On Saturday, July 30th, Lucky and I spent a beautiful night in Southampton at a fabulous beachfront soiree to support one of our favorite charities, Oceana, for the 2nd annual Oceana Splash party. Hosted by Honorary Chair and Oceana Board Member Susan Rockefeller, along with event co-chairs Margie and Michael Loeb, Mary Kathryn Navab, Lois Robbins and Andrew Zaro and Gail and Sam Tobias, the event featured, great food, energizing music, and a pinch of star power all in the name of our planet’s oceans. Oceana has risen to challenge the practices and mindsets that have allowed humanity to so aggressively make its mark on this 3rd rock from the sun. Backed by media giants like Ted Danson who hosted a VIP reception and Adrian Grenier of entourage fame who arrived with his mom and performed with his band, The Honey Brothers, this organization understands, much like Wendy and Lucky, how to utilize a media presence to bring a message to the masses. The may lure you in with celebrity, but it’s the cause, the message, and the urgency of the issue that will reel you in to Oceana’s aquatic embrace.
Lucky certainly loves to dog paddle, but if the oceans go awry, Lucky’s recreational pursuits are the least of the planet’s worries. The oceans sustain all life on our planet and we as a species have repaid them with pollution, and genocide. Millions of people across the globe depend on healthy, available food from the sea in order to sustain their lives, and with wasteful, harmful, and destructive fishing practices we are facing a crisis of resources that may eventually put our dependency on oil to shame. And on that slippery front, drilling –just look at the BP oil spill of last summer – has ravaged the environment and poisoned the earth’s waters, turning them against the planet that they so dutifully have sustained for millennium. We need to re-conceptualize our relationship with and duty to our planet lest we lose the world as we know it forever.
At the 2nd Annual Oceana Splash party, Wendy and Lucky were able to catch up with special guests Adrian and Ted and got their take on why involvement with Oceana is so vital. The schmoozing began when Lucky wriggled out of Wendy’s arms and enthusiastically greeted her old friend, a pooch named Honey Bee, who just so happened to belong to Karesse Grenier, Adrian’s mom and Wendy’s dear friend! The two got to chatting, and it turned out that the Grenier’s had decided to turn this party into a family affair. Adrian rolled in not only with his band, but also with his mother, grandmother, and uncle who introduced him to the drums in his early teens. Karesse teasingly admitted that if Adrian were a dog he would be Blue Healer, Australian Shepherd mix, and Adrian offered that his mother’s dog, Honeybee, whose name coincidentally made her the band’s honorary Honey Sister, could easily play Arnold’s (his character’s affectionate Rottweiler) girlfriend on Entourage. After the fun and games, conversation turned once more to the sobering reality behind the festivities. Adrian explained his involvement with Oceana, noting, “Oil spills are disastrous all around for all species of wild life that rely on the ocean for survival. It’s no shock that tons and tons of oil in the ocean is a bad thing. Which is why I support organizations like Oceana whose sole purpose is to protect the oceans, they are literally what make life on earth a possibility.”
Ted Danson, the proud owner of a Miniature Australian Shepherd named Arthur a half-blind half-deaf 14 year old Pug named Roxy, and Lulu, a Chihuahua who was rescued on a roadside in Mexcio, is no stranger to compassion for the natural world. He recalls his voyage to his current position at the helm of Oceana, “I was walking on the beach about 25 years ago and several things happened in my head at once. I was walking on the beach with my kids, who were little and wanted to swim, but I told them ‘no’ because there was a sign that said the water was polluted. It was a run off problem, but I had no idea even what that meant, so I started asking questions. I met an environmental lawyer who was fighting to keep offshore oil drilling from being drilled right in Santa Monica Bay, and – both being bitten by a bug that told us to take a stand and make a difference – we started an organization called American Oceans Campaign, that then merged into Oceana about ten years ago which is now the world’s largest. Danson continued to explain just how dire the situation is stating, “we run the risk of fishing out our oceans in your lifetime.” Deadpan followed by a pause, “No more fish, literally. No more fish if we keep fishing in such a destructive and wasteful manner.” He continues, “We destroy the habitat, we throw away 1/3 of what the world catches, millions of perfectly edible perfectly afresh, perfectly alive sea creatures are thrown overboard, dead or dying because of human intervention and an obsession with certain ‘cash catches’ –a tuna ship will waste anything that they drag up that isn’t tuna etc…” Danson admits that his crusade for watery justice is often a thankless pursuit as it is nearly impossible to comprehensively measure the health of all the world’s water, but maintains that the work is vital.
Furthermore, Danson understands that while awareness is certainly necessary and worth striving for, involvement trumps all in the world of philanthropy. He urges people to donate their time as well as their thoughts and their money to the preservation of our global ecosystem, explaining that even the smallest gesture can make a great impact, “Oceana. It is a worldwide organization and it is very effective. It changes policy. It’s not about just raising awareness. It’s about changing policy to make sure that our fisheries are healthy. It’s worldwide. It works with governments. It’s very, very adult and very effective. So, go online go to Ocean.org. And by clicking here you can become, we call them wave makers. You don’t even have to pay money if you don’t feel like it. You can just join up and become a wave maker. Then when something bad is happening around the world we send you an email and you go yes! I agree with that! And off goes one of your emails and this is such an out of sight, out of mind topic. Most people don’t think about it. When thirty thousand emails land on somebody’s desk, it makes a huge difference. So you, literally, can save the oceans by your five minutes a day or a week clicking here or clicking there. It’s very powerful. There’s also a fabulous App called Seafood Watch. Based on your location, it tells you what fish are okay to eat in that area and it will tell you why. So you not only educate and protect yourself but as a consumer your buying habits start to dictate how people fish. You can become a very powerful advocate by just educating yourself and taking just a little action.” Danson concludes, “Become an activist and you can do it, even with your crazy busy life!”
Last, but certainly not least, Wendy and Lucky were finally able to steal a slice of the elegant Susan Rockefeller’s time. Rockefeller has been a long time philanthropist, but the global impact of Oceana has attracted her attention. “The ocean is gorgeous,” she begins, “But Only half of 1% of philanthropic dollars to the environment go to the oceans and we need to save them before it’s too late. We’ve got about ten years to reverse the tide of ocean destruction.” Rockefeller, who enjoys the company of a hypoallergenic Bengal Cat names “Kiss Kiss” urges all American to keep the oceans in mind no matter how far inland they may find themselves. Making an effort towards sustainability, avoiding plastics – which almost inevitably find their way into giant heaps of floating garbage that terrorize the Pacific – and being mindful of your Pescetarian purchases are all small ways that you can help reverse the course of destruction that plagues the seas. So Hop on in, because the water’s not fine, and it’s going to take many minds, hearts, and hands to make a dent in the damage!
To find out how you can help visit www.Oceana.org And educate yourself with Ted Danson’s new book, appropriately titled Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them,
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