The Kyle Thiermann Show

SIGN THE PETITION TO CONNECT THE CAP: http://p2a.co/qwV7f0c Marcus Eriksen (@5Gyers) is the co-founder of Leap Lab, as well as the Research Director and co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute. He studies the global distribution and ecological impacts of plastic marine pollution, which has included expeditions sailing through all 5 subtropical gyres, Bay of Bengal, Southern Ocean and inland lakes and rivers, recently publishing the first global estimate of all plastic of all sizes floating in the world’s oceans, totaling 270,000 metric tons from 5.25 trillion particles. In 2013 he and colleagues published the discovery of microbeads in the Great Lakes, which became the cornerstone for a US-based campaign to eliminate plastic microbeads from cosmetics, resulting in the Microbead-Free Waters Act, which became US federal law in 2015. Years earlier, in 2000, he traveled to Midway Atoll, finding hundreds of Laysan Albatross with plastic pouring out of their stomachs, and that experience narrowed his focus to plastics. He received his Ph.D. in Science Education from University of Southern California in 2003, months before embarking on a 2000-mile, 5-month journey down the Mississippi River on a homemade raft of plastic bottles to bring attention to this issue. Again in 2008, he rafted across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii on JUNK, floating on 15,000 plastic bottles and a Cessina airplane fuselage as a cabin (junkraft.com). The journey, 2,600 miles in 88 days, brought attention to the work of the 5 Gyres Institute, the organization he co-founded with his wife Anna Cummins. His first book, titled “My River Home” (Beacon Press, 2007) chronicled his Mississippi River experience paralleled with his tour as a Marine in the 1991 Gulf War. His second book, titled "JUNK RAFT: An oceanic voyage and the rising tide of activism to fight plastic pollution" (Beacon Press, 2017) tells the story of how plastic pollution at sea was discovered, the impact on people and the planet, and the growing movement to solve the problem through zero waste initiatives in the largest cities worldwide. The experience of war, sailing across oceans with wonderful crew-mates, and long rafting voyages, have led to a strong conservation ethic worth fighting for. “We must understand and define conservation and social justice as our collective self-preservation – a rationale that crosses all boundaries between all people.” Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Peter Mel (@Peter_Mel) is the 2011/2012 Big Wave World Champion and the 2012.2013 Mavericks Invitational Surfing Champion. He is also a broadcaster for the World Surf League.  During the conversation, we referenced Albee Layer's podcast (Ep#56) and Dr. Jeff McNairy's podcast (Ep#39). Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Adam Replogle (@Dumpling888) is known for his smooth style and powerful rail surfing. He is the winner of the 2002 Cold Water Classic and is considered one of the best surfers to ever come out of Santa Cruz.  Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan Levinson is a sailor and known for his notable achievements in ocean adventure sports and emergency first response despite having an untreatable genetic disease that causes his muscles throughout his body to continuously weaken. He and his wife Nicole are currently in their fourth year of a voyage of discovery and adventure through the remote islands and atolls of the tropical South Pacific.  Ryan uses the attention his story receives and his popular YouTube channel “Two Afloat” to explore themes of adventure, environmental responsibility, love, culture, courage, and the other wild thoughts that cross his mind as he and Nicole explore the world’s ocean. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Christopher and his work have been featured just about everywhere, including: MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Times of London, Playboy, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Outside, El Pais, La Vanguardia, Salon, Seed, and Big Think.  A featured speaker from TED in Long Beach, CA to The Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House to the Einstein Forum in Pottsdam, Germany, Chris has consulted at various hospitals in Spain, provided expert testimony in a Canadian constitutional hearing, and appeared in well over a dozen documentary films. Even before co-authoring the New York Times best-seller, Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What it Means for Modern Relationships (translated into 15 languages), with his partner-in-crime (and wife), Cacilda Jethá, MD, Chris was on a wild ride. After receiving a BA in English and American literature in 1984 he spent the next two decades traveling around the world, pausing in unexpected places to work at decidedly odd jobs (e.g., gutting salmon in Alaska, teaching English to prostitutes in Bangkok and self-defense to land-reform activists in Mexico, managing commercial real-estate in New York’s Diamond District, helping Spanish physicians publish their research). In his mid-30s, Chris decided to pursue doctoral studies in Psychology. Drawing upon his multi-cultural experience, Chris' research focused on distinguishing the human from the cultural, first by focusing on shamanism and ethnobotony—studying how various societies interact with altered states of consciousness and the sacred plants that provoke them—and later, by looking at similarly diverse cultural perspectives on sexuality. His doctoral dissertation was a multi-disciplinary investigation of prehistoric human sexual behavior, guided by the world-renowned psychologist, Stanley Krippner, at Saybrook Graduate School, in San Francisco, CA. Chris is finishing a new book for Simon and Schuster tentatively called Civilized to Death: Why Everything's Amazing but Nobody's Happy, due out in 2017—and he puts out a weekly podcast, called Tangentially Speaking, featuring conversations with interesting people, ranging from famous comics to bank robbers to drug smugglers to porn stars to authors to plasma physicists. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Ben Kneppers is a Co-Founder of Bureo Inc., an emerging company operating between Chile and the California focused on creating innovative solutions to ocean plastic pollution. Through the team’s initiative, ‘Net Positiva’, Bureo has created Chile’s first ever fishnet collection & recycling program. Net Positiva provides fisherman with environmentally sound disposal points, while Bureo receives highly recyclable raw materials to create innovative products that bring net positive solutions to the world. Find out more at www.bureo.co Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

There are many reasons why improv theater has taken root in Santa Cruz and become a bona fide artistic tradition. Two of those reasons are named Clifford Henderson and Dixie Cox. Proud recipients of 2014 Gail Rich Awards. Clifford Henderson and Dixie Cox, founders of the FUN INSTITUTE, have a combined total of over 48 years experience teaching improv, acting, and team-building skills. They have taught workshops for high-tech businesses, university educators, retreat centers, psychotherapists, incarcerated women, a Zen community, stroke survivors, and the public at-large. Their home base is the Broadway Playhouse, in Santa Cruz, California. They are also the creators of the popular two-woman show, Detour Ahead: the Clifford & Dixie Show. Both were founders and coordinators of the popular Santa Cruz event, The Improvathon. They’ve played with troupes Sapphos Lapphos and Loose Cannon Theater starting back in 1993. Both are familiar faces on and off the stages of Santa Cruz. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Justin Davis has worked as a paramedic/firefighter at Station 14 in San Jose since 2007. From 1999-2006 he worked for Cal Fire and was part of the Helitack crew from 2005-2006. He has also been part of the Urban Search And Rescue Team (USAR) for the past seven years. Additionally, he is part of the Santa Cruz Marine Rescue Team. When he retires, he plans to circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat.    Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Malloy is an accomplished professional surfer and filmmaker. His films include 180 Degrees South, The Fishermans Son, Groundswell, Thicker Than Water, and A Brokedown Melody. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Hans Cole is the Director of Environmental Campaigns and Advocacy at Patagonia.  Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe