Blue plus yellow creates green. Remove the blue, and the green disappears. That is the color-theory argument at the core of a Brazilian creative campaign that has spent the past six months making an unusually elegant case for marine protection, using screen printing, mineral pigments, and a very deliberate reimagining of the national flag.

The campaign is called No Blue, No Green. It was created by Droga5 São Paulo, the Brazilian office of the global creative agency, for SOS Oceano, a Brazilian coalition of NGOs working to expand the country’s marine protected areas. Phase one launched at Rio Ocean Week in October 2025, when the agency stripped the blue and green from the Brazilian flag and let the absence do the work. Phase two, which rolled out in early April 2026, moves from subtraction to craft: six original screen-printed artworks, produced in collaboration with Black Madre Studio and Joules & Joules Laboratory, each one pairing a marine species with its terrestrial counterpart inside the yellow diamond of the Brazilian flag.

A Campaign Built Through Craft

Screen printing was chosen for its chromatic precision and layered ink application, which together allow the prints to honor the tradition of Brazilian naturalist illustration while landing the campaign’s political message with clarity. More unusually, the pigments themselves are natural mineral-based, developed over months of research with Joules & Joules Laboratory to achieve accurate hues without any synthetic solvents. A campaign about reducing marine pollution, produced with no petrochemical inputs, is a different proposition from one that merely names the problem.

Each of the six prints draws a visual equivalence between marine and terrestrial ecosystems: a humpback whale alongside Amazonian flora, coral structures set against forest canopy, reef fish interlaced with rainforest birds. The yellow diamond of the flag remains the framing device in every piece, a visual constant that gives the series its unity and grounds the argument in national identity rather than abstract environmental appeal.

The Coalition Behind the Campaign

SOS Oceano is less a single organization than an alliance. Its seven member groups include Sea Shepherd Brazil, Rede Pró-UC, Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Divers for Sharks, the Seaspiracy Foundation, Núcleo de Educação e Monitoramento Ambiental (NEMA), and Projeto Golfinho Rotador, with support from the Blue Marine Foundation. Their shared advocacy focuses on expanding Brazil’s marine protected areas and aligning the country’s policy with UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water, alongside the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

For context on the stakes: Brazil’s coastline runs more than 7,400 kilometers, but the country’s coastal marine protections have faced sustained pressure from development, industrial fishing interests, and shifting political winds over recent years. Public awareness of ocean conservation in Brazil, despite the scale of its maritime territory, remains significantly lower than awareness of Amazon deforestation. Campaigns like No Blue, No Green are one of the ways the coalition is trying to shift that imbalance.

The Creative Reasoning

Diego Limberti, Chief Design Officer at Droga5 São Paulo, described the throughline across both phases:

“The beginning of this project showed that design can condense a complex environmental truth into a single, felt symbol. In this phase, the elements of the flag remain part of the campaign’s visual process, but they are now reinterpreted to emphasize the animals that live in marine parks and their relationship with the forest. One biome depends on the other, and this is highlighted by the colors of Brazil’s greatest symbol.”

André Maciel, Creative Director at Black Madre Studio, framed the underlying logic more plainly:

“The project is rooted in color theory. When we say without blue there is no green, we’re working with the fundamental logic of primary and secondary colors: blue and yellow create green.”

The Science Behind the Metaphor

The campaign’s central claim, that terrestrial life depends on a functional ocean, is not rhetorical flourish. The ocean absorbs approximately 30 percent of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions each year and produces somewhere between 50 and 80 percent of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, figures tracked consistently by NOAA and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Marine ecosystems regulate global temperature, drive the water cycle that sustains terrestrial rainfall, and hold the majority of the planet’s biological carbon stocks. Degrade the ocean as a functioning system, and the conditions that allow forests, agriculture, and human settlement to exist begin to degrade with it.

Put more directly: the color metaphor at the heart of the campaign is, in ecological terms, almost literal.

Where to See the Work

The six original prints are on view at Galeria Plano in Barra Funda, São Paulo, and the campaign is running nationally across billboards, newspapers, and magazines. A short film documenting the project, produced with Black Madre Studio and sound design by Bumblebeat, is available below.

A complete project gallery, with high-resolution views of each print and the full list of production credits, is hosted on Black Madre Studio’s Behance page.

Why the Work Matters Beyond Brazil

There is a broader argument embedded in the campaign that is worth naming. Environmental advocacy often struggles because the science feels abstract and the rhetoric feels tired. No Blue, No Green sidesteps both traps by letting the image carry the argument and following through with craft that matches. The prints can be looked at as design, read as advocacy, and held as a physical object, each of those modes reinforcing the others.

For the coalition behind SOS Oceano, which still has to do the slower and harder work of policy change, that kind of layered visibility is the real prize. A campaign that gets attention in design publications and award shows can travel into classrooms, government offices, and international press in ways that a conventional advocacy message rarely does. The coalition structure itself, with multiple organizations working under a shared visual identity, also points to something replicable: civil society groups pooling their advocacy through unified creative strategy rather than competing for the same attention.

The yellow diamond, reframed as a site of ecological argument, can carry new content indefinitely. That is a useful thing for a coalition still in it for the long haul.

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Learn more:

• SOS Oceano coalition members: Sea Shepherd Brazil, Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Divers for Sharks, Projeto Golfinho Rotador, and others
• Campaign film: vimeo.com/1178605134
• Full project on Behance: behance.net/gallery/247332271/SOS-Oceano-No-blue-no-green
• Exhibition: Plano Estúdio, Barra Funda, São Paulo (on view now)

What is blue carbon and why does it matter?

I’m sure we’ve all heard about the importance of forests in capturing and storing carbon in order to mitigate climate change, but have you heard of blue carbon? Blue carbon also refers to CO2 being captured, but within oceans and other bodies of water. Essentially the liquid version of what forests do for our planet.

The great appeal of blue carbon is essentially that it is more efficient at capturing carbon than its drier counterpart. The term tends to focus on tropical ecosystems: mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses. Doctor Narissa Bax focuses on Antarctic blue carbon, which is the same concept, in the colder climate of the Southern Ocean, a place that has taken on unexpected levels of carbon sequestration.

The Scientist Behind the Research

Dr. Narissa Bax is a polar marine ecologist, originally from New Zealand, who has worked much of her life in Tasmania and is now based in Greenland. Dr. Bax has led expeditions in some of the most remote marine environments on Earth, from the Southern Ocean to the sub-Antarctic, and her work has been recognized by the IPCC, COP27, and Australia’s 100 Climate Conversations. She is also one of the co-authors of an article published in Frontiers in Marine Science titled, “The Growing Potential of Antarctic Blue Carbon.” She is a leading researcher on Antarctic blue carbon and its cycles in the Southern Ocean.

Blue Carbon vs. Antarctic Blue Carbon

To review, blue carbon is carbon that is stored and sequestered by marine ecosystems. Since around 2009, it has become a much more central part of the climate change discussion due to its higher efficiency carbon capture and sequestration, often able to store the CO2 for hundreds of years.

Antarctic blue carbon is essentially the same concept, but in the Southern Ocean and with a longer duration of sequestration.

The key players in the Southern Ocean are the phytoplankton at the surface and the deep-sea corals and sponge fields on the seafloor. Imagine the Great Barrier Reef, but in a cold, dark, Antarctic context. There is quite a lot more animal life down there than you may imagine.

On top of that, with the melting ice in that area, we are seeing phytoplankton blooms on the surface, who are, as a result in direct contact with animals living on the seafloor, leading to faster growth and extended opportunities to feed. We are also seeing some increases in the capacity of those animals to grow and retain carbon in their skeletons.

The phytoplankton living in the surface column consume the carbon and sequester it. If their bodies are buried below the sediment, the oxygenated layer, it ends up being taken out of the carbon cycle for hundreds to thousands of years! This had been happening naturally in the Antarctic and is an incredibly impressive process in the battle against climate change. In response to rising temperatures, this ecosystem is becoming more adaptive and “consuming” more of the carbon that is being output.

Carbon Storage vs. Carbon Sequestration

In order to understand the political and business implications of these findings, it helps to have a clear distinction between carbon storage and carbon sequestration. Carbon storage refers only to capturing and holding carbon without specific definitions of how long it will be held for. Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and putting it somewhere else, for longer amounts of time, typically over 100 years.

This distinction matters not only factually but also in looking at ecological conservation and quantifying it in monetary terms within a larger business context. Under the Paris Agreement, for example, certain emission limits have been set that businesses need to abide by. If they do not meet the criteria, they are allowed to purchase carbon credits from projects that are removing or reducing CO2 from the atmosphere in order to offset the emissions that they themselves produce.

How Does Blue Carbon Fit Into the Conversation?

The discussion around carbon credits varies on the quality of the credit and the level of removal or sequestration, and is a great topic of debate and, as are many other environmental topics, very politicized.

“In the carbon credit system, only carbon that is permanently removed from the atmosphere for centuries or more is truly considered sequestration. When applied to the ocean, blue carbon projects such as restoring mangroves, seagrass meadows, or salt marshes are increasingly being used in the system. However, the deep sea, where carbon can be stored for thousands of years, operates differently from coastal blue carbon. And because carbon markets are political as much as they are scientific, who gets to claim credit for that sequestration, how it’s verified, and whether it’s really offsetting emissions long term are ongoing debates.”Dr. Narissa Bax, Polar Marine Ecologist (via Pine Forest Media)

Carbon markets are highly politicized spaces that are still developing in terms of regulation. With many large corporations vying for ways to make their image more green, blue carbon and Antarctic blue carbon serve as high topics of interest due to their long sequestration potential.

Protections and Governance in Antarctica

The Antarctic Treaty System is an international framework that governs Antarctic relations and dedicates the space to peace, science, and environmental protection; cutting it off from territorial claims, nuclear waste, and prohibiting military activity below 60 degrees south latitude. This space of land and sea is meant to be a preserve held for the benefit of humankind.

The treaties are very important in terms of environmental protection, but were made in a very different era of time. When they were created they mostly focused on fisheries practices and did not take into account the problems with global warming that we face today. Looking forward, scientists and many others in the environmental space are looking to center on modernizing future treaties and making them more applicable to today’s circumstances.

“So finding ways to make these treaties that are globally applicable and collaborative, and meaningful, is to also understand that biodiversity and climate change are linked.”Dr. Narissa Bax (via Pine Forest Media)

Scientists are looking to adapt what is already in place to be more focused on climate change and upholding Earth’s functions as much as possible.

So much of this area of the world still remains unexplored. There is a big need for continued long-term, collaborative, multi-disciplinary research to take place in order to push us towards a cleaner Earth.

Blue Carbon and Hope for the Future

Blue carbon is not a cure-all, but it is certainly something to be excited about in terms of climate change. (Proceed with cautious optimism.) Antarctic blue carbon is an entity that exists within a protected place, is a system that exists naturally, and is responding and adapting to climate change. This is a rare chance to preserve mostly unharmed, functioning ecosystems before they are degraded.

“…it is an example of working with something that holds a bit of hope because it’s based on protecting areas that are largely intact and biodiverse and functioning in their healthy natural state for the most part, as far as we know. I think it’s incredibly important to protect those areas for the future, obviously, but it’s also really beautiful for and hopeful as a scientist to be able to work in those locations and to hold on to that idea that you’re working on something that will translate into conservation and you’re not necessarily documenting the decline, you’re looking from a collaborative explorative perspective as well.”Dr. Narissa Bax (via Pine Forest Media)

Antarctica’s ecosystems are crucial in connection to global systems that fight climate change worldwide. They provide us with a model of hope to look towards the future with and a way to connect with an utterly critical part of our ecosystem that we know so little about. Antarctic blue carbon is a distant lighthouse of hope in a dark, stormy ocean of bad news.

You can find Dr. Narissa Bax on Instagram, Twitter, or on her website. More than anything, she encourages people to continue engaging in scientific conversations and learning as much as they can!

This article is courtesy of the Oceanography podcast from Pine Forest Media, the only independent podcast network in the world dedicated entirely to environmental science storytelling. Episodes are available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram: @pineforestmedia

Written by: Madelyn Choi Weir

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About the Author

Madelyn Choi Weir is a New York-based freelance journalist, a producer with Pine Forest Media, and a public relations professional. Her work focuses on environmental storytelling and global travel. As an artist and polyglot, she seeks to amplify stories from around the world that have a story worth telling.

Meet The Cover Conservationist is a recurring SEVENSEAS feature that spotlights inspiring and influential people working at the forefront of ocean conservation.

Beyond the research papers, campaigns, and headlines, this series offers a more personal look at the people behind the work, exploring what drives them, challenges them, and keeps them hopeful for the future of our ocean. If there’s a conservationist you’d love to see featured on a future cover, we invite you to submit a short nomination (around 250 words) to info@sevenseasmedia.org. We receive many outstanding submissions, and while not all can be selected for publication, each is carefully considered.

Below you’ll find the merciless interrogation designed to give readers insight into our conservationist’s professional journey and the human side of life in ocean conservation. We only ask fearlessly candid, no-holds-barred questions, so get ready for a brutally honest, nail-biting interview.

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1. To get our readers acquainted, why don’t you tell us just a little about yourself, what motivates you and what you are working on.

Jacqueline: I’m a second-year master’s degree student in the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. My research focuses on water quality and aquaculture, specifically investigating how water quality and gear type affect oyster growth in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. This work is driven by my interest to collaborate with oyster farmers and conduct research that benefits the aquaculture industry.

2. What was the moment or influence that first pulled you toward ocean conservation? Tell us about that.

Jacqueline: During college, I spent a summer along the coast of Maine assisting with lobster and scallop research projects. That experience showed me how closely science, industry, and coastal communities are connected. Working on the waterfront and interacting directly with fishermen helped me see that ocean conservation isn’t just about ecosystems; it’s also about supporting the people and livelihoods that depend on them.

3. Was there a specific place, species, experience, mentor, job, or challenge that shaped your career path?

Jacqueline: My first job after earning my bachelor’s degree was on Catalina Island, California, where I worked as a marine science instructor. It was a dynamic, adventurous, and rewarding job, one that continues to impact me today. I learned how to be an educator, communicate science, adapt quickly, and find the fun in challenging moments.

4. How do science and storytelling intersect in your work?

Jacqueline: The water quality dataset from my project helps oyster farmers understand seasonal trends in Narragansett Bay. By pairing quantitative data with observations from oyster farmers, we can tell a more complete story about what works, guide future research, and strengthen Rhode Island’s aquaculture industry through collaboration.

5. What’s one misconception people often have about your field?

Jacqueline: One common misconception people have about oceanography is that it entails just being out on a boat conducting field work. A lot of the work happens behind a computer, analyzing data, writing, securing funding, and collaborating across disciplines. It’s an ever-changing balance of field, lab, and desk work.

6. What part of your work feels most urgent today?

Jacqueline: Continued collaboration feels especially urgent, specifically uplifting the voices of industry members, such as oyster farmers, to identify research questions that are most relevant and impactful.

7. What achievement are you most proud of, even if few people know about it?

Jacqueline: I decided to apply to graduate school nine years after earning my undergraduate degree. Leaving the workforce and returning to student life was a big shift, and I’m proud to have taken that step. While I’m older than many of my peers, I wouldn’t change my timeline. Professional (and personal) growth isn’t linear, and there are infinite ways to get to where you want to go.

8. What keeps you going when conservation feels overwhelming?

Jacqueline: Being in graduate school, I’m surrounded by a large community of people who are deeply motivated. Being surrounded by that energy and commitment helps me stay focused, and reminds me that change is possible, even when progress feels slow.

9. What’s something the public rarely sees about how conservation really works?

Jacqueline: One thing the public rarely sees is just how complex and unpredictable conservation science can be. There are countless variables, including weather, mechanical issues, staffing, and funding, that we navigate every day. Carrying out research often means constantly adjusting and getting creative.

10. What’s one hard truth about ocean conservation we need to face?

Jacqueline: Climate change and environmental stressors disproportionately impact marginalized and coastal communities. Their voices and needs are often overlooked, yet they are on the frontlines of these challenges. Effective conservation requires listening to these communities, gathering their perspectives, and developing real solutions that will protect future generations.

11. What advice would you give your younger self entering this field?

Jacqueline: Everyone around you has something to teach you. Take the time to listen, ask questions, and build genuine connections.

12. Where do you realistically hope your work will be in 5 to 10 years?

Jacqueline: While my master’s research is ending, I hope that future research in Rhode Island continues to expand and support sustainable aquaculture. I’d love to see more state funding for projects that benefit both oysters and kelp, stronger partnerships between researchers and industry, and initiatives such as an experimental aquaculture farm.

13. What innovation excites you most in ocean conservation?

Jacqueline: I’m excited to see how aquaculture can become more “climate-ready.” For example, breeding or selecting oyster strains that are resilient to warming waters and ocean acidification could help farmers adapt to changing conditions.

14. Ocean sunrise or sunset? Any reason why?

Jacqueline: Sunrise, preferably viewed from a surfboard.

15. If you could be any marine animal, what would you be?

Jacqueline: Humpback whale. You can’t beat the ability to echolocate.

16. Coffee or tea (or what else?) in the field?

Jacqueline: Matcha latte.

17. Most unexpected or interesting place your work has taken you?

Jacqueline: I led marine conservation programs in the Dominican Republic for a summer. We partnered with local nonprofits on coral and mangrove restoration. It was interesting to see conservation happening in a different context. I loved learning about different approaches and realizing how much we can share and learn from one another across communities and countries.

18. One book, film, or documentary everyone should experience?

Jacqueline: Blue Planet 1 and 2.

19. What does a perfect day off look like?

Jacqueline: A bike ride to the beach, body surfing in warm summer waves, and low tide sea glass hunting.

20. One word you associate with the future of the ocean?

Jacqueline: Collaboration.

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• – Meet Dr Enrico Gennari, the January Cover Conservationist