By Daniel de la Calle
»When the media loves something it just takes over the internet. News came out yesterday about the new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute titled "Valuing the Ocean" where marine experts analyzed the most severe threats facing the world's marine environment and estimated the cost of damage a year coming from Ocean Acidification, sea level rise, global warming, pollution, species migration and increased intensity in tropical cyclones. The Swedish institution believes that by the year 2100 it could reach $2 trillion a year. Amongst all the possible links I could give you to this same news, HERE is one that appropriately comes from the business section of the Chicago Tribune.
Oh, those figures do not take into account the possibility of small island states disappearing by rising seas or the impact of warming on the ocean's basic processes, such as nutrient recycling.
»If you have never seen it before, this is your chance to watch an Ocean Acidification buoy deployment (in Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary, Massachusetts, last year):
»Today is World Water Day, next week it will be Earth Hour. All these initiatives have such a bittersweet aftertaste, like some art of frustrating encouragement.
»Lecture on Climate Change and Ocean Acidification this Sunday, March 25th, at Joyce Beers Community Center, in San Diego, California. Daniel Richter, PhD candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography will deliver the lecture, which is this month's meeting of the SD Association for Rational Inquiry.
SOURCE
»Today, March 22nd, from 6 to 8PM, there will be an Ocean Acidification Seminar at the Padilla Bay Reserve - 10441 Bayview-Edison Rd. Mt Vernon, WA 98273
I read on their website: "Are you curious about the effects of carbon pollution on our oceans? Join two of Washington state's leading science and policy experts to learn about this issue and new research in Washington state. This event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Northwest Straits Commission, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and the Whatcom and Skagit Marine Resources Committees."
SOURCE
»On Friday March 30th the "College of Science and Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will present Dr. Bill Landing, professor of oceanography at Florida State University, who will speak on “Mercury Deposition in the Gulf of Mexico” on Friday, March 30, at 3:30 p.m. in the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, conference room 127."
SOURCE
»Playlist of 9 Youtube Videos of panel discussions at the Ocean Acidification Symposium 2011, held at the Univ. Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, Seattle, Washington, sponsored by Washington Sea Grant, HERE
»Hermie, the hermit crab:
 | | | | | | | | |
All Sorts Of News
Thursday, March 22, 2012
President Obama And The Giant Pteropods
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
By Daniel de la Calle
A couple news for the first half of the week:
»US President Barak Obama's weekly address this past Saturday was a remarkable attempt at pushing for a more environmental and alternative energy agenda while making it sound like the opposite. Speaking from a jet-engine factory Mr. Obama seemed to be talking about aircraft manufacture on American soil, about national oil production being at an 8-year high and about the opening of millions of acres for oil drilling, but all that wrapping was the necessary "spoonful of sugar" to once again try to make the renewable, clean and efficient energy "medicine" go down the reluctant American public. It is worth watching everywhere, here in Europe as well; we are talking about the place where 20% of the world's oil gets burned:
»Sculptor Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh recently created "The Pteropod Project: Charismatic Microfauna", a series of 12 sculptures enlarged over 3,000 times of our friend and co-protagonist in A Sea Change, the "winged foot" pteropod. To make it come to life she collaborated with Dr. Gareth Lawson, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Read an essay by Ms. Kubler on The Pteropod Project HERE
If you live in NYC you will also have the chance to see the exhibit at the Blue Mountain Gallery May 22 - June 16 2012.
© 2011
Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh. All Rights Reserved
»A SEA CHANGE screening in Kansas City tonight (Tuesday March 13t) at 7PM, at the Bragg Auditorium (All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church).
DIRECTIONS
Symposia, Volunteer Work, A Job Offer And A Video
Friday, March 09, 2012
By Daniel de la Calle
»The Georges River Tidewater Association seeks volunteers to monitor acidification in St. George Estuary (Maine).
"GRTA has been developing a monitoring program with assistance from Friends of Casco Bay, the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. GRTA is investing in sampling equipment, but needs citizen volunteers to launch the program this spring. To learn how to participate, come to a meeting Saturday, March 10 at 9 a.m. at Watts Hall, 174 Main St.,Thomaston -- starting with refreshments at 8:30 a.m., followed by a presentation by Dr. Curtis Bohlen, Director, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership on The Vital Role for Citizen Scientists in Protecting Our Waters, and an introduction to water monitoring methods and equipment."
For more Information: Sherry Frazer, phone 354-0709, email gsfrazer@myfairpoint.net.
SOURCE
»Starting May 1st 2012, the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Naturalis has a position available for a PhD student (4 years).
PhD project: Evolution in marine planktonic gastropods:
"As a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2, the world’s oceans are warming and slowly becoming more acidic. Understanding the implications of these changes for marine organisms and ecosystems is still in its infancy, but recent studies have shown that calcification is one of the physiological processes that is severely impacted. Euthecosomes (shelled holoplanktonic gastropods) have delicate aragonite shells and have been identified as exceptionally vulnerable to rising CO2. It is well-known that intraspecific variation is important for a species adaptive potential, but virtually nothing is known about critical intraspecific genetic or phenotypic variation in this group. For selected species the PhD student will examine intraspecific morphological and molecular variation. Using naturally occurring gradients in the degree of ocean acidification across spatial and temporal scales, he/she will examine vulnerability to ocean acidification, historical population demography, and molecular signatures of selection."
If interested you must submit your application before April 1st to THIS email address.
Click HERE FOR MORE INFO
»Third Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World on September 21-24 in Monterey, California.
"Like the first two symposia in this series, the Monterrey symposium is expected to attract many of the world’s leading ocean scientists to discuss the impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms, ecosystems, and biogeochemical cycles, as well as social and economic consequences of ocean acidification. The first three days of the symposium will feature plenary, parallel, and poster sessions that will provide an opportunity for presentations of the latest scientific results and discussions of the state of research in ocean acidification. The fourth day will focus on the policy implications of ocean acidification, starting with a summary of the scientific presentations and continuing with panels of eminent policymakers who will comment on how the science of ocean acidification is impacting policy at national and international levels.
The symposium will cover 16 topics. Ten of the topics will be introduced by plenary presentations and an additional 6 topics will be handled only in parallel sessions. As of now, each of the 16 topics will have its own parallel session, although some topics eventually may be combined, depending on the number of abstracts submitted for each topic. Abstracts may be submitted for any of these 16 topics:
PLENARY PRESENTATION TOPICS
Opening: The history of ocean acidification science
Peter Brewer (United States) 1. Changes in ocean carbonate chemistry since the Industrial Revolution
Richard Zeebe (United States) 2. Rates of change of ocean acidification: Insights from the paleorecord
Daniela Schmidt (United Kingdom) 3. Interactions of ocean acidification with physical climate change
Laurent Bopp (France) 4. Responses of marine organisms and ecosystems to multiple environmental stressors (ocean acidification, hypoxia, temperature, UV, etc.)
Hans-Otto Poertner (Germany) 5. Acclimation and adaption to ocean acidification: Genomics, physiology, and behavior
Gretchen Hofmann (United States) 6. Ecosystem change and resilience in response to ocean acidification
Steve Widdicombe (United Kingdom) 7. Biogeochemical consequences of ocean acidification and feedbacks to the Earth system
Richard Matear (Australia) 8. Understanding the economics of ocean acidification
Luke Brander (Hong Kong, China) 9. Policy and governance in the context of ocean acidification: Implications, solutions, and barriers
Victor Galaz (Sweden) 10. Impacts of ocean acidification on food webs and fisheries
Beth Fulton (Australia)
The Third Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World is convened by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and the International Geosphere – Biosphere Program"
SOURCE
INFO on how to take part in it.
»Between July 9th and July 13th "the brightest minds in coral reef science and management will descend upon Australia for the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS 2012) at the Convention Centre in Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef."
"Reports from the event will focus on topics including the link between climate change, coral bleaching, and ocean acidification; sustaining coral fisheries that support millions worldwide; the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas; and the social and economic benefits of coral reef management."
MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION
SOURCE
»UK's National Science and Engineering Week is taking place until tomorrow, Saturday March 10th, in Bristol. University of Bristol researchers and PhD students have created some interesting tables on the world's climate and Ocean Acidification:
"Carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is not only causing climate change but also making the oceans more acidic.
Race against your friends to make your water more acidic by blowing through a straw!
Try making sea shells bend and fizz with vinegar.
See how burning candles makes the surface of our “ocean” more acidic."
PRESS RELEASE
SOURCE
»Earlier this week we posted about the Global Partnership for Oceans initiative led by the World Bank. This is a video with words from people like Silvia Earle, Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla or UNESCO's Wendy Watson-Wright, community leaders and marine ecologists that puts images and words to the ideas behind the partnership.
»The Georges River Tidewater Association seeks volunteers to monitor acidification in St. George Estuary (Maine).
"GRTA has been developing a monitoring program with assistance from Friends of Casco Bay, the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. GRTA is investing in sampling equipment, but needs citizen volunteers to launch the program this spring. To learn how to participate, come to a meeting Saturday, March 10 at 9 a.m. at Watts Hall, 174 Main St.,Thomaston -- starting with refreshments at 8:30 a.m., followed by a presentation by Dr. Curtis Bohlen, Director, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership on The Vital Role for Citizen Scientists in Protecting Our Waters, and an introduction to water monitoring methods and equipment."
For more Information: Sherry Frazer, phone 354-0709, email gsfrazer@myfairpoint.net.
SOURCE
»Starting May 1st 2012, the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Naturalis has a position available for a PhD student (4 years).
PhD project: Evolution in marine planktonic gastropods:
"As a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2, the world’s oceans are warming and slowly becoming more acidic. Understanding the implications of these changes for marine organisms and ecosystems is still in its infancy, but recent studies have shown that calcification is one of the physiological processes that is severely impacted. Euthecosomes (shelled holoplanktonic gastropods) have delicate aragonite shells and have been identified as exceptionally vulnerable to rising CO2. It is well-known that intraspecific variation is important for a species adaptive potential, but virtually nothing is known about critical intraspecific genetic or phenotypic variation in this group. For selected species the PhD student will examine intraspecific morphological and molecular variation. Using naturally occurring gradients in the degree of ocean acidification across spatial and temporal scales, he/she will examine vulnerability to ocean acidification, historical population demography, and molecular signatures of selection."
If interested you must submit your application before April 1st to THIS email address.
Click HERE FOR MORE INFO
»Third Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World on September 21-24 in Monterey, California.
"Like the first two symposia in this series, the Monterrey symposium is expected to attract many of the world’s leading ocean scientists to discuss the impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms, ecosystems, and biogeochemical cycles, as well as social and economic consequences of ocean acidification. The first three days of the symposium will feature plenary, parallel, and poster sessions that will provide an opportunity for presentations of the latest scientific results and discussions of the state of research in ocean acidification. The fourth day will focus on the policy implications of ocean acidification, starting with a summary of the scientific presentations and continuing with panels of eminent policymakers who will comment on how the science of ocean acidification is impacting policy at national and international levels.
The symposium will cover 16 topics. Ten of the topics will be introduced by plenary presentations and an additional 6 topics will be handled only in parallel sessions. As of now, each of the 16 topics will have its own parallel session, although some topics eventually may be combined, depending on the number of abstracts submitted for each topic. Abstracts may be submitted for any of these 16 topics:
PLENARY PRESENTATION TOPICS
Opening: The history of ocean acidification science
Peter Brewer (United States) 1. Changes in ocean carbonate chemistry since the Industrial Revolution
Richard Zeebe (United States) 2. Rates of change of ocean acidification: Insights from the paleorecord
Daniela Schmidt (United Kingdom) 3. Interactions of ocean acidification with physical climate change
Laurent Bopp (France) 4. Responses of marine organisms and ecosystems to multiple environmental stressors (ocean acidification, hypoxia, temperature, UV, etc.)
Hans-Otto Poertner (Germany) 5. Acclimation and adaption to ocean acidification: Genomics, physiology, and behavior
Gretchen Hofmann (United States) 6. Ecosystem change and resilience in response to ocean acidification
Steve Widdicombe (United Kingdom) 7. Biogeochemical consequences of ocean acidification and feedbacks to the Earth system
Richard Matear (Australia) 8. Understanding the economics of ocean acidification
Luke Brander (Hong Kong, China) 9. Policy and governance in the context of ocean acidification: Implications, solutions, and barriers
Victor Galaz (Sweden) 10. Impacts of ocean acidification on food webs and fisheries
Beth Fulton (Australia)
The Third Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World is convened by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and the International Geosphere – Biosphere Program"
SOURCE
INFO on how to take part in it.
»Between July 9th and July 13th "the brightest minds in coral reef science and management will descend upon Australia for the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS 2012) at the Convention Centre in Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef."
"Reports from the event will focus on topics including the link between climate change, coral bleaching, and ocean acidification; sustaining coral fisheries that support millions worldwide; the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas; and the social and economic benefits of coral reef management."
MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION
SOURCE
»UK's National Science and Engineering Week is taking place until tomorrow, Saturday March 10th, in Bristol. University of Bristol researchers and PhD students have created some interesting tables on the world's climate and Ocean Acidification:
"Carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is not only causing climate change but also making the oceans more acidic.
Race against your friends to make your water more acidic by blowing through a straw!
Try making sea shells bend and fizz with vinegar.
See how burning candles makes the surface of our “ocean” more acidic."
PRESS RELEASE
SOURCE
»Earlier this week we posted about the Global Partnership for Oceans initiative led by the World Bank. This is a video with words from people like Silvia Earle, Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla or UNESCO's Wendy Watson-Wright, community leaders and marine ecologists that puts images and words to the ideas behind the partnership.
Reconsider Your Shrimp
Thursday, February 23, 2012
By Daniel de la Calle
» Williams College, in Williamstown, Mass. is hosting an Oceans Symposium and next Monday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer at The New Yorker, will lead a discussion following a showing of A Sea Change, Imagine a World Without Fish.
» Beautiful new documentary on the oceans is out this year: The Last Reef, Cities Beneath The Sea. Go to their website (www.thelastreef.co.uk) and read how this project, that started out as a 3D "macro movie based in Palau", turned into an alarm call on the biggest threat to coral reefs worldwide: Ocean Acidification.
» Reconsider your shrimp. A one pound bag of frozen shrimp raised on a typical Asian fish farm produces an astounding one ton of CO2. At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science biologist J. Boone Kauffman (Oregon State University) developed the comparison to help the public understand the environmental impact of land use decisions. "The carbon footprint of the shrimp from this land use is about 10-fold greater than the land use carbon footprint of an equivalent amount of beef produced from a pasture formed from a tropical rainforest."
Mr. Kauffman said 50 to 60 percent of shrimp farms are located in tidal zones in Asian countries, mostly on cleared mangrove forests. The farms are inefficient, producing just one kilogram of shrimp for 13.4 square meters of mangrove, while the ponds created are abandoned in just three to nine years because disease, soil acidification and contamination destroy them. After abandonment, the soil takes 35 to 40 years to recover.
LINK to the original article, from Agence France Presse.
» Lecture on Ocean Acidification and the Future of Native Oysters in California Estuaries taking place tomorrow, February 24, at noon at Stanford University. It is sponsored by Hopkins Marine Station. More info HERE.
» And from the other side of the Atlantic, "Analyses of the effects of Ocean Acidification on the larval development of Crassostrea gigas", AKA Pacific oyster on Ms. Patrícia Barros Masters Theses. Info HERE.
» New video filled with European flair on Ocean Acidification, the EPOCA program and the public's awareness on the issue.
» Post Doctoral position at IMR. The Institute of Marine Research has a 3 year position as postdoctoral researcher on the effects of Ocean Acidification on marine zoooplankton, with special emphasis on krill. The position is located in Bergen, Norway. Find out about qualifications and further details HERE.
» The Second UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme annual science meeting will take place at the University of Exeter from Monday, April 16th to Wednesday, April 18th. If you are a UKOARP particiant you can register online HERE. For further reading, click HERE.
» Williams College, in Williamstown, Mass. is hosting an Oceans Symposium and next Monday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer at The New Yorker, will lead a discussion following a showing of A Sea Change, Imagine a World Without Fish.
» Beautiful new documentary on the oceans is out this year: The Last Reef, Cities Beneath The Sea. Go to their website (www.thelastreef.co.uk) and read how this project, that started out as a 3D "macro movie based in Palau", turned into an alarm call on the biggest threat to coral reefs worldwide: Ocean Acidification.
» Reconsider your shrimp. A one pound bag of frozen shrimp raised on a typical Asian fish farm produces an astounding one ton of CO2. At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science biologist J. Boone Kauffman (Oregon State University) developed the comparison to help the public understand the environmental impact of land use decisions. "The carbon footprint of the shrimp from this land use is about 10-fold greater than the land use carbon footprint of an equivalent amount of beef produced from a pasture formed from a tropical rainforest."
Mr. Kauffman said 50 to 60 percent of shrimp farms are located in tidal zones in Asian countries, mostly on cleared mangrove forests. The farms are inefficient, producing just one kilogram of shrimp for 13.4 square meters of mangrove, while the ponds created are abandoned in just three to nine years because disease, soil acidification and contamination destroy them. After abandonment, the soil takes 35 to 40 years to recover.
LINK to the original article, from Agence France Presse.
» Lecture on Ocean Acidification and the Future of Native Oysters in California Estuaries taking place tomorrow, February 24, at noon at Stanford University. It is sponsored by Hopkins Marine Station. More info HERE.
» And from the other side of the Atlantic, "Analyses of the effects of Ocean Acidification on the larval development of Crassostrea gigas", AKA Pacific oyster on Ms. Patrícia Barros Masters Theses. Info HERE.
» New video filled with European flair on Ocean Acidification, the EPOCA program and the public's awareness on the issue.
» Post Doctoral position at IMR. The Institute of Marine Research has a 3 year position as postdoctoral researcher on the effects of Ocean Acidification on marine zoooplankton, with special emphasis on krill. The position is located in Bergen, Norway. Find out about qualifications and further details HERE.
» The Second UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme annual science meeting will take place at the University of Exeter from Monday, April 16th to Wednesday, April 18th. If you are a UKOARP particiant you can register online HERE. For further reading, click HERE.
Ocean Acidification News, Again
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
By Daniel de la Calle
I know it has been a while since we last posted news about Ocean Acidification and other related environmental problems on the blog. In an effort to catch up with the latest information out there, here we offer a first list:
•Scientists launched the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study in the hope of answering all skeptics' doubts and suspicions about global temperature rise. It is highly unlikely any amount of information or further work will convince those who base their lives on not believing that they were wrong, but the numbers are pretty unanswerable and the results are basically the same as we knew (by the way, this time after comparing 1.6 billion temperature reports). We recommend THIS article by Kelly Levin or to THIS NY Times piece to get more details.
•The Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology has set up an expedition to One Tree Island with the purpose of improving our understanding of the effects of Ocean Acidification on coral reefs. There will be a video research diary of those 25 days in Australia with Ken Caldeira and Jack Silverman. Here is the first:
And HERE another.
•Washington Sea Grant has organized a symposium on Ocean Acidification on November 9th at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture. The scientific panel will be moderated by Richard Feely and a policy/public perception panel by former US Congressman Brian Baird, author of the 2009 Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act. More info on the previous link and HERE.
•Another Symposium, in the more distant future: The Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World. From September 24th to 27th in Monterey, California. More details HERE.
•This is a cool video that shows about how to make your own soda pop or carbonated milk at home. It can also serve to demonstrate the effects of Ocean Acidification with a little imagination:
•The Institute of Marine Research has an open position as postdoctoral researcher on the effects of Ocean Acidification on marine zooplankton. More information on the EPOCA website link HERE. It is your chance, postdoctoral scientist reading our blog, to live in beautiful Bergen, Norway. We were there for the filming of A Sea Change and liked it very much.
•350.ORG is promoting a symbolic encircling of the "White House to ask President Obama to reject Keystone XL and to live up to his promise to free us from the tyranny of oil."
They will start at 2PM, carrying signs with Obama's own words to serve as reminders of his promises. More info HERE.
•And finally, one more video from NOAA on how carbon emissions influence Ocean Acidification:
Sanctuary
Sunday, October 16, 2011
By Daniel de la Calle
Islands make for miniature universes, like snow globes: they transform a few miles distance into the crossing of a continent, produce insular dwarfism (where even the animals try to scale down and look only into the restricted cosmos) and remarkable adaptation from its species. I know what it is like, I was born an islander and have spent long periods of time on them. For this reason alone a festival like Sea Flower Film Fest on speck-sized and bucolic San Andrés is of particular importance. While during this visit its residents seemed mainly focused on self determination and/or independence from mainland Colombia, while they were trying to discern who is a "true local" from the mere "newcomers" of a generation or two in the highly populated archipelago, both the festival organizers and filmmakers taking part in the four day event expressed a more ample view of the world we currently live in: a place of interconnectedness, with no more safe harbors. A confrontation now, in the XXI Century about entitlement and territory is absurdly futile, more dangerous than ever.
Personally, I only want to hear about unity and the adoption of global policies, want to worry about the planet as a whole and have very little patience for the waving of flags and the singing of national anthems. San Andresians need to hear that no quantity of water between us and the mainland makes us different, grants us sanctuary any more.
Local kids bond and bring lunch home in Taganga, Colombia.
Our own screening at the festival went really well. We had an enthusiastic exchange of questions and answers that spilled out into the hallways of Hotel Sunrise, the festival venue. It felt good to talk on a coralline island about the overwhelming threat of Ocean Acidification, its people must be even more touched by the magnitude of the changes we are about to encounter, since they will be able to witness them from their kitchen windows and corals are of such importance to them, even to their economy. And while there is an element of sadness intrinsic to it all, talking about bad things is clearly very comforting as well; to me it always feels like the first step in the right direction, that of information as a prelude to action.
So to continue informing, the following morning, before leaving for Bogotá we did an impromptu screening with undergraduate students at the island's Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Some of the faculty staff are doing research on Ocean Acidification and I was asked questions about making films as well as about the oceans. I tried to stress the message to these students that as much as we need good scientists to dig the data we are in desperate need of intelligent, charismatic and motivated young people willing to talk about it to the population, the media and the decision makers.
The Universidad Nacional de Colombia in San Andrés, an example of architectural insular dwarfism. What a dream to study at a place like this, ten meters away from the water.
Link to an article on the festival and A Sea Change on the local press:
http://www.elisleño.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2603:catarata-de-cine-ambiental-en-el-seaflower-fest&catid=39:cultura&Itemid=82
That Elusive Golden Past
Saturday, June 11, 2011
By Daniel de la Calle
The screening at Maloka and the countless interviews in Bogotá couldn't have gone any better. Some sort of miracle, some magic must have turned my pumpkin backpack into the Ocean Acidification ambassador's golden chariot (caught up in the worst traffic jams ever, though!) and I was welcomed like royalty, asked for hours by journalists, interviewed on radio shows, by inquisitive citizens and environmentalists about the film and the state of our oceans.
What the city of Bogotá lacks in charms and warmth the people certainly make up with contagious enthusiasm, cordiality, pure interest and politeness. Colombians, Bogotanos at least, strike me as hard working, serious, punctual and unnecessarily apologetic people. They feel an urge to talk about the dreadful 80s and 90s, about the violence those days, the killings, the bombings and the plague of corruption that rotted their natural desire for peace and progress. It is as if they felt that it was their personal fault that the rest of the world looks their way with disdain and fear, as if each one of them is individually responsible for how they have been stigmatized. I think few places need more desperately a worldwide PR campaign than Colombia. Bogotanos are certainly the first to warn you of the many dangers, the first to list the places you cannot wander around at night and the ones you never step into, but everyone also agrees that things are not the way they used to, that they have improved. On my way to the airport yesterday morning my loyal cab driver Ángel, the man I spent so many hours with, explained in his subdued voice: "The problem in the 80s and 90s was that the cocaine producers were also involved in all the distribution abroad. The business was in the hands of a couple drug lords that had too much power and felt invincible, stopped at nothing; they fought each other, fought the government, fought the people. Over these past 15 years things have changed. There are many small producers now, and after all the brutal violence and hunt down they have decided it is ok to have less power but also enjoy quieter life. They do not want that incessant war within Colombia, so they passed the distribution business to Mexico. And look how things are there now, like here 25 years ago. Well, almost."
The way things looked during most of my time in Bogotá, wih Ángel.
Thanks to the FESTIVER staff, Colombia's first environmental film festival that A Sea Change will be a part of in the early fall, I toured all the major newspapers and news agencies and did numerous phone interviews for radio shows. I am not very good with this sort of work, bore myself way too easily if I say the same things and crack the same jokes, so I end up changing my lines and "routine" at every screening, on live interviews, with that young journalist obsessed with Alaska. Unfortunately, the message does not always come as clear or interesting as as tested, rehearsed and memorized version and this pursue of the new leaves me exhausted. But I do not want to sound negative, we could have never dreamed of a coverage as exhaustive as this, that people would show such interest and show for screenings they way the have.
The Thursday event organized by Instituto Humboldt at MALOKA
Their invitation to the screening
was in the early evening. Half an hour before the start I walked up the steps to the square and faced a line of people that encircled its iconic dome. They were all there to watch A Sea Change! The room filled up, every sit was taken and we still had to turn 30 people down. The audience was mostly made of young Bogotanos, men and women that had never heard about Ocean Acidification but were passionate about the sea and ecology, with a few scientists and a dozen members of environmental organizations to pepper the sancocho (traditional Colombian stew). Although Bogotá is hundreds of miles away from the sea Colombia is after all the only South American country with both Pacific and Caribbean coasts and vast coral reefs.
One of the few things leisurely things I squeezed into this Ocean Acidification filled agenda was a brief visit to the Museo del Oro. Colombia's finest museum is solely dedicated to gold, to its geological origin and history with human kind, to its extraction and the different techniques the first goldsmiths applied and its use as adornment with symbolic power by pre-Columbian civilizations. Although I have never shown much interest in shiny metals it was a blinding and intriguing experience (where does our passion for metals and gems come from?), one that spoke of a past eons away from complex contemporary Colombia.
A winged gold fish at the Museo del Oro
The screening at Maloka and the countless interviews in Bogotá couldn't have gone any better. Some sort of miracle, some magic must have turned my pumpkin backpack into the Ocean Acidification ambassador's golden chariot (caught up in the worst traffic jams ever, though!) and I was welcomed like royalty, asked for hours by journalists, interviewed on radio shows, by inquisitive citizens and environmentalists about the film and the state of our oceans.
What the city of Bogotá lacks in charms and warmth the people certainly make up with contagious enthusiasm, cordiality, pure interest and politeness. Colombians, Bogotanos at least, strike me as hard working, serious, punctual and unnecessarily apologetic people. They feel an urge to talk about the dreadful 80s and 90s, about the violence those days, the killings, the bombings and the plague of corruption that rotted their natural desire for peace and progress. It is as if they felt that it was their personal fault that the rest of the world looks their way with disdain and fear, as if each one of them is individually responsible for how they have been stigmatized. I think few places need more desperately a worldwide PR campaign than Colombia. Bogotanos are certainly the first to warn you of the many dangers, the first to list the places you cannot wander around at night and the ones you never step into, but everyone also agrees that things are not the way they used to, that they have improved. On my way to the airport yesterday morning my loyal cab driver Ángel, the man I spent so many hours with, explained in his subdued voice: "The problem in the 80s and 90s was that the cocaine producers were also involved in all the distribution abroad. The business was in the hands of a couple drug lords that had too much power and felt invincible, stopped at nothing; they fought each other, fought the government, fought the people. Over these past 15 years things have changed. There are many small producers now, and after all the brutal violence and hunt down they have decided it is ok to have less power but also enjoy quieter life. They do not want that incessant war within Colombia, so they passed the distribution business to Mexico. And look how things are there now, like here 25 years ago. Well, almost."
The way things looked during most of my time in Bogotá, wih Ángel.
Thanks to the FESTIVER staff, Colombia's first environmental film festival that A Sea Change will be a part of in the early fall, I toured all the major newspapers and news agencies and did numerous phone interviews for radio shows. I am not very good with this sort of work, bore myself way too easily if I say the same things and crack the same jokes, so I end up changing my lines and "routine" at every screening, on live interviews, with that young journalist obsessed with Alaska. Unfortunately, the message does not always come as clear or interesting as as tested, rehearsed and memorized version and this pursue of the new leaves me exhausted. But I do not want to sound negative, we could have never dreamed of a coverage as exhaustive as this, that people would show such interest and show for screenings they way the have.
The Thursday event organized by Instituto Humboldt at MALOKA
Their invitation to the screening
was in the early evening. Half an hour before the start I walked up the steps to the square and faced a line of people that encircled its iconic dome. They were all there to watch A Sea Change! The room filled up, every sit was taken and we still had to turn 30 people down. The audience was mostly made of young Bogotanos, men and women that had never heard about Ocean Acidification but were passionate about the sea and ecology, with a few scientists and a dozen members of environmental organizations to pepper the sancocho (traditional Colombian stew). Although Bogotá is hundreds of miles away from the sea Colombia is after all the only South American country with both Pacific and Caribbean coasts and vast coral reefs.
One of the few things leisurely things I squeezed into this Ocean Acidification filled agenda was a brief visit to the Museo del Oro. Colombia's finest museum is solely dedicated to gold, to its geological origin and history with human kind, to its extraction and the different techniques the first goldsmiths applied and its use as adornment with symbolic power by pre-Columbian civilizations. Although I have never shown much interest in shiny metals it was a blinding and intriguing experience (where does our passion for metals and gems come from?), one that spoke of a past eons away from complex contemporary Colombia.
A winged gold fish at the Museo del Oro
Ocean Acidification News on the Web
Saturday, May 07, 2011
By Daniel de la Calle
Some Ocean Acidification news for this beginning of May:
¤Symposium on Ocean Acidification to be held in Canberra, Australia from the 15th to the 17th of June 2011.
The event is titled Ocean Acidification and Implications for Living Marine Resources in the Southern Hemisphere and aims to: "enhance the understanding of key challenges and developments in acidification research, facilitate national and international collaboration and networks , share perspectives of national and international leaders in the field, develop interactions with government agencies charged with addressing the issue."
Guest speakers include:
Dr Richard Feely, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) , Dr Catriona Hurd, University of Otago, New Zealand , Dr Chris Langdon, University of Miami, (USA), Dr Phil Munday, James Cook University, Australia , Dr Yukihiro Nojiri, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan.
Info HERE
¤A University of Plymouth research group has received a €3.5 million grant from the European Commission to fund research on the effects of Ocean Acidification. Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, in charge of the project, is collaborating with scientists from the USA, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Israel, France, Spain and Monaco to discover the effects of rising CO2 levels on coastal habitats. This international team of divers is studying a series of giant underwater volcanoes, which allows the scientists to discern what dies and what can survive as coastal areas become more acidified. Aside from appearing in Elizabeth Kolbert's article on this month's issue of National Geographic, their film channel has also made a documentary called One Ocean: The Changing Sea about Mr. Hall's research into CO2 vents that has been broadcast in 167 countries. Part of the money comes from the MedSeA grant that I wrote about on a previous post.
¤Map from the Living Oceans Society showing the decline of carbonate in time on the Pacific West Coast.
¤ Krill decline is affecting penguin populations in Antarctica. A study titled Penguins in peril: variability in krill biomass links harvesting and climate warming to penguin population changes in Antarctica by Dr. Wayne Trivelpiece of NOAA and his colleagues indicates that both adelie (or "ice-loving") and chinstrap (or "ice-avoiding") penguin populations have declined by more than 50% in certain regions of the Antarctic since the 1970s. This could prove that lower numbers are not so much due to sea-ice cover, but more related to krill abundance. Due to intensive whaling in the 19th and early 20th Century penguins could have had access to an extra 150 million tons of krill during that time. But rising temperatures, recovering whale and fur seal populations and the commercial krill fishery have depressed krill abundance by almost 80% in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean is also a major sink for atmospheric CO2, so those lower pH levels could already be impacting on the ability of krill to form their shells.
"Penguins are excellent indicators of changes to the biological and environmental health of the broader ecosystem because they are easily accessible while breeding on land, yet they depend entirely on food resources from the sea. In addition, unlike many other krill-eating top predators in the Antarctic, such as whales and fur seals, they were not hunted by humans," said Dr. Trivelpiece. "When we see steep declines in populations, as we have been documenting with both chinstrap and Adelie penguins, we know there's a much larger ecological problem."
These findings are specially vital for chinstrap penguins, since they breed almost solely in the area studied.
Parcial source for this news HERE.
¤One more short video on Ocean Acidification with Mark Green, from Saint Joseph's College, done for the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.
¤New video about OA from MSNBC.COM
Some Ocean Acidification news for this beginning of May:
¤Symposium on Ocean Acidification to be held in Canberra, Australia from the 15th to the 17th of June 2011.
The event is titled Ocean Acidification and Implications for Living Marine Resources in the Southern Hemisphere and aims to: "enhance the understanding of key challenges and developments in acidification research, facilitate national and international collaboration and networks , share perspectives of national and international leaders in the field, develop interactions with government agencies charged with addressing the issue."
Guest speakers include:
Dr Richard Feely, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) , Dr Catriona Hurd, University of Otago, New Zealand , Dr Chris Langdon, University of Miami, (USA), Dr Phil Munday, James Cook University, Australia , Dr Yukihiro Nojiri, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan.
Info HERE
¤A University of Plymouth research group has received a €3.5 million grant from the European Commission to fund research on the effects of Ocean Acidification. Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, in charge of the project, is collaborating with scientists from the USA, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Israel, France, Spain and Monaco to discover the effects of rising CO2 levels on coastal habitats. This international team of divers is studying a series of giant underwater volcanoes, which allows the scientists to discern what dies and what can survive as coastal areas become more acidified. Aside from appearing in Elizabeth Kolbert's article on this month's issue of National Geographic, their film channel has also made a documentary called One Ocean: The Changing Sea about Mr. Hall's research into CO2 vents that has been broadcast in 167 countries. Part of the money comes from the MedSeA grant that I wrote about on a previous post.
¤Map from the Living Oceans Society showing the decline of carbonate in time on the Pacific West Coast.
¤ Krill decline is affecting penguin populations in Antarctica. A study titled Penguins in peril: variability in krill biomass links harvesting and climate warming to penguin population changes in Antarctica by Dr. Wayne Trivelpiece of NOAA and his colleagues indicates that both adelie (or "ice-loving") and chinstrap (or "ice-avoiding") penguin populations have declined by more than 50% in certain regions of the Antarctic since the 1970s. This could prove that lower numbers are not so much due to sea-ice cover, but more related to krill abundance. Due to intensive whaling in the 19th and early 20th Century penguins could have had access to an extra 150 million tons of krill during that time. But rising temperatures, recovering whale and fur seal populations and the commercial krill fishery have depressed krill abundance by almost 80% in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean is also a major sink for atmospheric CO2, so those lower pH levels could already be impacting on the ability of krill to form their shells.
"Penguins are excellent indicators of changes to the biological and environmental health of the broader ecosystem because they are easily accessible while breeding on land, yet they depend entirely on food resources from the sea. In addition, unlike many other krill-eating top predators in the Antarctic, such as whales and fur seals, they were not hunted by humans," said Dr. Trivelpiece. "When we see steep declines in populations, as we have been documenting with both chinstrap and Adelie penguins, we know there's a much larger ecological problem."
These findings are specially vital for chinstrap penguins, since they breed almost solely in the area studied.
Parcial source for this news HERE.
¤One more short video on Ocean Acidification with Mark Green, from Saint Joseph's College, done for the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.
¤New video about OA from MSNBC.COM
Books, Projects and PhDs
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
By Daniel de la Calle
¤The European Union is launching this April a new three-year project called Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a changing climate (MedSeA). Its goal is to "assess uncertainties, risks and thresholds related to Mediterranean acidification at organismal, ecosystem and economical scales." From their website it appears that their headquarters are at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, but over 16 institutions from 10 different countries are participating in the project with a total budget of € 6 million.
¤ If you have read previous blog posts you know that I often look for jobs and research scholarships on Ocean Acidification. This week I found not one, nor two, but three PhD projects:
1- The British Antarctic Survey is funding a PhD research project for UK students to assess the impact of Ocean Acidification on life in the sea. The details are quite technical, so it is best if you go to THIS LINK and read further.
2- The second PhD research project comes from the University of East Anglia and is for European students. The purpose: to characterize the calcium carbonate cycle in the Southern Ocean. Again, go to THIS LINK to learn more.
3- The University of Exeter offers a three-year funded doctoral studentship starting this coming fall on "The Implications of Ocean Acidification in Combination with Chemical Stressors for Juvenile Fish". Details HERE.
¤The Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø, Norway wants to organize a "Workshop on acidification in aquatic environments: what can marine science learn from limnological studies of acid rain?". The goal of this workshop is to bring together experts on acid rain with those working on Ocean Acidification to facilitate "discussions focused on questions such as how AR research can inform and cross-fertilize OA research" and "the rates of change of AR and OA and how different organismal groups cope with that over different time scales". The dates: 27th-29th September, 2011.
Soon there will be more information HERE.
You can also contact organizer Howard Browman HERE.
The Tromsø we saw when shooting A Sea Change.
¤I am very happy to announce that we have yet another public figure lending his face and voice to defend our oceans. Joining Sigourney Weaver and Sven Huseby, actor Ted Danson has published a book titled "Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them". Produced together with Oceana, it is said to have beautiful photographs, illustrations and numerous expert testimonies. I have ordered a copy and intend to review it for our site, but for now you can listen to a interview with Mr. Danson on Southern California Public Radio HERE and read an interview HERE if you are thirsty for more information.
¤There is another recently published book that has caught my eye. It is titled Deep Future, The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth, by author Curt Stager. I know that during those hypothetical next 100,000 years described throughout the pages he talks about Ocean Acidification, and I'll be able to hand you more detailed information in a couple weeks. Made you curious enough? Purchase a copy from Amazon, click HERE.
¤NOAA is offering a web seminar to introduce a new "Data-in-the-Classroom Module" on Ocean Acidification; it is aimed at High School science educators. It will go from 6:30 to 8:00PM Eastern Time on April 14th. You can register today HERE and read more about it HERE.
“All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer
¤The European Union is launching this April a new three-year project called Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a changing climate (MedSeA). Its goal is to "assess uncertainties, risks and thresholds related to Mediterranean acidification at organismal, ecosystem and economical scales." From their website it appears that their headquarters are at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, but over 16 institutions from 10 different countries are participating in the project with a total budget of € 6 million.
¤ If you have read previous blog posts you know that I often look for jobs and research scholarships on Ocean Acidification. This week I found not one, nor two, but three PhD projects:
1- The British Antarctic Survey is funding a PhD research project for UK students to assess the impact of Ocean Acidification on life in the sea. The details are quite technical, so it is best if you go to THIS LINK and read further.
2- The second PhD research project comes from the University of East Anglia and is for European students. The purpose: to characterize the calcium carbonate cycle in the Southern Ocean. Again, go to THIS LINK to learn more.
3- The University of Exeter offers a three-year funded doctoral studentship starting this coming fall on "The Implications of Ocean Acidification in Combination with Chemical Stressors for Juvenile Fish". Details HERE.
¤The Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø, Norway wants to organize a "Workshop on acidification in aquatic environments: what can marine science learn from limnological studies of acid rain?". The goal of this workshop is to bring together experts on acid rain with those working on Ocean Acidification to facilitate "discussions focused on questions such as how AR research can inform and cross-fertilize OA research" and "the rates of change of AR and OA and how different organismal groups cope with that over different time scales". The dates: 27th-29th September, 2011.
Soon there will be more information HERE.
You can also contact organizer Howard Browman HERE.
The Tromsø we saw when shooting A Sea Change.
¤I am very happy to announce that we have yet another public figure lending his face and voice to defend our oceans. Joining Sigourney Weaver and Sven Huseby, actor Ted Danson has published a book titled "Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them". Produced together with Oceana, it is said to have beautiful photographs, illustrations and numerous expert testimonies. I have ordered a copy and intend to review it for our site, but for now you can listen to a interview with Mr. Danson on Southern California Public Radio HERE and read an interview HERE if you are thirsty for more information.
¤There is another recently published book that has caught my eye. It is titled Deep Future, The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth, by author Curt Stager. I know that during those hypothetical next 100,000 years described throughout the pages he talks about Ocean Acidification, and I'll be able to hand you more detailed information in a couple weeks. Made you curious enough? Purchase a copy from Amazon, click HERE.
¤NOAA is offering a web seminar to introduce a new "Data-in-the-Classroom Module" on Ocean Acidification; it is aimed at High School science educators. It will go from 6:30 to 8:00PM Eastern Time on April 14th. You can register today HERE and read more about it HERE.
That Cranky Old Man
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
By Daniel de la Calle
A few years from now I will inevitably become an insufferable cranky old man. I am actually almost there now: On World Water Day last week I turned my forgotten TV set on, the one that comes back to life during cycling season, and watched the 3 p.m. news. I wanted to see if Spanish National Television (TVE) would mention the event, hear what they would say. They obviously did, how could they not! It is news, the fuel that keeps the media engine running, 45 more seconds of blah blah babble with an assortment of beautiful water images from around the globe and shots of pollution, droughts, dead fish and birds that were seamlessly followed by the handsome newsman announcing that on Saturday the 26th, during Earth Hour Televisión Española would show its solidarity and commitment, which is our commitment as the human race, by turning the lights off the big "TVE" sign atop the Madrid studios FOR A WHOLE HOUR. That is 60 full minutes, or 3600 precious seconds. Impressive. It is wonderful, ecological and smart, I am quite certain there was nothing happening on March 26th, so now we have one more day to turn lights on, or shut them down, or make stickers, or t-shirts, and deliver content for radio shows, news broadcasts, to create a Facebook group, have elevator talk ammunition and be proud we are saving the planet with the 50 kilowatts saved during that whole round hour. My problems are two, though: 1, it gets me so riled up that I am not sure I will even turn the TV back on until the Giro de Italia (May); and 2, thanks our perfected ability to trivialize serious matters I feel one step closer to being a nasty old man with cranky wrinkles on the face.
And now for something completely different:
(or the usual short list of news from the World Wide Web)
¤Every once in a while scientific research takes place in the form of true exploratory adventure, as has been the case for the past three years with the Catling Arctic Survey.
A small team of thoroughly covered up women and men is doing crucial ocean research in the inhospitable Arctic wilderness around Resolute Bay. On one of the latest blog entries these brave scientists talk about zoo-plankton sampling and a smart bicycle winch they have invented to assist in the task. I am a sucker for anything with pedals and a chain, so this just had to make it into the blog.
But their website also offers valuable information, good pictures and great videos. HERE is a link to one on Ocean Acidification, arguably the coolest (as in "coldest") I have ever posted.
¤The American Fisheries Society (AFS), the world's largest association of fisheries professionals and scientists, will hold this year's annual meeting in Seattle. The theme is "New Frontiers in Fisheries Management and Ecology: Leading the Way in a Changing World." They plan to cover many topics over the 30 concurrent sessions and will have special symposia on the global fisheries crisis, the effects of oil spills on fisheries, fisheries and hard-rock mining, climate change and the future of Pacific salmon and Ocean Acidification, to name some.
As stated on their website, the "conference will also feature a popular slate of technical training sessions, workshops, and field trips. Members of the public, non-governmental organizations, and non-fisheries professionals who are interested in fisheries science and management, marine and freshwater habitat protection, or fisheries-related recreation are welcome to attend the meeting. The meeting venue in downtown Seattle is within walking distance of Seattle’s vibrant waterfront and world famous Pike Place Farmers Market. There you go, if you are in Seattle you are invited to attend. Go here http://afs2011.org/ for more info.
¤Music band Modest Mouse titled one of their albums "Good News for People Who Love Bad News". Good news is so tricky, some have the power make you sad and hopeless: a team of Australian researchers is planning to develop a bank of stored frozen coral polyps from the Great Barrier Reef so they can survive extinction. Thanks to liquid nitrogen at -296 degrees Fahrenheit organic matter can last forever: it cannot break down. THIS is where I read about it.
¤Continuing on the other side of the world the University of Guam is hosting a Regional Conference on Island Sustainability for Guam and Micronesia on April 19th and 20th this year. The theme is "Guam 2050 - Developing our Sustainable Future: What is the Cost of Doing Nothing?". The conference will touch topics such as sustainable energy management, technological innovations, policy implementation, sustainable environments and their conservation, with a focus on sea level rise, climate change and Ocean Acidification.
¤This past January the National Council for Science and the Environment organized the 11th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment in Washington DC. These are three videos they put up on Youtube with lectures and a debate on Ocean Acidification:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
A few years from now I will inevitably become an insufferable cranky old man. I am actually almost there now: On World Water Day last week I turned my forgotten TV set on, the one that comes back to life during cycling season, and watched the 3 p.m. news. I wanted to see if Spanish National Television (TVE) would mention the event, hear what they would say. They obviously did, how could they not! It is news, the fuel that keeps the media engine running, 45 more seconds of blah blah babble with an assortment of beautiful water images from around the globe and shots of pollution, droughts, dead fish and birds that were seamlessly followed by the handsome newsman announcing that on Saturday the 26th, during Earth Hour Televisión Española would show its solidarity and commitment, which is our commitment as the human race, by turning the lights off the big "TVE" sign atop the Madrid studios FOR A WHOLE HOUR. That is 60 full minutes, or 3600 precious seconds. Impressive. It is wonderful, ecological and smart, I am quite certain there was nothing happening on March 26th, so now we have one more day to turn lights on, or shut them down, or make stickers, or t-shirts, and deliver content for radio shows, news broadcasts, to create a Facebook group, have elevator talk ammunition and be proud we are saving the planet with the 50 kilowatts saved during that whole round hour. My problems are two, though: 1, it gets me so riled up that I am not sure I will even turn the TV back on until the Giro de Italia (May); and 2, thanks our perfected ability to trivialize serious matters I feel one step closer to being a nasty old man with cranky wrinkles on the face.
And now for something completely different:
(or the usual short list of news from the World Wide Web)
¤Every once in a while scientific research takes place in the form of true exploratory adventure, as has been the case for the past three years with the Catling Arctic Survey.
A small team of thoroughly covered up women and men is doing crucial ocean research in the inhospitable Arctic wilderness around Resolute Bay. On one of the latest blog entries these brave scientists talk about zoo-plankton sampling and a smart bicycle winch they have invented to assist in the task. I am a sucker for anything with pedals and a chain, so this just had to make it into the blog.
But their website also offers valuable information, good pictures and great videos. HERE is a link to one on Ocean Acidification, arguably the coolest (as in "coldest") I have ever posted.
¤The American Fisheries Society (AFS), the world's largest association of fisheries professionals and scientists, will hold this year's annual meeting in Seattle. The theme is "New Frontiers in Fisheries Management and Ecology: Leading the Way in a Changing World." They plan to cover many topics over the 30 concurrent sessions and will have special symposia on the global fisheries crisis, the effects of oil spills on fisheries, fisheries and hard-rock mining, climate change and the future of Pacific salmon and Ocean Acidification, to name some.
As stated on their website, the "conference will also feature a popular slate of technical training sessions, workshops, and field trips. Members of the public, non-governmental organizations, and non-fisheries professionals who are interested in fisheries science and management, marine and freshwater habitat protection, or fisheries-related recreation are welcome to attend the meeting. The meeting venue in downtown Seattle is within walking distance of Seattle’s vibrant waterfront and world famous Pike Place Farmers Market. There you go, if you are in Seattle you are invited to attend. Go here http://afs2011.org/ for more info.
¤Music band Modest Mouse titled one of their albums "Good News for People Who Love Bad News". Good news is so tricky, some have the power make you sad and hopeless: a team of Australian researchers is planning to develop a bank of stored frozen coral polyps from the Great Barrier Reef so they can survive extinction. Thanks to liquid nitrogen at -296 degrees Fahrenheit organic matter can last forever: it cannot break down. THIS is where I read about it.
¤Continuing on the other side of the world the University of Guam is hosting a Regional Conference on Island Sustainability for Guam and Micronesia on April 19th and 20th this year. The theme is "Guam 2050 - Developing our Sustainable Future: What is the Cost of Doing Nothing?". The conference will touch topics such as sustainable energy management, technological innovations, policy implementation, sustainable environments and their conservation, with a focus on sea level rise, climate change and Ocean Acidification.
¤This past January the National Council for Science and the Environment organized the 11th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment in Washington DC. These are three videos they put up on Youtube with lectures and a debate on Ocean Acidification:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Daniel de la Calle Interview More About the Film More Crew News More F.A.Q.s Interviews TV Screenings Sustainable Filmmaking Blurbs COP-15 Copenhagen Martha Stewart Climate change/global warming ocean acidification Activism Angela Alston Education Barbara Ettinger Reviews of A Sea Change More Links Events Sven Huseby Green technology Conservation/environment Video Blog Site News Food and Drink DVDs More Photos Politics Ocean Science Current Affairs Ben Kalina Film Festivals
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