http://www.vimeo.com/7457522
After spending numerous meetings with Maya Lin at the Academy and seeing how she distilled the stories told by some of the most venerable figures in the field of conservation biology into a final artwork, it seemed fitting that we should give a voice to someone who took a chance to give a different perspective to science. Shaped like a giant megaphone, the “Listening Cone” unveiled September 17, 2009 on the Academy’s East Terrace is not just an art exhibit, nor is it just a memorial. It is at once a portal to planet Earth and a sounding device to the work that is currently being done to conserve its resources. Take your shoes off and step inside!
The Listening Cone is part of a multi-site memorial called “What is Missing”. To learn more about what others are doing and what you can do to prevent species and habitat loss visit a selection of the institutions and organizations that played an advisory role to the “What is Missing” project.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
National Geographic Society
Conservation International
National Resources Defense Council
World Wildlife Fund
Freedom to Roam
-Lindsay
Science Informing Art:
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http://www.vimeo.com/5277596
A voyage across the ocean in a plastic boat seems an unlikely way to fight the buildup of plastic in the ocean. Yet that is just what David de Rothschild and team are planning as they build a 60 foot boat made entirely from recycled plastic. Dubbed “Plastiki”, after Thor Hyerdahl’s “Kon-Tiki” that made a similar voyage in 1947, the vessel is being manufactured out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - the same material used to make water bottles. Their goal is to change the public view of plastic as a one-use material into one that sees plastic for what it really is - a cheap and versatile raw material that can be reused time and time again.
The voyage calls attention to the toxic soup created from decades of dumping used plastic into the ocean. The mess created by our throw-away society has been consolidated by the winds and currents of the North Pacific Gyre into vast floating garbage patches. Much of the plastic is visible - bottles, toys, bags, netting, etc., but most of what is floating is invisible, because over time, plastic breaks apart into micro-particles. In some areas of the gyre the ratio of plastic to plankton is as high six to one. Birds, fish and mammals choke on and are poisoned by the bigger pieces, while the tiny particles are ingested by small marine life and enter the food chain. To make matters worse, the micro-particles attract and absorb toxic chemicals that are ingested as well.
As de Rothschild likes to say, the solution to pollution is not dilution. We need to change our thinking about the life cycle of plastic. The voyage of Plastiki demonstrates that plastic is not the problem – it’s how we use plastic. We don’t think of steel as a material to be dumped in the ocean after a single use. Steel is melted down and reformed. We can do the same with plastic - it is a matter of changing how we view it.
-Pete
Plastics in our Oceans:
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Invertebrate zoologist Gary Williams on the incredible variety of venomous creatures that inhabit the seas on this edition of Science in Action (90 sec)
[audio:StingingSeas.mp3]
Barnacles can be used to determine whether a body of water has been polluted. Learn more from invertebrate zoologist Bob Van Syoc on this edition of Science in Action (90 sec)
[audio:MonitoringTheHealthOfAnEcosystem.mp3]
Monitoring the Health of an Ecosystem:
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Seahorses have captivated our imaginations for centuries. Healy Hamilton of our Seahorse Research and Conservation Program explains why on this edition of Science in Action (90 sec)
[audio:SeahorseResearch.mp3]
