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James Gibson is Chief Executive of the BLAKE, an organization that delivers environmental education and leadership development opportunities for young New Zealanders, primarily using experiential learning techniques. Prior to joining BLAKE, James was General Manager, Partnerships & Communication at Sport NZ, responsible for managing Sport NZ’s relationship with the sports sector, as well as their brand, communications, and partner capability work. He also led the development of their women in sport strategy. James has also held senior roles at Air New Zealand, including Head of Sustainability, where he led development and implementation of the airline's award-winning sustainability strategy, and Head of Sponsorship & Community, through which he developed successful partnerships with the Department of Conservation and Antarctica NZ. James’ passion for environmental leadership, especially the need for future generations to take up the challenge to improve our environmental performance, motivated him to take up the role at the BLAKE. He loves spending time in the outdoors, especially tramping (hiking) and open water swimming, and enjoys a social game of golf or cricket. He is married with two young daughters.
About James’ ee360 Community Action Project
James is using virtual reality as an environmental education tool for his ee360 Community Action project. BLAKE has collaborated with NZ Geographic to create a series of underwater 360-degree videos that showcase the best (and some of the worst) of New Zealand’s marine environment. The underwater ocean environment is invisible to most people and suffers as a result, and the aim of the project is to allow thousands of people to enjoy an immersive underwater experience, without facing the barriers that exist to actually getting out on the water. These videos are used as an educational tool within schools in two ways. The first is through traveling educators who visit schools with a class set of virtual reality (VR) headsets and deliver an inspiration-based session on New Zealand’s marine environment, including what people can do to take care of it. The second is through distributing the video content, with supporting curriculum-based teaching material, via an established digital platform so that teachers can use the resource to deliver lessons in science and social studies. James’ project was fully subscribed for the entire school year within three weeks of registration opening and will deliver the lesson to 20,000 students this year alone. The ambition of the project is to inspire and educate young New Zealanders about the value of the marine environment and what they can do to ensure its long-term health. To view a trailer of the VR footage, go to https://blakenz.org/nz-vr.