The Race to Stop Deep Sea Mining

The deep sea is a rare and unique ecosystem on our ocean floor, home to many unknown species and a driver of important natural cycles on our planet. In July 2023, the International Seabed Authority Council will make crucial decisions that could either protect or devastate this habitat and all life on earth.

Jane Fonda (Founder, Fire Drill Fridays), Arlo Hemphill (Ocean Sanctuaries and Stop Deep Sea Mining Project Lead, Greenpeace USA), and James Hita (Seabed Mining Campaigner, Greenpeace Aotearoa) discuss Greenpeace’s global campaign to stop the launch of deep sea mining and how supporters can help shut this industry down before it begins.

Arlo Hemphill is the Ocean Sanctuaries and Stop Deep Sea Mining Project Lead with Greenpeace USA. He represented GPUSA in the global Greenpeace Protect the Oceans campaign that successfully established a UN Global Ocean Treaty in March 2023 and is the corporate lead of Greenpeace’s global Stop Deep Sea Mining campaign, a race-against-the-clock effort to end the threat of deep sea mining before it starts. A marine biologist, explorer and conservationist, Arlo has been working at the confluence of ocean science, policy, and communications for over 20 years, representing organizations such as Conservation International, Stanford University, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean. A long-standing advocate for conservation on the high seas, Arlo was a founding steering committee member of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea, and the Sargasso Sea Alliance. 
James Hita (Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Whātua) is the Seabed Mining Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa. James was raised in Glen Innes/Ukutoia/Tāmaki, a diverse community on the eastern side of Tāmaki Makaurau, with whānau from across the Pacific and the globe coming together. As a young activist, James stood against the gentrification of the Tāmaki state housing tenants. Years later, after much time in the public sector working on issues from mental health to youth civil participation, James joined Greenpeace Aotearoa to stand against the new and dangerous seabed mining industry, a reality that hits home for him, as he knows that the lives and livelihoods of Pacific people are being put at risk once again by extractive industries in the name of profit.