Frequently asked questions

Edges of Earth is a global exploration, research and storytelling collective focused on identifying real-world climate and conservation solutions. We work at the frontlines of environmental change alongside communities, scientists and local leaders to document what’s working and help scale solutions rooted in lived experience.

We believe the most effective responses to climate change already exist, but they’re often overlooked. Our work is driven by the need to shift the climate narrative from crisis and abstraction to direction, agency and positive climate progress, grounded in real places and people.

Positive deviance is a problem-solving approach that focuses on individuals or communities who succeed against the odds using the same resources as everyone else. In environmental contexts, positive deviants are people developing effective climate and conservation solutions despite limited funding, power or support. Edges of Earth seeks out these outliers to learn from and amplify what already works.

Conscious exploration is an approach to fieldwork that prioritizes ethics and long-term impact. It means embedding with communities respectfully, minimizing environmental footprint, honoring local leadership, and ensuring exploration is never extractive. At Edges of Earth, conscious exploration guides how we do our work, full stop.

No. While we often work in remote and fragile ecosystems, the “edges of earth” are not limited to geography. They also exist in cities, coastal communities, inland watersheds and under-resourced regions. We focus on overlooked spaces, where challenges are acute and solutions are already emerging, regardless of location.

We bring field-led insight and expedition data to mission-driven organizations, helping them align sustainability, strategy and storytelling. We translate real-world climate intelligence into actionable strategies — and because our team spans strategy, research, storytelling and production, we help put them into practice too.

Our theory of change is rooted in positive deviance. By identifying solutions that already work under real-world constraints, documenting them through frontline climate storytelling, and supporting their adaptation and scaling, we help accelerate positive climate progress without waiting for perfect systems or top-down intervention.

They’re intentionally connected. Advisory partnerships help fund the expeditions, while the expeditions generate the real-world insight that strengthens our storytelling and advisory work. This regenerative model lets each part of our work reinforce the others. (We also don’t sleep much and are constantly working — but we love it, so it doesn’t bother us.)

Positive climate progress refers to real-world solutions already addressing climate and conservation challenges. These case studies highlight communities and leaders actively building climate resilience, restoring environments and protecting biodiversity under real-world constraints. And while they know the challenges they’re up against, they don’t use that as the core message of their work — they’re focused on hope and optimism.

The frontlines of climate change are the geographic, social and ecological edges where impacts are felt first and most intensely — coastal communities facing sea-level rise, inland watersheds under pressure, cities adapting to heat and flooding, and remote ecosystems experiencing rapid change. It’s in these places that practical, place-based solutions are being tested and proven every day.

Edges of Earth case studies are expedition-led, place-based investigations that document climate challenges, local solutions and models of positive deviance. They combine field research, lived experience and storytelling to create practical blueprints that others can learn from and adapt.

Our work is published across our own platforms and through trusted global partners — long-form case studies, editorial storytelling, multimedia content, and collaborations with scientific, conservation and media organizations.

Scuba diving lets us access and document underwater ecosystems that are critical to climate stability, biodiversity and coastal protection. Many climate impacts — coral loss, kelp decline, reef degradation — are only fully visible below the surface. That’s why we’ve put so much emphasis on becoming sponsored, professional scuba divers and freedivers.

Yes. Members of the Edges of Earth team are professionally trained and certified scuba divers, with partnerships and sponsorships that support safe, responsible diving in extreme and remote environments. Diving is a research and documentation tool for us, so higher levels of certification are required. SSI sponsored our dive training from 2023 to 2026, while Andi was their first-ever strategic ambassador.

We work with mission-driven organizations across sectors — nonprofits, foundations, conservation organizations, impact-driven businesses and institutions exploring climate- and ocean-focused initiatives. What unites our partners is a shared commitment to building solutions that benefit both people and the natural world.

We often work with organizations at moments of transition — launching a new environmental initiative, expanding sustainability efforts, developing a campaign, rebranding, telling their impact story better, or translating climate commitments into practical action. Our role is to help turn early ideas into strategies that can operate in the real world.

No. While oceans are a major focus, our research and advisory work spans a wider environmental landscape — biodiversity conservation, coastal resilience, sustainable food systems, pollution reduction, habitat protection, climate adaptation, new material science, and how climate and politics go hand-in-hand. Many environmental challenges are interconnected, and our work reflects that reality.

Both. Some organizations bring us in for focused projects — strategy development, storytelling campaigns, content creation or field documentation. Others partner with us for longer collaborations that combine advisory, research and storytelling over time.

Yes. Implementation is an important part of our work. Because our team spans strategy, research, storytelling and production, we can help partners move from planning to execution — supporting campaigns, field documentation and communications initiatives that bring strategies to life.

Most collaborations begin with a conversation. We take time to understand the organization, the challenges being faced and the goals ahead — and we love to share similar case studies from the field. From there we identify where our expertise, from strategy to field intelligence to storytelling, can best support the work.