About Ocean Robbins

Founder & Director, YES!

"We are moved to deep humility by the knowledge that even as we are blazing new trails into an as yet uncharted future, we are following in the footsteps of a vast legacy of spiritual leaders and social change makers. The struggle for justice is as old as tyranny itself, and the longing for a world guided by love is as old as the human heart."

-Ocean Robbins

Ocean was born in 1973. When he was seven he organized a peace rally in his elementary school. He ran his first marathon shortly after moving to California at the age of 10. His entrepreneurial talents began to emerge at the same time, when he was the baker, salesman and accountant for "Ocean's Natural Bakery." When his door-to-door sales of natural baked goods began reaching hundreds of customers around the neighborhood, Ocean's work and life became the feature story on the front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The headline read: “Boy Isn’t Very Rich But He’s Got Dough.”

At ages 14 and 15, Ocean facilitated the environmental portion of two international youth summits in Moscow and another in Washington, DC. He met with Mrs. Gorbachev and numerous Ambassadors and US Senators to discuss environmental concerns. His articles began to be published in national magazines.

Ocean with his son, River Robbins

At 15, Ocean was co-
founder of the Creating Our Future environmental speaking tour, on which heand threeother participants spoke in person to more than 30,000 students, presented for 2,000 people at the United Nations, and opened for the Jerry Garcia band in San Francisco. In 1990, at 16, Ocean was founder of YES!, andhe has been the organization’s guiding light ever since. YES! has reached more than 620,000 people in more than 1,200 school assembly and conference presentations. YES! has also organized and facilitated 90+ week-long gatherings for young leaders from 65+ nations, published seven youth action guides, and led hundreds of day-long workshops. Ocean has spent more 16 years as the primary fundraiser and administrator for this non-profit organization. He has personally facilitated gatherings in Singapore, Costa Rica, Russia, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, India, and across the USA.

Ocean is co-author of Choices For Our Future: A Generation Rising For Life On Earth (published by the Book Publishing Company, September, 1994), and speaks widely, spreading a message of hope and inspiration to conferences, companies and organizations. His speaking engagements have included (among many others) plenary presentations for Windstar Foundation, Aveda Congress, Cell Tech Distributor’s Celebration (four years in a row), Bioneers, Social Venture Network, Ecological Farming Conference, Peacemaking: The Power of Nonviolence (with HH The Dalai Llama and other Nobel laureates), Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), Green Festival, and more than 400 school assemblies and college programs. Ocean has been interviewed on more than 70 local and national radio and TV programs and in another 50 newspapers and magazines including feature stories in Time, The Washington Post, Audubon, and The New York Times Magazine. He has served on the Board of Directors for Friends Of the Earth, Creating Our Future, EarthSave International, The Omni Center, and is a founding member of The Turning Tide Coalition, co-founder of the Leveraging Privilege for Social Change program, and founding co-convener of Leverage Alliance. He is a graduate of Joanna Macy’s facilitation intensive, and a certified facilitator of Essential Peacemaking: Women and Men. Ocean's on-going efforts on behalf of a better world have been honored by many organizations, including the Giraffe Project (for people who stick their necks out for what they believe), the National Alliance for Animals (The Compassionate Youth Award), E Magazine (The Kid Heroes Hall of Fame), and EarthSave (Volunteer of the Year Award). Utne Reader recognized him as one of 30 “Young Visionaries” under 30, and both both Time and Audubon magazines chose him as being among the heroes of the new millennium. He is father to River and Bodhi Robbins, identical twin boys born in 2001.

Ocean lives happily in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California, with his parents, Deo and John Robbins (author of the international bestseller Diet for a New America and founder of EarthSave), his beloved Michele, and their twin boys.

To learn more about his conference plenary presentations, click here. To learn more about some of the many workshop themes he can facilitate, click here.