Riki Ott, PhD, is a marine toxicologist and former commercial fisherma’m who experienced the trauma and devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill firsthand. This became a vehicle for personal growth and her work in front-line communities to enhance public awareness of the enormous socio-economic costs of our oil dependency.

Ott blogs for Huffington Post, has written several books on socio-economic impacts of oil disasters, and appeared in award-winning documentaries on the nation’s largest maritime oil disasters ('Black Wave' and 'Dirty Energy').

In 2010, Ott was runner up for Huffington Post’s Game Changer in the Environment award for her volunteer work in Gulf coast communities after the BP disaster. In 2015, she received the Grace Lee Boggs Award from the Make It Safe Coalition for her work empowering people to have a voice in energy choices in their own backyard.

Ott directs two projects for the Earth Island Institute: UltimateCivics.org towards a healthy democracy; and AlertProject.org towards a healthy energy future.

Ott earned her doctorate in 1985 from the University of Washington School of Fisheries with an emphasis on the effects of heavy metals on benthic invertebrates. She earned her Masters of Science from the University of South Carolina, SC, Baruch Institute in marine biology with emphasis on effects of oil on zooplankton.