The Highest High, The Lowest Low
By Daniel de la Calle Today is World Water Day. All kinds of events must be taking place around the planet with the spotlight on water, on its current state and its importance to us living creatures. Some of them will surely point out our dependency on good water and the paradoxical way we treat […]
“The Death of the Oceans?”
By Daniel de la Calle Same day the Census For Marine Life made public the results of those ten years of research (read October 16th blog post) the BBC broadcast a new documentary narrated by David Attenborough and titled “The Death of the Oceans?”. The hour long film shows the outstanding marine footage we have […]
An Alternative Soundtrack
By Daniel de la Calle On last Wednesday’s post I forgot to mention the following astounding coincidence on the BBC’s “The End of the Oceans?” documentary: just as David Attenborough talks about Ocean Acidification Philip Glass’ Closing is played, a theme that is part of the A Sea Change soundtrack. Isn’t that something? This led […]
10 Good News, 10
By Daniel de la Calle It might be the cosmetic work of politicians, it may be hard to see the good side of it, could even leave you a bit confused, but here are 10 pieces of news that could ignite (emissions free, of course) true, authentic change: 1 Britain decides to stop airport growth around […]
Understanding Hens
By Daniel de la Calle Brazilians do not like Brasilia, Brasilienses do. I guess it must be the LA of the Southern Hemisphere. Brasilia was conceived after a dream, but some think of it as a vision, even see it as a prophecy. In the mid 18th century some Salesian priest in Italy (!) prophesied […]
Glasgow Screening
This report from Scotland comes from Ruth Carruthers, who organized a screening of ASC at the University of Glasgow. “I am pleased to announce that last nights screening of A Sea Change at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, was a great success. Although the film was hosted by the university’s Zoological Society the screening attracted […]
Heinz Awards 2010
By Daniel de la Calle In a case of unprecedented coincidence, two of this year’s Heinz Awards winners are very closely related to A Sea Change and Ocean Acidification. Richard Feely, one of our favorite NOAA scientists, and Elizabeth Kolbert, the New Yorker journalist that wrote the article “The Darkening Sea” that inspired the film […]
Into the Cerrado
By Daniel de la Calle The screening in Goiania marked the beginning of my last week in Brazil. I sped up the visits to the açai na tigela parlor, tried to look more closely at plants in the parks and to spot all the macaques on the electric wires; ay! so many things I would […]
Lazaro Ramos
By Daniel de la Calle One of the things that worry me the most when I do the screenings or talk to people here in Brazil is that it feels I am preaching amongst believers. The vast majority of Brazilians that do not know about Ocean Acidification, the ones that do not care about or […]
Live from the Protests
Helicopters are making a deafening noise today, as they follow the protesters who have taken to the streets. We can barely hear ourselves think as we wait it out, this time in our warm apartment. Today is Oceans Day at COP-15, and there is a surge of interest in ocean acidification. We attended a conference […]
Medusa
By Daniel de la Calle In Spanish we call jellyfish “medusas”. Medusa was a beautiful young priestess in Athena’s Temple. She was desired by many men until she lay together on the temple floor with Poseidon, the god of the sea, and an enraged Athena transformed her gorgeous hair into serpents and her face into […]
Ocean Acidification Breaks the Surface
Today is Ocean Day at COP-15. The day began with a bang with a major piece from the BBC quoting the UK’s Environmental Minister, Hilary Benn, regarding the importance of ocean acidification. Barbara and I attended panel presentations at the European Environmental Agency (EEA) here in Copenhagen. Speaker after speaker spoke about the changes […]
One Victory for our Oceans: The EPA will Focus on Ocean Acidification
Check out this new article from the Christian Science Monitor about the EPA’s decision to help states study and address the increasing acidity of their waters. This will be another use of the powerful Clean Water Act, and possibly a landmark event in bringing attention to ocean acidification. This important step has been brought to […]
Our COP-15 Action Plan – Upcoming Weekend Events
Here is our schedule of events for the next few days, from today Friday December 11 through to Monday December 14, designated as Ocean Day at the COP-15. Today we have plenty to do–organize an upcoming press conference for Barbara and Sven at the Klimaforum, hand out our postcards with the events on the back, […]
Reading on the Beach
By Daniel de la Calle On my last blog post I promised a picture from the wind turbines around Zahara de los Atunes in Spain. Driving with my daughter on the twisty road with no shoulder three days ago I chickened out and chose life over greatness. We humbly pulled out on a dirt road […]
Sao Paulo de Janeiro
By Daniel de la Calle It is 60 degrees, cloudy and windy at times and I am listening to the National’s new record surrounded by maple, oak and pine tress in my office. No more Tim Maia, Marisa Monte, funky carioca or forró. No more Os Mutantes. I will need to close my eyes really […]
SCRIPPS and A Sea Change: Science and Cinema on a Mission
On Friday night we had a reunion in La Jolla with our colleagues from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It was the first time we had gotten together since we stormed COP15. After much strategizing, we have decided to have a repeat performance at COP16 in November. We concluded that we had, in fact, made […]
Sea Level Rise, Ocean Warming and Ocean Acidification
By Daniel de la Calle If you can spare 18 minutes, please watch this video of a conference about the oceans delivered by Professor Rob Dunbar, of Stanford University. I believe it was held in the Galapagos Islands not long ago. Professor Dunbar talks about sea level rise, ocean warming and about what “frightens [him] […]
South of Africa
A couple weeks ago we had several screenings at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa. Thanks to the efforts from the Sustainable Seas Trust, Andreas Spath with his While You Were Sleeping team, and Tessa Hempson from the University of Cape Town it was a great success that even took them by surprise. […]
Stirring it up on the West Coast
In our last entry, we were touring the gold mining town of Nevada city in our new t-shirts, sporting the logo “make films, not war”. This was during the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, just east of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. An established environmental film festival, it brings […]
Summer Winds
By Daniel de la Calle Over twenty years ago I saw my first wind farm around the Gibraltar Strait. I was going with my parents and brothers to the town of Tarifa, on the Cádiz coast, “the windsurfing capital of the world” as they called it back then. Tarifa has a much higher suicide rate […]
Teaching Moments
By Ben Kalina It’s been two years now since we filmed A Sea Change along the northern California coast and the journey continues with screenings scheduled globally as we plan another celebration of World Ocean Day in early June. As if ocean acidification wasn’t enough and we needed another reason to wean ourselves quickly from […]
The “Oceans Are Talking” CD is out
Congratulations, Sam, on a great video (below), and many fantastic songs for us all to enjoy on your new CD, “Oceans Are Talking.” Sam has included a catchy tune called Pteropods, inspired by A Sea Change. The CD is available in our store on our website. You are amazing, Sam. Thank you!
The Journey Continues
We had thought that the film festival cycle was over for “A Sea Change”. But a few months ago, we learned that we had been accepted into the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, California (the center of the Gold Rush in the 1850’s) and the Sonoma Film Festival. We arrived in Nevada City today and were fascinated with […]
The Price of Flying High
By Daniel de la Calle In his book How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, Chris Goodall breaks down the average 12.5 tonnes of CO2 per person yearly emissions in the UK into around 6 directly generated by the individual and another 6.5 generated by such things as “running offices, making fertilizer, smelting iron ore and […]