Sunday, October 10, 2010

We're All EcoDaredevils Now: 2010 EcoDaredevil Awards Announced on 10.10.10

For Immediate Release

10 October 2010

Contacts:

Matt Vincent
Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP)
1300 West Park Street, Butte, MT 59701 (406) 496-4897; (406) 491-0922
www.cfwep.org

Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D.
California Academy of Sciences + OceanRevolution.org
POB 324, Davenport, CA 95017 (831.239.4877)
wallacejnichols.org oceanrevolution.org


We're All EcoDaredevils Now

We are pleased to announce the 2010 EcoDaredevil Award recipients, Jerry Moran, Leilani Münter and Tyler Hess (bios follow).

WHAT: 2010 EcoDaredevil Awards

WHEN: The 2010 EcoDaredevil Awardees are announced online on 10.10.10 at 10:10:10 am PST, coinciding with the Global Work Party when "people will be doing very practical things on 10/10/10," according to 350.org founder Bill McKibben, "but they will also be sending a pointed political message: 'We're getting to work, what about you?'"

WHO:

The three 2010 EcoDaredevil Awardees are:

Photographer Jerry Moran, a fine art, music and architectural photographer from New Orleans. When the BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April, he turned his camera to the coast, the animals and the people impacted by and working on the response. With his camera and generous spirit, he connected people with an ecological tragedy we won't soon forget. Jerry has put himself in harms way physically, emotionally and financially while making his images widely available. "Some pictures are very, very painful to look at. [The birds] look like dead angels in the sand."

http://nativeorleanian.com/tag/bp-oil-spill/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TlL1uTPCSA

Activist, educator and racecar driver Leilani Münter is well known for speaking out about environmental issues. On her blog Carbon Free Girl she documents her efforts to become carbon neutral and discusses environmental issues and clean energy. Leilani was named by Discovery Channel's Planet Green Network as the #1 Eco Athlete. Leilani was one of the first celebrity activists to visit the BP Oil Spill, she arrived in Venice, Louisiana on May 2, ten days after the Deepwater Horizon sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the same day President Barack Obama arrived. She spent a week at the spill, documenting her experience there. On July 13, 2010, Leilani returned and toured the oil-stained areas of Louisiana devastated by the BP Oil Spill as part of a Sierra Club sponsored event involving 10 current and former athletes. "Just because you're green, doesn't mean you can't be fast."

http://www.leilanimunter.com/

Student activist Tyler Hess of DePauw University, a leader in the efforts to bring sustainability to his university. This includes a successful ban on the sale of plastic bottled water on campus, one of the first to do so in the nation. Tyler points out that his efforts have grown beyond the university, “A few people have contacted me to say that their families have banned bottled water after hearing about this." Not everyone agrees with his efforts, but Tyler is an EcoDaredevil who holds his ground and as he's a Sophomore there's plenty of time for more progress on campus and beyond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjBqN4oDyB8

http://www.facebook.com/tyler.hess

The first annual EcoDaredevil Award was presented on Earth Day 2008 by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols to Duke University doctoral student Elliott Hazen. An honorary award was also presented to Krysten Knievel, granddaughter of Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel in recognition of Evel's inspiration for the EcoDaredevil Award. Mr. Hazen was one of the co-founders of GreenWave, a student-led sustainability movement at the Duke Marine Lab. He also instituted a Green by Design class at the Marine Lab bringing in all sorts of experts from business, fisheries etc. to come and share visionary ideas about sustainability.

The 2009 award honored two EcoDaredevils from the legendary Evel Knievel's home state of Montana, with a presentation on the campus of Montana Tech University coinciding with World Water Monitoring Day, an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.

Bios of 2009 EcoDaredevil Awardees:

Kathryn (Katie) Makarowski, an aquatic biologist, sustainability advocate and a recent graduate of the University of Montana’s Masters of Science in Environmental Studies program. Her advisors and peers describe her as innovative, courageous, determined and exceptionally effective in her work to sustain and restore our nation’s rivers, watersheds and fresh water ecosystems. One recommender commented that “Katie used a combination of politeness, persuasion and persistence” to get the job done on behalf of Montana’s environmental future. See Katie in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MbYiJsRVhE

Kathleen Kennedy of Big Sky High School in Missoula, MT, an educator through and through, loved by students and teachers alike. In her Wildlife Biology class she challenges students to think beyond the textbooks and critically consider the environmental costs associated with the status quo. For her efforts raising awareness of important and contentious environmental issues, in particular, screening the award-winning short documentary “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard (viewed more than 7 million times online), she received many bitter personal attacks, felt abandoned and betrayed by the school system and considered quitting teaching. The debate and associated controversy reached the NY Times and filled many pages in local newspapers. But Kathleen, to the delight of many, recommitted herself to teaching. In the face of great adversity, Kathleen stood her ground and emerged as a stronger and better teacher. The kind of teacher that will lead the next generation into a more sustainable future. Read more about Kathleen's efforts here: http://bit.ly/eRImG

The award winners are chosen by a selection committee of nationally and regionally recognized environmental scientists/ activists.

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OpEd: We're All EcoDaredevils Now

On October 17, 1938 Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel was born in Butte, Montana.

Following his sophomore year in high school he got a job in Anaconda's copper mines as a diamond drill operator then as driver of a large earth mover. As the legend goes, Knievel was fired when he did a motorcycle-type wheelie on the earth mover and drove it into Butte's main power line, leaving the city without electricity for several hours.

After stints in rodeo, ski jumping, the army, semi-pro hockey, back-country guiding and insurance sales he settled into a career as a professional Daredevil.

Hundreds of jumps and dozens of spectacular crashes later, on February 28, 1971 he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750.

Such is the colorful mix of reality and legend spanning Knievel's life. He took his place in history as rock star, action hero, athlete and folk legend all in one. His death-defying jumps awed millions around the world.

But back in 1961, before he achieved worldwide fame, Knievel hitchhiked with the rack of a bull elk from Montana to our nation’s capital to protest the culling of elk in Yellowstone. The Kennedy administration responded and countless elk were saved.

While no one would argue Knievel's conservationist credentials, his fearlessness, grit and persistence were world class.

In the face of new, daunting challenges, his response was all action, full-speed, non-stop.

Today, we face ever more serious crises—loss of biodiversity, contaminated rivers and lakes, a warming planet, collapsing fisheries, looming food and water shortages, and a growing population that bodes for more of the same. Left to the status quo, scientists forecast a “2050 Scenario” in which our planet is hotter, dirtier, and overcrowded with nine billion people who are left to wage wars for what little remains.

Jumping this eco-chasm will be the greatest challenge we have ever faced. It will require revolutionary changes in society and technology.

To succeed, we must be brave, creative and outspoken. We must undertake the audacious, the impossible and the dangerous. We must risk our financial, social, and physical comfort. We must state the heretical, radical truths about our present situation. We must not be dissuaded, cajoled or convinced that our greenest dreams cannot become reality.

In other words, we must become EcoDaredevils.

Changing light bulbs, inflating tires, eating organic and toting reusable bags are each important gestures. But it’s going to take action far more thrilling to make it over this canyon. But, we must do something for the planet—something that invites personal risk.

It's not enough to leave the solutions to our most pressing environmental problems in the hands of the professionals, the experts or the government. That strategy will surely continue to fail.

The lack of adequate response to this deepening crisis means that we are all EcoDaredevils now. Like it or not.

They say that Evel Knievel broke every bone in his body at one time or another. But, he kept on jumping. His steely will kept driving him back to the bike and up the ramp.

This week in Butte, Montana we'll honor two exemplary EcoDaredevils for their work, persistence, and commitment to protecting our planet in the face of personal and professional risk.

Inspired by the spirit of Evel Knievel, motivated by our global ecological crisis and called to action by future generations. We are all EcoDaredevils now. Strap on your helmet, let's ride.

Wallace "J." Nichols is a scientist, activist, community organizer, author, and dad. Blog: www.wallacejnichols.org

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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

What Would Jacques do? One hundred years of oil

By Wallace J. Nichols, Sarah Kornfeld, Jake Dunagan and Stuart Candy


Jacques Yves Cousteau spent halcyon days gliding above and beneath the ocean. He lived among the largest mammals and sea drift. He was the master educator and voice for the sea. And so, on this, the 100th anniversary of his birth, it is a sorry state of affairs that we cannot celebrate the legacy of his ocean life, but instead it is the centennial of our own legacy with oil, plastic and associated toxins we must confront. One hundred years ago, 1910, the fossil-fuel-based plastics industry was born, as was Cousteau, and thus began the first plastic century.

Plastic is made from oil and gas, plain and simple, yet we do not think of oil or plastic pollution when we think of Cousteau. We think mostly of how he inspired wonder in us. We wondered at life aboard the Calypso with its salty crew. And, this wonder for the sea has engendered generations of people to become oceanographers, biologists, divers and simple lovers of the sea. But, if we do not make the serious connection -- now -- between the legacy of Cousteau and our legacy with petroleum we will sully the memory of the man.

Yet, the memory of the ocean was hardly what Cousteau was all about: he was really about the future of the ocean. He was always looking ahead -- not behind. He wanted people to have knowledge so that they could have foresight. His great genius was not that he made you want to go swimming today; it was that he inspired you to want to know deeply and explore constantly the ocean in the immediate future, and always.

"If we were logical, the future would be bleak, indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope, and we can work," he said.

Right now, however, we have our thinking backwards; we are watching a reckless and inane "clean up" of the Gulf of Mexico play out in slow motion. What can we imagine he would say right now? Would we listen? Would we nod our heads with a sense of security that the great man was leading us, teaching us, telling us how to get out of this mess? What would he do? Would we join him?

Who knows, but a good guess is that that great lover of the sea, and great pragmatist for the environment might be furious. Enraged. Heartbroken. One can imagine at the same time, the man rallying us to demand substantial legislative changes, responsible action from the oil industry, and a global systemic shift away from oil/plastic/toxins because our very lives depend on it. His line in the sand would be deep and long.

But, he's not here, is he? Yet, his 100th birthday is right before us. His legacy of an ocean is literally mired in the slick dependence we have on oil. So, let's make the list that a pragmatic leader like Cousteau might offer.

Let's do this:

1. Tell someone each day what our Ocean Planet, our one and only blue marble, means to you. Describe how you love it, why you want to see it and hear it. Love is stronger than apathy, and your vision for the future of what you love can impact people. Use all of the media at your disposal to share your oceanophilia, get in on rallies, letter writing and vote for the ocean.

2. Stop pouring toxins, any toxins, into the drains around you, onto your food, into your tank or into your body: you can show BP what responsibility looks like -- what you don't pour down the drain won't get to the ocean. "Think tank," you might say. Think about what goes in it and what comes out.

3. Remember that great people leave Earth, but plastic never does. Reject straws, coffee lids, forks, or anything plastic you use once then throw away. First off, they are made of oil and gas and can make you sick. Second, when they end up in the ocean they make the ocean sick. Try as best you can to free your home, school and business of single-use disposable plastics.

The time is now for us, the lovers of the sea. We cannot wait for a great tide to take the oil, and our need for it, away to a magical place. And, we can't wait for the memory of great people to inspire us to change. We must honor their memory by doing something great ourselves.

Each of us must be Cousteau -- we must embody his legacy with a vision for the future: one that includes a world with a healthy, thriving sea. We must embody his memory -- a person who wanted a healthy, thriving future for the planet.

Ask yourself, "What would Jacques do?" Act as he would. Because we are all ocean activists now.


Wallace J. Nichols, Sarah Kornfeld, Jake Dunagan, and Stuart Candy, are a hybrid art- science-futures collaboration. Their installation Plastic Century is an interactive installation created for the California Academy of Sciences that explores the relationship between plastic, people, and the environment over the 100 years since the birth of Jacques Cousteau. The installation will be at the California Academy of Sciences June 3rd and June 10th. The Plastic Century Team is currently in residency at the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA), in San Francisco.