Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles

Photo credit: USFWS Endangered Species Program, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

I am currently taking a nature literature course. As part of my class, I'm reading The Windward Road by Archie Carr. Originally published in 1956, this engaging, scientific travelogue follows Dr. Carr as he wanders through the Caribbean islands studying sea turtles. This book drew attention to the plight of the sea turtles and their need for conservation. Today's Sea Turtle Conservancy has its origins in this book.

At the time of the book's publication, no one knew where the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle nested. People speculated that babies were born in the sea or even that it was a cross between a loggerhead and a green. Carr was puzzled by this turtle.

Reading his words, I could relate to Carr's confusion. I've always heard that the Kemp's Ridley is the rarest of all sea turtles, but I never knew why.

After publication of the book, the primary Kemp's Ridley nesting ground was finally identified by scientists - on a ten mile stretch of Mexican beach. Even today, 95% of females still nest on this beach. Imagine! No wonder they are so rare.

According to NOAA, the population of Kemp's Ridley has fluctuated but it is generally in decline. In 1947, a video recording showed 40,000 nesting females. By the mid-1980's, this number was down to 700. Thanks to conservation efforts, things were looking up for the Kemp's Ridley in the early 2000's, with almost 7,000 nests in 2003. Unfortunately, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has further decimated the numbers of this critically endangered species. If you look at the range of where they live, you can see why. I hope and pray for their recovery.

Unlike in Carr's day, when turtles were banded with metal tags, today's turtles are monitored using satellite tracking. You can even "adopt" sea turtles! And care of injured and wounded sea turtles has greatly improved. So there is hope! Maybe I will have to take a trip over to the National Aquarium and see if I can meet some Kemp's Ridleys ...

Enter the Kids Count for Earthday Haiku Contest!

What does Earth Day mean to you? Can you write a poem about it? If so, you could win a prize and your writing might be published in Sketchbook, a Journal for Eastern and Western Short Forms.

The international Kids Count for Earthday Haiku Contest 2010 is looking for haiku poetry (17 syllables or less) written by children and young adults ages 7 - 20 years. Poems must be written by individuals; each person can only enter once. There is no fee to enter. The theme of this year's contest is "What Earth Day means to you".

According to the Kids Count for Earthday website,

"The contest is designed to combine the love of earth with the sheer simple fun of writing Japanese haiku in English!"

The deadline for this haiku contest is May 23rd (postmark of May 22nd). For more details about where to send your entry and what information to include, please visit Kids Count for Earthday 5-7-5 Haiku Contest 2010.

Good luck!

[Update 10/9/10: Read the winning entries here!]

National Gallery of Art's lending library

I recently learned that the National Gallery of Art lends out educational materials through their Division of Education. Their Education Resources include over 120 items, including CD-ROMs, slides, DVDs, teaching packets, and videos. Topics range from broad-ranging surveys of art to profiles of individuals and specific artistic techniques. Some materials are available for an extended nine-month loan period, to coincide with the school year.

But you don't have to be a teacher or affiliated with a group to use the items. Anyone in the U.S. can borrow materials using the Loan Materials Finder (skip to the last paragraph of this post if you're outside of the U.S.). If you'd rather have a hard copy to browse the collection, request a catalog. More information about borrowing items can be found here. (In short, materials are geared for grades K-12. It takes at least a month to process your request, you can usually keep the materials for two weeks, and you pay return shipping at a reduced [media mail] rate.)

Among the many fascinating titles available through this service, I found several with direct ties to science:

Art + Science = Conservation: Learn about museum conservation techniques used by the NGA in this 19-minute videocassette. (Also available on DVD.)

Art&: A Teacher's Guide to Lessons and Activities for Fifth and Sixth Graders: This four lesson teaching packet includes a segment on Art and Ecology.

John James Audubon: The Birds of America: a 29-minute videocassette with viewer's guide showing his original drawings and engravings. (Also available on DVD.)

Leonardo: To Know How to See: a 58-minute videocassette discussing the works of Renaissance artist / inventor Leonardo da Vinci.

Masters of Illusion: a 30-minute videocassette examining how Renaissance artists changed the depiction of perspective and created illusions of space.

Seeing Color: Object, Light, Observer: a 27-minute video asks "artists, curators, conservation scientists, and science students" to define color. The DVD also includes an examination of pigments, optics, and color vision.

Thomas "Yellowstone" Moran: a 12-minute videocassette detailing his survey of Yellowstone and how that effort helped to found the U.S. National Park System. (Also available on DVD.)

Thomas Moran, circa 1883

Vermeer: Master of Light: X-ray analysis, infrared reflectography, and computer analysis are used to examine the paintings of Johannes Vermeer in this 58-minute videocassette.

You can also visit the NGA Classroom for online lessons in art and NGAKids for more adventures with art. Enjoy!


Photo credit: Yellowstone National Park, National Park Service

The intelligence of animals

Yesterday, reporter Jacques Kelly ran a story in The Baltimore Sun with this opener: "It took just 10 minutes for a dozen prairie dogs to outwit the creators of the Maryland Zoo's new $500,000 habitat." What can I say? I found myself rooting for the prairie dogs.

Zoos and other controlled habitats provide an interesting opportunity to watch human and animal intelligence pitted against each other. Animal escapes aren't rare, as shown by articles like "The Great Animal Escapes of 2009" in The Huffington Post. Unfortunately, wise animals seldom fare well in these situations.

Years ago, I heard a story from a reliable source about American bison at a state park. Apparently, when these animals were introduced, there was one wily fellow who taught the others how to step over the cow grate and escape. After several escapes, this particular bison was put to sleep. Later, upon visiting the park, we were offered buffalo meat. I always wondered if it came from this particular bison.

Conserving habitat is a tricky science. Nature has a way of adapting to situations that are outside of our plans. How we adapt to those changes is just as important as our intended goals.

Photo credit: Claire Dobert, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

World Oceans Day (Part 1)

On June 8, celebrate World Oceans Day! This year's theme is "one ocean, one climate, one future." Celebrate your connection to the sea with a trip to the beach, a visit to an aquarium, or a meal of sustainable seafood (using the Environmental Defense Fund's handy-dandy Seafood Selector). Visit The Ocean Project for other great celebration ideas, like Wear Blue and Tell Two -- wear blue clothing to celebrate and tell your friends two facts about the world's oceans. It's up to us to protect them.



Check out World Oceans Day (Part 2) to learn more!

Vote for the 2009 Ocean Hero at Oceana

A tip of the hat to Allie at OH, FOR THE LOVE OF SCIENCE! for today's tidbit:

Head on over to Oceana, "the largest international organization focused 100 percent on ocean conservation" to vote for your favorite "Wavemaker." One of the eight finalists will be chosen as the 2009 Ocean Hero. Voting closes at the end of May.

While you're there, stop by Creature Corner to learn more about the diversity of life in the sea. You can also visit Oceana's Publications page to download their reports, newsletter, and a guide to help you make healthy and sustainable seafood choices when you are dining out. Oceana suggests checking out EPA's Fish Kids for more on healthy ways to prepare fish.

Thoughts about Earth Hour

My family participated in Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday night. I felt a little guilty in the hour beforehand, as we frantically ran the vacuum, brewed coffee, and checked E-mail before turning off our electricity. But then, 8:30 pm arrived and we switched off the main circuit breaker.

And lo and behold ... wait! ... the stove is still on? We learned a valuable piece of information about our new house -- the stove and central air aren't connected to the main circuit breaker!

After finally turning off the power with the aid of a second circuit breaker, we sat in the dark and talked about how quiet it was. How many electrical appliances do we really need? What can we, as a family, do to reduce our electricity usage?

Then we read stories by flashlight and candlelight. It was very quiet and peaceful. The almost four-year-old and baby fell asleep. Itinerant Cryptographer, Kerm, and I read long past Earth Hour until finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I logged onto the computer.

In all, an estimated one billion people in nearly 90 countries participated in Earth Hour 2009, according to World Wildlife Fund, the original organizer of the event. Did Earth Hour really make an impact?

Some places reported a decline in power use during the hour: a one-percent reduction for Calgary and northern Illinois. Statistically significant? Probably not.

But did people world-wide start talking about how much electricity we waste? You bet. And opening that dialogue is tremendously exciting. We have to start somewhere.

Photo credit: Kimberley.♥
Photo available through a
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Earth Hour 2009

It seems like I was just sitting in the dark, celebrating Earth Hour 2008, yet here we are again -- bigger and better!

This Saturday, March 27, 2009, remember to turn off your electricity for an hour from 8:30 - 9:30 pm (your local time) in honor of Earth Hour. This grassroots movement was started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, when over two million homes and businesses switched off the electricity for an hour. Last year, the movement spread across the globe, with participating cities including San Francisco and Rome. The goal this year is to have 1 billion people participate -- one billion people showing their concern for global warming and their willingness to do something about it. MSNBC reports that 2000 cities will participate in Earth Hour this year, including Las Vegas! I can't wait to see the Strip dark for an hour, can you? Imagine that ...

It's almost time to have a Green Halloween®!

Corey Colwell-Lipson, founder of Green Halloween®, has started a new blog to help keep us motivated to celebrate our holidays in an eco-friendly way!

Green Halloween® began as a regional movement last year in Seattle and is rapidly spreading across the U.S. As Colwell-Lipson has said, her goal is to get people to "think outside the candy box." The Green Halloween® website provides some great ideas for adding some green to your holiday, such as handing out trinkets like stickers and collectible cards instead of candy. And before you buy that Halloween costume, Green Halloween® suggests that you ask yourself some hard questions: Can this item be used after Halloween? Can it be recycled? Does it contain earth-friendly materials or is it made of synthetics wrapped in yards of plastic?

Colwell-Lipson recently announced the launch of Celebrate Green!, a new book co-written with her mother, designed help us celebrate green year-round. Be sure to stop by the Celebrate Green! blog for even more ideas!

What does "celebrating green" mean to you? The easiest holiday for me to envision "green" is Christmas. I love to find our Christmas boxes and I get so excited as I carefully unwrap the nativity scene from my childhood, complete with the tiny wooden manger and the shepherd with his real metal crook. I even like the plastic reindeer (certainly not originally part of the nativity scene!) that come to inspect the manger. Isn't that what treasured holiday rituals really are -- reuse at its best?

[UPDATE (10/8/08) -- Check out Escape to Books' October 7, 2008 interview with Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell here!]

Website(s) of the Week: Year of the Frog

The Association of Zoos & Aquariums has designated 2008 as The Year of the Frog to highlight the plight of our amphibian friends. Many are facing the threat of extinction due to habitat loss and disease. Frogs are uniquely sensitive to changes in the environment because they spend part of their life cycle on land and part in the water.

Global efforts are now underway to help save the frogs. One such organization, Amphibian Ark, is co-sponsoring an auction from now through June 30, 2008. The winner gets to name an endangered frog species native to Ecuador! Proceeds from the auction will go toward helping to save endangered frogs in that country.

You can sign up to be a friend of the frogs -- and learn more about how to support this global amphibian-saving effort -- at Year of the Frog. And be sure to stop by Amphibian Ark's How people are helping amphibians for some heart-warming tales of conservation fund raising in action.
Wood FrogPhoto credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Mammalthon 2 is coming April 19!

Over at The Daily Mammal, Jennifer Rae Atkins is gearing up for April 19^th when she’ll hold her second “mammalthon,” where she stays up for 24 hours straight drawing pictures of mammals for charity. You can request a mammal on her website for $35 and you get to see your drawing on her page and keep the picture afterward ($50 if you want the picture sent matted and ready to frame). Proceeds from Mammalthon 2 will be donated to The Wildlife Center, a wildlife rehabilitation facility in northern New Mexico.

Funny, the first thing that I thought of when I read about this event was that I would like a picture of a goldfish or a turtle or maybe a bird. But none of those animals are mammals. In short, mammals are like us: warm-blooded, hairy, and milk-producing. Most mammals give birth to live offspring, although Australia’s monotremes (the platypus and echidna) are notable and fascinating exceptions.

Need some help with your mammal request? Check out the San Diego Zoo’s Animal Bytes: Mammals for inspiration.

Website of the Week: Earth Hour

Looking for something different to do this week-end? Turn off your lights this Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8 pm, and take part in Earth Hour.

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia on March 31, 2007 when over two million people turned off their electricity for one hour. This event was initiated by World Wildlife Fund as a way to make an inspirational statement about climate change. In one year, it has grown into a global movement. This special hour highlights the fact that we are all interconnected on this planet and that our global efforts to combat climate change – when taken together – could have a real and measurable impact.

Not sure what to do with your hour? Check out Ten Things to Do in the Dark, which includes suggestions such as replacing your traditional light bulbs with energy efficient ones, reading together, or taking the time to discuss environmental topics as a family.

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[Update: 3/27/10 - changed number of 2007 participants from two thousand to two million, as per the Earth Hour website]

Website of the Week: Save Your Trash

Recently, I read about Ari Derfel, a California man who decided to keep all of his trash for one year. The original report on this story, It's no garbage strike - man keeps a year's worth of trash was written by Kelly Zito of the San Francisco Chronicle. Zito reported that along with his discovery of how much waste he generated yearly (around 100 cubic feet), Derfel also made some startling discoveries about himself during this time, including the fact that he was stress-eating way too much soy ice cream.

Derfel’s blog, Save Your Trash, includes links to what Derfel has learned by saving his trash and some of Derfel’s basic tips for reducing trash. I especially like the photograph of Derfel surrounded by his mound of trash. It is a sobering snapshot of American life.

[Please note that Derfel does save EVERYTHING and he mentions saving some items that might be considered unsuitable for little eyes.]

The Carbon Fast

This year, the Church of England has encouraged Christians to undergo a “carbon fast” for Lent, the 40 days prior to Easter. What is a “carbon fast”? It’s when you give up things that increase your CO₂ footprint (or release more CO₂ into the environment). The rapid increase of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is one of the causes of global warming. You can find out more about the carbon fast by visiting Tearfund. Participants are encouraged to do things like take a shower instead of a bath, turn the thermostat down by one degree (or up, if it’s summer where you are!), or, my personal favorite, remove one light bulb from your house as a visual reminder that you are trying to live with less during this Lenten season.

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[Update: 2/11/10 -- Fixed broken link]

Website of the Week: The Nature Conservancy

This week, I’ve been thinking about the plight of the polar bear and the on-going efforts of many conservationists to save the polar bear’s Arctic habitat. MSNBC recently posted this article, Polar bears, Alaska oil and D.C. debate, about the fight over oil exploration in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea – a situation that has prompted letter-writing campaigns by a number of environmental rights groups, including World Wildlife Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Defenders of Wildlife.

So, in honor of the polar bear, this week’s website is The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy’s mission, as I’ve come to understand it, is to preserve wildlife habitat in a sustainable way by educating people about conservation, purchasing prime tracts of wildlife habitat, and forming partnerships with local stakeholders to ensure preservation of these special lands. Want to find a preserve near you? Visit TNC’s Nature Preserve Map. Calculate your carbon footprint and learn some climate saving tips or check out TNC’s Fun Nature Stuff for slideshows of wildlife, E-cards, nature quizzes, and more!

Website of the Week: World Wildlife Fund

Visit World Wildlife Fund to learn more about endangered species in your part of the world. Give your friends a small slice of nature with a free WWF E-card or pretend to catch smugglers of wildlife by playing Caught in the Act and other games. Be sure to stop by the Wildfinder to find out what wild species might live in your neighborhood.

Is your school green?

Do you or your kids go to a “green” school? These days, the phrase “green school” can refer to all sorts of environmentally friendly activities or items used at school. Maybe your school was built with solar panels and low-flush toilets or the custodian uses environmentally safe cleaning supplies. You and your classmates might recycle paper and printer ink cartridges or grow food for the cafeteria in your school’s garden. Maybe you conduct energy audits to see which appliances are hogging all of the electricity and where cold air is leaking into your school building.

No matter how you and your school choose to go green, be proud. You are helping to save the planet’s resources!

How about a side order of bugs?

What do Japan, West Africa and the Indonesian island of Bali have in common? They are all parts of the world where people eat bugs! According to a source at the University of Florida, there are about 2,000 edible insect species around the world. Some scientists think that we should encourage people to eat bugs because they are a common and readily available food supply.

Check out these recipes for Edible Insects from teen Aletheia Price or learn more about Insect Snacks from Around the World from the University of Kentucky’s Department of Entomology.

Have you ever eaten a bug? The closest I’ve ever come is eating a steamed snail. I didn’t think it tasted very good, even dipped in melted butter. Maybe an insect would taste better.

Is this the future of dinner?Photo credit: Nat Edwards

Bash the Trash

The intersection of science and the arts is a fascinating place. Over the week-end, my oldest son and I went to a performance by Bash the Trash, a group out of New York that plays instruments made out of reused materials. They teach their young audiences the three R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) while showing off their handiwork: musical instruments like a straw kazoo, a plastic bottle pan pipe, or a gong made from an old refrigerator crisper drawer. They were quick to point out that you should always have an adult inspect and clean found trash before using it. Some items, like rusty pipes or former bottles of cleaning supplies, should never be used to make musical instruments. Check out their instructions for how to turn your household trash into musical treasure!

Scats and Tracks

If you live in the US, or you are planning a trip here, be sure to pick up a Scats and Tracks guide (published by Falcon Guide) for your region of the country before going on your next hike. If you are like me, you never see any actual wildlife during your foray into the natural world. Scats and Tracks solves this problem. Now you can look for animal "footprints" and poop instead! These little books, covering 70 species apiece, fit easily inside a backpack. My only complaint is that I would prefer to have color photographs of the animals, rather than black and white line drawings, on the off-chance that I actually spot some real live wildlife!