Featuring Captain Paul Watson Founder of The Sea Shepard Organization
We are proud to welcome “The People of Action Summits” that is hosted by Rotary Zones 26 and 27 to Newport Beach. This region is made up of 67,000 Rotary members across the Western US, as well as part of British Columbia, Canada. The People of Action Summits will provide an in-person and virtual opportunity for Rotary members to join forces with communities and industry experts to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face.It’s all about individuals identifying issues, solving problems, and making a difference. The summits will focus on Food Security in Boise, Idaho, Green Transportation and Clean energy in San Jose, CA, Agriculture in Colorado, Human trafficking in San Diego and Water, from “Source to Sea” in Newport Beach, California
Newport Beach is fortunate to have the largest of only a few remaining natural estuaries in Southern California. As the largest recreational harbor on the west coast, Newport Harbor activities are everywhere. Explore the Back Bay where the Nature Preserve and Ecological Reserve draws naturalists and scientists from all over the world. Here you will find where more than 35,000 migratory birds and more than 200 endangered species make their home across 1,000 acres of coastal wetlands. The area offers hiking and cycling trails as well as aquatic adventures for nature lovers and passionate outdoor enthusiasts. Please feel free to come early or stay late to enjoy our world class scenery, dining, and shopping.
Captain Paul Watson
Paul Watson is an environmental activist who founded the Sea Shepard Conservation Society, an organization that protects marine wildlife.Watson was also a founder of Greenpeace.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society frequently undertook dangerous expeditions to protect and defend marine wildlife from illegal poaching. Watson’s direct-action approach to saving the whales included positioning his ship, named after the Australian conservationist and television personality, Steve Irwin, between the whalers and a targeted pod of whales, entangling ropes in their propellers, throwing stink bombs onto the offending vessel, and even ramming up against the whaling ship. The society’s battle with a Japanese whaling fleet in 2006–07 was recorded in the documentary, “At the Edge of the World”. The group’s efforts were also chronicled in Whale Wars, which first aired on the Animal Planet network in 2008. In 2010 one of the society’s boats, the Ady Gil, sunk after colliding with a Japanese whaling boat while patrolling the seas under a modified, Jolly Roger, pirate flag,
Watson shares his passion for animals and the environment through his involvement with numerous other organizations, including Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Wolf, Fund for Animals, the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals, and the Sierra Club, of which he was director (2003–06). For his efforts on behalf of wildlife, Watson was granted the Genesis Award (1998), the George H.W. Bush Daily Point of Light Award (1999), and enrollment (2002) in the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame.
Watson’s many books included Shepherds of the Sea (1980), Ocean Warrior (1994), and Seal Wars (2002). The documentary Watson (2019) chronicles his life.
Paul will speak on different topics at 2pm on Saturday and Sunday and sign books on both days.
