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It’s All About the Ice – this week on Nova!

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

Extreme Ice
December 28 at 9 pm ET on PBS
Follow photojournalist James Balog to some of the most remote and beautiful places on Earth as he documents the disappearance of an icy landscape that took thousands of years to form. An artist, scientist, explorer, and former mountain guide, Balog braves treacherous terrain to site his cameras in ideal locations to record the unfolding drama. 
Remarkable time-lapse footage reveals massive glaciers and ice sheets splitting apart, collapsing, and disappearing at a rate that has scientists alarmed. This NOVA-National Geographic Television special investigates some of the latest evidence of a radically warming planet.  
Secrets Beneath the IceWednesday, December 28 at 10 pm ET/PT on PBS  
Almost three miles of ice buries most of Antarctica, cloaking a continent half again as large as the United States.…

Q&A with Dr. Earle at the ‘Eye on Earth’ Summit

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

SciDev.Net talks to Sylvia Earle, scientist, oceanographer, explorer, about her hopes for oceans at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil in 2012.

The oceans are a life-support system and they are under severe threat, says Sylvia Earle. That’s why she wants to ensure that they are on the agenda of next year’s international conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro.

Earle is an oceanographer and explorer and founder of Mission Blue, which aims to establish protected marine areas around the world; and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She has been called “Her Deepness” and “The Sturgeon General”. After speaking at the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi (12-15 December 2011) she told SciDev.Net about her oceanic hopes and fears.…

Set your DVRs for this Sunday!

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

Be sure to tune in or set your recorders to the CBS News Magazine, 60 Minutes this Sunday, December 18th at 7pm (following football) to join Anderson Cooper and The Ocean Doctor, David E. Guggenheim, as they explore Cuba’s coral reefs.

In “The Gardens of the Queen,” cameras take viewers on an underwater adventure to one of the world’s most vibrant coral reefs. But as Anderson Cooper reports, reefs like these are dying and could disappear. Watch Cooper’s report on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

For a special preview, click here.…

Implications of Environmental Change to Antarctic Marine Ecosystems

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

By Dr. Phil McGillivary and Gavin Morris reporting from the 25th International Conference on Conservation Biology in Auckland, NZEdited by Deb Castellana

The University of Auckland, New Zealand hosted a series of Marine Think Tanks, in the days before the 25th International Congress of Conservation Biology. One of them, Implications of Environmental Change to Antarctic Marine Ecosystems, dealt mainly with the Ross Sea, Antarctica, which is one of Sylvia Earle’s Hope Spots.
We were lucky enough to catch up with Ed Butler as he rushed off to the airport. Ed is the Manager for Antarctic Science with Antarctica New Zealand (ANZ). He, along with Vonda Cummings of NIWA, facilitated the 3-day think tank on the possible impacts of global climate change on Antarctic marine ecosystems.…

Dr. Earle Speaks at ‘Eye on Earth Summit’

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

ABU DHABI
Courtesy of ‘The National’
Edited by Deb Castellana

In 1991, the renowned oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle was in the Gulf to view first-hand the damage being caused by the blazing oilfields of Kuwait, set alight by retreating Iraqi forces. Now, 20 years later, Dr Earle is back in the region to warn of other threats to the Gulf’s waters, and those of the world. 
She first came to the Gulf as a chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US, and spent a month scuba diving in the waters of the Gulf in 1992 as part of an international scientific expedition to survey the coastline from Oman to Kuwait.

“It was an opportunity to see the Gulf before all this,” Dr.…

‘Ocean Voyages with Sylvia Earle’ at UC Berkeley

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

October 12, 2011University of California at Berkeley
This past October, ‘Conversations with History’ host Harry Kreisler welcomed Dr. Earle for a discussion of her work as a research scientist, oceanic explorer, entrepreneur, and public educator. Tracing her intellectual journey, Dr. Earle talks about the influence of her formative years, her education, the importance of the ocean for life on earth, and the challenges of being both a scientist and a citizen concerned about the fate of the ocean.…

Whale Marine Protected Areas Google Earth Tour Goes Live

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

For the first time, you can meet sperm whales, humpback whales and blue whales in the special places where they live. This Google Earth Tour is narrated by Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s World Commission on Protected Areas, and follows the migrations of whales above and below the surface, visiting some of the key marine protected areas and sanctuaries for whales around the world.
This animated Google Earth Tour was first presented as part of a keynote lecture by Dan Laffoley at the opening of the 2nd International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICMMPA) on 7 November 2011 in Fort-de-France, Martinique. It was prepared with the help of Jenifer Austin Foulkes (Google), Charlotte Vick (Sylvia Earle Alliance/Mission Blue) and Erich Hoyt (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society/IUCN) and features a segment on the Arctic Ocean with Dr.…

Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi Summit Begins Today

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

Abu Dhabi
December 12, 2011
Courtesy of WAM/Emirates News Agency
Edited by Deb Castellana

Running through the 15th of December at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC),  the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi Summit and Exhibition will draw attention to the gap that exists between the need for better information about the environment and the efforts being made thus far to address the issue. Decision-makers worldwide will be asked to share their data in The Summit’s development initiatives.
 
“The United Arab Emirates and Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) looks forward to welcoming both local and international and to move toward developing a unified framework to keep the global environment under continuous review and improve access to environmental and societal data,” said H.…

Georgia Aquarium hosts Captain Planet Foundation Gala

Posted on by Eric Valinsky

Atlanta, Georgia

Friday, December 9, 2011

It was a very special evening this past Friday at the Georgia Aquarium, where supporters gathered to celebrate the 20thanniversary of the Captain Planet Foundation.  Joining founder Ted Turner were special musical guest Alison Krauss, the 26-time Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter; Gala Co-Chairs Laura Turner Seydel and Elizabeth Dupree Lynch at one of Atlanta’s most spectacular eco benefits ever held. 

The Captain Planet Foundation was founded by Ted Turner with the goal of educating young people about environmental issues, and to encourage them to discover solutions to the many challenges facing our ocean planet.  Nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards is a goal that Turner has always taken very seriously. His children told CNN News that for as long as they can remember, their father has been an exemplary model, even stopping along the roadside to pick up trash. …