Dr. Julie Pullen is an oceanographer, climate tech investor, and Ocean Visions board member. Dr. Pullen shares her perspective on why Ocean Visions is essential to the field of ocean-climate solutions and worthy of support.
Shining a light on the most impactful funding opportunities
With a changing climate, we are on the brink of creating a planet that is unrecognizable. As an oceanographer, I recognize the most imminent tipping points will happen in the ocean – in particular coral reef loss, polar ice loss, and the important ocean-air circulations that regulate global climate patterns on which we’ve come to rely.
We are all inspired by and drawn to the ocean with its profound vastness and beautiful biodiversity. Despite this looming sense of loss for our oceans, we are at a crossroads. We must be proactive and expand our set of solutions. We can both protect the ocean and recognize it as a powerful ally in confronting the climate crisis. That’s where Ocean Visions comes in. Ocean Visions brings academic research and tech innovation together – elevating the ocean’s role in climate action to find responsible solutions rooted in science.
With a background in ocean science and as an investor in climate tech, I am often advising other investors who are just starting out in the climate tech space. I refer funders and venture capitalists to Ocean Visions’ work all the time. We are aligned on the same criteria: new and emerging ocean-climate solutions should be efficient, scalable, low-cost, low-power, and have minimal environmental impact.
Ocean Visions has provided this really important role – shining a spotlight on where money can best be spent for responsible ocean-based carbon dioxide removal.
Ocean Visions’ road maps provide potential funders with a clear sense of the needs and gaps of various ocean CDR pathways and how their investments can advance potential solutions. These road maps work really nicely in tandem with the programs of government agencies like NOAA, DOE, ARPA-E, and the National Ocean Partnership Program who are expanding research funding for these kinds of solutions. Ocean Visions has been central to catalyzing these efforts and providing a beacon for how these different activities inform each other.
As a nonprofit that brings startup innovation, academic rigor, and scientific grounding together, Ocean Visions is committed to collaboration and catalyzing solutions – without profit motives or partiality to particular products or technologies, but with the aim of illumination.
Three Reasons to Fund Ocean Visions
1) Ocean Visions is collaborative and clear with its mission.
Ocean Visions’ comprehensive road maps offer funders, researchers, and innovators a clear sense of the needs and gaps of various ocean-based CDR pathways and how their investments can advance potential solutions.
2) Ocean Visions is generous and nimble with its research.
By collaborating across disciplines and encouraging open research, Ocean Visions helps advance much-needed ocean-based climate solutions. If certain pathways don’t meet certain principles, like ensuring low environmental impact, the work is constantly updated to reflect the latest developments.
3) Ocean Visions is impartial and trusted in the field.
As a nonprofit that brings startup innovation, academic rigor, and scientific grounding together, Ocean Visions is committed to collaboration and catalyzing solutions – without profit motives or partiality to particular products or technologies, but with the aim of illumination.