Did you know climate change affects the ocean? Some of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is dissolving into seawater. It's changing the pH, making seawater more acidic; some say "corrosive." This water actually dissolves the shells of certain shellfish and coral reefs. The effects are working their way up the food chain.
A Sea Change is a new documentary about ocean acidification directed by Barbara Ettinger and produced by Sven Huseby of Niijii Films.
Following a screening of A Sea Change at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby answer questions about the film and ocean acidification. The plan was to receive tweeted questions and emails from other venues screening for World Oceans Day. Well, we couldn't get online: Verizon decided to test its cables during that one-hour period, alas. So no live webcast.
Elena and Dennis of Sea Rocket Bistro appeared on Channel 6 in San Diego to promote their World Oceans Day screenings of A Sea Change. The best advocates we could ask for!
Sea Rocket Bistro is a farm-to-table restaurant that focuses on local
foods in order to provide a more physical connection between their guests
and the food they serve. Their focus is seafood, naturally.
Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby of Niijii Films interviewed on KGO, ABC 7, just before the West Coast premiere of A Sea Change at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
An NBC reporter goes to Tasmania to cover ocean acidification, where cold temperatures mean the effects of changing ocean chemistry are showing dramatically. The shells of tiny sea snails are dissolving.
Have we mentioned that claymation is one of our absolute favorite things? You can imagine how thrilled we were to hear about a new film which uses that medium to teach about ocean acidification. Made by kids!
Students from Ridgeway School in Plymouth created The Other CO2 Problem, which debuted in Copenhagen before 100 international
scientists and policy makers attending the International Congress on
Climate Change this month. It's a seven-minute animation starring characters from King Poseidon’s sea kingdom. The film laments the fact that Doctorpus, Britney Star, Michelle Mussel, Derek the Diatom and other sea creatures are suffering as the ocean becomes more acidic as a result of human activities.
The students received technical support from from Sundog Media, and were commissioned by EPOCA [European Project on OCean Acidification], supported by UCP Marjon, and National Marine Aquarium. See the Ocean Acidification blog for more information.
Director Barbara Ettinger and co-producer/protagonist Sven Huseby appeared on "Washington Journal" March 21 to discuss A Sea Change, the first documentary on ocean acidification. Here's the complete segment.
We discovered this on YouTube, in a series called "Climate Denial Crock of the Week." The video maker is Peter Sinclair, an advocate of environmental awareness and energy alternatives. Here's what he has to say about it:
"Climate Deniers S. Fred Singer and Dennis Avery make their living
by confusing and obfuscating the science of climate change. Their
latest book, Unstoppable Global Warming every 1500 Years, is a
compendium of vintage as well as cutting edge climate crocks. Let's
find out who they are and how they are bamboozling their audience."
If this lecture doesn't scare you straight, nothing will. Dr. Jeremy Jackson discusses human-created ocean impacts: habitat destruction, overfishing, introduced species, warming, acidification, toxins, and massive runoff of nutrients. We're facing major extinctions. Just for starters, he says that, because of ocean acidification, "some day we'll have no seashells on the beach."
Definitely a downer. But sometimes you need that to get out of your chair, no? Jackson does describe how these trends might be halted and reversed. "it's staggering what we have to do to fix this," he says. "We have to change how we live. We have to become citizens again. . . . Why haven't you demanded bullet trains between LA and San Francisco?" Then he became heated:
"Just don't go to the mall. . . . . If you want to really win the war, don't go shopping. . . . We can't unscrew the light bulb. We have to fix everything, at the same time, now. . . . When people ask me, what's the biggest problem, overfishing, climate change, dead zones, I say: Yes. . . . The oceans are in crisis. . . . . Are you willing to walk out of this room and actually change something? . . . . We [Americans] have zero credibility because of our consumption patterns. . . . What would probably do more good than anything is if every young person in this country [the US] had to go live somewhere else for six months."
Jackson was asked what academic scientists can do.His response:
"I have long felt that we scientists are at least 50 percent to blame for the last eight years because we collectively didn't have the courage of our convictions to speak out about basic science. . . . Scientists could make science fun and interesting. . . restore it to its rightful place, not just in government but in society. . . As professors, we have a bully pulpit. We have the opportunity to do this. And I think it's a little embarrassing how few people do do it. The students are doing it. That's the other thing that gives me hope. The students are doing it, big time."
Towards the end of the talk, he mentioned, smiling, that he and his wife are often referred to as "Dr. Doom and Gloom."
In answer to a question about Bush's "blue" legacy, the Pacific Ocean Monument he created just before leaving office, Jackson said: "It's spectacular. There's nothing bad about it. He [Bush] can now say he's protected more land than any other person." He also said, "It was easy. Nobody powerful lives there."
Jeremy Jackson is an eminent marine ecologist based at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. This lecture was given at UCLA Feb. 17, 2009.
James Baker discusses the impact of global warming on coral reefs, ocean acidification, chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean, and growing public awareness of the issues.
Formerly, Baker was NOAA's Undersecretary of Commerce/Administrator during the Clinton Administration. He currently serves as Director of the Clinton Foundation's Global Carbon Measurement Program.
The talk was given at Cornell University, Nov. 18, 2008.
A Sea Change had its own session at the AGU Fall Meeting on Dec. 16. We screened an excerpt of the fine cut, with Q&A following. Here science journalist Christina Reed introduces the film.
We'd definitely like to see this: star power (Julia Roberts, Woody Harrelson, Sheryl Crow) plus humor (how many french fries does it take to run that thing?) plus scary facts plus solutions.
We do wonder about biodiesel as the cure-all, but we don't know if that's what he's proposing. We'll just bide our time, see if Fuel gets any theatrical play back East, and if not, wait for the broadcast. We just know it'll be picked up. If the equation above wasn't enough, Fuel won the Audience Award for Best Doc at this year's Sundance. Get the picture?
In a web video produced for the Bi-Partisan
Governors Global Climate Summit, President-elect Barack Obama pledged
new leadership to address global climate change. (Nov. 18)
At a rope line in Columbus, Ohio on Nov. 2, Barack Obama says he
will either go to the U.N. climate talks in Poland this December, or
send a team in his place.
Greenpeace has a campaign urging the President-Elect to go in person. Which would be huge. We've signed up: how about you?
Oceana just published a comprehensive report on oceans and climate change, Acid Test. We particularly like the graphic on their site which shows the chemical reactions between carbon dioxide, seawater, and calcium carbonate, the major building block of shells.
The report details the causes and implications—ecological and economic—of ocean acidification, and lays out solutions.
The basic solutions are straightforward. For example, minimizing our carbon footprints (no surprise, there, right?). And protecting marine ecosystems from stressors like pollution and overfishing. But we've got to motivate elected officials to legislate these solutions. For starters, let's see if we can get President-Elect Obama to Poland in December for COP-14, the upcoming international climate change conference building on Kyoto. (And make some pretty profound behavioral changes ourselves)
They also rolled out this video on YouTube. Short and to the point.
Valérie Burgener was instrumental in coordinating the activities of Sailing to Barcelona, one of the initiatives of the IUCN World Conservation Congress. Here she sums up the successes of the initiative.
One big problem: the boats were a 40-min. metro ride away from the bulk of the Congress activities (at the Forum). So it was hard to coordinate activities, and to create opportunities for experts to interface with the sailors. A shuttle bus would have helped. IUCN: remember that for 2012.
Meanwhile we enjoyed hanging out with sailors, big time. Way back when, we used to sail a sunfish around a lake in Michigan and still know the difference between coming about and jibing (though we may not be able to spell it).
Meanwhile, Valérie is moving on to WWF, where she'll be putting back on her marine biologist hat, versatile girl.
We know nothing about the ocean, so we don't care. Which means we don't act to protect it. Here three ocean lovers discuss the pteropod (yes, our gorgeous old friend), and move on to our ignorance of the ocean.
A simple, straightforward explanation of ocean acidification, the
change in ocean chemistry caused by excess carbon dioxide in the air,
which in turn comes from the burning of fossil fuels. (Just in case you're new here: welcome, if so.)
