Jon Bowermaster

Jon Bowermaster, born on June 29, 1954, in Normal, Illinois, is an oceans expert, journalist, author, filmmaker, and adventurer. He pursued his education at Drake University, graduating in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and earned a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from American University in 1977. His early career included working for New Times magazine and co-founding The Daily Planet (later The Planet) in Iowa. He wrote his first book, “Governor: An Oral Biography of Robert D. Ray,” while working in commercial film production, creating industrial films, television commercials, and his initial documentaries for Iowa Public Television from 1977 to 1984. From 1986 to 1998, he worked as a freelance writer for numerous national and international publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Outside, and Rolling Stone.

Bowermaster’s long-standing relationship with National Geographic began in 1989 when he documented a seven-month dogsled expedition across Antarctica for National Geographic Magazine. This marked the beginning of his six-time grantee status with the National Geographic Expeditions Council. His OCEANS 8 project, spanning from 1998 to 2008, involved exploring the world’s oceans by sea kayak, taking him and his teams to diverse locations such as the Aleutian Islands, Vietnam, French Polynesia, and Gabon. This decade-long initiative resulted in multiple books, magazine articles, lectures, an eight-part television series for the National Geographic Channel, and educational curriculum for the National Geographic Society. The project culminated in a final expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula in 2008, documented in his 2009 film, “TERRA ANTARCTICA: Rediscovering the Seventh Continent.”

In recent years, Bowermaster and his One Ocean Media Foundation / Oceans 8 Films team have focused on the “Hudson River Stories” project, a series of short films about the environmental challenges and conservation efforts in New York’s Hudson Valley. His filmography includes over thirty documentaries, such as “Dear President Obama,” produced with Mark Ruffalo, “After the Spill, Louisiana Water Stories, Part II,” and “Ghost Fleet.” He is a Visiting Lecturer at Bard College in the Environment and Urban Studies Department and hosts “The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster” on Radio Kingston. He also serves as the head of the advisory committee for Adventure Scientists and is on the board of Mark Ruffalo’s Water Defense.