The Only One Collective (founded by Blue Sphere Foundation, Lonely Whale, and SeaLegacy) today announced the launch of Only One, a digital platform developed as a home for stories, solutions, and community action to protect the ocean, tackle the climate crisis, and fuel the movement for a more just, equitable planet. The platform uses world-class creative content and meaningful calls to action to drive impact.
Organized into journeys, Only One empowers users to learn about the issues facing the ocean and take action toward critical conservation goals. Unique to the platform, users can create profiles to track their progress and receive real-time reporting on how their actions drive cumulative impact over time. Central to the platform community is The Tide, an existing cohort of nearly 4,000 monthly donors launched in 2017 by SeaLegacy. By the end of 2021, the Only One platform aims to have two million supporters and 15,000 Tide members. A beta launch in August yielded 150,000 new supporters and engagement from a significant group of influencers and thought leaders.
“Stories inform and inspire us all. The Only One platform combines storytelling with technology, aiming to transform empathy into action to deliver concrete, tangible impact for our planet and communities around the world,” said Cristina Mittermeier, Managing Director and Co-Founder of SeaLegacy. “People often watch a documentary or see a story online and ask themselves: ‘What do I do next?’ Only One closes the loop on impact communication and merges the call to action with compelling content, allowing members to take direct steps to help heal our oceans.”
“Pushed to the brink of collapse, the ocean still has the power to be an extraordinary solution, helping to temper the effects of global warming, provide sustenance for the Earth’s growing population, and heal the planet as we heal our communities,” said Dune Ives, Managing Director of Lonely Whale. “We have only one planet and only one ocean, and there is only one way to do this: together.”
“The next ten years are a pivotal moment to restore our oceans and tackle the climate crisis,” said Jeremiah Kittredge, Managing Director of the Only One Platform. “Our hope is that this platform acts as a shared resource for activists, scientists, and conservation organizations globally in these critical years ahead.”
Launching with a focus on protecting critical marine habitats, curbing plastics pollution, and unlocking the power of the ocean to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, users have access to a range of unique video and written content, including docu-series from Antarctica, Timor-Leste, and Cuba by Paul Nicklen, Andy Mann, and Cristina Mittermeier; short films on the power of mangroves and the reforesting work of coastal communities by Blue Ventures; perspectives from communities most impacted by plastics pollution, including a profile of youth leader Dyson Chee, extensive content from the Break Free from Plastics Movement, and success stories from global, movement building campaigns; and stories and insights from over 40 activists, community leaders, youth activists, scientists, artists, and ecopreneurs.
100% of funds donated to Only One support ocean conservation projects and campaigns. To explore the platform visit: https://only.one
About Only One:
The Only One Platform is a project of the Only One Collective, founded in 2019 by Blue Sphere Foundation, Lonely Whale, and SeaLegacy, organizations committed to harnessing the power of media and technology to create and amplify stories that inspire action to protect the ocean, the planet, and each other. While built by a small team at the Only One Collective, the platform is a shared space, home to stories and solutions from people of all backgrounds and organizations of all types.
About SeaLegacy:
SeaLegacy‘s mission is to use the power of storytelling to bring awareness to the environmental, ocean and climate crisis, fueling existing movements to simultaneously achieve social and economic justice for all. This can’t be done alone. As the conservation community steps up to enhance existing and create new marine protected areas, SeaLegacy uses its influence to build constituencies of support, promoting sustainable stewardship of the ocean as a vital resource. SeaLegacy supports and amplifies efforts to restore health to habitats such as coral reefs, mangrove forests, salt-marshes, kelp forests and oyster beds.
Founded in 2014, SeaLegacy was born out of a desire by the founders, Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, to use the power of images to answer the urgent need to create resiliency for our oceans, and our planet.
About Lonely Whale:
Lonely Whale is an award-winning incubator for courageous solutions that drive impactful and persistent change on behalf of our ocean. Founded in December 2015 by Adrian Grenier and Lucy Sumner, Lonely Whale is inspired by the power of community to create the change needed to ensure a healthy planet. Lonely Whale is working towards a new era of radical collaboration, together facilitating the creation of innovative ideas that push the boundary on current trends in technology, media and advocacy that positively impact the health of our ocean. The organization spearheaded the global For A Strawless Ocean and #HydrateLike movements, resulting in behavior and policy change, and NextWave Plastics, the first consortium of global corporations working to permanently remove 25,000 tonnes of plastic from the ocean. In 2017 Lonely Whale co-founded the Ocean Heroes Network, which has given agency to thousands of youth in more than 50 countries to create climate change and plastic pollution campaigns.
Lonely Whale’s work has been recognized by Fast Company’s as a World Changing Idea and Most Innovative Company, by the Shorty Awards, the ADDY Awards, the SEAL Awards, Cannes Lion Award, the HALO Awardsand is the recipient of the first P4G 2018 Circular Economy Award sponsored by the Danish Government, and more. To learn more and support, visit www.lonelywhale.orgor follow @LonelyWhale.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media