo CivilizationFrédéric is a French humanist and visionary, who wishes to contribute to the realization of a better world. His rai·son d'ê·tre is to facilitate a harmonious combination of progress and aesthetics. During his 20-year professional path, he has developed and released innovative communication and marketing projects for many famous international brands.
After a significant personal life transition, Frédéric has dedicated part of his time and energy to support "The Indigo Civilization" project, which focuses on ecological restoration, economic growth and societal progress supported through the development of floating self-sufficient and value creating ecosystems and communities. The Indigo Civilization is a philanthropic initiative and foundation, featuring scientific and philosophical goals to create efficient solutions to tomorrow's environmental and societal challenges, and to reinvent a harmonious, mutually beneficial relationship between Man and the Ocean.
Frédéric’s small team of project collaborators includes engineers and ocean science experts from Japan, Singapore, and France, as well as Dutch floating cities architect Rutger de Graaf-van Dinther, who will be featured in upcoming episode 09 of the Blue Economy Primer.
Frédéric’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, Kristi Trail, Executive Director of the nonprofit Pontchartrain Conservancy explains the complex history and importance of maintaining a healthy regional watershed for both economic development and quality of life purposes. We discuss her leadership in Southeast Louisiana’s struggle to protect and preserve our coastal and inland waters from the adverse effects of urbanization and climate change. She contextualizes the potential for emerging technologies to preserve the region’s natural beauty and way of life for future generations, and explains how some of the Conservancy's complimentary initiatives are working to build capacity with other education and research organizations (including local k-12 schools), helping stakeholders and decision makers to gain a better understanding about the environmental challenges the region’s future generations will face in the coming decades.
Please visit the episode 07 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Kristi Trail
Executive Director; The Pontchartrain ConservancyMs. Trail is an experienced senior-level manager committed to community engagement, professionalism, accountability, and results. She leads with excellent interpersonal communication skills honed by collegial and supervisory roles in industry, non-profit organizations, and volunteer service. She possesses a deep understanding of scientific and technical environmental issues from decades of direct experience with field testing, laboratory analysis, reporting, risk assessment, and compliance matters with air, land, and water. She earned her BS and MS in Civil & Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Kristi is responsible for all aspects of governance and day-to-day operations for the Pontchartrain Conservancy, including managing a $3.4 million budget, 14-member board of directors, 30 full- and part-time employees and contractors, and activities at two locations.
Prior to joining The Pontchartrain Conservancy, Ms. Trail worked as an engineer in various capacities in the energy sector and as a private consultant. She is active in the New Orleans community, serving on many non-profit boards including Parkway Partners, Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, LSU Health Sciences Center Foundation, and the Audubon Area Zoning Association. She is also an active member of the Women’s Professional Council of New Orleans. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Loyola University Institute of Politics (2005) and the Institute of Environmental Communications (2005).
Kristi’s LinkedIn
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In this episode, globally renowned strategic foresight specialist, journalist, and Reinvent Futures founder Peter Leyden takes a moment during his Mardi Gras visit to New Orleans to discuss his ‘positive future casting’ work and what he sees as emerging technology breakthroughs in the key fields of energy generation, biotech, and artificial intelligence. He draws on his early-career first hand experience as a oil rig roughneck in Louisiana, and as a young journalist in the deep south, to contextualize the potential for Louisiana to become a global driver of Blue Economy innovation.
Please visit the episode 06 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Peter Leyden
Reinvent Future FounderPeter Leyden has spent his career in a wide range of roles figuring out the future, explaining what’s probably coming next, and helping envision how we can build a better world. Since coming to San Francisco at the beginning of the digital revolution to work with the founders of WIRED magazine, he has become a thought leader on the future, new technologies and megatrends.
Leyden has given keynote talks for the last 25 years on roughly a monthly basis as a futurist and tech expert working through Keppler Speakers. He is the coauthor of two influential books on the future that were published in multiple languages, including The Long Boom, and he now writes popular online pieces like his latest The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050.
Leyden is the founder of Reinvent Futures where he works as an advisor taking what he knows about the future and giving strategic foresight to senior leaders of organizations. He’s also a longtime host of physical and virtual events that convene top innovators from diverse fields impacting the future, and in 2023 Reinvent Futures will launch The Great Progression series.
Leyden ended up as managing editor of WIRED magazine in the heyday of the 1990s and he subsequently founded two of his own media startups focused on the future. He learned the futures business working at the pioneering strategic foresight and scenario planning firm Global Business Network, with the legendary Stewart Brand.
He graduated summa sum laude at Georgetown University in Washington D. C. and has two master’s degrees from Columbia University in New York.
More at PeterLeyden.com
Peter’s LinkedIn
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We mix it up with GNO Inc. President and CEO, Michael Hecht (a.k.a. DJ El Camino), about regional initiatives supporting the Blue Economy, Blue Tech, and resilient Gulf Coast communities. Michael explains the Greater New Orleans region’s Cha Cha style of economic development and innovation ecosystem development, grounded in a social equity and inclusivity agenda, powered by our exceptional creative culture heritage (with a bit of Lagniappe). Even in this complex age of climate crisis, all of the elements are in place for the Gulf Coast to make a great leap forward. We discuss how in the decades to come, the Louisiana Estuary can position itself to attract and cultivate an adaptive mix of talent, technology, and capital to preserve our homegrown Northern Caribbean character, while establishing global climate tech leadership and securing sustainable economic prosperity for our future generations.
Please visit the episode 05 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
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Michael Hecht
President & CEO; Greater New Orleans, Inc.
Michael Hecht is President & CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., the economic development agency for southeast Louisiana. GNO, Inc.'s mission is to create a region with a thriving economy and an excellent quality of life, for everyone. Under Michael's leadership, GNO, Inc. has been named a “Top Economic Development Organization in the United States” by Site Selection magazine.Before coming to GNO, Inc. Michael led the quarter-billion-dollar Katrina Small Business Recovery Program for the State. Previous to coming home to Louisiana, Michael worked for Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City, running the post-9/11 small business program.
Michael's entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding a conglomerate of restaurant ventures, including “Foreign Cinema,” named Restaurant of the Year 2000 in San Francisco. He began his career as a strategic management consultant in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.
Michael holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an undergraduate degree from Yale. Michael has been recognized as “One of the Ten People Who Made a Difference in the South,” “One of the 20 Business ‘Icons’ of the Tricentennial,” and “2018 CEO of the Year.”
With family roots in Louisiana back to the 1830s, Michael now lives in New Orleans with his wife, Marlene, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Tulane, and their two teenaged sons.
Michael’s LinkedIn
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AklysTransform Founder, Esmé Fantozzi, explains the critical importance, impacts, and processes of global energy transitions, drawing on her decades of global energy sector experience in supply chain, operational excellence, and sustainable energy transformations.
Please visit the episode 04 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
GUEST BIO:
Esmé Fantozzi
Founder & Principal; AklysTransformEsmé is an energy transition leader with 25+ years of global experience in operational excellence, supply chain and sustainable transformations. She has led global teams and transformed the way of doing business in some of the most culturally diverse, complex, and challenging ventures in the energy industry.
Whether enhancing workforce welfare in a Middle Eastern country, leading the digital transformation of a 1200+ strong business unit in the US, or heading a project to generate the emissions reduction roadmap of a global business unit, Esmé consistently takes a system-approach that maximizes value across the business ecosystem to produce sustainable, long-lasting results.
Founder and principal of AklysTransform, her own consultancy focuses on energy transition leadership and business transformation. By blending her extensive experience of the energy industry with the use of powerful climate change simulators based on the best science, she helps her clients identify sustainable business opportunities, understand and mitigate transition risks, and generate credible roadmaps to net zero emissions.
Esmé’s LinkedIn
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Gulf Wind Technology CEO, James Martin, discusses renewable energy and the climate tech innovation ecosystem in New Orleans, highlighting the initiatives and organizations that are leading the way towards a Blue Economy based energy transition.
Please visit the episode 03 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.
GUEST BIO:
James Martin
Founder & CEO; Gulf Wind TechnologyJames Martin is Founder and CEO of Gulf Wind Technology, based at the historic Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana. One of their established objectives is to develop and demonstrate technologies that will de-risk wind power in complex wind environments, through innovations in safety, rotor design, and system operation in peak wind events such as hurricanes. James moved from the UK to the US in 2010 to establish one of the worlds most advanced manufacturing and technology centers for wind turbine blades, based at the NASA campus in New Orleans. He has led innovation in the field of large rotors including development of industrialized high-throughput manufacturing-led-designs for both the onshore and offshore wind segments. James holds a degree in Design and Technology from the University of Plymouth and an MBA from the Freeman Business School at Tulane University.
James’ LinkedIn
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On our second episode, Joe Quirk, ‘Seavangelist’ and President of The Seasteading Institute discusses his work, and the origins of the Seasteading movement. He lays out the innovation potential for blue technology and governance models offered by the possibility of floating societies on the high seas, suggesting how New Orleans can be a global leader in Blue tech development and deployment.Please visit the episode 02 webpage to find additional links, references and background information.GUEST BIO:
Joe Quirk
President of The Seasteading InstituteJoe Quirk is a ‘Seavangelist’ and President of The Seasteading Institute. He is an American author originally from Westfield, New Jersey. His book, Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians, lays out the basic tenets of the Seasteading movement and highlights key ‘aquapreneurs’ who are leading the way with ocean-based regenerative technologies for living on the ocean. These include construction techniques, farming (aquaculture / mariculture), energy systems, and experimentation in economics and governance systems.Joe's LinkedIn
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Deep Blue Academy (DBA) Executive Director, Greg Delaune, sets the stage for the scope and mission of DBA and the Blue Economy Primer podcast. In our first four episodes, we will meet and talk with local New Orleans, and global experts about specific Blue Technologies, as well as broader approaches for developing innovation ecosystems that support the design, development, deployment, and scaling of critical new technologies and solution sets. About 2.4 billion people, or 40% of our global population, lives within 100km of the coast. So in the coming decades, these solution sets will be critical to preserving the unique cultural identity, lifestyles, and economies of maritime cultures.
HOST BIO:
Greg Delaune
Founder and Executive Director; Deep Blue AcademyGreg is an internationally recognized consultant, teacher, speaker, and writer specializing in public-private partnerships (PPPs) for green, clean, and smart cities, regenerative floating cities, sustainable economic development, and innovation ecosystem design. He is Founder and Executive Director of Deep Blue Academy, Cofounder of Deep Blue Institute, and a board member for the New Orleans-based Data Center. He has over 20 years of international experience in economics, urban design, and regional planning policy, managing multidisciplinary teams in the formulation and execution of innovative development strategies, including applied research on integrated sustainability tools and techniques for emerging economies in peripheral Europe and Latin America (e.g. Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay).
Please visit the episode 00 webpage to find additional links, references, and background information
Greg's LinkedIn
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