Take Action!

Petition to establish Marine Reserves

"There is a growing body of scientific evidence that demonstrates that the establishment of large-scale networks of marine reserves, urgently needed to protect marine species and their habitats, could be key to reversing global fisheries decline and restoring our oceans.

Greenpeace's plan to set aside 40 percent of the world's oceans as no-take zones could mean survival for sharks, tuna, whales, and a wide range of threatened and endangered species.." (taken from: http://oceans.greenpeace.org)



SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Breath in Breath Out

Bonaire National Marine Park

Last week George was talking to my group about his work in the Bonaire National Marine Park. Here's their site: http://www.bmp.org/.

I'm finding their Rules and Regulations really useful for our project. While these aren't laws in all places, they can be formed as suggestions to people to voluntarily change their behavior.

Thursday Panel on Sustainability and Water...

"Future Talk Now: Learning from New Orleans, the Western Balkans, and
Acre, Brazil"

2007-08 Vera List Center Fellow Marjetica Potrc,
in conversation with Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
The New School, The Orozco Room
66 West 12th Street, 7th floor
New York City
Admission: $8, free for all students, as well as New School faculty,
staff and alumni with valid ID
SPACE IS EXTREMELY LIMITED; RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED.

Sustainability has become a buzzword recently. Slovenian artist and
architect Marjetica Potrc has applied and investigated this concept for
many years in artworks, museum exhibitions and on-site interventions
around the world. In this conversation, the renowned curator Carlos
Basualdo will introduce the artistic oeuvre of Potrc, the newly
appointed Vera List Center Fellow with whom he has collaborated on
several projects.

The focus of their conversation will be Potrc*s new research project
on the use of water: during an artist*s residency with the
Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans this fall, the artist was
conducting on-site examinations into sustainable water-use practices
that have developed in New Orleans since Katrina such as the reclamation
of wetlands, and she is now beginning to draw comparisons to New York
City.

The New Orleans project is characteristic of the artist*s approach:
Potrc took up residency in a site of political turmoil and social
transformation and, after extensive scientific and cultural research,
will insert into the contested situation her work, possibly an
architectural installation or simply a conversation, in order to provide
clarity and new solutions. The outcome of this project will be featured
in the exhibition *Something from Nothing,* curated by Dan Cameron
and opening at the New Orleans Contemporary Art Center in early 2008.

* * *
TICKETS for this Event:
In person purchases can be made at The New School Box Office at 66 West
12th Street, main floor, Monday to Friday 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Ticket
inquiries can be sent to boxoffice@newschool.edu or 212.229.5488.
RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED.

EVENT INFORMATION: 212.229.5353, specialprograms@newschool.edu, or
www.newschool.edu/publicprograms.

Links for Environmental Legislation

Here are my links for the "Government Legislation related to the marine environment" part of the Research Section of the site-

United Nations Environment Program, Marine Coastal Environment: http://www.unep.org/themes/marine/default.asp

UN Environment Programme, global Programme of Action for the Protectino of the Marine environment from Land-based Activities: http://www.gpa.unep.org/

Endangered Species in the US: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/wildlife.html#Species

Federal Wildlife and Related Law Handbook: http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/statute_frame.htm

Digest of Federal Resource Laws:
http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest.htm

Environmental Issues in Fiji

Here are two sites with information about Fiji environmental issues:

WWF Fiji: http://www.wwfpacific.org.fj/where_we_work/fiji/index.cfm
World Wildlife Fund for Fiji

The Mamanuca Environment Society: http://mesfiji.org/
A Nonprofit working on marine environmental protection in Fiji.

Discoveries in Oceanic Biodiversity

I just listened to Talk of the Nation on NPR (you can subscribe to the podcast)-- I guess they have "Science Fridays" when they talk about recent news in science. Looking through their archives or subscribing can be a worthwhile place to collect information and ideas for our projects.

Anyway, on October 12th, they talked with a researcher about deep-sea biodiversity. Click here for the story.

Marine Documentary Links

Here are some documentaries with interesting links that I found online... I basically picked them based on their public prestige:

Discovery Channel | Blue Planet series
PBS | Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures series
Sharkwater| Documentary premiering November 2nd
Aliens of the Deep | Documentary of a deep sea dive by James Cameron
Ocean's Deadliest | Steve Irwin's final documentary series on Animal Plannet