Jon Bowermaster

Visiting Lecturer in Environmental and Urban Studies

Jon Bowermaster is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, author, adventurer, radio host, six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council, and executive producer at Oceans 8 Films. The Oceans 8 project took Bowermaster and his teams around the world by sea kayak over 10 years (1999–2008) and documented their stories from locales such as the Aleutian Islands, French Polynesia, and Gabon, as well as their findings about how the ocean and its various coastlines are faring in today’s world. His first assignment for National Geographic magazine was documenting a 3,741-mile journey across Antarctica by dogsled. Bowermaster is a board member of Mark Ruffalo’s Water Defense and the Celine Cousteau Outdoor Film Fellowship, chairman of the advisory council for Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, and member of the leadership council of Riverkeeper. His books include Wildebeest in a Rainstorm; Oceans: The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide; Descending the Dragon: My Journey Down the Coast of Vietnam; Birthplace of the Winds; and Aleutian Adventure. Recent films and film series include Ghost Fleet; Hudson River Stories: Hudson River at Risk and Hope on the Hudson; Dear President Obama and Dear Governor Brown; After the Spill; Antarctica 3D, on the Edge; and SoLa, Louisiana Water Stories. His films for the National Geographic Channel include Descending the Dragon and a sea kayaking series that includes The Dangerous Archipelago, Into the Altiplano, The Lost Coast of Gabon, and Around Tasmania. His films have won numerous awards at festivals around the world, including Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival, New York Wild Film Festival, Accolade Global Film Competition, IndieFest, Doc LA, Blue Ocean Film Festival, Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, and others. He is the recipient of grants from, in addition to the National Geographic Society, the Park Foundation, Scenic Hudson, 11th Hour Project, NoVo Foundation, World Harmony Foundation, and Code Blue Foundation, among others.