MARGARET LEINEN

Director at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Vice Chancellor for Marine Science, at UC San Diego

Margaret delivers the big picture. She sees the oceans as the beginning and end of everything, a place where we can clearly measure the problems but also where we can find the solutions. Not only does Margaret show us how the ocean and atmosphere are connected, but she also explains how we are all connected and thus our decisions have an innately global impact.

At Scripps, scientists are working on ocean-based solutions to the carbon problem. One example is growing algae to use as biofuel. They are using the fundamentals of sustainable practice and their ocean-based perspectives to save our Earth.

“The idea of using everything we generate, that's sustainability. And that concept and the technologies that allow us to do it are going to be the thing that allows us to move out of this 21st century when we'll have to deal with this issue and the consequences of climate change, and move into the next where hopefully we will learn to use our waste efficiently, productively, and to the benefit of not only humans but the planet.”