Earth Day 2010 is less than a week away and to commemorate the 40th anniversary DisneyNature decided to release its new film Oceans. In partnership with the Nature Conservancy they’re doing something rather spectacular for the entire opening week (from April 22 – 28th) and have committed to donate $0.20 for every ticket purchased towards the Conservancy’s marine protected area project in the Bahamas.
Bahamian reefs are some of the healthiest within the wider Caribbean and deserve protection for a number of reasons. They have been identified in several studies as an ideal location for a larger marine protected area (MPA) and even the Mission Blue project included them in their list of Hope Spots.
Alongside release of the film there is, of course, several website resources going up, including a short list of five suggested actions for the public to benefit our oceans:
Create an ocean friendly garden at home (no matter where you live)
Adopt a Coral Reef
See Oceans, Save Oceans
I’m all for getting messages out to the public as widely as possible, and Disney certainly has the kind of influence we need to spread awareness. I am excited to see two chefs take on the challenge of preparing delicious – but still sustainable – suggestions for seafood including Dan Barber whom I’ve highlighted previously on WaterNotes.
That said, I’m worried that the simplified changes suggested above won’t be enough to really get people who see Oceans motivated to make a real commitment to living ocean friendly lives. I have to remember that any attempt to gain interest in change – without going overboard – is probably a good thing overall for conservation messages. I just wonder if perhaps our attempts are too simple, and not enough to garner real attention or commitment.
What do you think? Have I been reading TreeHugger, Discovery, Grist, EWG, and all the others too much? Is this a perfect level to introduce to people for ocean friendly living? Or is it possible that we could be launching something more with this enormous campaign potential presented by a pivotal film release by Disney?
Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue project continues to gather steam after the successful trip out to the Galapagos just last week. With several celebrities in tow (some of the few people who could afford the huge fundraising-level ticket price of $20,000), Dr. Earle and a few dozen scientists met up onboard to discuss the future of her Hope Spots presented so eloquently in the 2009 TED Prize speech. Several issues became highlighted, and it seems the overall group broke up into leading projects, including one that will attempt to target ocean education in the classroom in some way.
Earle’s foundation chose 18 Hope Spots from around the world, including two in my relative backyard with the Sargasso Sea and the Bahamian Reef system. Low and behold while checking out the Bahamian Reef pages I discovered several very familiar photos! Seems the Mission Blue team raided the galleries of the Marine Photobank, a development I’m entirely tickled to see. Hopefully that won’t be the only way my name becomes associated with MB projects in the future.
If you have photos of marine species or habitat areas always keep in mind that the Marine Photobank is one of the few resources online that allows for image sharing to nonprofits, magazines, and blogs alike. The lovely little stingray above was a recent ‘donation’; he was a mystery animal to me until today. Seems he belongs to the species Urobatis jamaicensis, the yellow spotted stingray which is known to frequent shallow coastal zones from North Carolina through Florida and into the Caribbean basin. Seagrass beds are apparently very important for partuition for this species, not unlike many others, and is currently listed as Least Concern.
Posted
on April 15, 2010, 1:00 am,
by Sarah,
under fun with fins.
Or mermaids. A hat tip to Emily of Oceana for reminding me that the 2nd annual Ocean Heroes contest is underway! Entries are due by April 18th! Send your nominations (you can even nominate yourself) through the official page and be sure to note whether they belong to the Junior (under 18) or Adult categories, which are new for this year.
Best of luck to all those who are nominated and remember, even if you aren’t recognized for your contributions, the ocean needs all the heroes it can get!
Ocean Conservancy released their report on marine debris from the 2009 International Coastal Cleanup, titled Trash Travels: From Our Hands to the Sea, Around the Globe, and Through Time. The entire report is required reading for anyone interested in a snapshot of what is going on with our beaches and coastal environments.
The top ten most commonly found items should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been on a beach lately. If I had to add anything common to the list it would be the various shrapnel I usually find: bits and pieces of larger items broken up by wave action like razor-sharp bits of green glass and soft-edged styrofoam coated in barnacles.
I was out yesterday afternoon for two hours cleaning up my usual stretch of beach and came home with a horribly misanthropic attitude. In addition to the usual debris I found a car’s oil tank dip stick (yes, really!), the knob for a shifter, actual oil cans oozing oil, and parts of a grocery store shopping cart.
This all of course means we’ve graduated from almost-forgiveable “oh no it flew away from me in the wind” types of debris to outright dumping, and I confess it makes me see red. About the only thing that consoled me was sighting a large Atlantic stingray resting in the shallows towards the end of my walk. At least that was until a large dog on the loose came tromping across the seagrass beds towards me and sent him off flashing into deeper water. Sigh.
If nothing else, we can chalk up another 19 pounds on the One Ton Landed leaderboard and continue to compile data in the same tradition as the Conservancy on marine debris in the IRL. I guess I’ll just have to learn to accept that there are going to be days when it feels more like a setback than a victory to try to keep this little stretch of coastline clean.
Lilo & Stitch is one of Disney’s most charming tales and one of my favorites since I identify so strongly with stubborn, imaginative, headstrong and fish-loving Lilo. In the opening scenes you see her feed an orange reef fish a peanut butter sandwich, and then go on to explain to her dance instructor why Pudge prefers peanut butter to tuna (video above).
I think Pudge and Lilo were on the right track. Eating tuna these days – especially bluefin – is quite the gamble. Despite my love of seafood its hard to justify eating it, even from those species that are still listed as “ocean friendly” or from stocks that are arguably still at fishable levels (like secondary tuna species albacore and yellowfin).
The bluefin’s case was recently taken up by TIME magazine. I can only hope that greater exposure in the media will lead to decreased consumption, demand, and catch in the months and years to come. Let’s keep the pressure on our local restaurants and sushi bars too: serve bluefin, make your customers an endangered species.
I’m pretty much speechless about this one. We hear about these impacts on our wildlife and we can theorize that baleen whales will scoop plastic plankton alongside the real stuff, but to see evidence of it really brings home the size of the situation we’re in.
Posted
on April 11, 2010, 10:56 am,
by Sarah,
under plastic.
Fascinating, depressingly artistic and provocative.. if you can get past the idea that a plastic bag can yearn for anything, can be happy, or contemplative. Its a beautiful consideration of our objects, and their fate. Anyone else starting to notice my total obsession with documentaries lately?
