Shifting Baselines Blog: Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller Turn Out for Hollywood Ocean Night

March 25, 2004

Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller Turn Out for Hollywood Ocean Night

“In Hollywood we are sometimes treated to advance warnings of serious issues to come,” Dustin Hoffman said at Hollywood Ocean Night. “I think this evening is our warning for what is headed our way in the oceans.”

Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller were the guests of honor at Hollywood Ocean Night on Monday, March 22, which was a presentation of Shifting Baselines and sponsored by one of the newest SB partner groups, World Wildlife Fund. Over 250 guests packed onto Stage 7 at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood to hear an overview of the problems in the world's oceans and some of the possible solutions. To keep the evening from getting too depressing, the audience was treated to four 2 minute comic films from The Groundlings.

The evening featured presentations by Dr. Jeremy Jackson of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Dr. Daniel Pauly, Director of the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia. Jackson is the lead scientist within the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project. Pauly is responsible for coining the term “shifting baselines,” in 1995.

Attendees included the heads of many SB partner groups (Roger Rufe, Director of The Ocean Conservancy, Charlie Kennel, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Mark Gold, Director of Heal the Bay, Krista Gano, Executive Director of The Groundlings) and a number of other celebrities in addition to Hoffman and Stiller such as Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live) and moderators Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue), Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me), and Amy Smart (“Starsky and Hutch”).

The highlight of the evening was a town hall style discussion in which the audience was allowed to ask questions of Jackson and Pauly. Carl Safina, Director of Blue Ocean Institute and prominent ocean author signed copies of his books “Song for the Blue Ocean,” and “Eye of the Albatross.” Blue Ocean Institute sponsored a seafood reception with sustainable seafood prepared by chef Ben Ford. The menu included Alaskan halibut ceviche, sweet corn cake with Dungeness crab, and Sterling Caviar from farm-raised white sturgeon by Stolt Sea Farm of Sacramento, California.

Ben Stiller, Randy Olson, Dustin Hoffman, Scott Burns (WWF)