We tell stories that connect people to the wild, motivating them to become part of the regeneration of our planet.

about us

Storytelling for Nature Protection

Sea Change Project is a nonprofit environmental storytelling organisation, founded by Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck in 2012.  We are a team of media and science professionals who are dedicated to the wild and specifically the Great African Seaforest. Our work includes films, books, exhibitions, education, and marine biology research.

Inspired by nature, informed by science and guided by indigenous wisdom. We aim to build a deeper connection between humans and the natural world by telling stories, through the use of world-class media, that generate a deep desire in people across the world to engage with, conserve and protect nature.

Our Oscar and Bafta winning film My Octopus Teacher has championed a global movement of emotional ecology.

Our work is based on our connection to the Great African Seaforest. We set out to make the kelp forests of Southern Africa a global icon by giving them a collective identity: the Great African Seaforest. We carefully embedded this brand in all our media work and in 2021 it was named a New World Wonder. This newfound iconic status will help ensure its long-term protection.

 The Great African Seaforest is a deep source of inspiration for our minds, hearts and souls. By sharing these experiences with the world, we hope to inspire a global movement of nature connection and more stories about the intrinsic relationship between humans and the living planet.

 

OUR MESSAGE

Our entire wellbeing is dependent on the natural world. For humans to be healthy, the air, oceans, forests, and all the varied and wonderful beings that we share this planet with need to be healthy.

We aim to reawaken a universal heart connection between humans and the living planet.

Through our search for a deeper connection with the wild, we hope our stories can remind us that we are part of the natural world and motivate action to heal ourselves and the living planet.

The Sea Change Project

Our Team

Co-Founder / Naturalist

Craig Foster is an Oscar and BAFTA winning filmmaker, naturalist, author and ocean explorer. His films have won over 150 international awards. He co-founded the Sea Change Project in 2012.

Craig’s work has contributed to the marine sciences through the discovery of new species and new animal behaviours. He is the first person to create a method of underwater tracking in the kelp forest. His film “My Octopus Teacher” has led to making the Great African Seaforest a global icon. 

Craig also has consulted for 8 years to the centre for early sapiens behaviour, SapienCE, and created an award winning exhibition about middle Stone Age human origins. Drawing on 30 years of his work with the San and other indigenous African people, the exhibit promotes Africa as the origin of science and art. 

Craig believes that the greatest threat we face is the cooling of the human heart towards nature. All his work is about inspiring a change of heart, inspiring people to care for and regenerate nature around them. He has founded the Sea Change Project to share his love of nature with others, and has kept his pact to dive 365 times a year for over a decade. 

Executive Director

Carina works with the Sea Change Trust to implement its goals and objectives, and oversees the administration and programs. She is hooked on the transformative power of water. She began her career over twenty five years ago in New York as a film producer where she helped launch the Cartoon Network’s morning segment and the Classic Sports Network. She has gone on to produce short films, music videos and commercials, but her real love is for documentaries. She worked with the Foster Brothers on the award-winning feature documentary, Cosmic Africa and produced a few more films with them. A few years ago she was called to the sea. Inspired by the Sea Change Project team, she transcended her fears and pushed quite far beyond her comfort level. She continues to swim as often as she can, the cold water leaves her with a sense of deep connection to self and nature.

Environmental Journalist

Swati is one of India’s best known environment journalists. She was the environment editor at NDTV for a decade and her show Born Wild is the longest running wildlife and conservation show on a news channel of which she is presenter, researcher and script writer. She has been awarded the Ramnath Goenka Award, for best environment reporter, twice and the Sanctuary Asia Wind Under the Wings Award. She is also a Carl Zeiss awardee for her reporting on tiger conservation. Her solo outing as a filmmaker led to her making The Animal Communicator, which is available on Amazon Prime in the US. Swati spends her time between India and South Africa and authored a book, Born Wild: Journeys into the heart of India and Africa. Her main interest is in exploring shared spaces between humans and animals, and believes that greater co-existence in the coming years will be the only way to save the wild.

Filmmaker / Nature Journalist

Pippa Ehrlich is the co-writer, editor, and director of My Octopus Teacher – South Africa’s first Netflix Original documentary. The film has garnered attention from celebrities, conservationists, and scientists all over the world, and received more than 20 international awards, including an Oscar, a BAFTA, the prestigious Wildscreen Golden Panda, Jackson Wild’s Grand Teton, the IDA’s Pare Lorentz, and the PGA for best Documentary Motion Picture.   For the last six years, she has been a part of the Sea Change Project, exploring the underwater forests of Cape Town. Prior to joining Sea Change, Pippa worked as an environmental journalist, specialising in the field of marine science and conservation and the intersection between people and the natural world. She has worked with some of the world’s top marine researchers and underwater photographers and been an avid freediver for more than a decade.

Marine Biologist

Dr Jannes Landschoff is a passionate marine biologist, crustacean specialist, ecologist, and naturalist. With a research affiliation at Stellenbosch University, Jannes provides the scientific foundation for Sea Change Project’s endeavours. He finds student supervision and capacity building integral to his work, actively mentoring a diverse group of students and their projects focused on kelp forest biodiversity. Bridging academia and public awareness, Jannes fosters a deep connection with nature through scientific exploration and documentary filmmaking. His dedication and expertise contribute to a greater understanding of marine biodiversity, aiming for a meaningful impact on the scientific community and the general public. As part of the 1001 Seaforest Species Project, Jannes strives to uncover the secrets of these remarkable organisms in the Great African Seaforest and inspire others to appreciate and protect this unique ecosystem.

Communications Strategist

Dani has been an avid fan of the Sea Change Project since its inception and helped back then to establish the brand identity. This led to a huge love of the ocean and its peculiar inhabitants, including cold water swimming and diving (which she swore she would never do). She has now, officially, joined the team to dive even deeper. Dani has always been involved in projects that have the capacity to make genuine change in the world and believes that ‘creativity has a job to be done.’ Her experience includes design, branding, marketing, activation, social innovation, production, facilitation, and strategic consulting spanning across the world. She is enthusiastic about channeling her creativity and passion to ensure that all Sea Change projects find their right platforms, partnerships, and communication channels to make a big difference.

Chairperson

Chris joined the Sea Change Trust as Chairman in 2020 and brings a strong passion for wilderness conservation and strategic conservation initiatives in the not-for-profit space. He is deeply interested in building local and global collaborative initiatives around the importance of biodiversity and especially marine recovery zones.

Chris is the founder and CEO of Future Purpose, a leadership and career advisory firm which he established after having worked in the leadership and talent management space for more than 20 years.

He was previously a Global Partner with Executive Search firm Spencer Stuart, where he assisted local and global companies in appointing senior executives and Board members.

Before joining Spencer Stuart, Chris was one of the founding Directors of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (1998 – 2002) where he was Director of Executive Education and Head of the Global Executive Development Programme. At GIBS he worked with international business schools and academics in designing cutting-edge executive programmes for South African executives.

His interest in all aspects of leadership, strategic negotiations and executive decision making was developed during his diplomatic career and during which time he represented South Africa in numerous capacities which included five years in New York at the SA Mission to the United Nations, four years working on developing relations with Central Europe and Russia and five years in Paris where he was Counsellor and then Deputy Ambassador to France.

He is Chairman of the Natures Valley Trust which is an NGO dedicated to conservation, conservation education for local communities, marine science and biodiversity research in the Tsitsikamma National Park and the adjacent coastal region of the Western Cape.

He serves on the Board of Columba Leadership which is a South African NGO dedicated to building values based leadership in more than 230 schools across the country.

Office Manager

Levanah was brought into the fold in late 2018 to manage and process the tsunami of orders of our newly published Sea Change hardcover book. Since then “the shop” has become her baby, and her responsibilities have grown to handle all administrative work needed to keep us running.  She has honed her administrative, bookkeeping, and production skills over the last 30 years working for Donna Karan in New York, Saatchi & Saatchi in London, and Cape Town Productions in South Africa to name a few. 

Our Partners

We work closely with local government, major academic institutions, strategic partners and individuals who share our vision to protect one of Earth’s last wild places, the Great African Seaforest. Here are some of them:

PROF CHARLES GRIFFITHS

Prof ChristopHer Henshilwood

DR SYLVIA EARLE

DR KERRY SINK

JON YOUNG

LOYISO DUNGA

DR JENNIFER MATHER

DR JANE GOODALL

ROGER HORROCKS

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