In September 2020, during a pandemic that left many people feeling isolated, we launched a global platform that brought people together. Only One combines content, campaigns, and crowdfunding to advance ocean conservation and embraces innovative ideas, product design, and growth strategies to reach and engage new supporters in a shared mission to protect and restore the ocean.

Over four years, we rallied more than two million people around the world to take action across dozens of campaigns and impact projects. The community helped secure more than 340,000 km² of ocean protection, stopped practices that were harmful to marine life, unlocked critical funding for small islands, and supported impact projects with our partners. Last year alone, we advanced significant impact, working with partner organizations to stop deep sea mining, stem toxic pollutants, and advance global treaties to protect the High Seas and tackle plastics.

Last month, I stepped back from my day-to-day role with Only One. I am incredibly proud of the team we built and the initiatives we led over the past four years, and I am excited to continue to support the team as they continue this vital work. As I begin my next chapter building Tectonic — a new platform amplifying the innovators and innovations moving climate ambition into action — I wanted to take a moment to reflect on five initiatives that I think highlight our creative approach and the power of strategic storytelling and campaigning to advance ocean impact.

Engaging new audiences to protect Antarctica

For our first campaign, we joined the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy and The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition, and other partners in a global effort to protect the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. When secured, the three marine protected areas we worked to advance will represent the largest act of ocean protection in history, covering an area the size of the entire European Union — 1% of the global ocean.

We launched the campaign with Elite, which helped engage major influencers to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people to take action on our digital petition. We then delivered these signatures to key decision-makers, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. We also produced a series of content to keep supporters engaged and build a deeper connection between them and the remote, majestic continent.

Titanic's End at Burning Man

As the effort continued, we found creative ways to engage supporters offline. We built a public art exhibit in New York during the United Nations General Assembly that traveled to Berlin and Palau. We partnered with a camp of creators and entrepreneurs who built an iceberg for Burning Man. And we even launched a lifesize “March of the Penguins” outside the United Nations. These efforts and many more created a foundation of public support for the continued campaign for marine protection in the Southern Ocean.

Supporting communities most impacted by the climate and plastic crises

We helped amplify stories and leaders from communities most impacted by the climate and plastic crises. In the United States, we worked with Lemonada Media to produce an award-winning podcast series about the devastating impact of petrochemical plants on people in Cancer Alley—a community where the rate of cancer is 50x the national average. This storytelling, along with videos, infographics, and other digital content, connected audiences to a wide range of advocacy campaigns across the country.

In 2023, we partnered with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) on a campaign and content series to raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on small islands and the need for climate finance. We created an original film series highlighting challenges faced by four different island nations, produced an entire edition of Oceanographic Magazine, and designed the AOSIS pavilion at COP28 UAE in Dubai —where, on the first day, nations formerly launched the loss and damage fund and committed more than $700 million to help developing countries manage climate-related costs.

Amplifying leaders from the ocean and climate communities

Across a range of mediums, we highlighted and supported the important and innovative work of our partners in the ocean community. I am particularly proud of the podcast we produced and hosted called Upwell, which featured a range of leaders, including Sustainable Ocean Alliance founder and CEO Daniela V. Fernandez (episode here), former Patagonia CEO and Tompkins Conservation cofounder and president Kris Tompkins (here), National Geographic photographer Ami V. (here), Coral Vita co-founder, Chief Reef Officer, and The Earthshot Prize winner Sam Teicher (here), and many others.

We also used the podcast platform to amplify some of our incredible impact partners that we have been able to support with contributions from our community of more than 7,000 monthly donors. This included Sungai Watch cofounder Sam Bencheghib (episode here), who is stopping ocean-bound plastic in Bali, and Coral Gardeners founder Titouan Bernicot (here), who is helping to restore coral reefs in French Polynesia. With these impact partners and others, Only One’s community of supporters has funded the planting of more than four million mangroves and 132,000 corals, and removed more than 220,000 kilograms of plastics.

Scaling campaigns to protect marine life

We launched several advocacy campaigns to protect marine life from destructive practices. We worked with partners to pass legislation in the United States Congress to ban the use of deadly driftnets in federal waters. We helped the global coalition working to stop deep sea mining, rallying more than 300,000 supporters to join the campaign that has secured opposition from more than two dozen countries. And in 2022, we helped secure the most significant shark protection measure in history at CITES, safeguarding endangered requiem sharks.

Uniting startups and stakeholders to scale sustainable solutions

We brought together leading innovators and investors across a series of events and used our storytelling capacity to highlight how ocean-based climate solutions can solve one-third of the climate crisis. We hosted a breakfast discussion for World Oceans Day in 2022 with leaders including Karen Sack of Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, Katie Hoffman of Regeneration.VC, Kristin Ellis of Lowercarbon Capital, Ted Janulis of Investable Oceans, and Elena Perez of World Economic Forum. We launched similar convenings during New York and London Climate Weeks and at major conferences, including the Our Ocean Conference in Panama and Portugal.

We also built the Blue Climate Collective, a network of 75+ start-ups and stakeholders working to elevate the ocean as a climate solution. Incubated and launched by Only One in 2023 and now managed by Tectonic, the Collective hosts regular community gatherings to foster collaboration, creates content to amplify members with business and financial audiences, and works to marshal blended capital from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors to help solutions scale.

Continuing the mission in the years ahead

Throughout all of these initiatives and so many more, we demonstrated the power of storytelling to inform and inspire action. We showed how a committed community can advance meaningful impact. And we used creative strategies to elevate the power and potential of the ocean—an overlooked, underfunded climate ally—to advance the health of people and the planet.

Working with partners and supporters around the world, we accomplished a great amount in a short period of time—but it was only the beginning. I’m looking forward to watching and supporting the team at Only One as they continue this important work in the years to come.

Learn more and get involved at www.only.one and on Instagram at @onlyone.

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