A monthly round-up of news and trends important to the AltaSea community.
Marine Science
Nine Easy Things You Can Do To Save the Ocean (LifeHacker)
There’s still time to save the oceans, by being a little more careful. The next ten years is critical to the survival of the seas. Think one person can’t make a difference? You’re probably right. It will take a lot of concerned, informed people committed to making changes, and big companies need to get on board, too. One person willing to speak out or make changes can make an impact. Here are nine things you can do to make a significant environmental impact on your own, at home, or in your personal life.
Obama Administration Protects Marine Mammals by Denying Blasting Permits (NRDC)
We’ve come to realize sonic blasting can cause tremendous harm to endangered whales and fish. That’s why scientists, lawmakers from both parties, commercial and recreational fishermen, nearly a hundred communities and tens of thousands of coastal businesses strongly oppose it. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today denied all six pending applications for permits to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean.
Sustainable and Innovative Business
Turning Ocean Garbage Into Gold (Smithsonian)
Another story about activists making a big difference: in lieu of mainstream recyclers, the Canadian Ocean Legacy team has spent years tracking down experimental processors willing to take a chance on ocean plastics. The trick, however, is delivering a homogenous resin recycling companies can vaporize into petroleum, remold into cosmetic bottles, or spin into fabric for shoes. Chloe Dubois, the executive director of Ocean Legacy, one of a handful of organizations that took part in what was dubbed the largest marine debris cleanup in Canada over the summer of 2016, is startlingly passionate about plastic—something people throw away every single day.
Education
Bringing Landlocked Colorado Students to the Water’s Edge (Denver Post)
Picture this; fifth grade students at the Academy of Charter Schools in Westminster, Colorado have been thinking about ways to save the oceans by discussing solutions, such as avoiding plastic straws. Some 500 million straws are used in the U.S. every day, according to nonprofit Eco-Cycle – enough to fill more than 46,000 large school buses each year.
Detailed 3D Ocean Map Can Help with Marine Conservation (Endgadget)
As we have learned from one of our partners, Dr. Robert Ballard, we’ve explored such a small part of the ocean that we seem to know more about the moon and Mars. This new three-dimensional map can help us get more acquainted with the body of water occupying most of our planet. It sorts water masses around the world into 37 categories of different temperatures, salinity, oxygen and nutrient levels. There are other maps out there, but they mostly focus on surface or coastal ecosystems. This project, which is officially called ecological marine units (EMUs), includes the waters between the surface and the ocean floor. It maps the frigid waters of the deep sea, the oxygen-deprived Black Sea, the Red Sea and even some rivers in the Northern Hemisphere.
Community
AltaSea Member Open House – January 28, 2017
Explorers and Argonaut Donors Welcome
If you ever wondered what goes on in the 35 acre AltaSea Campus at the historic City Berth One, now is the time to become an Explorer or Argonaut Donor. We will be holding quarterly Open Houses to give our donors a chance to meet members of the AltaSea team, explore some of the tenant sites, learn about the latest news affecting the waterfront and tour the facility.
AltaSea will be holding our first Open House of 2017 on Saturday, January 28, 2017, from 10:00-12:00pm.
San Pedro Waterfront Arts District to Celebrate New Mural
The San Pedro Waterfront Arts District, in collaboration with the Council District 15 Office of Joe Buscaino and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs asks you to Save-the-Date of FirstThursday, February 2, 2017 at 5:00pm for a celebration of the new mural in the Lilyan Fierman Walkway. Please plan to join the Councilman for this ceremony. Entertainment will be provided by the Alex Smith trio and there will be art prints of the completed mural available for sale in the walkway.
The Return of the Kelp Forest King presented by Dr. Larry G. Allen, California State University, Northridge
Friday, February 3, 2017, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
AltaSea is proud to continue our partnership with the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium to present a series of lectures aimed at increasing our understanding of current marine and ocean related research. In 2017, we will continue our joint commitment to host the CMA Discovery Lecture Series at the Cabrillo Aquarium in the John M. Olguin Auditorium.
Our first guest in 2017 is Dr. Larry G. Allen, currently Chair and Professor of Biology at California State University Northridge. Dr. Allen will discuss the information that he and his graduate students have compiled on the demise and recent return of the apex predator of California’s southern kelp forests, the Giant Sea Bass, (aka. Stereolepis Gigas).