The Cove

We've had the Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove, from Netflix for almost 2 months... and last night I finally had the courage to watch it (I knew it would upset me). I'm not sure what to say except to urge all of you to watch this movie. It is powerful. It is captivating, and worth watching! You may recognize actress Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) from the peaceful protest footage (part of it is in this trailer), which is only briefly mentioned/shown in this documentary... but if you're interested you can learn more about it here and here. There was (or is still?) a warrant for her arrest in Japan. 



Here is an excerpt from The Cove's Take Part website.

The Secret Is Out. Spread the Word.

The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening.  The focus of the Social Action Campaign for The Cove is to create worldwide awareness of this annual practice as well as the dangers of eating seafood contaminated with mercury and to pressure those in power to put an end to the slaughter.

And it’s been working. The film has been making waves since it premiered last year. Critical praise and audience awards worldwide have focused international attention on Taiji and the annual dolphin drives off the coast of Japan.  Under intense pressure, Taiji called for a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins. The film, which was originally rejected, was shown at the Tokyo Film Festival due to public outcry. Residents in Taiji are being tested for mercury poisoning, and for the first time Japanese media are covering the issue.


Close to a million people have signed on to the campaign, but this is just the beginning. The fisherman are clearly rattled, but haven’t stopped killing dolphins.

TakePart now to help shut down the cove for good.

Please check out www.takepart.com/thecove to see how you can take action.

How to protect the oceans

This must watch video of TED prize winner and legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle's speech is 18 minutes long... it is definitely worth the time to watch, to contemplate her message, and hope her wish comes true! Before viewing this video, I hadn't heard of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference that is held each year in Long Beach, California. TED's mission is simply defined as "ideas worth sharing", and the talks (a broad range of topics) are available to view on TED's YouTube page. But before you go explore the talks, you have to watch this first!

To watch in high quality click here.

So how can WE help protect the oceans? How about -

• Discarding waste properly
• Reducing the amount of packaging we consume
• Being conscientious of where the fish we eat comes from, and only eating seafood that is sustainably harvested (ask, do research... this makes me re-think how often I eat sushi)
• Wearing non-toxic sunscreen (did you know that the chemicals in sunscreen kill the coral reefs?)
  

This summer Project Kaisei will begin, and I'm looking forward to hearing of their findings and progress!

"Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, ocean lovers, sailors, scientists, sports enthusiasts and environmentalists who have come together with a common purpose. To study how to capture plastic waste in the ocean and how to capture, detoxify and recycle it into diesel fuel. This first research Mission, scheduled for the summer of 2009, will be critical to understanding the logistics that will be needed to make a successful clean-up operation possible as some of the technology required for such a feat has never been utilised under oceanic conditions."

Read all about their planned 70 day expedition to the "Plastic Vortex" this summer, and how you can contribute here.

Interview about JUNK

Dr. Marcus Eriksen was interviewed by Martha Stewart about what he found while crossing the Pacific Ocean this summer on JUNK. It's full of interesting information, and definitely worth watching! I followed JUNK's blog this summer as they crossed the Pacific - from southern California to Hawaii - on a raft literally made of junk. Why you ask? To raise awareness about pollution of our oceans. You can read my previous entry here.

Emptied Oceans

Heartbreaking. There's an article about this here.

Strange Days on Planet Earth

This video is an excerpt of the episode Plastic Plague from National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth 2. We have watched all of the episodes from season 1 and 2 over the past month... and wow, talk about eye opening information! The first season has four 1 hour episodes covering invasive species, climate change, the role of predators, and rivers/oceans. The second season has 2 episodes and investigates what is happening to all the fish, our water sources, the impacts of plastic in our oceans.

I highly recommend this docu-series, I found each episode fascinating (not boring). I think everyone should watch them - really they should be handing these DVDs out for free. We rented them from Netflix, since we missed when they aired on PBS. You can read more about this series, and what you can do at the Strange Days website.

Row Boat

Want to live vicariously through someone on an adventure? Roz Savage used to work in a cube farm, until one day she decided to row a boat - alone - across oceans! In 2005-6 she crossed the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the first woman to cross it alone. Right now she is on day number 24 of rowing across the Pacific Ocean, and is blogging daily to share the experience. She is also using MarineTrack to track her location which you can view real time on her blog (pretty cool). Her voyage will be in 3 stages over the next 3 years rowing from San Francisco to Australia for a total distance of 7,600 miles!

Roz rows to raise awareness of environmental issues. Her row is a project for a US based nonprofit Blue Frontier Campaign, and she is also an ambassador for the UK based charity called The BLUE Project. Check them out and make a BLUE pledge (another Ocean Day event I missed)!

I've added Roz's blog to my blog list on this page. This summer I will be following her journey across the Pacific as well as JUNK sailing from California to Hawaii while I'm spending my days in a cube farm... day dreaming of being on the open sea.

JUNK

So what do you get with 15,000 plastic bottles and an old Cessna 310?

A sailboat. Yeah, really. On June 1st, Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal set sail from Southern California aboard JUNK to raise awareness about plastic in the oceans. They are sailing to Hawaii literally on a craft made of junk, with no motor, and they expect it will take ~ 6-7 weeks. You can read more about how the sailboat was constructed and follow their journey on their blog at wwww.junkraft.com (also linked under this page's blog list).

Live Like You Love the Ocean

Yesterday, June 8th was World Ocean Day. I'm disappointed that I missed it, and didn't have the opportunity to blog about it on the actual day. Those that know me personally know how much I love the ocean. I love being on the water, or even better underneath SCUBA diving. By nature, I am an observer and love to hover and watch (avoid touching at all costs) marine life in their habitat. I am always fascinated by the behavior of different species and how they interact - this goes with animals on land and water.

A handful of scientists are researching one of several gyres in the ocean called the "ever expanding" Great Pacific Garbage Patch (more like a bowl of plastic soup, reported to be twice the size of Texas or larger). Here they have found six pounds of plastic for every pound of algae. Considering that the ocean determines our food, and our climate... this is devastating. According to the U.S. Commission of Ocean Policy, 80% of plastic in the ocean is not from ships but from land. The improper disposal of consumer waste eventually travels from beaches and rivers to the ocean... to be pulled by currents and accumulate in ocean gyres. So... what can we do? I think Wallace J. Nichols, a senior scientist at the Ocean Conservatory said it best - "live like you love the ocean." Simply put less in, take less out, and protect the edge.

To commemorate World Ocean Day, people were challenged to make June 8th a day without plastic. I'm glad to say that without even realizing that it was WOD - I did it... I used my Klean Kanteen water bottle, my new reusable cotton produce bags (see my previous post), and my totes. Even though World Ocean Day for 2008 has passed, I challenge you to make your own "day without plastic" day. Then tell me about it!

For a list of articles about the impacts of plastic in our lakes and oceans click here. The article that brought the significance of this issue to my awareness is called Plastic Ocean, by Susan Casey.