SeaTrees is fighting climate change by restoring coastal ecosystems all over the planet.
Pondering the water that covers three-quarters of planet Earth, legendary oceanographer Jacques Cousteau said, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” Since the dawn of mankind, oceans, in all their beauty and might, have inspired awe and fear in equal measures, but the climate crisis has put humanity’s relationship with oceans in peril.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), global sea level has been rising over the past century, and the rate has increased in recent decades. In 2014, global sea level was 2.6 inches above the 1993 average—the highest annual average in the satellite record (1993 to present). Sea level continues to rise at a rate of about one-eighth of an inch per year. This means more deadly and destructive storm surges, more flooded garages and living rooms, and more annual oceanic calamities for the 40% of the world’s population that lives within 65 miles of the ocean.
It’s easy to succumb to the gloom and doom, but what if the key to reversing our warming planet and cooling our seas is found within the oceans themselves? This is the heart of the idea behind SeaTrees, a nonprofit founded in 2018 by surfing buddies Kevin Whilden and Michael Stewart, which takes climate change head-on through “blue carbon”—the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrasses, and saltmarshes. When photosynthesis takes place, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is safely absorbed into the ocean instead of the atmosphere. In fact, “blue-carbon” coastal ecosystems are 5 to 10 times more effective than a rainforest at removing carbon from the air.
For geologist Whilden, it’s a basic proposition: Create more blue carbon ecosystems at a favorable cost to communities, companies, and investors to build a sustainable future. It’s the beginning of a solution that needs to happen on a wide scale, and fast.
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“The rate and speed of human CO₂ emissions is unprecedented in the history of the earth. And it will have dramatic impacts to the planet, creating the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history, bigger than when the asteroid took out the dinosaurs,” Whilden says. “If we don’t stop before it’s too late, everything on the planet will become toxic and unable to support life. Saving the future lies in valuing emission removals as much as emission reductions, which is where SeaTrees comes in. We’ve found that people love the tangible idea of planting a tree. For us, it’s: Plant that same tree in the ocean.”
Combating climate change from all angles— starting locally
The Mida Creek mangrove restoration project is a prime example of a SeaTrees initiative. The world has lost half its mangroves, which are “supertrees” when it comes to solving climate change. Mangroves are fast-growing and hearty, and live in harsh, brackish saltwater environments. They send up shoot leaves and bark, which fall back down and become permanently sequestered in the mud, where they quickly capture some CO₂ and then even more as the forest matures. SeaTrees provided the funding for Kenya’s Malindi Watamu National Marine Park and Reserve communities to plant and raise the man-groves, and helped map the area with GPS, drones, and aerial photography to monitor the project’s progress and ensure that the trees are permanent.
“We won’t even work on a project unless the local community and government is bought in. It’s that simple,” Whilden says. “The SeaTrees model is to find a local community, wherever in the world, ready to restore their ecosystem or protect it. We have to have buy-in from the local community all the way up to the national government.”
SeaTrees’ models are replicable, with ongoing restoration and protection projects in Cambodia, Mexico, Australia, and the United States. But from its inception, the organization has not been wedded to one way of doing things. Instead, it attacks climate problems using many approaches, some in conjunction with large corporate brand partners like Warner Music (they are working together to restore and save Indonesian coral reefs) and some with small-time donors and volunteers that are helping fund and create blue carbon ecosystems through engagement with the SeaTrees app. And if a brand partner wants to offset its carbon footprint via SeaTrees with certified carbon credits from a “ridge-to-reef” style coastal watershed protection project, well, they do that too.
“We see where we can plug in to provide the most value in the most effective way possible. We will come in. We will crowdfund. We’ll bring the brand partners in. We’ll bring the individuals in that understand the importance and the coolness of this and will let them chip in,” says cofounder Michael Stewart. “If you have 10 bucks, you can help. If you have 10,000 bucks, you can help. If you have 10 million bucks, you can help. We have an avenue for everyone to do this. We have real-time data. For example, we know we have to plant 100,000 trees this quarter, and we have a dashboard that shows how many trees are left under contract in this particular project. It’s great we’re not waiting until the end of the year to say, ‘Hey, what did we do?’ That’s how you scale.”
It’s the everybody-in-the-pool approach the world needs to reverse climate change. SeaTrees is bridging the gap between massive CO₂ offset projects and investments, with support from huge financial institutions for local communities to start restoring and protecting their ecosystems.
“SeaTrees comes into what was a partnership between federal, state, and local agencies, fishermen, environmentalists, research scientists, and ourselves, and adds marketing, communications, and an online platform to help communicate all of this work and to engage people to give and become part of this project,” says Tom Ford, CEO of The Bay Foundation. “I hope that due to our proximity and the great relationship we have with SeaTrees, we can work together to pioneer the planting of sand dunes, and folks can invest in this too.”
“If you have 10 bucks, you can help. If you have 10,000 bucks, you can help. If you have 10 million bucks, you can help. We have an avenue for everyone to do this.”
Michael Stewart
How surfers and their stories are helping SeaTrees preserve the oceans
Whilden has been fighting the environmental fight for a long time. A geologist by trade, he studied the effects of climate change on permafrost in Antarctica in the nineties. In the mid-2000s, he was working for a startup, trying to explore responsible pathways for sequestering CO₂ in the ocean by stimulating phytoplankton production. Whilden quickly came to understand that the messaging around climate change needed an overhaul.
“I realized a problem with explaining climate change is that the stories usually told are not engaging, are not interesting. They’re actually really disheartening, which creates a disconnection from people’s everyday lives and how we solve this massive, global problem,” Whilden says. “Around that time, I was learning to surf and met Michael. Surfing showed us how we could flip the climate change narrative. It’s engaging and fun, but it’s also authentic to sustainability, in that the ancient Hawaiian culture was perhaps one of the most sustainable cultures in the history of humanity, parts of which still exist. There’s a way for surfers to be leaders in solving climate change and protecting the ocean.”
Saving Mother Earth is the future of global business
Saving Mother Earth is the future of global business
Global expansion is part of the moral imperative at SeaTrees. Stewart points out that the past hundred years were all about “extracting, externalizing the impacts, and internalizing the profits.” He believes capitalism is being rewritten in real time. Markets now understand that the planet is made up of finite resources and, if we all want to continue living here, positive impacts that help everybody must be made.
“In 2005, during my tenure at Surfrider, if you were an activist, you were an oddball, you were fringe, you were strange. And by the time I left, in 2015, if you weren’t engaged, you were strange and what’s up with you? You don’t care?” says Jim Moriarty, chairman of the board (emeritus) at Sustainable Surf and leader of purpose branding at 72AndSunny. “This era is defined by people caring and engaging in ways that they’ve never been able to before. They have the tools and the knowledge and want to be part of visceral changes for the betterment of society. If 75% of this planet is blue, one would think that there are assets and accelerates in the oceans that can have a direct impact on employee retention and a competitive advantage over your peers.”
For Whilden, leaving the planet in better shape than he found it is essential. SeaTrees is his vessel to make the earth whole again, especially his beloved little piece of it.
“There’s nothing else I want more than to help restore coastal ecosystems,” says Whilden. “I love them and spend so much time in them. It’s just what I want to do.”
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The SeaTrees platform enables people and brands to plant, reforest, and protect ocean ecosystems with the click of a button.
Storytelling is central to the SeaTrees approach. In the age of social media and personal branding, ecopreneurs (founders who harness the power of business and innovation in concert with nature) have to produce stand-out content. Enacting real global climate change means firing up the Greta Thunberg generation and the 560 million #ForClimate views on TikTok. Don’t know how to reach Gen Zers? Do like SeaTrees and bring someone on board who does.
“When I first met Kevin and Michael, we went paddleboarding and snorkeling in the kelp forest in Palos Verdes, Calif. It was just beautiful to be around like-minded people, my ocean family, because we’re all on the same page when it comes to understanding that the ocean is our life source,” says Danni Washington, science communicator, cofounder and executive director of Big Blue & You, and a SeaTrees Ambassador. “People aren’t talking about the ocean as a major solution for climate change, because what’s out of sight is out of mind. A lot of people have never been to the ocean, never seen the coastline or the beach, so the connection is missing. Scientists are clear on the fact that the ocean really does hold the key to helping us mitigate the impacts of climate change. My hope for SeaTrees is to see one of their projects on every coastline around the world.”
Salesforce’s Newly Launched Blue Carbon Program
The Salesforce Ocean Sustainability Program taps into the full power of Salesforce to promote ocean health and harness the ocean’s potential to address three global crises—climate change, inequality, and biodiversity loss.
As part of its commitment to oceans, Salesforce recently launched a blue carbon program to conserve, protect, and restore coastal and marine ecosystems. The program delivers on the company values and goals of equality and climate justice, carbon sequestration, and supporting ecopreneurs like SeaTrees, by focusing on key areas such as the blue carbon market, policy, and ecopreneurship. This initiative will help develop the nascent blue carbon market, and includes Salesforce’s goal to purchase 1 million tons of high-quality blue carbon credits, equivalent to more than $10 million, over the next four years.
Working through the Business Alliance to Scale Climate Solutions, Salesforce is forming a Blue Carbon Buyers Alliance designed to mobilize, educate, and coordinate corporate buyers to conserve and restore blue carbon ecosystems through voluntary carbon markets. This work focuses on scaling the supply of high-quality blue carbon credits by improving policy and advancing equitable access to global carbon markets by local and indigenous communities.
Click here to learn more.
Uncovering blue carbon:
Why the ocean is the carbon bank for the planet
Looping video
CEO and Co-Founder, SeaTrees and Sustainable Surf
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MEET THE ECOPRENEUR: Michael Stewart of SeaTrees.
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EXPLAINER: See why mangroves are critical to the fight against climate change.
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BEHIND THE SCENES: Episode 1 of The Ecopreneurs in California.
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MIDDLE: Pui utuntdis dem poresequamui ut unt
BOTTOM: Lut untui ut untdis dem poresequam
“IF WE DON’T STOP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE, EVERYTHING ON THE PLANET WILL BECOME TOXIC AND UNABLE TO SUPPORT LIFE.”
Kevin Whilden
Geologist and Co-Founder, SeaTrees and Sustainable Surf
Listen to Kevin Whilden on the SeaTrees approach.
Listen to Danni Washington on the ocean’s carbon sequestration power.
Eco•pre•neur: an environmentally minded entrepreneur who leads and drives climate action worldwide
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MEET THE ECOPRENEUR: Michael Stewart of SeaTrees.
Listen to Kevin Whilden on the SeaTrees approach.