Preaching Beyond the Choir: how we can bring everyone along in our quest to defend our shared global ecosystem
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Morse B105Morse Building
426 Van Buren St
Monterey, CA 93940 View in Campus Map
Free
Open to the Public

Preaching Beyond the Choir: how we can bring everyone along in our quest to defend our shared global ecosystem
Speaker: Samuel Blaze Naujokas, Program Research Analyst, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Philanthropy Fellow, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
Thursday, October 9, 2025
6:00pm to 7:30pm Pacific Time
In-person event (recorded but not live-streamed)
Morse Building, Room B105
426 Van Buren Street, Monterey, CA 93940
About the Topic
In this talk, I’ll be exploring the lessons my experiences in tribal governance, the intelligence community, and in foundation philanthropy have taught me about how we can build and mobilize more diverse coalitions of individuals, communities, government agencies, and industrial sectors in the service of achieving shared conservation goals.
*NOTE: Any statements shared within this talk are my personal views and are not the views of my current or former employers*
About the Speaker
Samuel is a Program Research Analyst at the Packard Foundation’s Global Ocean Initiative, where he primarily works on the monitoring, evaluation, and learning program, in addition to providing grantmaking support across multiple portfolios within the Ocean Initiative. His work at the Packard Foundation is supported through the Center for Social Sector Leadership at the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business, where he is currently serving as a Philanthropy Fellow.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Samuel was an intelligence analyst at the Washington DC-based non-profit C4ADS, where he studied and reported on global illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing patterns, including groundbreaking research on ultimate beneficial ownership structures of the industrial fishing fleet. Previously to his time at C4ADS, Samuel performed policy research and advocacy on a wide range of environmental issues for an Indigenous government in Southeast Alaska as an environmental specialist, and served as an intern for several major think thanks and conservation NGOs. Samuel holds a graduate degree in International Environmental Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and an undergraduate degree from The Evergreen State College.
Recommended Reading
- The cost of conservation without consent: Astrid Puentes on rights-based environmentalism, Mongabay article, by Rhett Ayers Butler, June 30, 2025
Location: Morse Building, Room B105
The Morse Building is located at 426 Van Buren Street, Monterey, CA, 93940, on the campus of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. The Morse building usually has flags hanging from it, and is located next to the MIIS Our Green Thumb garden. B105 is located toward the back of the building on the first floor. There is a wheelchair lift in the Holland courtyard, and stairs can be avoided by circling the back of the Holland Center and back to Morse. Restrooms are located in the Holland Center. View the campus map.
Parking
Parking is available in any Middlebury Institute campus lot after 5 p.m., no parking permit required, no fee. View the campus map. (be sure to not confuse city lots with campus lots—city lots do charge a fee). Free parking is also available on the street (time limits on surrounding streets end at 6 p.m.).
About the Host
The Center for the Blue Economy is a research center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, that provides economic and policy analysis to support the development of a robust and equitable blue economy for the 21st century. The Center uses the World Bank’s definition of the Blue Economy: the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health. We must maintain ocean health to maintain human health, economic health, and the health of the planet. Climate change is linked, inextricably, to a healthy ocean. Consider joining our movement for Ocean Climate Action Now. Consider joining our Center for the Blue Economy Newsletter List (3-4x per year by email).
Gratitude to Our Sponsors
We thank the Loker Hicks Foundation and the Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward Family Foundation our sponsors.
Questions
Contact Rachel Christopherson at the Center for the Blue Economy at cbe@miis.edu or (831) 647-4183.