Archive for the "Media" Category

  • Does the word biodiversity hinder public awareness and what can we do about it?

    I recently commented on the relative stagnation in searches for the word “biodiversity” during the first three quarters of 2010 -- a possible failure of the UN’s Year of Biodiversity. It’s hard to say if the lackluster performance of search results reflects lack of public interest in biodiversity. At least part of the problem may be in the term itself. In this, the Year of Biodiversity, the BBC reports that when members of the public were asked what they thought what

  • Save time using the biodiversity news feed on Alltop

    [caption id="attachment_1013" align="alignleft" width="114" caption="Alltop curates feeds from the best blogs on specific topics"][/caption] I am pleased to announce that Alltop has adopted my suggestion for a biodiversity topic feed on the site. You can now get the best biodiversity blog posts in one place. The page features the most popular stories to the top left of the listed sites, so it's a great way to save time getting the latest news on biodiversity. Alltop is an aggregator site that collects "the headlines

  • Linkedin group for biodiversity professionals

    [caption id="attachment_1006" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Our logo for the Biodiversity Professionals group on Linkedin"][/caption] Biodiversity has been in the news recently (yay!). And thousands of people are actively engaged in various aspects of biodiversity (also yay!). But there are not a lot of professional networking resources specifically for folks in biodiversity careers (boo!). A lot of the social networking resources revolve around Facebook and Twitter. These are great, but the conversation tends to be a bit scattered and is often cause-based or promotional. Biodiversity professionals need a place where they can engage in more focused conversations.

  • Daily Telegraph is wrong! Biodiversity is NOT a scam

    [caption id="attachment_993" align="alignleft" width="270" caption="A Daily Telegraph blogger asserts that biodiversity is a scam. But he's the one who's scamming."][/caption] Blogger James Delingpole has got me mad. He wrote a post on the Daily Telegraph blog claiming that environmentalists are "ditching climate change" as a cause. Instead, he says, they are taking up biodiversity as "the new big lie." Wrong. One big lie is that environmentalists are ditching climate change in favor of biodiversity. Anyone who follows the field knows that climate change is one cause

  • International Year of Biodiversity 2010: Heading Towards Failure?

    On January 11 this year, the United Nations announced that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity (IYOB). Activists and environmentalists were delighted. We can imagine the words "about time" on their lips. Likewise, scientists were pleased. They had long wanted a higher profile for a relatively neglected area of the biological sciences. We've certainly seen some positive attention. For example, in July the UN appointed actor Ed Norton as International Goodwill Ambassador for the IYOB. There's been plenty of hype and bandwagon jumping, but what about results? We're now three quarters into the year. Let's take stock and evaluate the IYOB. Has

  • The best biodiversity blogs: reviews and rankings

    [caption id="attachment_930" align="alignleft" width="204" caption="Forest fruits from Barro Colorado illustrate tropical rainforest biodiversity. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)"][/caption] Biodiversity is in the news. 2010 is the UN Year of Biodiversity, which has done much to raise public awareness. So inevitably we are seeing more blogs dedicated to the topic. Yay! But it's hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Google "biodiversity blog" (with quotes) and you get several thousand hits. Which of those can you put into your RSS reader? Which bloggers

  • Online network connects journalists with biodiversity information

    [caption id="attachment_913" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Biodiversity Media Alliance aims to boost the quantity and quality of media coverage of biodiversity issues."][/caption] Biodiversity Media Alliance is a Ning social network for media professionals who are covering biodiversity issues. The International Institute for Environment and Development, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Internews created the site to help connect journalists with sources of information about biodiversity. The site's tagline is "Linking Journalism With

  • Ecological science-based environmental conservation outcomes

    Here's an interesting organization: Ecological Internet, Inc. We do not promote or endorse specific companies, but I thought Ecological Internet has a mission with which we can readily identify. According to their Facebook page, they "specialize in the use of the Internet to achieve ecological science-based environmental conservation outcomes." The non-profit organization manages several large web properties including Climate Ark, Forests.org, Water Conserve, Rainforest Portal, Ocean Conserve, New Earth Rising. Their web presence focuses on providing "a variety of environmental news tracking,

  • Florida Keys Shifting Baselines – Thoughts on World Oceans Day

    Since last December, we've been involved with a number of good friends in Key West, Florida, on a green initiative that includes the investigations of medicinal plants of the Florida Keys and northern Caribbean. Following from these interactions with students and colleagues at Duke University and in Key West itself, I had the good fortune of being interviewed last week together with conservation biologist Stuart Pimm on KONK-1630AM community radio by Erika Biddle for her biweekly Eco-Centric World program. Raised in Germany, she participated in the formations of the first political Green Party after witnessing the destruction of

  • CBS NEWS/60 MINUTES’ MIKE WALLACE CHALLENGES THE WORLD’S GREATEST MINDS TO PREDICT THE FUTURE

    As the press release for Mike’s book “The Way We Will Be 50 Years From Today” puts it: what will our lives by like in half a century? How advanced will technology have become? How will the world be better and how will it be worse? These are just some of the intriguing questions legendary CBS newsman Mike Wallace puts to 60 of some of the world’s brightest, imaginative and forward-thinking individuals in the world —including more than 15 winners of the Nobel and other equivalent prizes in the many sciences the Nobels do not cover. 2006 Heineken Prize winner for

  • Sprouting GMO Food Wars

    My sense is that Jeffrey Smith is actually winning. Pushing consumers ever closer to the tipping point of lining up with their European counterparts and rejecting GMO foods. Jeffry Smith continues to evangelize causing wonderment not just in environmental circles, but also in publishing circles as well. To avoid having his research squashed with kill fees, he has been self-publishing to resounding success. Of course their are a number of international best selling authors at any given point in time. There aren't many self-published authors with international bestsellers.

  • Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

    Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election

  • Squirrel Journey – Four Seasons in High Dev

    Watch this in full screen with the sound on. Squirrel Journey from Primo on

  • Flight of the Conchords – Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

    3,403,973 Views and Counting

  • Science Debate 2008

    "Science Debate 2008," launched today by a group of concerned citizens, is calling for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology policy. Science Debate 2008 already has the support of almost sixty eminent scientists (including 11 Nobel laureates), business leaders, journalists and editors (including the editors in chief of both Science and Scientific American), politicians (including several members of Congress and two former Science Advisers to the President), the president of Princeton, and several presidents of large science organizations. Follow it here

  • Now, When My Phone Rings…

    ...it sounds eerily like a Mexican wolf. Find ring tones of rare species and even contribute some of your own (for other people--you probably can't hear the audio playback of that Rio Branco Antbird anymore). Just think if every time your phone rang, your lab partners thought it was a Chiricahua Leopard Frog, or Peruvian Plantcutter, or even an Orca. Never mind if the plural of wallpaper is wallpaper - Rare Earth Ring

  • Paris Hilton: Seriously Green?

    Lucas Joppa Paris Hilton is toying with philanthropy ("Ms. Hilton Gets Serious. Please Stop Laughing." Newsweek). She has even begun to dabble in environmental causes. To prove her point, she is now driving a hybrid vehicle (A Ford Escape). Is this something the environmental community should embrace, or does her lifestyle bring more baggage than the environmental community is prepared to

  • New Saving Species Ads

    60-Second PSA 20-Second PSA

  • Stuart Pimm Appears in DiCaprio’s The Eleventh Hour

    A Leonardo DiCaprio film, the 11th Hour describes the last moment when change is possible. I think a heard the voice of Thomas Linzey or the ever optimistic Bill McKibben saying something about the the 59th minute of the eleventh hour. The film explores how humanity has arrived at this moment – how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. A virtual tour de force of some of the best and most interesting environmentalists and activists describing the state of the world and what we can and need to do