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Blue Planet
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news to use
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Greetings!
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The Ocean Project provides this e-newsletter as a free service to 1,821 contacts at zoos, aquariums, museums, conservation organizations, schools, agencies, and others involved in our Partner network. We hope you will find it inspiring and useful in your work and life.
Please forward widely and encourage colleagues and friends to subscribe (through the link in left column).
In this issue...
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New Seas the Day Bookmark Available for Partners
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The Ocean Project is making a new bookmark available
to our Partners. Matching the cover image from the
Seas the Day 07 conservation action
calendar, the
bookmark also features the Seven C's for ocean
conservation and can be customized with your logo
and message.
For more information about ordering these attractive
conservation education bookmarks, including
discounted prices (approximately the cost of
printing) for Partners, visit our
website, email us
at info@theoceanproject.org,
or call 401.709.4071.
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Accelerating Loss of Ocean Species Threatens Human Well-being
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In a study published in the November 3 issue of the
journal,
Science, an international group of
ecologists and economists say that current trends
project the collapse of all currently fished
seafoods before 2050. They show that the loss of
biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean's
ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter
pollutants, and rebound from stresses such as over
fishing and climate change. The study reveals that
every species lost causes a faster unraveling of the
overall ecosystem. Conversely every species
recovered adds significantly to overall productivity
and stability of the ecosystem and its ability to
withstand stresses.
"Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the
entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture
emerging," says Boris Worm of Dalhousie University,
lead author of a new study published recently in
Science. "In losing species we lose the
productivity
and stability of entire ecosystems. I was shocked
and disturbed by how consistent these trends are --
beyond anything we suspected."
The four-year analysis is the first to examine all
existing data on ocean species and ecosystems,
synthesizing historical, experimental, fisheries,
and observational datasets to understand the
importance of biodiversity at the global scale. The
results reveal global trends that mirror what
scientists have observed at smaller scales, and they
prove that progressive biodiversity loss not only
impairs the ability of oceans to feed a growing
human population, but also sabotages the stability
of marine environments and their ability to recover
from stresses. Every species matters.
The authors do say that the end of seafood as we
know it within 50 years is not inevitable; we can
change those trends if we curb overfishing and ocean
pollution.
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The New Yorker: The Darkening Sea
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In the November 20, 2006, issue of The New
Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert reports on the impact
of carbon-dioxide emissions on the ocean, which is
resulting in "ocean acidification" and threatening
the entire marine ecosystem.
Kolbert explains that acidification is caused by the
decrease in the ocean's pH level due to its uptake
of carbon dioxide, or CO2, noting that the ocean,
which covers seventy percent of the earth's
surface, absorbs and releases gases from and into
the atmosphere at roughly equal rates. "But change
the composition of the atmosphere, as we have done,
and the exchange becomes lopsided: more CO2 from the
air enters the water than comes back out," she
writes. Kolbert reports that humans have already
pumped some hundred and twenty billion tons of
carbon into the oceans, to produce a .1 decline in
surface pH, which represents a rise in acidity of
roughly thirty percent. "This year alone, the seas
will absorb another 2 billion tons of carbon, and
next year it is expected that they will absorb
another 2 billion tons," Kolbert reports. "Every
day, every American, in effect, adds forty pounds of
carbon dioxide to the oceans." Kolbert writes,
"Because of the slow pace of deep-ocean circulation
and the long life of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, it is impossible to reverse the
acidification that has already taken place. Nor is
it possible to prevent still more from occurring.
Even if there were some way magically to halt the
emission of CO2 tomorrow, the oceans would continue
to take up carbon until they reached a new
equilibrium with the air... Humans have, in this
way, set in motion change on a geological scale. The
question that remains is how marine life will respond."
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The Other CSR: Consumer Social Responsibility
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Why consumers are dropping the ball in the game of
socially responsible capitalism
Utne Reader
October 12, 2006
by Suzanne Lindgren
Everyday we hear about another new business or
reformed corporation joining the ethical marketplace
in an attempt to fulfill our fantasies of a
sustainable consumer lifestyle. Maybe these outfits
are dedicated to the environment, or maybe they're
just angling for a piece of the moral profit pie by
hawking fair-trade products. Whatever the
businesses' motives, there's trouble in socially
responsible paradise: Despite surveys showing an
eager customer base, people aren't putting their
money where their mouths are and actually buying
ethically produced goods. In a piece for the
Stanford Social Innovation Review, four
researchers
-- Timothy M. Devinney, Patrice Auger, Giana
Eckhardt, and Thomas Birtchnell -- investigate why
consumers aren't closing the corporate social
responsibility (CSR) loop.
One surprising discovery they made was that
information on ethical issues and the availability
of socially responsible products did not make a
difference in consumer choice. Consumers made
explicitly aware of a product's benefits to society
or the environment were just as likely to choose the
cheaper, more harmful brand as a control group given
no information about the products. But is it really
as bad as an Australian participant in a similar
study claims: Do "[m]orals stop at the pocketbook"?
The Stanford team found that people willing to pay
more in the name of ethics do exist, but they're not
who you think they might be. There is no group
designated by nationality, age, gender, income, or
education level that consistently buys ethical
products more than any other. The authors write,
"[c]ontrary to what some might believe, CnSR
[consumer social responsibility] is not just the
purview of wealthy, highly educated females in
liberal Western democracies. Rather, it is something
embedded in the psyche of individuals."
With a change in marketing tactics, these
researchers believe that ethical businesses could
win over hard-to-reach shoppers. Social issues
should be chosen carefully, as consumers need to see
a direct link between buying a certain product and
its effect on society. To wit: A 10 percent donation
to an AIDS charity for buying a pair of pants is not
as convincing as buying biodegradable dish soap.
Consumers also need to know that the product they're
buying is functional in comparison to conventional
brands -- no one wants to waste money on a product
that doesn't do its job. For the rational consumer,
social responsibility is only icing on the
capitalist cake, but if it's the right icing people
may just be willing to pay for it.
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Special issue of Science features purple sea urchin
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In last week's issue of Science, researchers
describe the 814 million DNA bases that make up the
genome of the purple sea urchin,
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Its 23,500
genes suggest that these algae-eating invertebrates
have more complex immune and sensory systems than
researchers had appreciated.
Anyone who has spent any time taking courses in
developmental biology has heard about the sea
urchin. It has been a major experimental model for
over a century, and the elucidation of its genomic
sequence will be of interest to communities studying
everything from economics and ecology in marine
ecosystems to fundamental questions in evolution and
development.
The sequence of the purple sea urchin will help in
understanding the basis for variations that affect
the cycle between rich kelp forests (on which the
urchin grazes) and sea urchin-filled "barrens." The
sequencing of the sea urchin moves us a further step
away from the past, when the analysis of an
individual gene was a breathtaking achievement,
toward a future where we will be following
multidimensional changes in gene networks and
relating them to the world around us.
To help visualize the history of sea urchin research
and this latest achievement, the section contains a
poster. An
interactive online version of the poster
includes additional images, video clips, and Web
resources not covered in the print version, and is
available free to all site visitors.
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Carbon Neutral: Oxford Word of the Year
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The New Oxford American Dictionary's Word of the
Year for 2006 is (drum roll please) Carbon
Neutral.
Being carbon neutral involves calculating your total
climate-damaging carbon emissions, reducing them
where possible, and then balancing your remaining
emissions, often by purchasing a carbon offset :
paying to plant new trees or investing in "green"
technologies such as solar and wind power.
The rise of carbon neutral reflects the growing
importance of the green movement in the United
States. In a CBS News/New York Times Poll in
May 2006, 66% of respondents agreed that global
warming is a problem that's causing a serious impact
now. 2006 also saw the launch of a new (and
naturally, carbon neutral) magazine about
eco-living, Plenty ; the actor Leonardo
DiCaprio is planning an environmentally-themed
reality TV series about an eco-village; and colleges
from Maine to Wisconsin are pledging to be carbon
neutral within five years. It's more than a trend,
it's a movement.
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February 2, 2007 is World Wetlands Day. The Ramsar
Convention's website
has posted reports from more than 90 countries of
past activities, from lectures and seminars, nature
walks, children’s art contests, to new programs at
the national level throughout the world. The Ramsar
Secretariat offers a new selection of posters,
stickers, videos, pocket calendars, leaflets and
information packs free of charge each year. The
2007 theme is Fish for tomorrow?
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This may be a resource you can use: The Macaulay
Library is a principal source of sound recordings
for basic research, education, conservation, habitat
assessment, media, and commercial projects. The
Library archives and preserves an exhaustive
sampling of the behaviors of each animal species
using digital video and audio recordings. Their
collection of natural sounds includes more than
160,000 recordings, comprising 67 percent of the
world's birds, and rapidly increasing holdings of
insects, fish, frogs, and mammals, including
ocean critters.
Visit the Macaulay Library
website.
Thanks for this information to Chris Gentile,
Riverbanks Zoo and
Garden.
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Book of the Month:
Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change
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In this day and age, it is becoming ever more
apparent that the need for effective communication
to increase support for a healthy environment is
more pressing than it ever has been. Significant
changes are needed soon, in the spheres of policy,
collective action, and behavior change, with one of
the most urgent needs found in the context of
anthropogenic climate change. The ocean is a key
part of our planet’s climate, and our future, and
all efforts to protect our climate will result in
benefits to our ocean, thus we are featuring
Creating a Climate for Change as our
"Ocean Book of
the Month."
Creating a Climate for Change, edited by
Susanne C.
Moser and Lisa Dilling, is the first book to take a
comprehensive look at communication and social
change specifically targeted to climate change. It
is a collection of ideas which examine the
challenges associated with effectively and
efficiently communicating the issues surrounding
climate change in order to facilitate societal
response. Creating a Climate for Change brings
together climate change, communication, and social
change all in one volume and complements the body of
ocean communications research conducted by The Ocean
Project several years ago.
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Special thanks to The Henry Foundation for a recent
grant to enhance our
Seas the Day initiative and expand our
outreach and
education programs.
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Seas the Day Conservation Calendar
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Get a unique "stocking stuffer" for friends, family,
and colleagues! The 2007
Seas the Day conservation education and action
calendar is available for our Partners and other
ocean friends. The
calendar features stunning photography, a monthly
conservation theme,
and all new conservation tips. Available at
wholesale rates for Ocean
Project Partners and their staff. Contact us
now to place an order!
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