I love our oceans—everything about them. I love swimming in them, eating the food that they provide, fishing in them, watching sunsets over them, and all of the other wonderful things that they offer. However, our oceans are both blessed and cursed by the same thing—they seem infinite. That’s what makes them so great, but it’s also what has led us to abusing them nearly to the point of no return. A little pollution will disappear in the vastness of an ocean. Overfishing doesn’t matter because there are always more fish. Scraping up the bottom isn’t a big deal because we can’t see the bottom. I wish that oceans were that resilient, but they’re not. Oceana is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that “seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they were in our grandparents’ youth.” They recognize the value of their oceans, and they’re doing something to protect them.
From what I can tell, most of what Oceana does is based on advocacy and creating awareness. They do this through a number of campaigns including Stop Climate Change, Stop Dirty Fishing, Stop Destructive Trawling, Stop Seafood Contamination, Cut the Bait, Save Seat Turtles, Safeguard Sharks, Dive Into Ocean Conservation, Surf Into Ocean Conservation, Stop Cruise Ship Pollution, Advocating for Ocean Change, and Protect Prey. This approach makes sense because our everyday choices impact the future of the ocean, and until we understand that, we’re not going to take a collective action for positive change. Here’s what Oceana has to say about their campaigns:
To achieve real benefits for the oceans, Oceana conducts focused, strategic campaigns. Each campaign has a specific timeframe and objective that will make a significant difference to the oceans. Each campaign combines scientific, legal, policy and advocacy approaches to reach its goal. Saving the oceans may take decades, but in each of our campaigns we aim to accomplish an important milestone in that effort within two to five years.
If you love the oceans as much as I do, you might want to consider Internships at Oceana. Current opportunities include Marketing/Communications Intern, Dirty Fishing Campaign Intern, Seafood Mercury Pollution Campaign Intern, Campaign to Stop Destructive Fishing Intern, Climate Change Intern, NAO Communications Intern, Fisheries Science Intern, Law Clerks-Externs, Science/Protected Species Intern, and Outreach Intern. All appear to be unpaid, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to resumes@oceana.org with the job title in the subject line.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
What do you love about the oceans?
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Tags: advocacy, biology, communications, conservation, Internships, law, marketing, non-profit, public policy, public relations, science, unpaid, Washington DC
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