An Array of Utopian Flowers
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Defensible Space: My Wildfire-Appropriate Retrofit Journey – Part I
Posted on November 16, 2018 | 1 Comment -
KXL Blocked – How Indigenous People Will End Tar Sands Pipelines
Posted on November 12, 2018 | 1 Comment -
Mythological Journey to the Aztec Underworld
Posted on October 10, 2018 | 1 Comment -
Confronting Wildfire: Retrofit Communities, Not Forests
Posted on September 17, 2018 | 1 Comment -
San Onofre Nuclear Waste Dangers Compound
Posted on September 4, 2018 | No Comments
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WilderUtopia in 102 Languages
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Oceans Archive
Waste Colonization, Plastic Pollution and the Pacific Gyre
Posted on August 27, 2018 | 1 CommentHow do we confront the swirling gyres of plastic pollution dumped into our oceans? EcoJustice Radio on KPFK-Los Angeles examines the social and environmental implications of wasted resources, and follow two interrelated approaches to solving the problem from an indigenous woman doing exemplary work in New Zealand and an LA-based plastics pollution fighter who built a raft made of plastic junk and crossed the Pacific.
California Sea Lion Suffering Warming Pacific, Disappeared Sardines
Posted on April 21, 2015 | No CommentsSick, starving and dying sea lion pups are washing up on the shores of California in record numbers this year. The culprit? An unusual blob of record warm water parked off the North Pacific Coast for a year and a half, affecting circulation and weather patterns with no relief in sight. Hence, sardine fisheries have collapsed with wildlife heading north.
Disappearing Cod: Sustainable Populations Require Long-Term Action
Posted on January 2, 2015 | 5 CommentsThe NOAA is shutting down cod fishing for six months, from Provincetown, Mass., up to the Canadian border, in an effort to reverse plummeting numbers of the iconic fish in the Gulf of Maine. Jeffery Bolster argues humans have depredated the Atlantic’s fish stocks for centuries, and the focus on short-term fixes only compounds the problem.
Planet Ocean: Envisioning Land and Seas as One Ecosystem
Posted on October 5, 2014 | No Comments"Planet Ocean" -- explores how the health of the oceans are the pivot for all of Earth's healthy ecosystems. This international documentary, directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot, wonders whether it is possible for Earth’s dominant inhabitants to change the way we view our oceans.
Ocean Acidification Threatens Alaskan Crab Fishery
Posted on July 23, 2014 | 4 CommentsOcean acidification, the lesser-known twin of climate change, threatens to scramble marine life on a scale almost too big to fathom. Scientists fear changing ocean chemistry will drive the collapse of Alaska’s iconic crab fishery. Watch the video from PBS NewsHour and the Seattle Times.
Sylvia Earle: Ocean Ecosystem Sustainability By 2050
Posted on December 9, 2013 | 1 CommentHumans are consuming the ocean’s resources at an alarming rate. How do we sustain this vital ecosystem for generations to come? National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle outlines some of the ways to protect the health of the earth's biggest ecosystem.
Miskitu Portrait: Lobster and Life on Laguna Caratasca
Posted on November 16, 2013 | 3 CommentsPuerto Lempira lies on the shore of the sweetwater Laguna Caratasca, just west of the Caribbean in La Moskitia, Honduras. The largest Miskitu town in the region, with an ailing lobster industry in an atmosphere of post-coup insecurity and governmental corruption, many turn to drug trafficking for income.
Marine Ecosystems Facing Unprecedented Human Damage
Posted on October 3, 2013 | 1 CommentThe health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating even faster than had previously been thought, a report warns. "We are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change. The next mass extinction may have already begun."
Sharkwater: Sea Shepherd Battles Shark-fin Poachers in the Pacific
Posted on July 15, 2013 | 1 CommentRob Stewart's beautifully shot documentary "Sharkwater," set in the Galapagos and Isla del Coco of the Pacific Ocean, refutes those who vilify the shark as a killer of humans, insisting they do not wish to eat us. He also films Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson's attack on the Costa Rican shark fin poachers, which has led to international charges for the famous defender of the sea.
Plastic Ocean: Deep Sea Garbage Endangers Marine Ecosystem
Posted on July 8, 2013 | 2 CommentsWhile the Great Pacific Garbage Patch continues to grow, a paper by researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute shows that trash is accumulating in the deep sea, particularly in Monterey Canyon, off the coast of California. This causes dire impacts to the marine ecosystem and humans who thrive from it.
Biofuels from Seaweed: A More Sustainable Energy Source?
Posted on July 1, 2013 | No CommentsMany millions are being invested in seaweed research from Vietnam to Israel to Chile because producing biofuels in the sea overcomes many of the serious problems with conventional biofuels.
Edison’s Reef: A Not So Glowing Report — By Jerry Collamer
Posted on April 27, 2013 | 3 CommentsWhile large fish fail to thrive at Southern California Edison's artificial reef off the coast of San Clemente, California, mitigation mandated by the California Coastal Commission to repair destroyed kelp beds at their San Onofre Nuclear Plant (called SONGS), a wider marine mammal crisis is ongoing. Could radiation released from SONGS be the culprit in both cases?
Midway Atoll: The Plastic Plight of the Albatross
Posted on October 9, 2012 | 25 CommentsA short film follows artist Chris Jordan to investigate the thousands of albatrosses dying from ingestion of plastic from the Pacific Garbage Patch. The Albatross journey across the sea takes them over the world’s largest dump: slowly rotating masses of partially-submerged trash between San Francisco and Hawai’i.
Bangladesh: A Flooding, Mega-Urbanizing, Climate Trap
Posted on October 7, 2012 | No CommentsIn Dhaka, climate change refugees are moving from the countryside and into squalid slums due to repeated monsoonal floods that have rendered traditional farmland unusable. A new documentary by Ami Vitale from the Knight Center for International Media wades through the floods, looking for solutions.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Bayou Culture Sinking into the Gulf – By Jack Eidt
Posted on August 28, 2012 | 1 Comment"Beasts," a hard-knock ecological fairy tale about the disappearing Louisiana bayou coastline, highlights the fragility of the region's hurricane defenses and the resulting devastation of communities and cultures living on the flooding margins.
Arctic Currents Warmest in 2000 Years
Posted on February 1, 2011 | 4 CommentsA North Atlantic current flowing into the Arctic Ocean is warmer than for at least 2,000 years in a sign that global warming is likely to bring ice-free seas around the North Pole in summers, a study showed.
Rigs-to-Reefs: Another Big Oil Remediation Subsidy – By Jack Eidt
Posted on October 25, 2010 | 2 CommentsSunken offshore oil rigs are not a scientifically proven habitat for marine life, may leave significant contamination in the ocean from polluted shell and debris mounds, and pose possible safety and liability issues for the State of California.
BP Dead-Zone in the Gulf, Delta Mass Fish-Kill
Posted on August 24, 2010 | No CommentsKeep in mind the ongoing scientific research regarding the undersea plume of oil and dissolved methane gas in the Gulf of Mexico from 3,200 to 4,300 feet below the surface. Studies estimated it more than a mile wide, 650 feet thick and at least 35 kilometers (22 miles) long, but probably longer, as the researchers had to break off because of Hurricane Alex.
