Highlights from AGU24

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting was huge and wonderful. I continue to be impressed by the efforts and interest made in this organization to promote the intersections of arts and sciences as valuable and valid.

It was an honor to represent the Ocean World of Sound team’s community-based conservation work on the MesoAmerican Reef, and I led a large group of people in our classic “tune in” active listening exercise, which was very well received.

Marine energy sessions I co-convened were well attended with great follow ups. It is encouraging to see so much interest in harnessing energy sustainably from ocean motion and gradients.

In the marine energy poster session, I shared about the workshop “Advancing Energy Futures Through Art” my office at DOE funded, organized by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

In keeping with the art theme, I invited conference-goers to draw the future of marine energy.

At the “What’s Next For Corals” plenary it was humbling to hear my music featured in such a large venue by so many people, on such nice sound equipment!

Also, some of the tracks from my latest album Whale Hello There worked really well as walk on music, if I do say so myself.

The Plenary session was introduced by the outstanding sciart advocate, Dwight Owens of Ocean Networks Canada, and led into an exciting mix of hopeful information about corals and the role of the arts, with presentations by Derek Manzello, NOAA coral reef ecologist, and Courtney Mattison, sculpture artist and ocean advocate, with a discussion moderated by Rebeka Ryvola de Kremer, artist, activist, podcaster, and story strategist with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.