Angelo Villagomez

I was invited to participate in a panel on deep sea mining organized by the Society for Conservation Biology.  I gave these short remarks and then participated in an hour long panel discussion. Good afternoon, and thank you for the invitation to speak with you today. I want to thank SCB and especially David for organizing today’s workshop on deep sea mining. My name is Angelo and I work for an organization in Washington, DC called the Center for American Progress. I’m going to start my talk by saying something you don’t often hear at the start of a conference panel: I wish I didn’t need to be here today. I wish I didn’t have to think about deep sea mining. Two years ago, I was working closely with the American government, imagining what was possible in ocean conservation. I served on the federal advisory board making recommendations on area based management to the government and was on a national academy of sciences panel studying how to make ocean science more equitable....

Photo credit: NASA My island home was just walloped by Typhoon Sinlaku with 150 mph winds and as much as 25 inches of rain. My colleagues at CAP and I want to point out that, yes, now is the time to talk about climate change and just published a column: Climate Change Is Here—and America’s Most Marginalized Communities Are on the Front Lines . But I am safe in Washington, DC watching on my computer screen and phone. Our coalition partners with the Friends of the Mariana Trench on Saipan and Micronesia Climate Change Alliance in Guam, not to mention my friends and family across the islands, are living this disaster in real time and I want to share some ways that we can help them, and our community. Spread the Word One of the most important things you can do is to try to bring attention to the disaster with your social media. You can share the CAP article linked above, but you can also share reputable news coverage from national outlets, and you can amplify photos, stories, an...

I still remember the first time I watched Chasing Coral on Netflix almost ten years ago. Like many ocean advocates, I was transfixed. The visuals were stunning—time‑lapse coral bleaching, underwater photography that bordered on art, heroic scientists racing against time to document a crisis before it disappeared. The movie did what it was supposed to do: it made coral reefs feel immediate, fragile, and endangered. And yet, as the credits rolled, something felt wrong. It took me a while to put my finger on it, but eventually the discomfort resolved into a simple question: where were the people? Not the scientists. They were everywhere— wetsuits, GoPros, dramatic voiceovers about sacrifice and discovery. The people missing were the ones who live with coral reefs every day: the communities who fish them, pray with them, argue over them, and depend on them not just for livelihoods, but for identity. I remember talking to my friend and colleague Dr. Steven Manaʻoakamai Johnson about it. ...

The God Squad is using the self-inflicted Trump energy crisis to justify expanded Gulf drilling Without mentioning that hostilities were initiated by Israel and the Trump administration, Secretary Hegseth claimed that “recent hostile action” by the Iranian government has made expanded oil and gas drilling a national security imperative. He further argued that production in the Gulf of Mexico “provides a vital buffer, insulating our economy and military from foreign instability.” However, this claim of a national security imperative is baseless, relying on a series of mistruths. Hegseth’s justification is especially specious considering the Trump administration started the war with Iran and has been simultaneously causing global instability through tariffs, illegal wars, and moves that have undercut NATO. Hegseth suggested this action would “power our military and protect our nation,” but the U.S. Department of the Interior reports that offshore oil production is currently already at...

Peter Edwards, Olivia Lopez, Charitie Ropati, and Angelo Villagomez (left to right) at Upwell 2023 discussing metrics for Redefining Conservation Success I hope that you will join me at Upwell: A Wave of Ocean Justice this June 2-3 in Washington, DC. Please register today . Due to popular demand, Upwell is moving to a larger venue this year and we are adding a second day. We are holding this year's event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Day one, held on June 2, has a focus on networking and learning, with four concurrent sessions arranged by theme taking place in classrooms at the MLK library. Day two will take place on June 3 in the MLK library auditorium, with panels, conversations, and plenary addresses. Day one is in-person only, whereas day two will have in-person and virtual options. As Upwell returns for its fourth year, you’re stepping into a conversation that has helped shape how the conservation movement thinks about people, place, and power. What began ...

I was invited to give the keynote talk at the 2026 Mariana Islands Conservation Conference. The organizers of the conference asked me to speak of my role in efforts to oppose deep sea mining near the Mariana Trench -- which I did -- but I also took the opportunity to talk about the history of the Mariana Trench marine national monument. Conservation Tales from the Mariana Trench Before I start I want to thank the board of Tano Tasi yan Todu for inviting me to speak today, and the organizers of this conference. I’ve watched this conference online over the years, and I’m very excited to participate for the first time. I also want to wish all of you a happy National Napping Day. Hopefully you won’t sleep through my talk. I also want to thank everyone who participated in the deep sea mining RFI these last few months. Thank you to brave activisists who spoke up first and raised the alarm. Thank you to the environmental organizations and the government servants who quickly educ...

I'm speaking at a COMPASS townhall on Communicating Risk Effectively at Ocean Sciences meeting 2026 on Monday, February 23.  If you're there, please join us! Strategic Science Communication in Practice: My Remarks at the Communicating Risk Effectively Townhall Good afternoon. My name is Angelo Villagomez, and today I want to discuss how risk communication functions in practice, using the recent 60‑day campaign to oppose deep‑sea mining near the Mariana Trench as a case study. On November 11, virtually no one in the Mariana Islands had heard of deep‑sea mining. Then on November 12, the Trump administration announced a 30‑day plan to begin the process that could open areas near the Mariana Trench to industrial extraction. The timeline was abrupt, the issue was unfamiliar, and our community was completely unprepared for it. With no resources, no prepared messaging, and no existing coalitions, we had to build a comprehensive campaign from scratch—and we had to do it quickly. ...