There's a brief but interesting article in the December issue of National Geographic that describes a simple analogy for looking at CO2 emissions. In The Carbon Bathtub, writer Robert Kunzig reports on a concept that John Sherman uses with his grad students at MIT: a bathtub filling up with CO2.Imagine the faucet represents the CO2 emissions we are putting into the atmosphere - currently, around 9.1 billion (that's with a "b") metric tons per year, most of that coming from fossil fuels. The... Read Full Story

I was watching a charming movie on cable today, one I had seen when it first came out in the theaters some years back: Fly Away Home. It's a father-daughter drama that incorporates some of the interesting studies that have been done in training orphaned Canadian Geese to learn their migratory routes. Ultralight airplanes have been used to teach the geese to follow the plane and memorize the long route from Canada to the Carolina wetlands in the U.S.What's particularly interesting is the int... Read Full Story

Coral reefs are one of the ocean's must colorful and complex creations. I'm sure you have read about how they are in peril. Climate change, acidification, human development - all are having an impact, most often represented by coral bleaching which is the result of the loss of the symbiotic algae that lives within the coral.I was reviewing several scientific papers and found that there are many studies going on to determine more specifically what is happening to the reefs. As it turns out,... Read Full Story

What motivates someone to care about the environment and conservation? Is it political ideology or commercial interests, something personal or a broader altruistic concern? Obviously, there can be as many reasons as the number of micro-organisms in a seasonal plankton bloom, but one motivator was recently brought to my attention that, frankly, I have not given much thought about: religion.I received a copy of Beauty of the Lord, part of a four-volume paperback set of books on environmental ... Read Full Story

Getting caught up on my backlog of environmental and conservation email, I ran across some interesting and disturbing items from the Center of Biological Diversity, one of the most proactive organizations in wielding the power of the law to effect change. According to CBD:Senate Climate Bill Spells DisasterThe Senate took a disastrous step backward on climate legislation last week, passing a loophole-ridden global warming bill with unacceptably low pollution-reduction goals that would also w... Read Full Story

While on my most recent location assignment, I had the pleasure of being on board and spending time with Simon Hutchins and Greg Mooney, two important members of the Ocean Preservation Society which is one of the key organizations behind the powerful documentary, The Cove.The Cove, which documents Japan's capture and harvest of dolphins and other marine mammals in a secluded cove in Taiji, is an absolute must-see film not only for the marine conservationist but particularly for the unenlighte... Read Full Story

Returning from a week-long assignment, I was pleased to find that the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 had moved along one more step towards reaching President Obama's desk.The Senate's version (S. 850), introduced by Sen. John Kerry, which is similar to the House version (H. 81) introduced last year by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, passed the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee yesterday. Hopefully, any differences between the two pieces of legislation can be quickly ironed out s... Read Full Story

I will be on assignment for the next week, out to sea, so take this opportunity to catch up on any past postings in this blog or check out some of the other blogs listed below in the right hand column.Writing the RTSea Blog has been very rewarding but difficult at times; there are so many important subjects to cover: shark conservation, protecting coral reefs, ocean acidification, on and on. Sometimes it's hard to take it all in so I wouldn't blame anyone for choosing just one area of intere... Read Full Story

This past weekend, me and my good friend, photographer Budd Riker, went over to Catalina Island, off of Southern California, for a couple of dives. I needed to test out a new lens for my Amphibicam EX3 underwater housing - a great housing for a great video camera (the Sony PMW-EX3). I'm fortunate to have one of the few housings currently available in the U.S.To make it quick and easy, Budd and I took the fast Catalina Express boat to the main island city of Avalon to dive at the popular Und... Read Full Story

Controversy is now dogging the white shark tagging efforts of Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute. The SPOT (smart positioning or temperature) tagging began in Isla Guadalupe under the eyes of a film crew for a National Geographic Channel program to air on the 19th. It involves a technique whereby the shark is hooked and reeled on board, aerated with a water hose, while the crew literally drills and bolts a satellite transmitting tag to the shark's dorsal fin.Th... Read Full Story