2010 and the Environment: Earth Day's accomplishments in public awareness

Developing public awareness of environmental or conservation issues can sometimes be a bit more challenging to quantify or less momentous or newsworthy than other earth-saving activities. But it often is the foundation, the one-brick-at-a-time approach, and it may take a while before you can see the entire building that has been built over time.

And while industrialized nations can be some of the guiltiest parties in crimes against nature, many developing nations need educating as well, for many of the most important marine and terrestrial ecosystems remaining on the planet are within their borders.

Each year for the past 40 years, Earth Day has been celebrated as a worldwide event whereby participants can take stock of their natural resources, learn what they can do to protect them, and contemplate how good stewardship would benefit themselves and generations to come. What Earth Day succeeds in doing in that one singular event has a rippling effect that carries on through the year.

From the Earth Day Network website, here are the Earth Day accomplishments for 2010 - an indication of the importance of those "building block" steps that go on behind the bright lights of flashier news items but can be just as important:

• In just a few months, Earth Day Network logged more than 30 million environmental actions towards the goal of a Billion Acts of Green™, from large scale climate petition drives to voter registration, city-wide light-bulb change outs, and massive coral reef and beach cleanups. Our goal is to reach a Billion Acts of Green by Earth Day 2011 to demonstrate to world leaders the global commitment to environmental change leading up to the Rio + 20 Summit in 2012.
• Earth Day Network created the largest climate activist program globally, with nearly one million participants. This represents the continuation of Earth Day Network’s goal to create a new worldwide movement to resolve climate change.
• Through the Global Day of Conversation, over 400 elected officials in more than 40 countries representing tens of millions of citizens took part in active dialogues with their constituents about their efforts to create sustainable green economies and reduce their carbon footprints. Mayors are leading the fight to reduce carbon emissions and to build the green economy.
• Over one million students abroad participated in school greenings from community-wide clean ups to installing solar energy systems to creating school gardens to adopting environmental curriculum.
• Earth Day Network announced a partnership with the Avatar Home Tree Initiative to plant a million trees in 15 countries in 2010.
• In partnership with the Peace Corps, Earth Day Network worked with local volunteers to implement environmental and civic education programs, tree-plantings, village clean-ups and recycling seminars in rural areas including Ukraine, the Philippines, Georgia, Albania and Paraguay. These efforts helped build environmentalism in the most remote parts of the earth for underserved communities.
• In Kolkata, India, we watched as our plans for a small series of sponsored events evolved into a nationwide presence, 17 cities large. Earth Day Network partnered with global and local NGOs and local government officials to coordinate city and village clean-ups, environmental rallies and educational programs for underprivileged children. Earth Day Network has plans to establish an office in Kolkata.
• In China, 10 universities participated in month-long efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of their communities. Students made lifestyle changes such as recycling and using public transportation to make a positive impact. Quantitative carbon reduction results will be announced in mid-May.
• In Morocco, the government announced an unprecedented National Charter for the Environment and Sustainable Development, the first commitment of its kind in Africa and the Arab world, which will inform new environmental laws for the country. The Kingdom of Morocco also pledged to plant a million trees in 2010.
• In Afghanistan, Earth Day Network worked with more than 40 government and village leaders across the country in environmental sustainability practices including recycling programs and the need for clean water and alternative energy.
• On April 22, the President of Mozambique led a country-wide tree-planting initiative in schools across Maputo.
• Earth Day Network greened 40 schools globally for Earth Day, launching its international green school program. From solar panels to school gardens, Earth Day Network is significantly cutting global carbon emissions.
• Earth Day Network partnered with Carbon War Room to convene 200 of the world’s most important entrepreneurs in a forum that examined groundbreaking ways to solve climate change and create a new green economy based on renewable energy. Click here for an address by Earth Day 2010 Chair, Denis Hayes.

2010 and the Environment: Oceana lists important strides in conservation

Oceana is one of the major ocean conservation organizations and when it comes to quantifying their work, which is so critical when determining who you should donate your hard-earned money to, they do an excellent job on their website in laying that out.

Oceana listed several important ocean conservation milestones for this year, some of which they actively spearheaded and some were the end result of hard work from many organizations and individuals.

Offshore Drilling Halted in Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic and Pacific Coasts

December, 2010 - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that in the new five-year drilling plan, no new offshore drilling would be allowed in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The Eastern Gulf of Mexico will be protected from offshore oil and gas exploration for the next seven years. These areas were being considered for oil and gas development, and the Administration had previously indicated support for exploration in the Atlantic Ocean. The decision follows years of campaign work by Oceana to stop expanded offshore drilling.

Belize Bans All Trawling

December 2010 - The Belizean government announced that all forms of trawling were banned in the country's waters. Oceana in Belize collaborated with Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s administration to negotiate the buy-out of the two shrimp trawlers.

With this ban, which goes into effect December 31^st, Belize has become one of the first countries in the world to institute a complete and permanent ban on trawling in all its waters.

Olin Corporation's Two Plants Will End Mercury Use

December, 2010 - The Olin Corporation announced that it will convert its mercury-based chlor-alkali manufacturing plant in Charleston, TN to modern, mercury free technology and eliminate mercury from its plant operation in Augusta, GA. Oceana has been pushing for these actions since 2005. Olin’s plant in Tennessee is the largest remaining mercury-based chlorine plant of the four plants in the U.S. that had refused to make the switch to safer, more efficient technology.

Congress Ends Shark Finning in U.S. Waters

December 2010 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Senate version of the Shark Conservation Act, clearing the final hurdle to ending shark finning in U.S. waters. The Shark Conservation Act improves the existing law originally intended to prevent shark finning. It also allows the U.S. to take action against countries whose shark finning restrictions are not as strenuous, labelling the U.S. as a continued leader in shark conservation.

ICCAT Improves Conservation Measures for Sharks and Sea Turtles

November, 2010 - Though failing to improve protections for bluefin tuna, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) increased the number of shark species prohibited for retention in ICCAT fisheries. Specifically, the group improved conservation measures for oceanic whitetip sharks, hammerhead sharks and shortfin mako sharks. In addition, ICCAT put in place new measures to reduce sea turtle mortality, such as the use of sea turtle dehooking and disentangling gear as well as mandatory collection and submission of sea turtle bycatch data.

Chile Creates Marine Reserve Around Sala y Gómez Island

October, 2010 - Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera announced the creation of Sala y Gómez Marine Park, a no-take marine reserve of 150,000 square kilometers around Sala y Gómez island. The decision came after a preliminary expedition to Sala y Gómez by Oceana, National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation, in which they found abundant populations of vulnerable species such as sharks and lobsters and unexpectedly high biodiversity in deeper waters.

The new park expands Chile’s total marine protected area more than 100 times, from 0.03% to 4.41%.

Chile Reduces Jack Mackerel Overfishing

October, 2010 - The Chilean government announced a drastic reduction in the fishing quota for jack mackerel and other fisheries, starting in 2011. The decision came after Oceana sent the Minister of Economy a report analyzing the annual quota set for jack mackerel during the past 10 years.

The study, put together with data that Oceana obtained through Chile’s Freedom of Information Act, shows that between 2003 and 2010 the National Fisheries Council set the annual quota for jack mackerel at higher catch limits than was recommended by the Institute for Fisheries Development. In fact, in 2009 the quota was 87 percent higher than what was recommended by the agency.

Turkey Pledges to Eliminate Driftnets

September, 2010 - Following intense campaign work by Oceana Europe, Turkey announced it will stop using drifnets in 2011. Oceana estimates that more than 500 vessels have been operating illegally in the Mediterranean, some with nets up to 12 miles long.

In 2009, Oceana identified at least 30 Turkish vessels using driftnets in the Aegean and Mediterranean to target swordfish and bonito, and there are an estimated 70 to 150 vessels operating in the country.

Chilean Senate Recommends MPA Around Sala y Gómez Island

August, 2010 - The Chilean Senate’s Fisheries Committee unanimously agreed that the Chilean government should establish a 200 nautical mile marine protected area around the Island of Sala y Gómez, near Easter Island. Oceana and National Geographic have been promoting the protection of this area, which still remains virtually unexplored, and which may well be one of the last pristine vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Pacific

Coal-fired Power Plant Defeated in Northern Chile

August, 2010 - Two days after the Regional Environmental Committee of Chile's Coquimbo Region approved the construction of a coal-fired power plant, Chilean President Sebastiàn Piñera, responding to immense grassroots opposition, requested that Suez Energy relocate it. In addition, he asked his cabinet to review all the industrial projects being considered in the country to see whether they could affect protected areas.

Alongside local organizations, Oceana has been working to prevent the approval of the thermoelectric coal-fired power plant due to its environmental impacts on nearby marine ecosystems and on the quality of life of adjacent communities.

Inch by inch, step by step. We can come to the end of the year gratified in the knowledge that some significant progress has been made. But there's much more to be done.

Read more details on these important accomplishments at Oceana.org.

2010 and the Environment: one of many reviews of the past year

The end of another year is fast approaching and there will be conservation recollections and retrospectives from a variety of sources. As I came across some that pique my interest, I will post excerpts and links so that you can peruse them and get a feel for whether we are moving forward or backwards. In 2010, there have been setbacks for sure, the Deepwater Horizon/Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill being probably the biggest, but I would like to think we have also made some progress in the right direction. Judge for yourself.

From the U.K.'s Guardian, here is an excerpt from John Vidal's compilation:

Biodiversity
2010 was UN's year of biodiversity and it culminated in 193 countries and 18,000 people meeting in Nagoya, Japan for a summit to address the alarming losses seen in forests, plant and animal species. Countries pledged to protect ecosystems, halve the rate of loss of natural habitats, protect marine, coral and coastal areas and restore at least 15% of degraded areas. Whether they have the political will to act and force though new laws is an open question. Meanwhile satellite imagery showed countries like China planting hundreds of millions of trees in 2010 but natural forests continuing to decline worldwide. Other research showed both the US and Canada with higher percentages of forest loss than Brazil, which in 2010 dropped its clearance rate almost 75%.

The stolen climate emails
What began in 2009 with the theft and the subsequent leaking online of hundreds of private emails and documents exchanged between many of the world's leading climate scientists, led to claims that they showed scientists manipulating and suppressing data to back up a theory of man-made climate change. This in turn threw serious doubts on the findings of the UN's Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its director Rajendra Pachauri. But four separate inquiries completed in 2010 cleared professor Phil Jones, head of East Anglia university's Climatic research unit, and his colleagues of the most serious charges. Instead, questions were levelled at the way in which they responded to requests for information. Pachauri survived attacks from right wing newspapers in Britain but proposed major reform of the Ipcc.

Fish
It was mostly a good year for oceans. The Obama administration reinstated a ban on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, Chile saved a marine reserve known for its rare Humboldt penguins, blue whales and sea lions from the construction of a coal-fired power plant and the US banned bottom trawling in a 23,000 square mile area off the Southeast Atlantic coast. Sea protection group Oceana also reported that Belize became the third country in the world to ban all forms of trawling, Morocco and Turkey ended the use of illegal drift-nets and Chile announced the formation of the world's fourth-largest no-take marine reserve. Britain also announced a massive new marine park around the Chagos islands in the Indian ocean but outraged Mauritius when it became clear that this was to prevent exiled islanders ever returning to their homeland. The bad news was that the EU failed again to stop exploitation of over-fished fishing stocks, reducing the allowable catch by only 5% in 2011.

Temperatures
2010 was, provisionally, the hottest year recorded worldwide but it also saw some of the coldest temperatures and heaviest snow ever witnessed in Britain. Seventeen countries broke heat records, with an unprecedented heatwave and forest fires gripping much of Russia and the Middle east for weeks. An Asian record temperature of 53.7C (129F) in Pakistan and the third greatest loss of Arctic sea ice were also recorded. Strangely, while overall sea and land temperatures climbed to their highest levels in places where people mostly did not live, the more heavily populated temperate zones, including much of Britain, Europe and the US, experienced below average temperatures. The year ended with CO2 levels at their highest level ever recorded.

Read the complete year-in-review in the Guardian.

2010 and a New Decade: time to turn the tides

2009 has been an "interesting" year - a mix of achievements and setbacks, as readers can tell just from the over 230 postings that ran in this blog over the past year. We're still in short supply when it comes to a full awareness in the minds of the public and the decision-makers as to the scope of the issues facing the oceans, the earth, and the air. Perhaps it's time for less lip service around the water cooler and more proactive efforts on the part of those who get it, those who are committed. Perhaps it's time for more action in 2010.

Patric Douglas of SharkDivers, who authors one of the leading shark conservation blogs, feels the time is right for all of us to get more involved. The Shark-Free Marinas Initiative he started is making significant progress, thanks in no small part to it's director, Luke Tipple, and the participation of many marinas worldwide.

And we have the CITES meeting in March to look forward to, where important, jeopardized species will be considered for protection (or heightened protection) under the current international agreement which has claimed success for many other threatened flora and fauna.

But with the economic turmoil of the past view years offering only glimmers of improvement with which to start the new decade, many non-profit organizations - including many of our conservation favorites - are still feeling the pinch. This has impacted their outreach ability as they struggle to try to do more with less. I know this because I have been putting effort into promoting more film making/media communications for research groups and NGOs - and to say it has been a challenge would be a gross understatement.

But if we are to make any headway with the fence-sitters, the Doubting Thomases, or the outright critics of important issues - like global warming, ocean acidification, overfishing, and the consequences of deforestation, development, and the quest for fossil fuels - then science needs to make its work more visible and get its data and conclusions out into the public forum, not sequestered in libraries and scientific journals.

So let's make this next decade the time when we really put our money where our mouths are. We don't need to tear down the walls; we can work with the system (or maybe around it, when necessary). But it is definitely time to move from passive awareness to committed action.

May the new year be a good one for you, your friends, and family - and, of course, for mother Earth!