Biography

Jon Bowermaster (born June 29, 1954) is an oceans expert, journalist, author, filmmaker, adventurer and six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled.

Jon has written eleven books and produced/directed more than thirty documentary films. His feature documentaries include ‘Dear President Obama,’ ‘Antarctica, on the Edge,’ ‘After the Spill’ and ‘Ghost Fleet.’ He is a longtime contributor to magazines ranging from The New York Times Magazine and The Atlantic to Outside and Rolling Stone.

His National Geographic-sponsored Oceans 8 project took him and his teams around the world by sea kayak over the course of ten years (1999-2008), bringing back stories from the Aleutian Islands to French Polynesia, Gabon to Tasmania, and more, reporting on how the planet’s one ocean, its residents and various coastlines are faring in today’s busy world. The project resulted in an eight-part television series for the National Geographic Channel.For the past several years, Jon and his One Ocean Media Foundation / Oceans 8 Films team have focused on Hudson River Stories, a series of short films about the environmental risks to and hopes for the Hudson River Valley, the birthplace of the American environmental movement.

Jon is a Visiting Lecturer at Bard College, in the Environment and Urban Studies Department. He hosts weekly radio show/podcast, ‘The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster' on Radio Kingston.

Jon lives in New York’s Hudson Valley and is the President of the One Ocean Media Foundation and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. Governor: An Oral Biography of Robert D. Ray, 1987

Saving the Earth: A Citizen's Guide to Environmental Action, co-authored with Will Steger, 1990

Crossing Antarctica, co-authored with Will Steger, 1993

The Adventures and Misadventures of Peter Beard In Africa, 1993

Over the Top of the World, co-authored with Will Steger, 1999

Birthplace of the Winds: Adventuring in Alaska's Islands of Fire and Ice, 2001

Aleutian Adventure: Kayaking in the Birthplace of the Winds, 2001

Alone Against the Sea and Other True Adventures, 2004

Descending the Dragon: My Journey Down the Coast of Vietnam, 2008

Wildebeest in a Rainstorm: Profiles of Our Most Intriguing Adventurers, Conservationists, Shagbags and Wanderers, 2009

Oceans: The Threats To Our Seas and What You Can Do To Turn The Tide, 2010