Brian Skerry made a TED address in May. He has photographed many marine species and has gained an insight into the marine environment. Certainly worth listening to:
http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_skerry_reveals_ocean_s_glory_and_horror.html
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Earth Day
April 22 is Earth Day, begun in the United States in 1970, it is often heralded as the beginning of the environmental movement. The first International Earth Day was celebrated in 1990.
The http://www.earthday.ca/ website has a resource section with everything you need to plan, organize and participate in an Earth Day, Earth Week or Earth Month event, in a series of downloadable PDFs from their Earth Day Project Planner. But don't think of it as one day a year but the start of a new outlook on the Earth. These resources are also wonderful if you are planning an activity or project to use for the Right Whale Steward program.
Here is a great list of Top 10 Actions from the www.earthday.ca website:
1 Smart Shopping
• “Buy what you need, not what you want”
• Consider renting and borrowing things that are seldom needed
• Buy used items from garage sales and second-hand stores
2 Simple Savers
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
• Use aerators on faucets and shower heads
• Weatherstrip windows and doors
3 Transportation Alternatives
• Walk, cycle, car pool and use public transportation
• When driving, reduce idling and maintain correct tire pressure
• Consider car sharing programs or renting
4 Food Choices
• Choose local and organic foods that are in season, and support local food producers
• Eat less meat
5 Washing and Drying
• Wash full loads of clothes in cold water and hang to air dry
6 Heating and cooling
• For summer air conditioning, set your thermostat to 24°C or 25°C
• For winter heating, set your thermostat to 19°C or 20°C
• Install ceiling fans and programmable thermostats
7 Close to Home
• Vacation, travel and work as close to home as possible
8 Bathroom Basics
• Take short showers instead of baths
• Close water taps while brushing your teeth
9 Careful Cleaning
• Choose natural, non-toxic cleaning products
• Make simple, natural cleaners with ingredients like vinegar, baking soda and water
10 Don’t Discard
• Donate, reuse and recycle items before throwing them into the trash
• Harmful materials like chemicals, batteries, electronics, etc. should be taken to local hazardous waste depots or recyclers
The http://www.earthday.ca/ website has a resource section with everything you need to plan, organize and participate in an Earth Day, Earth Week or Earth Month event, in a series of downloadable PDFs from their Earth Day Project Planner. But don't think of it as one day a year but the start of a new outlook on the Earth. These resources are also wonderful if you are planning an activity or project to use for the Right Whale Steward program.
Here is a great list of Top 10 Actions from the www.earthday.ca website:
1 Smart Shopping
• “Buy what you need, not what you want”
• Consider renting and borrowing things that are seldom needed
• Buy used items from garage sales and second-hand stores
2 Simple Savers
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
• Use aerators on faucets and shower heads
• Weatherstrip windows and doors
3 Transportation Alternatives
• Walk, cycle, car pool and use public transportation
• When driving, reduce idling and maintain correct tire pressure
• Consider car sharing programs or renting
4 Food Choices
• Choose local and organic foods that are in season, and support local food producers
• Eat less meat
5 Washing and Drying
• Wash full loads of clothes in cold water and hang to air dry
6 Heating and cooling
• For summer air conditioning, set your thermostat to 24°C or 25°C
• For winter heating, set your thermostat to 19°C or 20°C
• Install ceiling fans and programmable thermostats
7 Close to Home
• Vacation, travel and work as close to home as possible
8 Bathroom Basics
• Take short showers instead of baths
• Close water taps while brushing your teeth
9 Careful Cleaning
• Choose natural, non-toxic cleaning products
• Make simple, natural cleaners with ingredients like vinegar, baking soda and water
10 Don’t Discard
• Donate, reuse and recycle items before throwing them into the trash
• Harmful materials like chemicals, batteries, electronics, etc. should be taken to local hazardous waste depots or recyclers
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Lights Out Canada, Schools - April 22
Lights Out Canada is a national event during which schools across the country turn off their lights and spend the day learning about climate change and what youth can do to take action. Materials provided include comprehensive lesson plans, step-by-step participation guides, and visual aids. The Lights Out Canada Challenge is set for April 22, 2010, Earth Day. The Challenge is twofold:
- to reduce measurably and significantly school electricity use during the 2010-11 academic year without compromising either educational or extracurricular activities, and
- to help schools shift to more environmentally friendly "green" electricity which has virtually no carbon footprint.
Almost 150 schools have registered for this year's event already! For more information, visit http://www.lightsoutcanada.tpweb.ca/
From Canadian Environmental Network e-Bulletin, March 31, 2010.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Learn About Sounds and Right Whales
The Discovery of Sound in the Sea website http://www.dosits.org/ has been redesigned to provide an interactive experience. They have sound clips from North Atlantic right whales www.dosits.org/audio/interactive/#/52 and a very detailed section on sounds and marine animals including mammals:
- How they hear sounds
- How they use sound when they are feeding
- How they use sound to communicate
- How they use sound to navigate
- What are the effects of anthropogenic (human produced) sound on marine mammals
- How can one measure the reaction of marine mammals to sound
There are also more advanced discussions of scientific methods.
Sound and hearing are very important to marine mammals and a recent study has shown that right whales compared to the 1970s are shouting (frequency shift) because of the increased level of noise in their environment from human sources. The paper was in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Volume 122, Issue 6, pp. 3725-3731 and is entitled "Short- and long-term changes in right whale calling behavior".
Reducing the amount of anthropogenic noise in the marine environment is a bit of a Catch 22. Given that fast moving vessels are problems for right whales, completely silent fast vessels may pose a greater risk than one making low noise. Moreover, most noise from a vessel comes from the propellers and the bow is a relatively quiet zone which may confuse right whales and other marine mammals into thinking they are safe at the bow of large vessels. Using sound deterrents on the bow are unproven. Experiments playing sounds to right whales produced inconsistent results and when the whales did respond to a particular sound, the whale stopped what it was doing and came to just below the surface to listen to the sound. This, of course, would bring the whale into a greater danger zone than if the whale had not responded to the sound. Scaring whales away from vessels is a complicated problem. It is, however, very important to reduce any masking effects of marine mammals communications so they are able to hear each other over broad expanses of ocean.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
National Wildlife Week Walk for Wildlife
National Wildlife Week begins April 4. A national campaign to Walk for Wildlife runs from April 4 to May 22 which is International Day of Biodiversity. The goal is to accumulate enough kilometres from participants to stretch across Canada and create national awareness about wildlife conservation and biodiversity. Check out all the details at www.nationalwildlifeweek.com
A school challenge might be to have students, families, etc. accumulate the number of kilometres that a right whale female swims from the Bay of Fundy to calving area off Florida (~2200 kilometres or ~1360 miles) by swimming, paddling, walking, cycling or running (any non-motorized method could be acceptable). Or perhaps a shorter distance for example from Cape Cod spring feeding area to the Bay of Fundy (~470 kilometres or 290 miles), or between the two critical habitats in Canada, the Bay of Fundy and Roseway Basin (~280 kilometres or ~175 miles). Or pick your own important locations for right whales during their yearly movements and calculate that distance. The distances here were calculated using the daftlogic.com google map calculator www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm
A school challenge might be to have students, families, etc. accumulate the number of kilometres that a right whale female swims from the Bay of Fundy to calving area off Florida (~2200 kilometres or ~1360 miles) by swimming, paddling, walking, cycling or running (any non-motorized method could be acceptable). Or perhaps a shorter distance for example from Cape Cod spring feeding area to the Bay of Fundy (~470 kilometres or 290 miles), or between the two critical habitats in Canada, the Bay of Fundy and Roseway Basin (~280 kilometres or ~175 miles). Or pick your own important locations for right whales during their yearly movements and calculate that distance. The distances here were calculated using the daftlogic.com google map calculator www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm
Green Teacher Magazine
The Green Teacher magazine, North American edition, has been published since 1991 by Gail Littlejohn and Tim Grant, high school teachers from Ontario. The magazine has an strong environmental focus. As described on their website www.greenteacher.com, "each issue of Green Teacher offers perspectives on the role of education in creating a sustainable future, practical cross-curricular activities for various grade levels, and reviews of the latest teaching resources."
The subscription fee is modest for four issues a year and to further decrease your environmental footprint, an electronic subscription is available or you can opt for a paper version, or both. Back issues are available to order or ask at your local library to see if they carry Green Teacher. A sample of the magazine can be viewed on their website, as well as some of the activities that have appeared in the magazine www.greenteacher.com/articles.html.
Check it out.
The subscription fee is modest for four issues a year and to further decrease your environmental footprint, an electronic subscription is available or you can opt for a paper version, or both. Back issues are available to order or ask at your local library to see if they carry Green Teacher. A sample of the magazine can be viewed on their website, as well as some of the activities that have appeared in the magazine www.greenteacher.com/articles.html.
Check it out.
One Ocean
David Suzuki's One Ocean is an elaborate website, http://oneocean.cbc.ca . You can watch the 4 part series online which aired in March 2010, play the online game "The Biosphere", take the One Ocean Pledge, delve into the depths or the past, or take an ocean tour using Google Earth.
The One Ocean Pledge has information about ocean issues and lets you develop your own pledge to protect oceans. "The Earth's ocean and atmosphere are closely linked, making the ocean part of our lives no matter where we live. Everything we do on land has an effect on our immense global ocean. Do your part to make better choices. Pledge to make a difference."
Why only one ocean? Aren't there five oceans? Alan Villiers, author of Oceans of the World published in 1963 explains: "The sea is One - unified, world-embracing. It is in fact one ocean - one ocean with five great names and a thousand little ones. There is no real boundary to any sea, save continental land. The waters mingle everywhere and the names are geographic, for convenience only."
By protecting the ocean, right whales may have a chance to recover from a species teetering on the brink. With a little over 400 right whales in the North Atlantic, they are critically endangered. Compared to southern right whales who are successfully rebuilding their population after protection from whaling, North Atlantic right whales face enormous challenges living along and in an industrialized coastline. North Pacific right whales are probably in a much worse state because of illegal whaling which extended in to the 1960s, even though they were protected from whaling since the 1930s.
The One Ocean Pledge has information about ocean issues and lets you develop your own pledge to protect oceans. "The Earth's ocean and atmosphere are closely linked, making the ocean part of our lives no matter where we live. Everything we do on land has an effect on our immense global ocean. Do your part to make better choices. Pledge to make a difference."
Why only one ocean? Aren't there five oceans? Alan Villiers, author of Oceans of the World published in 1963 explains: "The sea is One - unified, world-embracing. It is in fact one ocean - one ocean with five great names and a thousand little ones. There is no real boundary to any sea, save continental land. The waters mingle everywhere and the names are geographic, for convenience only."
By protecting the ocean, right whales may have a chance to recover from a species teetering on the brink. With a little over 400 right whales in the North Atlantic, they are critically endangered. Compared to southern right whales who are successfully rebuilding their population after protection from whaling, North Atlantic right whales face enormous challenges living along and in an industrialized coastline. North Pacific right whales are probably in a much worse state because of illegal whaling which extended in to the 1960s, even though they were protected from whaling since the 1930s.
Marinebio.org
Marinebio.org is a diverse site that has multitudes of resources from over 3000 species descriptions to information about careers in Marine Biology to quizzes to videos.
Under Marine Conservation, they have a list of 100 Ways to make a Difference and remind you to "Keep things in perspective. Be mindful of the big problems, but focus on solving them through the little things you can do everyday to help reduce them". They divide the actions into several categories:
Under Marine Conservation, they have a list of 100 Ways to make a Difference and remind you to "Keep things in perspective. Be mindful of the big problems, but focus on solving them through the little things you can do everyday to help reduce them". They divide the actions into several categories:
- What you can do to protect the oceans
- Things you can do inside the home
- Things you can do outside
- Food for thought
- Make it a lifestyle
The marine conservation section covers many topics that affect right whales. There is also a species fact sheet and a few photos.
Blue School Program
A great resource for teachers can be found at www.wildeducation.org and their Blue School program www.wildeducation.org/program/blue_school/oceneduc.asp The Blue School initiative began in 1998 for the International Year of the Ocean and is part of the Wild School initiative.
Their overview states: "If there's just one lesson to learn from our extraordinary Ocean Education program it's that all of us are ocean creatures. Marine ecosystems are critical to the well-being of every life form on this blue planet. No matter where we live, from the dampest shorelands and marshlands to the direst grasslands and timberlands, our everyday actions impact on the oceans that give us life."
Students can download the Canadian Wildlife Federation Ocean Day class-room ready thematic units and learn more about the oceans. Ocean Day is June 8.
Or after meeting one or more of specific criteria students can register their school as a Blue School or join a network of other Blue Schools. Limited funding is also available on a classroom or school basis to help "with the purchase of non-capital equipment and supplies needed specifically for Ocean Education projects".
Their overview states: "If there's just one lesson to learn from our extraordinary Ocean Education program it's that all of us are ocean creatures. Marine ecosystems are critical to the well-being of every life form on this blue planet. No matter where we live, from the dampest shorelands and marshlands to the direst grasslands and timberlands, our everyday actions impact on the oceans that give us life."
Students can download the Canadian Wildlife Federation Ocean Day class-room ready thematic units and learn more about the oceans. Ocean Day is June 8.
Or after meeting one or more of specific criteria students can register their school as a Blue School or join a network of other Blue Schools. Limited funding is also available on a classroom or school basis to help "with the purchase of non-capital equipment and supplies needed specifically for Ocean Education projects".
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Earth Hour - March 27, 8:30 PM local time
Earth Hour is fast coming upon us. http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx Log on to the official site (for Canada http://wwf.ca/earthhour/) and count yourself in. It is a small thing to do to help the environment and once a year is a small sacrifice but if you build it into your daily lives, more lights can be turned off and appliances unplugged, etc.
The less energy we use, the less need there is for tidal, wind, hydo or other traditional power mega-projects in remote areas including places like the Bay of Fundy, a critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale.
Can't turn off your lights, convert them to LED which uses even less energy than the compact fluorescent light bulbs.
The less energy we use, the less need there is for tidal, wind, hydo or other traditional power mega-projects in remote areas including places like the Bay of Fundy, a critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale.
Can't turn off your lights, convert them to LED which uses even less energy than the compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Live Blue Pledge
The New England Aquarium right whale research team has been studying right whales in the Bay of Fundy since 1980. The Aquarium has added a new feature, their Live Blue Initiative Pledge, http://liveblueinitiative.org/
Visit the site and make an “I live blue because” pledge for right whales. You can pick your own spot to protect in the Bay of Fundy (where right whales feed, socialize and also bring their calves) or the Southeastern United States (where right whales have their calves) or both places. They state: “Your pledge to live blue will help protect the calving, feeding and nursery grounds of the world’s most endangered species, the North Atlantic right whale.”
The pledge can be simple, such as walking or biking to work or school, recycling or buying locally. And remember to follow through on your pledge. Every little bit counts.
Visit the site and make an “I live blue because” pledge for right whales. You can pick your own spot to protect in the Bay of Fundy (where right whales feed, socialize and also bring their calves) or the Southeastern United States (where right whales have their calves) or both places. They state: “Your pledge to live blue will help protect the calving, feeding and nursery grounds of the world’s most endangered species, the North Atlantic right whale.”
The pledge can be simple, such as walking or biking to work or school, recycling or buying locally. And remember to follow through on your pledge. Every little bit counts.
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