Green screen in NYC
We’re glad to see the New York City Mayor’s Office giving support to lightening the production footprint. The website offers tips and resources for saving energy while making movies in the Big A. Many of the tips apply more to big-budget features; however, those are the folks making the most waste, so it makes sense. […]
National Ocean Month
President Bush has officially declared June to be National Oceans Month. So maybe it’s time to celebrate pteropods, some of the creatures most vulnerable to changes in ocean pH. They’re a kind of plankton. When you get up close and personal to pteropods they’re delicate, captivating animals, actually tiny molluscs and relatives of clams and […]
New Crew
DIRECTOR/CO-PRODUCER BARBARA ETTINGER‘s first film Martha and Ethel screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics. Her most recent film Two Square Miles was co-produced with her husband Sven Huseby. Two Square Miles aired nationally on PBS’s Independent Lens in November 2006 and again in January 2007. Sven and […]
New Video
On the radar screen
It seems that, just in the past few weeks, ocean acidification has come into focus in public awareness. We have a google alert going for the topic and are finding that each alert is jam-packed. Folks have been especially picking up on the upwelling issue blogged about earlier, the "corrosive" 50-year-old seawater. There’s expanding coverage […]
Republicans block U.S. Senate’s global warming bill
Last night Democrats failed to break the Republican filibuster of major global warming legislation. The bill would have capped carbon dioxide coming from power plants,refineries and factories, with a target of cutting greenhouse gasemissions by 71 percent by the middle of this century. Notably crossing the aisle was John Warner (R-VA), arguing that the bill […]
Subcommittee Reviews Legislation to Research and Monitor Ocean Acidification
(Washington, DC) th Today, the House Committee on Science andTechnology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment held a hearing toreview H.R. 4174, the Federal Ocean Acidification Research andMonitoring Act. Committee Members examined the current status ofscience on ocean acidification and research and monitoring activitiesfocused on ocean acidification and its potential impacts on marineorganisms and marine ecosystems. […]
Sustainable Filmmaking Video Blog
Click to Play 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 take anything for granted any more. Especially not if we’re going to make a film about the consequences of excess carbon dioxide […]
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 […]
Will Florida lead the way?
A coalition of major conservation groups published a report outlining key steps the state of Florida can take to respond to pressing environmental concerns, including the big OA. The full report can be downloaded from docuticker. The summary alludes vaguely to "restoring coastal and marine ecosystems so they can better cope with the stress of […]
Sea fertilizing solution for ocean acidification
Can phytoplankton absorb the excess CO2 in the oceans? Some scientists have suggested this as a solution: adding iron to the ocean’s surface to encourage the growth of these tiny plants. The first to suggest this was oceanographer John Martin in the late 1980s. In May, 200 countries reached an agreement during the ninth Conference […]
Shopping for a green sleeve for our new laptop
We just invested in a new laptop, a MacBook Pro. We’re shopping for a protective sleeve, so we can carry it around safely. Want to go as sustainable as we can with the purchase, live up to our aspirations if we can. We’ve done a bit of research, and have found the following links to […]
Shopping for green laptop sleeve
Well, such a thing may exist only in our dreams.But thanks to a kind friend–Steven Volynets from GoodCleanTech–we’ve found something pretty close from a company called Simple Shoes. Affordable, cute, responsively sourced: yup, pretty close. The materials are hemp, organic cotton, jute, felt. No cherry red or golden scales. We’re leaning toward the burnt brick. […]
The Eur-Oceans Project offers ocean acidification 101
A short video intro to the basics of ocean acidification, courtesy of the Eur-Oceans Project, a network of research teams co-funded by the European Union. A bit dry but some nice graphics. Also available in French for our francophone friends.
The Gore 10-Year Challenge
Al Gore threw down the gauntlet yesterday, challenging the U.S. to go completely carbon-free in its energy sources within ten years. We have the technology to do it, he claimed, speaking in DC to an enthusiastic crowd. The 50-year goals politicians have been setting, eg, at the recent G8 meetings, just don’t cut it: they’re […]
Up-to-date info on climate issues from scientists
RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.Their goal: " to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary." They eschew discussion of the political and economic implications of their reports; however, their posts often engender extensive, […]
What we know is a drop in the ocean
It’s darn expensive studying the ocean, as two Australian scientists pointed out recently. That’s the reasonwe know a lot more about what’s going on above sea level. ‘"Marine ecosystems are undoubtedly under-resourced,overlooked and under threat and our collective knowledge of impacts onmarine life is a mere drop in the ocean,’ wrote Dr Anthony Richardson,from The […]