Art inspiring action to protect our oceans | Shawn Heinrichs | TEDxBoulder

Using art is an essential tool in halting the destruction of threatened species. People only protect what they love. Recognizing this, we can bring the beauty and vulnerability of marine life to mainstream audiences across the globe, fueling a new wave of curiosity and appreciation for the oceans and inspire the global community to take immediate steps to conserve them.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

I'm excited to share with you
the work I'm doing

using inspiration to drive conservation.

But before I talk about what I'm doing,

I want to share with you a little bit

about the reason why and how
I came to be doing it.

I'm also going to add that every image
I'm going to show you tonight

is 100% real.

So may I ask you,

What animal do you think this is?

I would wager

many in the room might respond -
and it is a manta ray -

but might respond,
Isn't that a giant stingray?

Like the creature that killed Steve Irwin?

But it isn't. It's a manta ray.

It has no stinger; it has no teeth.

In fact, it is completely harmless.

It's also amongst the most curious
of all marine creatures.

And it's racing
towards extinction right now

because of unsustainable fisheries
for its meat and gills.

My challenge is to connect people
with these marine creatures,

such as manta rays,

animals where they have
no prior connection with,

because it is all these creatures
that play such an important role

in managing the most important
life-support system of our planet:

the oceans.

My journey began over two decades ago
when I took up scuba diving.

Beneath the surface, I discovered a world
so beautiful, so full of life

words just could not describe it.

So I taught myself
photography and film making,

and I set out on a global journey

to document the ocean's
most incredible spectacles

and share these with the planet.

I explored the reefs
of Raja Ampat, Indonesia,

the epicenter of global
marine biodiversity.

And I met my first sharks up close,
without any protection,

including one the most feared predators
on the planet: the tiger shark.

And I fell in love with them.

Soon I was diving on reefs
teeming with sharks

and dancing with giant manta rays
with wingspans exceeding 15 feet

while below me, squadrons of mobula rays
danced in the distance.

I even discovered an aggregation
of over 300 whale sharks

off Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula

and immersed myself in schools
of sailfish of up to 200 animals

as they ripped apart sardine bait balls.

I frolicked with playful dolphins,

cruised with pilot whales

and dived into the frenzy

as a pod of orcas ripped
into a family of sperm whales.

And I experienced one of the most intimate
and touching experiences of my entire life

when a mother humpback whale
presented her newborn calf to me.

As much as I've been captivated
by these marine creatures,

I've been unable to ignore

how ruthlessly and systematically

we have been wiping these animals
off the face of the earth.

Now, my belief is

once you uncover such an important truth,

you have an obligation -

no, actually, you have a duty
to do something about it.

So I began a decade-long journey

to document and expose
the destruction happening in the oceans.

I discovered that sharks
were being targeted just for their fins.

From South America to Southeast Asia -

in fact, any country with a coastline -

fishermen were now targeting sharks
primarily for their fins.

And it wasn't just lots of sharks,

it wasn't hundreds of sharks,

it wasn't thousands or tens of thousands,

but hundreds of thousands of sharks
each and every single day

were being landed.

And why?

For their fins for shark fin soup.

In Taiwan, I watched as a single longliner
unloaded 10,000 fins,

over 3,000 sharks' worth.

Now, when you consider that Taiwan
has over 2,000 registered longliners

deploying enough line
to wrap around the planet eight times -

and they're only the fourth largest
shark fishing nation -

over 100 million sharks
killed each and every year,

primarily for their fins.

And by the time these fins
reach the consumer,

this trail of destruction's been erased,

with traders turning blood into gold.

But it wasn't just sharks.

They were now turning to manta rays
and killing them for their gills.

And with the large fish
disappearing from the sea,

they were turning to dolphins

and endangered sea turtles.

And despite the 1986 moratorium
on commercial whaling,

several nations, including Japan,

had increasingly started
hunting whales again.

So I came to the realisation
that if we did not move really quickly,

in my lifetime, I would witness
the death of the oceans.

My imagery of this destruction
has gone far and wide in global press,

with coverage in most major media outlets.

However, I have been saddened
by the realisation

that despite all this incredible coverage,

the world has remained largely ignorant
and even uninterested

in the destruction
happening in the oceans.

And as a result,

this destruction has only continued.

And then I realised
I've been talking to the 1%,

the already converted -
many of the people in this room -

but I haven't been reaching
the other 99% of the planet,

in whose hands
the fate of the oceans rest.

My mission is not to raise awareness

but rather to inspire action
and drive change.

My awakening happened
in one of the most unlikely of places:

in a remote fishing community
in southern Philippines.

Here, a village that had once participated

in the slaughter
of whale sharks for their fins

had now befriended these gentle giants,

and they were in the infancy

of establishing an eco-tourism industry
around these animals.

I documented this incredible relationship,

and I shared the story
with the entire world.

What struck me

was the international response
to this one image.

People were captivated
by the gentle and intimate connection

between this huge shark

and this poor fisherman.

Now six months later, from Mexico,

a fun image I posted
on Facebook went viral.

It occupied the front page
of Yahoo News for several days

and garnered over
100 million views since then.

And I had to ask myself,

Why were people so interested

in some random dudes
staring down at a whale shark?

It was a fun picture, right?

But then it came to me:

because this image,
it spoke to our imaginations,

our childhood fantasies

about these giant sea creatures
that lurked beneath the surface.

It connected human beings
and whale sharks

in a way that the average person
could identify with.

And suddenly, whale sharks
were worthy of international attention,

so much so that my friend
and ally Richard Branson

joined us on a special
WildAid-Virgin Unite expedition

to swim with these animals

and raise global attention
for the need to conserve them.

But I've come to realise

that most people are uninterested
in the oceans and creatures within them.

People are caught up in their daily lives.

And after a hard day's work,

we want to relax, we want to unwind.

We don't want to be reminded
of the world's problems

and especially abstract issues

such as shark finning
and ocean destruction.

We're influenced
by pop culture and fashion,

and we turn to mainstream media to escape.

But it is here where we must
get our message.

At first subtly,

but then leading to decisive action.

So I returned to the Philippines,
but this time on a mission:

to connect people with these animals
in a new and profound way;

to capture real-life imagery of a mermaid
dancing with these graceful giants;

to shine a global spotlight on an animal

that was disappearing
because of our greed;

to tell a new story of these animals,

one where we dance with them

and where world-class base jumper
Roberta Mancino leaps over their tails

just as she soars off cliffs
in her wing suit.

A story of connection,

where these animals and human beings
can actually co-exist,

where we appreciate them
for their natural beauty.

A world where we
finally rally the conviction

to conserve these gentle giants.

But awareness onto itself is not enough,

and especially for the manta ray,

we needed immediate and decisive action.

We'd finally succeeded
in getting manta rays on the docket

at the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species.

This body of 178 member nations

that meets only once every three years

is the only binding
international treaty on earth

to protect endangered species.

It's the same treaty that protects
rhinos, elephants and tigers.

Well, after a four-year campaign

leading up to the March 2013
CITES meeting,

we realised just two months
before the meeting

we had made a critical oversight.

The world and most of these delegates
had no idea what a manta ray was,

and we feared that many of them
thought it was a giant stingray,

like the one that killed Steve Irwin.

So we only had two months
to connect the world with manta rays

and show them to be the beautiful,
gentle and vulnerable creatures they are,

but also as charismatic animals
worthy of international protection.

And so we created 'Mantas Last Dance',

a story of Hannah, a wayward gypsy.

Estranged from her manta clan,

she finally returns to the ocean

only to realise she is too late:

all the mantas are gone.

So lost in despair, she lets go,

and in a dream state,
she dances one last time with her mantas.

This is a sneak peek at the film.

[Mantas Last Dance]

(Music: 'If I Could Stay' by Terra Naomi)

♪ And if I could spend ♪

♪ Some of the time I'm saving ♪

♪ I can imagine your face ♪

♪ The minute you see me coming home ♪

♪ It's only a dream ♪

♪ Cos you're far away ♪

♪ And time spent on dreams
could be time saved ♪

♪ And there's so many things
that I don't understand ♪

♪ I'm standing in line with my open hand ♪

♪ Waiting for some explanation,
something to hold onto ♪

(Music ends)

Shawn Heinrichs: Wow.

(Applause)

We released the film
one week before CITES,

and within 24 hours
we had over 200,000 downloads,

with features in The New York Times,
Smithsonian, Wired

and media outlets
around the entire planet.

We took the film to CITES,

and at a special reception
for manta rays held for delegates,

we inspired them.

The following week,

mantas won by a massive
80% margin of victory.

The world had finally rallied
when it mattered most

to protect manta rays.

(Applause)

I believe art is such an essential tool

in halting the destruction
of these threatened species.

By connecting people with the beauty
and vulnerability of these animals,

we ignite a new level of curiosity
and passion for them.

Because ultimately,

it is the human connection
that is central to conservation.

Without it, our efforts
will ultimately falter,

but by harnessing it,

we can change the world.

Thank you.

(Applause)