How does Ambassadors of the Environment make a connection with your Group?
It is now becoming apparent that the business of nature and the business of human societies have much in common. A careful look at ocean ecosystems reveals that our more important institutions and enterprises already exist in the sea. An investigation into the business of nature and humanity will reveal delightful insights and maybe even some lessons for us who are looking to create more sustainable societies.

For example, kelp beds and coral reefs are like cities under the sea with large structures (kelp plants or coral colonies), which provide a place for thousands to millions of residents to live. These buildings are quite special. They run totally on solar energy, waste is recycled and used to produce food, there is no pollution or toxic waste and they repair and replace themselves when required. These are good models indeed for human communities of the future.

Below we examine in more detail key businesses and their counterparts in the sea. Activities in which groups can participate will be both field excursions and AV presentations. Staff on site will customize and suggest specific adventures/excursions that will be meaningful to your group and that will provide you a rewarding adventure as many vary from season to season.

Financial
Capitalism and nature have a lot in common. Innovate, in nature species adapt and evolve into new species and in human economies we create new goods and services. In both systems there is competition where the most fit survive. In nature, individual organisms and species compete for food, space or mates and thrive or die. In our world businesses compete and succeed or fail according to market selection. Energy is the currency of nature. It is saved, invested, used and either managed wisely or poorly.

Insurance
Biodiversity is insurance in nature. A variety of species each doing its own job insures that the work necessary to keep the community running is taking place. We diversify our investments because we cannot predict the future. Nature does the same thing by having different species that have overlapping functions. Protecting nature and our investments by diversification is insurance against an unpredictable future.

Advertising, Marketing, Publicity and Communication
In society communication with the goal of selling a commodity or service is often reduced to condensed, highly visible messages. This is especially true in advertising, where simple visual symbols are designed to catch the eye and convey a clear and unmistakable message. Advertising, marketing, publicity and related communication were first invented by nature. Color, songs, decoration, perfumes and more are used by ocean creatures to convey important messages and sell their goods or services. There is even false advertising in the sea.

Information Storage and Retrieval
Information is necessary in any system, human or nature, to keep it running in good order. This information, about how to maintain a healthy business or ecosystem, needs to be kept secure, accessible and easily understood. We invented story telling, then writing/printing, and now computers to manage our data. Nature has also found wonderful solutions to data management, storage, retrieval and security. Stored in the genes of snails, crabs and whales is all of the information needed to make a new one and repair an existing one, along with detailed instructions on how to behave, find food and stay alive.

Medicine
When ill we go to a doctor to be cured. We visit an office where the doctor works and generally wait to be seen. After being treated we pay and then go about our lives, feeling better. In the ocean there are cleaner fish that remove parasites from their hosts. These fishy doctors have an “office” or place where patients know to come and be treated. They usually wait to be treated. Payment to these doctors is in the form of food since they eat what they remove from their patients.

Pharmaceutical Industry
Humans use chemicals to help restore and maintain health. In many cases our pharmaceuticals are “stolen” from plants and animals that originally created these sophisticated chemicals for their own use. Many marine creatures also steal chemicals from other organisms for protection. Some snails, called nudibranchs, don’t make a protective shell and instead use the chemicals from sponges they eat to protect them from predators. We are now prospecting the sea for new drugs and making many exciting discoveries.

To customize your group excursion today, please call Lyn Evins, Director of Ambassadors of the Environment at (949) 240-2000 extension 5839 or via email at Lyn.Evins@ritzcarlton.com.