Looking off the coast and seeing oil rigs dotting the horizon is something many people would consider ugly. Terrible. Ruining the landscape and the environment.
But to Emily Hazlewood and Amber Sparks, they see opportunity. Diving underwater below the steel structures, reveals an ecosystem under the water thriving with life.
Listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Energy, Emily and Amber, the founders of Blue Latitudes Foundation have worked hard to raise awareness about the marine life living under decommissioned oil platforms. Through their organisation, Blue Latitudes, they provide science-based consultations to help policy makers and educate the public about life under rigs.
Awareness raising has gone well to say the least, the team have been featured in New York Times, Entrepreneur and even have their own documentary called Transecting Borneo.
But why the focus on Rigs to Reefs?
Emily and Amber met at Scripps Institution of Oceanography while completing their master’s degrees in marine Biodiversity and Conservation. Through the program, the women connected and worked together to present a final thesis project highlighting the Rigs to Reefs program and the science to support leaving decommissioned rigs in place.
After graduation the two said goodbye and parted ways. Amber to San Francisco to continue to her work in oceans and technology (she was previously working on the Google Oceans project prior to the master’s program) and Emily to Los Angles to continue with environmental consulting. But they continued to receive interest about the Rigs to Reefs project and decided that in order to continue the work they wished to do, they needed to be together.
Shortly after, the women moved back to San Diego to give their venture a go. They started off working for an environmental consultant who they credit as mentoring them through the process developing a viable consulting business. After about 2 years the team undertook one of their first projects a report for the oil and gas industry.
“The shift in writing for academia to writing for industry or policy was a transition for us to navigate” says Emily. Any nervousness felt from that first project was outweighed by excitement.
For Amber, “communicating the value of this ecosystem to regulators” was particularly exciting. Through mentorship from other consultants and their network in San Diego the pair were able to scale up the LLC and continue to grow the for-purpose organisation.
“We were incredibly lucky to have the mentors and network that saw what we were trying to do and wanted to support us,” says Amber.
Diving Deeper
Females. Social entrepreneurs. Women in science. Business owners.
When I read these labels out to Amber and Emily, they laughed and took a breath.
“I we’ve never thought about it with those labels, we’ve always just kind of known what we wanted to do, and it happened to work out that way.” And for the most part, the pair use any “labels” to their advantage.
“A lot of oil and gas conferences are mostly men, so to be a few of the only females in the room is actually an advantage,” says Emily. “People want to understand why you are there and it can give you another platform to share your story.”
It’s clear talking to Amber and Emily that there is a deep love and passion from the ocean that is the driving purpose of the business and for both women as well. Emily grew up diving with her father on the East Coast of the USA and always loved being outdoors. Amber, grew up in California where the ocean played a core part of her childhood.
What clearly draws the women together is a love of diving. “The awe that is inspired when you first dive below a rig is just breathtaking,” says Amber.
“There’s nothing like it.”
The women are both supported by ocean loving families as well, “We taught our husbands to dive!” they laugh, “it is the best when the four of us can get out in the water.”
Expanding Latitudes
As Emily and Amber look to the future, the sky is the limit with their organisation. They recently were awarded a grant to work on more education and outreach and to work with others aspiring to start a social enterprise through programs at UCSD.
The women were fortunate to meet the great oceanographer Walter Munk before his passing in 2019. Professor Munk used to take on students that no one else would, the ones that had ideas that others thought were impossible. He loved a challenge and to try and prove what could be possible.
“We like to keep this in the back of our minds as we continue to grow Blue Latitudes, take on new projects where others think, no this is impossible… and show a different perspective.”
You can follow Emily and Amber’s journey on their social media @BlueLatitudesFoundation
Check out their latest documentary on the Matador Network Film Festival – free until May 7th
Or visit https://www.bluelatitudesfoundation.org/