The World Oceans Day event brought together industry and celebrity voices and some 3,000 registrants. 6/10/2020 7:38:00 PM     The World Oceans Day event brought together industry and celebrity voices and some 3,000 registrants.   The U.N. and Oceanic Global held its first virtual event, bringing together industry and celebrity voices and some 3,000 registrants.   Some 3,000 people RSVP’d, with more likely to have tuned in worldwide, said Lea d’Auriol, founder of Oceanic Global. Fashion brands like Everest Isles and Solid and Striped partnered with Oceanic Global, as have others since its inception in 2015. The Oceanic Global Foundation emerged following the foundation’s inaugural ocean festival “Oceanic x Ibiza.”   The 2020 theme, titled “Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean,” arrives during a time of heightened tensions in the U.S. and elsewhere, as the Black Lives Matter movement sweeps across the globe with ongoing peaceful protests. Almost on cue for visualizing the urgency demanded by environmental groups, a week prior Russia declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tons of diesel spilled from a power plant in the city of Norilsk, Russia, into the Arctic Ocean. Melting permafrost was cited as the culprit — indicative of the effects of global warming in the region.   All things considered, d’Auriol is focused on collective action today. She quoted the poet Audre Lorde: “‘There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives,”’ adding, “In that same spirit, the work we do in the ocean and environmental space is inextricably linked with human rights, public health, and fighting against racial injustice.”   View Gallery Related Gallery Black Lives Matter: Messages from the New York City Protests. Concern for the environment is all-encompassing, but marginalized groups (African American and Latinx people) tend to be the “most concerned” about climate change, as they are often the most vulnerable and exposed to its effects, according to a study conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.   D’Auriol also pointed to a recent Washington Post op-ed by Dr. Ayana Johnson, a scientific adviser to Oceanic Global, marine biologist and policy expert, as further explanation of the interconnectedness of such sustainability issues. View this post on Instagram There are ~23 million black Americans who are *already* deeply concerned about the #ClimateCrisis. (MILLION!) But how can we expect Black people to effectively lead their communities on the existential treat of climate when faced with the existential threat of racism? My latest for @washingtonpost, connecting the dots on all we are dangerously squandering. Link in bio and bit.ly/WaPoClimateBLM. Thoughts and prayers. Love and light. Those won’t solve racism or climate change. So what are you going to DO? #BlackLivesMatter