SOA EVENTS
Unmasking Plastic
Only 2% of all plastic produced in the world is effectively recycled, so nearly all plastic ever created is still embedded in our air, water, and land.
But it's about more than the visible impact on our ocean: corporate producers are knowingly creating un-recyclable goods that end up in landfills and incinerators, perpetuating toxic social and ecological environments.
SOA has partnered with the Swarovski Foundation to empower youth as leaders in addressing the plastic crisis holistically, incorporating diverse perspectives as expert voices in the Unmasking Plastic webinar series.
Seabed Mining
Deep-sea mining threatens the delicate balance of life at the depths of the ocean. SOA calls for a 10-year moratorium on any mining so that its impact can be fully understood.
We have partnered with the Oxygen Project to spread the word, and co-hosted the #DefendtheDeep virtual summit in December 2020 (video recap here.)
Check out our campaign page to sign the petition, download the social media toolkit, and share our campaign video in 5 languages.
SOA Connects
SOA Connects brings together global stakeholders of ocean health as solutionists working toward the same goal. Each event showcases incredible people using their expertise and leveraging their passion to reverse the decimation of our ocean ecosystem through innovative, impactful solutions.
Michele Kuruc has been leading US ocean policy work for WWF since January 2013. Prior to moving back to the United States, she worked with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, specializing in enforcement technologies and operations, and advising on dealing with illegal fishing globally.
She has also had extensive service in the judicial and executive branches of the U.S. government, having worked as a lawyer many years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Justice Department and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. While at NOAA she supervised all NOAA prosecutions on marine resources, which averaged several hundred each year and included some of the first cases worldwide to deal with satellite monitoring technology in fisheries. While at NOAA she also was the founding chair of the International Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Network, bringing together operational law enforcement personnel from around the world.
During her time at the U.S. Justice Department, she was a trial attorney, handling criminal and civil cases throughout the United States involving many types of wildlife including polar bears, cactus, ducks, whales, fish, turtles, and other protected species.
She graduated from the University of Wyoming, College of Law, where she served on the law review.