On Tuesday, January 4, 2011, KONK radio Key West is hosting us as guests on a program titled "The Eco-centric View" with Erika Biddle. You can key in http://www.konkam.com/ at 2pm and listen live, in fact, you can probably watch it live too. In honor of this occasion, I may take my hair out of its perpetual baseball cap purgatory, comb it, and make some attempt at being presentable.
I was recently contacted by Erika, the host, and invited to be a guest. The program has a focus on green living. I jumped at the chance, but I did ask if I could bring Mr. Happy Vegan along as a guest too. I was told absolutely, bring him along.
Its not that I'm uncomfortable with this type of forum, but more that Mr. Happy Vegan has a vast scope of knowledge on complementary subjects that I do not possess. Mr. Happy Vegan is the one who researches nuts and bolts of things for eco living, for example things like wastewater. In addition, Mr. Happy Vegan possesses more life experience than I do (ut oh, hope he doesn't take that wrong!) and has an incredible ability to problem solve. Plus, Mr. Happy Vegan is an ardent animal rights warrior, and is not one to hold back on that issue. Its awesome to have someone like that next to me.
So, today I spent time on line reading up on issues & statistics, while securing some web sites to share about green living and vegetarian issues, in the event we're asked. I really don't know what to expect tomorrow, but I'm excited for this opportunity, and I feel prepared.
In a semi-related subject, tonight we went to our first Save-a-Turtle of the Florida Keys meeting for the year. The guest speaker tonight was a gentleman from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. He spoke about a few subjects, and presented 2 films. The first was about the Kemp's Ridley Turtle; the second was about a plastic dead zone in the Pacific called the plastic gyre.
The Kemp's Ridley is the most endangered sea turtle in all the world. The first movie was called "Turtle Dance," it is about Kemp's Ridleys. What I learned is that there is a conservation project occurring on a beach in Mexico, close to the border with Texas. This beach is pretty much historically the only known nesting beach for Kemp's Ridleys in the entire world. This project has a goal of bringing the Kemp's Ridley back from the brink of extinction. By the mid-1980s there were 300 or less adult nesting female Kemp's in the world. Talk about being on the brink of extinction. Thirty years ago, one man made a decision to dedicate the rest of his life to try and save the Kemp's. What that turned into was a great conservation project. After the turtle lays her eggs and returns to sea, biologists dig the nests up, and rebury them in protected areas. Once they hatch, the hatchlings are off to sea. Another part of the project is to provide the local human population a way to make money, instead of illegally poaching turtles and their nests. Visit www.seaturtleinc.org/store/alternativeincome to see ceramics the locals craft piece by piece in lieu of poaching turtles. The result? Today there are close to 6000 adult female nesting Kemp's, thanks to efforts spearheaded by one person. Still critically endangered, but proof is in these numbers that conservation efforts CAN work.
The other film we watched was called "Trashed." It is a short documentary about the plastic gyre in the Pacific Ocean. What I learned is that in 1999 baseline trolling of the region revealed that for every 1 pound of plankton, there was 6 pounds of plastic contamination. Biologists & scientists wondered "what's it like now." So, they went out there "now" (2009), trolled and analyzed the samples. Guess what. In 10 years, the ratio went from 1:6 to 1:46. For every pound of plankton out there now there is 46 pounds of plastic. That plastic is polluting the water both whole, and as it degrades from the chemicals released into the water. That plastic is being eaten by birds, fish turtles and all marine life. That fish is being eaten by people; essentially anyone eating that fish is eating plastic in the form of the chemicals stored by the fish that ate the pollution. That plastic is killing coral. That plastic is killing fish, turtles, birds, the ocean and everything in it. In time, that plastic pollution will kill people. This is no "Chicken Little" story. This is truth.
Every piece of plastic you see on the road, your yard, a beach, forest, or any place other than a designated trash or recycling receptacle WILL make its way to water at some point. Pick up trash when you see it. Then, go inside, have a cup of tea (organic! fair trade!), and tune into http://www.konkam.com/ and listen to us at 2pm on Tuesday. I'm not sure what we'll talk about, but maybe we'll all learn something new. I know I'm searching for a better way. Won't you join me?
I was recently contacted by Erika, the host, and invited to be a guest. The program has a focus on green living. I jumped at the chance, but I did ask if I could bring Mr. Happy Vegan along as a guest too. I was told absolutely, bring him along.
Its not that I'm uncomfortable with this type of forum, but more that Mr. Happy Vegan has a vast scope of knowledge on complementary subjects that I do not possess. Mr. Happy Vegan is the one who researches nuts and bolts of things for eco living, for example things like wastewater. In addition, Mr. Happy Vegan possesses more life experience than I do (ut oh, hope he doesn't take that wrong!) and has an incredible ability to problem solve. Plus, Mr. Happy Vegan is an ardent animal rights warrior, and is not one to hold back on that issue. Its awesome to have someone like that next to me.
So, today I spent time on line reading up on issues & statistics, while securing some web sites to share about green living and vegetarian issues, in the event we're asked. I really don't know what to expect tomorrow, but I'm excited for this opportunity, and I feel prepared.
In a semi-related subject, tonight we went to our first Save-a-Turtle of the Florida Keys meeting for the year. The guest speaker tonight was a gentleman from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. He spoke about a few subjects, and presented 2 films. The first was about the Kemp's Ridley Turtle; the second was about a plastic dead zone in the Pacific called the plastic gyre.
The Kemp's Ridley is the most endangered sea turtle in all the world. The first movie was called "Turtle Dance," it is about Kemp's Ridleys. What I learned is that there is a conservation project occurring on a beach in Mexico, close to the border with Texas. This beach is pretty much historically the only known nesting beach for Kemp's Ridleys in the entire world. This project has a goal of bringing the Kemp's Ridley back from the brink of extinction. By the mid-1980s there were 300 or less adult nesting female Kemp's in the world. Talk about being on the brink of extinction. Thirty years ago, one man made a decision to dedicate the rest of his life to try and save the Kemp's. What that turned into was a great conservation project. After the turtle lays her eggs and returns to sea, biologists dig the nests up, and rebury them in protected areas. Once they hatch, the hatchlings are off to sea. Another part of the project is to provide the local human population a way to make money, instead of illegally poaching turtles and their nests. Visit www.seaturtleinc.org/store/alternativeincome to see ceramics the locals craft piece by piece in lieu of poaching turtles. The result? Today there are close to 6000 adult female nesting Kemp's, thanks to efforts spearheaded by one person. Still critically endangered, but proof is in these numbers that conservation efforts CAN work.
The other film we watched was called "Trashed." It is a short documentary about the plastic gyre in the Pacific Ocean. What I learned is that in 1999 baseline trolling of the region revealed that for every 1 pound of plankton, there was 6 pounds of plastic contamination. Biologists & scientists wondered "what's it like now." So, they went out there "now" (2009), trolled and analyzed the samples. Guess what. In 10 years, the ratio went from 1:6 to 1:46. For every pound of plankton out there now there is 46 pounds of plastic. That plastic is polluting the water both whole, and as it degrades from the chemicals released into the water. That plastic is being eaten by birds, fish turtles and all marine life. That fish is being eaten by people; essentially anyone eating that fish is eating plastic in the form of the chemicals stored by the fish that ate the pollution. That plastic is killing coral. That plastic is killing fish, turtles, birds, the ocean and everything in it. In time, that plastic pollution will kill people. This is no "Chicken Little" story. This is truth.
Every piece of plastic you see on the road, your yard, a beach, forest, or any place other than a designated trash or recycling receptacle WILL make its way to water at some point. Pick up trash when you see it. Then, go inside, have a cup of tea (organic! fair trade!), and tune into http://www.konkam.com/ and listen to us at 2pm on Tuesday. I'm not sure what we'll talk about, but maybe we'll all learn something new. I know I'm searching for a better way. Won't you join me?
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