On November 11th and 12th, 2022, “An Ocean of Opportunity Educator Leadership Training” brought out 24 public middle school teachers to collaborate with EarthEcho International on the creation of new curriculum materials exploring the emerging blue economy. 

The event was in collaboration with AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles and with support from the Northrop Grumman Foundation. The goal was for teachers to learn first-hand from the innovative business leaders, explorers, scientists, and researchers at AltaSea and consult with EarthEcho on curriculum for the New Blue Economy that will be used by teachers across the world. Teachers from 22 different schools across six school districts participated.

The packed two-day event included diving robots through water to pick up trash, learning about RCAM’s new 3D concrete printing technology, marveling at the research being done at the USC Sustainable Seaweed Aquaculture lab, learning about wave energy from CalWave, and how SWAY is harnessing the power of seaweed to create compostable replacements for single use plastics. The event Culminated with a ride on a Los Angeles Maritime Institute Tall Ship!

As the teachers engaged with exhibitors, it was clear that they took away a lot of knowledge about the importance of the blue economy and ideas on how they can incorporate the blue economy into their curriculum. Teachers are currently putting learning into practice to advise EarthEcho's education team on the new blue economy curriculum materials which will be available for educators worldwide beginning in 2023.

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