Two Words For The Media

The “Super Typhoon” that recently charged across the Pacific and pummeled the Philippines certainly caught the attention of every major news outlet.  And it’s easy to understand why:  It was the strongest tropical typhoon ever recorded with devastating consequences for an entire nation, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths. An estimated 615,000 people have been displaced, and up to 4.3 million people have been affected, according to government sources.

 

Photo Courtesy of ScienceBlogs.com

Photo courtesy of The Guardian UK

Television, radio, web, and print media featured everything from the anatomy of the storm describing near record winds and towering storm surges, images of the violent destruction left in its wake, and stories of human suffering and a rising death toll.

Yet, there were two words conspicuously absent from the coverage: Climate Change.  

Less than 5 percent of Typhoon Haiyan coverage actually mentioned it, despite that fact that most scientists agree that there is a causal relationship between global warming and severe storms such as this.

 

Graphics Courtesy of Media Matters

In the six days after the typhoon made landfall, only about 4.6 percent of articles and segments produced about Typhoon Haiyan mentioned climate change.  Print outlets were the “boldest” – yet only 10 percent mentioned the phrase.  TV outlets were far less likely to mention climate change in their coverage (network news mentioned climate change in only 4 percent of coverage and cable in 3 percent) compared to print outlets.  Of course there are many scientific uncertainties around the factors contributing to storms such as Super Typhoon Haiyan, but reputable scientists are on the same page in their assessment that rising sea levels driven by manmade climate change worsen the damage caused by these storms. 

Photo Courtesy of The Washington Post

Shortly after Super Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the Philippines, the United Nations  (U.N.) Conference of the Parties convened in Warsaw for its 19^th annual climate summit where the tragedy in the Philippines became a major talking point. 

U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive director Christiana Figueres, stated the typhoon was part of the “sobering reality” of global warming. (quoted in Did Climate Change Cause Supertyphoon Haiyan? | TIME.com, November 11, 2013).

But perhaps the most potent message came from U.N. Delegate from the Philippines, Yeb Sano, when he tearfully called for progress on Climate Change, urging governments to take action in the wake of Haiyan's devastation. 

 

If you haven’t seen this Tide Turner in action, watch him here and then share:

Though the mainstream media has been completely remiss in addressing the climate change issue, Sano’s plea went viral, gaining nearly a million YouTube views in one week. 

Given a standing ovation, Sano was also supported by other government representatives and activists who expressed support for the causes and demands of the Philippine delegation. He is fasting until a meaningful breakthrough in the climate talks is achieved -- but we're not hearing about this in the mainstream news either.

"The world is watching and is anxiously awaiting the outcome of these talks. It is obvious that more and more people, more and more nations are bearing the brunt of climate change. As the recent victim of these extreme weather conditions caused by climate change, it is but proper for the Philippines, especially its young people, to support our Philippine delegation. We join them as we collectively fast and donate our foregone meals to reinforce our call for swift climate action and to commiserate with the victims of the recent super typhoon." Undersecretary Leon Flores III, Chairman of the National Youth Commission (NYC) stressed. [Philippine Information Agency, 11/18/13]

The mainstream news media needs to get one thing straight.  There is NO debate on climate change.  Those who deny that it is real or call it a hoax are not only sorely and scientifically inaccurate, but gravely irresponsible.  To ignore it as an issue is nothing short of negligent.  We, as citizens need to take the media to task and demand that they do their job with journalistic integrity and report the scientific truth. 

Read More:

http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/11/19/typhoon-haiyan-study-finds-media-rarely-covered/196961

http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence

http://epa.gov/climatechange/basics/facts.html

Do More:

Write to your local papers and news outlets and demand that they cover critical issues such as climate change in a meaningful way.

And don’t forget to join the Tide Turners community on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. 

The Kids Are Taking It To The Beach!

This past week, over a thousand Chinese schoolchildren came together for the 2^nd annual “Kids Ocean Week” in Hong Kong to express their passion and concern for the ocean.   On Nov 8, they assembled in Repulse Bay to bring a huge message to the world through the creation of this human art project.  It is SO worth 14 seconds of your time, so please watch:

Organized by Ocean Recovery Alliance, the goal of Kids Ocean Week is help students become aware and understand the health of the ocean and its ecosystem. Launched last year in Hong Kong, it included the first ocean film festival for children.  This traveling show is brought to variety of schools over an 8-10 day period and is coupled with school talks by Doug Woodring from Ocean Recovery Alliance and Michael Klubock from the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education about ocean protection issues.  Klubock has given talks to hundreds of thousands of school children over the past 18 years about the issues related to marine protection.  

The activities began with a picture drawing competition eight weeks before the event in which children submitted artwork for the piece.  

This year, the final design was based on 2 drawings by a 5th and a 6th grade student in Hong Kong who wanted to raise international awareness of the shark fin trade.   

Though the tide is slowly turning in favor of shark conservation, more than 70 million sharks are killed every year, with Hong Kong importing about 10,000 tons annually for the past decade.  Most of those fins are then exported to mainland China.

Photo Credit: Jeff Pantukhoff, Copyright 2013

The children turned a tragic tale into a message of hope.  In the timelapse video, we first see a shark with a detached fin with the caption "Save Me" in Chinese.  The image then morphs and the fin reattaches to the shark as it becomes “alive” -- its pectoral fin moves up and life returns to its eye.   The word "Respect" appears.

 

These kids are indeed a huge inspiration to all who care about the ocean and its wildlife.  Bravo to these young Tide Turners who are helping to save sharks by getting their message out to the world!

Read More and Get Involved:

http://www.oceanrecov.org/

http://www.oceanrecov.org/activities/events/kids-ocean-week.html

http://kidsoceanday.org

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-china-victory-for-wildlife-conservation-as-citizens-persuaded-to-give-up-shark-fin-soup/2013/10/19/e8181326-3646-11e3-89db-8002ba99b894_story.html

Sign the petition:  
 https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Extinction_is_forever_2

And please join the Tide Turners community of Facebook and follow us on Twitter.  Together we have the power to turn tides on ocean health and awareness!

Ocean Protection FAIL

The rich, icy waters of the Antarctic are among the ONLY ocean wilderness left on our blue planet that is still relatively unmolested by human activity.  Nearly 10,000 unique and diverse species inhabit the area, many of which cannot be found anywhere else on earth, including threatened and endangered species of fish, whales, and other marine life.  

I would like to think that no once could argue a place this special isn’t worthy of protection.  But, it pains me to say that I would be wrong in that thinking. 

Yes, this was a sad week for the ocean.  

The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources (CCAMLR) spent the past ten days in Hobart, Australia attempting, for the third time, to pass a measure designating what would be the world’s largest marine protected areas.  Though the proposal failed at last year’s annual meeting and then again at an additional special meeting held in Germany, the New Zealand and U.S. delegations which had championed the proposal were hopeful that this year they would get the support they desperately sought.

The two proposed sanctuary designations would cover 1.3 million square kilometers of the Ross Sea, and 1.6 million square kilometers off East Antarctica, much of which would be kept off-limits to fishing. Together, the two areas would more than double the amount of the world’s ocean area that has been designated as marine protected areas.¹

But as John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director for Greenpeace USA, put it:  “Through a steady stream of dull procedural objections, absurdist claims, and disingenuous overtures, a small group of fishing nations led by Russia and the Ukraine once again blocked proposals to protect important habitats for penguins, seals, whales, fish and other ocean life.”

The Guardian quoted Andrea Kavanagh, director of the Pew Charitable Trust’s Southern Ocean sanctuaries project, saying Russia and Ukraine blocked the measure because they, “wanted to open up more areas for fishing and set a time limit of 10 years. Given that it has taken that amount of time to draw up the protected zones, we would’ve spent more time planning this than protecting it, which is ridiculous.”

These waters have been hit increasingly hard in recent years by fishermen targeting Patagonian Toothfish — more commonly known as Chilean sea bass — and more recently krill, tiny shrimp-like creatures which are a foundation of the food web – and rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.¹

The Guardian quoted Andrea Kavanagh, director of the Pew Charitable Trust’s Southern Ocean sanctuaries project, saying Russia and Ukraine blocked the measure because they, “wanted to open up more areas for fishing and set a time limit of 10 years. Given that it has taken that amount of time to draw up the protected zones, we would’ve spent more time planning this than protecting it, which is ridiculous.”

“For those of us who care about the oceans,” Hocevar stated in his blog for the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, “the failure of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to adopt either of the marine protected area proposals is not only terrible news for the ecosystems of the Ross Sea and East Antarctica, it is an alarming signal that new thinking is needed in order to save our oceans around the world.”

CCAMLR was initially formed to act as a counter to the regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) that have always prioritized fishing interests over conservation.  With a founding goal of conserving Antarctic marine life, it is devastating to see CCAMLR fold under industry pressure.  And we, as ocean advocates, simply cannot allow decisions about the stewardship of our oceans to be left in the hands of fishing industry lobbyists and their government proxies. 

 “We need action, in the streets and on the water,” argues Hocevar.  “Today it is clearer than ever that if we hope to save our oceans, we must get out there and defend them.”

Photo Copyright Phillip Colla  www.Oceanlight.com

So, What Can You Do?  

Use your voice, your creativity, and your power to help us ensure that ocean habitats and wildlife are protected from human interference.   

·      Write to CCAMLR and express your outrage over their inaction to hold up to their founding mission of conserving Antarctic marine life.

·      Join the Antarctic Ocean Alliance and sign their petition.

·      Watch The Last Ocean  

·      Join the Tide Turners!  One of the best ways you can support the campaign is to tell others about it.  Share this blog with others, join the Tide Turners on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

·      Read more on this issue:

1.    http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/02/2879031/russia-ukraine-antarctic-ocean/

2.    http://antarcticocean.org/2013/11/russia-and-ukraine-block-again-now-what/

Sailor to Steward

Last Saturday, this article appeared in the Newcastle Herald:

The Ocean is Broken

It’s the personal tale of Ivan Macfadyen, a Newcastle yachtsman who sailed for the second time from Brisbane to Osaka.  The first time he did it was a decade ago – but the Pacific was a very different ocean then, one where flocks of birds tracked along in his wake scouring the sea for fish.   This time, as the title implies, he found an ocean that had been broken.  The birds and fish and whales that had accompanied him ten years ago, were now replaced garbage, silence, and wasteful, senseless death.

By no means a happy story, it was one Macfadyen felt compelled to share.  “I wanted to get the word out to everybody I could reach, to tell them, the ocean is broken,” he said in a follow-up article.  “We have to do something and we can’t waste any more time.” 

He’s right.  We can’t waste anymore time.  The statistics are grim: 3/4 of the world’s fish stocks are being harvested faster than they can reproduce. Eighty percent are already fully exploited or in decline. Ninety percent of all large predatory fish – including tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod and halibut – are gone. Scientists predict that if current trends continue, world food fisheries could collapse entirely by 2050.  That’s a terrifying thought when you consider one in five people on this planet depends on fish as the primary source of protein.

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) ensnared near the mouth of the fish trap. Public Domain, courtesy of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. - See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2013/10/future-ocean-megafauna-world-animal-day/#sthash.iVNNeB4G.dpuf

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) ensnared near the mouth of the fish trap. Public Domain, courtesy of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. - See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2013/10/future-ocean-megafauna-world-animal-day/#sthash.iVNNeB4G.dpuf

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) ensnared near the mouth of the fish trap.   

 Public Domain, courtesy of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. 

And if you’ve read last week’s blog, or caught this article that just appeared in Mother Nature News, you know all about the plastic problem:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/even-barnacles-eat-ocean-plastic

A few facts to consider:

•      The average American will throw away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year.

•          8% of the world’s oil is used for plastic production.

•         Biodegradable bags prevent the deleterious effects of plastic on ocean environments. They break down naturally, and don’t leave harmful chemicals behind.

•         Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world.

•       Approximately 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per US resident, per year.

 

Ridley Sea Turtle rescued by the Pacific Voyagers.  

Photo Courtesy of  Pacific Voyagers Foundation.

As tragic as all of this is, we need to remember that things that have been deemed “broken” CAN be fixed.  We cannot let these statistics paralyze us, rather let’s use them to motivate us to do even more.

Macfadyen’s words were potent and sobering enough for his article to immediately go viral via social as well as mainstream media.  It registered 620,000 unique readers on the Herald site by Tuesday afternoon, appeared on the front page of Reddit on Monday, was trending in Melbourne early Monday afternoon, and was even re-tweeted by Jack Dorsey, the founder and chief executive of Twitter.  

He's is hoping he can harness international public concern about the state of the oceans to help stop the damage.  ‘‘I’ve been put in touch with a lot of people from all over the world who want to help, so it’s a matter of working out the next step,’’ he said.  

Whatever that “next step” will be could define how we turn this tide.  What steps do you suggest?  Share your stories with us and join in this "RevelOcean" by following Tide Turners on Facebook and Twitter.