🌊 The Ocean Awakens @ Climate Week NYC 2026

The Climate Week NYC's Ocean action hub ⚓ for Corporations, Startups & Nonprofits The Ocean Awakens brings together leaders from business, science, nonprofits, and the arts for a half-day of panels, conversations, and networking aboard the historic Tall Ship Wavertree at the South Street Seaport. Monday, September 21 — the day Climate Week NYC gets to work. With sustainability and ocean leaders already converging on New York for UNGA week, make the Wavertree your anchor event. This year's program explores plastics and their cascading impacts on health, biodiversity, and climate; the new wave of maritime technology; how ocean work gets funded; policy and advocacy; extreme field action; and art, media, and storytelling. Whether you work in sustainability, policy, science, or advocacy — this is your ocean hub for Climate Week NYC. See full program at https://oceanawakens.com 📅 Schedule 1:30 PM — Doors Open Come aboard early to settle in, explore the ship, and meet fellow guests before the program begins. 2:00 PM — Welcome Zak Risinger, Director of Engagement & Public Programs, South Street Seaport Museum Alex Dechelotte, Co-Founder & COO, Plastic Odyssey Fabien Lamaison, Executive Director, Plastic Odyssey Fund Opening Keynote — Make It So Disruptive deep tech, frontier innovation, and the capital that moves it. Tom Chi, Founding Partner, At One Ventures Keynote — A New Enterprise The Ocean Awakens — Season 2 opens with an announcement worth being aboard for. Simon Bernard, CEO & Co-Founder, Plastic Odyssey Episode I — Warp to Circularity Full Sail Impulse, Maritime panel Sail cargo, low-carbon shipping, high-tech vessel design, and the return of wind to global supply chains. Laurent Corbel, Co-Founder & Executive Producer, Wind Support NYC Panel:Jacques Barreau, Co-Founder & CEO, Grain de Sail Luc des Vallières, Director of Partnerships, Plastic Odyssey Lars Oetjen, Head of US Development, VELA Emmanuel Schalit, CEO, OceanWings Episode II — Boldly Fund Capital for the Blue Economy - Blue financing panel Impact investors, foundations, and venture funds on how ocean work actually gets funded, and what it takes to scale it. Tegan Churcher Hoffmann, Executive Director, Coastal Quest Panel:Donna Hazard, Managing Partner, Vital Ocean Ventures Jeremy Pochman, Co-Founder & CEO, 11th Hour Racing Rodrigo Prudencio, Managing Partner, Propeller VC Shore Leave — Boldly Go Tween Deck: Ocean Tech Startup Showcase: Meet the most game-changing innovations in the blue economy, and the intrepid founders behind them. Upper Deck: Networking Continues: Keep the conversations from the day’s sessions going, deck-side. Introduction by Anne Park, CEO, Sustainable Ocean Alliance Ann Carpenter, CEO, Braid Theory Episode III — The Wrath of Plastics First Contact with Body & Biodiversity - Plastics & health panel From ecosystem to bloodstream: endocrine disruptors, forever chemicals, and microplastics are reshaping what we know about health and biodiversity. On stage, the brands and scientists confronting plastic at the source, cleaning up formulas, rethinking packaging and sourcing, and reckoning with what plastic pollution means beyond the ocean. Christina Ross, Head of Science & Impact, Credo Beauty Panel:Amir Afshar, Co-Founder, Shellworks Professor Sarah Dunlop, Director, Plastics & Human Health, Minderoo Foundation Charlotte de Pitray, General Manager, Laboratoire SVR Adam Root, CEO & Founder, Matter Episode IV — The Undiscovered Treaty Negotiating the Future, Advocacy & policy panel The UN Plastics Treaty, the newly in-force High Seas Treaty, Extended Producer Responsibility, and the push to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, among the policies in play to cut plastic production and pollution. Where negotiations stand, what’s holding them back, and the paths to move them all forward. Holly Kaufman, Founder & Executive Director, The Plastics & Climate Project Panel:Judith Enck, President, Beyond Plastics Dr. Tracy A. Farrell, Regional Director and CEO, IUCN US Fund Renee Sharp, Director of Plastics and Petrochemical Advocacy at NRDC Field Report — Away Mission From the front line and last frontier: extreme cleanup & challenges on Kayak Island, Alaska. Andy Schroeder, Co-Founder, Ocean Plastics Recovery Project Special Guests — The Voyage Home Films, field sketches, a live art performance, an art treasure hunt, and ocean stories, closing with a final announcement for the season. Max Romey, Filmmaker & Painter, Trailbound Sketches Capucine Bourcart, Artist Aria Luna, Artist & Changemaker Ricky Rhodes, Producer & Director, Rhodes Films Introduced by Hanna Dijkstra, PhD Educator, Scientist & Communicator, Plastic Odyssey 6:30 PM — Dive Long & Prosper (networking reception on deck) 8:00 PM — Close 🚀 Bluefleet deck A working expo floor: startups and labs building the next generation of ocean technology, with prototypes on the table and the people who made them standing behind it. Open to every guest, open from 4 PM. See participating organizations 🤝 Event Sponsors Special thanks to the South Street Seaport Museum for their partnership in making the Wavertree available as our venue, and to FiveAdrift, Cobble Fish, OoMee, Open Water and Café Joyeux for their generous support. 💖 Support our organizations The South Street Seaport Museum, located in the heart of the historic Seaport District, preserves and interprets the history of New York as a great port city. Founded in 1967, the Seaport Museum includes an extensive collection of works of art and artifacts, a maritime reference library, galleries, working 19th-century print shop, and a fleet of historic vessels that all work to tell the story of “Where New York Begins.” Plastic Odyssey is a global nonprofit tackling the ocean plastic crisis through bold cleanup expeditions, long-term stewardship of marine ecosystems, field-based research and innovation, and education that inspires lasting change. Plastic Odyssey Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in San Francisco, created to mobilize U.S. philanthropies, corporations, governments, and individual donors in support of Plastic Odyssey's global mission. Contributions are channeled to Plastic Odyssey Foundation and Plastic Odyssey Expedition, funding coastal cleanup, marine restoration, and public awareness across the blue economy.