Shailene Woodley is leading a new wave of ocean conservation

In the age of hashtag activism, Shailene Woodley knows all too well the potential pitfalls of celebrity advocacy. Which is why, in 2019, when Greenpeace approached her to join an expedition to collect microplastics in the Sargasso Sea, she laid out her concerns before agreeing to partake. “This can’t just be a one and done: ‘She’s on a boat, and it’s sexy, and let’s take the photo and post it on Instagram.’ ” Instead, Woodley wanted to know what Greenpeace’s plan of action was. “If I put my energy towards something, it’s because I know I can actually do something,” she says.  

And Woodley has, in fact, done things. The actress, known for a rich portfolio of roles in everything from the Divergent series (as a stubborn teen) to HBO Max’s Big Little Lies (as a sympathetic single mom), has joined a Greenpeace mission and publicly stumped for a critical United Nations ocean protection agreement, which became international law earlier this year. She has put her on-screen talents to use in conservation-driven documentaries and shows (and, yes, some social media). And, in the mold of Jane Fonda, Woodley has made the time within her hectic Hollywood career to participate in grassroots activism—as when she protested the Dakota Access Pipeline construction in 2016. 

She’s also, for more than a decade, remained steadfast in her desire to produce tangible change beyond photo ops, especially in the realm of ocean conservation. The Sargasso Sea expedition was part of Greenpeace’s larger efforts to support the High Seas Treaty, a global agreement two decades in the making that will establish legal frameworks to protect international marine areas. As a Greenpeace oceans ambassador, Woodley lobbied tirelessly to get it passed. “She spoke to policymakers, participated in some film segments that were directed at UN officials, and spoke to UN officials,” says Arlo Hemphill from Greenpeace. “She very much made herself part of the team.” 

The treaty will help further a longstanding goal to give protected status to 30 percent of the world’s high seas by 2030. “It’s a sign of one massive leap into progress in the future,” Woodley says. “There’s a lot of big international momentum.”

Woodley has gotten pinned as a New-Age type (she once went viral for brushing her teeth with clay), but her conservation work springs from a deep passion fostered at a young age. A true Southern California kid, she always felt at home in the water and has described her relationship to the ocean as “spiritual.” The granddaughter of a naturopath, she also grew up studying the health benefits of different plants before finding ways to merge a lifelong relationship with nature and her career. The next film Woodley is releasing, Ultra, a psychological thriller about an ultramarathoner, required intense outdoor training. “Selfishly,” she says, “some of my favorite experiences on film sets have been when I’ve gotten to work in nature.”

While landing major movies throughout her 20s, Woodley began canvassing voters in rural communities across California. Through that work, she developed a network of organizer friends involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, who exposed her to the nitty-gritty world of grassroots advocacy. “My friends are on the ground grinding … and just hitting wall after wall and not giving up,” Woodley says. “And the thing that exhilarates me is being able to support them in that journey.”

She turned her attention to ocean conservation after joining Greenpeace in 2019 and learning more about the High Seas Treaty. While filming The Mauritanian (2021) in South Africa, Woodley partnered with a nonprofit to lobby for an expansion of that country’s protected marine areas from 5 to 10 percent, which she says helped bring “a lot of attention” to preservation work being done there. (South Africa became one of 145 countries to sign the treaty.)  

Lately, documentaries have also offered Woodley a megaphone. In 2024, she appeared in PBS’s Hope in the Water episode about overfishing and alternative seafood options, which led to an uptick in sales for some of the sustainably sourced seafood products featured in the series. 

Whether she’s on the ground or on camera, Woodley avoids invective or outrage in favor of appealing to people on a more fundamental level. “If somebody is not familiar with who I am or my work or my history, then I sit there and I just explain it to them from a very human-based place,” she says. “It’s on us to do something about this. You might not love me or know me, but we’re in this room together. So how do we create a solution?”