Ocean activist, author David Helvarg to speak in Cambria
Author and ocean activist David Helvarg, founder and executive director of Blue Frontier (www.bluefront.org), will share the history, culture and changing nature of California’s coasts and ocean from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Cambria Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St.
The paperback edition of his book, “The Golden Shore — California’s Love Affair with the Sea,” has a new foreword by actor and activist Ted Danson. Helvarg will examine how our Pacific coastline defines California’s economy, lifestyle and adventurous culture.
“We tend to think of America’s days of frontier exploration as being behind us,” Helvarg said in public comment to the U.S. Oceans Commission in 2004. “But that’s because we tend not to think of the other 71 percent of our blue planet.”
He will show a short video and then relate California’s growth as a maritime power, from Paleo-Indians trading in the Channel Islands to the development of America’s largest (and greenest) ports.
The coast contributes to California’s position as the world’s sixth-largest economy. The Navy and surfers, among whom Helvarg counts many friends, hold significant places in coastal history.
Helvarg is deeply involved with California’s continuing unique contribution to marine science and science-driven policies, focusing on such issues as overfishing, pollution, loss of habitat and climate change that threaten the ocean and ocean-dependent economies. He’ll show how California provides a model for how we can turn the tide and live well with our coasts and ocean.
Helvarg is executive director of Blue Frontier and the author of six books: “Blue Frontier,” “The War against the Greens,” “50 Ways to Save the Ocean,” “Rescue Warriors, “Saved by the Sea” and “The Golden Shore.”
He is editor of the Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide, organizer of “Blue Vision” Summits for ocean activists and the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards (co-hosted with Wendy Benchley), and winner of Coastal Living Magazine’s 2005 Leadership Award and the 2007 Herman Melville Literary Prize.
Helvarg worked as a war correspondent in Northern Ireland and Central America, covered a range of issues from military science to the AIDS epidemic, and reported from every continent including Antarctica. An award-winning journalist, he produced more than 40 documentaries for PBS, The Discovery Channel and others.
His print work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Popular Science, Sierra and Parade. He’s done radio work for Marketplace, AP radio and Pacifica. He has led workshops for journalists in Poland, Turkey, Tunisia, Slovakia and Washington, D.C. He is a licensed private investigator, body-surfer and scuba diver.
Greenspace — The Cambria Land Trust is sponsoring his appearance; a $10 donation is suggested.
This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Ocean activist, author David Helvarg to speak in Cambria."