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Amelia Labbe
Executive Director
amelia@cointl.org Amelia brings a strong background in marine science, education, and environmental advocacy to her role as Executive Director of Clean Oceans International (COI). Her passion for ocean conservation began during an environmental study program in Belize and deepened through fieldwork studying sea turtles in Mexico. She later earned a Master of Science in Applied Marine Science, where she developed a low-cost protocol for detecting microplastics, empowering NOAA citizen scientists to contribute to ocean health research. Before joining COI, Amelia taught Oceanography at Cabrillo College, inspiring students to engage with marine science and the critical issue of plastic pollution. Since joining COI in 2022, she has been dedicated to expanding the organization’s reach, fostering community engagement, and advancing innovative solutions to plastic pollution. As Executive Director, Amelia leads COI’s efforts to drive impactful change through science, education, and advocacy. |
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David SchwartzEducation Director
[email protected] David Schwartz is the former Department Chair of Geology, Oceanography and Environmental Science at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. After 35 years, David retired from Cabrillo College in June 2021. David obtained a B.S. Degree in Geology and Mineralogy from The Ohio State University in the spring of 1979. For the following 10 months, he worked as a Water Quality Technician for the Environmental Protection Agency in Columbus Ohio. David earned an M.S. degree in Marine Geology in 1983 from San Jose State University and Moss Landing Marine Labs. His emphasis was estuarine evolution and coastal systems and his research focused on the geologic history of the wetland Elkhorn Slough in central Monterey Bay. After graduate school, David taught at Hartnell College in Salinas and San Jose State University for the next 3 years. Professor Schwartz found a home at Cabrillo College in 1986 and successfully taught generations of Santa Cruz area residents about earth, marine, and environmental science and about putting in the hard work success requires. David’s mother was born and raised in Asbury Park NJ and his love of the oceans began in the 1960s and matured for over 50 years during dozens of summers playing with family in the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1970’s David attended an SOS protest raising awareness about illegal hospital waste dumping, and contaminated needles washing ashore from Atlantic City to NY, opening his eyes to the political aspect of environmentalism. His ongoing passion is to clean up the shoreline environment and raise awareness of global marine plastic debris. He has hosted over 45 coastal cleanups in the span of 24 years and is proud to be an active member of Clean Oceans International since 2011. |
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Patricia Lieberg-ClarkEnvironmental Plastic Assessment Program Coordinator
[email protected] Patti grew up in Huntington Beach, California, and fell in love with the ocean at an early age. She attended Orange Coast College, where she assisted with shipboard marine mammal photo-ID research off the coast of southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Patti transferred to UC Santa Cruz and earned a Bachelor’s degree with a senior thesis on marine mammal pollution ecology. In addition, she was the Research Coordinator for the NMFS (NOAA) Marine Mammal Stranding Network at UCSC's Long Marine Lab for six years after completing her degree. Patti crewed in two blue water sailing voyages; one from Santa Barbara to Mexico's Gulf of California, and one from west to east through the Panama Canal and exploration of the San Blas Islands. She was shocked to observe incredible amounts of plastic debris in the remote regions she visited. Patti became involved with COI in 2010 while working for Cabrillo College Oceanography, Geology, and Environmental Science Department, where she helped start an educational collaboration and internship program. She has worked for COI as Expedition Coordinator and has been serving on the Board of Directors since January 2018. In 2021, Patti earned a MAS degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, where she studied coastal blue carbon ecosystems and worked as a research assistant for the Scripps-Rady Plastic Pollution Challenge. She has returned to Santa Cruz, where she enjoys hiking, kayaking, sailing, wildlife biology, geology, and coffee. |