ecoist

By Lana Gunnlaugson, Program Coordinator Marine & Freshwater

Ever wondered what lives on the ocean floor, and how it came to be there?

Tonight, CBC will present the first of four special episodes offering a view of the sea most of us have never seen. The One Ocean series attempts to reconnect us to our oceans through an underwater journey that only a few have ever witnessed.

The series begins 4 billion years ago with the birth of the ocean, which helped transform the Earth’s surface into the hospitable home we oxygen-loving animals live on today. Oceans gave us life, and we still depend on them to sustain us. From acting as the planet’s thermostat to absorbing half its carbon dioxide, the oceans provide us with many of the ecosystem services that we need to survive. It goes beyond this, too. Many who have touched the ocean knows that its beauty and power has touched them too.

I watched a sneak preview of the One Ocean series last night and definitely recommend tuning in for this series if you have ever been fascinated by the ocean and how it works.

Here’s the full schedule:

• The Birth of an Ocean: MARCH 4 AT 8 P.M.
  The Birth of an Ocean explores the ocean*s tumultuous history and how the ocean transformed the earth into the livable, blue planet it is today.

• Footprints in the Sand: MARCH 11 AT 8 P.M.
  Traditional fisheries, over-development and the places of recovery that can give us hope for a healthy future ocean all intersect in Footprints in the Sand.

• Mysteries of the Deep: MARCH 18 AT 8 P.M.
  Starting in the deepest part of the ocean, Mysteries of the Deep takes us to a secret and magical world of bizarre creatures and new discoveries deep beneath the surface.

• The Changing Sea: MARCH 25 AT 8 P.M.
  The Changing Sea explores some of the most stunning underwater locations in the world as it sets sail on a scientific race – a race to predict the fate of the global ocean.

One Ocean is produced by CBC’s The Nature of Things and Merit Motion Pictures, in association with National Geographic Channel.

Source obtained: www.davidsuzuki.org

* Tags › Eco, Environment, Life, ocean, Sustainability

Get ready for YERT: The Film. We’re knee deep in the creation of a feature film based on our eco-adventures in every state of the USA, and this little trailer is the first real glimpse into what it’ll be like. We’re shooting for Sundance, so spread the word to all of your friends and family – we want this trailer to travel around the world.

More from Yert: www.yert.com

* Tags › Environmental, Green, Sustainable, video

2009 was an important year for the global climate change movement. From India to USA, from Ethiopia to China, people all over the globe took action, demanding fair and bold action to stop dangerous climate change. As world leaders met in Copenhagen for the UN climate talks in December, millions marched in the streets around the world.

In 2010, we will build the movement EVEN BIGGER. Visit http://350.org to get inspired and take action.

Thanks to all those who took action on climate around the world in 2009 – this video is just the tip of the iceberg.

Source obtained from: David Suzuki Foundation

* Tags › Environmental, global change, movement

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.

The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Source obtained from: www.thetinyhouseblog.com, also check out their stuff at www.storyofstuff.com.

* Tags ›

Humans frequently assume that we are the architects of biological change, rather than mere participants. Genetic mapping and engineering do paint a compelling picture of us in the genetic driver’s seat. But what if we’re manipulated by the very agents we believe we’re manipulating? What if, for example, in our attempts to create a more cold-tolerant tomato, we’re unconsciously fulfilling the tomato’s desire to expand the environment in which it thrives? It’s discomforting – some would say, ridiculous – to think of ourselves as haplessly duped marionettes in an elaborate drama manipulated by the omniscient tomato – especially when things like consciousness and desire are not frequently listed among the tomato’s better-known traits.

And yet it cannot be denied that the tomato has achieved a depth of genetic diversity and breadth of distribution that it may never had known, had it not appealed to a specific set of human desires. In making itself so delicious (entire cuisines are built upon it), nutritious (rich in lycopene and Vitamins A & C), and easy to preserve (thanks to high acid content) it earned a free boat ride from the New World back to the European mainland, where it proceeded to re-write culinary history. Thus did a lowly, spindly member of the sometimes-poisonous nightshade family manage to effectively put human legs and boats and farmers to work for it, moving it from its original western Andean home to farms and backyard gardens around the world.

We have grown accustomed to the idea of measuring the environmental impacts of our consciously chosen actions. We’ve come to see that many of our choices have unintended environmental consequences, many of them harmful. But what about those unconscious choices that have sprung from pure desire, whether it be a desire for control, for taste, for intoxication, or even the simple desire . . .

. . . for beauty? And what about the unintended positive effects of those actions? Is ours the only set of desires acting to orchestrate the rhythms of our world?

There is a world of life that indeed responds to our desires; and in doing so, fulfills desires of its own. Such is the premise and on which Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World is built. One of his earlier books, The Botany of Desire uses four separate plants to make the case that humans have been exploited by these species to advance a decidedly non-anthropocentric genetic agenda. The four plants examined are tulips, potatoes, apples, and marijuana – crops that have, genetically speaking, become wildly successful based on their appeal to human desires for beauty, control, sweetness, and intoxication, respectively.

Pollan’s is an investigation whose premise is now (pardon the pun) ripe for exploration. And it’s the focus of a striking new PBS production that is set to air Wednesday, October 28th. In pursuing his inquiry from such an angle, Pollan highlights the unexpectedly intricate relationships humans have established with the natural world at a time when we can better appreciate the beauty of how little control we actually have over nature.

Source obtained from: www.thecleanestline.com.

Also check out Michael Pollan’s site: www.michaelpollan.com.

* Tags › Earth, Eco, Environment, evolution, Green, humans, plants, society

The clock is ticking. In December of this year, the United Nations will meet to decide on the replacement of the Kyoto protocol: a defining moment that will determine the future of our planet in the face of the climate crisis. People around the world are dying today as a result of climate change and without …

Join the fight for climate change … visit www.timeforclimatejustice.org

* Tags › Climate Change, Earth, Eco, Environmental, humanity

Colin Beavan decides to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for the next year.

It means eating vegetarian, buying only local food, and turning off the refrigerator. It also means no elevators, no television, no cars, busses, or airplanes, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, and no garbage.

No problem – at least for Colin – but he and his family live in Manhattan. So when his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two-year-old daughter are dragged into the fray, the No Impact Project has an unforeseen impact of its own.

Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s film provides an intriguing inside look into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation, while examining the familial strains and strengthened bonds that result from Colin and Michelle’s struggle with their radical lifestyle change.

Find more on their site at: www.noimpactdoc.com

* Tags › Eco, Environmental, living green, living simple, Sustainability, Sustainable