💭 Cyrill Gutsch for ODDA Magazine
This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 20th Issue “There is a Time”.
CYRILL GUTSCH
Cyrill Gutsch is the visionary founder of the company Parley for the Oceans, an organization dedicated to leveraging a community of creators, innovators, and decision-makers to help raise awareness about the fragile state of the world's oceans. Gutsch is leveraging his network of big thinkers to come up with, and implement, outside the box strategies that have a singular goal, saving the seas. Ian Urbina, the Pulitzer winning investigative journalist, has spent years on the high seas reporting on the lawlessness that exists offshore. That experience resulted in the book “The Outlaw Ocean,” which was recently purchased by Netflix and Leonardo DiCaprio. Both men are drawn to the big blue as a place of beauty, danger, loneliness, and freedom. But most of all its critical role in the future of humanity on this planet.
CYRILL GUTSCH. Do you remember the moment when we first connected, when you had just come back from your investigation and landed in the Maldives?
IAN URBINA. This crazy German guy I knew started texting me when I barely made it with my photographer out of Somalia. We had gotten caught in a really tough bind and on the way back to U.A.E. and on the flight, I got a text from this guy named Cyrill saying I was needed in the Maldives. I didn't even know where the Maldives were. I was pretty fried and it was quite a contrast to go from Mogadishu to the gorgeous place in the Maldives where Cyrill was soon to be setting up a Parley center.
CG. For some, the ocean is a symbol of peace. We connect remote beaches to the perfect holiday. On the other hand, it is one of the most violent places on earth. Can you describe that space, “The Outlaw Ocean,” this place without laws that you see in contrast to what people usually see at sea?
IU. I don’t mean to undermine the first part of what you said, because it is no less true in the context of my reporting. It is true that the ocean is this existentially gorgeous place. It is beautifully different and through literature, philosophy, and law you can see in history how the ocean was always a place where people got away from life to open their horizons. All of those things are true but because it has always been that and it has always been culturally and legally protected like that, it is this extra-legal space, especially the high-sea that has been defined as this separate space like the atmosphere or Antarctica that don’t belong to anyone, yet belong to all of us. Also, just because of the geography of the space it would be difficult to enforce someone owning a part of it. For all of those reasons, the extra-legal nature of it means that you can do whatever you want and get away with it much easier than you would be able to on land. There is no one out there to stop you. Most people are good and do not engage in bad behavior, but those who do engage in it can do it without real worry.
CG. Technically, it would be possible to see everything that is happening at sea. There are listening devices, satellites, and all types of technology. Where do you think there is that lack of motivation who is watching to interfere with crimes on the high-sea?
IU. I think that you are quite right. The technology is there to see everything out there. It is still fairly expensive. Not for the developed north, but for the rest of the undeveloped countries, it is completely out of reach for governments, citizens, or companies to afford that level of monitoring. But that could change too if there was more collective will to put more satellites up there and to make the satellites more affordable. What is lacking is the centralized will. The nature of politics, governments, the turnover rate of governments. The fact that the organizations that deal with the ocean lack a lobby. The people that work with water generally lack lawyers and journalists that represent their interests. On the opposing side, the ones who want to industrially extract the ocean have a lot of motivations. All of those things put barriers on the government monitoring the ocean although the technology is very much there.
CG. I opened the conference in South Korea about the ocean and they only talked about how they could exploit the sea. I suggested that they should just give the sea a break. I expected that they would throw me out of the room but they applauded me. The defense minister told me that they knew that there was not much fish out there and had many vessels coming back empty. There is a harsh reality that we are this super predator. How do you see the state of the ocean and how life is out there in your eyes?
IU. In some ways, if you look at the historical arc of fishing in the last three decades, it has moved almost from hunting to agriculture because of the advances in technology. In the old days, it was as much an art as it was a science. A good fishing captain would have all sorts of specialized wisdom about the best and often secretive techniques. Now, the key advances have been engines in their efficiency, cold storage for the fish, and filament strength of nets. Also, the sonar and satellite technology means that there is no mystery as to where the fish are. All those things mean that commercial fishing has become dangerously efficient, unsustainably efficient. The extraction that is occurring is way outpacing the replenishment. Personally, I would love to hear about the status of this amazing thing you are doing in the Maldives with Parley.
CG. It was very interesting for us because we started working in the Maldives five years ago. It was the first government that signed a membership agreement with Parley. The president came to New York and we announced together that we are going to turn the Maldives into a future island nation. The idea was to cut down the use of fossil fuels to constitute a battle against climate change. The damage is obvious. The president committed to becoming a champion of fighting against marine plastic pollution as well. This country was really oversaturated with trash. There is debris everywhere. We agreed on a very aggressive agenda and they are moving forward quite well. We consult them on how to change laws, we work with local industry, and the tourism industry as well. We really want to make the country a role model but it is rough. It is a small country with only 500,000 people living there and it is still rough to change a country fast. We want to tackle the problems of marine pollution, but also at some point climate change and illegal fishing. What was remarkable is that in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, we were able to secure an agreement with the World Bank. They endorsed our strategy, “Parley AIR.” “Avoid, Intercept, and Redesign.” These three pillars to fight marine plastic pollution. Together, we declared war on marine plastic pollution in South Asia with 10 countries on board. That was a big milestone for us. Suddenly, we are able to think globally. We are able to talk to people who can actually change the fate of a country and we have access to funding in a totally different dimension. It comes with a new challenge of navigating that type of administration that we are not so used to.
IU. Pivot for a second, and talk to me about when you do a partnership with corporate players, such as Adidas. Specifically you work on really investigating, improving, and innovating the supply chains within companies.
CG. All the environmental issues that we face today are caused by the economy. It is business really that is creating these problems. Narrowing it down, it is the materials and production methods. When you want to drive change at a rapid speed, you have to approach it in a systematic way. Our approach is to go forward with these things called epicenters. We pick potential champions in these industries and turn them around. The rest of the industry has to follow or else they are losing competitive advantage. Even if they don’t realize why they should help, they have to, or else they are being outperformed. That is exactly what we needed to prove. It took us two years to negotiate a contract with Adidas. The end of last year marked five years of our partnership.
Suddenly, a brand becomes a corporate activist that has carried ending plastic as their main campaign where Parley became their main strategic partner. The cause of fighting plastic suddenly was embedded in the business model and that is new. Suddenly, brands stand up and don’t just give a donation. They say that they could be part of a new economy where the purpose is the core of our DNA. That has not happened before on this large scale. This caused a drastic shift in how shareholders look at their entities. What happened in the last five years, is that the conversation really went towards what is the true footprint of our organization. What is the impact that we could have? That is what we need. We need to establish a new business standard, a new idea of why we are doing business. We need to establish new criteria for quality and success.
IU. I have seen a lot of things that feel like major and cultural intellectual shifts that have come from the pandemic. One is from a work perspective, that we have to telecommunicate and realize that it is possible to travel less and also think a little bit about the wasted time in engaging in certain work formalities. Also, since I work on human rights and labor out at sea, a lot of common denominators of all those crimes is a sense of distance and isolation. We all have experienced these ideas through the pandemic and we now have a keener sense of what it feels like to be cut off from each other. When I talk to people about the experience at sea, people can relate more. Those are two small ways in which I have noticed a difference.
CG. I see that people actually become aware that they love nature. They realized that they did not show enough respect in the past and they are craving nature now. They want to see themselves back out there. People appreciate the natural world more and they are consuming content about the natural world. On the other hand, some people also associate the pandemic with that situation. They feel like it pushed nature to the wall.
When I look at the industry, I see way more interest and honestly way more sincere interest to become part of Parley. The conversations are very different. In general, the environmental movement had a lot of traction before the pandemic but now it will be in the foreground. We learned that we are seeking purpose, and we want to be surrounded by people who are responsible. We want to support brands that stand for a cause. We don’t want to waste our time anymore supporting superficial emptiness.
“The extra-legal nature of [the oceans] means that you can do whatever you want and get away with it much easier than you would be able to on land. There is no one out there to stop you. Most people are good and do not engage in bad behavior, but those who do engage in it can do it without real worry.”
IU. If the last four years showed us anything, I think that the next one or two years will show that radical, global action is possible. I don’t think that you’d be able to say that you could stop the economy and make everyone wear masks in 30-60 days yet the pandemic has happened and drastic things have happened. I think that we will see an acceleration of that with the new administration and with the presence of vaccines. Generally, the global public is more aware of doing more radical things if the stakes were high enough.
CG. It was kind of a drill. We faced a global event that everyone on this planet had to experience. You cannot buy yourself out of it. Suddenly, we learned that we can respond to that. We can put trillions of dollars out and restrict things that we thought were not possible before. We can do that with the crisis we face now, the collapse of the natural world which ultimately means the collapse of our species. Even small changes are creating a very big discomfort and can even drive us into extinction.
But I think it is all about being optimistic. It is not about being overwhelmed and scared. Let go of fear and allow the possibility. That is the first thing everybody can do. Try to allow the new and be open to it and support it. With fear, we won’t succeed. The only way I see is to move out of this by accepting the challenge and allow new technology. We have to support alternatives even though they are not perfected at this moment. Cut into this behavior that has brought us here. We live a very wasteful lifestyle that pretends resources are endless.
IU. I would add that it is important to step back and question who you are. We all wear many different hats and in each of those costumes, you have a role to play. It does not have to be grandeur but a conversation with your son or spouse or a check to an organization that helps out are all things that can more proactively help out in small ways. If you just try to think of those in those different capacities and push yourself in each of them it adds up.
CG. As a creative, you are sensitive to things. For a very long time, I felt that there was no way that this planet was going to survive us. We are so selfish. I was very cynical about it. Then I learned that this is a very cowardly mindset. I could use my skills and the creative industry could contribute to solving these crises. The most important thing I learned is that I have a role to play and that I had to find my place in the movement. Also, it is extremely fulfilling to be part of a movement and you don’t have to solve these problems alone. I feel like the creative industry has a very important part to play because these problems are based on the economy which is based on technology, communication, and design. We, the creators, need to own the environmental movement and own the responsibility of it instead of pushing it to people who run corporations. The most important thing is the man in the mirror. Leadership today is all about declaring ownership of problems and really addressing them hard.
“The most important thing I learned is that I have a role to play and that I had to find my place in the movement. Also, it is extremely fulfilling to be part of a movement and you don’t have to solve these problems alone.”
In conversation with IAN URBINA
Conversation curated by JESSICA MICHAULT
Edited by DOMINIC CELEMEN
Photographer DAMIEN FRY
