“Exposing the truth about global warming hysteria” reads the tagline of the website GlobalClimateScam.com. However, this is what I’m about to attempt: to expose the truth about the importance of why everyone is so up in arms about this whole global warming problem and what buzzwords like “global warming” and “climate change” mean. So here we go: ocean acidification and climate change, the basics.
The European shore crab, scientific name Carcinus maenus, is in the process of taking over the world. This little creature, also frequently referred to as the green crab, features all the characteristics of your average crab, but now also has a feature most animals do not: it occupies five of the world’s seven continents.
This summer, I got a chance to fulfill my dream of being Jacques Cousteau. Unfortunately, this experience was short-lived as I was returned to being a mere civilian after completing a game with the campers at the Central Park Zoo. Noah Chesnin, Policy Program Manager for New York Seascape at the Wildlife Conservation Society, created this game. For half an hour, the carpeted classroom floors were transformed into the coasts of the tri-state area, the open ocean, and the depths of the Hudson canyon as students swam around as a whale, a ship, coral, fish, turtles, recreational fishermen, the coast guard, or even Jacques Cousteau himself. This role playing game demonstrates just how many different individuals need to coordinate in order for things to run smoothly in the oceans. For example, the students playing the role of whales had to come up with compromises with boats, such as introducing shipping lanes to prevent collisions.
Since the game recognizes the importance of teamwork in marine policy work, Chesnin presented his ocean planning game on August 31st during the New York Aquarium’s event entitled “Navigating New York’s Busy Ocean: Whales, Ships and a New Era of Ocean Planning.” This idea, that I like to call “Collabor-Ocean,” is represented simply through the game and is vital to ocean planning
Shipping affects us all. No matter where you may be in the world, if you look around you, you are almost certain to see something that either has been or will be transported by sea, whether in the form of raw materials, components or the finished article. Yet few people have any idea just how much they rely on shipping. For the vast majority, shipping is out of sight and out of mind. But this does a huge disservice to the industry that, quietly and efficiently, day and night, never pausing and never stopping, keeps the world turning and keeps the people of the world fed, clothed, housed and entertained. This is a story that needs to be told.
Having recently attended a NOAA workshop in New Hampshire, I was inspired to launch this blog by starting with a subject we at NAMEPA are all too familiar with - marine debris. Something that stuck with me from this workshop is…