The ocean down under

A recent article on ocean acidification from down under. We didn’t make it there during production; unfortunately carbon dioxide did. Ok, not that funny. But neither is climate change.

Special mention on a fledgling portal

Thanks to Steven’s Portal for his vote of confidence: we’re a featured link for May. His portal is focused on the efforts of people who are helping and healing the world.

Welcome to our new site!

Welcome to our newly-designed website! We hope you’ll take some time to click on the links above to check out our new and updated sections, to leave comments here on our blog, and to join our email list for receiving updates about the film. For users of newsreader software such as NetNewsWire and others, we […]

The Perfect Loaf

We stumbled on this bread shop close to where the filmmakers for A Sea Change are staying in Copenhagen. No sign outside, we just happened to peer in and saw these scrumptious loaves. They are as good as they look. The crust is chewy yet crisp, and the loaf itself moist. Yeast-free: the bread rises […]

Settling into Copenhagen

This is a fantastic city.  It is beautiful, friendly, easy to navigate and the food is fabulous.  It’s interesting to see the COP15 attendees trickling in and creating a wave in the generally cheerful and polite culture.  Today we saw the Greenpeace boat parked at the harbor, with signs attached to its sides, condemning coal […]

Registration Complete

It seems we were fortunate to get credentialed earlier, as today was another story.  The quiet Bella Center of yesterday was swamped this afternoon with crowds, and a  two hour wait  to pick up badges.  By 4:00pm registration for NGO’s was suspended, as was the issuing of press credentials.  Sven and I stayed clear of […]

On the Road Again

Sven, on the way to make some noise about ocean acidification in Copenhagen.

“That other carbon problem”

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held a conference in February which tackled, among other things, “that other carbon problem: ocean acidification.” John Timmer of Ars Technica wrote up a full report.

Day 2

Barbara and I are here in Copenhagen at COP-15 to continue our efforts to get oceans and ocean acidification onto the global climate agenda.  We are part of the team from Scripps and the University of California.  Towards that end, I was asked to give a talk yesterday on Ocean Acidification and its Human Impacts.  […]

Day 3 – At the Bella Center

Today will be a full day at the Bella Center. Yesterday we met with a journalist from Barcelona who writes for La Vanguardia.  He, like many, wanted to know why it has taken so long for ocean acidification to become a known issue. He asked us what the delegates would say if asked why it […]

In Copenhagen

We made it!  Bleary eyed and a bit soggy from the constant drizzle, we in arrived in Copenhagen yesterday.  Christmas and Climate Change are in evidence everywhere!  I’ll email photographic evidence later today (see below), but meanwhile, my first favorite factoid from Denmark courtesy of the Danish National Museum: Did you know… Some 14,000 years […]

Interview on Martha Stewart

A big thanks to Martha Stewart for providing her support in helping us to get the word out on ocean acidification. Here’s a lovely photo of Martha with Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby, on the show: And below you can see the interview:

Niijii Films in Copenhagen

Barbara, Sven, Angela and Gwen have landed in Copenhagen.  We have at least 4 screenings of A Sea Change planned during the COP-15 conference, and we plan to do everything we can to put the oceans on the agenda of discussion for our nations’ leaders.  While there is little likelihood of a significant treaty being […]

NOAA defines ocean acidification

This is a detailed, clean explanation of what ocean acidification is. Straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, i.e., from the NOAA website. NOAA is the U.S. government agency specifically charged with studying ocean and climate, fyi. You pronounce the acronym just like that guy from the Bible: remember the ark? It stands for […]

Sustainable filmmaking–discussion begins

Before production, Barbara Ettinger,Sven Husby, and Ben Kalina talk about how to go about green filmmaking.From the paper in the printer to lights on the set: we can’t takeanything for granted any more. Especially not if we’re going to make afilm about the consequences of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As we got started […]

Sustainable tech info on the web

ok, this is very cool: a website about sustainable technology put together by Mykel Pereira. a high school student. Wind, solar, tidal, bioplastic, and more. Plus the site design is clean, though I’d shorten the line lengths a tad for easier scanning. Definitely worth a visit. A method for dealing with excess carbon dioxide in […]

The cost of carbon

Here’s an excerpt from James Hansen’s briefing on June 23 (courtesy Real News Network), 20 years to the day after his first testimony on global warming. Hansen advises the elimination of coal-fired plants and criminalization of CEOs of big oil and coal companies.

The ocean as a limestone dump

Here’s a solution to the problem of ocean acidification: dump in a bunch of limestone to neutralize it. Evidently it works, according to Danny Harvey at the University of Toronto. You’d have to dump in quite a lot, though. Try 4 billion tons. Per year. Over decades. Even assuming its ecological side effects are relatively […]

They get it in Europe

The European Union is stepping up to the plate. Even though the full ramifications of ocean acidification aren’t yet known, they’re not waiting around. Rather, they’re launching an EU-wide initiative to study the phenomenon. Ocean acidification is happening today and it’s happening on top of global warming, so we are in double trouble" stated [Jelle] […]

Too close for comfort

Now it’s in the U.S. backyard: elevated pH levels in the Pacific, within 20 miles of the coast, documented for the first time. The data are reported in a study authored by Richard Feely, Christopher Sabine, J. Marting Hernandez-Ayon, Debby Ianson, and Burke Hales, summarized in Science Express. The area studied is known for its […]

Twenty years later

An eloquent statement from the man who first announced global warming in the U.S. Congress, James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, published in The Guardian. An excerpt: ". . . we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed todefuse the global warming time bomb. The next […]

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger

Some organisms seem to be adapting to ocean acidification. Live Science is reporting on a study conducted by scientists at the University of Washington of tiny plants called coccolithophores. A kind of algae, they respond to increased acidity by building thicker shells. This does not mean go out and buy that Hummer you’ve been thinking […]

Will Bush turn blue? Possible blue legacy in the works

National Public Radio has just reported that President Bush is considering the creation of a number of marine reserves. If created, they would represent a huge conservation program, one of the largest ever. This would be cool, if it happens. Evidently it’s all still in the planning stages, and the Bush administration has not commented […]