World Renowned Conservationist Set to Keynote Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s Go Blue Awards Luncheon
Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s Third Annual Go Blue Awards Luncheon featuring keynote speaker and world-renowned ocean conservationist Dr. Sylvia Earle will be held on Friday, October 21, 2011 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at PGA National Resort & Spa. Earle is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, founder of the Mission Blue Foundation, Chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute and the Marine Science and Technology Foundation, and former Chief Scientist of NOAA. She was named Time magazine’s first Hero for the Planet, a Living Legend by the Library of Congress, and a 2009 winner of the TED Prize. Earle has pioneered research on marine ecosystems and has led more than 100 expeditions totaling more than 7,000 hours underwater. Tickets to see Earle at the Go Blue Awards Luncheon are $75.00 and may be purchased at marinelife.org/goblue2011.
Dr. Sylvia Earle will keynote this year’s Go Blue Awards Luncheon. Photo by Kip Evans.
“I was swept off my feet by a wave when I was three and have been in love with the sea ever since,” Earle said. “Even as a child I was lured into the sea by the creatures that live there: horseshoe crabs on the New Jersey beaches; starfish and sea urchins in the Florida Keys; and everywhere strange and wonderful forms of life that occur only underwater. It was and is irresistible.”
Earle is author of more than 175 scientific and popular publications, including a The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One and Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas. Her research places special emphasis on marine plants and ecosystems, and the development of technology for access and research in the deep sea.
She played a key role in bringing about increased support for U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries during the Clinton administration in 1999, and later helped inspire George W. Bush to designate vast tracts of American-controlled Pacific Ocean islands, reefs, surface waters, and sea floor as marine national monuments, limiting fishing, mining, and oil exploration. Today, she is leading a global effort to develop networks of protected areas in the sea—“Hope Spots”—large enough to protect the blue heart of the planet.
The Go Blue Awards program recognizes individuals and businesses that directly or indirectly support the center’s mission to promote conservation of Florida’s coastal ecosystems with a special focus on threatened and endangered sea turtles. The following individuals have been named finalists for this year’s awards: Jim Abernethy, Steven Allen, Lauren Arango, Anja Burns, Sonja Fordham, Michael Hughes, Susan Murray, Winifred Perkins, Missy and Lilly Tougas, and Joe Zavertnik. Edge Recycling, Nozzle Nolen, and Rapid Removal have also been named finalists.
Luncheon sponsors include Loggerhead Club & Marina, PGA National Resort & Spa, PBG Lifestyle Magazine, Anchor Bank, Bob Chlebek, FPL, Lynne & Pete Wells, Florida Weekly, Lilly Pulitzer, Sequin LLC, Tiffany & Co. Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach Kennel Club, Susan Johnson, Elizabeth Neuhoff, Bill Barbosa Photography, and Whole Foods Market.
For more information on the Third Annual Go Blue Awards Luncheon contact Deborah Jaffe, Loggerhead Marinelife Center Director of Development, at 561.627.8280 ext. 102 or djaffe@marinelife.org, or visit marinelife.org/goblue2011.