http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting daily 0.75 2020-12-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469133673311-ORBVX72QJMFG3PKXEHX1/AsherJay-ElephantVoices-FamilyValues-ChineseGrace-Smedia.jpg JAY JOTS http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2020/12/9/change-of-art monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1607539352731-LBVP007OEA6UB7P90O9P/Bison-CitizenWatch-Artwork-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - CHANGE OF ART Time Tells All, Created during Citizen EcoDrive Watches documentary ad. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1607539227168-7NWLNSTE7UJN62OUY4YI/MindOverMatter-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - CHANGE OF ART Mind over Matter, digitally finished image, created for WHCC. http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2019/1/19/art-of-story-part-3 monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919504624-O0KGVM3WC58V044BTIW8/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 3) Big Cats Initiative, Eye To Eye with Lion, By Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919618689-XME3Q6ICJOXJE3TPTO6W/Bestrewn-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 3) Bestrewn by Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919714232-2MXUHU1CGJMA5L75605S/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 3) Impact of Effective Narratives https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919826920-KKNN3M4G9M0T0993XJ7K/Screen+Shot+2019-01-19+at+12.43.10+PM.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 3) Fit more meaning into less time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919882962-EH0FDGB6WG6E8ADW5ROT/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 3) http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2019/1/19/art-of-story-part-2 monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547918636550-AYSY0PE9Q0AUKC8EQ7IH/CautiousGiant-GiraffeStalking-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 2) Cautious giant by Asher Jay, He walks to connect the heavens to the ground I fumble on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547918873622-Z6URQ4FPHAUXESJTIN6Q/Close+Ups JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 2) How Close is Too Close by Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919006101-2FIF3ONOTO4FYG0RWH99/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 2) Stories Broken Down https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547919122532-RTF3YWJ47JMBG18K4ZO9/Slide15.jpg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 2) Stories involving passing information on from one generation to another. http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2019/1/14/try-try-try-again monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547505601986-A1FAG3JPU54MPUZNZKX3/Perigord+Region+France+Asher+Jay JAY JOTS - Try Try Try Again A Castle and cave nestled in the Perigord region http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2019/1/14/chocolate-cured-my-cough monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1547438350787-2FT54W5YY1TBM6O7SK21/Mossy-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Chocolate Cured My Cough Mossy (or what my throat looked like on the inside, today) by Asher Jay http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2018/1/1/logo-development monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514826214267-U55CGNQPZH0ZI6AUUWX7/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Logo Development The Key Solutions Logo for the World Parks Congress agency 10+10, shows the key solutions to preserving marine diversity lies in knowing the system for it's own sake. It's about looking at every depth and dimension of the big blue, and using it's intelligence to unlock it's whole story. In doing so, we can ensure the continuity of it's complete narrative. There were two iterations of this logo. I had to first move away from the concept of using infrastructure as the solution or the tines of the key, because artifice cannot conserve the organic world. I had to use nature's expression, i.e. coral as the prongs of the key because only comprehending wild in it's intrinsic, immutable, intricate articulation can help us unlock the necessary measures needed to conserve it. I had to make the concept self sustaining like the biosphere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514826541171-UCUY3GNHG5A81W84DTKA/KeySolutions-Option1-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Logo Development Simpler, cleaner iteration of the same concept. This was the final logo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514825539884-O2YCQAV2N8TXC8MPSD4K/SaraSnyderLogo-Asher-Jay.jpg JAY JOTS - Logo Development https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514826088247-JYL8Q1OOY3HA4C6GMT1O/AsherJay-logoTsavoPrideFinal.jpg JAY JOTS - Logo Development Three Masai shields that form the bodies of the Masai tribe/community hold within their expression three iconic Kenyan megafauna species. The logo signifies the power the community harbors when it joins hand to preserve wildlife. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514825719891-LT3ZZI5OAPJVY5OXCHQ7/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Logo Development Quotation Marks composite to create a speech bubble that also visually represents a blue marble. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514825822253-99SRBMT5Q5ULJ5DLLJQ7/BurntheIvory-FinalLogo-AsherJay.png JAY JOTS - Logo Development Tusks in the color of fire composite the abstract form of an elephant, to underscore the mission of the organization, to burn the ivory caches currently in possession by governments worldwide. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514825993821-P5OQXFCRR4MNZO2XFWCC/ElephantVoicesLogo.jpg JAY JOTS - Logo Development Two quotation marks representing the voices of elephants create the elephants' heads. This was created for the organization Elephant Voices, but did not get used by the NGO. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514826582641-VFFIK3JG95EF9H44UP64/WLFLogoType-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Logo Development Wild Lives Foundation, based on the pulse line of life, expressed in the colors that exemplify life on earth. I created this to have a gif version, so it can portray the dynamic energy of life. The F is portrayed as piercing a target, and reaching a bullet point. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514826828401-QXLSCRFGL60XKC1SY5X1/Asherjay-logo.png JAY JOTS - Logo Development Coining my logo took me a month of staring at my name scribbled in every serif and sans serif font that appealed to me. I initially played with the letters A and J, but realized most designers did that, and many existing brands in the competitive space bore the same initials. So I decided to break the H in my name. I figured it was gender neutral, could stand for "His" and "Her." H is both vertically and horizontally symmetrical. As such when things align too perfectly they saturate your eye and fail to keep your attention. So I broke the axis on both accounts. I took the middle bar away and replaced it with two trefoil knots, the mathematical symbol for infinity, to create the most stable organic structure assumed by carbon, the diamond, and I shaped it directionally between the two vertical bars to suggest the ascension from the smaller egoic "I" to the supreme, universal "I." This suggests the spiritual growth from self to source, making you feel unity instead of individuality. The symbol has come to mean my process in life, and I actually branded my body with the H, like a cow is on a cattle ranch, because I am a product of existence, and existence channels me to create. I consider myself more the brush than the creator, because my ideas come to me resolved, and when they don't, I am not half as impressed with my own creativity. I produce better content when I am a vessel. http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2016/8/31/bird-bath-and-beyond monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472699461490-R45ZQLG9LYIUS3KG6D8L/Birders-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Birders exhibiting their expertise. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472732645802-SX9CCNMC4ZLSGVEPFRQ9/Birder-Fashion-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Birders in this season's birder essential raiment: Bluebird earrings, khaki multi-pocket utilitarian vests, sun shielding hats and shirts, insect repellent scarves, and durable hiking boots. Accessories include but are not limited to top of the line cameras, heavy duty tripods, binoculars, and digiscopes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472732715061-ZJQUWWX6JDW0RCETDFGB/Puff-Rumped-Charlie-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond The Puff-rumped Charlie. Fee, fi, fo, fum, I spy BIRDS. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472733150155-IIID7Y7008M0VFQ1DII6/Birdwatching-Asher-Alvaro-Juan.jpg JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Alvaro Jaramillo pointing out the bird species we just saw in the Birds of Colombia guide book to Juan-Pablo (works on Colombia's tourism outreach) and me (the girl who spots leaves and lasers as birds.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472733214494-PV5JLFG88X36WHRN687K/Asher-Jay-Santa-Marta JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond If you can't beat 'em, bird with 'em. It quickly becomes a bonding exercise. This was a shot of me with local Colombian guides and volunteers from Pro Aves Foundation, atop the Santa Marta Sierra Nevada National Park, on the Eldorado Reserve side of the range, on the morning after forest fires ravaged 50 hectares of this biodiversity hotspot that contains over 15 endemic species of birds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472733312492-1GMKU2B4T5EVPU2CCLEP/Rufuous-Collared-Sparrow-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Rufous-collared Sparrow. Something known, now for something new, something burrowed, and something blue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472733956052-JUWB6VM3XE8SVLOPC5ZF/Birdlove-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond What's a banana between birds in love? A male and female Acorn Woodpecker. If they can flock together so can you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734022304-ZEB4HZD3Z4ZW1HP6V5ZF/Golden-Naped-Tanager JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Golden-naped Tanager at Kilometer 18, Cali, Colombia. One truly is the loneliest number. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734156134-7FWXXOYRO8TKL1NC5WMV/Green-Honeycreeper-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond I got my picture of the fabulous Green Honeycreeper, even if it happened at the cost of my interview. If this were a birder initiation test, I am certain I passed it in flying colors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734233235-RQDGQF30Q0671B3PPDIR/Female-Flame-Rumped-Tanager JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Female Flame-rumped Tanager, not quite as orange as the male's rump, but she doesn't need to try, he does. His courtship determines her choice. When did the human dating scene lose this basic plot? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734319695-P34CHRIWA8YB38SOFTGX/Red-Headed-Barbet JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond The brilliant, hard not to fall in love with, male Red-headed Barbet. I gasped the first I saw him. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734387968-8M21SJGEMJC3WHRLNQWY/Female-Red-Headed-Barbet JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond The beautiful female Red-headed Barbet. The name comes from the male's red head in this dimorphic species. Her palette although, subtle is stunning nevertheless, rather like a Cezane, or Monet, while the male is more like a bold and bright Hundterwasser. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734579439-F8STNMDDXZKL6TZ5LXB6/Quetzal-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond The exquisite, irreplaceable Crested Quetzal. Good heavens that's a hot bird... look at all that green...so yummy! So... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472734633560-3XAZEP233Z5HRXLS0XO1/Emerald-Toucanet-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Bird Bath and Beyond Emerald Toucanet. I imagine a birder's compliment would go something like this, "your eyes are as green as an Emerald Toucanet's body, your summer dress the yellow of his bill, your lips the red of his rump...sighh...you are beautiful." http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2016/8/31/birding-101-unidentified-flying-organisms monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698081104-62FSX1Z7Q53OAAHSNXIC/Multicolor-Tanager-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms A Multicolored Tanager, essentially an impressionist painting on the move. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698187374-T4XXDKRSUE04O1DON9XV/Blue-Gray-Tanager-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Blue-gray Tanager https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698523861-5JF3ERZQN30JOM8M5844/Blue-Mountain-Tanager-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Blue-mountain Tanager, eating fruit on a feeder in someone's private backyard. Many Colombians have begun to opt out of profiting myopically from the trade in live birds, instead they put up feeders and lure eager birders and ecotourists, who would rather take photographs than cage a wild bird. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698672155-W7YLY046CSROZA4FEU95/Green-Honeycreeper-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Female Green Honecreeper wild and free as a bird should be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698805716-GO6T4ZBH9M5TVQD3O20L/Black-Crested-Antshrike-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Black-crested Antshrike, because it's better to see it late than never. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698871272-126DVBEQ2N89NE7NYZUK/Blue-Billed-Curasow JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms A male Blue-billed Curassow, an elusive, critically endangered ground bound bird species, the size of a turkey, in full view at the Tayrona National Park. It has been hunted incessantly by the locals for food and is thus rarely observed in the wild. I sure am glad we got to see two males and three females that day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472698939107-DC52GLSJHFA5DZ9IQLFL/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Common Crested Chicken with chicks, doing her chicken thing in a chicken burrow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472699132576-B5SE356UTB6BX2D2FM38/Green-Violet-ear-Hummingbird-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Green Violet Ear, yes once you finally figure out where it is branched, it is one saucy little sighting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472699214436-TGBJI7664FJ6H9VKHSPO/Flame-Rumped-Tanager-Male-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Flame-rumped Tanager male, with a conspicuous orange, visibly brilliant hot ass, perched on a banana laden feeder. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472699262633-BD3K7Y5RIAI32FAK7Y8I/Flame-Rumped-Tanager-Female-AsherJay JAY JOTS - Birding 101: Unidentified Flying Organisms Not as stunning as the male but still a brilliant palette of oranges. http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2016/8/25/art-of-story-part-1 monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472135444029-ITKJCR0W6L9SBGTLLXGB/Art-Of-Story-Asher-Jay JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Also published on Medium https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472135665518-GYYSJRZBKBCKIV277MOG/Birds-Of-Colombia-Field-Work-Asher-Jay JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Making a transition from being a content creator to an observer who documents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472135594040-A8V7WG4LWAPIRR4IHQJL/DSWT-BabyElephant-Kiss-Asher-Jay JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) I may be overthinking this but was that a kiss or did he just mistake my head for a coconut? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472135767167-69HHEUNSNG1QFVQZVRQT/SameSameButDifferent-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Same, same but different, by Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472135815050-8AA0H9QADMG3IR4YVBH0/ThumbsUpForTigers-MYMGMZOO-Submission-Campaign-AsherJay.jpg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Public participation in a Social Media Campaign I designed for WWF’s TX2 initiative entitled “Thumbs Up For Tigers.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472135901770-93LFGT9W9XH0X392O6IF/TheWildCreative-Asher-Jay JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Giving a Blue Beyond Borders lecture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472136002654-TQQNODG2C7PXWBFW0LVJ/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Color Theory for Brand development https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472136031963-MS9NYK2GWRWLV91GULF4/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Learning about signs, symbols, semiotics and how to create conceptual representations of the self. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472136075598-8WPU04EK7TQGDWAN7TJH/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) No two suns are alike, various illustrations to exemplify the point. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472136123478-1VHWGNLDLUPSZ61NG4ST/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Source Wired.com The Science of why no one agrees on the color of this dress. Worth the read. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1472136175598-M5TGNMSV7NCZDESKCDNC/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Art of Story (Part 1) Hydrocarbon Hospice by Asher Jay http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2016/7/21/what-is-asher-jay monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469158205059-4J3PJGO1MW3J12FYKVU1/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - What is Asher Jay? (Extended Version) On expedition in Colombia with Audubon Society. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469158706080-D3HV7BX2TGW7HB6FMY0Z/image-asset.png JAY JOTS - What is Asher Jay? (Extended Version) The introvert with extrovert tendencies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469158808969-CJRR8F3E2CBPZUC83YSL/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - What is Asher Jay? (Extended Version) "When life offers you the chance to do aerobatics in a biplane, say yes." - Asher Jay http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/2016/7/21/title monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469133283266-II6QFCAOAMJRXQ63W589/Family+Names JAY JOTS - Hope from the Brink Family Values by Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469133559860-7UB6XNOMI3EL8UA6A57M/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Hope from the Brink NJ Ivory Crush on August 12 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469133359267-EUNH4F3FLV9101UWQ8E0/image-asset.jpeg JAY JOTS - Hope from the Brink Yellow Stars Shine Bright http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Birders monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Photography monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Colombia monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Art monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Birdwatching monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Conservation monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/jay-jotting/tag/Birds monthly 0.5 http://www.asherjay.com/contact daily 0.75 2019-11-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469119389718-QVWZZL16RS37E8KYQZ03/COVERcontact.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574464005919-4HBDCU5ZCGW0QWYE7M8J/DoNotDimYourShine-Extended-Asher-Jay.jpg Contact / Do not dim your shine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041330-0GJFPLL778WPB7PJ017L/AsherJayBioPicture+copy.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041004-1W2M34GUGQQ9JCTL8GUB/IMG_7877.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041368-M1MKEKTB6DTES2FT8ZRM/Photo+Apr+28%2C+12+11+00+PM.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041665-PKUOFQWRPME01VAW2QCR/Photo+May+05%2C+8+38+51+AM+%281%29.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118042229-NGXQZ42LBTUVPJMZLEXY/Photo+May+05%2C+8+53+41+AM.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118043442-XLZ71N9RPQIPGQ1W75DY/ProfilePic-AsherJay-OnATrapCam.jpg Contact / https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574464005919-4HBDCU5ZCGW0QWYE7M8J/DoNotDimYourShine-Extended-Asher-Jay.jpg Contact / Do not dim your shine. http://www.asherjay.com/press daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469125925483-KT1F25R1FEW5X1V2WGZE/IMG_3115.JPG PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1570815204216-JCZTNEIOX4GII1V7I1FL/Pg+01_Cover_FINAL.jpg PRESS Cover art by Asher Jay, Full interview inside the October 2019 issue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469131399130-LNWCHA2IERELJA7VNFFS/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469134217996-0ISL1VJ3CA497Y1YOR6C/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469127573785-JT0EOSFAW5U219C81536/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469127796434-QMHZUQG6NQFUR3IRA6S1/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128090152-LA79P40H0JV8QQKBGGBK/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469132526406-OHGQO2A4XGZWLKP0ZQXY/11099389_10153423335976241_517182812975977777_o.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469132631799-5PLQBZ8ZCEE1YKAG0THN/1396745_10153423336216241_7202759281769363614_o.jpg PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469132653447-WLV0ZOV3X0AWWQT8GQAM/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1570815204216-JCZTNEIOX4GII1V7I1FL/Pg+01_Cover_FINAL.jpg PRESS Cover art by Asher Jay, Full interview inside the October 2019 issue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469131399130-LNWCHA2IERELJA7VNFFS/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469134217996-0ISL1VJ3CA497Y1YOR6C/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469127573785-JT0EOSFAW5U219C81536/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469127796434-QMHZUQG6NQFUR3IRA6S1/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128090152-LA79P40H0JV8QQKBGGBK/image-asset.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469132526406-OHGQO2A4XGZWLKP0ZQXY/11099389_10153423335976241_517182812975977777_o.png PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469132631799-5PLQBZ8ZCEE1YKAG0THN/1396745_10153423336216241_7202759281769363614_o.jpg PRESS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469132653447-WLV0ZOV3X0AWWQT8GQAM/image-asset.png PRESS http://www.asherjay.com/about-asher-jay daily 0.75 2025-12-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118791778-WPT57VUZEUN1PIRPEO00/covershot+about.JPG ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/4a265611-efc4-4190-8971-f3ed3b4ec5ad/Screenshot+2026-02-08+at+9.06.56+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/8438e665-d939-4a97-8554-7f1998053469/Screenshot+2026-02-08+at+9.06.43+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/f574c8cc-2a98-4311-a387-6f2ed8547ac5/221d008c-350e-4ee4-b02e-b14808623058+2.JPG ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/5910d767-c27b-48e3-852d-2a5352a20ce7/Screenshot+2025-12-21+at+6.23.04+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/05d991d9-2323-4e34-ab15-c172498bef54/Screenshot+2026-02-08+at+9.06.28+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/7daca53d-e7ad-483a-890a-41fd2b534dda/Screenshot+2025-02-15+at+9.04.25+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/c4f52e75-8880-4307-a40e-f5a07a92847f/asher%2Bportrait.webp ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/df37524e-b241-4dbf-af21-fba7971636f0/Screenshot+2026-02-08+at+9.07.14+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/ddc8112f-df9e-4882-9245-7cded6b5b743/898434b8-2bf0-48af-b60a-ce787caf1086.jpg ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/a6caebcc-d8c9-4e93-81c5-96e91e9166b9/1*hupz1HonMlHd82Ln3fhZEw.webp ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/de068a80-5064-4e49-bd3f-c192bdc2cff2/Screenshot+2026-02-08+at+9.07.40+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/fd2d3f7a-9b00-4f03-b7f4-8066416553b5/a64043b8-4b61-47e3-871a-2ce44366783e.jpg ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/a720500b-87e0-42ea-8806-5df94ef60c47/Screenshot+2026-02-08+at+9.28.00+PM.png ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469048918204-E6JN08SZWXUWKI12F5Q5/Asher+Jay.jpg ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469048917059-B5NYGL58DW4L1VFGN7OD/AsherCoveredinPaint-SerengetiMural.jpg ABOUT ASHER JAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469048917472-2ZS6VVA2GZ2HK2E8BDV5/Photographer.jpg ABOUT ASHER JAY http://www.asherjay.com/yoke-and-anchor daily 0.75 2021-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542131029531-SSLEYAUIGE1UG93JYILA/Yoke+and+Anchor+logo YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574460156405-4TUB612MYWA9MWQBEX08/Real-Talk-Asher-Jay-Consulting.png YOKE AND ANCHOR Visit www.yokeandanchor.com to learn more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542127713170-245YF0Y2G5X7SEXH4A6M/Asher+Jay+At+BSR YOKE AND ANCHOR Keynote Plenary Speaker on the opening night of the BSR 18 Conference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542132699630-P0KPRYMWCF1SQR5XXBZ6/Value+Proposition+Asher+Jay YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542132755507-4U5RCDQX4A0YTLJVJ5AQ/Emotional+Decisions+Asher+Jay YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542132305321-XDFCNH7J2K0JCOKSMDJZ/Slide14.jpg YOKE AND ANCHOR WHAT’S THE PLOT? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542134495883-F8AOEHY1HDG892J3RTKA/Screen+Shot+2018-11-13+at+1.09.58+PM.png YOKE AND ANCHOR HOW ARE WE CONVEYING IT? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542134953015-X2UD2OU7BIKS70BY9DZJ/Screen+Shot+2018-11-13+at+1.10.07+PM.png YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542149063489-KX7KA6HWI3OOHG4MKY3U/past+clients YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542131029531-SSLEYAUIGE1UG93JYILA/Yoke+and+Anchor+logo YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574460156405-4TUB612MYWA9MWQBEX08/Real-Talk-Asher-Jay-Consulting.png YOKE AND ANCHOR Visit www.yokeandanchor.com to learn more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542127713170-245YF0Y2G5X7SEXH4A6M/Asher+Jay+At+BSR YOKE AND ANCHOR Keynote Plenary Speaker on the opening night of the BSR 18 Conference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542132699630-P0KPRYMWCF1SQR5XXBZ6/Value+Proposition+Asher+Jay YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542132755507-4U5RCDQX4A0YTLJVJ5AQ/Emotional+Decisions+Asher+Jay YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542132305321-XDFCNH7J2K0JCOKSMDJZ/Slide14.jpg YOKE AND ANCHOR WHAT’S THE PLOT? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542134495883-F8AOEHY1HDG892J3RTKA/Screen+Shot+2018-11-13+at+1.09.58+PM.png YOKE AND ANCHOR HOW ARE WE CONVEYING IT? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542134953015-X2UD2OU7BIKS70BY9DZJ/Screen+Shot+2018-11-13+at+1.10.07+PM.png YOKE AND ANCHOR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1542149063489-KX7KA6HWI3OOHG4MKY3U/past+clients YOKE AND ANCHOR http://www.asherjay.com/asher-images-2 daily 0.75 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041330-0GJFPLL778WPB7PJ017L/AsherJayBioPicture+copy.jpg ASHER IMAGES 2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041004-1W2M34GUGQQ9JCTL8GUB/IMG_7877.jpg ASHER IMAGES 2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041368-M1MKEKTB6DTES2FT8ZRM/Photo+Apr+28%2C+12+11+00+PM.jpg ASHER IMAGES 2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118041665-PKUOFQWRPME01VAW2QCR/Photo+May+05%2C+8+38+51+AM+%281%29.jpg ASHER IMAGES 2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118042229-NGXQZ42LBTUVPJMZLEXY/Photo+May+05%2C+8+53+41+AM.jpg ASHER IMAGES 2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469118043442-XLZ71N9RPQIPGQ1W75DY/ProfilePic-AsherJay-OnATrapCam.jpg ASHER IMAGES 2 http://www.asherjay.com/asher-jay daily 1.0 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/asher-images daily 0.75 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469048918204-E6JN08SZWXUWKI12F5Q5/Asher+Jay.jpg ASHER IMAGES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469048917059-B5NYGL58DW4L1VFGN7OD/AsherCoveredinPaint-SerengetiMural.jpg ASHER IMAGES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469048917472-2ZS6VVA2GZ2HK2E8BDV5/Photographer.jpg ASHER IMAGES http://www.asherjay.com/artshop daily 0.75 2019-02-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1625428906852-1L1HYJQNF5A1L4E7LUPS/image_72192707.JPG ART SHOP http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/conservation-issues monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/life-on-land monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/ocean-life monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/wild-solutions monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/family-values-original monthly 0.5 2022-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656879860063-OAT7J0A8CGLRHFTWDL2H/ElephantFamily2jpg.jpg ART SHOP - Family Values (Original) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656879865932-2BZ70B6SX7ZOLISK2GIR/ElephantFamily1.jpg ART SHOP - Family Values (Original) http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/sagittarius-wild-mustang monthly 0.5 2022-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656878844336-0AVL9LJMI4YRWAUNG7BX/IMG_2503.jpg ART SHOP - Sagittarius: Wild Mustang https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656878846294-DS9E4P5PCUA9TXC0Z3XR/IMG_2504.jpg ART SHOP - Sagittarius: Wild Mustang http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/4il2d6qdc19jwbo7layn6huwxbospu monthly 0.5 2022-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656876409727-DOESECHH0ML6VBR09FF3/ElephantPainting-Orange-full.jpg ART SHOP - Burning All Record Of https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656876427449-P2CACAS1ZZRJ2CNVPRBH/Elephant-closeup-asherjay.jpg ART SHOP - Burning All Record Of https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656876428109-FQFOHLBBXI87LIQESLV7/Elephant-Closeup.jpg ART SHOP - Burning All Record Of http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/leo-zodiac-series-original monthly 0.5 2022-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656462536127-LZZ0Y70F6MRRGNIR1F1T/Leo-Artwork.jpg ART SHOP - Leo: Zodiac Series (Original) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656462533624-8FBMKI3AAVSM13F7QO9G/IMG_2471.jpg ART SHOP - Leo: Zodiac Series (Original) http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/manta-migration monthly 0.5 2022-06-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656461008175-TBVHKZHLUHGSE1GPNWLG/Manta-Migration-Original.jpg ART SHOP - Manta Migration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656461009733-YK0TSFH9HN8NCRJF7GBI/Manta-Migration1.jpg ART SHOP - Manta Migration http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/fallen-night-sky-canvas monthly 0.5 2022-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656457570617-ALHY3THS3HZQP5RN9QY3/Fallen-Night-Sky-Original.jpg ART SHOP - Fallen Night Sky (Original) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1656457319317-AEQJM1T4U9UFXXSHWTO1/IMG_2476.jpg ART SHOP - Fallen Night Sky (Original) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537199531702-GD7Q67I3IFSRP8E1N9TV/Asher-Jay-Fallen-Night-Sky.jpg ART SHOP - Fallen Night Sky (Original) http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/with-every-breath monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1549062452966-JIEY0H2A0CLMC62CSKEX/SaveOurSeas-WithEveryBreath-AsherJay-copy.jpg ART SHOP - With Every Breath http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/when-the-blind-see monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1549040700270-6691C79QPVE4M4MPG2D7/Panthera-AllEyesOnStripesCampaign.jpg ART SHOP - When The Blind See http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/fan-out monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1549039509449-TUYPYUHPEWC6L2IXWTBI/FanOut-NoLogo-AsherJay-WA.jpg ART SHOP - Fan Out http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/deep-rooted-truths monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1549037299175-E8CG6V7P4B50FKL6ZXPD/DeepRootedTruths-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Deep Rooted Truths http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/lifeless-seas monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1548981281817-UZQ6HVEJNT9D3Y6EP4GS/LifelessSeas-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Lifeless Seas http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/global-conversations monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1548980954766-GHGCV1H0BHK9I19I2SSG/GlobalConversations-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Global Conversations http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/chorus-line monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1548980589174-O7NCD3IP5WNENPRUDW1J/Wild-Chorus-Line-Asher-Jay.jpg ART SHOP - Chorus Line http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4-3s99t-cglt8-gkxlh-nmsgd-f7rfh-5-ll6b2 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235799424-7YS3P3KERLVY1SOQ7XC5/The-Space-In-Between-Asher-Jay-RAN.jpg ART SHOP - The Space In Between http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4-3s99t-cglt8-gkxlh-nmsgd-f7rfh-5fm6r monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235749011-CWSRCKDUPG4IJELGVDLE/ocean-cauldron-Asher-Jay.jpg ART SHOP - Ocean Cauldron http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4-3s99t-cglt8-gkxlh-nmsgd-f7rfh monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235701106-FXXS5RXFFZ4GQEHMF4RW/I-Love-Leuser-AsherJay-RAN.jpg ART SHOP - I Love Leuser http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4-3s99t-cglt8-gkxlh-nmsgd monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235630551-5SBWS7YJLI3RLLHWTI3O/ClimateChangeCover_IUCN_AsherJay+copy.jpg ART SHOP - Call to Climate Action http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4-3s99t-cglt8-gkxlh monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235552391-0P243HJP31YBIBG6FTMI/ClimateChange-AsherJay_WinterSports.jpg ART SHOP - Winter Sports http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4-3s99t monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235377230-ANLVKWC2NQPL0N4VHHG5/Butterfly-Effect-AsherJay-Ran.jpg ART SHOP - The Butterfly Effect http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-hrtb4 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1545235229313-CKYGJR14GNC2IFDLY15F/06-Jay-ItsElementary-COP21.jpg ART SHOP - It's Elementary http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-ywmk7-ewhp7-mw5cd-dsn9h monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540511616925-TTKIP3M18CY6491IWB6X/BloodHorn-English.jpg ART SHOP - Blood Horn - English Version http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-ywmk7-ewhp7-mw5cd monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540511564680-DSXH8RONWB9W70ZN1C4C/BloodHorn-WA-Asherjay.jpg ART SHOP - Blood Horn - Chinese Version http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-ywmk7-ewhp7 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540511504634-UJACB8JD8IMF15BKP0PC/Asher-Jay-BloodIvory.jpg ART SHOP - Blood Ivory - Chinese Version http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d-ywmk7 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540511401099-Y56RTU1ZB3QGVKJ6ZX1Q/BloodIvory-English.jpg ART SHOP - Blood Ivory - English Version http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-nwa8d monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540503931513-RMDV4M7295LAWABOM104/AsherJay-Within-A-Blue%27s-Eye.jpg ART SHOP - Within A Blue's Eye http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz-lr5nl monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540503783057-80VNN5DO3V01EIX5ZLDN/jay_asher_SurroundedbyOilSentencedbySmoke.jpg ART SHOP - Surrounded by Oil, Sentenced by Smoke http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn-pa5kz monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540503622692-NKNEMG1TXYED764YDCU0/asher-jay-TransperantSea.jpg ART SHOP - Transparent Sea http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-5xxhn monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540503473416-FIAYP947MYTOYXNAYVTP/asher-jay-ThePlasticSoup.jpg ART SHOP - The Plastic Soup http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw-zjjml monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540502660812-8P2WG3UWLDD6QIMJK8LX/InHindsight-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - In Hindsight http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf-s2ymw monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540502527133-VTKDZ3ESZ6AVYZW0P3JW/HerTusksCostsMyFuture-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Her Tusks Costs My Future http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh-gjdxf monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540502430617-8VCHAJPNO01UQ31A0LBW/HerHornCostsMyFuture-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Her Horn Costs My Future http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck-lztgh monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540502341034-SH9XNJTIRN1MVB8NQ7AM/UpInSmoke-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Up In Smoke http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a-lpzck monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540502169364-WSGXHF9LH63A8BSSDBTP/AsherJay-ElephantVoices-FamilyValues-ChineseGrace-Smedia.jpg ART SHOP - Family Values http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz-czz3a monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540502081738-GJQG4EMYWST31N7K3PHK/DontLetMeVanish-Asher-Jay.jpg ART SHOP - Don't Let Me Vanish http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-3xcxz monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1540501302304-S5UC2TAS0CLRX0WX2U5M/CrushedHorn-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Crushed Horn http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-t36ph-ajec8-zn7e4-973ce monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537162056362-XT3MY8LOB37SGNUPMSUK/Leopard-AsherJay-SM.jpg ART SHOP - Splattered http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-t36ph-ajec8-zn7e4 monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161992971-BQ4ELO3TU7WIHVF5DFFI/StippledScarsDiptych-Cheetah-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Stippled Scars (Diptych) http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-t36ph-ajec8 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161873523-6SP587GOM6YIIUL5IQ1K/InTatters-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - In Tatters http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd-t36ph monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161962100-BMJI3BNCYGTKFZ50IGN2/DissolvingImprints-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Dissolving Imprints http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5-b2dzd monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161684879-A79C2INTX900HFRP1RMP/Bestrewn-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - Bestrewn http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8-rasg5 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161489085-8R1AL9BNZLTR5EKWPN7Y/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Lion.jpg ART SHOP - All Eyes on Lions http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm-sebz8 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161386880-53525O9LIWWBCVGDZWWB/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Puma.jpg ART SHOP - All Eyes on Pumas http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx-6nalm monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537199820043-9652C5C9UE00HWHOQ54G/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Cheetah+1.17.24+AM.jpg ART SHOP - All Eyes on Cheetahs http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc-5dwxx monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537161015018-ZIJC8QFXYINCF890UNHW/BigCatInitiative-InFocus--Tiger-NG-AsherJay.jpg ART SHOP - All Eyes on Tigers http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h-pnfzc monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537160955784-19NZW4DPXTR16M9TI83B/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Jaguar.jpg ART SHOP - All Eyes on Jaguars http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3-g4c7h monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537160386845-1NE9DCSNBMZUSP13HUGR/BigCatinitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Leopard.jpg ART SHOP - All Eyes on Leopards http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r-zajb3 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537162754716-J4NO8VWHP07GRHZ64TWR/AsherJay-ISpy-Spots.jpg ART SHOP - I Spy Spots http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8-9wr6r monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537160131482-XM38AD0OK9HULIBRD58P/Asher-Jay-Torn-Asunder.jpg ART SHOP - Torn Asunder http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8-j6wc8 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537160032461-U8RAXL3YDJF8J43G4FT8/jay-asher-AMantaMoment.jpg ART SHOP - A Manta Moment http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7-95zd8-k9th8 monthly 0.5 2021-07-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1537159885281-C68DCM6F1WYHPZT05A6S/MadeOfCoralClusters.jpg ART SHOP - Made of Coral Clusters http://www.asherjay.com/artshop/p/apn0lhqo08gjsdeehb1hqwhmz5xfl7 monthly 0.5 2021-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515002215863-6OP7LUPW2HKEVGA443E7/Pack-Of-Wolves-Watercolor-Asher-Jay.jpg ART SHOP - E Pluribus Unum http://www.asherjay.com/the-work daily 0.75 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/exhibitions-ngfg5 monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/talks-k4gpj monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/photography-8c8gh monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501898715283-OT313K69JKW8ZUJTXCYU/Skin-Elephant-Face-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Half Remembered Forest Night (Copy) Half Remembered Forest Night Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" When I was ten I read a haiku that has stayed with me ever since. "Tiger, eyes dark, With half remembered forest night Stalks an empty cage." As I traveled around Thailand with Veterinarians International and witnessed the current plight of captive elephants, I couldn't help but experience this void within them through their eyes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501898731479-6XNOP0NF4KBD00UWNTCZ/Skin-Eye-Of-The-Elephant-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Unseen (Copy) Unseen Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Eyes that lost their glimmer of hope, and resigned to their mechanical function. A gradual hollowing out of self and spirit due to subjugation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899051134-098JC9FB49RDT4VRUQSE/Skin-Elephant-In-Wrinkles-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Life within the Lines (Copy) Life within the Lines Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Each composition shows only a part of the whole, constraining slivers of their stories to a frame of time in a manner similar to how their shackles restrict aspects of their existence to a frame of space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899051129-TT8ADFXNZBSWLL34OVSE/Skin-Elephant-Texture-Body-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - A Skin Rich in Stories (Copy) A Skin Rich in Stories Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" In a way this is a mixed media work, as I loaded my lenses with plain glass filters that I had a thin layer of diffusive paint on, which obscures the visual field, and projects a preexisting vision onto a landscape. Treating the series with a sepia wash seemed the obvious and right direction for this nostalgic narrative. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899057822-P49GTY7DQZKTMABJQZIB/Skin-Sea-Elephant-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Between The Folds (Copy) Between The Folds Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Their future is in our hands, and perhaps we can transport them with our compassion in the present by taking action. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899057845-HIXN4PA5E1W0SVH5M7FX/Skin-Asiatic-Elephants-Textures-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Enfold Me (Copy) Enfold Me Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Some lines can only be imprinted by hard toil, an unforgiving captor and the slow erosion of freedom. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899063322-1L8518JUU9PPXHTMOPUP/Skin-Elephant-Flared-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Resilience is Learned (Copy) Resilience is Learned Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Hurt and fear, were assimilated by her as a child, she aged that into resilience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899063267-CW3BO467RBEYT4ZHYLNW/Skin-Asiatic-Elephant-Textures-Tail-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Arcs of my Soul (Copy) Arcs of my Soul Tattered, tormented and trained. An elephant who has been taught her purpose solely by a human hand, has never known what it means to truly be elephant. Albeit she was broken in as a calf, isolated from her mother until she yielded, she has learned to relate to both her people, and others of her kind. All that she has ever known of her kind has been learned between chains. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899074549-1SWSQ4CZS5S5SUI3PJBZ/Skin-In-Touch-Textures-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - I Am Here For You (Copy) I Am Here For You Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Elephants are sentient, sentimental, social creatures just like us! They mourn the loss of their kith and kin, raise their young within complex families, and need contact and intimacy to feel safe, and assured. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899074613-D24L2DIVFDMYH9G0P8SW/Skin-Tethered-Elephant-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Within a Vacant Stare (Copy) Within a Vacant Stare Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" Stolen pauses that show us truth between the folds of their skin, within the vacant stare of their heartbroken eyes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899079281-M6GIRI6DS3ROTGM9T6S8/Skin-Ivory-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Quiet Reflections (Copy) Quiet Reflections Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" A tusker languishes in silence, resigned to his boredom and confined movement. There is grace and elegance to their poise. An implicit beauty to their presence, and even in that sullen space a shackled soul retreats to, there is the solace of wild memories. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1501899079365-U047V44OY8CWMIIGXM5Y/Skin-Trunk-Coil-Elephant-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - PHOTOGRAPHY - Friendly Forager (Copy) Friendly Forager Half Remembered Past Series 32" x 48" I love mixed media work, and this was the most fun I have had changing out filters in the field, and playing with depth of vision. I have to shoot the elephant twice, once without the painted filter to acquire a clean silhouette of the animal, against an intentionally obfuscated backdrop. This way they speak for themselves, leaving their context to the imagination of the viewer. http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/field-stories-pa289 monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/installations-w9g5t monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574209665896-X2S4MHGGCAFMFY6STH7I/Floorplan-NiagaraNow-Brita-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Niagara Now Sketch for Brita (Copy) Niagara Now Sketch for Brita The 12-foot-tall installation – Niagara Now – recreates the iconic Canadian waterfall using 900 salvaged plastic bottles in an attempt to address the enormous environmental footprint of single-use plastic water bottles in Canada. Contrasted next to the sprawling horseshoe is a solitary Brita LonglastTM Filter, capable of replacing up to 900 single use plastic water bottles (standard 500 mL bottles). "900 represents the approximate number of bottles consumed and cast aside every five minutes just in Toronto," explains Jay. "Most people are not conscious of that – with this installation, they actually get an immersion in the cumulative impact that opening your wallet out of ignorance has on the world around us." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574209709287-8RSDWN9GZ2ONPVVIHCTZ/56161806_10100828820768677_4914800590858485760_n.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Niagara Now Installation in Toronto Union Station (Copy) Niagara Now Installation in Toronto Union Station The 12-foot-tall installation – Niagara Now – recreates the iconic Canadian waterfall using 900 salvaged plastic bottles in an attempt to address the enormous environmental footprint of single-use plastic water bottles in Canada. Contrasted next to the sprawling horseshoe is a solitary Brita LonglastTM Filter, capable of replacing up to 900 single use plastic water bottles (standard 500 mL bottles). "900 represents the approximate number of bottles consumed and cast aside every five minutes just in Toronto," explains Jay. "Most people are not conscious of that – with this installation, they actually get an immersion in the cumulative impact that opening your wallet out of ignorance has on the world around us." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574209411758-J5LHKE3PQED9Q2JN5N1D/Plastic_Bridge_Pers_low-13.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1574209177262-M09H2HFNGGVNVVEGY2C8/PlasticBridge_Launch-20.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - The Plastic Bridge (Copy) The Plastic Bridge https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/06/explorer-asher-jay-plastic-bottle-art-culture/ An addition to the Message in a Bottle outreach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128510390-JA88SA3PAZEQNQOIIH15/egg2.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg Created for the Big Egg Hunt NYC Height: 40 inches Weight: 65 pounds We are the i-Generation, and the world orbits our Anthropocene axis of wants and consumer choices, which has resulted in complex cumulative consequences globally, in the form of economic, political, social, and ecological storms. At the eye of the storm is "i," the insatiable human ego, rapaciously devouring the earth's natural resources, endangering the very survival of the human race. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128510622-6834GM8EZEC52EIDDVB6/Egg3.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg Created for the Big Egg Hunt NYC Height: 40 inches Weight: 65 pounds As destruction outweighs creation, all eyes, both human and wild, bear witness to the volatile, imbalanced, fragile state of the planet. We need to understand that our human context encompasses everything that preceded us and continues to co-evolve with us. When we damage the wild we are essentially amputating and destroying parts of our own story. The outward storms are a manifestation of the storms brewing within, unresolved conflicts stemming from the separation sickness we endure with the wild.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128511235-OY7BNGC1CWRNVGZ8S4U0/Egg4.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg Created for the Big Egg Hunt NYC Height: 40 inches Weight: 65 pounds The base painting of the iStorm egg is thus a satellite image of the eye of a tropical storm, portraying physical evidence of our impact on the natural world, upon which numerous eyes have been overlaid by color equivalence. The eyes offer commentary on our lack of insight, foresight and hindsight, because we dont look to our past and learn from our mistakes, and we don't account for the future in the choices we make today. We simply do not see, despite the overwhelming realities we are enveloped by. We need to open our eyes and take a hard look at our colossal blind spots. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128561459-O3YLFCK017DWIUO5MDVG/Egg5.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg On Display at the Baruch University Courtyard as part of the Big Egg Hunt in NYC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128566263-UEVOYDUGUIZL8QV8VHEM/Egg1.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg On Display at the Baruch University Courtyard as part of the Big Egg Hunt in NYC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128586482-GON6Z18TGT1GJ8QPIY9Z/iStormEgg-AsherJay-RockafellerCenter.JPG The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg On Display at the Rockefeller Center Plaza as part of the Big Egg Hunt in NYC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128529583-UA7RGOG6BYRSP8VZGF00/iStorm-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg Design Sketch (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg Design Sketch 18" x 24" Mixed Media illustration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128618867-8LJPVJQUD2GEMHSUIAB7/BigEggHunt-AsherJay-Process2.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg Studio Preview - In process. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128624126-8Z75EQ7SM01DYLMCTG8C/BigEggHunt-AsherJay-Process.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - iStorm Faberge Egg (Copy) iStorm Faberge Egg Studio Preview - In process, getting coated in earth friendly marine varnish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469151568174-OYZ12E04NQQCSXKUOJEB/Asher-Jay-Ten-Bottles-Promotional.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Message in A Bottle (Copy) Message in A Bottle Mixed media work. Individual 1 Litre Plastic Water Bottles, collaged in waste paper and painted. The bottles are suspended with plastic rope braided from used plastic bags. Message in a Bottle, is a conceptual, collaborative campaign that offers individuals who hail from a variety of disciplines the opportunity to express their concerns for Planet Ocean through creative media. This endows marine conservation with a unique united front from which distressed denizens can address the long-term welfare of the primordial soup that gave rise to all life on Earth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469129098782-47JFBDYFCSY88IL37G8I/Asher-Jay-Sea-Speak-Sphere-Message-In-A-Bottle-Promo.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Message In A Bottle (Copy) Message In A Bottle Mixed media work. Individual 1 Litre Plastic Water Bottles, collaged in waste paper and painted. The bottles are suspended with plastic rope braided from used plastic bags. The installation initially embraced kindred spirits and cherished friends personally known to creative conservationist Asher Jay, the founder of Sea Speak Sphere but has since expanded its role to integrate participation from concerned citizens worldwide through social media and its official website: seaspeaksphere.com Like the first 100 voices, the people who elect to get involved in this effort can be from any background or professional path so long as they own their voice and want to use it to aid marine conservation efforts. The renowned “Ocean Voices” on board currently encompass individuals with distinguished careers that span from but are not limited to: photography, science, art, music, film, diving, writing, activism, conservation, sports, exploration, journalism, news anchoring, public speaking, inventing, curating, culinary arts and fashion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469129171749-DL1XRA7H0N6O0AS36ZGD/DR_20120610_01811.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Message In A Bottle on Display (Copy) Message In A Bottle on Display The art installation offers discrete vessels in the form of hand painted plastic PET bottles (post-consumer waste) to an eclectic portfolio of enterprising individuals who have unconditionally pledged their energies, cognitive faculties, personal funds and lives toward the conservation of the world’s oceans so they can channel their respective messages to a broader audience through my art. Some of the voices I have elected to include are more interdisciplinary in their approach but still care tremendously for the planet’s 70%. Each bottle has been custom illustrated to augment the specific voice represented by it and is displayed as a mobile object. The bottles are independently suspended from the ceiling by rope made out of braided post-use plastic shopping bags.” – Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469129183292-XE846WC9854H9DJBC1M7/DR_20120610_01743.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Message In A Bottle on Display (Copy) Message In A Bottle on Display “Message in a Bottle” serves as a call to action through creative communication, which is why the platform is open to external input. Communities and schools worldwide are welcome to get on board by giving rise to satellite installations that further the dialogue commenced by Asher Jay. An instructional video that reveals how one should go about up-cycling waste to create the various elements of the installation is available on demand, and can be obtained via a direct email request. Sea Speak Sphere encourages schools to Skype in for a conversation with Jay about ‘how to use art to take a stand for the oceans and the earth.’ This is intended as an inclusive exercise that will inspire children to express their thoughts on oceanic ecosystems in a fun, unbridled manner. It also gives instructors a chance to challenge budding minds to analyze and shape their individual ecological footprints at an early age. Equipping kids with objective information that empowers them to make informed choices will no doubt impact the world in the days to come. Art for Conservation is a curricular must, and Sea Speak Sphere is very eager to introduce this line of study to as many students as possible. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469129198432-K24TAU0FPYRWTAF90W9J/AsherJay-Sea-Speak-Sphere-Promotional.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Asher Jay's Message In her Bottle (Copy) Asher Jay's Message In her Bottle Materials Used PET bottles/containers, acrylic paints, sponges, gauche, permanent paint markers, Golden 200 GAC primer, sandpaper, ink markers, colored pencils, discarded office paper (from recycling bins), brown paper bags, card stock, walnut ink, gesso, spray paints, old magazines, newspapers, brushes, plastic bags, glue/pulp paste, X-Acto knives, scissors, cutting board, recycled paper, buttons, stickers, fabric scraps, found litter, construction papers, prints of research materials. Height: 10 Feet Width: 10 Feet Length: 16 Feet (For every 100 bottles) This installation is composed of mobile objects that can be suspended to suit alternate measurements, i.e. the individual pieces can be custom fit to the dimensions of the space provided, so long as the length and breadth of the space does not diminish the piece by resulting in the visual clutter of the objects that comprise it. This is an indoor installation as not all the mediums and materials used to illustrate the pieces are water proof or can be subject to sun exposure. The piece needs to be illuminated with track or spot lights as it is indoors and thus needs electricity. Since the installation is composed of artisanal painted objects it cannot be left unguarded and needs a secure space for display. Audience cannot touch the objects as that they are rendered with mixed media. It does not require heating or cooling, i.e. no climate control is necessary.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128681634-KR84ZJPGRW8YQGFXBJNK/Elephant-Parade-Base-Sketch-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Design Sketch of Pathway (Copy) Design Sketch of Pathway Mixed media work. Standing Elephant Sculpture Dimensions Height: 150 cm Length: 164 cm Width: 77 cm Weight: 55 kgs Fiberglass elephant sculpture covered in collage materials (maps) silicone, plastic, metal, paints and paste. The elephant sculpture is primarily a collage work. It is a composite image that relies exclusively on information laid out on maps. For the purposes of this sculptural piece, the various synonyms of the term maps is also harnessed to provide viewers with more narrative depth. Guides, charts, plans and diagrams have also been incorporated, as they too encompass elements like ‘scale’ ‘key/legend’ and ‘orientation’ and ‘specifically assigned colors.’ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128734712-64JCZYE4MRD47NA9X1ET/Screen+Shot+2016-07-08+at+9.57.52+AM.png The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Pathway, Concept Development (Copy) Pathway, Concept Development To enhance the base layer of maps, artist Asher Jay will be overlaying datasets in the form of topographical contour maps that reference real oceanic and terrestrial features such as mountains/islands. Each contour builds on the previous in meaning, and cumulatively each contour map generates a focused story silo of sequential insight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128691967-JAC49ZHXNZASKOTAYS9Y/IMG_4198.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - In Progress Work (Copy) In Progress Work Mixed media work. Standing Elephant Sculpture Dimensions Height: 150 cm Length: 164 cm Width: 77 cm Weight: 55 kgs Fiberglass elephant sculpture covered in collage materials (maps) silicone, plastic, metal, paints and paste. Why am I participating in the Parade? I took part in the Big Egg Hunt and designed a Faberge Egg in 2014 that went on to raise money for boots on the ground in Amboseli after it showcased in the courtyard of Baruch University and at the Rockefeller Plaza. This elephant sculpture I am working on is similarly structured, the proceeds from the auction/sale of this elephant will be donated toward the great work that Elephant Family is doing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128707640-VXWFBR58F91QJRLT6RBT/IMG_4214.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Pathway in process (Copy) Pathway in process https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469128717490-5G05DVR266D3KUDTLGSS/IMG_4251.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Pathway in Process (Copy) Pathway in Process https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469129026889-YVO3K1JM9J7ONKJ47ERM/IMG_4441.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS - Pathway In Process (Copy) Pathway In Process Mixed media work. Standing Elephant Sculpture Dimensions Height: 150 cm Length: 164 cm Width: 77 cm Weight: 55 kgs Fiberglass elephant sculpture covered in collage materials (maps) silicone, plastic, metal, paints and paste. A final addition of information will be a hand painted by the artist in the form of a custom generated map that will portray a path that has yet to be taken. For this, Jay will be consulting with a cartographer, and will be generating a visual language of her own, with which she intends to illuminate viewers on the many solutions that can be adopted to veer us away from our ‘taker’ paradigm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1474222229494-K6G7Z1H53WQ5VSXTK1KP/IMG_4450.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1474222007029-36FTRB06I671UU95S3GV/IMG_4728.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1474222010203-IM805ZLYCZ567N6U5ZGG/IMG_4730.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1474222102912-64J895D7GA368TFPDJ4Q/IMG_4785.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1474222159192-TRDLTPEOEKNC2SDLM9ZY/IMG_5281.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1474222181742-JJOHX5ASXN4APR5QESTE/IMG_4449.jpg The WORK - INSTALLATIONS http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/fine-art-knelx monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1507223845191-LDXAAUC0MVNZR2EO4MDU/Pack-Of-Wolves-Watercolor-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - E Pluribus Unum (Copy) E Pluribus Unum Watercolor, charcoal, Ink wash work on watercolor paper. 36" x 48" Created with a minimalist, distressed aesthetic sensibility to allude to the first impressions portrayed in cave art, for since then this animal has been misunderstood and persecuted. A beast that truly does stand for the American motto "E Pluribus Unum" and displays the strongest family values, is the most spurned creature across the stateliness. The wolf narrative needs to be rewritten and the myth of this creature needs to be dispelled, so it has a chance at survival in a world where the story this beautiful animal symbolizes is not in the least congruous with the reality of the creature. In Rudyard Kipling's words, "The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070037914-2WJ1WAG9BCCA44XKPACA/InTatters-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - In Tatters (Copy) In Tatters Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint. 40" x 60" Habitat loss due to mining, charcoal, and agriculture has resulted in extensive deforestation, as much as 400,000 acres a year in Tanzania alone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070046888-FOWB072MU0C0NQ323WJJ/Leopard-AsherJay-SM.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Splattered (Copy) Splattered Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint. 40" x 60" Loss of brush land for fuel like charcoal is a huge problem for mega fauna, such as elephants, rhinos, and big cats that need a large expanse of land for survival. The need for charcoal is the most pronounced, as over 90% of Tanzanian households live off-grid with no access to renewable forms of energy, let alone gas or electricity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070052489-URUFDRGZWQI1MA3VRKUH/Bestrewn-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Bestrewn (Copy) Bestrewn Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint. 40" x 60" The threats unfolding in the grasslands are multifold, but the loss of essential habitat to fuel needs impelled me to create these works out of charcoal, a cheaply priced art material. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070054840-W73S4JC8HDEZJIF08N7L/DissolvingImprints-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Dissolving Imprints (Copy) Dissolving Imprints Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint. 40" x 60" The entire “Series in Red” alludes to the fact that life is interdependent, i.e. when we destroy habitat, we destroy the biodiversity it sustains, and vice versa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070062897-6W829MVNP85UQRZSXE32/StippledScarsDiptych-Cheetah-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Stippled Scars (Copy) Stippled Scars Charcoal and ink on acrylic paint. 40" x 60" We either keep systems intact or we stand to lose all that is beautiful and irreplaceable in our world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469111072814-DLX9C5JU4XX898YRC3K3/BigCatinitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Leopard.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - All Eyes on Leopards (Copy) All Eyes on Leopards Cat in Focus series. Multimedia work. 36" x 48" Agile, silent, luxuriant, with sun-like magnanimity, they sift stealthily through grass and jungle as fierce survivors, impregnated with a sovereign purpose. Big cats are ambush artists with observant eyes that change from regal indifference, to predatory focus with the setting sun. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469111124703-C8LST3X5AT8FTBOW03HW/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Jaguar.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - All Eyes on Jaguars (Copy) All Eyes on Jaguars Cat in Focus series. 48" x 36" Multimedia work. The motif that will be reiterated to create the silhouette utterance of each big cat, will be the eye, particularly an illustrated human eye, recolored to emulate a cat’s eye, because research dictates that humans relate more intuitively with an eye that emulates the proportions of a human eye. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469111134957-3EC6ZKVW0BKUG3M7HHZQ/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Cheetah.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - All Eyes on Cheetahs (Copy) All Eyes on Cheetahs Cat in Focus series. Multimedia work. 36" x 48" Cat in Focus, engages the viewers initially with a pair of forward facing, amber eyes, forcing aesthetic focus on to the most expressive and arresting aspect of the feline form, the cat’s eyes. This allows the viewer to take stock of the motif that serves as the building block for the larger narrative arc of the series, to bring audiences eye to eye with cats. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469111157275-G7FZ8B3AYGR9QCG945JU/BigCatInitiative-InFocus--Tiger-NG-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - All Eyes on Tigers (Copy) All Eyes on Tigers Cat in Focus series. Multimedia work 36" x 48" Why the Eye? The eye offers a conceptual connection to the cat. The eye represents: Awareness. Articulation. Vulnerability. The eye receives and emits light. It looks out and looks in. It is a window to peer through, to reach the soul and the world, a symbol that is revealing and perceiving, seeing through and true. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469111113911-U2KYXKHXS7FG1W9WGTM4/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Puma.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - All Eyes on Pumas (Copy) All Eyes on Pumas Cat in Focus series. Multimedia work 36" x 48" The eye illuminates, understands, expresses, protects, singes, and stares. We can feel truly known by the way another’s eyes take us in and experiences despair and sorrow at being “unseen.” We often deliberate “loss of sight” or use optometric terms to describe our current paradigms of existence and modes of consumption, “myopic” “long-sighted” “lens” “vision” “20/20” etc, this offers an obvious interpretation to the individual layouts and animated story. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469111095750-LBQWJRL819BKFRNARZL4/BigCatInitiative-InFocus-AsherJay-Lion.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - All Eyes on Lions (Copy) All Eyes on Lions Cat in Focus series. Multimedia work. 36" x 48" Repeating the eye as a symbolic motif, also offers a unique commentary about our lack of insight, foresight and hindsight, because we don’t look to our past and learn from our mistakes, and we don’t account for the future in the choices we make today. We simply do not see, despite the overwhelming realities we are enveloped by. It is evident that we need to open our eyes and take a hard look at our colossal blind spots. Ethologists and primatologists have also coined the "cooperative eye hypothesis" which is at the crux of why these big cats are so easy and compelling to stare at. Scientists have posited, that "human eyes evolved to make it easier for conspecifics to follow an individual’s gaze direction in close-range joint attentional and communicative interactions, which would seem to imply especially cooperative (mututalistic) conspecifics." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070233365-B8TPH9D5X235XIY35MAG/Take-Pride-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Take Pride (Copy) Take Pride Multimedia composition. Oil and vinegar on canvas with cloth and photographic overlays. 36" x 48 Every species is intrinsically and effortlessly part of the fabric of the larger ecosystem. The composition relies on transparencies to establish the integral role played by lions in managing the Savanna expanse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070634185-FZXCMQCXBPW6947N8JMM/TheRoarWithin-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - The Roar Within (Copy) The Roar Within Mixed media, Acrylic, wax, ink, pencils, paper, photographs. 24" x 36" I pitched my first tent in front of the Barafu Kopjes. It was a great evening, sundowners below a lilac sunset, baked squash under the stars, and shortly after, bedtime. With a tent to myself, I felt insignificant, yet invigorated as I dozed off. Later that night I woke up with a start, assailed by anxiety, my core temperature steadily rising. I immediately reached for my cell phone. Time check? 1: 34 a.m. I felt my skin burn up, as my pores began to sweat. Fever from a tick bite? All my cells were on alert, as I heard footsteps, muffled yet close. I was throbbing with fear. At first I thought it was a prank, so I checked. Rob? Tom? No answer. Then a low rumble inhaled me in. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t scream. My heart pumping hard, as I saw the shadow of a long whip like tail against the wall of my tent. My racing pulse was painting me as prey. I had to find a way to slow down my heart rate, for it became clear there was more than one lion circling my space. I reckoned, should the worst go down that I would not die riddled with fear, but pass in a state of oneness, with utter awareness of my death. I was in a tent surrounded by predators, once I accepted it, I realized all I could do was breathe, and stay on the knife’s edge between knowing and not knowing. Animals have the ability to stay in the moment, so I chose to be animal. I stayed present and all I did was breathe. It was then that I saw the lion in me and myself in a lion. We were one, which was wildly intoxicating. This artwork goads the viewer to reconsider perceived degrees of separation as degrees of connection, between man, beast and the earth from whence we all emerged. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070190336-NJFSCPC2NP5XYZOIA7WN/AsherJay-ISpy-Spots.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - I Spy Spots (Copy) I Spy Spots Watercolor on Canvas. Only available as prints, original sold. 18" x 36" Speaks to the camouflage of great cats, for the bleed into their surroundings despite having such distinctive markings on their body. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071418719-2JJNSTZVFQCYRBIUTJNB/WyomingUntrapped-BobcatsBeingBobcats-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Wyoming Untrapped (Copy) Wyoming Untrapped Mixed media, collage, pencils, gauche and acrylic. 36" x 48" Sold. No reproductions. Trapping is a prevalent issue in the state of Wyoming. An organization by the name of Wyoming Untrapped commissioned me to create this painting, to cast a light on what Wyoming would look like if it's wildlife was not barbarically incarcerated in dated, cruel contraptions that cause an unfortunate amount of stress and blood loss in the victims it claims. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070214962-5N8WRT9U412CC549IKQE/Asher-Jay-Torn-Asunder.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Torn Asunder (Copy) Torn Asunder Mixed Media, collage and paint. 40" x 60" Last year I got the chanceto free dive with Whale Sharks, off the coast of Isla Holbox and Isla Mujeres. It was an utterly unforgettable experience, so you can imagine my horror when I discovered these filter feeders were being slaughtered in large numbers to cater an insatiable Asian market demand for their fins and for oil. It is incredibly tragic how much magic we annihilate in the world around us, preventing future generations from ever experiencing such wondrous wild encounters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070166909-ZMW8IN1PIYL8OGX9AUL8/Asher-Jay-Fallen-Night-Sky.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Fallen Night Sky (Copy) Fallen Night Sky Mixed media, collage, paints, inks, and marine debris. 40" x 60" Fallen Night Sky portrays a whale shark suspended by the solitude and silence of the abyss. Against the pitch it's distinct markings recreate the dark canvas pricked by pinholes of light that we scour, nightly, for the meaning of life. All the answers we seek in the expansive cosmos of creation is available in the microcosm we fondly refer to as the pale blue dot. The truths of the infinite universe lies hidden right beneath the shifting surface of the undulating blue. This gentle giant is a swirling cluster of star stories, if only we would take the time to listen... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072610885-A6MISBMPUDK1CAM0RV0F/MadeOfCoralClusters.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Made of Coral Clusters (Copy) Made of Coral Clusters Mixed media: Paint and collage. 40" x 60" The giant, demure Rhincodon Typus is a filter feeder and they mean us no harm, yet we slay these magnificent large fish for their fins and we pollute their habitat to such an appalling degree with our daily choices that they spend their hours sieving more plastic than zooplankton out of the blue. We need to put a price on life and ban the bounty on death! Life should be worth more than death, yet this is not the case, extinction has gotten to be such an implicit part of our schematic that we fuel our lives with death in the form of fossil fuels. We need to reformat our thinking and reboot our systems so we are more functional the second time around. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469142751293-0D58ZIRLOGZG2HKC20CJ/AsherJay-InnerCompass11.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Inner Compass (Copy) Inner Compass Mixed media, collage and paint 36" x 48" Hammerhead migration at COCOs island, interrupted by human impact. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070991899-9MY959UQTN9BLUBFS7K3/jay-asher-AMantaMoment.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - A Manta Moment (Copy) A Manta Moment Mixed media 16" x 20" A Manta Moment abstracts the complex musculature of a exquisitely engineered creature of the deep, in a moment of wild abandonment. The image captures the drape of this enigmatic being as it gently glides with its large wings stretched expansively, as if to emulate the dimensions of the blue ocean itself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143904630-ZHP1CUYXZMYGHF8DRNJ1/jay_a_OdeToTheGiantCuttleFish.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Ode to a Giant Cuttlefish (Copy) Ode to a Giant Cuttlefish Mixed Media, gauche, crayon and ink. Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 20" x 30" The Giant Australian Cuttlefish in specific is the most extraordinary cephalopod to encounter, its alien countenance and inimitable ability to mimic and blend in to its immediate environment is just the most mind blowing thing to witness whether on video or in person. The loss of this species will not only cause a massive hiatus in the ecology of Australian waters but also be a painful loss of beauty in this world that cannot be reproduced by even the most technologically adept artists. We should do everything in our power to raise the alarms and conserve this magnificent species. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469134308910-EA076L2PFLPO2UV1X7RB/Banded+Grid+Symbiosis.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Banded Grid Symbiosis (Copy) Banded Grid Symbiosis Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" This collection of mixed media artworks will contemplate themes of nature in relation to the unlived tomorrows of future generations, by contextualizing environmental conditions as inheritable assets being handed down family trees.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143290503-LUU2YWJ07F7OBQGJZJQN/jay_a_FracturedFacade.jpg The WORK - FINE ART Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" “Shadowed Heirlooms” intends to initiate awareness on the environmental evils endured by untamed Africa through conceptual, wildlife-centric collage canvases. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469134320757-LKNTWWU7K2628PD0B6HQ/Litter+Halo+Lioness.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Litter Halo Lioness (Copy) Litter Halo Lioness Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" Asher Jay’s recent visit to the feral frontiers of the Dark Continent moves her to shed light on the myriad issues confronting Kenya and Tanzania’s Safariscapes now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469135971383-XL6HDJC9542PEWPD1FOP/The+No-Way-Out+Maze.jpg The WORK - FINE ART Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" We cannot simply feed pennies to Africa and expect the country to be able to confront and resolve human-wildlife conflict. The blades of grass in this image are photographs of pennies to underscore this obvious message. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469142998553-324AKWBDWP5OTL4O6PXX/jay_a_WhereDoWeDrawTheLine.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Where do we draw the line? (Copy) Where do we draw the line? Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" As infrastructure growth encroaches from every side into National Parks and protected areas, animals are getting fenced in from all sides, compelling us to reconsider the idea of wilderness in the Age of Man. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143291057-O9M2Y771LJEQ6GIDZC7J/jay_a_InTheBlinkOfAnElephantEye.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - In the Blink of An Elephant Eye (Copy) In the Blink of An Elephant Eye Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" “From lax regulations, inconsistent waste disposal methods, climatic change, habitat destruction, absence of trash segregation and recycling (all garbage is disposed off in make-shift landfills), to the lack of viable solutions, alternatives, government incentives, rigid laws and funds that can execute feasible plan Bs, African wildlife are facing more threats than tourists. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469134313597-KFKHZ15JHAMN1EOEJSNZ/Change+the+Way+You+Connect+the+Spots.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Change the Way You Connect the Spots (Copy) Change the Way You Connect the Spots Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 16" x 20" At the heart of the problem are arrogant, ignorant visitors, reckless poachers, and apathetic tour guides, all of whom simply do not consider the long haul in their daily arithmetic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143290867-SKRXPROBP0VABSFTSRGA/jay_a_halfrememberedwildfreedom.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Half Remembered Wild Freedom (Copy) Half Remembered Wild Freedom Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 18" x 36" The savannah is so expansive it spreads from sunrise to sunset; are we willing to extinguish all the life that thrives between the horizons?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143290031-4BIZKKKK6JFIK87G6F5U/jay_a_commoncrimsoncirculatorysystems.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Crimson Currents (Copy) Crimson Currents Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 18" x 36" Inspired by Lake Natron in Tanzania and Lake Nakuru in Kenya, where amidst the brilliant vermillion flocks there is still plastic litter afloat.     https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143904989-Q16INVSCCKMRABAIHVYY/jay_a_barelycastingshadows.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Barely Casting Shadows (Copy) Barely Casting Shadows Mixed Media Collage Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 18" x 36" In the fleeting moments that wild beings are given to relate to the earth does the sun even have time enough to help them cast a shadow? Or do we drive these creatures to extinction even before they get to make an imprint? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143291478-TCAJCAKGCMLB2FRO6AZX/jay_asher_BareWhiteNorth.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Bare White North (Copy) Bare White North Mixed Media Collage with fabric scraps from fashion waste. Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 18" x 36" Bare White North, polar bears made out of waste fabric (Seventh Avenue Surplus), percentage of sales to go toward climate change related concerns. Inspired by a photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469143773602-8K9Y1FD7GX7CQEFOQ9WT/Asherjay-HarpSealPup.jpg The WORK - FINE ART - Harbor Seal Pup (Copy) Harbor Seal Pup Mixed Media Collage made with fabric scraps from Fashion waste. Shadowed Heirlooms Series. 18" x 36" Human carbon emissions place their future on thin ice. http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/message-in-a-bottle-continued-s4tlh monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442873169-H8UHVRWE0YBMDJVN8BQL/Brian-Skerry-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Nautilus Squid (Copy) The Nautilus Squid We live on a water planet, yet I wonder how many of us actually see it that way? Water covers over three quarters of the planet’s surface and represents nearly ninety-eight percent of the livable volume and the majority of the air we breathe comes from the sea. Knowing this, a logical conclusion would be that mankind must do everything possible to protect this vital component of our home, when clearly our own survival depends on it. Instead we have treated our precious waters like a sewer, a place to throw chemicals, and trash. We have removed wildlife from the sea for centuries and destroyed entire ecosystems while conserving very little. I have always believed that the sea suffers the fate of being regarded as vast and deep with endless resources and bounty, yet I know that the reality is far different. She is resilient indeed, but will die a death from a thousand cuts unless we take bold steps to ensure her protection. Brian Skerry, contract photographer for the National Geographic https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448744094-DXXS7IRTEARRIKDGIKMF/David-De-Rothschild-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Plastic Rafts (Copy) Plastic Rafts Having been a message on a boatload of bottles (Plastiki) for four months, it excites me to see another innovative voice for our oceans step forward with a vision to give nature a voice. We are all creations of the ocean and we must all play our part to protect this fragile and vital lifeline that is Planet Ocean. David De Rothschild, Adventure, Founder of Plastiki and the Lost Explorer, Conservationist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515452380784-QKSY2DWD6QEDGYBZW3NU/Shannon-Elizabeth-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - To Dream (Copy) To Dream I submerge and the salt devours me, cleansing my sins through their perfect world. I see thriving ecosystems. Untouched. Pristine. For a moment I am a spectator slipping through their perfect world. The ocean needs to breathe, nurture, give and to be. We suffocate, pollute, take and destroy. I wake up…. It’s gone. Shannon Elizabeth, Actress, Activist, Conservationist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448711155-TPDSDN2JVSALS9N5EAHQ/Leela-Rajamani-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Cows (Copy) Sea Cows Dugong (Dugong dugon) Shy and elusive, these gentle mammal populations have declined to the extent that they are now extinct in certain parts of their range. Their decline is largely due to anthropogenic influences such as incidental entanglement in nets, habitat degradation, boat and propeller strikes, and pollution. Dugongs are largely dependent on seagrass habitats for their nutrition so thus equal importance needs to be given to seagrass habitats when conserving dugongs. Dr. Leela Rajamani Senior Lecturer, Universiti Sains Malaysia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442885869-ONTJFV2HUVF5HQIP0QGK/Sheldon-Whitehouse-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Change Now (Copy) Change Now Unless something changes, there'll be more waste mass of plastic in the oceans than living mass of fish. Make that change! Senator Sheldon Whitehouse https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448751916-BIJOUMQJVI2FDC10P7Y3/Jane-Alexander-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Shhhhh (Copy) Shhhhh Silence! Ocean creatures cannot live with our bombs, blasts and bedlam underwater. Jane Alexander, Actress, Author, Conservationist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448753268-OF1MR7R6NVBUH5FMR22S/Pete-Knights-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Wild Aid (Copy) Wild Aid Oceans sustain life, but we are not doing enough to sustain them. While we have a system of national parks on land only 1.5% of our oceans are protected and even in these laws are often not enforced. We hope for a day where at least 10% of our seas are sacrosanct and truly protected. Pete Knights, CEO of WILD AID https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448755805-FN8QXWGOMLSP6YHMIHKI/Sandy-Yawn-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Dueling Swordfish (Copy) Dueling Swordfish May I always treat the ocean like my most precious lover. It’s has my soul in the crest of it’s wave, there, is where I find my peace. Captain Sandy Yawn, Below The Deck on Bravo! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448757444-B42MRJYFS4E850VN5STW/Tommy-Remengesau-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Be Positive (Copy) Be Positive Preserve the Best, Improve the Rest. Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. President, Republic of Palau https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448757362-1V1ZFC5N4XTL766FPBFY/Tuilaepa-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Politics versus Preservation (Copy) Politics versus Preservation With the current global uncertainty associated with shifts in geopolitics and globalization, it seems pertinent to re-assess our region’s collective engagement with the world and with each other – and to reassert our collective Pacific Regionalism as “The Blue Pacific”. The Hon. Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi Prime Minister of Samoa and Chairman, Pacific Leaders Forum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448748433-ELSNO6HGO95OJDPWBMLS/Jeff-Pankatouf-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Art Deco Orcas (Copy) Art Deco Orcas Transient orcas, who are at the top of the ocean's food chain, have the dubious distinction of being the most contaminated animal on the planet - over 1,000 times more contaminated than the average human being. This is due to humans polluting the ocean's food chain from the bottom up with PCBs, Dioxin, Flame Retardants, Mercury, and other toxic chemicals. Humans that subsist on a marine diet are now the most contaminated humans on the planet. What we do to nature, ultimately we do to ourselves. We must stop this madness! Jeff Pantukhoff, President & Founder of Whaleman Foundation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448752013-257J6G23MUVD8LNTK969/Mike-Phillips-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - No Planet B (Copy) No Planet B Restoration IS an alternative to extinction. Mike Phillips, Executive Director of Turner Endangered Species Fund and State Senator, Montana. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448749081-FP84WSOUI3YBWJ49G1RZ/John-Amos-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Bliss (Copy) Blue Bliss The ocean has given me the simplest, purest moments of joy and connection to the planet that I've ever experienced. John Amos, President and Founder of SkyTruth https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442884543-8UQLRU81HLZMFH4M1RZ5/Martin-Nweeia-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Narwhals (Copy) Narwhals They eat large fish, yet swallow them whole. If you look in its mouth there’s nothing. There are absolutely no teeth. Narwhals have no teeth. Nothing makes sense. It is striking when you think that this animal decided to take all of its tooth-producing energy and put it into one thing [a tusk] that sticks out nine feet into the ocean. With the amount of energy that it takes to produce that one tusk it could easily have 30 to 40 teeth in its mouth doing other things. Evolutionary-wise something is saying don’t do this, instead it is better to grow this extraordinary tusk. A pretty compelling reason must be behind such a decision. Martin Nweeia, New England dentist and member of the Smithsonian’s Department of Vertebrate Zoology and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448747696-XKTDNSURAGONXD9LQJAL/James-Molick-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - ​​​​​​​Mother Ocean (Copy) Mother Ocean Your lungs we breathe. Your bounty sustains us Your beauty inspires us And your strength humbles us. Our thoughtlessness, Suffocating your breath. Desecrating your beauty Annihilating your worth Stirring your tempests. Mother Ocean, Will our grandchildren forgive us? James T. Movick ,Director-General, Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency of the Solomon Islands and his daughter Louisa Movick, Law Student and Activist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448754659-181REDV6E685DDU8KW43/Peter-Borchert-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Significance of the Sea (Copy) Significance of the Sea When I look out to sea I am overwhelmed by its vastness and its might. The ocean is indifferent to our being, a reminder of our significance and that we are neither the beginning nor the end but only a momentary waypoint along the path of time. Peter Borchert, Author, Journalist, Founder of Untold Africa and Africa Geographic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442886175-78B8UFUBCMPKI8024A1S/Ronald-Olavides-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Cucumbers (Copy) Sea Cucumbers Sea cucumbers (Class Holothuroidea: Phylum Echinodermata) have for thousands of years been traded throughout Asia, fetching a high value due to biomedical research market, and food industry. The high demand for sea cucumbers and the lack of appropriate fishery and trade management have resulted in the chronic overexploitation and depletion of their population densities in marine ecosystems. Ronald D Olavides, Marine Biologist, Ecologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448757930-Y6RU32N9POLZQLNZY6JQ/Will-Boyajin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Prehistoric Whales (Copy) Prehistoric Whales As our own origin stems from the sea to which we are all called, to watch the fossil transition from a hippo like creature to the most colossal animals to have graced to earth is to marvel at our own story. To venture into the sea, to watch the nostrils move up the skull over millennium into the blowhole, the ears shrinking and legs present but soon to be abandoned and slowly absorbed in a most beautifully awkward fashion, the spine stretched, and tail fortified to give rise to one of the beasts of the ancient seas. While formidable in their day, Protocetus paved the way for this journey to the grace and peace we paint Mysticeti with. It’s why we are captivated by whales. To wander into the unknown, the violent and struggling predatory early ocean, and to arrive one day on the other side as a portrait of natural ease; a gentle giant. We see their story and it is our own. Will Boyajian, Founder of Hopeful Cases. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448752831-3TU65C3DK2NMNPRM2Q2E/Octavio-Aburto-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Within the Roots (Copy) Within the Roots Despite their tiny coverage in the planet, mangroves provide some of the most important benefits for oceans and humans. They protect our coasts areas from erosion and provide fisheries for millions of people. We must stop their deforestation. Dr. Octavio Aburto, Marine Biology Asst. Prof At Scripps, Director of the Gulf of California Marine Program, Explorer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515449179641-I90JDXZ2P7L913R60K0R/Roberto-Llerena-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Plastic Chokehold (Copy) Plastic Chokehold The plastic waste is drowning the planet, it is an undeniable reality that the marine fauna is dying by ingestion of plastic and very soon we all have to stop eating seafood and the governments and businessmen would seem not to realize the serious problem. It is time to undertake effective awareness campaigns, to invest resources in the excellent business of recycling plastics, to subsidize those who invest in these collection businesses. In 2018 we have elections, we also have independent conservation projects. It's time to act friends and we'll do it! Roberto Llerena Arce, Fundacian Nautilus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448743191-6TCL9OTQCD2ZFKFL09Y2/Catherine-Cooper-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - My Church (Copy) My Church The ocean is my home and my church ... it's the place where my soul lives. Catharine Cooper, Conservationist Author and Photographer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442878353-NNFHOVGLO6JUVVILDKMU/Claude-Ringuet-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - This Blue Planet (Copy) This Blue Planet It is time for people throughout the world to take stock and understand the value of our oceans. Not only are our oceans the lifeblood of our planet, but beyond that, the beauty of what lies beneath the surface is incredible. Let’s all play our part in protecting the big blue and helping to save not only our marine life but our planet for future generations to enjoy. Claude Ringuet & Yvonne Yee Ringuet, Owners – Thisblueplanet   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442874504-7Q5LC4G2LDC9T6NMZSUA/David-Johnson-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Com Worm (Copy) Com Worm In 2010 I coordinated designation of the Charlie Gibbs MPA, one of very few High Seas protected areas and home to weird and wonderful deep-sea creatures like the acom worm (Yoda purpurata). Prof David Johnson, Coordinator of the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative and former Executive Secretary to the OSPAR Commission. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448743090-X1ZQHYQ6YS13EFTAFIQM/Angela-Schuster-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Disruptions induce Risks (Copy) Disruptions induce Risks We are indebted to all who have worked so tirelessly on behalf of our oceans, but for their efforts to succeed we must take a long and holistic view of our most precious resource. Species loss at any point in the web of marine life creates a disruption that puts all of us all at risk. Angela Schuster, Editor-of-Chief, The Explorer’s Journal   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442877998-QZVMDUXPSDRAZGQWTK9W/Lawrence-Curtis-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Wild Wonder (Copy) Wild Wonder The quandary we are in has been borne from the misconception that nature and the sea are to be feared and conquered. As a result, we've polluted her and turned away from the truth of our deep connection. It's time we shift the paradigm and reconnect to what the oceans really are- inspiration, wonder and life. Lawrence Curtis, Film Maker, Cinematographer and Owner of Curtis Films Inc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442876555-NPAAO4DSXUS2NKF7QO4A/Kathy-Zagzebski-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Five Rs (Copy) The Five Rs Marine animals, humans, and the oceans are interconnected. A marine animal stranded on the beach has a lot to teach us about wildlife health, ecosystem health, and even human health. That’s why I believe stranding response, including rescue, rehabilitation, release, and research, is so important. Kathy Zagzebski President & Executive Director The National Marine Life Center https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442880365-17DBY7NV8E8ZCOBC8MC6/Mara-Haseltine-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Original Womb (Copy) The Original Womb The Ocean is simultaneously familiar the origin of all life.... the womb of our shared planet and she yet fantastical and mysterious still undiscovered like outer space on Earth. Mara G. Haseltine, Artist, Ocean Advocate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442884643-IZ258LDJPCM9CVP91Z92/Nicolas-Bulostin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea-Life Sonnets (Copy) Sea-Life Sonnets Let’s change the World!! Let’s make the world a better place for all of us…and for many generations to come. Aqualise can only recommend this fantastic installation by Asher Jay and hope to see more projects like this one helping the future of our oceans. The ocean is the source of all life, let’s work together to preserve and care for our oceans and sea-life for future generations. Nicolas Bulostin, CEO and Founder of Aqualise   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515452618763-5ACUAUG4H3AMTVGG0PJS/Sargossa-Sea-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Golden Seaweed (Copy) The Golden Seaweed The mounds of sargassum on beaches posed a serious solid-waste problem for the tourism industry and was described in a New York Times article called “Where’s The Beach? Under the Seaweed.” Not only do the excessive sargassum strandings cause problems for tourism, they also impact biodiversity, biogeochemical cycling and fisheries habitat, potentially forming “dead zones” (hypoxic or anoxic conditions) in coastal ecosystems such as mangroves. Brian Lapointe, Ph.D, Marine Ecologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442883951-VBE64SW0VO9XI6NX6L7N/Meg-Taylor-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Stewardship (Copy) Stewardship We're not small isolated islands - we are large ocean states stewarding huge ocean resources, particularly our fisheries stock. To sustainably manage these resources we have to see ourselves differently and appreciate that the strength of the Pacific is the collective." Dame Meg Taylor, Pacific Ocean Commissioner and Secretary General, Pacific Island Leaders Forum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442885354-ARDHYDT1KY5GPZMONCVF/Sarah-Frias-Torres-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Every Second Breathe We Take (Copy) Every Second Breathe We Take We are part of the ocean, so if the oceans die we die with them; so marine conservation is essential for our own survival. Every second breath you take comes from the ocean, so if you are against marine conservation you are only allowed to breathe from 9 am to 9 pm and the rest of the 12 hours you have you cannot breathe at all. Dr Sarah Frias-Torres, marine biologist, oceanographer and behavioral ecologist, post-doctoral fellow at ORCA, producer of “Ocean Minute” (Radioshow.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515442885473-PKF5SBWYU1FLTHVMAZ57/Sergio-De-Mello-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Infinite Inspiration (Copy) Infinite Inspiration The Oceans are to me a source of infinite inspiration. They give me a sense of meaning, direction, and harmonious balance. Gracious but rebellious, gigantic but fragile, mysterious but familiar, and endless but finite. They replenish my soul and life with empathy, joy, and a deep sense of inner wellbeing. Sergio de Mello e Souza, Entrepreneur, Activist, Founder of Strategic Business Alliances. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515448745963-G2IAK554KR2LKZT6WIBR/Guillermo-De-Anda-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Cenotes, Fossils, Mayan History (Copy) Cenotes, Fossils, Mayan History There used to be hard limits on how many people could be brought in on a given day into a particular cenote, but now these tours bring in 3 or 4 times the originally assessed capacity of foot traffic. They have also shortened the duration of each tour, from 2 hours, to just 45 minutes within the actual cave system. This means tourists only have enough time to click photo ops in lieu of actually learning something about them. People not knowing about the cenotes, is why it is so hard to protect them. That’s probably why the Maya understood the connection between these sacred underground pools and life on earth. We uncover a lot of incredible archaeological finds when we comb the cenotes, from ceremonial wares to entire temple ruins. So truly these submerged caves are cultural legacy sites for Mexico. The government needs to be protecting our history and heritage. When recreational cave divers go in unmonitored, it also results in the looting and improper documentation of our past. By inspiring the next generation of Mexicans to take pride in and care for this incredibly rare and priceless asset, through youth outreach and education! We have already begun assembling a team of students and professionals to better document our cenotes, so we can tell people exactly why it is important to conserve them and develop responsibly around them. Right now they are being misappropriated, misused, treated as landfills and filled in for parking lots. If we alert enough people locally, we can stop this from being the story. Guillermo De Anda, Director of Special Projects for Subaquatic Archaeology at Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and National Geographic Explorer. http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/message-in-a-bottle-rpswk monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513805864516-DFE337NQ4A7B7VCALA7S/Asher-Jay-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Empty Shells (Copy) Empty Shells I hear the ocean in my conch as I rest it by my ear. It once had life within it. If we are not careful and we do not come together to revive the blue’s breath and beat, I fear the earth too shall hollow out like this empty shell and be filled with nothing but the memory of the pulse it once contained. Asher Jay, Artist, National Geographic Explorer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514409610004-UA6XAZT534R6SKMQUGF9/Ian-Somerhalder-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - One Biological Process (Copy) One Biological Process We are the ‘environment.’ The world is literally one biological process. The trees are our lungs. Look at the Amazon River system next to a human cardiovascular system, look at corals or trees and look at our lungs, you literally cannot tell the difference. They’re the same. So when we destroy our environment, we’re effectively destroying ourselves. Ian Somerhalder, Actor, Founder of ISF https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513723005699-FC4M0VHNPFDS7WPF762C/Adrian-Grennier-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Watch Your Footprint (Copy) Watch Your Footprint There’s no panacea, there’s no one solution. There are as many solutions as there are people on the planet. We have to bring ourselves to the solution and care for one another and our earth. We are the first species that has dominion over our own evolution. We are homo-evolutis. We can effect our own fate. What an awesome yet, delicate responsibility. We must give ourselves permission to be better, to do better, to be more caring and compassionate. To be more human, and to show the leadership we are capable of as the most evolved species on the planet. We can transform ourselves to be environmental stewards of our shared earth. Adrian Grenier, Actor, UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, Producer, Director and Musician https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513808046627-Y055FTP0VWDC0AK9Y5W7/Alec-Baldwin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Primordial Baptism (Copy) Primordial Baptism Like many others, I have often fantasized that the ocean was once my home. Be it as a sailor, a whaler or naval officer aboard some great ship, I once spent a lot of time at sea. On land you admire God's handiwork. On the sea, you meet God and, ultimately, submit to God. Alec Baldwin, Actor   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514403798294-M5CAY11Z511JCSOEK3YU/Harrison-Ford-CI-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Poseidon (Copy) Poseidon I am the ocean. I'm most of this planet. Every living thing here needs me. Humans take more than their share. If nature isn't kept healthy, humans won't survive. Simple as that. Harrison Ford as The Ocean The Voice of the Ocean in Conservation International's "Nature Is Speaking" film series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514410187553-VB6ZSRBXD7XSW9W07YC4/Kristin-Bauer-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Blue Tribe (Copy) The Blue Tribe I can’t do better than Frank Herbert, Author of Dune, “This is the bond of water. A man’s flesh is his own, the water belongs to the Tribe.” Kristin Bauer, Actress, Conservationist, Filmmaker. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513723163616-DTQR4LEEXIXX11UPVXKV/Hayden-Panitiere-Message-In-A-Bottle-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Crusader for Cetaceans (Copy) Crusader for Cetaceans The reason I chose to be a voice for dolphins and whales is twofold. First, dolphins and whales are beautiful, intelligent, charismatic creatures. Second, they are like canaries in the coalmine, telling us that something is seriously wrong with our oceans. I truly believe that as go the dolphins and whales, so go our oceans, as go the oceans, so goes all life on earth so you see its easy - if we save the dolphins and whales, we will save our oceans and ultimately our planet and ourselves! Hayden Panettiere, Actress, Model, Singer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513875410518-GS9K58SH5AYR6XP2XD8I/David-Rockefeller-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Where Threshers Thrive (Copy) Where Threshers Thrive Those of us who spent our childhood summer days playing atop the pristine ocean - we thought all was well beneath the surface. We saw trouble only in the form of sharks, but now we know that sharks are a vital link in the circle of submarine life that we humans have ignorantly trashed and slaughtered. David Rockefeller Jr. Chairman of Rockefeller & Co, Philanthropist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513887382511-P8JTBOHEF61A71946F32/Susan-Rockefeller-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sockeye Salmon (Copy) Sockeye Salmon We must protect what we love. For those who appreciate the beauty, bounty and mystery of our oceans comes a responsibility to help save them. Susan Rockefeller, CEO and Founder of Protect What Is Precious. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513808053361-N6BQ367P1DGMIL5TQJ4C/Eric-Goode-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - A Turtle's Dream (Copy) A Turtle's Dream Turtles have been around since before the dinosaurs, over 200 million years and today over half of all turtles are threatened with extinction. Turtles are the most threatened group of vertebrates on earth. Turtles and tortoises have been around for over 200 million year as crucial ecosystem engineers, building tunnels, dispersing seeds, and grazing sea beds. They are also important indicator species of the health of our environment. They are important indicator species as to how humans are changing this planet. They are the new canaries in the coalmine as to how humans are changing the planet. Eric Goode, Founder of Turtle Conservancy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513878693754-A2SL7FLIEFSU6AU2UB5Z/Sven-Olaf-Lindblad-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Unbound Exploration (Copy) Unbound Exploration Our ocean is a singular source of health, wealth, sustenance, oxygen and joy. Surely we should be smart enough to protect such a valuable asset. Sven-Olaf Lindblad, Founder & President of Lindblad Expeditions   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513805911817-X1R2PBPXGXPN1D0O3TLG/John-Quinones-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Tuxedos (Copy) Tuxedos Penguins are an indicator species, alerting us to the health of the ecosystems they inhabit. Humans have always been the greatest threat to penguins and our oceans - but we are also their greatest hope. Dyan deNapoli Penguin Expert, Author, TED Speaker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513895291771-TCK98P2YZQECY7I7USIV/Jody-Allen-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - A Sense of Belonging (Copy) A Sense of Belonging Inside of us, there is a place that longs to be in nature. Jody Allen, Founder of Wild Lives Foundation, businesswoman and philanthropist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513808058688-5OFAHDSETJNMH270X715/Fabian-Cousteau-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Gift of Life (Copy) The Gift of Life As the circulatory system of our planet, the ocean world offers the gift of life and enchantment of spiritual wellbeing. It is therefore only fitting that we strive to express our love and respect for her as if our life depended on it … because it does.   Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Oceanographic Explorer and Conservationist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515303873203-YN38IHP5IL9KGLS1HO6W/Deepak-Chopra-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Only the Whole Can Stand for the Whole (Copy) Only the Whole Can Stand for the Whole Mind Body & Nature are a unified activity in consciousness. Knowing this, feeling this, perceiving this truth, is the experience of love as ultimate reality. It is a return of the deep memory of wholeness in which we are holy and healed. Deepak Chopra MD, Author, Alternative Medicine Advocate, Speaker, Spiritualist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515303872482-4SBQPGBLHQ06VSPRWXSF/Shawn-Heinrichs-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Reconnect (Copy) Reconnect Our oceans are in immediate need of protection. Industrial fishing, pollution and marine debris, habitat destruction, coastal development, global warming, and ocean acidification, are all threatening to irreversibly destroy the ocean’s delicate ecosystems. I believe art can be an essential tool in halting this destruction of ocean life. By reconnecting people with the beauty and vulnerability of threatened marine species, I intend to ignite a new level of curiosity and passion for marine conservation. Shawn Heinrichs, Photographer, Filmmaker, Founder of Blue Sphere Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515377311519-138BJI16J6ECCDXTLFRA/David-Doubilet-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Give Oceans A Voice (Copy) Give Oceans A Voice We can produce imagery to share the beauty of the oceans and what is there to protect. We can also expose the truths about overharvest, climate change, and habitat loss to give oceans a voice. David Doubilet, National Geographic Photographer, Avid Diver, Ocean Enthusiast https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515377311823-SCU7E3D3RG87IE4EG0X0/Joel-Sartore-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - As they go, so do we. (Copy) As they go, so do we. Literally every creature in the sea, whether it swims, slithers or just stays put, is a true work of art, shaped by eons, to perfection. Large and small, they sizzle, hiss, groan, bubble, sing and whistle, reminding us that the time is now to pay attention, and cherish, each and every one. After all, as they go, so do we. Joel Sartore, Founder, National Geographic Photo Ark, Photographer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514405886199-DQWMHESRDM5VASJ5DSZN/John-Quinones-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - One World (Copy) One World More has been learned about the ocean since the middle of the 20th century than during all preceding history. At the same time, more has been lost. Global warming, ocean acidification, calving ice sheets, receding glaciers, sea level rise and shifting weather patterns are stressing natural systems above and below the ocean’s surface. Many commercially exploited species of fish have declined by 90%; about half of the coral reefs have disappeared or experienced serious decline; hundreds of coastal “dead zones” have developed. Destructive deep-sea mining activities are moving forward. The good news is that 10% of the sharks, swordfish, tunas and other depleted species remain. Half of the coral reefs are in reasonably good shape. Many coastal areas have been spared lethal pollution, some with healthy marshes, mangroves, and sea grass meadows. It isn’t too late to shift from the swift, sharp decline of ocean systems in recent decades to an era of steady recovery. There is time, but not a lot. The next ten years may be the most important piece of time in the next ten thousand years. Opportunities to save the ocean, and ourselves, are slipping away. Sylvia A. Earle Oceanographer, Explorer, Author, Founder of Mission Blue and Explorer in Residence National https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513879640264-XRWPH8OD6EH4KCCNNFEH/Gary-Knell-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Childhood Connection (Copy) Childhood Connection Having the ocean close by as I grew up as a child in Southern California was a blessing. It was my escape, my connection to nature, a place to ponder our past, present and future for myself, my friends, my family, and our place in it. Gary Knell, President & CEO National Geographic Society. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513723266348-1QE39SS32LL0HFLIYW79/James-Balog-Message-In-A-Bottle-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Chasing Ice (Copy) Chasing Ice I am a patriot. I fight for spacious skies. For amber waves of grain. For purple mountains majesty. I submit to you that we the people have an inalienable right not just to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but to clean air, clean water, and a stable climate. Our survival demands it. Our children deserve it." James Balog, National Geographic Photographer (2017) 1. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513808074573-0TOZJVOKCDHIXZWKKMRK/Paul-Nicklen-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Frozen Planet (Copy) Frozen Planet An Arctic without ice is like a garden without soil. Ice is the foundation of the entire polar ecosystems. If we lose ice, we stand to lose an entire ecosystem. Paul Nicklen, Biologist and Photographer, Co-Founder of SeaLegacy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513875072000-BJ69WCPLBCRTCU4SMFDL/Bill-McKibben-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Eye of the Storm (Copy) Eye of the Storm When you trap more energy in the narrow envelope of atmosphere where we reside, everything gets amped up: evaporation and hence drought; rainfall and hence flooding. The wind can blow harder than we've ever seen it blow before. It's a new planet, with a new physics. Bill Mckibben, Founder of 350 Org https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513887413662-414QOUYYFNQREM09I987/Don-Walsh-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Unseen Depths (Copy) The Unseen Depths With only 10% of the World Ocean explored there are wonderful career opportunities for future explorers. Join me in investigating oceanspace. Exploration is merely curiosity acted upon. Be curious, learn and teach others. And think deep! (In 1960, the US Navy Bathyscaph Trieste dove nearly seven miles into the deepest place in the World Ocean. Jacques Piccard and Lieutenant Don Walsh USN were the pilots. Don Walsh, Explorer, Submarine Pilot https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513876739820-K7DZ8JWSNIIMBV4NZ8HT/David-Yarnold-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Bright Beaked and Puffy Feathered (Copy) Bright Beaked and Puffy Feathered Seabirds don’t get much cuter than the clown-like puffin, but these feathered footballs aren’t just apt entertainers. They also carry an urgent message about our changing earth and oceans—recovered from overhunting, they are now threatened anew by a changing climate. David Yarnold, CEO, The Audubon Society https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513888635427-28F2W7D1IZLW9L3K2R14/Mark-Carwardine-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Cage Diving (Copy) Cage Diving Cage-diving with great white sharks is like meeting a procession of great movie stars - having seen these enigmatic, awe-inspiring creatures in films, on television, in newspapers and on the covers of magazines for years, suddenly there they are in the flesh. ‘How on earth can you top that?’ I once asked a fellow diver. ‘What can we possibly do next?’ He thought for a moment. ‘I dunno’, he said eventually. ‘Maybe space travel?’ Mark Carwardine, zoologist, best selling author, TV host, radio presenter, columnist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513888188132-Y3XRJN8DDXMNXLWM67CD/Jessica-Cramp-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Gateway Drug (Copy) Gateway Drug Sharks are the gateway drug to the ocean. Jessica Cramp, Marine Conservationist, National Geographic Explorer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513876739105-9KUXFT270XRFMNIJX9MP/Nick-Brandt-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Gliding Spaceships (Copy) Gliding Spaceships For me, diving in an ocean teeming with life is like floating in space with the most extraordinary of aliens. Except those aliens happen to be terrestrials that share our planet with us. When people talk about the images from your life that flash before you as you are about to die, I have always known for sure that amongst those flashing images, there would be this memory: underwater off the coast of Fiji, the sight of five giant manta rays, like the most perfectly designed spaceships, slicing through the water right above, below, to the side of me. But at the current rate of destruction, by the time I die, they will likely be gone, plundered for Chinese 'medicine', for something as tragically absurdly inconsequential as their gills. Nick Brandt, Photographer, Conservationist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513892794893-P38SO2VNVDH1PMEKGV7V/Wendy-Benchley-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Beyond Jaws (Copy) Beyond Jaws Jaws brought the beauty and the challenges facing the ocean into my life—forever. Forty years later momentum and new solutions abound. Love working with WildAid’s brilliant campaign to change attitudes in China and dramatically reduce shark fin demand. Wendy Benchley, Board Member of WildAid, Host of Benchley Awards. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513895282672-WL9RTAD81PM9ZQO67LTV/Chris-Anderson-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Open Your Eyes (Copy) Open Your Eyes Out of sight, out of mind. That is the essential tragedy of the ocean. Home to the most exquisite ecosystems of our planet, its waters are the veil which make these systems invisible to most humans most of the time. So in a generation, we are wantonly destroying majestic creatures, exquisitely designed by nature over hundreds of millions of years. The first step to a solution: open your eyes. Chris Anderson, TED Curator https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513811263787-JAPP2TISK4DL5KYEQFZ7/Ellen-Degeneres-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Finding Hope (Copy) Finding Hope If we're destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there's got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that. Ellen DeGeneres, TV Host, Actor, Comedian, Conservationist, Social Good Advocate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513723068993-HQD5HZBC25SA9YDY3X02/Captain-Charles-Moore-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Adrift (Copy) Adrift Asher Jay makes our ugly profligate waste beautiful because that is the only way she can get us to look at it long enough to realize that it deserves reincarnation. Captain Charles Moore, Founder of Algalita Marine Research Institute, Co-Author Plastic Ocean https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513879157962-KMIYYQUZFDOYOZLGJKX4/Nancy-Knowlton-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Beyond the Obituaries (Copy) Beyond the Obituaries We all have heard the bad news, time and again, about the state of our oceans. Overfishing, pollution, invasive species, habitat destruction, warming, and acidification – is there anything that can be done about any of these, much less all of them? We used to think the ocean was too big for humans to have any impact on its health, while now we assume that the problems are too big for any individual to make a difference. As serious as the problems are, and they are serious – we have lost 80% of the living corals of the Caribbean, for example – we will never make progress if we don’t move “Beyond the Obituaries.” There are still healthy parts of the ocean, where only a few marine species have gone extinct. We know that protection from local stressors helps build resilience, allowing ecosystems to recover from some of the stressors we can’t easily control. In some places marine mammals, turtles, fishes, sharks, and shellfish are coming back, and even reefs are slowly recovering when given protection. In many cases these successes stem from the activities of a one or a few individuals determined to make a difference. So while there is no room for complacency and no excuse for doing nothing, there is room for hope!   Nancy Knowlton, Coral Reef Biologist, Sant Chair for Marine Science, Smithsonian Institution. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341498079-R3NY483UOW089Y1L00HQ/Bertrand-Piccard-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Solar Impulse (Copy) Solar Impulse I spent days flying over the beauty of the oceans during my around-the-world flights in a balloon and in a solar airplane. Protecting the oceans is not only important for the environment, but assures the quality of life for humankind. Bertrand Piccard, Explorer, Balloonist, Psychiatrist, Pilot of Solar Impulse https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341497357-HEX1JT5ZDUAT77ZGKLOJ/Ellen-Cylartes-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Ice Ice Baby (Copy) Ice Ice Baby 'Ice ice baby' resonates through my head as lie flat on my belly in the cold, connecting with a harp seal pup to get an image that would touch hearts. No ice, no pups, sadly a given for the last two years. But I keep singing because the world is a better place with seals. Balance make the world go around...just another song! Ellen Cuylaerts, Underwater & Wildlife Photographer   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515431741354-9X8ENZUZIPRLSVXYERYL/M-Sanjayan-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Knock It Off (Copy) Knock It Off If we could send a message in a bottle back 50 years it would read — It’s true. We do have the power to change oceans; its height, temperature, even acidity and with it we forever alter the fate of humans and millions of species … so knock it off! Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375013633-WLCN0YXMDWLWBMELRAHN/Marc-Bekhoff-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Vast Bodies of Blue (Copy) Vast Bodies of Blue The vast bodies of water that surround us are amazing places where innumerable fascinating species live. We cause an incredible amount of harm to the animals who live 'beneath the surface' but it goes unnoticed because these awesome beings are hidden from view to the vast majority of people. We need to enhance our understanding and appreciation of the world's oceans and their magnificent inhabitants and seriously curtail the innumerable ways in which we redecorate their homes. We must rewild our hearts and expand our compassion footprint and stop ignoring nature as we go about our lives with little concern for the other animals with whom we share our planet. Marc Bekoff, Ethologist and renowned author. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515431741329-4BMZTAIU54T5WEFJS485/Aulani-Wilhelm-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Flourish (Copy) Flourish The ocean isn’t a barrier to other people and places — it’s what connects us all. We have to think local and make sure the actions we take are global in order to create a world where all the oceans are sustainably managed and allowed to flourish. Aulani Wilhelm, Senior VP, Center for Oceans, Conservation International https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515431729235-B79WF39JH15VWCGAKVU5/George-Schaller-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Love and Respect (Copy) Love and Respect The World is sacred, It can’t be improved. If you tamper with it, You will ruin it. If you treat it like an object, You will lose it.   Laozi Chinese philosopher, sixth century BCE   Hiking in a veil of heat across barren desert mountain in Pakistan, I suddenly realized that I was on an ancient ocean floor. Stems of crinoid lilies and delicate scallop shells had been trapped in the somber rock, and an occasional sea urchin gleamed like marble. Gusts of wind pounded me like waves of the sea. This place was a reminder that the earth is unstable, always changing, everything dependent on everything else for survival. Humankind may have emerged from the ocean long ago. We are now bound to land, though we continue to use the sea, just as tigers do today in the mangrove swamps of India and the polar bears on the northern ice. And some species, such as the intelligent dolphins and whales, returned from land to the water. In these desert mountains with their sparse vegetation and wildlife, I wondered if this is how our whole planet will ultimately look as we mindlessly continue to destroy it. We tend to forget that everything we have, want, and need comes from nature and that we are wholly dependent on a healthy environment for survival. We don’t have two earths, one to squander and one to treasure. This is the only home we shall ever have, and we must strive to keep it beautiful. Everyone of us. We all hold the future of the earth in our hands. Look closely at nature and discover your place in it. As the ecologist Aldo Leopold wisely said in his 1949 book A Sand County Almanac: “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect “ George B. Schaller, VP Panthera and Wildlife Conservation Society https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514494190289-JKWHJEEL86U5GV3DB5AV/Wade-McCollum-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Endurance (Copy) Endurance The Polar seas: Filled with mystery, uncharted depths, and an intelligence we are only beginning to comprehend. Swimming with dolphins and whales, I see, we are maybe not the smartest creatures on this planet- we just have hands. Care for the great frozen waters. Wade McCollum - Actor/Composer Played Ernest Shackleton in the Broadway show, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513879649271-S8HRFM5RTBPEA755V9N0/Andrew-Revkin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - I Heart Bivalves (Copy) I Heart Bivalves My love of the wider world, both human and untrammeled, largely grew out of my love of the sea. Inspired by the work of Jacques Cousteau, as a boy I donned a mask and snorkel (my favorite bar mitzvah present!) and shriveled like a prune as, hour after hour, I probed for clams and followed blue crabs and dancing blue-eyed scallops in beds of undulating sea grass. After college, I was lucky to stumble onto the crew of a circumnavigating sailboat for 17,000 of its blue miles. The sea is with me every day and hour, even as I type this on a wooded hill 800 feet above the Hudson River tide line. Andrew C. Revkin, Journalist, writer, New York Times Dot Earth Blogger, and Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513805896152-RBF50O266IP1YI1BJBQA/Steve-Winter-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Stripes in the Sundarbans (Copy) Stripes in the Sundarbans The oceans and forests give us the air we breathe. 50% of our oxygen comes from forest - the other 50% from the oceans. We can protect our major ecosystems, by protecting the main predators sustaining them. 75% of our fresh water comes from forests and grasslands. Forests also pull carbon from the atmosphere and slow down climate change, and they give a home to the wildlife that lives within them, including some of my favorite animals, big cats. We can protect our critical ecosystems by protecting the apex predators that keep these places healthy. Steve Winter, National Geographic Photographer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514509355368-8QIPVY5H4L8YOLDLOX07/Mark-Davis-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sailors For The Sea (Copy) Sailors For The Sea Sailors for the Sea is a global conservation organization that engages, educates, inspires and activates the sailing and boating community toward healing the ocean. This community is millions strong. By uniting these water lovers, we are creating one of the most significant ocean conservation movements of our time through high impact, results oriented programs. The ocean can live without us, but we cannot live without the ocean. Mark Davis, Founder of Sailors For The Sea. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514565036073-R45UZS504ABSO8DKLIRA/Robert-Swan-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - 2041 (Copy) 2041 For Over 30 years I have walked across the Great Ice Shelves of the Antarctic, which float on the Mighty Southern Ocean . These Iceshelves are now melting, which means the sea level will rise. From November 20th 2017 until January 20th 2018 my Son Barney and I will walk again to the South Pole,600 miles on foot, surviving only renewable energy it has never been done . We hope to inspire people through action to change their energy use. Robert Swan, Found of 2041, the first person to walk to the North and South Poles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367141395-0AXSWYEMFQZPJ4NDHBLQ/Renata-Emin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Pink Dolphin (Copy) The Pink Dolphin The Araguaian river dolphin (Inia araguaiaensis), best know by its distinguished pink color, is endemic to the Araguaia-Tocantins basin, in Brazil. This species populates the imagination of the Amazonian people, and it is at the heart of several folklore legends. Unfortunately, the pink river dolphin faces many threats. They are targeted by illegal bait fisheries, and are also susceptible to pollution and contamination of watersheds [rivers], and the loss of habitat to dam construction. The Araguaian river dolphin is one of the species that are in dire need of conservation efforts. It is critical to preserve them for the generations to come. This pink diamond is essential to this region and we must do everything to protect it. Renata Emin, Biologist, Project Leader for GENAM Project for Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367140034-O1SM4SB51I5QMAYR0G4E/Mireya-Mayor-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - An SOS (Copy) An SOS On natural rafts they were blown out to sea. They touched shore on Madagascar, the only place in the world where they are found. But after surviving their long, arduous journey, they now face a much more dire fate. More than 90% of their original habitat is gone and they are considered the most critically endangered mammal in the world. Lemurs, some with eyes as blue as the ocean they arrived on, need our help to survive. Consider this an SOS. Mireya Mayor Ph.D, National Geographic Explorer, TV Host, Author. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367140752-2TMVMBL6W46QGY5LJDAN/Patty-Elkus-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Our History (Copy) Our History The ancestors are speaking, can you hear them? The OCEAN is our planet’s life support system. Respect it; protect it, because mankind’s very existence depends on it! Patty Elkus Board Member Mission Blue, Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Directors Council https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367139327-6GBV67487KKLUG6JDLJH/Greg-Rouse-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Ruby Seadragon (Copy) Ruby Seadragon The ruby seadragon, only discovered and named in 2015, is the third species of this magnificent group of Australian fish, which also includes the common and leafy seadragons. It highlights how much of our marine biodiversity remain to be discovered. Greg Rouse, Scripps Oceanography, UCSD https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367141376-NLPABPRZPY1BQ749OXZW/Samantha-Wishnak-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Pickles (Copy) Sea Pickles One night we were getting ready to launch underwater robots with cameras off the back deck of Nautilus, and green and blue flashes started to light up the waves in the dark. As the robots started to dive, we realized the light was coming from flurries of pyrosomes these tubular tunicates made of thousands of individual clones that were falling like snow around us. The name pyrosome literally means "fire body" in Greek, and to give you a perfect visual, they're also known as "sea pickles. Samantha Wishnak, Digital Media Coordinator, Ocean Exploration Trust. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367140420-HQPNG6RAKBZZJ3S8OI05/Jeff-Kirschner-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Cumulative Worth (Copy) Cumulative Worth Individually you can make a difference. Together we can make an impact. Jeff Kirschner, Founder of Literatti https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514509356038-0PEKYMDVHU7AVSKZ7MXH/Walter-Munk-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Popcorn of The Sea (Copy) Popcorn of The Sea Elegant and graceful creatures in the sea of cortez. Thousands of threatened, high flying, mobula Munkianas, Munk’s Devil Rays, jump for the joy of it. Slapping the water with acrobatic, bellyflop landings, it sends an acoustic message of welcome, inviting, awarding, and resonating for miles. Walter Munk, physical oceanographer, professor of geophysics emeritus, Secretary of the Navy/Chief of Naval Operations Oceanography, and Chair at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513889542787-XBB8TJ5N6PGVNTV8NPYS/Paula-Kahumbu-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Drought and Death (Copy) Drought and Death The flow of water, from land to sea, from glaciers to springs, channeled as rivers into lakes and swamps, connects all habitats and ecosystems on earth. It reminds us that we all have an effect on each other. For example even if poaching could be eliminated entirely, elephants in Kenya and across Africa face many other threats. According to Kenya Wildlife Service statistics, elephant deaths this century peaked in 2009, when the principle cause of death was not poaching but ‘natural causes’. Many of these deaths were undoubtedly caused, directly or indirectly, by the prolonged drought that affected Kenya that year. Our interconnectedness should be reason enough to respect this life giving substance, and to use our energies to care, nurture, love, and protect everyone and everything, both human and wild. Paula Kahumbu, National Geographic Explorer, Executive Director of Wildlife Direct. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514403798851-F1FGCX2GEMOLITU773J3/Missy-Hargraves-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - To Save A Life (Copy) To Save A Life In my animal post-hurricane/flood disaster rescue work-I've witnessed first hand the immense power of our seas. They are fighting back. To preserve themselves. It is estimated that there are at least 10 million species of plants and animals inhabiting our oceans. Our oceans= life I would do anything to save a life... Would you? Our oceans depend on us. They need our love and care. Let's do it. Missy Hargraves, Search and Rescue Emergency Rescuer, Wildlife Rescue of The Hamptons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513973591514-HVFQIMSFWKIRNI6KV33O/Tara-Rutley-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Deep Sea Space (Copy) Deep Sea Space The earth’s oceans are at once humankind’s history, and our future. The chemical source of all life on earth. We are all connected by our salt ocean make up. Tara Ruttley, Associate Program Scientist, International Space Station, NASA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513896683735-GHZTV88IXD7NOWG25W0I/Robin-Moore-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Frog Prince (Copy) Frog Prince The frogs would show up, like clockwork, every spring behind my grandparents’ house to honk and quack and writhe in murky water, leaving behind floating parcels like bubble wrap. And then, like magic, tadpoles transformed from denizens of water to denizens of the land. Such mystical creatures. I never imagined back then that one day they might disappear. Forever. Their loss is our loss, for we are all in this pond together. Robin Moore, National Geographic Photographer, Communications Director for Global Wildlife Conservation.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513896466107-LS26FAUQP5ZSRHQQDDC4/James-Cameron-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Deep Sea Challenger (Copy) Deep Sea Challenger I'm a storyteller; that's what exploration really is all about. Going to places where others haven't been and returning to tell a story they haven't heard before. I am hopeful that we will be able to study and tell the story of the ocean before we destroy it. James Cameron, Filmmaker, Explorer, Diver https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998919278-168XQIE2F2JWBNQERMI0/Jimmy-Chin-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Interdependent Architecture (Copy) Interdependent Architecture Reefs sustain life in our oceans and the oceans sustain us. Get it? The reefs need our conservation efforts now more than ever. Jimmy Chin, National Geographic Photographer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912573019-N4INDE35K7Z9HIYRZEJX/Edith-Widder-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Lights in the Abyss (Copy) Lights in the Abyss The environmental problems that our generation has left to those that will follow are beyond imagining. That our choices and behaviors are actually changing ocean chemistry boggles the mind. Paradoxically, in the face of such gloom and doom, the most valuable tool we need to be passing on to our children is optimism. It is only the optimists that will see the solutions and recognize that if it was our choices and behaviors that brought us to this environmental precipice then their choices and behaviors can pull us back from the brink. Edith Widder, CEO, President & Senior Scientist of ORCA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110720777-MS4CDNUJ0CWX0JB7TJRU/Roger-Payne-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - To Be Heard (Copy) To Be Heard The moment at which the last passenger pigeon died is known to the hour, but with most species it is otherwise. We usually only realize in retrospect that it was a farmer, returning late one evening on his tractor who was last to see such-and-such a species as it flashed through his lights. But the visual presence of a species is not all that we will miss when it is gone. I care more for the howl of the wolf than for its merely dog-like look, and when the last howl of the last wolf has filled the night, echoed and died out, something of us all will pass with it into a kind of mute invisibility. It is much the same with whales. There may come a time when, in some remote ocean glade, deserted of humanity, the last call of a humpback whale will start, spread out, and then vanish, until those who heard its distant sound will wonder if they heard it at all. It is in this way that each whale species will make its final exit, until the blind continents, banked in their beds of silent ooze, and moving like slow clouds across the molten face of the earth, will no longer have whales to cheer them on, but will take their way in silence and alone. Roger Payne, President of Ocean Alliance, and author of Among Whales. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110720582-XZD7O2OLPLM5Z0UEY83C/Erich-Hoyt-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Need for Space (Copy) Need for Space Every animal needs space —healthy habitat. In the marine realm there is a certain logic and appeal in starting with the whales, for so many years denied the right to live at all on the open ocean, and reduced to tiny fractions of their original numbers. This ethical consideration of the right to a safe home, with healthy ocean ecosystems, underpins the drive for whale and dolphin conservation and marine protected areas. I feel that those of us who are alive today must work to create a world in which it is possible to share our space with whales and dolphins. To do this, we need to create effective Homes for Whales and Dolphins in the sea. Erich Hoyt, Research Fellow and Head, Global Marine Protected Areas Program, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198479578-ZIRLQO7HHAAFUHJTY2I0/Mimi-Degruy-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Mouth Brooder (Copy) Mouth Brooder When diving beneath its mysterious blue surface, we are stunned by the ocean’s complexity and beauty. Likewise, when we dive beneath human facades we find similar riches, realizing humans are capable of doing great things, like saving the imperiled sea. Mimi and Mike DeGruy, Conservationist legendary storyteller and Filmmaker. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515199405447-BWO8E35K3ZLO9ELKDI8N/Bruce-Neill-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Spotted Eagle Rays (Copy) Spotted Eagle Rays To touch wild spotted eagle rays is profound. Ocean spirit flows into you – electric; allowing a rebirth. Our pinnacle is to touch the world around us – in profound, lasting ways with honor, intent and integrity. Spotted eagle rays remind us. J. Bruce Neill PhD, Executive Director of Sanibel Sea School. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515365016019-OKNSLHBVFW8BC5PTCGA4/David-Gruber-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Perception (Copy) Perception Studying the ocean is like receiving deep and intimate knowledge for the earth's wisest elders. Each submergence connects me deeper to myself, others and to the four billion years of life's swirling and interconnected history. I am working on using modern technology to connect us deeper to marine life and to understand ocean animals from their perspective. This includes projects such as "shark-eye cameras" and "squishy robots" for delicate undersea exploration. David Gruber, National Geographical Explorer, Professor of Biology City College https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515365016048-IR4E89OGZC2ZT4090OQF/Andres-Ruzo-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Boiling River (Copy) The Boiling River The ocean is present in the Amazon rainforest, its evaporated water falling as rain and becoming a part of all who drink it: animals, plants, and planet. Even some of the Boiling River’s waters were once ocean—and they will be again, as they flow to the sea. Andres Ruzo, Director of The Boiling River Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515365016827-YYNYD1QBSCPHKRBQHDM6/John-Ogden-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Cradle of Life (Copy) Cradle of Life The ocean is the cradle of life on earth and for three billion years of evolution it has nurtured the biodiversity that sustains us. John Ogden, USF Professor Emeritus, Integrative Biology https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515365017626-MJXUHSL3T13S5HY7U9EB/Ief-Wicklemans-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Symbiosis (Copy) Symbiosis Like other species have done before us, we must make the transition from the parasitic species we are to the symbiotic species we can be. We can look to marine wildlife mutually beneficial relationships for inspiration, like foraminifera and algae or anemone and the clown fish. Ief Winckelmans Ocean Impact Alliance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515365018589-Q3PLHO6RY2L685V2OK2Q/Scott-McVay-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Monarch of The Seas (Copy) Monarch of The Seas Before Melville's Moby Dick, the Bowhead or Greenland right, without one rival, was regarded as "the monarch of the seas." We know now the Bowhead can live to two centuries, longer than any other mammal. They are keen listeners who do not interrupt each other and have encouraging empathy for the chirping white Beluga. We still have much to learn from this magnificent monarch of the Arctic. Scott McVay Organizer and leader of expedition that led to In Search of the Bowhead Whale documentary film. Co-author of discovery & description of the six-octave song of the Humpback whales https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515365017782-AKVWTDF44ZL1HAAOUPMB/Mark-Hulsbeck-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Goliath Groupers (Copy) Goliath Groupers It is amazing to watch the Goliath Groupers while living in the Aquarius underwater habitat. It's as if we are in the fish tank as the Groupers come to the viewport and watch us! Mark Hulsbeck, FIU Field Operations Manager https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513887389167-KCIAN791RPD70SJ5U690/Cat-Coore-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - One Love (Copy) One Love Next time you’re strolling on the beach and you feel the sun bleached sand beneath your toes, you can thank a parrot fish. Let’s commit to safeguarding the health of our coral reefs in Jamaica and the Caribbean by protecting the parrot fish. Like I would say, Alligator Head is committed... to keeping the parrot fish alive… committed... for the big blue oceans in Jamaica. Remember, healthy oceans, healthy planet, one love. Stephen Cat Coore, of Third World, Ocean Ambassador with the Alligator head Foundation, Reggae Musician https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513895422020-FHI4NZADL74F608OADRG/Mark-Eakin-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Coral Bleaching (Copy) Coral Bleaching 1. Have you ever wanted to un-see something you've seen? To be able to erase an image from your mind? This is the feeling I get when I think back on seeing coral bleaching. How can we be so thoughtless to believe that dumping almost ten million billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year won't have an effect on our earth? Our carbon dioxide pollution is causing ocean temperatures to rise, causing corals to bleach -- throwing out the microscopic algae that give them life. The result is the death of millions of corals around the world, destroying the beauty of coral reefs and robbing fish of their homes. I can't forget some of the scenes of bleaching I've scene from around the world, but I can use them to show people why we need to stop the pollution. C. Mark Eakin, Ph.D. Coral Reef Watch Coordinator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302481490-0MG05TOVL7QXBTYAZGHI/Alexandra-Paul-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Baywatch to Watching the Bay (Copy) Baywatch to Watching the Bay I made my living being in the ocean when I was shooting Baywatch in the Santa Monica Bay. The TV series gave viewers an impression of idyllic beaches, but the water is so dirty there you cannot see more than a foot in a front of you, and we had to shoot the underwater scenes in a tank. One day, after a rain when the dog poop, fertilizer and trash from city streets flows into the ocean, we went out in a boat to shoot some rescue scenes. We had to keep going out farther and farther, because there was so much styrofoam debris on top of the water. I think we ended up cancelling the shoot that day. Some people think that "the solution to pollution is dilution" when it comes to our oceans. That is such BS. The solution is a world population at 3 billion. It is the only way the ocean will survive our overfishing, our drilling and our polluting. Alexandra Paul, Actor, Director, Activist   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302480373-SILGJWTD7AR84D9VVMJH/Beverly-Goodman-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Forums (Copy) Forums Agglutinated Foraminifera: There it was, through the eye of the binocular, a one cell microscopic organism pebbled with vibrant, circus-colored nano particles of plastic, imbedded in its organic cement exoskeleton--the same cement that evolved nearly a half billion years ago to efficiently protect and encaspule this clever tiny critter. I looked and understood--every corner of the planet is our responsibility, from the size of the atmosphere to the tiniest corner of the deepest ocean. Everything is vulnerable and everything is at risk--ourselves included. Beverly Goodman, National Geographic Explorer, Marine Geoarchaeologist.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513895526392-W61IBMTWB4CWWC9XSWSQ/Daniel-Pauly-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Fish Stocks (Copy) Fish Stocks What I find extraordinary about our use of the oceans is that it has all the features of a giant Ponzi scheme, where fish stock can be equated to money in the bank, and the ability of fish populations to replenish their numbers represent the generation of interest on money left in the bank. Instead of skimming off this interest, i.e., drawing fabled “maximum sustainable yield” (MSY), we have enthusiastically pillaged the bank, and then moved on by assuring ourselves with wholly fictional assets. Thus, industrial fisheries that were earlier harvesting only along the shores of industrialized nations, mainly in the northern hemisphere, are now conducting their operation in all the world’s oceans, offshore from developing countries, all the way to Antarctica, the ultimate frontier. But the frenetic search for new fish stocks cannot halt the global decline of fish catches, which we – in the wealthier countries – do not notice because our relentless demand is now met by seafood that is caught in and imported from elsewhere. It is not clear how this will play out, but it will probably involve more than buying ‘sustainable’ fish to reduce the considerable stress we have placed on the blue marble to aggressively advance local economies. Daniel Pauly, Professor of Fisheries at UBC Fisheries Centre. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513811233788-ZW7T8U9UBV5NB7UZKDWN/Chris-Jordan-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Midway Island (Copy) Midway Island The cry of the albatross: save our oceans to save ourselves. Chris Jordan, Director of “Midway” and Environmental Artist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514691429290-0TZ2HMOIFO5L3QDBGCYH/Cristina-Mittermeir-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - A New Foothold (Copy) A New Foothold We are at a crossroads and what we know or fail to learn from the ocean, this largest of all ecosystems, will determine our ability to survive into the future. As important as the ocean is to our survival, we still know so little about it. Perhaps it is because it so vast, so deep and so unreachable that it is not until now that we are turning our gaze into serious ocean exploration. We must work harder and faster to understand the sea, and we must realize that understanding doesn’t mean merely to catalogue it. Understanding will come when we can sense the ancient rhythms of earth and sea that have sculpted the continents and have produced the rock and sand on which we stand. Understanding will come when we can see with our eyes and hear with our ears the surge of life beating at its shores – clawing blindly and always pressing for a new foothold. Cristina Mittermeier, Photographer, President of Sea Legacy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515114334017-550OEQT1CXUVRRYG63OK/John-Quinones-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Witness Account (Copy) Witness Account As a journalist, I have traversed the seas from the coasts of Africa to the Caribbean shores…from Antarctica to the Indian Ocean. And, I have witnessed the damage mankind has done to them – painful destruction that is not always easy to see. The “High Seas” belong to no one nation. They belong to all of us. We must ALL do everything we can to protect them. For, without our oceans, we are all in peril. John Quinones, ABC News, host of “What Would You Do” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302479583-6F9S8VF1L6546U6QVQIU/Boyan-Slat-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Is Tech The Answer? (Copy) Is Tech The Answer? As an avid diver, I decided to devise a cleanup plan utilizing the power of technology after seeing more plastic bags than fish while diving in Greece. Boyan Slat, Founder of Ocean Clean Up https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302479735-PQPIIFZFJJAFI7E5SSEY/Neil-Hammershlag-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Tiger Sharks (Copy) Tiger Sharks Growing to over 20 ft in length and distinguished by the stripes on their backs and serrated corkscrew-like teeth, tiger sharks are the largest predators in tropical seas. Having the opportunity to dive with this magnificent animal is truly life-changing. Neil Hammerschlag Ph.D, Predator Ecologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514691434706-UKB0KPEGCARUL8QU3T4N/James-Toomey-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Laughter Is The Best Medicine (Copy) Laughter Is The Best Medicine The sea has always fascinated me as an artist and a storyteller because theres so much to work with. From a scientific perspective, it’s still largely unknown, and what we do know – the variety of life and the range of environments – is more interesting than anything in science fiction. James Toomey, Cartoonist, author of Sherman’s Lagoon https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513874713277-PCPHT49W8H2AG6ICGC28/Irene-Schleining-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Where Dolphins Dream (Copy) Where Dolphins Dream 1. Declaration of Cetaceans Rights No life can measure what we have achieved By whaling and slaughtering, so much to be grieved It¹s time to support the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans Protect dolphins, whales and porpoises as "non-human persons" Intelligent beings should have a legally enforceable right to life How can anyone not support this glorious plight? We have the same intelligence and we are self-aware This is why we should all care They recognise themselves in a mirror in a short blink Lori Marino has found that dolphins also think Whales are very clever ­ and they sing beautiful songs Listen to David Rothenberg's interspecies communication Try to sing along But we also know cetaceans are suffering ­ something is wrong They have chronic stress ­ shipping traffic is to blame With military nuclear breaching ­ whales end up beaching Whales and dolphins captured for Sea World tortures Nature¹s intelligence - massacred in Taiji by ignorance If you want to know more ­ watch ³The Cove² and see all that gore Japanese whaling in the name of research, whales are left in the lurch It¹s irresponsible and only for business gain Save beautiful beings like dolphins and whales Stand up and fight for the Declaration of Cetaceans Rights We know that when we disrespect and harm nature We diminish ourselves and impoverish our future ³Mother Earth is a living being² We¹re part of her indivisible breathing Intrinsically interlinked complex ecosystems We need them for resilience and our future existence ³All life forms have the right to exist² That¹s what the Declaration insists ³A human right to life and dignity Is meaningless without water and wilderness² Remember, what your life means to you And give back that love to our Earth Mother too For cetaceans to thrive like you and me I wrote this song for you to see Imagine a world with peace and no crime We could all be having a whale of a time! Irene Schleining, Director of Whale of A Time Community https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302481402-R0FC04LUEJ9EO1MU6HBX/Kenny-Broad-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - In the Play of Light and Shadow (Copy) In the Play of Light and Shadow Following the sunray lit highway to the inky below, jellyfish tumbling in their wake as sea lions whiz by in the passing lane ... flippers clearing the path into the unknowable depths. Kenny Broad, Cave Diver, National Geographic Explorer, Curiologist     https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302480406-OAGDTXPKBTCHGQGB639Q/Kristin-McCardle-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Liquid Darkness (Copy) Liquid Darkness For me the ocean is luminous prismatic leaps – moving poetry of life that inhabits liquid darkness. These moments of discovery feel like a special secret, revealed to me by the planet. Once discovered, I want to share these indelible moments – through a whispered glow, and a shadowy leap from the sea. Kristin McCardle, Dancer, Ocean Conservationist, Diver. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515303872366-N55NVDX1KUKTG5HPSFE3/Alexandra-Rose-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Ring (Copy) Blue Ring The ocean has so much to tell us. Swim more, explore more, learn more, care more. Act on the wishes in her waves. We are the voice of the ocean, and it’s time for us to be loud. #TheOceanTalks Alexandra Rose, Founder of Blue Ring, Science Editor of Ocean Geographic, Underwater Photographer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515302478839-7MH7ZDE8NXP6GH2P3WG8/Jennifer-Lopez-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Where Has It Been? (Copy) Where Has It Been? Growing up, my family lived on Long Island and we'd go to the beach often. My mom never let me pick up trash bottles like this one. I was little and YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT BOTTLE HAS BEEN! Now I'm the mom. And when I go to the beach with my daughter... I don't let her pick up trash bottles like this one. She is little and I still have no idea where those bottles have been. But she watches while I pick it up. And we talk about it as we trudge through the sand to a garbage can. Amy Breyer, Founder and Executive Director, Animal History Museum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341496248-ELNLQPXFS57KD35PLLHH/Kirk-Krack-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Free Fall (Copy) Free Fall Freedivng is like entering the ocean in its own terms. A rich immersive experience that transports you back in evolutionary time challenging your mind, body and soul. Veritas In Profundum Mare, means The Truth Lies in the Deep Sea and it is my professional ethos. Kirk Krack, Founder and CEO of Performance Freediving International https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341496870-42Q3SNSZNE3801LP6RJT/Torsten-Thiele-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Ocean Finance (Copy) Ocean Finance Let us create an ocean finance architecture that addresses ocean risk and funds a global ocean observation infrastructure. That way we can all contribute to ocean innovation solutions! Torsten Thiele, Founder, Global Ocean Trust https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513878700122-GSE7LHRVMRHDKQHDX8QV/Penni-Ludwig-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Diving Pelicans (Copy) Diving Pelicans A hungry mamma pelican out looking for food spots and eats a shiny object floating in the ocean mistaking it for food, it is a string attached to a deflated balloon. Unable to return to it's nest, the mother of three, is now choking in distress on the beach, unable to move because of a balloon. Remnants discarded on the beach by humans celebrating birthdays, the lives, of their young, ironically taking the lives of sea creatures also trying to nurture their young. Unaware that one of their balloons has caused this bird's distress and inevitable death, Johnny and his mom giddily watch as they let go of the remaining balloons, each adrift aloft the sky over the ocean. Johnny runs along the beach, he squeals and points in delight at the pelican on the beach that he is so happy to be able to get so close to, unaware of the bird's plight caused by one of his discarded balloons. His mom snaps a picture of Johnny next to the mother bird who will never see her young again and posts it on social media. #Happy birthday Johnny! Penni Ludwig, Designer, Diver, Captain, Conservationist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513879229934-BQYIUZXPN9DKGWE1JS2R/Chris-Raxworthy-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Slippery Souls (Copy) Slippery Souls Our seas are home to so much more than most of us know. At the margins: frogs, hidden in the mangroves, and salt-splashed skinks and lizards on hot inter-tidal rocks. And probing the corals and gliding through the water: sea snakes, taking gulps of air from the surface above, to remind us of their land-based origins. They all tell us the truth- that the land and sea are connected. Christopher J. Raxworthy, Associate Curator of Herpetology, Associate Dean of Science for Exhibition and Education, Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513887423876-5KO94FZDNWLBLRKQPGG0/Merijn-Everart-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - One Dopper At A Time (Copy) One Dopper At A Time Crystal clear water from ocean to tap! Merijn Everaarts, Founder and Owner Dopper https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513891649930-01NMMQD4O7OPDTQ3XJY3/Anne-Solomon-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - King Salmon (Copy) King Salmon King Salmon are incredibly beautiful fish. They’ve got sparkly shiny scales of pinks, greens and blues, and they are an extremely important species to various coastal indigenous communities in their native range, from Alaska all the way up to my home in BC. They are the life-blood of these communities; they feed the tribes’ children, and nourish the souls of the elders. These fish are their medicine. We should do everything to preserve them in the wild. Dr. Anne Salomon, Pew Fellow, Coastal Marine Ecology and Conservation Lab Director. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513805877720-STE24U0NFU70O1GA421N/Joel-Harper-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - All Drains Lead To the Ocean (Copy) All Drains Lead To the Ocean My connection to the ocean, I believe, began when I was in my mothers womb. When I swim and play in the sea, I feel free. I feel home… an inner peace comes over me. With what we now know about the many threats to the ocean, how can I not feel the urgency to protect something so sacred to me. As a writer, I hope that through my children’s picture books: “All the Way to the Ocean” and “Sea Change”, children and adults that read them will feel my connection to the ocean –– a layer shed from deep within my being –– a call for a mass awakening to the desperate need to protect our mother ocean; the womb that gave birth to life on earth –– We have no choice but to fight like hell to protect her and all of the beauty and family that dwell beneath the sea. Joel Harper, Author, Musician, Conservationist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513887383329-TWCS5HJ2S9Y296H86OQY/Pete-Oxford-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Life in All Shapes and Sizes (Copy) Life in All Shapes and Sizes The connectivity, the life, the rain, diversity, wilderness, mystery, intrigue and passion. Indispensable, nonnegotiable. Pete Oxford, Photographer, Conservationist.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513878079643-DMP0ZFY9YCOUJ4AB0N0C/Elise-Boeger-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Walrus Woes (Copy) Walrus Woes Conservation of the oceans and its creatures is paramount to life on earth for humans. The phytoplankton harvest energy from the sun which contributes to the vast web of life in the oceans. From tiny organisms up the food chain to the iconic whales, sea turtles, walruses, penguins, birds and polar bears, the oceans form the largest part of our planet. The BLUE Planet. Yet the oceans are in jeopardy. If we undo this web of life, we undo our own. Elise Boeger, Principal, Cultural Platinum Network, Travel Ad Director, Smithsonian Magazine https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513878707696-HDSFH75U7RWJIEUEOG6Q/Charlotte-Vick-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Size Does Not Matter (Copy) Size Does Not Matter I fell in love with a small bobtail squid no bigger than the end of my thumb in 1982. We had a connection and played together in the early morning hours for almost an hour. Every morning for a week, I looked for it and was greatly disappointed not to find it. I miss it still. SEA LIFE – all life must be respected and loved. Charlotte Vick, Google Content Manager of The Sylvia Earle Alliance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513891711466-RS3LZU5WOKTT60A83FHO/Judith-Weiss-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Pteropods (Copy) Pteropods Pteropods are tiny planktonic snails whose thin fragile shells are very sensitive to Ocean Acidification. Ocean acidification is caused by CO2 (from burning fossil fuels) dissolving in the ocean and creating carbonic acid, which makes the water more acidic. Pteropod shells in the California current are already showing pitting - areas where they are being eroded away. Judith S. Weis, Ph.D. Professor Emerita of Biology, Rutgers University https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922799030-YG94K012JZK8777UWN9A/Lily-Venizelos-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Green Turtle (Copy) Green Turtle Majestic sea turtles, mariners of our blue oceans should thrive on jelly fish, their favorite food, and not on plastic bag lookalikes. Lily Venizelos, Founder and President, MEDASSET, MAVA Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513973585447-Z34RMZVKCX7DOV6A8OPW/Tre-Packard-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Shark Shivers (Copy) Shark Shivers I think the most important thing people should know is that it's OK to protect something - even if you're afraid of it. Sharks are not the mindless killing machines that most people believe them to be. Not only are they an apex predator - they are also in grave danger. Science claims there may not be any more fish in the ocean within the next 40 years. What most people don't understand is that many species of sharks could possibly be extinct within the next 10-20 years. With 90 % of the world's shark species in danger right now, humans can't afford to look the other way. Everyone knows you need an apex predator to keep the food chain healthy. Today, well over one billion people on the planet rely on the ocean for food. If that food source goes away, imagine what problems will exist. There are also over 400 species of sharks in the world, with only a handful ever posing a threat to humans. However, sharks are always lumped in to one category. It's the same as lumping all the cats in the world into one category - even though the danger levels of a household cat are nothing like that of an African lion. I don't think it's proactive to tell people what they can and can't or should or shouldn't eat. But, I do think it's important that people are educated and make the right decision before they consume certain products. Sharks need our help - and it's time the world started to care. I love all the creatures in the sea (and on land), but sharks have always made me feel differently when I swim with them. I love their stealthiness, their power and their graceful movements. I fell in love with swimming with sharks many years ago and now want to spread the word to help change the image that sharks have virtually everywhere in the world. Most people seem to fear the unknown. When they have their first opportunity to swim up close with a shark, most minds seem to change. Tre' L. Packard, PangeaSeed Founder and Director, PangeaSeed.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513973596898-NSPZUJV5ZGZEBT60F5II/Carolyn-Mullin-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Source (Copy) Source Human societies across the globe have been greatly influenced by the inhabitants of the sea, which can be seen in the poetry we write, films we make, stories we share, medicines we consume and lessons we learn. To lose oceanic biodiversity would mean losing one of the biggest sources of inspiration in our culture: the oceans and those who call it home. Carolyn Merino Mullin Founder, National Museum of Animals & Society https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515114646535-1PRWAJHQRQCEZSHVG9TM/Buffy-Redsecker-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Crabs (Copy) Blue Crabs I am of the Chesapeake Bay, same as the Crabs, Oysters and Rockfish. My father bought and returned live female Blue Crabs to our river, feeding life to the Bay as it fed us, and the Ocean, for generations. Buffy Redsecker, President of the SunLight Time Foundation & Board Chair of ILCP https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514406759850-3ZQXDA16CPVZIQCRM1YF/Melanie-Mcfield-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Confession of a Coral-lover (Copy) Confession of a Coral-lover Confession of a Coral-lover I know there’s plenty of fish in the sea But there’s only one true love for me He has no scales, Not even a tail, But he is built so impeccably Yea, it’s coral reefs that do it for me And a quarter of all marine life - apparently Reefs can protect us all If we don't drop the ball And just learn to treat them appropriately. Melanie McField, Director, Healthy Reefs Initiative, Smithsonian Marine Biologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513973576445-BQSX6IZMOEQPTA2IWNA0/Leah-Michele-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Beneath the Pack Ice (Copy) Beneath the Pack Ice Submerging through packice leads off St. Lawrence Island, the darkened sympagic realm underneath sea ice belies only a hint of the living universe within a crystalline labyrinth of briny channels throughout the ice. Microcreatures occupy this tiniest frozen niche – released in spring melt to inoculate the Arctic foodweb explosion. Leah Michelle Ridgway, Alaskan Marine Ecologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514403798258-5TH0NJHJ2ES2H6R7U2UT/Ann-Luskey-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Time (Copy) Sea Time Ocean Without seeking it, I found divinity in you. Discovered the discoverer. Go on, and hold my heart. Ann Luskey, Founder of A SeaTime, Sailor, Philanthropist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514403798914-B6H8A9I8JANZO159UL28/Mara-Haseltine-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Ocean to Outer Space (Copy) Ocean to Outer Space The Ocean is simultaneously familiar the origin of all life....the womb of our shared planet and she yet fantastical and mysterious still undiscovered like outer space on Earth. Mara G Haseltine, Artist, Ocean Conservationist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514403799246-FI2BHFTIJFP0Y1MJFL48/Rigs-To-Reef-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Rigs To Reefs (Copy) Rigs To Reefs We need to think creatively about our resources, and explore radical new ideas for ocean management. Our oceans are powerful and resilient, and have surprised us by thriving in the most unlikely of places, beneath offshore oil and gas platforms. Emily Callahan and Amber Jackson, Co-Founders, Blue Latitudes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514406759997-F0WWXL3WEXIJKMK0VO96/Leslee-Matsushidge-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - When Seahorses Fall in Love (Copy) When Seahorses Fall in Love When seahorses mate they face each other and form a heart shape as the female passes her eggs to the male's pouch. It is an incredible sight to see a male seahorse giving birth as hundreds of babies suddenly emerge from his pouch! Leslee Matsushige Director of Seahorse Propagation Program at the Birch Aquarium https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514913121823-WK1JCCTTMM8M6AKAM3LS/Ric-O-Barry-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Flipper (Copy) Flipper In a world where so much that is wild and free has already been lost to us, we must leave these beautiful dolphins free to swim as they will and must. They do us no harm and wish us none, and we should let them be. Richard O Barry, founder of Dolphin Project Inc and Director of Earth Island Institute’s Save Japan Dolphin’s campaign. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514565072238-GUCT7I8US19RAQD2FEIQ/Natalie-Fox-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Whale Within (Copy) The Whale Within Nature wisdom harmony community compassion consciousness peace To me, this is what the whales symbolize. They are creatures that somehow embody the essence of being present. So when we talk about saving whales, we are not just talking about "saving whales", we are talking about saving these aspects of humanity, and ultimately saving ourselves. Natalie Fox, Co-Founder of Women For Whales, and Founder of Chicks with Sticks https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922798501-OKO5B029HQPSUTXLXOSL/Kip-Evans-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Winning At Killing (Copy) Winning At Killing If our goal is to eliminate sharks from the ocean we are doing a great job. Next up, larger dead zones and ecosystem failures. We’re on a roll. Kip Evans Director of Photography, Ocean Explorer   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922797681-0MBRN5TLU2ARJ4WN04SL/Ken-Balcolmbe-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - For the Love of Orcas (Copy) For the Love of Orcas No Fish, No Blackfish. This simple message was originally "No Blackfish, No Fish", with meaning for the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest - no point fishing until the blackfish (killer whales) arrive because they are the spirit beasts that bring the bountiful salmon runs to the region. The reverse is now the message that our society must understand - the blackfish will not arrive if there are not sufficient salmon for their survival. Unfortunately, both wild salmon and Pacific Northwest icon killer whales are in dramatic decline in recent years. The consensus of professional salmon managers is that wild salmon will be extinct by 2100, and I estimate the southern resident killer whales will be gone before then. Can't our society do something to mend our ways with respect for the natural world? Ultimately, human survival is also at stake. Kenneth Balcomb, Founder of Center for Whale Research. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912599423-OVQDCCT604VMUK3O3AKK/Wallace-J-Nichols-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Mind (Copy) Blue Mind When I was a graduate student, I tried to weave the science of emotion into my dissertation on the relationship between sea turtle ecology and coastal communities. No luck. My advisors steered me to other departments, another career, even. "Keep that fuzzy stuff out of your science, young man," they counseled. Emotion wasn't rational. It wasn't quantifiable. It wasn't science. But, the deep human-ocean connection, "BLUEMIND," as we've dubbed it, held me in its grip even as my career as a scientist blossomed. Eventually, I shaped my general philosophy and ideas into an effort called "The Mind and Ocean Initiative." Today, I think -- actually, I know -- it is time for a new kind of ocean science. Economists, marketers and politicians recognize that deep-seated, inscrutable emotions, not rationality alone, rule human behavior. Aided by neuroscientists, these fields have begun to understand how our deepest, most primordial emotions drive virtually every decision we make, from what we buy to the candidates we elect. To my way of thinking, if the lessons of the cognitive sciences can be used for the crass purposes of influencing what people buy and how they vote, why not use such knowledge for the urgent task of ocean protection and restoration? I believe we can. And, I believe we should. Wallace J. Nichols, PhD, Author of Blue Mind. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922795856-NLYEKCVCB9QIX5WR6OYH/Colin-Foord-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Coral Morphologic (Copy) Coral Morphologic Corals are the first real estate developers of planet Earth. Colin Foord, Co-Founder Coral Morphologic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912950167-X6TL2CY487KA5IJFW6JR/David-Guggenheim-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Ocean Doctor (Copy) Ocean Doctor Everything we learned as kids about the deep sea was wrong. We learned the deep sea was void of vibrant sea life, that nothing could possibly survive way down there. I've seen just the opposite from my tiny submersible thousands of feet below the surface of the Bering Sea. In those dark, cold waters I have stared in disbelief at a mesmerizingly rich and colorful tapestry of life, including the oldest living animal on the planet: Corals. Deepwater corals can live for more than four thousand years! Yet, in the blink of an eye, mammoth trawl nets dragged along the bottom by huge factory fishing ships tear these corals from their moorings, killing the heart of an ancient ecosystem. The technical term is 'by-catch,' a term that is wholly inadequate to express the tragic implications for some the ocean's most important ecosystems, let alone the waste and senselessness of such a destructive practice. We can and must do better. That is the deep sea lesson for the kids of today. David Guggenheim, Ocean Doctor https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514923592117-JED5PB8LC2FREJV63KOY/carl-Safina-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Be Plastic Free (Copy) Be Plastic Free No plastic belongs in the ocean! Is that such a radical notion? We’d say, “Problem solved” If plastic dissolved— Right now! Not in super slow motion For billions of years there was none. For animals, plastic’s no fun They grimace and bear it And drown when they wear it But we make it ton upon ton It washes to sea ‘cause we let it We let it because we forget it Then animals die There’s no reason why They suffer while we just don’t get it I wish they could bring it ashore And drop it right at our front door And how we’d deserve it If they could just serve it And say to us, “Do this no more!” Carl Safina, Founder of Blue Ocean Institute, Author of Beyond Words https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513892803967-J0MD9HST4IN2D5XS02UY/Lynette-Walworth-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Coral Communities (Copy) Coral Communities 1. Corals are model communities, they require diversity in order to survive, they live in close proximity with many species often in symbiotic relationship but they can stand very little temperature change. They are the canary in the coalmine of the oceans. And whilst we are working out what we might do as individual countries about climate change, warming sea surface temperatures in the world’s oceans have the potential to wipe out the entire coral community. The evolutionary tactics that corals have worked out to continue their diversity is to send all their potential offspring up into the water column on one night a year. It’s an underwater galaxy. The moon orchestrates that event like clockwork. So today our voices are being sent up and out together, to float up towards the surface hopefully to find a global community, a community that believes it’s possible to co-operate beyond the weathervane of the politics of the day, a community that is prepared to think beyond its own life span, a community that is prepared to act in unison, like the corals. I think it should be as impossible to imagine a world without corals as it is to look up and imagine a sky without stars. Lynette Wallworth, Visual Artist, Film Maker, Director of Reefs As Never Seen Before, Venus Rekindling https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922798247-DEH36ATF69JYHA7IA93J/Leilani-Munter-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - One Pulse (Copy) One Pulse We are endlessly tied to the ocean, with every single breath we take. Over half of the oxygen in our atmosphere is produced by the phytoplankton in the ocean. The health of our planet and all the amazing creatures that call it home - whether they live on land or in water - is dependent on the health of the sea. If our oceans die, we all die. Leilani Munter, Race car driver and environmental activist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514409609949-SM5NDYDHL01UC6J94SXM/Victor-Douieb-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Sawfish (Copy) The Sawfish I hope my work will help people all over the world appreciate the beauty of sharks. If we don t do something now to protect and respect the Ocean and the sea life, they will be gone and we will follow in their wake. Victor Douieb, Sculptor -------- ABOUT SAWFISH Sawfishes, also known as carpenter sharks, are a family of rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. Sawfish use a sixth sense based in their snouts to hunt and dismember their prey, new research shows for the first time. Pristis perotteti, the largetooth sawfish, is one of most endangered elasmobranchs because of fisheries and habitat degradation. Its commercialization in Brazil is prohibited, but fresh or salted fillets of this fish can be found in markets, labeled as “sharks”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514509355257-BL4IXDZ2TRI08LKFEH27/Rebecca-Hoffberger-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Holy H2O (Copy) Holy H2O Fluid Universe In this world there is nothing softer or thinner than water But to compel the hard and unyielding, It has no equal. That the weak overcomes the strong, That the hard gives way to the gentle – This everyone knows, Yet no one acts accordingly. —Lao Tzu 6th c. B.C.   The simple truth known to the brokenhearted, the mystic, and the physicist: what we think solid is not. What most of us believe constitutes the “real” material world – the stuff we can reach out, touch, hold, buy, and see – physicists all agree is actually not solid at all. In fact, what appears “solid” or material in our world is really 99.999999999999 percent empty space made “solid” by a miniscule fraction of matter that may not even be matter but wavelets of energy. Light is a particle that when we try and measure by passing it through a narrow opening behaves just like an ocean wave passing through a narrow harbor. Once through the slender opening, light wave and water wave fan out, each forming a crescent pattern. A far more accurate characterization of our universe would be “fluid.” Even our human bodies are far more fluid than they are solid. Like earth we are mostly water—both in the range of 70%. Even human bones that feel so substantial are themselves 30% water and on close examination reveal pockmarked patterns of tiny rhythmic holes that mimic the flow of water that pits flow patterns into seabed rock. Our eyeballs, the very same by which we read these words, are washed 25 times a minute by water squirted from tiny ducts. Aquatic by nature, we begin life in a fluid mix, are nurtured in womb waters, born to suckle milk, and continue to take in fluids to survive. As the Koran sura 21.30 puts it, “We are made from water every living thing. Rebecca Hoffberger Founder and Director of The American Visionary Art Museum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515001432016-O3MYYRUCRVMOA0BKY2PF/Susan-Shaw-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Hazardous Waste (Copy) Hazardous Waste Marine mammals are the most polluted animals on earth - they are "hazardous waste" when they strand on our beaches. Why? Because the oceans are the final sinks for all the man-made pollutants we are using. Our oceans are in a rapid decline and we have less than 10 years to change this. Saving our oceans is not a political issue – it’s a survival issue for all of us. How many oil spills do we have to endure before off shore drilling is regulated? Congress has not passed a single piece of legislature since the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - and the industry is not showing any signs of self-regulation either. We are poised to drill in the Arctic next summer - with no assurance that a disaster will be averted - and no meaningful containment planning for drilling in an even more challenging environment. Dr. Susan Shaw, Director of Meri Research Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372312040-RANZ4Q2Q29P20D3NXWDV/Stiv-Wilson-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Micro-Fauna (Copy) Micro-Fauna I heart uncharismatic micro-fauna. I'm fighting for the plankton. Micro-plastic shed from clothing kills everything that eats plankton, aka, everything. Stiv Wilson, Director of Campaigns The Story of Stuff Project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372314955-1QVKATQFTS63JQBW1UZH/Vance-Martin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Tethered Together (Copy) Tethered Together We are known to have the same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean. It is the life blood of our Earth. We are connected so effortlessly to the planet, and it is our responsibility to keep it protected. Christine Evangelista, Actress https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372311793-CXYTY00C057ORQDM2J1E/Lily-Stanton-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Flagship Species (Copy) Flagship Species Charismatic symbols of seagrasses, mangroves, reefs and estuaries, seahorses are flagship species for a wide range of marine conservation issues such as overfishing, by-catch and habitat degradation. We truly believe if we save seahorses, we can save the seas. Lily Stanton, Project Seahorse, Institute of Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372518206-TYM4BRYZW7CKMLCN8RK2/Sarah-Otto-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Self Reflection (Copy) Self Reflection Devastation can be brought by trillions of individual actions, each as trivial as a thrown out bottle or a cross-town car ride, but collectively harmful. Recovery can also be brought by trillions of individual actions - reduce, reuse, recycle. Snorkeling, I looked up at the surface of the ocean to see a shoal of squid, arrayed in a semi-circle around me, eyes dazzling, gazing. An alien life form. Me. Sarah Otto, Professor, University of British Columbia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515112630078-VBQ3LTUUMR0OHNAXOUYO/Louie-Psihoyos-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Unity (Copy) Unity Until we see no difference between any living being, whether it be with wings, fins, or different appendages we will be at war with ourselves and the environment. Only through unity with nature can we find real peace. Louie Psihoyos, Director of The Cove, Exec. Director of OPS   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514691577123-A3YU3AO5QHC1HVJ1FT5Y/Kim-McCoy-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Belief to Breath (Copy) Belief to Breath The ocean is life. Nature at her purest, her most serene, her most powerful. From the primordial stirrings of civilization to the exploration of the deepest subterranean landscapes, there is mystery and discovery. Take a deep breath. Over half of that oxygen came from the ocean, the lungs of our blue planet. The fact that our own lives depend on the ocean’s health is a compelling reason to protect her. But I believe that the ocean—and every animal who calls her home—has an intrinsic value. Each living being, no matter how tiny, is important. Each life is worthy of our protection and deserving of equal consideration—simply because it exists. If we as a species can begin to act in accordance with this belief, the rest will fall into place. If we cannot, then there isn’t much to live for, anyway. Kim McCoy, Executive Director Big Life Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514923592063-73C1CMNPJ1BXNP5OCD7X/Mera-McGrew-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Safe Soap (Copy) Sea Safe Soap In 2016 alone, 289.92 million* Americans used liquid hand soap. We can no longer ignore the environmental impact of plastic waste from soap. As the founder of Soapply, a luxury soap startup, I made a choice to bottle our liquid soap in recycled glass bottles. This may seem like a small action, but as we continue to grow it has the opportunity to make a huge difference in limiting the amount of plastic packaging entering our fragile marine ecosystems. Mera McGrew, Founder / CEO of Soapply https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912574738-KRMB6SFIBA8URB2M6PGO/Lauren-Oliver-Quellete-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Creatures of the Deep (Copy) Creatures of the Deep We are just beginning to grasp the vast complexities of the natural world, but our story may already be past tense. Only love save us now – Love of the sea, of wild places, of exploration, discovery and achievement. - Love of life in all of its strange, exquisite incarnations, from the Angler fish swimming in the deepest ocean to the possibilities waiting for us among the stars in the sky. Lauren Oliver Quellete, Artist, Designer, Ocean lover. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198479460-NRWENG0UR9NMA1KP48H4/Richard-Ellis-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Beneath the Whale (Copy) Beneath the Whale If you're in the Museum of Natural History, LOOK UP. The model of the blue whale (which I designed) represents all that is great and wonderful about nature. Could there possibly be a more dynamic symbol of the need for conservation? Richard Ellis, Artist, Author. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177945929-3VTKT109H3IG2SYQ3US9/Kristin-Hetterman-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Embrace (Copy) Blue Embrace Beautiful ocean, wrap your bountiful currents around my borders and teach me: we are borderless but need boundaries. With your pain, we suffer. Our largest asset on earth. From you, unparalleled source of food, electricity, climate control, resources. Unconditional generosity. From us, boundless gratitude. Eternal reverence. Can we get to know each other? Hold me, and I’ll open my eyes. Kristin Hettermann, Photographer, Writer, Ocean Activist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198477627-7178KYXXR7BSNDFYAUTR/Krista-Sherman-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Nassau Groupers (Copy) Nassau Groupers Nassau groupers are a charismatic and important reef fish species, but unsustainable fishing practices and illegal fishing are threatening their continued existence. Coordinated research and conservation efforts are needed to help protect this endangered species and ensure that it continues to support healthy reefs and fisheries. Krista Sherman, Marine Scientist, The Bahamas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177963731-WAH03ER9CGBJZSSFS3UY/Anne-Doubilet-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Teeming and Streaming (Copy) Teeming and Streaming I remember returning home from a dive trip to the remote Eastern Fields between Australia’s Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea . Foggy in jetlag I emerged from the subway onto the sunny, teeming streets of mid-town Manhattan. I kept flashing on the thousands of silvery grunts dappled with a thousand points of light I had just seen streaming across those pristine reefs and laughing to myself because our streaming city streets are connected to those teeming coral reefs on the other side of the world -- it’s just that all these people running around here in New York City don’t know that yet! We are all teeming and streaming together here on Planet Earth! Anne Doubilet, Underwater photographer, writer, explorer and ocean advocate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515118794588-5HSEAOQMLTZLFD9MPBXV/Paul-Greenberg-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Seafood (Copy) Seafood Seafood. How many species suffer those two mean English syllables? Other languages are no kinder. Romance European cultures use the expression “sea fruit,” while Slavs say “sea gifts.” So-called vegetarians rue the killing of farmed terrestrial animals but regularly eat wild fish. Kosher laws mandating merciful animal slaughter don’t apply to any animal living underwater. Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish writer for New York Times. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198478681-DFHEXVV2JKDAWFRB2WEU/Baba-Brinkman-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - From Gen X to Next Gen (Copy) From Gen X to Next Gen We must guard against the pillage of our beautiful green sea So our grandchildren will be free to harvest tuna sashimi. Baba Brinkman, Rapper and Founder of Lit Fuse Records https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912571368-7ZMAE3D6KBZJRCSOK8GB/Courtney-Mattison-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Art Inspires (Copy) Art Inspires Art can bring the beauty and peril of reefs above the surface and into view and can inspire us to protect the ocean. Courtney Mattison, Artist & Ocean Advocate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922797165-AR9K2H69NAB76AQMXCB9/Dorothee-Herr-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Vast Yet Fragile (Copy) Vast Yet Fragile So vast but so fragile. Life in the ocean is connected to life on land – to us. Increased carbon emissions not only cause climate change and increased ocean temperatures; they also make the ocean more acidic. Only recently do we know about this, at first invisible stressor, namely CO2, and the chemical changes it causes in the ocean. Ocean acidification harms the development of calcareous species such as coral reefs and may have larger impacts on ecosystems functions and the food web. If the case wasn’t already strong enough, here we have another reason why urgent carbon emission reductions are needed. Dorothée Herr, Marine Programme Officer, IUCN https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1521138709179-MVCKLY2229ZYTHP3AWGB/Tierney-Thys-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Nudibranchs (Copy) Nudibranchs Imagine if you could pull powerful stinging cells from jellies and tuck them onto your back to use as your own badass weaponry? Now imagine you could delicately extract working chloroplasts from algae and place them into your own skin so that you could become a photosynthesizing animal able to eat sunshine for breakfast? Lastly, imagine being some of the most garish, psychedelically-awesome, soft-bodied creatures in the world ocean. No need to imagine--just check out the nudibranchs!! Tierney Thys, National Geographic Explorer, Biomechanical Zoologist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341495472-HS6Y3CHTGTXYIU236IM6/Vicki-Goldstein-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Inland Ocean Movement (Copy) Inland Ocean Movement We have injured the source of life itself, our ocean, and it’s time to heal her. It can’t be done without all voices rising – it will take all of us, whether we can see the ocean or not. Our every breath depends on our collaborative success. The time is now for an Inland Ocean Movement! Vicki Nichols Goldstein, Founder of the Colorado Ocean Coalition   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121191514-XIZKNO557G6IJSPBEJH0/Shari-Sant-Plummer-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Code Blue (Copy) Code Blue Warming seas and ocean acidification from absorbing excess CO2 is threatening all life in the ocean, and therefore all life on earth, however, the ocean is both the victim and the hero of climate change. If we continue to protect and restore the ocean systems that sequester carbon and produce oxygen we can reduce the amount of Co2 in the atmosphere, while we transition to renewable energy and reduce our output of carbon. The ocean has the potential to save us from ourselves, but we must save it first. Shari Sant Plummer, President of Code Blue Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121191618-OQ7OTQOB9W7I1PPVAZCQ/Christen-Lien-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Learner's Mind (Copy) Learner's Mind We are on the brink of severe change. Mankind should approach life with a learner's mind, and the first place we can go to learn about how to survive and thrive is our World’s oceans. Christen Lien, Musician, Conservationist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341496841-G2XF1OST7NG5G6BOKN2S/Patricio-Robles-Gil-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Disappearing Act - Vaquita Dolphin (Copy) Disappearing Act - Vaquita Dolphin A la Marsopa Vaquita “Silvestre”. El Golfo de California, no volverá a ser igual, ya que esta por perder parte de su esencia salvaje. Patricio Robles Gil, Artist, Photographer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341628864-7JRI37WQ1JRV1WYEWED1/Suzanne-chisholm-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Making Wild Friends (Copy) Making Wild Friends There are so many creatures to love – and protect – in our oceans. I had the good fortune to get to know a sociable orca, Luna, in the wild. If you think about wild animals, how often do they come to us for friendship? Almost always the relationship is based on food. But many cetacean species come to humans for social contact, which shows that these amazing sentient beings have complex brains and social needs, which may be far beyond anything we currently understand. To quote Matthew Scully – "Animals have this way of constantly confronting us with ultimate questions about truth and falsehood, guilt and innocence, God and sanctity and the soul." Suzanne Chisholm, Filmmaker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372316681-GY04ZJ5869TEEN2IHKEZ/Joanna-Benn-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Failing the Math (Copy) Failing the Math Something doesn't add up. We treat the ocean as both an inexhaustible provider of food and as a rubbish dump. We wage war on the ocean and marine life and then expect it to be our ally and friend. It's time to change our relationship with the ocean and treat it with the respect and care it deserves. The ocean is remarkably resilient if given a chance. It deserves this, as do we. Joanna Benn, Concerned Citizen, Senior Officer, International Policy, Pew Environment Group https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372313640-YK1QVRFGAMXD1K0KH12C/Scarlett-Magda-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Interrelated (Copy) Interrelated We live in a world where the health of humans, animals, and the environment are interrelated. Veterinarians International, is a non profit organization committed to protecting the earth’s precious resources, both land and water, for the well being of all life on earth. Scarlett Magda, ER Veterinarian and Founder of Veterinarians International. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514691521877-80UJVMTG8VWPB05D5NQB/Hannah-Mermaid-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Caretakers (Copy) Caretakers Blissful blue weightless flight, in life giving liquid love mesmerizing memories of awe inspiring encounters floating in harmony with creatures of sentient intelligence melting away my fears washing away my ills dissolving my pain connecting me to this beautiful blue globe I AM. WE ARE.. Caretakers of PLANET OCEAN   Hannah, Mermaid https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514700694967-7RZRNB2NDGC8OTT74EAW/Carter-Ries-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Heroic Creatures Survive (Copy) Heroic Creatures Survive My mom was a huge penguin fan before it was cool but was killed in 1986. My gift to her is to ensure that these heroic creatures survive. Doing so means we need healthy oceans. Susan McPherson, Founder & CEO of McPherson Strategies, Corporate Social Responsibility expert. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998917938-IKJRJ6CJ2E0FZLLZ1C3Y/Nadia-Bood-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Hole (Copy) Blue Hole The Belize Barrier Reef provides food, livelihoods and physical protection to Belize’s populace. Without it, we would be in real trouble…with it, we are safeguarded. We must thus work tirelessly to be great stewards of this universally important natural wonder. Nadia Bood, Mesoamerican Reef Scientist, World Wildlife Fund https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998918524-UYHGD30748RGR689S6GI/Sophies-Kitchen-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sophie's Kitchen (Copy) Sophie's Kitchen Vegan Seafood! Huh? It is not a paradox: it's a delicious revolution! We learned our daughter Sophie was seriously allergic to seafood at about the same time that we realized that a beach famous for jellyfish had no jellyfish! The realization of the vulnerability of the ocean hit us hard. We had to do something! We chose a traditional, sustainable Asian food, konjac, and combined it with our 22 years experience in developing vegetarian foods to create our delicious line of vegan 'seafood' products. The message in our bottle is 'love for future generations' and their relationship to the enigmatic, beautiful oceans of the world. Sophie’s Kitchen, Vegan Food Company https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121192747-6CU1PDABAYLNPDGN7V5U/Paul-Watson-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Whale Wars (Copy) Whale Wars This is the Ocean planet and the oceanic biodiversity is the life support system of this Spaceship Earth. Within the rich dark depths live and work the humble crew that maintains this life support system. We humans are merely dangerous passengers intent upon the mass murder of these hard working species from the plankton to the whale that make it possible for us to survive. When we diminish biodiversity, we weaken our life support system, and if it is diminished below a certain threshold, it will collapse, and when that happens the oceans will die, and if the oceans die – we die! Captain Paul Watson, Founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515195840125-LLMJJMYV8RFMSP89G69F/Rachel-Graham-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Black Groupers (Copy) Black Groupers Groupers are the engineers of our tropical and subtropical seas, mid level predators who at the higher end can reach the size of a Small SUV and tie in higher and lower levels of the food chain. They use several habitats throughout their life cycle from open sea, to shallow seagrass beds and mangroves to complex coral reef communities (if in the tropics) where they can form huge spawning aggregations. An Important fisheries resources for small scale fishers, they are also a big draw for marine tourism due to their coloration along with their curious and personable nature. Dr Rachel Graham, Founder MarAlliance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912566651-QS036M0XJ0NX8Y1VEWOK/Asha-De-Vos-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Largest Animal On Earth (Copy) Largest Animal On Earth Blue whales are an incredibly iconic species. The intrigue and excitement this animal generates is fabulous. I believe that by making people care for the largest animal that has ever lived on the planet, through exciting science and by rousing awareness, we will be able to engage more people in the active protection of the species and ultimately inspire people to become more curious about the secrets of the deep blue sea. Asha De Vos, National Geographic Explorer, Marine Biologist and TED fellow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515001060870-Q1Z0OBTBPDJ4IDWNIIXH/Julie-Packard-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Consumers and Fisheries (Copy) Consumers and Fisheries Since the Monterey Bay Aquarium first invited visitors to peek below the surface of the ocean and discover the marvels of the sea, we’ve opened the eyes — and hearts — of millions of people to the incredible marine life found in our oceans. Sadly, ocean life today is threatened as never before. Human activities are taking their toll, and nothing exacts a greater price than the scope and scale of fishing to feed our growing appetite for seafood. Still, there are many reasons to be optimistic. Yes, the state of ocean life is still in decline; yes, we have reached a point when urgent action is needed to reverse declines in ocean wildlife populations —and to restore what we’ve lost. The good news is that fishermen and consumers, businesses and governments are charting new courses and cooperating in new ways to address the problems our oceans and fishing communities face. I believe we are truly turning the tide, and I’m confident that together we can — and will — create a future with healthy oceans. Julie Packard, executive director, Monterey Bay Aquarium https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375013235-FHZCY22LK2XGCBT6ZOKK/Heidi-Taylor-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Source Reduction (Copy) Source Reduction If all we do is clean-up, that’s all we’ll ever do. Rarely has such a huge environmental issue had such a simple solution. Plastic marine pollution starts with what YOU buy and what YOU do with it. We need to start consuming with care – the life of our oceans depends on it. Heidi Taylor, Managing Director of Tangaroa Blue Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375013250-KCSVVORXEJSANSARNPTY/Dayne-Buddo-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Algae Versus Coral (Copy) Algae Versus Coral The parrotfish is one of the most important species on our coral reefs. It consumes algae that is overpowering our corals and reducing the resilience of the reefs to protect our coastal areas. Parrotfishes also produce sand that builds our beaches. We must protect this parrotfish as it is one of nature's gifts to human wellbeing, especially in small island developing states. Dayne Buddo PhD, Marine Ecologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922799430-RBB5MNNH6BCDITMUZCEY/Rod-Salm-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Know the Status Quo (Copy) Know the Status Quo We are pressed to find effective responses to change and the escalating challenges we face. The essential lesson I’ve learnt over my career is: speak up, challenge status quo, and explore new avenues with courage, even if these may fail. Rod Salm, Coral Reef Ecologist, Ph.D. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514822703025-YR2YJDCLJAOZ4IHPG5OG/Carter-Ries-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Pollution to Solution (Copy) Pollution to Solution Plastic pollution causes the deaths of over 100,000 marine mammals and over 1-million sea birds each year and it can totally be prevented. Please educate yourself and others about the harms of plastic pollution and encourage schools to bring in more environmental education programs so the next generation of leaders will have the knowledge needed to be the solution. Carter Ries, Co-Founder of One More Generation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912566653-BMQZUKGHBRFS4L08AXD5/Amos-Nachoum-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - When You Know (Copy) When You Know Just as recently as a month ago, I witnessed a dead 56 feet long Blue whale off the coast of Sri Lanka - due to a collision with one of the many cargo ships in the international shipping lane. Increasing the number of shipping vessels on the high seas is the number one enemy of the largest living organism on our planet, the Blue whale. The migration of the Blue whales and the all other whales are very well documented these days. From the mid 80s up until last year, shipping lanes were regulated by the protection agencies of USA and Canada and they modified the international shipping lane routes to include the migratory patterns of these giants of the ocean, as part of the Marine Mammals’ law. This conservation measure allowed Blue whale numbers along the cost of the Mexico, USA and Canada to recuperate dramatically, to over 2,500 bringing up the global count to 12,000. However, last year this ruling was reversed and six Blue whales have been reported dead this year. In Sri Lanka we are also facing resistance from the government as they are concerned about the loss of income from pushing setting shipping lanes at a standard 20 miles off shore mark, as this might possibly reduce profits for them. People slaughter seals, whales and dolphins under the banner of research and because they feel like these big animals deplete fish stock in the wild when in fact it is us who are depleting the sea’s inventory of biodiversity. There has also been a serious spike in the finning industry, as per a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society census we kill over 90 million sharks a year. Manta rays, another big animal I enjoy photographing, are also being slaughtered in large numbers to satiate the Chinese demand for exotic preparations. In short there are more people on our planet and therefore more ships crowding our seas. 1 in 4 people rely on fish as their staple protein; this turns into a high head count for the ocean to sustain when it comes to under developed coastal settlements with high birth rates. However, we already know that this is not a sustainable model, and it is our responsibility to act on what we have come to know, as the solutions are embedded in the problems we perpetuate. It is possible to practice sustainable fishing, or aquaculture, people just need to be willing to steer away from the path we are on toward one that is more inclusive. Amos Nachoum, Founder of Big Animals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998918630-XLJRM6H7B6TTKMTY10H5/Chuck-Pell-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Celestial Objects (Copy) Celestial Objects Tunas swim like meteors. Chuck Pell Co Founder of Physcient and Co Founder of Nekton   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1513811253972-1A9CIG6HYF9U5Q2DLSPR/Gaelin-Rosenwaks-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Aquarium Trade (Copy) Aquarium Trade Nearly all of the marine ornamental fish sold in the aquarium trade are harvested directly from coral reefs and surrounding habitats, whereas 90% of freshwater ornamental species are farm-raised. The Philippines and Indonesia supply more than half of the global marine ornamental fish trade. The United states, United Kingdom, European Union and Hong Kong are among the largest consumers of these species. A recent report by the United National Environmental Programme established that the marine trade is composed of 20 to 24 million individual ornamental fish, 11 to 12 million pieces of coral, and 9 to 10 million invertebrates from 1,471 different species. Valued between $200 and $300 Million annually, the industry creates the highest value-added product that comes from the reef. In the Maldives, for example, one kilogram of fish collected for the aquarium trade can fetch up to $500, whereas fish caught for food fetches only $6 per kilogram. IN the future this added value may provide an incentive to protect reefs and create a sustainable harvest for marine ornamentals. Gaelin Rosenwaks, CEO at Global Ocean Exploration Inc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514822728127-XDJIPSZRLARN180N2T9T/Deborah-Basset-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Grind (Copy) The Grind It is due time that we stop justifying the desecration of Mother Earth and ALL of her children for the man-made concept of culture and profit. We are simply foolish to believe that any one species takes precedence or should have authority over another. The Ocean is an abundant life force that needs to be consciously nurtured and protected in order for man to truly co-exist with all the magnificent species that dwell within this fragile planetary womb. Until humanity recognizes that LIFE cannot flourish under the current system of dominant rationale, we will continue to cause great suffering and threaten the very survival of our living ancestors and the future generations. Deborah Bassett, Non Profit Consultant, Environmental Journalist and Activist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912572405-2VHIG1AGTHK1N8NI39D5/Dianna-Cohen-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Plastic Pollution Coalition (Copy) Plastic Pollution Coalition We are the Ocean. The Ocean is us. Our tears and blood are salty. We grow in our Mother’s bodies in utero in a salty sea sack placenta and then are born. The sea is our home and from there came all life on our blue earth planet. And what is Plastic? Carbon, made from petro-chemicals. Petroleum is a blood that runs through the veins of our planet: extracted, heated and combined with phthalates and Bisphenols, toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals and transformed into Plastic, among other things, and a multitude of colorful objects, many useful and some designed as throw away, single use and disposable items, but made from a material which will never go away. As a Visual artist, I have played with, deconstructed and reconstructed the ubiquitous and omnipresent plastic bag for 25 years so far and what have I discovered in working with this material? That it must go, we must begin to value plastic and stop using it in this irresponsible disposable manner. Yes, I agree with the ACC, “plastic is too valuable to waste”, so why are we using it to make single use objects. When a plastic bag or bottle will last more than 5 human life spans, littering our landscapes, our Ocean, consumed by the marine chain and terrestrial animals and leaching toxins into us and into our bodies, we arrive to the realization that enough is enough. It is time to get real. This plastic pollution must end. We can bring about this change, by refusing to choose disposable plastics. We can bring our own reusable water bottle, ceramic mug, stainless steel or glass reusable straw, and our own canvas bag. I rise to the challenge of living disposable plastic free each day. It’s fun! And my passion and strong drive to raise awareness and bring about change have become inextricable from my artwork. Each 2D and 3D work, each installation and sculpture is a visual attempt to create a consciousness. I ask viewers to reevaluate our throwaway society of over consumption. Plastic Pollution Coalition embodies this desire to bring a global community together and address this crisis of Plastic Pollution on all fronts simultaneously and harmoniously to bring about the change, which is needed. Will you join me? Dianna Cohen, Visual Artist and Creative Advocacy Director/co-founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition. www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514700723145-GCFC8U9VQNE6TPXJ0BI9/Emeline-Siale-Ilolahia-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - The Sea is Crying (Copy) The Sea is Crying "I don't understand a lot of things Climate Change out the scope of my thinking But I do know something My Friend the Ocean is really crying That is why in my country sea level is rising" A verse from "The Sea is Crying" by Emeline Siale Ilolahi https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912572840-I034LR0RU81FVAVEX0A1/Barbara-Maas-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Disappearing Hector's Dolphins (Copy) Disappearing Hector's Dolphins Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins have been picked off one by one by gill and trawl nets for over three decades. Because they are a little known species, few people are aware of the tragedy that is playing out off of New Zealand’s coast. It just doesn’t sit well with New Zealand’s self-image and the perception of the country abroad, but it is true nonetheless. Anonymity has been a killer for these amazing but forgotten animals because people, who don’t know, can’t care about whether they are there or not. That’s why building awareness and a strong, global lobby for them is so important. And we’re getting there - finally – after years of shouting for help. We – and by ‘we’ I mean all of us - have a unique opportunity to right a monumental wrong that is inflicted on these beleaguered animals. And from what I’ve learned from working on this issue for the past 11 years, Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins won’t make it without our help. Please get involved, find out more about them and learn to love and care about them by visiting our website: www.hectorsdolphins.com. One thing’s for sure. What happens to Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins will say a great deal more about our own species than about theirs. Barbara Maas, Head of International Species Conservation at NABU. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998912708-04KBJFZ03LHJCNYHYRLC/William-Trubridge-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Free Dive Into Love (Copy) Free Dive Into Love As a freediver I feel a close affinity to dolphins. It's clear from my own experiences, and from the way they are known to protect swimmers from sharks or interact with snorkelers and surfers, that these mammals reciprocate this kinship. Intrinsically it's impossible to argue that any one species is more valuable than another, and it's true that we anthropomorphize dolphins a lot and are fond of them in part for their unfailing smile and playful mirth. However they are also the most intelligent order of beings after man, and offer us not just another statistic of biodiversity, but also a chance to learn about ourselves through the ineluctable inspiration that is granted just by being in the presence of creatures in such perfect harmony with their world. Should we lose such a rare example of the life's wonders for ever it would be a black mark on our name as stewards of this planet. The first and only dolphin to become extinct so far due to human influence was a fresh water dolphin: the Yangtze River Dolphin. While they inhabited a tiny stretch of water in the most populated country of the planet (still no excuse for their extinction of course), the same cannot be said for New Zealand's Dolphins. It is only through the rampant greed and malpractice of a government-pampered fishing industry that their species have been strangled to close to extinction. The imperative and only course of action is incontestable: trawling and gill-netting must be made illegal across the dolphins' entire territory. Should the government be uncertain of the exact territory then all areas under suspicion must be protected until it can be proven that dolphins aren't found there. Benefit of doubt must be given to a crippled species, not to a belligerent fishing industry. William Trubridge, World Champion Free Diver. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912574633-DGSYLW2HVARYXSZNG9ZY/Olivia-Ries-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Strawless (Copy) Strawless In America, we are using over 500-million single use plastic straws every single day and none get recycled. That is enough to fill over 127 school busses full of straws every single day. These straws will stay in our landfills for hundreds of years or end up in our waterways and oceans where animals eat them and die. Please 'Say No" the next time someone offers you a disposable straw. Don't just do it for the animals or the environment, do it for your next generation as well. Olivia Ries, Co-Founder of One More Generation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912573820-44YNCZ6DGVDGJT5WSHD6/Michael-Long-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Horseshoe Crabs (Copy) Horseshoe Crabs Have you ever gone through a medical surgery? Have you ever received a vaccine, flu shot, or IV? Well, you can thank horseshoe crabs for keeping you pathogen free through those procedures! Horseshoe crabs are harvested by the biomedical industry for their unique, quick-clotting, blue blood. Once a harvested crab has donated a portion of its blood, it is released back into the wild. A derivative of horseshoe crab blood, called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, is used as a screening agent to detect contaminants on medical instruments and devices before they are used on people. So, the next time you go through any type of medical procedure, be sure to thank horseshoe crabs for keeping you healthy through the process! Michael Long, University of Massachusetts https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514922796879-TQ43LG2BFIE8HKRIYGU3/Jennifer-Idol-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Wonders Below the Waterline (Copy) Wonders Below the Waterline Life below the waterline is separated from the noise above, unseen and unknown to many; I photograph these wonders so all may benefit from loving, restraining from killing, and helping oxygen-providing waters become trash free to continue sustaining life. Jennifer Idol, The Underwater Designer   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912575978-G8XZDBIZNGEZT4LK7DEC/Terra-Mar-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Now (Copy) Sea Now Sea Hope, Sea Change. Sea Future The TerraMar Project   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998920156-DUJET2CLT4J2XJSQ62ZY/Josh-Tickell-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Oilspills (Copy) Oilspills It is not enough to stand against oil, stand against pollution, stand against the degradation of the planet or stand against the status quo. We must not become victims of illusionment. We must never pretend that we embody all the things we stand against. Instead, we must stand for change - however small, however incremental. Standing for even the smallest action is more powerful than standing against the world as it may be. Josh Tickell, Filmmaker   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998881886-6SIB7EF7LA2DYO8RNG31/Brad-Nahill-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Leatherback (Copy) Leatherback Humanity can learn a lot from the gentle, patient sea turtle. Their slow explorations take them around the world, adapting to different habitats. They flow with the currents, saving their energy for the important things like food and mating. With instincts honed over a hundred million years, humanity would be smart to listen to their teachings. Brad Nahill, Billion Baby Turtle Project c0-founder of SeeWild, SeeTurtle.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998919498-DDG5QSQQED8D79AEQS5G/Paul-Sharp-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Plasticene (Copy) Plasticene Plastic pollution is a symptom of failed design, we've created a toxic eco-system that simply should not exist, global adoption of green reusable packaging and effective reverse logistics are key to ending the plastictide. Paul Sharp, Founder of Two Hands Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998920186-3B7BXUKJD6I835U8QIYP/Margaret-Roestorf-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Birds (Copy) Sea Birds A whale killed by fishing line, seabirds impaled with hooks and seals swimming in garbage. Right now this is our legacy if we do not begin to respect the ocean and our planet. All creatures need the ocean to survive. Michelle Harris, TV Host, Producer, Actor, Writer, Activist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515111307714-1GXL57DDE4Z9ZWJ4KPFW/Margaret-Rosenstrof-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - A Bird in the Hand (Copy) A Bird in the Hand You can't love what you don't know, and it's unlikely that you will want to conserve anything that you don't love. At SANCCOB we speak Penguinese and we urge you to join us in our fight to save wild African penguins that live at the tip of Africa. This charismatic species has declined by 90% over the past 100 years and is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red Data List. In the past 30 years, which is measured as 1 human generation, the African penguin population in South Africa and Namibia has declined by 63%. Figures don't lie. Over the past 44 years SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) in Cape Town, South Africa has saved more than 90 000 ill, injured oiled and abandoned penguins and threatened seabirds.... and if we are going to win this war, we need you to care. Margaret Roestorf, Development Director SANCCOB, South Africa   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110711942-VRNBNGIMD1K8FFI9ZOPH/Juliet-Eilperin-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Demon Fish (Copy) Demon Fish Sharks were here before dinosaurs roamed the earth, before our continents took their current shape. They not only help keep the ocean’s natural balance, they do their job better than most people on the planet. We are better off living with them in the sea—and in large numbers—than without them. I remain confident that we’ll figure this out just in time. Juliet Eilperin, Author of Demon Fish, Journalist for Washington Post, Environmental advocate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110714902-3S51WDM5AUNN0NIARTRK/Jillian-Morris-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - To Be Seen By A Shark (Copy) To Be Seen By A Shark I have dived with thousands of sharks, but there is something truly remarkable about tiger sharks. They make eye contact with you and when you look in their eyes, you actually see an incredible soul. They are not mindless eating machines, but in fact are intelligent, social and absolutely fascinating creatures. Jillian Morris Brake, Founder & President at Sharks4Kids and Executive Director Oceanicallstars. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110715659-E05X2GI219XR8E2196ZL/Jupp-Kerckerink-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Cocos Migration (Copy) Cocos Migration We cannot continue to kill tens of millions of sharks just for a soup. Jupp Kerckerink, President of the Shark Research Institute https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110714731-4PDQYSUVKCL4G3Y9OGZY/David-Rothenberg-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Thousand Mile Song (Copy) Thousand Mile Song Whale songs are the longest songs of any animal and the only ones that can travel thousands of miles under the sea. We should keep the ocean quiet enough so they can still hear each other and sing the music that needs to be sung. David Rothenberg, author, musician and philosopher. (The other side of this bottle portrays a breaching Humpback.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515111307737-824SQVCTIRSD85WWMOVE/Mark-Lukes-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Evolve Past the Issue (Copy) Evolve Past the Issue I am constantly reminded that there are two kinds of people: those who say that we should do something about the problems facing our planet and those who just do it. When it comes to preserving and protecting our oceans, the time has passed for looking around for help. Overfishing, ocean acidification, dying coral reef systems, the killing of keystone predators under the recreational banner of sport fishing…. There’s no question that we are the problem. Make today the day you become part of the solution. Mark J. Lukes, Board Chair, International League of Conservation Photographers   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998913054-XVFOH1M62T5KT5N48KS3/Synte-Peacock-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Imagine (Copy) Imagine Imagine there’s no dolphins Or turtles swimming by The end of whales and tuna The sea lion’s final cry A giant blue-green graveyard Handiwork of man... Imagine there’s no fish left The reefs dissolved away An ocean full of toxins The predators our prey Imagine all the seal pups Choking on our trash... You may say it doesn’t matter That there’s nothing you can do But the future of our planet Depends on people just like you Imagine pristine waters Repair the damage done The silvery flash of salmon Gleaming in the sun Imagine all the fishes Swimming wild and free... You may say it doesn’t matter That there’s nothing you can do But the future of our oceans Depends on people just like you * * * * * Synte Peacock, Ocean and Climate Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514998880382-RK69KTJY967PN38G88F0/Alison-Jones-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - No Water, No Life! (Copy) No Water, No Life! Rivers connect almost 90% of our terrestrial lands to the oceans. In the US, 70% of the population resides on or close to our estuaries. Most industry and ports, as well as 80% of our largest cities, are near and dependent on our estuaries, which provide fresh water, food, transportation and recreation. They nurture cultural and spiritual traditions, as well as a wealth of biodiversity Earth’s estuaries are filled with fresh water that has traveled downstream from high mountain ice-fields and underground aquifers. These reservoirs, filled with rain, ice, vapor, fog, and snow, slowly drain via rills and streams into rivers and finally estuaries, where fresh water first mingles with salt water before spilling into the ocean. Our estuaries, deltaic wetlands, shorelines and bays are a very dynamic element of the hydrologic cycle. But most of our estuaries are now often sick or dead. Industrial and agricultural pollutants and human sewage degrade our estuaries, causing eutrophication and coastal hypoxic zones. Extreme climate events such as droughts and floods significantly alter the water flow into our estuaries. Deforestation presents a double whammy - it exacerbates destructive flooding and causes erosion and sedimentation of rivers and wetlands. Urban development with its solid cover of impermeable surfaces produces storm-water runoff of agricultural and industrial pollutants, as well as raw sewage overflows. Predicted rises in sea level rise will raise estuaries’ salinity levels, thus drastically altering their ecological functions. We must control carbon emissions. We must more sustainably manage our upstream, freshwater resources in order to protect downstream estuaries and oceans. Some estuaries are now either completely or nearly gone due to heedless upstream water consumption and damming that ignores downstream needs or rights. Since agriculture consumes 70% of our freshwater resources, we must put in place more efficient irrigation techniques and plant more drought-tolerant crops. Many glacial deposits, accumulated over the eons, are predicted to melt away forever within a few decades due to global warming. Likewise, our aquifers are being drained much faster than they can ever be re-filled. Human disregard for the important of these critical “savings banks” of our fresh-water reserves puts the health of our rivers and oceans at alarming risk. We can and must reduce water consumption and institute aggressive plans for water recycling. We must protect the estuarial exchanges of fresh and salt-water nutrients, abetted by tides, migratory birds, seasonal floods and anadromous fish such as salmon, alewives and sturgeon. We must preserve our estuary wetlands so they can continue to naturally cleanse riverine pollutants that would otherwise be washed into our oceans. Loren Eiseley wrote, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. We cannot lose that magic. No Water No Life! Alison M. Jones, Director of No Water No Life ® https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515001798351-MAUAT7I36FBYBHYICCZ6/Damien-Leloup-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Manatees (Copy) Manatees What would our oceans be without a dugong or a manatee? They are the only vegetarian marine animals of the sea. Enigmatic, graceful yet clumsy, their yearly numbers have been steady, This can only make the world happy. Damien Leloup, Marine archaeologist & Wildlife defender. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110718503-IDN3MDTMLAPR5ZF6YA0R/David-Edelman-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blanket Octopus (Copy) Blanket Octopus Fossil evidence of the humble Cambrian origins of the Cephalopoda gives little indication of the elaborate lifeways and behaviors that would come to define the surviving genera of this class, which today are the most complex of all known invertebrates. Of the four living groups of cephalopod molluscs, the octopus may be the most elaborate in its cognitive and behavioral adaptations. But the facts—nervous systems in some species that contain more cells than those of many rodents, eyes that are in many ways convergent with the vertebrate eye, the ability to change skin color and texture rapidly to match background, boneless arms that can form elbows to solve biomechanical problems in much the same fashion that the vertebrate arm does—are poor preparation for one’s first ‘up close and personal’ encounter with an octopus. Octopuses look and move like nothing else we’re accustomed to observing on land or in the ocean. Yet, despite a truly alien countenance—which, by the way, can hit one like a ‘ton of bricks’—there’s something strangely familiar—a reassuring presence—in the way these animals comport themselves; the presence, perhaps, of thought, albeit an inscrutable, otherworldly flavor of thought that’s well beyond our grasp. David Edelman PhD, Neurobiologist, The Neurosciences Institute https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515199405478-ZAWT954FOH33A1T77VG4/Rick-Linnehan-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - A New Vantage Point (Copy) A New Vantage Point In space you are able to see the Earth as an organism at a distance and realize that it is living and breathing. You also realize that it is damaged on parts of its surface from pollution and ecological razing- all results of human civilization. This vantage point makes you comprehend that everything that seems so vast when viewed from the ground is not infinite after all; it has to be managed and renewed for future generations. Richard M. Linnehan, Veterinarian, NASA astronaut, and Marine Conservation advocate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198479064-9C215QVQZ8AZBQD71L27/Blue-Marble-Initiative-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Marbles (Copy) Blue Marbles When we share the gift of a blue marble with someone, something positive always happens. A physical presentation of gratitude feels very good to give and to receive. Hope for the future of our little blue planet lies in loving its beauty and saying thank you often to those who are working to restore it. BLUE MARBLE Initiative, BlueMarbles.org https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341495399-DGFQ8GYCO2INII1ZFKAC/Jennifer-Lopez-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Groundbreaking Science (Copy) Groundbreaking Science While space may be the final frontier and there are clear benefits of exploring beyond our home planet, the oceans may be the greater mystery. This new era of ocean exploration can yield discoveries from critical medical advancements to sustainable energy. Every day, I seek groundbreaking science and technology for the International Space Station and I believe some of the most important discoveries and opportunities for scientific and technological innovations may actually lie beneath what covers more than 70 percent of our planet – our oceans. Jennifer Lopez, Technology Lead, International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515341496350-O1QSGI2BL519IFH02315/Erica-Bergman-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Siphonophores (Copy) Siphonophores We see so many siphonophores during the summer plankton blooms in Howe Sound! Those tiny zooids must be reproducing like wild and then they find each other, and attach to each other, and then differentiate into all the types of cells a siphonophore needs to grow! Once they change into a stomach cell, or a mouth, or part of a flagella, they can never return to being independent. All for one, and one for all! It's also really cute when they bounce off the sphere of our submarine... Erica Bergman, Host of We’re Wired That Way, Submarine Pilot   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177948031-0QQ7EECBFG0DH9Y424GB/Eric-Wartenweiler-Smith--Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Immense Fathoms (Copy) Immense Fathoms As a‭ ‬sailor‭, ‬I know the immensity of the ocean‭. ‬As a diver‭,‬ her profundity is clear‭. ‬And only when I am with the sea do I know the role I play in the universe‭, ‬that I am simultaneously part of the immensity‭, ‬and nothing at all‭.‬‭ ‬ Captain Eric Wartenweiler Smith‭ ‬–‭ ‬Mariner‭, ‬diver and Aqua Survey research vessel captain https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177946606-BZDRP57ZDQWGNGEAS1AH/Leena-Patidar-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Introspection (Copy) Introspection Water is the ultimate essence - of great force and great beauty. Healing us with it’s touch, calming us with it’s grace. The oceans always demand our own reflection. Leena Patidar, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Founder of Coin Up.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198478203-0S5P6UXBXVK82SQQ1A2X/Greg-Hayes-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Grasslands Above And Below (Copy) Grasslands Above And Below California’s coastal prairies flanked by the Pacific Ocean, blanketed by fog – most species rich grasslands of North America – with biodiversity that boggles my mind. Wildflowers festooning badger mounds, sparkle-eyed voles, waving blades of prairie grasses, snakes, lizards, beetles: so beautiful! Greg Hayes, Ecologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198477496-W8K4HWOVBILWJU1MMEOG/Grahame-Webb-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Saltwater Crocodiles (Copy) Saltwater Crocodiles Survival of our Saltwater crocodiles, largest living reptiles, will be about P's - local People, Poverty-stricken, avoiding Predation, Paid for their tolerance, through sustainable use. Protectionist Philosophies of Passionate People in distant Places is no Pathway for avoiding extinction. Grahame Webb, Professor Columbia University, Managing Director Wildlife Management International. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110721571-TNF61EOY81FKK6I5B14P/Carleton-Ray-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Coastal Zones (Copy) Coastal Zones The coastal zone may be the single most important portion of our planet. The loss of its biodiversity may have repercussions far beyond our worst fears. Carleton G. Ray, Researcher, Author, Professor at Colombia University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110715731-2FHY6NI6Y6OGZP33VQZS/Kris-Krug-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - War Against Plastics (Copy) War Against Plastics I'm waging a personal war against single-use disposable plastics. From the tummies of sea life, to beaches all over the Earth, to bioaccumulation in human fat cells... plastics & toxins are turning up in all sorts of places they shouldn't be. We're choking on our own garbage. Post-consumer anthropogenic waste has indiscriminately infiltrated both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, threatening the breath of life in every nook & cranny of the planet. Even the most remote regions of this planet are not off limits. Kris Krug, Photographer at TED.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515001800339-F0EDTB5Y6U8G74FMJ791/Richard-Wylie-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Weedy Sea Dragon (Copy) Weedy Sea Dragon 85-90% of all the plants and animals that live in Australia'a southern oceans are endemic. To put this into perspective, if we lost the whole of the Great Barrier Reef - as tragic as that would obviously be - we would only lose 10% of the species that only live there. Compare that to 90% in Australia's temperate waters! Seadragons are just one of a multitude of unique species that would be forever lost if their fragile marine environment was disturbed too greatly from casual destruction and human indifference. We are at the tipping point right now for the world's oceans - the decisions we make now and over the next 10 years will determine not only the future of our world's marine ecosystems but the very future of human species. For those that don't care about our future - and sometimes I think that the world would be better off without us too - you need understand that if we go so will the majority of the world's mammal population! Everything is inter-related and we cannot continue to think that our actions don't matter - they do, for good as well as bad!! Richard Wylie, Co-Founder and Director of Eukafa Island Research Center   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1514912575807-SOH66JNLSV9QZO9AO51I/Peter-Hughs-Message-In-A-Bottle.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Land Air Water (Copy) Land Air Water My inspiration was the realization that the future is a community effort and we as individuals must be Land Air Water abiding citizens and good stewards of the earth. If we all do our part and find an opportunity to be mindful of our environment we can, as a community, make a difference. Justine Kawas, Founder of Green Changes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515116233687-EO7BGYPET14DK8RZHTVV/Marissa-Feinberg-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea Hedgehogs (Copy) Sea Hedgehogs Sea urchins, or as I like to call them, Sea hedgehogs, are despised, yet consumed in unsustainable quantities by humanity. They are both an invasive species and critically endangered on account of over-harvesting. Without striving for balance, there is no hope for ecosystem resilience or for species to recuperate. We need to curb our tongues, unless it is to speak out to save marine wildlife. Marissa Feinberg, Co- Founder, Green Spaces https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515110721173-TMUQAQDPZ16N699JHLSJ/Bonnie-Wyper-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - In Circulation (Copy) In Circulation We all live in the oceans; some of us on the earth that arose from them and some in their waters. They sustain all of us. They are our heart beat, our breath, and our circulation. If they are in danger, so are we. Bonnie Wyper, Co-Founder of Thinking Animals Inc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515116471117-63NXLFK1GT4OC94TFRE5/Pat-Dickens-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Horror of the Seal Harvest (Copy) Horror of the Seal Harvest 5 000 NURSING seal pups are beaten to death each year in Namibia for their fur. Their lives have been trivialized to pander to the whims of vanity dictated by a greedy fashion industry. 6 000 adult bull seals are shot at point blank range so that their penises can be used to make ineffective aphrodisiacs. They are butchered in order to satisfy the lusty carnal urges of the adult entertainment industry. What civilized, compassionate human being can possibly justify these iniquitous acts of barbaric savagery? Pat Dickens, Seals of Nam   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515116713472-4WHRLAUAY2UWERSZQXYT/Pat-Wardell-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Hawaiian Monk Seal (Copy) Hawaiian Monk Seal The Hawaiian monk seal is a species in crisis. With fewer than 1,150 seals remaining and a population that is continuing to decline by 4% per year, they now face the very real threat of extinction. We cannot let this species go extinct under our watch, and this is a critical time to be able to make a difference for Hawaiian monk seals and their status as an indicator species of the health of our oceans. Pat Wardell, President, Monk Seal Foundation   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515117689226-ZBY49KOSJ0GROLMDPBO4/Chitral-Jayatilak-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Help (Copy) Help It is overwhelming to think about saving the world. It is very easy to sit down and believe that one person's actions cannot change the situation. What we need to do is pick one little part of our world and make that our quest, and start our crusade there, exhibit our desire to understand it so we can interact with it, use it and protect it at the same time. We need to grow a mutual relationship of respect and survival because whatever you do; regardless of where you are has an impact on our Ocean. Take charge and your efforts will bring about a solution. Cristina Zenato Diving Supervisor at UNEXSO. Shark and technical programs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515117689244-3DQTI72WOL52MNBQPXQB/David-Gallo-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Start to Finish (Copy) Start to Finish In the oceans we find clues to the past and the keys to understanding the future of life on earth. If we learn to listen to the sea we will hear a story of our own origins, evolution, and destiny. David Gallo, Director of Special Projects WHOI. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515118800953-3ZSG7NH6ZWU174JGLZF6/Chitral-Jayatilak-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Global Community, Local Stakes (Copy) Global Community, Local Stakes An Island paradise that is so richly blessed with teeming terrestrial diversity that it is now also home to the largest animal that ever lived on earth - Blue Whales! Sri Lanka is also home to several other species of cetaceans and marine mammals. This once hidden treasure trove now exposed to the world will shed new light on the blue whale, a creature that has been a mystery to science until recent times. Be responsible visitors, and help us protect and preserve this magical marine realm as a world heritage for generations to come… Chitral Jayatilake - Head of Eco Tourism John Keells hotels group Sri Lanka https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515118801036-0OA0XZ5S0MQMSXMP113K/Eric-Nadler-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Hear their Music (Copy) Hear their Music The acoustic pollution of our marine environment kills cetaceans. Acutely dangerous are powerful underwater sonar tests conducted by international Navies which have driven whales into deadly panics and mass strandings, and hinders their ability to gather food and communicate. "Whale song"-- the complex sounds of music these creatures can send 1,000 miles under the ocean-- is under unprecedented threat. Eric Nadler, Director, Filmmaker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121193038-EMPW4PS6W6KOZ2XLYC9B/Greg-Barber-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Looking Out For Others (Copy) Looking Out For Others Eco Friendly Printer is passionate on protecting our water. We look to eliminate chlorine from entering our waterways. Chlorine, mixed with other chemicals in paper making, will create Dioxin and Dioxin can poison our fish, our wildlife and us. We go out of our way to encourage our clients to switch to 100% Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) bleached paper to avoid contaminating our streams, our lakes, our rivers and our oceans. I look forward to clean waterways and being able to swim in non-contaminated Oceans, and I look forward to not worrying about poisoning our Fish and our wildlife and each and every one of us. Greg Barber, President, Eco-Friendly Printer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121197653-AYUHYV6VTG8DXNJCS6PP/Ashley-Stone-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Free to Be (Copy) Free to Be From a tiny coral In the big, blue sea, To a majestic bonobo, In the giant, green tree. Every creature must be free to simply just be.   Ashley Stone, Founder & President, The Bonobo Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177962986-9D4JIFBVXVOFB5J3JAWI/Mariette-Hopley-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Have Courage (Copy) Have Courage Everything on our planet are bound together and connected. Be bold. Be a courageous warrior to support and honor your right to the environment. Mariette Hopley, Entrepreneur/Environmental Activist and Ambassador Lets Do It World. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177942514-KXKPKTX0VZ59JDBE922V/Dee-Eggers-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Relevant Reserves (Copy) Relevant Reserves The health of our oceans and freshwater systems directly affects all life on Earth. We know this now. Our futures are one. Protection of our oceans and aquifers and restoration of degraded areas are necessary for our own survival and that of every other species on Earth. It is the great work of our time. It will be difficult. But the fact that it is necessary makes the fact that it is difficult irrelevant. Dee Eggers, Ph.D. Environmental Studies Department, University of North Carolina Asheville https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177947041-253HP8FKT4GP37AFR9QH/Markley-Boyer-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Nature Needs Half (Copy) Nature Needs Half Natureneedshalf.org for the Big Blue…. all the oceans, seas, & their creatures. Respecting and protecting their space, place, and spirit starts a needed, new relationship between people and nature. Vance G. Martin: President, WILD Foundation and Wilderness Foundation Global https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177947425-31XDNOKRZYXRWQG2UO9A/Wendy-Diamond--Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Stay Current (Copy) Stay Current The ocean supports nearly 50% of all species on Earth, and affects global climate and local weather. The ocean commands respect and deserves preservation for the life force that it is; as it contains 97% of the planet’s water! Its currents and upwellings recycle organic waste and bring nutrient rich waters that result in plankton blooms. The circulatory system of our planet pumps life along its migratory routes. And as we know most of the earth’s beauty thrives on water, including animals, plants and people, yet 95% of the ocean’s underwater world remains unexplored. The next time that you go to the ocean, give thanks to the blue and do what you can every day to keep the ocean alive - for earth's sake! We are all stewards of the sea. Wendy Diamond, Author and TV Personality. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177948005-WWQTNAYRZ5SBCK4342BA/James-Costa-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sea of Ignorance (Copy) Sea of Ignorance Man versus Ocean? The oceans will always win. We are drowning in a polluted sea of ignorance. James Costa, Animal Rights Activist, PCRM Member https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515198478452-OX9QFU0YOZDIVETLZOHY/Calrick-Kettle-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Sand Maker (Copy) Sand Maker Parrot fish... parrot fish... the good-old parrot fish… Growing up never really fully understanding parrot fish, but loving the parrot fish anyway. Shooting them, eating them, but after understanding them, I just love to watch them grow; watch them feed understanding that they are the cleaners of the reef and makers of sand. Man, I just love them… all types of parrot fish. Calrick Kettle, Fisherman, Portland, Jamaica https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177959406-6RD80VE92JOUE2JNAY8U/Linden-Wolbert-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Words from a Mermaid (Copy) Words from a Mermaid Part human and part fish, I speak on behalf of the creatures of the sea to the dwellers of the land who impact our oceans so profoundly. Open your eyes, heart and soul to the sea...and she will show you how to see. Linden Wolbert, Professional Mermaid Entertainer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177957463-SNS06QQFLBGT0GE4NQNR/Diana-Reiss-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Dolphin Reflections (Copy) Dolphin Reflections We are one of many intelligent life forms sharing this blue planet. Like us, dolphins are highly social and self-aware but our species continues to allow them to be hunted and brutally killed in the dolphin drives in Japan and captured for our use. We need global protection for these societies in the seas and their ocean homes. Diana Reiss, PhD, Professor, Psychology Department, Hunter College and author of, The Dolphin in the Mirror   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515342307694-CGFAVOHG7V56VVAH8IKA/Alyssa-Isakower-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - World Ocean Day (Copy) World Ocean Day The time has come to go beyond just raising awareness—we must take action to protect our planet’s precious ocean! By working together, as a connected, informed, and strategic ocean community, we can turn the tide for the health of our blue planet. Alyssa Isakower, WOD Coordinator, The Ocean Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177958505-S3QW4C8ITNEA4QUIAY48/Martha-Shaw-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Gobi Gone (Copy) Gobi Gone Single use plastics are killing our oceans. It is something we can address right now, all we have to do is stop using plastics. It is the lowest hanging fruit! Martha Shaw, Founder of Earth Advertising. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177961971-BLAQGRYSUVDZAS77LTC5/Joe-Chisholm-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Selfless Gifts (Copy) Selfless Gifts We are surrounded by opportunities to observe, engage and act in ways that have a positive and collective shift toward more conscious consumption and more inspired and involved community. All of us should be working to bring information and opportunity to our communities close to home and beyond…..the ocean connects us all in the breaths we take and in the exhalations of our souls, we are empty in spirit without her nurturing and selfless gifts…. Joe Chisholm, Creator of the Waves of Action educational program https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177958998-RXM41LDIN56T4MG1IG29/Wendy-Brawer-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Green Maps (Copy) Green Maps Through Green Mapmaking, people around the world draw attention to local natural, cultural, activism and green living resources. Like Sea Speak, we seek to motivate social change on a massive scale. Many of us live in coastal communities and have charted coastal and aquatic habitats, beaches and low impact non-motorized boat launches as we highlight the richness of the waters that surround and support us. Significantly, Green Maps have charted and protected mangroves across South China warded off the threat of tideland development in Ise Bay Japan and helped Santa Monica’s children realize that littering on land is a form of ocean dumping. Using these and other Green Maps, each of us can be guided toward making a personal commitment to help ensure the health of the oceans, locally and globally. Wendy Brawer, Founder of Green Map https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121194369-YQLR3XZHAKCD3QE3OUD3/Colin-Williams-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - In Their Hymn (Copy) In Their Hymn It is another medium, a place where our normal senses of position no longer work. It is the undiscovered country; a place of fear and wonder. And then The Whale comes, sometimes dead, sometimes alive, delivering messages: He unbalances our internal and spiritual compass, the needles of which spin wildly, frantically, uncontrollably. He is every one of his brethren. His song is their hymn, now a quiet chorus beneath our incessant drone He appears, sharing our space and breathing our air, peddling a hope and a warning. He is maker of myths, model of idols, subject of songs and totem of our stewardship of the planet Suddenly, desperate to share a language, to give reassurance, to say sorry, but finding ourselves shackled by our differences, He’s gone And, unable to go with Him, we rely on the briefest of thousand-channel experiences, left in the blood like an antibiotic. Colin Williams, writer, guide, conservationist and cetacean enthusiast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177945294-8Z9JH54CACVN6D2H5BDI/Staci-Sherwood-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Struggle to Survive (Copy) Struggle to Survive Right now we’re on the brink of either bringing back the Sea Turtle population to a sustainable level or losing them forever. Threats facing them range from the obvious like habitat lose, poaching and death as by-catch in fishing nets to the not so obvious like lighting on the beach, climate change and plastic. Almost all the threats to them are human caused which means we have the ability to stop the damage we’re doing and work to protect them, but only if we have the will to do so. Change would mean an end to drilling for oil and a serious move to sustainable energy because oil spills are casting a devastating effect. Plastic is a byproduct of fossil fuels and that is fast becoming #1 problem as so many hatchling die from ingesting plastic before they can even reproduce. Knowing all of this is what really got me into working with and rescuing sea turtles as I start my 5th year. When you see the struggle they go through just to get out of the nest it’s impossible not to want to help so I have dedicated a big part of my life to helping them survive any way I can. I do this with the help of many dedicated friends and colleagues in Florida. Staci–Lee Sherwood, Sea Turtle Conservation Advocate, Rescue Volunteer, Highland Beach Sea Turtle Program, Sea Turtle Oversight Protection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121193773-E9R3GR8UQFVKN5X0OQFY/John-Hourston-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Krill Cry (Copy) Krill Cry We’re in the end-phase of natural resource exploitation. With marine life pushed to the brink, eyes are turning to krill, the keystone of the Antarctic ecosystem. This is where we need to draw the line. After stripping the seas of life with impunity for decades, can we not leave just one fragment of the world untouched by human avarice?” John Hourston, Founder of Blue Planet Society, Marine Conservation Activist, Diver https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177958186-I2KOECYGRLMEDEUKDFPS/James-Wood-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Cephalopods of All Sizes (Copy) Cephalopods of All Sizes We have known about the existence of giant squid for centuries. Only within the last decade have we managed to photograph one alive; this is an animal that can grow up to 50 feet long. If an animal that big can elude us for this long, imagine how many other creatures are in the world’s oceans waiting to be discovered. If these undocumented animals go extinct due to our carelessness, we will not even know what we have lost. Dr. James B. Wood, Marine Biologist https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515367139316-W0VH4QOQ6OCXHKUW7MJZ/Chris-Clarke-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Blues (Copy) Blue Blues When I sing in the window of the world's leftover light with the mantle's thunderstorms rumbling through the quilted sea left alone to metronome my music within this blue deep night full chorused distant voices echo back to me   Where once our songs respired at the edges of the tide now crowds of slow-burn giants without tempo grind those who left to breathe their wisdom for prosperity's ride prey to false enchantments of material and mind   Old scars of death's survival lanced in black and white now carbon-spined kinetics etch earth's primordial skin their constant motions bring these oceans to the edge of life I roam ancestral havens hear the probing drones know the reasons and muse are they worth believing in?   God knows they knew it There's no way to prove it, besides Once you've been through it You can't hear the other side It's only a matter of time Before someone else will decide It's not which one's better But who got the most from the lies Christopher W Clark, Senior Director Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372316073-LDCXPA02G3SCDT40084E/Michael-Fishbach-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Inseparable Blue Whales and Oceans (Copy) Inseparable Blue Whales and Oceans The true giants of the sea, boom their loud voices endlessly. As they ever pursue huge patches of krill they swim with purpose, grace and free will. Plankton means life to a huge blue whale and oxygen to the ongoing human tale Blue whale/ocean, husband and wife inhale exhale, the circle of life   Michael Fishbach, Co-Director of Great Whale Conservancy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372316070-9MBUB8EYCRPD0HUP4FZZ/Laura-Martinez-Rios-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Wetlands to Water Planet (Copy) Wetlands to Water Planet Life starts in the wetlands, and then travels to the oceans to give life to everyone, like the blood in our veins, and that is why the OCEANS MATTER TO ME because it is what connects us all. Laura Martínez Ríos, Biologist, Director of Pro Esteros. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372317741-14OXN6T06Y27DXL4XO37/Milo-Cress-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Can I Cross the Golden River? (Copy) Can I Cross the Golden River? Here's the thing - this planet is not a place that kids will inherit at some point far off in the distant future - we live here right now- we share this planet already! And kids can and should help make the choices that will shape the future of our planet and our lives. Milo Cress, 11 year-old Founder and Spokesperson for BeSrtawFree https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372312426-QWI7OWHISLXIQ57PHP3P/Toni-Fredrick-Armstrong--Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Pure Powerful and Primordial (Copy) Pure Powerful and Primordial The ocean is life. Nature at her purest, her most serene, her most powerful. From the primordial stirrings of civilization to the exploration of the deepest subterranean landscapes, there is mystery and discovery. Toni Fredrick-Armstrong Director of Visitor Experience, St Christopher National Trust https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515372313953-F50081OGI63YP4SD24EV/Ayana-Elizabeth-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Communities For Conservation (Copy) Communities For Conservation Ocean conservation is not really about fish. It's about people. Our health, food security, economies, and cultures, depend on a healthy ocean. Although we are the problem, we also have solutions. So let’s use the ocean without using it up. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, founder of Ocean Collective. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121193985-5P1OQZKP1DYHE84OHJH1/Howie-Cooke-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - To the Whales Born (Copy) To the Whales Born Life is the question waves are the key Love is the answer Kiss a whale for me the sound of light is where the sea meets the sand and while the whale lives waves of love are lapping on the land and while the elephant still roams free the land will still make love with the sea Howie Cooke Co-Director, Surfers for Cetaceans. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515177963512-PZ7RXMFJK06UFGAF5B64/Lelei-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Vessels With Stories (Copy) Vessels With Stories The great voyaging Vaka canoes with its bold sailors and navigators revealed the untold beauty and wonder of the mighty Pacific; now Asher Jay's bottles carry the aspirations of those whose own journeys take them through healthy and bountiful Oceans. Lelei TuiSamoa LeLaulu, Chairman, Earth Council Alliance   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121192247-H8ZOCMQMYQ52LKF7971H/Deb-Castellena-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Blue Planet (Copy) Blue Planet Protecting as much of the ocean as possible is key to our survival, asc well as the survival of other species with whom we share this beautiful blue planet. To me one of the most sobering thoughts is how many species we have lost, never even having known that they existed. We have caused devastating damage to the ocean and now it’s our duty to use what we know to reverse this damage and restore the ocean to her former splendor. It is possible! We just need to use our hearts and our heads. Deb Castellana, Director of Communications, Mission Blue, Sylvia Earle Alliance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515121193470-6G7RP1OHFR7JEIUSTT2J/Justine-Kawas-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Dive Wisdom (Copy) Dive Wisdom I am privileged to have been scuba diving for 50 + years and fully employed in the industry for 44 years and I have seen many changes over these years, and few if any that make me feel good … Our oceans are being depleted by greed and ignorance and they will not survive – from simple decorative coral/shell collecting industries to the more brutal and blatant decimation of our shark populations to feed an ill-informed Asian market w/ an insatiable appetite for shark fin soup based on absolute, misinformation of its benefits to those that consume it! Approx 75 – 100 million sharks every year are brutally finned and destroyed to satisfy the market demand – but w/ many already focused on the brutal & wasteful practice we must turn our attention a new and rapidly emerging threat w/ equally grave consequences for our oceans and w/ a far urgency in available time to make change – the slaughter of Manta & Mobula Rays for: · Their brachial gill plates used (stupidly) in traditional Chinese medicines. · Their skins for making of “clothing” (leather like) items. · Their fins – as cheaper and more readily available alternative to shark fins – the dumb consumers do not even realize the difference!! Manta Rays do not reach sexual maturity to reproduce until their wing span reaches approximately 10’ – 12’ (this takes several years,) Mantas usually only bear one young even if occasionally two and the gestation period is thought to be greater than 12 months and during which time the pregnant female is ever more vulnerable to sharks who enjoy (Tiger sharks in particular) a meal of Manta – the reproductive process is slow & difficult and Mantas reproduce usually only once in two years, bearing one (maybe two) young so they cannot survive the onslaught mounted against sharks, and even now our sharks are in danger of imminent extinction if somehow we cannot affect immediate change … Peter A. Hughes, President of DivEncounters, Inc https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375012552-535RE6C1WGFMN76ZQ1I4/Positive-Change-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - What Survives Us? (Copy) What Survives Us? The future of mankind will be determined by the choices that we make today. Our marine environment is at its breaking point and it is up to us to act as custodians of the oceans. By making ethical choices and actively minimizing the use of plastics and other non-degradable products, we can promote a sustainable future and ensure that the beauty, mystery and wonder of the oceans is preserved for many generations to come. Positive Change For Marine Life, Nonprofit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375010702-PY8UCYNCUG5TR1ELYPRH/Samuel-Faure-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Balance of Nature (Copy) Balance of Nature I am very concerned about the contaminated state of the oceans. Last month over a hundred dead dolphins were discovered along Peru’s shoreline, latest findings point the finger at anthropogenic pollution. I think it is crucial to save our oceans because they are the foundation upon which Earth’s life systems find stability; the oceans are the pillars upon which our global economies stand, if we deplete and poison its expanse we will suffer all the adverse consequences. We, as humans are but one species, and we do not have the right to disrupt the balance of Nature. Samuël Faure, Free Diver https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375010701-JV7ZNH0Q42KICAOX2O5X/Gary-Stokes-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Ocean Tomorrow (Copy) Ocean Tomorrow A healthy, biodiversity of life in our oceans, is absolutely critical for the survival of all Earthings either on land, sea or sky! Gary Stokes, Shark conservationist, Photographer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1515375011697-HJJ5YUH3CHTALZU7ODAX/Blue-Planet-Society-Asher-Jay-Message-In-A-Bottle-Recovered.jpg The WORK - MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - Flawed Consumption Model (Copy) Flawed Consumption Model The great flaw of capitalism is that on a finite earth the rarer something is the higher its monetary value. We can fight for the environment now, or we can fight each other over what's left later? Earth cannot sustain continuous economic growth. We must find a new level of human existence which places the planet before material gain. Protecting the land but not the ocean is like ignoring heart failure because you have the flu. Blue Planet Society, Nonprofit http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/animations-s9jhm monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 http://www.asherjay.com/the-work/campaigns-kteam monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606939368561-WQ1LP1WLP46S6G2PF3XW/Bison-CitizenWatch-Artwork-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Time in Tree Rings (Copy) Time in Tree Rings The loss and erosion of iconic flora and fauna is due to man’s inability to stop culling and consuming. Humanity takes more than it needs and is completely out of balance with the living biosphere. This image, was documented from start to finish for a 60 second short doc for Citizen Solar Powered EcoDrive Watches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606938982090-F21GHUP0WEDS9R04ISTT/image-asset.png The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Seeding Change (Copy) Seeding Change Documentary Film poster about conscious capitalism. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1577123602401-VAM60RACQFKI7ZT1I9L3/image-asset.jpeg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - In our Palms (Copy) In our Palms Using a transverse section of the palm fruit as a base motif, I have illustrated various megafauna compromised by the expansion of Palm Oil plantations. The problem is particularly pronounced in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and India. The mass monoculture of this cash crop has had dire ecological ramifications on pristine rainforest habitats in these countries, and continues to pilfer what wild remains, unless our awareness alters the course of consumption. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1577124099588-L35KNH03411RJR5IM6AQ/image-asset.jpeg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Climate Change is 4 Real (Copy) Climate Change is 4 Real Created for the youth organization “Climate Change is 4 Real” based out of San Diego, this image documents the clarity the youth have on proactively addressing “Climate Change” with “Climate Action.” The time has come to stop offering opinions and face the facts, as our collective future lies in our ability to confront truth and reality, even if it is uncomfortable or monetarily unappealing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1496670046959-G5ZHOK5JIUAR47VJPPVH/Front-BirdsMeansBusiness-AudubonSociety-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Through the Looking Glass (Copy) Through the Looking Glass Birds bring business, in the countries where their populations are preserved, and their habitats are not compromised. This image was created for the National Audubon Society, to cast a light on how infrastructure growth in Central America is directly related to growth in tourism due to the presence of neotropical bird populations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1496670317688-5B7S6TJ9CXNYFQQBDPP7/FanOut-AsherJay-SocialMedia-FullerSymposium.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Fan Out (Copy) Fan Out 36" x 48" Created for WWF USA, for the anniversary of the Annual Fuller Symposium, to cast a light on the theme of the event, what happens if global temperature goes up by two degrees. Two degrees can make a considerable difference to our planet, and whether we do so or not remains within our hands. The thermometers portray precisely this change. The two degrees of temperature rise related differences are illustrated within the section of the fan going from a planet where we have ice sheets and thriving tundra ecosystems to a world with sea level rise and bleached corals. The human hands contain with their expanse a spectrum of solutions while taking responsibility for the problems that rise as a direct symptom of human impact. The present, where we are seeing both negative and positive results of anthropogenic actions is articulated in the the middle, with some coral systems looking healthy, and some in a state of bleaching. The branching corals within the reef are more conspicuously bleached out to the right, as the terrestrial section details civilization as having gone further down the path we are on, by continuing business as usual. To turn a blind eye to the reality of climate change will drive us off the cliff, as evidenced by the car that is at the edge of the fan. We still have time to change the course we are on, as we perceive solutions that are being implemented to ensure sustainable growth. The two degree rise can be clearly attributed to the issues articulated in the far right top corner of the fan, deforestation, livestock, fossil fuel consumption by factories, transportation and the quest for fossil fuels. The term 'Fan Out' denotes the number of inputs that can be connected to a specified output, so this piece examines these intrinsic associations. Additionally from afar the composition is clearly a hand held Chinese fan, the largest contributor apart from the United States to atmospheric carbon. Up close, the fan becomes a sliver of time and space on this finite planet, and as the viewer, you can navigate cause and consequence of climate change within its expanse, while also documenting individual climate mitigation measures. Climate change has specific inputs, as does climate resilience, the prior is inevitable the latter is executable. The relationship between land and water is portrayed through the presence and absence of sea life like phytoplankton, zooplankton, and crustaceans, the wild flora and fauna that are the canaries in the marine coal mine. They signal the absorption of excessive quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The remaining animals portrayed in the blue, exemplify the food chain that stands to be affected by the change in ocean chemistry. This portrays that we are part of the whole and not apart from it. What we do to life around us, will come to affect us as well. This is why proactive measure to mitigate climate change is crucial to focus on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469135267129-ERK80TO00A0AQCW9INF1/jay_asher_SurroundedbyOilSentencedbySmoke.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Resigned (Copy) Resigned https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1541443659052-0QHF0B6O4L2KJDI4QM5A/TheSpaceInBetween-AsherJay.png The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - The Space In Between (Copy) The Space In Between Utilizing the age old optical illusion to portray the contrasting narrative positions assumed by two very distinctive human value systems, one that promotes coexistence while the other advances capitalism, and in the middle the very chalice of life, in this case the Leuser Ecosystem. What do you see? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606939535067-XX5ZX8NOTSQDEAA8KLI2/Mind-Over-Matter-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Mind Over Matter (Copy) Mind Over Matter Work created to portray humanity’s impact on planetary resources. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606939083005-VSQ0237PJK3CA9NXPDES/ABiodiversityBombshell-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Biodiversity Bombshell (Copy) Biodiversity Bombshell An image that explains the reason for the spread of corona virus. As we lose more species and habitats, there are less buffers between us and zoonotic pathogens. There are less organisms for these pathogens to occupy as well, so we become their primary and at times only host. Wildlife trafficking in bush meat and supply through wet markets that encourage the illegal consumption of exotic meats is the leading reason for the spread and release of zoonotic diseases in human populations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071199636-2GYYCPMEW8V57TT42YB2/ItsASign-IconicClimateChange-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - It's A Sign (Copy) It's A Sign To seed a tangible connection to the hard to grasp concept of 'climate change' Jay decided to tap into the one resource that makes every individual on earth relate to climate daily. The weather app. Found on every mobile interface, the vocabulary of pictographs symbolizing various weather phenomena used by all weather apps is both universally understood and used. Creating characters out of these well recognized icons, Jay not only introduces humor into the climate change conversation but gives the planet's climate a voice.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071592746-MC0NRJ5QLPBQLDMTFADU/PutThatInYourPipe_AsherJay_ClimateChange.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - It's Elementary (Copy) It's Elementary When Sherlock Holmes thinks dispassionately and lengthily about a mystery, he usually comes up with a solution. While people today are puzzling over the mysteries of climate change and climate action, wildlife and landscapes are going up in smoke. "The youth are not the future, they are here now. But they will have to deal with the ramifications of what happens now in the future. If they fail to speak out and raise awareness and enable action today, they stand to lose tomorrow to ignorance, apathy, and inaction." COP21 Quote, Asher Jay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1496670570210-T0QH0H8VC01SMQZTSOWZ/Butterfly-Effect-AsherJay-Ran.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - The Butterfly Effect (Copy) The Butterfly Effect This work focuses on the importance of the Leuser Ecosystem for the entire globe. No matter where you live, the Leuser Ecosystem is providing you with a critical service: as one of the largest intact forests in Southeast Asia containing three of the planet’s most indispensable carbon-rich peatlands, the Leuser Ecosystem is vital for storing atmospheric carbon and preventing further global climate change. If the flap of a butterfly’s wing can trigger a tornado a thousand miles away, the health of the Leuser Ecosystem is connected directly to the air we all breathe and the health of our shared climate. In fact, the climate crisis simply cannot be solved without ensuring forests like the Leuser continue to thrive and hold their carbon underground. #LoveTheLeuser https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1541443987796-UJ768XJCYPAVEWJV7ECL/ILoveLeuser-AsherJay-RAN.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - I Heart Leuser (Copy) I Heart Leuser The Pulse of the ecosystem lies within the heart of the Leuser rainforest, if that is destroyed by anthropogenic activities and myopic greed, we lose a complex and inimitable lifeline forever. Created for Rainforest Action Network. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606939551879-E2SRUUOPYO14D4AOH8OP/Black-Lives-Matter-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Be the Light (Copy) Be the Light “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” #mlk It is absolutely atrocious that #GeorgeFloyd had to plead for the basic right to #breathe - to ask for something as non-negotiable, necessary and immediate as one’s next inhalation- details how devoid of humanity the man denying George Floyd of his right to live was. Those who should have most protected George Floyd wound up taking his life. Bullying and abuse of trust has no place in the law. Such people should not be in the employ of law enforcement. The cops who witnessed and failed to intervene are just as culpable as the cop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. If we lack the humanity to be there for one another, within our own kind, our own species, then there is no hope for the planet. Broken people, break others. Viciousness is something we should strive to evolve past, it’s not an attribute to take pride in. I cannot believe that there are those who take pride in being racist. From Amy Cooper in CP to this horrific murder in broad daylight, racism should not be encouraged in any capacity. A man who condones or fails to condemn racism and hate crimes in the country he is meant to spearhead with grace & dignity, is not a leader. Please vote to improve our collective context! All LIFE matters. Instead of seeing race, we should each evolve our engagement within to see the life, the soul, the human being. Be wary of generalizations, be wary of herd mentality. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” - MLK Jr. We must see all lives as equal, & not keep turning on one another. One world. One people, can only be realized through compassion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071905456-V0RASYJG8REGOXS8TAHW/web-of-death-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Web Of Death (Copy) Web Of Death Created in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. It portrays the web of death spun by the black widow that is the oil rig, placing humanity at the center of the spiral of loss. One of the main problems with deep-water wells worldwide is that they are constructed at a depth that is inaccessible to the majority, consequently in the event that something goes wrong (like it has on numerous occasions) not enough technology is available to enough people to implement an immediate solution. Effective crisis management for such crises does not exist within the spectrum of reality just yet. Additionally when such a catastrophe befalls us, access to data regarding the topography around the source of the leak is inordinately limited, as not enough funds have been allocated toward the study of said topography.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071892301-DM1MCTA2WOWNYT97C81N/Hydrocarbon-Hospice.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Hydrocarbon Hospice. (Copy) Hydrocarbon Hospice. This work describes humanity as having evolved into the grim reaper, with a fossil fuel pipeline for his scythe. It urges viewers to stop fueling life with death. There are several logical arguments that strongly recommend we wean ourselves away from fossil fuels and opt for healthier, more sustainable energy systems. The top seven include: Ocean Acidification, climate crisis, changing landscapes, loss of biodiversity, simple mathematics (cost of a spill), and health. Oil wells and rigs are like ticking time bombs, it is only a matter of time before one blows, and mostly because someone tried to cut fiscal corners. I was personally very affected by the BP spill in 2010, when I saw the extent of devastation it caused and the number of animals and birds that were claimed by its gleaming iridescent expanse I was enraged, creating graphic art works was the only way I could lend a voice. Nowadays I am specifically disconcerted by the Arctic circle. The BP catastrophe in the Gulf should have dissuaded us as a collective from expanding on our fossil fuel dependency. The BP spill should have reigned in our off-shore drilling efforts and effectively shut down the oil rush in the frigid Northern hemisphere. Due to retreating sea ice however, the Arctic- a previously inaccessible region- is now well within the range of fossil fuel patrons, and big oil companies who cannot wait to get a drill in! A spill is inevitable; it is only a matter of time before the receding blanket of white too endures a calamitous black leak. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469064109285-SSRQULFGMRY02JK6XIMV/StripesHorizontalOrVeritcal-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Next Step in Evolution (Copy) Next Step in Evolution This piece relies on two sets of lines to build a contrast, the horizontal stripes of the American flag, and the vertical bars of the same width that suggest captivity. This juxtaposition casts a light on the chasm we have come to perpetuate between our present and our past, which is to the detriment of our future. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469064185066-ER3DZPLPPZ52MU1JKBQO/SameSameButDifferent-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Same, Same But Different (Copy) Same, Same But Different We are all made of the same stuff. Wild is where we come from, wild is why we are, wild is how we will continue to thrive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071108310-DLG5U8LDO3EEF972EP72/DeepRootedTruths-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Deep Rooted Truths (Copy) Deep Rooted Truths Animal rights have always been an implicit part of my experience and vocabulary as an artist, a woman, and a human being, and this ubiquitous awareness ultimately led to my becoming an activist. The way I see it, we humans are animals, and we seem to think we deserve certain inalienable “rights.” However, by not extending these “rights” or “freedoms” to other life forms that cohabit this planet with us as living markers of our own evolutionary and biological development, we ultimately deny ourselves the full potential of these rights. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071226349-QXR1LFHC523GD8A91PP0/RightsRiseAbove-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Rights Rise Above (Copy) Rights Rise Above By denying the parts of us that thrive outside our physical form as wild biodiversity, we are failing to acknowledge our own lineage and story. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469063820646-JFCO9EYQ2Q51K5MJEUMX/BrokenRecord-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Broken Record (Copy) Broken Record This particular work references how nature assimilates our story, over time. The tree ring pattern embeded within the rhino silhouette, portrays how each species exemplifies a specific record of time within the shared history of Planet Earth. Inspired by an early memory of the Giant Sequoia transverse section hanging at the British Natural History Museum, this work contemplates how the Sequoia chornologically documented chapters of human history, from the spread of Christianity, the rise of islam, to the death of Joan of Arc, until the day it was felled. When we take a life, we interrupt and inhibit the osmotic dialogue between all living things that transcends the linearity of tenses, we create breaks in what is otherwise a continuous, and complex narrative. The primary horn of the rhino, reinterprets the sand timer as a blood timer, while the secondary horn displays a metronome with an Ak-47 oscillating back and forth, pacing out the future of this species one shot at a time. The eye of the rhino contains a clock that has its hands at a second before midnight, because if we were to compress geological time in 24 hours, human beings would have manifested only a second before midnight. We, as a species, have had all this impact within that second. We are a small blip on the giant radar of life, but our imprint on this planet is as pronounced as the meteor that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct. Perhaps in growing aware of our impact, we can consciously choose to make that impact, positive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469063820611-3EZSWGPHIG8T8ULP7ZKC/BurningAllRecordOf-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Burning All Record Of (Copy) Burning All Record Of The second image in a series of three, shows an elephant with a tree ring pattern imposed into its silhouette. Like the rhino, the eye of this elephant is composed of a clock that has its hands at a second before midnight, evoking a commentary on human significance. A pendulum with a target swings back and forth, placing a constant mark on the animal, compromising its survival in the wild. The tusk is burning down, resulting in a pile of ashes, which references the confiscated blood ivory stockpiles that are being crushed and cremated in various countries. The blood ivory crisis is a prevalent conservation crime of the Anthropocene, it is a soulless trade that makes a currency of death, by commoditizing life. It condones irreverent consumerism. There is no compassion, compunction or common sense dictating the next take, and that makes the take result in the potential extinction of this highly sentient, social species.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469063821740-2H8T2GL0L6SRDMKUNFXU/RecordOfEnergyEvolution-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Record of Energy Evolution (Copy) Record of Energy Evolution This piece encourages people to empower themselves by reestablishing contact between the wild within and the wild beyond. It impels the viewer to enable a framework of coexistence, by bearing in mind every page of the biological storybook that delivered us, humans, to our current narrative moment. In the end, it is not just important to embrace a new energy economy, as denoted by the energy-efficient light-bulb sprouting from the man's head in this illustration, but to evolve our consciousness to a higher energy orbital. The spiral of the bulb is referential of the helical structure assumed by the building blocks of all life, DNA, which further underscores unity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070775865-KHOTAKZF09IRM3B9BIYW/Asher-Jay-EndTheHornTrade.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Yellow Stars inSight (Copy) Yellow Stars inSight Wildlife trafficking, particularly the poaching of rhinos for their horns, is the scourge of our times. This barbaric trade illustrates the corrosion of humanity, the loss of values, disintegration of integrity and disengagement within our selves. It shows how far we have chipped away at what makes us human. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070783487-E0O548ZCUJTELV4C9USE/Asher-Jay-Tiger-YellowStarsShineRight.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Yellow Stars Shine Right (Copy) Yellow Stars Shine Right We don't see the true value of a tiger, if we did, we wouldn't allow for the atrocious way in which they are being trapped and slaughtered in the wild, and farmed in captivity for TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Tiger Bone Wine, and Tiger Bone Cake. Other big cats are being slaughtered for the same market products, and none of them have any scientifically backed curative and health benefits.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071043075-BO7ZJ6YZ6QJMQ5V1YBJD/Asher-Jay-YellowStarsShedLight.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Yellow Stars Shine Bright (Copy) Yellow Stars Shine Bright Campaign run in 2013 by Elephant Voices. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070793649-LTURIUSUZVQXIS9VHA4B/DontLetMeVanish-Asher-Jay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Ivory Crush (Copy) Ivory Crush The material an artist uses is critical to the message sent across to the viewers. The medium is the message. So to use ivory for any artistic or educational statement is unacceptable. In all the years that I have created campaigns for wildlife, I have never had to use wildlife products to do so. It is a black and white issue, because it is a life and death issue. Do not seed an us versus them paradigm by using the very contraband that you are against the use of. It is illogical. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070798518-3EMKPYB5BYKDPSKQC3SR/CrushedHorn-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Crushed Horn (Copy) Crushed Horn Rhino horn has no medicinal value, to perpetuate it's use only validates the false claim that this product provides the ignorant with a cure or health benefit. This is why neither Pembient's apporach of flooding the markets with 3D printed horns with the DNA signature of extant rhinos is wrong, as is rhino farming. Keep rhinos wild, and alive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070878732-TU4P81QRC11DFJHXECBQ/Countdown250-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - The CountDown (Copy) The CountDown With less than 250 West African Lions scattered across six nations, this subspecies that is more closely related to the Asiatic lion is fast running out of time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071177628-SPOUGNLK1M567T1KPEV3/EnsnaredPaws-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Lost Paws (Copy) Lost Paws With less than 250 West African Lions scattered across six nations, this subspecies that is more closely related to the Asiatic lion is fast running out of time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071120888-829ADNTH9T116UCHGVIE/HerHornCostsMyFuture-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Her Horn Ensures my future (Copy) Her Horn Ensures my future https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071117994-2WOO58GU2ZPRSXQ5XUZO/HerTusksCostsMyFuture-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Her Tusks Ensure My Future (Copy) Her Tusks Ensure My Future https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072244061-G8TR4P7XGIVFF7MUBZRV/GiftARhino-AsherJay-Botswana-RhinoProject.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Worth More Alive (Copy) Worth More Alive This image portrays Rhinos as the high value asset that needs to be handed down to the next generation. Protecting wild rhinos will ensure that the next generation will not only have access to this iconic land mammal but also be able to generate sustained revenue through local ecotourism. While wild has intrinsic value, it is important to promote their economic worth alive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072244799-QVLXCG8HCCKLIT6FOSZP/GiftARhino-AsherJay-SouthAfrica-RhinoProject.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Worth More Alive (Copy) Worth More Alive An extension of the previous campaign. Jay created two iterations of the same concept, one campaign for South Africa and one for Botswana to assure both countries that the translocation of rhinos from SA to Botswana was being done in the best interest of future generations in both nations.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469064125741-WJ10M4ADAHSCFGD5VCBO/Asher-Jay-WhenTheBlindSee.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - When the Blind See (Copy) When the Blind See All Eyes On stripes: Sensual. Strong. Solitary. The motif that was repeated to create the initial utterance of a tiger on the canvas, was an illustrated human eye. The eye offers a conceptual connection to the cat. The eye represents: Awareness. Articulation. Vulnerability. The eye receives and emits light. It looks out and looks in. It is a window to peer through, to reach the soul and the world, a symbol that is revealing and perceiving, seeing through and true. The eye illuminates, understands, expresses, protects, singes, and stares. We can feel truly known by the way another’s eyes take us in and experiences despair and sorrow at being “unseen.”   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072244609-R6UACPYZE3GORFH7ETSL/InHindsight-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - In Hindsight (Copy) In Hindsight Apart from poaching the active destruction of habitat, encroachment as a consequence of infrastructure growth and human-wildlife conflict are the other main causes of population decline for tigers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115823880-EVX19MEKWJVWZ9ACRJ93/Interdependent-Network-of-Intelligence-LargeAP.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - We Are All Thinking Animals (Copy) We Are All Thinking Animals https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469124687352-BTSIRT9C2QVUBKDXLQCN/AsherJay-ElephantVoices-FamilyValues-ChineseGrace-Smedia.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Family Values (Copy) Family Values This work describes not only a loss of individuals from the overall elephant count in the annual census but also the disintegration of elephant families and by extension the unraveling of deeply engaged elephant societies. We are losing an elephant every 15 minutes at the hands of a poacher, which means elephants are losing family members that are vital to their growth and assimilation of trans-generational knowledge. Without such cultural context, an elephant is no longer able to psychologically and emotionally be an elephant in the world today. Much like human beings, elephants are highly gregarious beings that mourn for their dead and connect to their living relatives routinely, when deprived of these natural interactions, elephants become disengaged, damaged and dysfunctional. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469124741852-GYH6AU4THZK9LBB7N9AN/ThumbsUpForTigers-Option-2xtDoubleTigers-wwf-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Thumbs Up For Tigers (Copy) Thumbs Up For Tigers With the aim of doubling the number of people supporting Tx2, Asher has linked the “T” for tigers to thumbs and is asking people to make a unique pledge to tiger conservation by posting their “thumbs up for tigers” photo on social media - giving the Tx2 goal not just one, but TWO thumbs up! Thumbs x 2 = Tx2! The theme of thumbs links perfectly to tigers because each tiger’s stripe pattern is unique to them - just like our finger prints are to us. Supported by WWF, UNDP, Dot Asia and the Tigers for Tigers coalition, the campaign runs from 22nd - 29th July 2016. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469113189772-XUZYQ6FHZGNSCR58KQ78/TigerBoneCake-BrokenWishBones-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Tiger Bone Cake (Copy) Tiger Bone Cake Each tiger is perfect, engineered by evolution to curate the specific context it inhabits. Only a tiger knows how to be tiger. Tigers, like every other terrestrial species currently compromised by anthropogenic stress, do have a voice. Tigers have a voice, but we aren't listening. We don't hear what they have to say, and we simply do not see.   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469113190330-N6FTWNOF1PS745IHRBJ6/TigerBoneWine-InEveryDrop-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Tiger Bone Wine (Copy) Tiger Bone Wine These magnificent big cats are starved, and kept in appalling conditions in tiger farms in east Asian nations, and after a short miserable life they are culled barbarically for their bones. The bones are steeped in rice wine for 50 days then sold as a potency elixir. Stalkers and ambush artists, they hunt with lethal prowess. Each tiger is perfect, to take away its strips and place it behind bars, is to take away the essence of the tiger, and break the wild beast of its spirit and reason to exist. Agile, silent, luxuriant, with sun-like magnanimity, they sift stealthily through grass and jungle as fierce survivors, impregnated with a sovereign purpose; to me they are the devouring divine. They certainly command more respect than we afford them in our bottom-line oriented world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226985-KO27CMRIEUBAISEWAQ15/Asher-Jay-Wild-Chorus-Line.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Sound of Silence (Copy) Sound of Silence The largest chorus line on earth is being silenced one instrument at a time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071113285-2L8WD2TI8543HO3VNK4Z/GlobalConversations-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Global Conversations (Copy) Global Conversations The consumer demand for wildlife products, exotic meats and pets, to produce snake oil cures for human ailments and assert status or individuality for the elite have created profit markets that bank on extinctions in the Anthropocene. This has resulted in a global market place that illegally capitalizes on the exploitation of our planet’s finite natural resources to cater the myopic vested interests of a few, at the cost of many. More recently, this demand has trebled with a rise in the purchasing power of a burgeoning middle class, which has implied the inevitable demise of various species. Only as a conscientious collective can we end such blood stained commerce. Any paradigm that values death above life, is not sustainable, and since we are but one form assumed by life, it is to our disadvantage to perpetuate such self eroding economic models. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115566722-NL86IXV3LIRDF50S93KC/Rearrange-Reality.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Rearrange for Hope (Copy) Rearrange for Hope https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073847180-F2GN3BJ53EVHEWTVIAV0/See-Sense-Stop.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Battered and Bound (Copy) Battered and Bound https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071965396-IWA4WTD62ELGSHV2AHP2/ocean-cauldron-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Blue Cauldron (Copy) Blue Cauldron Stop cooking our oceans. This work describes how burning fossil fuels is resulting in warmer, more acidic waters for marine biodiversity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071637326-TZKJMKTE2422MEO5PG8F/EmissionsEdits-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Between Bubbles (Copy) Between Bubbles A commentary on how carbon emissions results in ocean acidification. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070909091-L1WD1GAEU0E53TZJZ582/MissionBlue-Legacy-WithEveryBreath-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Mission Blue (Copy) Mission Blue Depicts Dr Sylvia Earle, and begs the viewer to ask of themselves what her Deepness does each day, "How can an individual have impact?" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071130864-OIOF0Z7FU4PYI52U33BF/Taiji-AsherJay-EscapingPersecution.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070875110-NMYHYCRI0QWJBBFNXJ7W/CodeBlue-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Code Blue (Copy) Code Blue The work, entitled "Code Blue" is self explanatory in premise. It describes the flat-lining of the pulse of the oceans. A scanned bar-code, that traces a graph describing the rise in fishing vessels in the world's oceans over the last century, extends beyond the plate into the oceans where each sea creature is nothing more than a netted commodity awaiting a moment of frozen aisle transaction. The red plate (a reference to the seafood centric culture in the land of the rising sun) has cutlery crossed on it, to illustrate that its time we stopped eating marine wildlife, and found alternate sources of sustainable protein nourishment. The copy reads "Today's Catch? Yesterday's Wildlife. Read between the lines." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072245980-FY3DBG0IJZ5HUW4TSWMI/jay_asher_CutThroatCaptivity.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606939618419-PX5OLH7EUKS1SIKOV6QR/BlueWhale-Plankton-Mural.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - You Are What You Eat (Copy) You Are What You Eat Blue whales, the largest mammal on earth, subsist on the smallest living organism - plankton. They are intelligent enough to realize this, and thus utilize their excrement to fertilize plankton blooms by consciously discarding their waste into mineral rich upwellings in the ocean, where nutrient rich water circulates up to the surface, creating the right conditions for marine farming. Blue Whales are natural farmers, and grow their own food. They know how to repurpose waste, humanity still does not. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071805200-BNKCZNFAJESWSUYS67O0/EmptyLinesLifelessOceans-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Empty Seas (Copy) Empty Seas This work contains fishing vessels of various sizes, both industrial and recreational harvesting the breath of biodiversity from the blue expanse. The vessels are placed along the outer rim of the planet, to evoke a clock. The network of lines that shape the undulating expanse illustrates the number of lines waiting to hook or sieve out fresh 'catch' irrespective of the hour. The campaign ultimately challenges the viewer to dwell on the uncomfortable but obvious question, "What's wrong with this picture?" The query is in rhetoric, as it clearly suggests a reality where relentless, unregulated anthropogenic take will result in the presence of more marine life on land than in the world's oceans. That's why industrial fisheries worldwide need to be heavily monitored and regulated. Commercial vessels take without compassion, compunction or comprehension, inevitably destroying the very system that supports all life on earth. To further contemplate consequences, I have overlaid a UN FAO pie chart census on the impact of overfishing on global fish stocks. The lightest and brightest quadrant depicts the species that are either depleted or over-exploited. The darker blue portrays those stocks that are moderately exploited, and the small deep green slice by 12 'o' clock denotes those species that are in recovery from over-exploitation. This piece conveys in a glance how our current structure of converting marine commons into commodities fails to account for the inevitable depletion of a finite, shared asset. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073165651-3PGX1T00GDXM0SDPK2X2/asher-jay-The-Cove.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - The Stain (Copy) The Stain This image holds the land of the rising sun accountable for the slaughter of dolphins in its seascape in Taiji by portraying their national flag as a blood stain from the cull. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071101439-ZHDIPZC6QA25N6XVC5UY/asher-jay-EverySoupSlaysAShark.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Every Soup Slays a Shark (Copy) Every Soup Slays a Shark https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072416685-ICLAC3EIVT8GUMWZIT7N/Asher-Jay-Crossing-The-Finish-Line.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Finless (Copy) Finless https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070929848-95MQBNO2EZ491ZOIQ7PR/WildlifeUnderFire-Rhino-SLS-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Wildlife Under Fire (Copy) Wildlife Under Fire The trade in illicit contraband directly fuels acts of terror in African Nations and in the world. Arms, drugs and human trafficking has time and again gone hand in hand with the trafficking of illegally procured wildlife products. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070931854-JSRJJXLT1G57VXMZFL13/WildlifeUnderFire-Elephant2-SLS-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Wildlife Under Fire (Copy) Wildlife Under Fire The trade in illicit contraband directly fuels acts of terror in African Nations and in the world. Arms, drugs and human trafficking has time and again gone hand in hand with the trafficking of illegally procured wildlife products. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071129342-9H1XWIZ8KHU1H6OVPF0S/SocialMedia-OnlineUse-BloodHorn-WA-Asherjay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Blood Horn (Copy) Blood Horn https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071129296-6A00TT33WBRBQ8SQ9MVH/SocialMedia-OnlineUse-BloodIvory-WA-Asherjay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Blood Ivory (Copy) Blood Ivory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071165593-EVVGIOH3FREHRS4E2GDA/Asher-Jay-BloodIvory-Asilia.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Ivory Is Not Art (Copy) Ivory Is Not Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469070882305-P6L06XNICX3RTUZSR7W8/Coexist-LifeUnfolds-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Coexist (Copy) Coexist We all emerge from the same folds of time, space and substance. Jay uses origami crease diagrams to illustrate this premise. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071128605-DKQJ4KSB211NA738L16U/SocialMedia-OnlineUse-BlackTradeWhiteIvory-WA2-Asherjay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Pandas of Africa - Elephant (Copy) Pandas of Africa - Elephant https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071128622-3BCG496JJMZKSC9NSH5A/SocialMedia-OnlineUse-BlackTradeWhiteHorn-WA2-Asherjay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Pandas of Africa - Rhino (Copy) Pandas of Africa - Rhino https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071854367-BNMYDWTLXL3PV10CQFSH/UpInSmoke-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Up In Smoke (Copy) Up In Smoke https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115227171-WM9VRBGM04DIU9WJ02UK/jay_asher_DolphinDripDisaster.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Dolphin Drip Disaster (Copy) Dolphin Drip Disaster https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115227049-YMYBO7IJK21PF0NBUB1O/jay_asher_BrandedBirdFeed.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Branded Bird Feed (Copy) Branded Bird Feed https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072257718-KEPX8PHJTL89ZFGABKTU/DrainstoOcean-AsherJay-Copyright2015.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - All Drains Lead to the Ocean (Copy) All Drains Lead to the Ocean https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072764006-6PS3J0T9G3EFG9V623AG/jay_asher_PlasticAquarium.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Aquariums of Artifice (Copy) Aquariums of Artifice Design sketch for actual installations of aquariums filled with marine debris. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072721728-H03A99JRL4PD4QETF59R/asher-jay-ThePlasticSoup.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Plastic Soup (Copy) Plastic Soup https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226637-SE4W0YRRHH954PXPFSZQ/asher-jay-TransperantSea.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Transparent Sea (Copy) Transparent Sea https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073019522-LHZ9F1RS2MZTC8YEB0QP/Asher-Jay-Blue-On-the-Brain.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Blue On The Brain (Copy) Blue On The Brain https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1606939586739-TYKNYS6M6CJXW4VQ5U69/Life-Beyond_Reservation-ASherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Life Beyond the Reservation (Copy) Life Beyond the Reservation Image created to reflect what it means to be Native American after leaving an Indian Reservation. This illustration by Asher Jay, the author of this piece, portrays a man whose identity is in question, whose individual voice is in need of being amplified, whose headdress is composed of directions he could take if he was allowed the freedom to be, and who has a butterfly, a symbol of metamorphosis on his forehead. His ear lobes are covered in symbols that represent a compass and a target leaving who is within quotation marks, i.e. labels uttered by the outside world. He is also questioning whether to be present, be anchored in the past, the future or in self spiritually. His eyes have been illustrated in a style reminiscent of Kachina dolls, leaving room for the viewer to question if his identity is a stereotype or an archetype. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072833075-JWGFJWSBG2KN51XYMKKB/Asher-Jay-BillionBabyTurtles.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Billion Baby Turtle (Copy) Billion Baby Turtle Using origami to illustrate the undertaking, Jay folded dollar bills into baby turtles to portray the SeeTurtles.org effort to release a hatchling into the sea for every dollar it receives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226486-UB5A14UDQCX60ZQEJZ60/asher-jay-Dream-of-the-Dolphin.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Dolphin Dreamcatcher (Copy) Dolphin Dreamcatcher https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073272917-YFSUCXY3CVSALHRYOA4I/AsherJay-Within-A-Blue%27s-Eye.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Within A Blue's Eyes (Copy) Within A Blue's Eyes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072505779-RMXJ5W7YM6OFFIOOAZ0W/Cetus+Cause+What%27s+A+Whale+Worth.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Save the Whales (Copy) Save the Whales https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072379875-L82HQ024GJFZAFQJHMJ2/jay_a_FlagofFins.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Stark (Copy) Stark The Chinese Flag has five stars, star restaurants in China serve Fin soup, sharks are being swapped for stars to assert status. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072687276-RIZ3U4ZT9X8949QBEKRK/Krill-by-demand-death-by-extension.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Krill to Kill in One Generation (Copy) Krill to Kill in One Generation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115227534-593CDZOW8V1X26C7CT8M/jay-asher-trawler-ticker-tape.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Maui Massacre (Copy) Maui Massacre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072391632-Y65284GHE7CSQAKQEK3M/jay_a_FinSoupSlaughter.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - The Country that Weeps Blood (Copy) The Country that Weeps Blood https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226248-A3MIRP43O8S2O0BMVBWI/Asher-Jay-ABlueBrain.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Blue Brain (Copy) Blue Brain Composed from all the quotes handed in by ocean luminaries for the Message in a Bottle Installation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226862-FVYDV4YEFRA15YOO87G6/Asher-Jay-OceanVoices-BlueHeart.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Blue Beat (Copy) Blue Beat Composed from all the quotes handed in by ocean luminaries for the Message in a Bottle Installation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115506297-QWRES2S4S40T75UBV37L/jay_a_AreWeLifeExtinguishers.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Are We Life Extinguishers? (Copy) Are We Life Extinguishers? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072455020-J3YQREIML36OF8K82NC7/Asherjay-Operation-Linda-Wanyama-Eye-Final.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Operation Linda Wanyama (Copy) Operation Linda Wanyama Created as a branding asset for a field initiative by Tsavo Pride https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469072440249-9EQPKU2EKQG1N6OU0ZYX/AsherJay-logoTsavoPrideFinal.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Tsavo Pride (Copy) Tsavo Pride Logo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073378051-8LNCAAZD653WGSZFR322/BurnTheIvory-FinalLogo-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Burn the Ivory (Copy) Burn the Ivory Logo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226744-MLND7YDDD1PO76YIWXOU/asher-jay-WheresDoorNumberThree.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Wild is Option 3 (Copy) Wild is Option 3 To portray the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji Japan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115226270-Y8P361CBX0VM7RIW3KWK/Asher-Jay-AcidicPoisonStew.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Up the Food Chain (Copy) Up the Food Chain https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115566906-0H8EJL0HRLTO4SMT9KNP/LightAFire-WorthMoreAlive-AsherJay-orange.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Light A Fire (Copy) Light A Fire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073365911-N3BKQ9D74XKM6QPKGBZ9/PlasticFootPrint-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Plastic Footprint (Copy) Plastic Footprint https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073366503-T5BV8JLE82J1WGE4AW9P/ReignOfPlastics-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Plastic Reign (Copy) Plastic Reign https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073366177-KYO4J0GQ97I6MC53CTZ9/PlasticInthePastTense-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - A Plastic is Forever (Copy) A Plastic is Forever https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469073428364-JYH0J2WJ7BE7SE4T54AS/TEDxVailWomen-Naturally-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Wood Nymph (Copy) Wood Nymph https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469115227235-XHOXYGLQEFIFV06P8LJJ/jay_asher_TheCoveTurnsTheEmpireStateRed.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071196608-9GL8Y8FID67SFOBO4ZOJ/ClimateChange-AsherJay_WinterSports.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Powder Incline (Copy) Powder Incline Winter sports relies on snowfall, and with each passing year, less powder covers the slopes of various ski resorts. Athletes who pursue snow boarding and skiing have become the greatest allies of the climate change movement, working toward solutions that can have tangible positive impact. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/578621afb8a79b5539774c72/1469071965104-TJ5EL0YG6Y14LPVXA8TB/NextStepInHumanEvolution-Justice-AsherJay.jpg The WORK - CAMPAIGNS - Knowing Where We Come From (Copy) Knowing Where We Come From Animal rights have always been an implicit part of my experience and vocabulary as an artist, a woman, and a human being, and this ubiquitous awareness ultimately led to my becoming an activist.