TED: The Ocean Without Fish?

I have recently begun a routine of watching TED videos before going to sleep at night. Whenever I’m feeling demotivated or low on inspiration, the videos lift my spirits up and my enthusiasm.

So, while lying in bed searching for a video to watch last night, I decided to search for one about the ocean, and I came across this unbelievably insightful video by Sylvia Earle. Sylvia Earle is an American oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer. She has achieved a vast number of accomplishments through her fifty years of experience as a field research scientist and in leading over 50 underwater expeditions worldwide, being named by Time Magazine the first “Hero of the Planet”.

In this video, where she won a TED prize in 2009, Earle discusses, through her findings and her personal experience, changes in the sea that affect all of us. She talks about the importance of protecting our life-support system because Everything on earth is connected and life on earth is organized into a web.

There are 2 main things about this video that made me very intrigued by it. Firstly, Earle’s enthusiasm and passion in her speech was so marked and distinct that she really seizes your attention. My eyes and ears were glued to the screen when watching it because of the authority of the message and how powerful it is. She is a great speaker because once you start listening you cannot stop, very fascinating.

Secondly, there is a great deal to learn from this video, but one thing I learned that I am quite embarrassed to admit I did not know is that most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea! (Not by trees, which is what I thought) Marine plants – Algae to be precise, produce almost 90% of oxygen in the atmosphere.

Here is an interesting article I read that goes more into depth about this specific topic: http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/12/important-organism/

Finally, below watch Sylvia's incredibly educational and expressive presentation, you really feel like you're listening to her heart..

 

"No WATER, No LIFE. No BLUE, No GREEN." (Sylvia Earle)

Jazi xxx

17 Year Old Brittany Trilford's Speech at Rio+20

Three days ago, on June 20th, 2012 Brittany Trilford, a 17 year old from New Zealand, addressed world leaders at the opening plenary of the Rio+20 UN Earth Summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Watch her speech below, which very reminiscent of Severn Suzuki's 1992 address to the UN. 

Kudos to Brittany; GREAT speech!

Anoud x

One Planet

A simple video, but captivating enough to get you thinking. A simple message, a simple fact: there is only one Earth.

Re-think what we are doing to our planet. Click here to get find out how you can get involved.


Anoud x

Happy Earth Day 2012

So Green Eve has been on a long hiatus this month; was back home for Spring Break and was too overwhelmed with things going on then. But now I've got no excuse, & been editing pictures for a long photo diary to be posted soon :).

Back to the point of this post though, HAPPY EARTH DAY!!! :) Here are two videos to celebrate this day: one  about looking beneath the surface and addressing the issues facing our planet these days, and the other one is a fun take on the melting ice caps by Ellen, who I love! Enjoy x






Anoud xx

Flying Over Planet Earth

Take a look at this beautiful time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits Earth at night. It starts off over the Pacific Ocean then moves on over North and South America and then journeys over near Antarctica where it enters daylight.

Visible cities, countries and landmarks – (in order):

Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver

Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles

Multiple cities in Texas

New Mexico and Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador

Lightning in the Pacific Ocean

Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca

The Amazon

The thin yellow line that you see is the Earth’s ionosphere.

It’s hard to believe that this is real. It really looks like something out of a movie – or a video game of some sort. Breathtaking! 

Anoud x

HOME

'We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate.'

Here's a documentary worth watching: HOME. It was recommended to me by my friend Hassan and believe me it is truly captivating, especially with all the recent natural disasters and tsunamis it couldn't be any more relevant. It really is scary thinking about the mysteries of life and all the surprises that are in store for us. What's next? Who's next? How big? For how long?

Embedding for the video is disabled so below is the link.

Watch: HOME.


xo,
Anoud

Image: Treehugger.com

Filming Earth From Space

This past December 2010, Alex Baker and Chris Rose, two PhD students from the University of Sheffield managed to film Earth all the way from space by launching a video camera into space using a weather balloon. The entire process just cost them £350 and here's all what they used:

1. Weather Balloon
2. Foam Box
3. Duct Tape
4. Video Camera
5. G.P.S. tracking device

Watch the process and the footage they captured below.




Truly amazing! Who knew capturing such footage can cost so little?


Anoud xo


Image: spaceosaur.co.uk