Fawn Liebengood is a marine conservationist, entrepreneur, and activist specializing in marine debris prevention and removal. She earned her MBA in Nonprofit Management and MAS in Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. After co-founding 808 Cleanups, Fawn moved on to found her recent venture Blue Ocean Warriors as a culmination of her MAS Capstone Research. Blue Ocean Warriors’ mission is to enrich military, veteran, and civilian lives through community-based marine debris cleanups while empowering volunteers in the fight to eradicate marine plastic pollution.
Fawn explains how she developed the concept of combining marine debris cleanups and addressing mental health concerns among our military community today. Fawn and Dan discuss some of the leading points surrounding increased suicide and self-destructive behaviors, the concept of “Blue Mind”, and providing solutions within organizations such as Blue Ocean Warriors, which will be the first military-centered environmental nonprofit corporation of its kind. Listen to Fawn and Dan as they share examples of successfully overcoming feelings of loneliness, isolation, depression, anxiety, deployment stress, and fear of the unknown, through recreational therapy and near peer support.
