Keynote Address
2009 Alaska Ocean Festival Keynote address will be given by Tim Richardson (American Land Conservancy)
Alaska Ocean Festival 2009
Passion Shift - Why Ocean Conservation Demands a Rhetorical Upgrade
by Tim Richardson (American Land Conservancy)
Successful ocean conservation will test environmental advocates' communication skills to a greater degree than most 'green' issues. Consensus building and stakeholder outreach must replace 'values-mongering' and the rhetorical 'blame game' if long range ocean resource sustainability is to be possible in Alaska. Finding the 'win' for people is key to imagining a win for ocean resources.
Tim Richardson is Director of Government Affairs and the Alaska Program for the American Land Conservancy. He has spent the last twenty years working on coastal and island ecosystem restoration in the Kodiak Archipelago and Prince William Sound in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Conservation results there set the acreage and dollar records for land purchases in the history of the National Wildlife Refuge System. He edited the book Kodiak Bears and the Exxon Valdez. Richardson has also dealt with Alaska Board of Fish and North Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission issues and has had success working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. In the Lower 48, Tim has been involved with large scale wetland restoration along the Mississippi River.
