OCR Facelift and Relaunch

Dolphin (tursiops sp) hurdles baitfish into a ball previous to charging it and feed, San Benedicto, Revillagigedo, Mexico

Fifteen years ago I found myself sitting in a dive bar within stumbling distance of my country home – one of those places where you’d find a handful of livers draped across the barstools – and where you would really not want to encounter anyone respectable you knew.

I was there because I had been working into the evening of a long week trying to figure out how to put together a public benefit (and donor-funded) organization focused on ocean conservation. This was after a life mostly focused on technical contracting  – in physics, electronics, and acoustics. Putting together a business based on philanthropic funding was a big leap.

So it was late in the evening and I wanted a beer, and I didn’t want to drive all the way into town to get one. So I walked down the street to the local joint and ordered one. And who should walk in just as I was on my first sip?  Branden Barber – someone also involved in conservation work, and who I highly respect…

So while we were explaining to each other why we were there, an attractive woman entered the bar, sat next to me, and ordered a cognac. As it was served, Branden said “because of who you are, I’m going to buy you that drink.” Now I’m intrigued.

Our visitor turned out to be Julia Butterfly Hill, the tree sitter who at 23 years old spent two years up in ‘Luna,’ a 1500 year-old redwood tree that was on the “asset” books of Pacific Lumber. Her tree-sitting did more than save Luna and the surrounding forest, it also galvanized a new way of non-violent engagement in conservation issues.

It turned out that I was sitting next to precisely the right person. After her celebrity, everyone wanted Butterfly Hill to be on their board. Her strategy was to coach people into taking their own initiative under the rubric of “Clime Your Own Tree.” So I got a really important 40-minute coaching session with her about how to do exactly what I was trying to do. And this was on Branden’s cognac…

Soon I got the engine running; I hired Gwynn, who was excellent in putting our websites together. In 2017 OCR hired Daniela Huson, who in a few short years pumped our social networking reach up into the millions, and has turned out to be a crack video producer.

So fifteen years and a lot of water under the bridge later we’re now at another juncture – as a social networking “influencer” (we have five times the active engagement of some of the big orgs), we are in the midst of a “facelift and relaunch.”

So what will you see and hear? Probably a lot more educational media – short videos, school programs and such. You’ll see this in our newsletters and on our “social media” channels. We also hope up our game on fundraising so we can hire an administrative assistant. This is so Daniela can focus on media and outreach, and I can focus on policy engagement, standards development, and research projects.

A lot of these changes will have a bit of a public face – revised logo and shiny new graphics (Ta-da!). But a lot of our relaunch will be how we manage and navigate the gobs of data we’re hoping to mobilize as we delve into our social networking engagement.

The objective is not to commoditize our work; rather it will be to amplify the opportunities that a larger and deeper reach might provide – supporting and cultivating the tools and information we will need to navigate what we all know will be a challenging future – as members of OCR’s cohort of “Community and Friends.”

Thanks for being part of our community enterprise!