LIVBLUE.org

#OccupyTheOcean

2011-10-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

The Ocean is the single biggest feature of our planet.

From one million miles away we resemble a small blue marble, from one billion miles a pale blue dot.

The Ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth's surface, holds more than 80% of its biodiversity and 90% of its habitat.

Phytoplankton in the Ocean provide more than half of our oxygen and provides the basis of the primary protein for more than a billion people.

More than half a billion people, mostly artisanal fishers, owe their livelihoods to the seafood industry.

Humans have derived unmeasurable inspiration, joy, recreation and relaxation from the Ocean for millennia.

But WE have treated the Ocean poorly, and it's decline in recent decades has been catastrophic for our planet and its people.

WE have put too much into the Ocean, in the form of oil, sewage, fertilizers and pesticides, antibiotics, plastic pollution, noise and increasing levels of CO2.

WE have taken too much out of the Ocean by subsidizing and encouraging inefficient and destructive overfishing, bottom trawling, long-lining, purse seining, dynamite fishing, irresponsible aquaculture and illegal hunting.

WE have destroyed the edge of the ocean--places like wetlands, kelp forests, mangrove forests, river deltas, coral reefs and seagrass beds--where diversity and abundance once thrived, now turned into dead zones growing in size and number.

As a result of OUR behavior, the wildest animals and most remote beaches on the planet carry plastic in them, coral reefs are on the verge of disappearing, shark populations have been decimated, the ocean is warming and becoming more acidic and fisheries are predicted to collapse globally.

This situation will only continue to spiral downward, unless we listen, learn and change.

To slow, stop and then reverse this trend will take immediate, widespread and drastic actions, not isolated, small and incremental adjustments.

The control large corporations have over our political processes must be severed, bold legislation enacted and new behavior patterns widely adopted.

We need an Ocean Revolution.

The passionate individuals, organizations, expertise and solutions needed to do this exist around the world.

What is needed is a massive boost in personal and political will alongside strong actions and louder voices.

It is OUR coast and OUR Ocean.

The time is now to Occupy The Ocean.

[This is a living document: repost this anywhere you like, personalizing and adding to it as you will, in support of your good work for the Ocean]

BLUEMIND: Your Brain On Ocean

2011-05-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

-Wallace J. Nichols, PhD

"We are more than logical. We are human." - Jacques Yves Cousteau

On June 2nd, BLUEMIND Summit: www.mindandocean.org at California Academy of Sciences (join our livecast), followed by an Ocean NightLife event...always a favorite.

Once I met a man who hated the ocean. Intensely, he said. He described to me fear, negative associations and a general unease he couldn't quite put his finger on. His aversion was so strong -- especially when measured against my own great, unabashed love for the ocean -- that I'll never forget my bewilderment. Everyone I have ever known loves the ocean. I'm not talking about lower-case "l" kind of love either; the kind that we apply indiscriminately to pop stars, sports teams, soft drinks and chocolate bars. I mean the capital "L" kind of Love; the love that is unfathomable and ineffable, a fusion of respect, understanding, awe, sensuality and mystery.

Nearly a decade ago, I read with great interest reports of interrogators at Guantanamo promising detainees a swim in the tropical ocean as an inducement to cooperation. From those small, hot jail cells, clad in heavy jumpsuits, the ocean must have looked mighty inviting. The technique worked.

Later, in the summer of 2003, on a coastal trek from Oregon to Mexico, I walked past a beachfront bungalow for sale in Del Mar, California. Eight-hundred square feet, no lot, but the sound, smell, sight, touch and taste of the Pacific awaited just beyond the bedroom window. The asking price? A cool $6.3 million. They got their asking price, then some.

It turns out that globally the ocean imparts a trillion dollar premium on hotel rooms, condos, houses and all other forms of coastal real estate. People want to see and hear the sea from where they eat and sleep and are willing to shell out a lot of green to get some blue.

I've also spent a lot of time with fishermen around the world. I've seen their working love of the ocean up close. Theirs is boundless joy in the freedom of a wide open, big blue space. It is the irresistible draw to a life spent catching seafood. In one Mexican lobstering co-op I work with, the rogue member who dares violate the community rules of "how many" and "how big" is banished to the packing facility with a never-ending view of white walls and stainless steel tables instead of big blue. For them, it is the worst punishment imaginable. Few, if any, subvert the community standards.

The poet Robinson Jeffers found language in the rhythm and drone of ocean waves and the meditative act of rolling boulders up from the sea to build his stone home. "The beauty of things was born before eyes and sufficient to itself; the heartbreaking beauty will remain when there is no heart to break for it," he wrote.

Canadian actor Michael J. Fox famously quit television right after spending a few hours blissfully following a sea turtle gliding through the blue Caribbean sea. "Never once after my encounter with the sea turtle have I wavered in my conviction that it was the right thing for me to do and the right time for me to do it," he wrote.

A girl in the fourth grade at the San Francisco School sat in front of me holding a bright blue marble to her left eye. "It's beautiful in there, I can see whales and turtles and hear the ocean," she said. "I know just who I'm going to give this to."

I also queried the modern oracle (Twitter) on the topic of the #1 seafood (shrimp) and learned a lot about American's unbridled passion for cheap, fried crustaceans. We know that a certain kind of obsessed food and power addition underlies the extirpation of bluefin tuna, sharks and sea turtles, that get caught in shrimp nets, from the ocean.

@DSchnell: Ate 90 pieces of shrimp at Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp, now it's time for bed

@davezatz: Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp would be more appealing if they provided an announcer and scoreboard. Gluttony ftw

@OREOaddict16: i just ate my weight in endless shrimp at red lobster..yum =)

And, whenever I travel -- which is a lot -- I invariably meet total strangers who say: "So, you're a marine biologist? I dreamed of being a marine biologist when I was a kid!" And they'll disappear on the red Zodiac, chasing down whale songs on the ocean in their head.

We humans offer up our dreams, our secrets and our treasure to the sea from whence we came. Those imprisoned terrorists, lifelong fishermen, deep-pocketed property owners, poets, shrimp and tuna addicts and world-weary travelers clearly feel great emotional pull towards the ocean. But, why? What is it about the ocean that speaks to us on such a fundamental, profound human level? I have always wanted to know, but my chosen profession, science -- skeptical, detached, dispassionate science -- wouldn't allow me to go there.

When I was a graduate student, I tried to weave emotion into my dissertation on the relationship between sea turtle ecology and coastal communities. No luck. My advisors steered me to other departments, another career even. "Keep that "fuzzy" stuff out of your science, young man," they counseled. Emotion wasn't rational. It wasn't quantifiable. It wasn't science.

But, the human-ocean connection, BLUEMIND as we've dubbed it, held me in its grip even as my career as a scientist blossomed. Eventually, I shaped my general philosophy into an effort called "The Mind and Ocean Initiative." Today, I think -- actually, I know -- it is time for a new kind of ocean science.

Economists, marketers and politicians recognize that deep-seated, inscrutable emotions, not rationality, are what rule human behavior. Aided by cognitive neuroscientists, these fields have begun to understand how our deepest, most primordial emotions drive virtually every decision we make, from what we buy to the candidates we elect. To my way of thinking, if the lessons of cognitive neuroscience can be used for the crass purposes of influencing what people buy and how they vote, why not use such knowledge for ocean conservation? I believe we can. And, I believe we should.

Consider these questions:

Why is "ocean view" the most valuable phrase in the english language, bestowing a 50% premium on everything from lunch to a night's sleep in a hotel room to a beachfront cottage?

If stress causes disease, and the ocean reduces stress, is time spent in, on, under or near the ocean good medicine?

Can our deepening understanding of brain science be applied to better protection for ocean animals being eaten to extinction by addicted and power-hungry humans?

We must seize this particular moment in time -- when the nascent power of neuroscience is burgeoning and the popular momentum is toward conservation rather than exploitation. We can use science to explore and understand the profound and ancient emotional and sensual connections that lead to deeper relationships with the ocean. I believe that if we do that we have an opportunity for real conservation gains that could do some true and lasting good for the ocean and planet Earth.

It's time to drop the old notions of separation between emotion and science. Emotion is science. Let's convene the top marine scientists, skilled communicators, dedicated conservationists, and leading neurobiologists and cognitive psychologists to ask and answer the most probing and compelling set of questions about the ocean that we can imagine. Let's explore the mind-ocean connection -- our BLUEMINDs.

Let's mentor a new wave of passionate and brilliant graduate students to get their PhD's in the breakthrough field of NeuroConservation. And together, let's mine neuroscience to develop a set of powerful conservation tools that educators, advocates, policymakers, medical doctors and scientists can use to better and more deeply engage, inspire and lead people in the restoration and protection of our beloved ocean.

Who knows what we will find. It's likely, maybe even certain, that the greatest unexplored mysteries of the sea are buried not under a blanket of blue, but deep in the human mind. The lessons and new questions are in there. They await only discovery.

BLUEMIND: Your Brain On Ocean is being held June 2nd, 2011 at the California Academy of Sciences. Watch and listen live online at www.MindandOcean.org

What Would Jacques Do? 100 Years of Oil + Plastic

2010-06-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

By Wallace J. Nichols, Sarah Kornfeld, Jake Dunagan and Stuart Candy

Jacques Yves Cousteau spent halcyon days gliding above and beneath the ocean. He lived among the largest mammals and sea drift. He was the master educator and voice for the sea. And so, on this, the 100th anniversary of his birth, it is a sorry state of affairs that we cannot celebrate the legacy of his ocean life, but instead it is the centennial of our own legacy with oil, plastic and associated toxins we must confront. One hundred years ago, 1910, the fossil-fuel-based plastics industry was born, as was Cousteau, and thus began the first plastic century.

Plastic is made from oil and gas, plain and simple, yet we do not think of oil or plastic pollution when we think of Cousteau. We think mostly of how he inspired wonder in us. We wondered at life aboard the Calypso with its salty crew. And, this wonder for the sea has engendered generations of people to become oceanographers, biologists, divers and simple lovers of the sea. But, if we do not make the serious connection -- now -- between the legacy of Cousteau and our legacy with petroleum we will sully the memory of the man.

Yet, the memory of the ocean was hardly what Cousteau was all about: he was really about the future of the ocean. He was always looking ahead -- not behind. He wanted people to have knowledge so that they could have foresight. His great genius was not that he made you want to go swimming today; it was that he inspired you to want to know deeply and explore constantly the ocean in the immediate future, and always.

"If we were logical, the future would be bleak, indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope, and we can work," he said.

Right now, however, we have our thinking backwards; we are watching a reckless and inane "clean up" of the Gulf of Mexico play out in slow motion. What can we imagine he would say right now? Would we listen? Would we nod our heads with a sense of security that the great man was leading us, teaching us, telling us how to get out of this mess? What would he do? Would we join him?

Who knows, but a good guess is that that great lover of the sea, and great pragmatist for the environment might be furious. Enraged. Heartbroken. One can imagine at the same time, the man rallying us to demand substantial legislative changes, responsible action from the oil industry, and a global systemic shift away from oil/plastic/toxins because our very lives depend on it. His line in the sand would be deep and long.

But, he's not here, is he? Yet, his 100th birthday is right before us. His legacy of an ocean is literally mired in the slick dependence we have on oil. So, let's make the list that a pragmatic leader like Cousteau might offer.

Let's do this:

• Tell someone each day what our Ocean Planet, our one and only blue marble, means to you. Describe how you love it, why you want to see it and hear it. Love is stronger than apathy, and your vision for the future of what you love can impact people. Use all of the media at your disposal to share your oceanophilia, get in on rallies, letter writing and vote for the ocean.

• Stop pouring toxins, any toxins, into the drains around you, onto your food, into your tank or into your body: you can show BP what responsibility looks like -- what you don't pour down the drain won't get to the ocean. "Think tank," you might say. Think about what goes in it and what comes out.

• Remember that great people leave Earth, but plastic never does. Reject straws, coffee lids, forks, or anything plastic you use once then throw away. First off, they are made of oil and gas and can make you sick. Second, when they end up in the ocean they make the ocean sick. Try as best you can to free your home, school and business of single-use disposable plastics.

The time is now for us, the lovers of the sea. We cannot wait for a great tide to take the oil, and our need for it, away to a magical place. And, we can't wait for the memory of great people to inspire us to change. We must honor their memory by doing something great ourselves.

Each of us must be Cousteau -- we must embody his legacy with a vision for the future: one that includes a world with a healthy, thriving sea. We must embody his memory -- a person who wanted a healthy, thriving future for the planet.

Ask yourself, "What would Jacques do?" Act as he would. Because we are all ocean activists now.

Wallace J. Nichols, Sarah Kornfeld, Jake Dunagan, and Stuart Candy, are a hybrid art- science-futures collaboration. Their installation Plastic Century is an interactive installation created for the California Academy of Sciences that explores the relationship between plastic, people, and the environment over the 100 years since the birth of Jacques Cousteau. The installation will be at the California Academy of Sciences June 3rd and June 10th. The Plastic Century Team is currently in residency at the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA), in San Francisco.

19 of the Greatest Ocean Heroes of All Time

2010-04-09T23:38:00.001-07:00

19 of the Greatest Ocean Heroes of All Time

Posted using ShareThis

People Protect What They Love

2010-04-01T14:23:00.001-07:00

Yes, brother! LIVBLUE: Let's live like we love the ocean (because we do!)

Thank you for carrying on the legacy with such passion and style.

J
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

LIVBLUE: pluckfastic.org

2009-09-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

What does "pluckfastic" mean and why do I need to know?

Find out HERE and get your sticker!

SaveJapanDolphins.org

2009-08-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

More HERE

From Ric Barry: "I hope you'll join me in this campaign to stop the killing of dolphins in Japan. Most people in Japan don't have any idea that the dolphin slaughter is even happening. If we can spread the word around the world - and especially in Japan - we can expose the secret of Taiji and force the Japanese government to stop it. We can win this issue - but we need your help!"

LIVBLUE: Thinking Like a Coconut

2009-08-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

On a small island you’ve never heard of, in a small group of islands you’ve never heard of, in the South China Sea, native coconuts grow. Green sea turtles climb the beach at night. They lay their small round eggs in a narrow, deep hole they carved in the sand with their rear flippers. Then they go back to the sea, across the reef, to wait for another night.

LIVBLUE: It's Blue August at Planet Green

2009-08-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

Check it out HERE

New England Aquarium goes BLUE!

2009-08-03T09:08:00.001-07:00

Check out the live blue initiative at the New England Aquarium

HERE

LIVBLUE: Statement on Plastic Pollution (English and Spanish)

2009-06-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

World Oceans Day Brings Warnings from Plastic Pollution Council

June 8, 2009, San Francisco, California

Following a presentation to Google employees by Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer who pioneered the study of plastic debris, the Strategic Council on Plastic Pollution convened at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California on June 4, 2009. It was the first meeting for the council on plastic pollution, which was recently formed to raise awareness of this rising threat to the world's oceans. Said council member and marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, “We are finding plastic in the stomachs of sea turtles, birds, and fish all over the world. I find this extremely disturbing." In honor of World Oceans Day, the council has issued the following statement regarding this increasingly urgent threat to wildlife and human health:

"Do you know where our plastic goes?

Did you know that our oceans are filling up with plastic pollution?

Plastic fragments contaminate even the most remote locations on earth, and harmful chemicals leached by plastics are present in the bloodstream and tissues of almost every one of us.

Plastic pollution harms people, animals, and the environment. Plastic is not biodegradable. In the marine environment, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that absorb toxic chemicals, are ingested by wildlife, and enter the food chain that we depend on.

Consumption of throwaway plastics, such as bottles, containers, bags, and packaging, has spiraled out of control.

Recycling is not a sustainable solution. The reality is that most of our plastic waste is landfilled, downcycled or exported to other countries. And tragically, millions of tons of plastic are poisoning our oceans.

Businesses and governments need to take responsibility for new ways to design, recover and dispose of plastics.

Plastic pollution is the visible symbol of our global crisis of over-consumption. Let's pledge to shift our societies away from the disposable habits that poison our oceans and land, eliminate our consumption of throwaway plastics, and begin embracing a culture of sustainability.

Our health, our children, and the survival of future generations depend on us."

Press contact: (English & español) Manuel Maqueda, manuelmaqueda@gmail.com +(415)839-7777 (GMT -8 h)

Statement on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxdwVQtNfng

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA

El Consejo sobre Polución por Plásticos lanza advertencia en el Día Mundial de los Océanos

8 de junio de 2009. San Francisco, California,

Tras una conferencia impartida a los empleados de Google a cargo del Capitán Charles Moore, el oceanógrafo pionero en el estudio de los residuos de plástico, el Consejo Estratégico sobre Polución por Plásticos se reunió en la sede central de Google en Mountain View, California. Se trata de la primera reunión de este consejo, formado recientemente para dar a conocer esta creciente lacra que afecta a los océanos del planeta. El Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, biólogo marino y miembro de este consejo, afirmó: “Estamos encontrando fragmentos de plástico en el estómago de tortugas marinas, aves y peces. Es algo que me parece extremadamente preocupante.”

En honor del Día Mundial de los Océanos, el Consejo emitió la siguiente declaración respecto a esta urgente amenaza para la fauna y la salud humana:

"¿Sabes a dónde va a parar nuestro plástico?

¿Sabías que nuestros mares se están llenado de contaminación por plásticos?

Incluso las regiones más remotas del planeta se encuentran contaminadas por fragmentos de plástico. La sangre y los tejidos de la mayoría de nosotros contienen productos químicos nocivos segregados por los plásticos.

La contaminación por plásticos perjudica a las personas, a los animales y al medio ambiente. El plástico no es biodegradable. En el medio marino, el plástico se va fragmentando en trozos cada vez más pequeños, los cuales absorben productos químicos tóxicos, son ingeridos por los seres vivos, y entran en la cadena alimentaria de la cual dependemos.

El consumo de plásticos desechables, como botellas, recipientes, bolsas y embalajes ha crecido de forma descontrolada.

Reciclar no es una solución sostenible. En la práctica, la mayoría de nuestros residuos plásticos son arrojados en vertederos, son convertidos en materiales de calidad inferior, o son exportados a otros países. La trágica realidad es que millones de toneladas de plástico están envenenando nuestros océanos.

Las empresas y los gobiernos tienen que hacerse responsables de la tarea de encontrar nuevas maneras para diseñar, recuperar y deshacerse de los plásticos.

La polución por plásticos es un símbolo visible de nuestra crisis global de consumismo. Comprometamonos a renunciar a los materiales desechables que envenenan nuestros mar y tierra, eliminemos nuestro consumo de plásticos de usar y tirar, y comencemos a adoptar una cultura basada en la sostenibilidad.

Nuestra salud, nuestros hijos y la supervivencia de las generaciones futuras dependen de nosotros."

El Consejo Estratégico sobre Polución por Plásticos es un grupo de expertos en el estudio, comunicación y paliación de este problema medioambiental, con sede en San Francisco, California. Su misión es acordar estrategias para la correcta comunicación y paliación de la polución por plásticos en todo el mundo.

Contacto de prensa: (English & español) Manuel Maqueda, Consejo Estratégico sobre Polución por Plásticos, manuelmaqueda@gmail.com +(415)839-7777 (GMT -8 h).

###

LIVBLUE: World Ocean Day Video Statement on Plastic Pollution

2009-06-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Huffington Post: Your blue marble

2009-05-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Huffington Post
MAY 25, 2009

Wallace J Nichols
Posted: May 25, 2009 07:26 PM

What will you do with your blue marble?

Read More: Environment, Environmentalism, Ocean, Ocean Day, Pollution, Recycling, Green News

Do you know where to get the best local, sustainable seafood? Do you clean up plastic litter, even if it's not yours and no one is watching? Do you take reusable bags to the grocery store? In other words, do you live blue?
Well then, here's a marble.

If someone hands you a small blue marble don't be surprised. Here's what to do: give it away to someone who is also taking care of our little blue planet. Or give it to someone else along with a tip about how to live blue: where to get the best local organic food, how to avoid plastic waste, or which politicians and businesses are true blue.

Then pause for a moment and consider that tens of thousands of similar recycled-glass blue marbles are passing from hand to hand right now, making their way around the Earth, our big blue marble. If you get one, give one. And then, please share your story with all of us at BlueMarbles.org and inspire others to live blue. Next World Ocean Day, in June 2010, we'll check in on all the stories those blue marbles tell.

Blue Marble is the name given to the most replicated photo ever, it's the one made by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 as they pointed their Hasselblad camera back at an illuminated Earth. From up there we looked small, fragile, beautiful...and blue. Sort of like a blue marble.

 Understandably, the green patches of our planet get most of the eco-attention--albeit not nearly enough--while the blue expanses quietly take the hit. I've heard it said that less than 1% of eco-funding goes to caring for the blue world. But, the fact is we live on a blue planet, not a green one, or a brown one. Earth is mostly water, surrounded by a light blue or dark blue sky. Life came from the ocean, and most of our planet's life and habitable space is in the ocean. We know all too well that the ocean gives us our climate, the air we breathe, and food to eat.

But we've treated Big Blue like a giant dump. Our chemicals, exhaust, emissions and trash are blown away with the breeze or washed away with the tide. Invisible. Out of sight. Out of mind. Global warming, ocean acidification, toxic seafood and plastic-laden seas and beaches mean that dilution is no longer a viable solution to pollution.

But our hope isn't false or shallow. Soon, the health of the ocean, once the wallflower of the environmental movement, will move to center stage, and not a moment too soon.

Those in the know say that 2010 is going to be a big year for the blue parts of our planet. Beginning with World Ocean Day this June 8th (now recognized by the UN) a string of ocean events flows outward including the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Archie Carr, the father of sea turtle conservation, the premier of the IMAX film OCEAN, World Ocean Day 2010 and the anniversary of Jacques Cousteau's 100th birthday. Ocean explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle, aka "Her Deepness," has made a global network of marine protected areas her TED Prize wish. Our new administration put an ocean scientist Dr. Jane Lubchenco at the helm of NOAA and is poised to change climate change and energy policies at home and around the world for the better (to put it mildly).

The message is quite clear: we must do more for the ocean, we must do it better and we must do it now.
Your local "blue" organizations--the frontline warriors--need your help. These days "help" means money, so update your memberships at your favorite grassroots non-profit. While you're at it, renew your commitment to the national organizations like Ocean Champions, Ocean Conservancy and Oceana, the people who, day-in and day-out, lobby for and shape the plans and policies that will restore healthy oceans. Without our support these groups are not going to make it, which means neither will we.

If you're not convinced, just consider what our ocean would look like without the people who have fought for it through the years. More oil rigs, an extra few thousand tons of trash, lots more runoff, fewer fish, whales and turtles, lack of public access and poorer ocean illiteracy leap to mind.

But it's not all about what they do. It's also about each of us. Hit the beach, roll up your sleeves and volunteer to pick up that trash even when no one is watching, eat "blue" by making the most local and sustainable choices and shop "blue" by looking for reusables and biodegradables first.

We all owe these ocean saints a world of thanks. Maybe your neighbor, teacher, co-worker or partner is one of them. In fact, I'll bet you're one of them, too. If so, then one day, very soon, I hope someone puts a blue marble into your hand and says, "thank you."

And then, when that blue marble is yours, you'll know exactly what to do with it.

LIVBLUE: Blue Marble Movement

2009-05-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

The Blue Marble Movement

Here's a simple, wonderful concept: Send a blue marble to folks who are living a life that preserves OUR blue marble -- this beautiful Planet Earth. Encourage them to "pay it forward" and pass the marble along to others who are doing the same. Collect the stories of these marbles & people as they journey around the planet. (In prose and poetry, in pictures and videos.) Then share the stories on a day of celebration.

Read more at the Monterey Bay Aquarium site HERE

LIVBLUE: Celebrate World Ocean Day @ Ocean Revolution 5

2009-05-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

Ocean Revolutionaries,

Celebrate World Ocean Day on June 5th at Ocean REVolution 5 @ The Catalyst in downtown Santa Cruz, CA

Support our great local ocean advocate at Ocean Revolution, Save The Waves, Save Our Shores, Ocean Conservancy, Surfrider, Ocean Conservancy, FishWise and O'Neill Sea Odyssey

We're proud to announce The Mother Hips and Hot Buttered Rum will be making musical bliss for the ocean. See www.catalystclub.com for tickets and more info.

For the past five years we have celebrated World Ocean Day with powerful music delivered by ocean-loving musicians, uniting our ocean advocacy efforts and recognizing that the future of the ocean is in our generation's hands. This isn't a fundraiser or an educational event...it's just really, really good live music for the ocean with our friends. Spread the word about these great organizations and celebrate our accomplishments and the good hard work ahead.

Each year we produce a new concert poster, now sought after collectibles. The OR5 poster is attached as a pdf. Feel free to print, post, email and otherwise distribute far and wide.

Thanks to Max Davis for design work and a big thanks to The Mother Hips and Hot Buttered Rum!!

Experimental project to clean Pacific Ocean garbage patch

2009-05-06T19:57:00.001-07:00

Project Kaisei is a bold attempt to filter out and recycle plastic from the continent-sized patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean.

Read more HERE

LIVBLUE: Get Outside Yourself

2009-05-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

New Volunteer Match Program Connects Travelers with Sea Turtle Conservation Projects

For your next volunteer vacation, how about a close-up and personal encounter with one of the world's most mystical and prehistoric creatures? That is what engagement with sea turtles is all about. There are many projects around the world that work in sea turtle conservation. In order to find the best one for you, check out the new volunteer placement service that SEE Turtles is offering at www.seeturtles.org. The free service matches interested travelers with sea turtle projects in Mexico, Costa Rica, Tobago, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

Read More HERE

5th Annual Ocean Revolution World Ocean Day Concert

2009-04-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

June 5th

Save the Date!

Details to be announced soon!

FEATURED COLUMN: Message in a Bottle: The Problem is Plastic

2009-04-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

FEATURED COLUMN: Message in a Bottle: The Problem is Plastic

By Dr. Wallace J. Nichols
Monday, April 27, 2009 1:19 AM EDT
PostStar.com

"Walked out this morning, don’t believe what I saw, a hundred billion bottles, washed up on the shore." -Sting  Last month, the leaders of a global coastal cleanup network 400,000 strong, spanning 104 countries and 42 states, met in Washington, DC coinciding with the release of the expansive report, "A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris."

After almost a quarter-century of garbage and data collection from creeks, bays, lakes, reefs, beaches and oceans of the world, the results are crystal clear: The problem of debris in the ocean is not "debris," but plastic. Debris is what blows off trees onto the grass, or the driftwood and kelp that have naturally washed up on our beaches for millennia. The term "marine debris" is a euphemism—an Orwellian framing device promoted by plastics industry public relations pros.

  The mess in our ocean is made almost exclusively of plastic—plastic ropes, fishing nets and traps, plastic bags and bottles, plastic food containers, bottle caps, rubber ducks, flip-flops, plastic syringes, toothbrushes, diapers, tampon applicators and condoms, plastic cigarette filters and lighters. Gazillions of nurdles—those little tiny pellets that are the raw industrial material for many molded plastic items—are mixed with seawater and sand wherever the currents can take them. Depending on where you are in the world, plastic makes up nearly 100% of what washes up on the beach both in terms of the number of items and their mass.  

While the public involvement and growing attention on this issue so evident in "A Rising Tide" are hopeful signs of a solution, plastic in the ocean remains an expanding threat to both human and animal well-being. In his new book, "Flotsametrics," oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer writes that samples of just about everything ever made of plastic can be found washed up on the beaches of the world.  

Plastic and water just don’t mix for two main reasons: plastic floats and it doesn’t go away for a very long time. By plastic, of course, I’m referring to the wide range of synthetic organic solid materials used to manufacture myriad consumer products. They are typically polymers of high molecular weight that often contain additives to improve things like flexibility and/or reduce costs.

  Plastic comes in many shapes, sizes and uses; it originates from every corner of the globe; and, it is a ubiquitous product of most every industry. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic has been discarded. In the past two decades, plastic use has simply exploded across the planet. It is a blight on coastal villages around the world, invading in thousands of new forms, without an exit strategy. Since the 1960s, the number of plastic items in the stomachs of leatherback sea turtles, minke whales and Laysan albatrosses has spiked.  

Recently, on a research expedition to Indonesia, I witnessed a line of plastic on remote island beaches that are nesting grounds for endangered sea turtles. I saw walls of burning plastic sliding down cliffs into the sea. I found plastic fishing gear wrapped around reefs. Plastic bags clogged the intake of our outboard motor every fifteen minutes.

  In the bluest heart of ocean biodiversity floats a sea of plastic.  

Granted, plastic "falls from our hands, not the sky," but manufacturers who churn out more and cheaper plastic at an alarming, increasing pace are spreading the problem irresponsibly. Recycling has proven difficult. The biggest problem is the labor-intensive sorting of plastic waste into its various types for reprocessing; the costs far exceed the value of the recycled plastic. The plastic foam polystyrene, for example, is rarely recycled because it is just not cost effective.  

We could just wait on Mother Nature for a solution. Two types of nylon eating bacteria were found in 1975, raising the hope that other bacteria will evolve the ability to consume other synthetic plastics. But Mother Nature is slow and plastic is piling up in the ocean by the day, particularly in the North Pacific Gyre, or the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or the "Pacific Trash Vortex" as it is sometimes known.  

So, what is the solution to plastic in the ocean? Simple answer: Don’t use petroleum-based plastic.  

Human behavior is remarkably flexible when it comes to finding alternatives to plastic. Recently, new biodegradable plastic substitutes have come on the scene. Many of the items removed from the world’s beaches have reusable or non-plastic, biodegradable and compostable substitutes such as those made from plant-based bagasse, the fibrous residue remaining after sugarcane or sorghum stalks are crushed to extract their juice. Seek them out when you need a container, they go by the names of EcoTainer, NatureWorks and Worldcentric and can be easily found online. Encourage local leaders and businesspeople to follow China, India, Ireland and dozens of U.S. cities, by banning certain disposable plastic items and taxing others. Reusable bottles, utensils and shopping bags are a simple solution. Wax paper is a good choice for many household and lunchbox needs. Avoid plastic "to go" containers. See if you can make it through a single day without using any disposable plastic. It’s not as hard as you might think.  

Who knows, if we succeed, maybe one day our beaches will be full of real, old-fashioned marine debris. The kind the original beachcombers used to collect: driftwood, kelp, seashells and the occasional message in a bottle—a glass bottle, of course.  -

Dr. Wallace J. Nichols is a Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences.

Shark Break!

2009-04-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Click here to get more mini-SharkBreak widgets - www.SharkBreak.com

Mission Sea Turtle

2009-04-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Here’s your mission should you choose to accept it: hold you breath for a month, eat an entire salad bar, swim a marathon a day for 2 weeks, while figuring out how to get to a place you haven’t been to since you were a baby 30 years ago, without the help of signs, GPS, maps, helpful policemen or Google Earth, then at your destination mate non-stop for a few weeks, lay a few hundred eggs at night in a hole you dug with your back feet without looking, now swim back to where you came from to eat some more salad bars and get ready to do it again. Each year. For the rest of your life. Which is long.

I forgot to mention that all along the way you need to be sure that the food you eat isn’t made of plastic that just looks like food (which can mess you up real bad), you should avoid getting run over by a speeding boat (which can crack your shell), you better not get caught in a net or on a hook (which are everywhere these days), and last but not least you have to hope and pray you’re not eaten as turtle soup (sounds gross, but some people like it A LOT).

Did I mention that you are a sea turtle (and your brain is the size of a pea)? Impressed? You should be. Sea turtles are AMAZING animals!

Read More HERE

LIVBLUE: Save the Date for Jacques' 100th B-Day!

2009-04-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

Join us for World Ocean Day 2010 by celebrating the 100th anniversary of Jacques Cousteau’s birth. It’s no exaggeration to say that Captain Cousteau inspired millions of us to learn more about our ocean planet and some of us to make exploring it our life’s work.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (11 June 1910 to 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the aqua-lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie Française. He was commonly known as "le Commandant Cousteau" or "Captain Cousteau".

Family Fun Magazine: Volunteer Opportunities

2009-03-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Family Fun: Four Ideas for Volunteering

by Melissa Gaskill

Read the whole article HERE

#2 BEAUTIFY OUR BEACHES

What Needs To Be Done

Who has fun on vacation when the beach is covered with trash? No one -- so national organizations need volunteers all year-round to clean up our shores.

How Families Can Help

Ocean Conservancy sponsors the International Coastal Cleanup event on the third Saturday of September. In 2007, some 378,000 volunteers worldwide collected 6 million pounds of garbage.

California marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols took daughters, Grayce, age 7, and Julia, 4, to a cleanup event in Big Sur. "The girls are big on cleaning the beaches," Nichols said. "They'll tell you, 'The trash goes down to the ocean, the animals eat it and get sick.' " During the cleanup, the family also helped rescue a pelican with a hurt wing. 800-519-1541, oceanconservancy.org

Families vacationing in Maui any time can grab a beach cleanup kit from Hawaii's Pacific Whale Foundation, complete with directions to a local beach, rubber gloves, trash bags, and instructions for disposing of the litter. 800-942-5311, pacificwhale.org

Environmental Close-Up: Ocean Planet

2009-03-06T02:06:00.000-08:00

NeuroConservation: The Battle for the Brains

2009-01-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

wallacejnichols.org

Were you paying attention during the presidential election? Obama’s team combined brilliant, resonant language with an appealing patriotically-hued "O" logo and impeccable social networking tools for fundraising, messaging and get-out-the-vote. They topped it all with follow-up communications with a personal flair. Using the tools of modern marketing better than anyone imagined possible, they put a long-shot candidate in the White House.

The Obama campaign tapped into a phenomenon that marketers (and more than a few “instinctive” politicians) have long known: that decisions are driven not by rationality but by emotion. And, sometimes, when the stars align, emotions produce elections of unlikely candidates.

However, did you know that “smaller” everyday acts can trigger the very same mirror neurons, like those that produce yawns when we see others yawn, and dopamine rushes, like those that follow pleasurable experiences, as voting for a charismatic candidate? Acts as simple as declining a plastic bag at the checkout counter, or spending an hour cleaning a beach, or buying local, or hopping on a commuter train. Science shows that when we participate in activities we think are “cool,” we feel cool and a rush follows. These acts carry an additional bonus in that there’s no credit card bill pending (nor years shackled to a blundering president). In the end, the earth is healthier for it.

Brain science has taken some exciting leaps forward recently and, in the coming decade, we expect increasingly mind-blowing research and insights. Like it or not, according to the new book “Buyology” by Martin Lindstrom, technologies like MRIs and brain scans are now a fixture of politics and consumerism in the U.S. Lindstrom points to new research that describes all decisions as emotional, makes clear links between left/right brains and left/right politics, and shows that fear-based anti-smoking campaigns may actually increase desire to light up. Combine brainscoping with new social marketing tools, toss in a 100 million dollars or so and you've got millions craving Coke, iPods, SUVs, and all things Obama.

Here's the good news. When not wedded to science for science’s sake, leading neuroscientists believe in improving the human condition through better understanding of how the brain works. My advice to to a new graduate student would be to get a degree in Neuroscience, with one foot in Environmental Studies and the other in Communications/Marketing. If I could create my own program, I’d call it NeuroConservation.

These same insights about our emotional brains and social networking tools that major corporations and campaigns are using to drive our decision-making are available to the conservation community as we try to head off the looming environmental catastrophe. First, we need to let go of some things we thought we knew, we need to use the new tools at our disposal wildly, and we must share what works with everyone who’ll listen.

For those of us working in the environmental field there is promise. We can harness mirror neurons and dopamine rushes for the good of the planet. Neuroscience offers great hope: positive emotion trumps fear, inclusive beats exclusive, and short-and-emotional tops lengthy-and-rational. The eco-community, however, is not learning these lessons.

Case in point: many eco-orgs use nearly identical unimaginative, unemotional taglines, slogans and logos. In a single month, I encountered no less than eight ocean protection organizations using some version of the phrase "sea change.” Logos melt together in a swirl of blue, green, ocean animals, and wave motifs. It’s like showing up for the prom in the exact same dress as all the other girls. Oops.

The similarity suggests unfamiliarity with the latest in brainwork and hints at the lack of collaboration between groups. Don’t get me wrong; I'm an avid supporter of several of the groups. Perhaps it's just that originality in the sector is just too risky. If true, that’s sad and we all lose in the end.

So, here's the plan. If you are a role model to someone (anyone!) or possess an ounce of cool, it's time to flex it for the planet. Be seen, be proud, and strut your LIVBLUE street-cred wherever you are. Say things like, "Dude those reusable shopping bags and water bottles are so cool" or "Riding the metro rocks!" or "Eating local, organic food is awesome!" And remember, when you say it, say it real loud so people can HEAR you.

Let your passion show. Creatively share messages by email, Facebook, YouTube, company listservs and Twitter. Share what works and what doesn't, widely and wildly. Let’s give preachitivity and eco-fact-itude a break and try some NeuroConservation and social-network-iness for a change.

Let’s not confuse NeuroConservation with the shallow trends of fashion or music. Think of it more in terms of the un-evolution (the “re-volution”?) of our wasteful, disposable, plastic-ridden past through cutting-edge science and technology. By making living blue super cool, we can make living brown uncool. One brain at a time.

“Our national obsession with buying and consuming is just going to escalate as marketers become better and better at targeting our subconscious wishes and desires.”
–Martin Lindstrom, Buyology

“The hallmark of revolution is that the goals of the revolutionaries cannot be contained by the institutional structure of the existing society.”
-Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody

Ocean Revolution goes plastic/tree-free in 2009!

2009-01-05T17:16:00.000-08:00

Your Plastic Footprint

2008-12-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

This may be a bad time to ask, being the holiday season and all, but what's your plastic footprint?

You know what I mean--the amount of disposable plastic stuff your lifestyle generates over the course of a day, a week, a year.

Plastic stuff that you may use for a few seconds or minutes. Then discard into the bin, sending it off into the world where it lasts essentially forever.

A small fraction gets recycled into low grade plastic things, but then lasts forever in that form.

Full disclosure: my plastic footprint is adult-sized. I bring my own bag, avoid drinks in plastic bottles, shun Styrofoam and generally work hard to shrink my plastic consumption.

But it's still amazes me what goes into the recycling bin. And the unrecyclable stuff bugs me even more.

Read more HERE

Dangerous Beauty

2008-12-20T16:42:00.000-08:00

"I imagine the future of the hawksbills in El Salvador depends on our ability to nurture that sense of pride that this is a species that prefers the coast of El Salvador, and should be protected," says Nichols. It doesn't stop with just this one problem and this one solution, Nichols believes. "We are re-inventing the way we interact with the ocean and the environment," he says. "It's possible. In that regard the hawksbill is a powerful symbol."

Read More HERE

LIVBLUE.org Toast to the Ocean 2009

2008-12-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

LIVBLUE.org and Ocean Revolution invite you to raise a glass to the Ocean at midnight on New Years 2009.

We have much to celebrate and work towards this year.

The ocean gives us life and health, our air and climate, beauty and inspiration.

Among our other toasts, vows, resolutions and celebrations, we’ll pledge to live like we love the ocean in the coming year.

Trestles, San Onofre State Beach saved: Toll road project rejected

2008-12-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

The waves are small and the water's frigid, but it's a glorious day for surfers and environmentalists, and for state parks, and for all who opposed the effort to erect the Foothill South toll road through part of San Onofre State Beach near San Clemente.

The U.S. Commerce Department today decided against the Transportation Corridor Authority's proposed toll road extension, which would have spoiled the aesthetics of one of California's most popular state parks, jeopardized a pristine watershed and the waves at Lower Trestles, which is one of the world's premier surf venues.

"The [Commerce] secretary’s decision confirms just how bad this project really is: Even the Bush administration, under pressure from all the lobbyists money can buy, has refused to endorse the toll road through San Onofre," Joel Reynolds, an attorney representing the National Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

"In my 30 years experience, I have never seen a project more deserving of rejection. The transportation agency lobbied 20 years for this toll road, spent billions of dollars on lobbyists, and were trying to shove the $1.1 billion for this road onto the shoulders of taxpayers already burdened by the economy.

"You simply couldn't design a transportation project that does more harm to taxpayers and the environment and less good for congestion relief."

Several groups opposed the project and will be issuing statements such as this throughout the day. Congratulations to all who fought against it. The project, which had already been rejected by the California Coastal Commission, never should have gotten so far along.

--Pete Thomas

Photos: A protester (top) expresses opposition to a proposed toll road extension through San Onofre State Beach, which contains one of Southern California's few remaining pristine watersheds (bottom). Credits: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times (top) and Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Ocean Revolution Gear for Ocean Lovers

2008-12-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

Ocean Revolution Gear for Ocean Lovers

Following this link to a message from my brother Joshua, who has created beautiful and unique Ocean Revolution belt buckles and pendants to help you support our work and look good.

Parade Magazine: Can our oceans survive?

2008-07-25T09:59:00.001-07:00

Can Our Oceans Survive?

Published: July 27, 2008

As director of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., Frances Gulland sees firsthand the effects of the oceans’ deteriorating state. Her patients have included cancer-stricken sea lions whose tumors are thought to be associated with PCBs, sea otters infected by a parasite linked to run-off, and fur seals sickened by toxic algae. These animals act as “an early warning system,” says Gulland. “All these things could happen to us.”

A recent study led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, Calif., found that close to half of the oceans are “fairly degraded,” and only 3.7% show little or no impact from human activity. Oceans help keep the environment healthy by absorbing carbon dioxide. But now the results of that intake are evident. The seas have risen, warmed, and acidified worldwide. Those changes, combined with overfishing, have caused 90% of our big fish to disappear, according to Leon Panetta, co-chair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. “Pollution has led to almost 26,000 U.S. beaches being temporarily closed or put under advisories,” he adds, “ and nearly 90% of our wetlands, the nurseries for fish, have vanished due to development. The oceans are in crisis.”

The U.S. government spends relatively little on the sea. Around $18,700 per square mile goes to the National Park System, while $400 per square mile goes to its ocean counterpart, the National Marine Sanctuary System. Private charities show a similar trend. “Close to 99% of conservation dollars donated go to land causes, and 1% to oceans,” says Debra Erickson, executive director of the nonprofit Kerzner Marine Foundation (KMF). “But over 70% of the Earth is covered by oceans.”

Lack of public attention may be due to the sea’s placid appearance. “You look at the surface, and it looks fine,” says Prof. Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University in Corvallis. “Yet below the surface is a whole different story.” The Blue Project—a collaboration among KMF, other nonprofits, and Kerzner’s Atlantis resort in the Bahamas—is trying to educate people about what’s happening underwater, specifically with coral reefs. Atlantis visitors can go scuba diving or snorkeling and see the stark difference between a healthy reef filled with colorful creatures and a degraded one that contains bleached coral and not much else. “When you see a reef that has the proper number of fish in it vs. one that doesn’t, it takes your breath away,” says Erickson. —Daryl Chen

OpEd: Do we need sea turtles?

2008-07-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

OpEd: Do we need sea turtles?
Santa Cruz Sentinel
-
Article Launched: 07/06/2008 01:34:54 AM PDT

In 1996, I was on the first team to attach a satellite transmitter to the back of a sea turtle and track her migration across an entire ocean. Her name was Adelita, after the daughter of a local fisherman. Over the next 368 days, she swam some 7,000 miles from Mexico to Japan, the country where she was born. Adelita swam her way into computers and newspapers and, soon, into the minds and hearts of millions who followed her epic journey.

Earlier this month, the Great Turtle Race II expanded on Adelita's journey. Eleven leatherback turtles navigated the high seas. Thousands of turtle fans monitored their progress online. The race winner and first to cross the International Dateline, traveling almost 4,000 miles, was Saphira, our Santa Cruz hometown favorite.

In a recent New York Times blog covering the race, journalist Andy Revkin dared pose the question, "Do we need sea turtles?" The responses have been passionate and thought-provoking, but inconclusive.

For me, Revkin's query misses the point, begging more important and more provocative questions: Do we need all-you-can-eat shrimp dinners and swordfish steaks that kill so much ocean wildlife? Are endangered sea turtles worth saving at the cost of a few luxury items? How much do we really need?

As a scientist, I understand we know little about the ecological roles of sea turtles. The turtle populations we study are a mere tenth of their former abundance. Stories from before the age of synthetic nets and outboard motors read like science fiction: clippers cutting through seas full of floating sea turtles, fish being raked into boats and psychedelic reefs exploding with life.

In ways we will never fully appreciate, each lost species weakens us all, but the loss of sea turtles goes far deeper than the loss of a single thread in the fabric of life.

For the Seri Indians of Mexico's Sonoran coast, sea turtles are life itself. To them, leatherback turtles are ancestors. They are at the heart of their songs, stories, dances, ceremonies and, lately, ocean conservation efforts. An ocean away, the Kei Islanders believe that their ancestors gave them the leatherback as a source of food to be hunted by hand from open boats. Always to be shared, but never sold. In Costa Rica, where leatherback turtle numbers have crashed hard, former egg poachers now protect turtles and lead ecotours -- a transformation bolstered in turtle hotspots around the world by Ocean Conservancy's SEE Turtles project.

On a recent flight, soaring high above the ocean, my row-mates described personal connections to sea turtles. "They changed our lives," they said. "Swimming with them, seeing them, on their terms, was the best thing we've ever done."

Thinking of them and pondering the question, "Do we need sea turtles?" I can only imagine the look on the faces of the Seri and the Kei Islanders and the millions of kids tracking turtles online, of a Mexican girl named Adelita, those Costa Rican turtle guides and a few strangers I met on a plane. Each would smile gently, shake their heads and laugh at the very question.

If you would like to ensure a world with sea turtles, visit oceanconservancy.org or seeturtles.org to plan a turtle-friendly vacation to see them in the wild, or join the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup to gather trash that threatens turtles, and, while you are at it, join Ocean Conservancy and become an outspoken advocate for sea turtle protections.

Wallace J. Nichols is senior research scientist at Ocean Conservancy and founder of the SEE Turtles conservation tourism project SEETurtles.org. Visit OceanConservancy.org for more information.

OpEd: Live like you love the ocean

2008-06-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

World Ocean Day OpEd: Live like you love the ocean

San Jose Mercury News

Everywhere I go, people ask: “What one thing can I do for the ocean?”

My daughter, a kindergartener, answers simply: “pick up your trash.” Of course, using energy efficient light bulbs or driving a hybrid are good answers, since global warming is fundamentally an ocean issue. Then again, the simple act of choosing to eat only seafood that is sustainable and healthy can help the ocean.

But our ocean is in serious trouble. Reading recent news and scientific papers is enough to make your head spin. They tell us that there is no corner of our vast ocean that is not free of human fingerprints.

As an oceanographer, I’m quite familiar with the relentless bad news. Keeping up-to-date on it all is a part of my job. Since the ocean holds the majority of life on Earth and governs our air, our climate, and our food, that means we’re in real, big trouble.

As daunting as it appears, the ocean crisis can be boiled down to three problems: we’ve put too much in, we’ve taken too much out, and we are wrecking the edge.

Who wouldn’t be concerned about the ever-expanding Texas-size “garbage patch” in the Pacific Ocean, the shutdown of West Coast salmon fishing, right whales and sea turtles drowning in fishing gear, and the summer closure of beaches due to toxic pollution?

Obviously, there is no silver bullet … or, is there? If I had one answer to give to those who ask, “What can I do for the ocean?” it would be this: “Live like you love the ocean.” Living like we love the ocean means putting less in, taking less out, and protecting the ocean’s edge where so much life lives.

Less in. Less out. Protect the edge.

Simple.

Rather than wringing our hands, hope is on the horizon. We can live like we love the ocean in many ways.
First, shop like you love the ocean.

Buy products that are ocean-friendly. Use a canvas bag to get your stuff from the store to your car to your house, rather than a plastic bag that will stick around forever. Drink filtered tap water from a refillable glass or steel bottle instead of buying water shipped halfway around the world.

Second, eat like you love the ocean.

When you choose seafood, be sure it’s caught sustainably. That’s gotten a heck of a lot easier lately as Whole Foods, thousands of local restaurants, and even WalMart are going organic and sustainable.

Third, vacation like you love the ocean.

This summer, hike in a coastal park or visit an aquarium. Go on a sea turtle or whale watch where your visit supports conservation. Surfing, kayaking, and snorkeling are all ocean-friendly activities. Why not join Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup and make a day of it with your friends?

Lastly, vote like you love the ocean.

Many local, state, and national politicians support bold efforts to tackle global warming, create ocean parks—our so-called “Undersea Yosemites” that Ocean Conservancy is helping to build—and better fund cutting-edge ocean science. With our votes, we must be perfectly clear: we want leaders who bring about sea change.

We are entering a decade of progress in the culture of conservation and sustainability. Millions who care deeply about the ocean are joining to transform our relationship with the sea … they are starting a sea change.
Each of us must be part of this ocean revolution -- each in our own way, each as part of a connected whole.

Join for yourself. Join for others. Join for the ocean. But, when you join, please remember to live like you love the ocean.

June 8th is World Ocean Day. Find out more at www.oceanconservancy.org

Dr. Wallace J. Nichols is a senior scientist at Ocean Conservancy and a research associate at California Academy of Sciences. He was featured in the documentary film The 11th Hour. On World Ocean Day he will be speaking in Baja California Sur, Mexico, on the shores of the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park.

LIVBLUE: OR IV: The Mother Hips

2008-05-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

Ocean Revolution IV: The Mother Hips rock SC

June 14, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

OCEAN REVOLUTION IV HITS SANTA CRUZ JUNE 14

The fourth annual Ocean Revolution celebration will be held at Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz on June 14, to celebrate World Ocean Day. The Mother Hips will be headlining with special guest Matt Butler, starting at 9:30 pm. The event will offer a chance to get up-and-close with local, national and international ocean conservation groups and their leaders, to celebrate the ocean in a rocking atmosphere and to explore ways in which we can all live like we love the ocean.

The event is organized each year by Santa Cruz locals Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, OCEAN REVOLUTION founder and Ocean Conservancy Senior Scientist, and Will Henry, renowned photographer and Save the Waves Coalition founder, who are joined this year by many other ocean activists.

"After four years this celebration is something lots of ocean-loving people look forward to. There's no better place to celebrate World Ocean Day than Santa Cruz, the heart of the Ocean Revolution," says Nichols.

"The Mother Hips' lead singer and guitarist Tim Bluhm has proven his ongoing dedication to ocean protection over the past few years," adds Henry.

The band has headlined three out of four OCEAN REVOLUTION shows and also played at the May "Life is a Wave" benefit concert in San Francisco. The event raised over $25,000 for Save the Waves Coalition.

OCEAN REVOLUTION is an international program designed to grow a creative network and inspire a new wave of young leaders, united in their quest for innovative solutions to protect our oceans.

Save the Waves Coalition is a non-profit that works to preserve surf zones internationally, and is based in Davenport.

For more information, contact Will Henry at will@savethewaves.org or 831-818-9292

Check out Project BLUE!

2008-04-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

BLUE is a growing wave...

Surfider's Project BLUE builds support for their global effort. Check it out at Project BLUE

The Birth of BLUE

2008-04-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

A speech by Adam Werbach

Download it HERE

NZ dolphin rescues beached whales

2008-03-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

The bottlenose dolphin, called Moko by local residents, is well known for playing with swimmers off Mahia beach on the east coast of the North Island.

Mr Smith said that just when his team was flagging, the dolphin showed up and made straight for them.
"I don't speak whale and I don't speak dolphin," Mr Smith told the BBC, "but there was obviously something that went on because the two whales changed their attitude from being quite distressed to following the dolphin quite willingly and directly along the beach and straight out to sea."

He added: "The dolphin did what we had failed to do. It was all over in a matter of minutes."

Back at play

Mr Smith said he felt fortunate to have witnessed the extraordinary event, and was delighted for the whales, as in the past he has had to put down animals which have become beached.

He said that the whales have not been seen since, but that the dolphin had returned to its usual practice of playing with swimmers in the bay.

"I shouldn't do this I know, we are meant to remain scientific," Mr Smith said, "but I actually went into the water with the dolphin and gave it a pat afterwards because she really did save the day."

Read the article and see a video of Moko HERE

China bans plastic bags!

2008-01-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

China announces plastic bag ban

The Chinese government says it is banning shops from handing out free plastic bags from June this year, in a bid to curb pollution.
Production of ultra-thin plastic bags will also be banned, the State Council said in a statement.

Instead, people will be encouraged to use baskets or reusable cloth bags for their shopping, the council said.

The move comes amid growing concern about pollution and environmental degradation in China.

China was using huge quantities of plastic bags each year, the State Council, China's cabinet, said in its directive, posted on the main government website.

"Plastic shopping bags, due to reasons such as excessive use and inefficient recycling, have caused serious energy and resources waste and environment pollution," it said.

Easily discarded

Of particular concern were cheap, flimsy bags that many shopkeepers routinely handed out to customers.

"The super-thin bags have especially become a main source of plastic pollution as they are easy to break and thus disposed of carelessly," the statement said.

Shops that violated the new rules could be fined or have their goods confiscated, it said.

The council also called for greater recycling efforts from rubbish collectors, and suggested financial authorities should consider higher taxes on the production and sale of plastic bags.

In recent years, China's rapid development has triggered concerns over pollution and use of resources.

But correspondents say that there is a growing awareness that more needs to be done to protect the environment.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7178287.stm

Published: 2008/01/09 07:38:14 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

New Year’s Resolution: LIVBLUE (Live like you love the ocean)

2008-01-01T02:01:00.000-08:00

Notwithstanding a major NYC ad agency, The Economist Magazine, The New York Times, and the Pantone Corporation all declaring that 2008 is the year of Blue, my resolution is to LIVBLUE.

Oceanographers have been saying this for a very long time: ours is a blue planet. Most of its surface, habitat and biological diversity is oceanic. 99% of the livable space on Earth is Ocean.

Global warming is fundamentally an ocean issue. Everything we produce on land eventually ends up in the ocean. We take our food, and increasingly our fuel and our water, from the ocean. And we love to go to the ocean’s edge for renewal.

So, 2008 looks to be the year blue breaks through.

A prediction for the upcoming year: an avalanche of BLUE. Magazine covers, TV programs, advertisers and the global environmental movement will pay even more attention to the ocean, it’s life giving potential as well as it’s urgent problems.

Green will still be strong. Some of the Earth is green, after all. In particular the part most humans are most fond of and call home.

The resolution to LIVBLUE, is simply a gentle reminder to myself. I resolve to live a little more like I love the ocean. To eat more sustainably and locally, cut more plastic out of my life, make my travel count for conservation whenever possible, get even further away from fossil fuels, vote for candidates who care about what I do, support and work with blue organizations, and spend more time in/on/under the ocean with my friends and family.

I’ve started a blog at LIVBLUE.org where I’ll post thoughts on living like you love the ocean. I invite you to LIVBLUE and to send your ideas along to share or comment on the blog. Look for the LIVBLUE.org group on Facebook as well.

Here’s to a very bright, blue 2008 (PANTONE #18-3943 TCX, to be exact).

blue to replace green

2007-12-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Ad agency JWT says blue will be the new green.

-MORE-

VOTEBLUE

2007-12-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

Check out Ocean Champions to learn about which politicians are doing right by the ocean, and which are a part of the problem. Then on election day, VOTEBLUE.

Blue is the color of 2008

2007-12-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

read about it here in the New York Times

Blue in green: The Economist

2007-12-10T23:35:00.000-08:00

It's time to get past green and livblue...

Bioneers 2007 Plenary: LIVBLUE: Live like you love the ocean

2007-10-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

Bioneers 2007 Plenary