Imagine you had one organ in your body that produces 50% of the air you breathe. It helps regulate your body temperature to a point where you can survive. It absorbs gases that would make living impossible for you. It delivers nutrients that keep you alive.

All these things done by one single organ.

How much would you want to know about that organ? How much money would you want to be spent on researching that organ? And how would you adjust your behavior to keep that organ alive?

Probably you'd give it all the attention you can.

Now, this organ doesn't exist, but the ocean basically provides these services to you every single day. It absorbs 25% of CO2, it produces 50% of oxygen, and it absorbs 90% of heat. It feeds us with protein (if you eat seafood), and it serves as shipping lines for the majority of the goods we consume. And yet, we don't know a whole lot about it.

That's why I sat down with Dr. Tom Pickerell, a marine biologist and the Head of the Global Ocean Program at the World Resources Institute. With him, I work through Ocean Literacy 101 and discuss whether a sustainable blue economy is possible.

About Tom Pickerell:

Tom is a marine biologist working with the World Resources Institute's Ocean Program, supporting the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy—18 serving heads of state committed to protecting and sustainably managing 100% of their national waters. He's also a member of the Marine Stewardship Council's Stakeholder Advisory Committee and was inspired by Jacques Cousteau's vision of farming the ocean responsibly.

KEY TOPICS:

Why ocean literacy is the missing piece in environmental education

The economic case for ocean protection (and it's massive)

How overfishing, pollution, and climate change interconnect

What Marine Protected Areas actually do (and don't do)

The Monterey Bay sea otter story—a perfect example of trophic cascades

Why multilateralism for the ocean is both succeeding and failing right now

The one type of seafood everyone can eat guilt-free

How 18 countries representing 37.5% of national waters are committed to 100% sustainable management

What if surfing isn't just a sport, but a lifelong dance with nature that can transform how you approach everything else?

In this episode, we sit down with renowned surf coach Joe Koener to break down what it really takes to become a proficient surfer. And why most people are doing it wrong.

Unlike sports with a built-in "stop button," surfing forces you to stay engaged with an unpredictable ocean, building adaptability, resilience, and growth in ways few other disciplines can.

In this conversation, we dive into:

Why surf instruction lags behind disciplines like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and music — and how to fix itThe 3 pillars of Joe's coaching method: conceptual understanding, skill development, and capacity building

The secret to maneuvering and accelerating on a wave: mastering "rail-to-rail" surfingWhy year-round preparation beats relying on surf trips aloneThe fitness baseline every surfer needs to avoid burning out in the lineupHow to choose a surf camp that actually makes you better (hint: it's not about the waves)Why discipline — breath work, stretching, strength training — unlocks real progression, even for free-spirited surfers

Whether you're a beginner paddling out for the first time, an intermediate stuck on a plateau, or simply someone chasing mastery in any craft, Joe's insights on commitment, failure, and treating your passion as a long-term practice will hit deep.

🎙️ Pursue what you love with 100% commitment. The ocean is waiting.

👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more conversations from Where the Ocean Meets with Joel Tasche.

💬 What's your biggest surfing struggle? Drop it in the comments below.

A Princeton-educated architect walks into a water treatment plant and violently shakes microplastics into a bathtub.

What sounds like a joke written by an intoxicated AI is reality for Nathaniel Banks.

In this episode, we explore how thinking through problems from start to finish can help with the daunting task of solving the microplastic problem.

Nathaniel is CEO & Co-Founder of PolyGone. Nature inspired their filter technology, which can remove microplastics from different kinds of waterways.

We discuss how they came up with the idea, how they got it to work, and where the technology needs to go to have a significant impact.

Get a glimpse into a mind that microplastics obviously haven't had any impact on yet.

Key Topics:

The scale and health impacts of microplastic pollution

How aquatic plants inspired a revolutionary filtration technology

The journey from architecture to environmental innovation

Real-world deployment and results from water treatment facilities

The regulatory challenges and private sector opportunities

What happens to collected microplastics and recycling innovations

Dr. Russel Arnott manages to more than a million views on his videos. And that's not a product of guess work but by preparation.

And it's not like he studied in marketing departments for ages. He is a marine biologist. But he found a way how to tell the stories better.

What all that has to do with his detest of academic conferences, which frameworks he applies and how you can learn to tell better stories. He explains all of that in this episode. This is free consultation on story telling for the oceans!

Andrew Barrows takes us underwater in Hawai'i to learn how coral have baby. He explains there is a sense that picks it up before you can see it. And somehow coral seem to be spiritual: the species he researched only does it during a specific lunar phase. #spiritanimal

In other dirtier topics, we discuss sargassum. The stinky seagrass that is typically very important to eco-systems. But lately it's become a problem - and Andrew might have the solution to it.

Listen to find out!

Building a Positive Vision for the Future with Will Pearson

Episode Summary

We haven't had a positive vision of the future since Star Trek in the 1960s. In this episode, I sit down with Will Pearson, co-founder of Ocean Bottle, to design a roadmap for what comes next. From reshaping capitalism to putting the ocean at the center of our economy, we explore how to build systems where businesses give more than they take and planetary healing becomes profitable.

Guest

Will Pearson - Co-Founder of Ocean Bottle, Forbes 30 Under 30, B-Corp advocate

Ocean Bottle has collected over 22 million kg of ocean-bound plastic while building an 8-figure revenue business. Will is also the founder of B+, an initiative bringing together the world's most ambitious companies on climate and nature.

Key Topics

Reshaping Capitalism: Start, Stop, Keep

• Why businesses that heal the planet should be profitable
• The B+ initiative: connecting regenerative startups with global corporations
• Moving from businesses that reduce harm to businesses that create positive impact

Ocean-Centered Future

• Putting ocean health at the center of economic planning
• Marine protected areas and biodiversity restoration
• Why we need sharks back in the Mediterranean

Plastic Economy Transformation

• Design problems: 400-year materials for week-long products
• Breaking plastic's dependence on oil industry byproducts
• Building collection infrastructure that provides income opportunities

Media and Culture Change

• Why constructive optimism beats fear-based messaging
• Making scientists and ocean researchers the new cultural heroes
• The need for platforms that celebrate positive solutions

Memorable Quotes

"We need to flip the question - instead of asking why environmental companies should be allowed to profit, we should ask why companies destroying the planet are allowed to make money."

"Businesses need to give more than what they take. We're getting to a point where companies reduce negative externalities to zero and actually drive positive impact."

"Without a doubt, if we can protect the ocean and allow it to regenerate itself, it will be our biggest ally against climate change and the biodiversity crisis."

Resources Mentioned

• B+ Initiative - Community of ambitious climate and nature companies
• Atmos & Earthrise Studios - Instagram channels for sustainability stories
• "Ocean" by David Attenborough - Book recommendation
• "Blue Mind" - Book on human connection to water
• CleanHub - My company partnering with Ocean Bottle on collection

Connect with Will

• Ocean Bottle: oceanbottle.co
• LinkedIn: ⁠Will Pearson⁠

Connect with Me

• CleanHub: cleanhub.com
• LinkedIn: ⁠Joel Tasche⁠

This episode is part of Where The Ocean Meets, exploring the intersection of business, sustainability, and ocean conservation. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Smoking, party lifestyle, MS Diagnosis - World Record in Apnea Diving?

How do all these things come together? Anna and me sit down to cover her wild ride from speed boats, to finding tranquility at 80m below sea level without oxygen.

Join us in this conversation that has more highs and lows than the wild oceans. This is also your chance to acompany a world record dive without getting your feet wet.

Summary

In this conversation, Anna shares her journey as a world record apnea diver, discussing the mental and physical challenges of freediving, her early experiences with water, and how her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis led her to a healthier lifestyle.

She emphasizes the importance of mental preparation, the joy of diving, and the lessons learned from both successes and failures in her sport. Anna also reflects on the deeper connections between humans and water, and how freediving has shaped her perspective on life and health.

Takeaways

- Anna-Karina set a world record in apnea diving under challenging conditions.

- Breath-holding can be a blissful experience when the mind is free of expectations.

- Early experiences with water shaped her love for diving.

- Freediving provided a sense of community and belonging.

- The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis prompted a lifestyle change towards health.

- Mental preparation is crucial for success in freediving.

- The joy of diving comes from being present in the moment.

- Every dive is a learning experience, whether good or bad.

- The mind plays a significant role in physical performance.

- Freediving teaches resilience and the importance of self-care.

If you've ever wondered how technology could actually save nature (instead of destroying it), this conversation will blow your mind.

What happens when a Google X engineer who grew up driving tractors in a small village becomes obsessed with saving coral reefs?

Meet Sergei Nozdrenkov, founder of Wildflow, who's building something that sounds like science fiction: a "nervous system for the planet."

Sergei's journey from reading Arthur C. Clarke's 'The Deep Range' to diving in Iceland's tectonic plates to working with sharks in Mexico is wild enough.

But his current mission? Creating AI that can process massive streams of ocean data—3D coral imagery, bioacoustic recordings, eDNA samples—and turn them into actionable conservation decisions in real-time.

We dive deep into how nature's own algorithms could revolutionize ecosystem management, why 84% of coral restoration projects are never monitored, and Sergei's audacious vision of modeling the entire biosphere.

Plus: coral that eats fish, why wolves brought rivers back to Yellowstone, and his prediction for when we'll meaningfully communicate with whales.

Books Mentioned

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke

How to Speak Whale by Tom Mustill

At the UN Oceans Conference, I heard a bold claim from an Australian billionaire: if we turn 30% of the world's ocean into marine protected areas, we can fix the oceans.

This sparked a fascinating conversation with Dr. Fabio Favoretto, an internationally renowned marine scientist who has dedicated his career to researching these protected zones.

What started as an academic discussion turned into one of the most entertaining and eye-opening conversations about ocean conservation.

Dr. Favoretto paints vivid pictures of healthy oceans where the sun goes dark from massive schools of tuna, and of devastated seas that have become underwater deserts. He explains what marine protected areas really are, why they're so controversial, and the surprising obstacles we face in establishing them.Most importantly, this conversation offers hope - because the science shows that when we stop interfering, nature doesn't just survive, it explodes back to life with breathtaking speed.

About FabioDr. Fabio Favoretto - Marine ecologist and internationally renowned scientist specializing in marine protected areas research. With over 4,000 dives around the world, Dr. Favoretto has conducted groundbreaking research at Mexico's Revillagigedo Archipelago and works to demonstrate how ocean protection benefits both marine ecosystems and fishing communities.

In this epsode you will learn about:Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): What they are and why only 3% of the ocean is truly protected

Ocean Recovery: How ecosystems can bounce back in just 10 years when left alone

The Mediterranean Crisis: How Europe's sea was transformed from a biodiverse paradise to an underwater desert

Industrial vs. Artisanal Fishing: The real culprits behind ocean depletion

The Spillover Effect: How protecting areas actually helps fishermen

30 by 2030 Movement: The global push to protect 30% of oceans by 2030

Hope and Solutions: Why getting out of nature's way is the key to recovery

Key Quotes"The sun darkened. Everything went and I could feel the movement of the water because thousands of tunas were like just going... you could see like, like basically Formula One cars." - Dr. Favoretto describing an encounter at Revillagigedo

"That was stolen from me. I could have dove with mantas, white sharks, turtles, seals... I could have dove in the Mediterranean Sea, and I cannot anymore." - On the degradation of the Mediterranean

"The ocean is not dying. The ocean will never die... We are the ones that are paying the price, but we are not realizing it."

"We can do almost whatever we want with 97% of the ocean. So what are we talking about? We are really fighting about the 3%."

"It's either protect or go extinct."

Resources Mentioned

Revillagigedo Archipelago (Mexico's "Galapagos")

Pristine Seas Initiative (National Geographic)

Cabo Pulmo Marine Protected Area success story

"The Unnatural History of the Sea" by Carl Roberts

30 by 2030: ocean protection movement

Stay tuned for more deep dives into ocean conservation, marine science, and the people working to protect our blue planet.

Witness firsthand the devastating impact of 31-degree water temperatures as Dr. Jodie Rumer describes the beginning of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.

This episode dives into the physiology of the climate crisis, showcasing how marine heatwaves are affecting fragile ecosystems. Discover the critical science behind these changes and what it means for the future of ocean life.Imagine an Episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast but instead of humans, we discuss fish.Still the same keywords: VO2 Max, heart rate, oxygen levels, and how to improve performance. But this is not about self-improvement. It's about studying how fish - some of the best athletes in the world - adapt to climate change.Jodie enlightens me on how fish experience an ocean that is getting too hot. How they react, what their coping mechanisms are - and most importantly: If there is hope.About Jodie"Over her career, Dr. Rummer has researched fish buoyancy, exercise, and is a leading authority on the evolution of oxygen transport and how fish maintain performance during stress. Her team combines physiology, ecology, and evolution to address issues important to conservation, particularly focusing on the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors on coral reef fishes, sharks, and rays.With over 150 peer-reviewed publications and presentations at more than 120 professional conferences worldwide, Dr. Rummer's research has made significant contributions to our understanding of marine ecosystems and climate change impacts."(From her website: https://jodierummer.com)