Inspiring Stories
Real stories of impact—how vessel speed reduction is making shipping safer for endangered whales and better for air quality and our climate.
Photo: Vivek Kumar
Featured Stories
John Ryan and listening to what whales can tell us
August 13, 2025
Adam Ernster and his "Battle of the Blues"
August 05, 2025
Whale Atlas: A Mariners Guide to Whale Safer Shipping
June 27, 2025
Searching
John Ryan and listening to what whales can tell us
John Ryan is a biological oceanographer who studies the ocean soundscape. Some may know him as the man who wheels around a huge sub-woofer so he can treat audiences to an acoustic demonstration of what the loudest animal on the planet sounds (and feels) like. Ryan uses acoustic monitoring to track whale calls with hydrophones and his research helps uncover how whales communicate, forage, and respond to environmental stressors.
13 Aug 2025
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Adam Ernster and his "Battle of the Blues"
“This film has been on my mind since my early days working in the channel. Some years, like last year in 2024, we can see over 50 blue whales feeding throughout the channel. It’s one of the most awe-inspiring sights in nature. Some days we also see upwards of 10 giant container ships transiting through the channel as well. As I began to understand the relationship between humans, whales and commerce, I knew I needed to tell this story.” - Adam Ernster
05 Aug 2025
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Whale Atlas: A Mariners Guide to Whale Safer Shipping
Danielle Alvarez writes about a first-of-its-kind online map portal that will showcase digitized whale conservation zones relevant to maritime shipping activities, including a zone’s designation and parameters, which marine species it protects, seasonality, and the specifics of the measures.
27 Jun 2025
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Celebrating Ten Years of Protecting Blue Whales & Blue Skies in California
Here in California, we live adjacent to a marine biodiversity hotspot, with endangered whales stopping to feed for an extended season during their annual migrations up and down the Pacific Coast. We also live in one of the epicenters of international trade.
19 Feb 2025
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$2 million to fund Supplemental Environmental Project aimed at reducing emissions from marine vessels
As ocean-going vessels contribute a large portion of the smog-forming NOx emissions affecting coastal California communities, the program is a critical component of partner air districts' air pollution emissions reduction strategies given vessels are outside local air district regulatory authority. This partnership is a great example of the amazing environmental benefits that are possible if we work together. Photo Credit: Ralph A. Clevenger
25 Jan 2025
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Reflecting on Lemons, Silver Linings, and Going Out on Limbs
The silver lining of being a small non-profit, tackling a lesser known environmental problem (supply chain impacts on biodiversity and coastal community health is not, yet, a mainstream issue)– is that you get to meet some for-profit gems bold enough to try something that's relatively, really new.
13 Sep 2024
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Supporting Acoustic Research to Improve Monitoring and Conservation
We stand to learn a lot by listening in on the ocean, and we can better paint a picture of how humans are impacting the ocean soundscape.
18 Jun 2024
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