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
Environmental Journalist
Filmmaker / Nature Journalist
Marine Biologist
Communications Strategist
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
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