Citizens of the Sea Ballad and Music Video
Celebrating Climate Week 2026
By David Evans Shaw
In celebration of Climate Week 2026, I composed, and hereby share, Citizens of the Sea—a ballad and music video honoring the ocean and the countless people working to protect it.
The ocean sustains life on Earth. It regulates our climate, absorbs carbon and heat, produces much of the oxygen we breathe, and supports an extraordinary diversity of life. Yet it remains under growing pressure from climate change, pollution, overfishing, habitat loss, and other human activity.
My purpose in creating this song and music video was both to celebrate the wonder and importance of our ocean and to recognize the remarkable achievements of ocean stewards around the world. Their work has produced a rising tide of awareness and action—and a significant, though still inadequate, expansion of ocean protection.
One historic milestone came in September 2025, when the United Nations High Seas Treaty secured the 60 national ratifications required to become international law. The treaty entered into force in January 2026, creating a landmark framework for conserving marine biodiversity in the vast ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It has been an honor to contribute to this movement. As founding chair of the Sargasso Sea Alliance, I played a leadership role in an initiative that culminated in the 2014 Hamilton Declaration—a pioneering multinational commitment to stewardship of the Sargasso Sea, an extraordinary two-million-square-mile high-seas ecosystem.
That work helped demonstrate what international cooperation on the high seas could accomplish. Through the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Ocean Elders, the Aspen High Seas Initiative, The Explorers Club, AAAS, National Geographic Society and other organizations, I have continued working alongside many dedicated leaders to advance the protection of our shared ocean.
Citizens of the Sea is my musical tribute to them—and to everyone who understands that the ocean belongs to no single nation, yet sustains us all.
As we celebrate Climate Week 2026, may we recognize that we are all citizens of the sea—and that its future is in our hands.
