"Who was that masked man?"

Two of the biggest special-effects films of 2011 are "The Green Hornet" (January 14) and "Green Lantern" (June 17). While both movies are based on venerable properties (the title heroes date back to the Roosevelt administration), average moviegoers may have trouble keeping them straight. They'll be asking that old question: "Who was that masked man?"

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.

The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System launches its first F/A-18E Super Hornet on Saturday Dec. 18 at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, N.J

A railgun is designed to fire bullets without using explosive charges, relying on the repulsive force of electromagnetism instead. And the Navy has found a way to use that power to propel jet planes, too.

In a test conducted December 18 at a test site in Lakehurst, N.J., Naval Air Systems Command launched an F/A-18E Super Hornet using the power of electromagnets -- a technology the Navy hopes will eventually replace the archaic-sounding steam power currently used to catapult planes from the decks of aircraft carriers.

“I thought the launch went great,” said Lt. Daniel Radocaj, the test pilot from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 who piloted the first plane propelled by the new technology, which the Navy has named Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS.

“I got excited once I was on the catapult, but I went through the same procedures as on a steam catapult. The catapult stroke felt similar to a steam catapult and EMALS met all of the expectations I had.”

Newer, heavier and faster aircraft will require more force to catapult from the carrier decks than steam-powered systems can supply. Electromagnets will be able to deliver, and allow for smooth acceleration at both high and low speeds, increasing the carrier’s ability to launch aircraft, the Navy said in a press release.



The technology was first tested out by the Navy in 2004 with a full-scale, half-length prototype, where more than 1,500 launches were conducted. The EMALS will be a key element on the next-generation carrier U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford. Had this newest test failed, Wired's Danger Room pointed out, the Ford would have to be re-designed to include steam catapults.

The Navy made headlines at the beginning of the month by testing a new weapon also based on railgun technology, which used electromagnetic current to accelerate a non-explosive bullet at several times the speed of sound. The conductive projectile zips along a set of electrically charged parallel rails and out of the barrel at speeds up to Mach 7.

The result: a weapon that can hit a target 100 miles or more away within minutes.

An electromagnetic railgun offers a velocity previously unattainable in a conventional weapon, speeds that are incredibly powerful on their own. In fact, since the projectile doesn't have any explosives itself, it relies upon that kinetic energy to do damage. And at 11 a.m. today, the Navy produced a 33-megajoule firing -- more than three times the previous record set by the Navy in 2008.

U.S. Navy / Kelly Schindler

Blizzard Slams East Coast

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 27: Snow falls in the early morning hours in Manhattan's East Village December 27, 2010 in New York City. A winter storm is pounding the East Coast of the United States and is expected to deliver a foot of snow for New York City and New England while snarling post-Christmas travel.

"Over the River"

They've got trouble right here along the banks of the Arkansas River.

It all has to do with the artist Christo, whose lavish and iconoclastic installations invariably create controversy wherever unfurled. And in this postcard-pretty corner of Colorado, about 115 miles south of Denver, renowned for fly fishing, whitewater rafting and the vertigo-inducing Royal Gorge suspension bridge, it is no different.

For 18 years the artist has had his sights on a stretch of river that runs through Big Horn Sheep Canyon between Canon City and Salida for a project he calls "Over the River." The proposed installation would suspend translucent panels of fabric over 5.9 miles of the river in staggered intervals, visible from U.S. Highway 50 and by rafters floating underneath.

It would be the latest installation by the man who wrapped Berlin's Reichstag building in fabric and erected 1,760 giant yellow umbrellas in California's Tejon Pass.

If approved, "Over the River" would open in summer 2014 for two weeks. It would take two years to build and cost at least $50 million (Christo says he is already in for $7 million). The Bureau of Land Management is expected to decide the project's fate in the spring.

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.

Polar Bears: good news and bad news in the U.S.

Following up on my December 19th posting regarding polar bears, here's an example of one-step forward, two steps back.

Gaining Ground, Literally
The step forward has to do with the designation in late November of 187,000 sq.miles of northern Alaska wilderness as a "critical habitat" for polar bears. As part of a mandated response to having the polar bear listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the area - although it had to be prodded into action by a lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) which has been after the Fish and Wildlife Service to fully implement protections, like the critical habitat, required by the Endangered Species Act.

The critical habitat designation mandates that any federal agency that would wish to open up any of the land for economic activity (as in granting permits for gas and oil exploration, which several oil companies were planning on doing), they would have to first consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding adverse impact against the polar bears.

“This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations,” said Tom Strickland, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in a Fish and Wildlife Service news release. “Nevertheless, the greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of its sea ice habitat caused by human-induced climate change. We will continue to work toward comprehensive strategies for the long-term survival of this iconic species.”

Read about the polar bears' "critical habitat" in BBC News.

Losing Ground
In response to the critical habitat designation, the governor of Alaska has announce his intention to have the state file suit against the federal government. As reported by the Washington Post, Governor Sean Parnell contends the critical habitat designation will delay jobs and increase costs - or even kill - resource development projects that are important to Alaska.

"Once again, we are faced with federal overreach that threatens our collective prosperity," Gov. Parnell said. "We don't intend to let this stand."

A recent newsletter from the CBD reported, "The Center is already in court defending the polar bear against the state's previous suit to have it removed from Endangered Species Act protection, arguing instead that protection should be upgraded. Scientists estimate there's a greater than 80 percent chance that polar bears in Alaska will be extinct by mid-century under current greenhouse gas emissions trends."

"They [the Alaska state government] have opposed every Endangered Species Act listing to date," said CBD attorney Brendan Cummings.

Read more about Alaska's threat of legal action in the Washington Post.

Losing More Ground
The Center for Biological Diversity will be kept busy with the additional setback announced this past Wednesday by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The department filed arguments in court to support its decision to list the polar bear as threatened, as opposed to endangered under the Endangered Species Act - endangered being a designation that many conservation groups have pushed for because it requires the government to address the source of the endangerment (global warming).

Also, the department is maintaining a Bush-era decision to exempt greenhouse gases from regulation under the Endangered Species Act, thereby eliminating from consideration all scientific studies and data that point to climate change as being one of the primary threats to polar bear ice-based habitat.

The CBD plans to counter the department of the Interior's arguments in court in February. CBD attorney Kassie Siegal said, "[The department's action] puts a gloss on a horribly flawed Bush-era decision that is anti-science and serves to greatly undermine the protection of not just the polar bear but all of America's imperiled wildlife."

There are some environmentalists and legal experts that feel that the Endangered Species Act is not the best vehicle for pressing forward with the greenhouse gas issue, that it would best be served in Congress than in the courts. But given the current state of partisan politics and the influence of gas and oil lobbyists, that probably won't be happening any time soon, so groups like the Center for Biological Diversity continue with legal action.

Read more about the Dept. of Interior decision in the Los Angeles Times.

Sharks: Kuwait and Canada are losing important predators

A couple of items on sharks:

Documenting the Lack of Sharks in the Arabian Gulf
Sharks have been suffering at the hands of large commercial operations to meet the demands for shark fins in the Asian markets. But they can also suffer due to ignorance and, in a sense, neglect. This is what is happening in the Arabian Sea.

An expedition, organized by the U.K.'s Shark Conservation Society in 2008, set out to document the range of shark biodiversity in the Arabian Gulf waters around Kuwait. With the discovery of oil, Kuwaiti culture has changed from fishing and pearl diving as key industries to one based entirely on the lucrative oil business. While fish are still in demand among the Kuwaiti people, there is a lack of concern or awareness as to the need for balancing marine biodiversity - in particular, maintaining healthy shark populations as a cornerstone to a healthy marine ecosystem.

In the local fish markets, sharks can be found but there is not a great demand for them. Their appearance is more one of being bycatch due to the fishing techniques commonly used by the local fishermen. Gill nets are the predominant method, which basically catch anything from edible, commercial fish to sharks to turtles, and more.

Environmental filmmaker Zeina Aboul Hosn accompanied the researchers, both on the water and in the local markets, to document the decline of sharks in the Gulf. Finally, two years later, her film is currently available for viewing on Al Jazeera.



According to GreenProphet.com, Exxon has pledged support for an educational program to increase awareness, establish community-based programs, and provide cleanup activities, which could prove beneficial to local shark populations - if there's still time. Exxon's motives, I am sure, are a mix of environmental concern, politics, and public relations. Whatever their self-serving motives, if it provides a means to educate the local populace on the importance of maintaining a balanced marine ecosystem - for sharks and other species - then it could be a worthwhile trade-off.

Read more about the state of sharks in the Arabian Gulf at the GreenProphet.com.

Canada Considers Support for Great White Sharks
The Canadian government is considering placing the great white shark on its list of animals covered by Canada's Species at Risk Act. Great white sharks are known to travel as far north as Nova Scotia in the Atlantic but their numbers have been in steady decline, in line with what has been seen with many white shark populations worldwide.

Although hunting white sharks in Canada is currently illegal, by covering it under the Species at Risk Act the balance of responsibility changes slightly from something that was solely on the shoulders of the fishermen ("Do not hunt white sharks") to more involvement by the federal government ("What can we do to further protect these sharks?"). This would mean another partner in the international political arena - where worldwide policy is hammered out.

"It's really a matter of supporting other international efforts to reduce catches of great whites and somehow limit their by-catch in other fisheries," said Steven Campana of Nova Scotia's Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

Read more about Canada's great white sharks at CBC News.

Shark conservation is becoming more and more of a complex topic as we move beyond (but don't ignore) the barbarism and waste of shark finning and shark fin soup and focus more on the critical role these predators play in maintaining a healthy marine environment and the need for worldwide public awareness to stimulate action on local, national, and international levels.

"helping motorists find vacant parking spots"

The often tedious hunt for a parking place soon might become less irritating in at least one part of Los Angeles.

At City Hall on Wednesday, officials unveiled an iPhone application — the first of its type — to help motorists find vacant parking spots in Hollywood, one of the most-visited places in the world.

For an introductory price of $1.99, drivers will be able see which streets have open spots, as well as blocks that are closest to them with the most vacant spaces.

The "Parker" application delivers information about parking-space time limits, pricing and whether meters take credit cards or coins. It also directs motorists to the nearest public or private parking lots and garages as an alternative to street parking.

"The most expensive show ever to reach Broadway"

The most expensive show ever to reach Broadway, " Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" has been plagued with bad press ever since taking off. From the numerous delays to reports of injured performers, the musical -- which stars Reeve Carney, above, as Peter Parker -- is struggling on nearly every front. Previews finally began in late November, with an official opening now set for Jan. 11.

>( Bruce Glikas, Associated Press )

From RTSea Blog: Happy Holidays

On December 24th, 2010,

“This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!” – D.M. Dellinger

And let's not forget, the wisdom and passion to do what is right for the oceans and the planet.

Happy Holidays!

Richard Theiss
RTSea Blog
RTSea Productions

Marine Protected Area Benefit: study shows drfiting larvae aid fish and fisheries

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are often viewed by commercial and sport fishing interests as a total invasion of the rights of fishermen to harvest bounty from the sea where ever and when ever they can find it. Thought of as a bureaucratic intrusion, compliments of fish-hugging environmentalists, MPAs have actually proven not only to repair and improve the health of the marine ecosystems within their boundaries, but have also shown spillover effects that actually can prove beneficial to sustainable fisheries.

Scientists have known for some time that as fish stocks improve within a marine protected area, the population also begins to improve within the surrounding area. Larger fish establish larger territories, often well outside the boundaries of the MPA (after all, they're not interested in arbitrary borders set by us humans).

Now researchers from Oregon State University have concrete evidence that fish larvae, emanating from within an MPA, can travel distances of over 100 miles and thereby increase stocks of fish well outside of the protected area.

The researchers worked with the MPAs that were established in the late 90's around the big island of Hawaii. Their study focused on the yellow tang, a popular reef fish in the aquarium trade and one whose numbers were declining - not good for commercial interests and certainly not good for the yellow tang. Since the inception of the Hawaiian MPAs, the population of yellow tangs has improved. But there was also seen an increase in numbers many miles outside of the protected areas. Could this be due to a spillover effect from more yellow tangs venturing outside of the protected zone? That would appear to be the case except for one fly in the ointment: yellow tangs are sedentary and settle into an area on the reef not much greater than a half mile in diameter.

To solve the puzzle, the researchers used the same techniques used by police detectives and paternity suit lawyers - DNA. By taking tissue samples from various groups of yellow tangs both within the MPA and beyond, they were able to establish direct relationships with yellow tangs that were as much as 114 miles apart. Only the transportation of larvae, aided by ocean currents, could explain the familial connection.

"This is similar to the type of forensic technology you might see on television, but more advanced," said researcher and lead author of the study, Mark Christie. "We're optimistic it will help us learn a great deal more about fish movements, fishery stocks, and the genetic effects of fishing, including work with steelhead, salmon, rockfish and other species here in the Pacific Northwest."

Oregon State University marine biology professor, Mark Hixon, added, "Tracking the movement of fish larvae in the open ocean isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. It's not like putting a radio collar on a deer. This approach will provide valuable information to help optimize the placement of reserves, identify the boundaries of fishery stocks, and other applications."

One area of concern that grew out of the study was the importance of having good breeding stock by which to provide sufficient and healthy larvae yields. Larger fish are often the target of commercial fishing but these fish have a much greater capacity to produce larvae than smaller ones. Previous studies at the university had shown, as an example, that a single two-foot vermillion rockfish produces more eggs than 17 females that are 14 inches long.

While we continue to establish Marine Protected Areas across the world - some small, some covering many tens of thousands of square miles - the total coverage is but a mere sliver, approximately 1 percent of the world's oceans. And yet, as minuscule as they currently are in size, they have a tremendous impact on the overall health of countless marine species.

Read the Oregon State University news release on EurekAlert!.

Sea gulls are the only flying objects seen during a hushed sunrise on Cocoa Beach, Fla.

(Stefano Paltera / For The Los Angeles Times)

"Lunar Eclipses provide "rare views"

A view of the 2008 lunar eclipse over Griffith Park Observatory.

(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

"Get in line !"

The rangers at California's Yosemite National Park, who last summer moved to reduce crowding and mishaps on the cables near the top of Half Dome by requiring hikers to reserve weekend permits, have decided to make those permits an everyday requirement.

The Half Dome cables are generally in place from mid-May through mid-October, depending on the weather. The first permits will be available at 7 a.m. March 1 for climbing the cables in May and June.

The permits – which are expected to sell out rapidly – limit foot traffic on the Half Dome Trail to 300 day hikers and 100 backpackers per day, with no same-day permits issued. The permits will be made available three months in advance, at the beginning of each month. So if you want to climb in July, it’s wise to try for a permit reservation on April 1.

Although the National Park Service likes to describe the permits as free, every permit requires a nonrefundable $1.50 “service charge” that goes to the concessionaire that handles the permit.

Park officials said the permit requirement was prompted by the growing popularity of the Half Dome route. Once the park started requiring permits on weekends, the number of weekday hikers increased dramatically, leading to the same safety worries the led to the permit program in the first place.

Before the permit system was put in place, a park service study found that as many as 1,200 hikers per day were hiking near the summit of Half Dome, steadying themselves on the granite rock face by gripping a pair of cables on stanchions for the final 400 feet of ascent. (The Sierra Club placed the cables in 1919.) From 2006 to 2009, four hikers died in falls on or near the cables.

Last summer, once permits were required for hikers on Friday, Saturday, Sundays and holidays, rangers say rescues and accidents on and near the cables dropped noticeably, and there were no deaths.

Moreover, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said, "we noticed a major difference" in how prepared the permit-bearing weekend hikers were, versus the weekday, non-permit hikers. Many of the people without permits, she said, "were still showing up with Tevas on, without enough water, not enough food, or no lights."

Now the same restrictions will cover every day that the cables are up.

Permit reservations can be made at the Recreation.gov website or by calling (877) 444-6777. Each climber will be required to have his or her own permit, and up to four permits may be obtained under one reservation.

The Half Dome Trail, a 17-mile round trip, gains 4,400 feet in elevation from the valley floor. Hikers typically take 10 to 12 hours to complete it. Technical rock-climbers are still free to climb without permits, so long as they first summit Half Dome by other means and then descend using the cables.

Above, climbers, using cables, make their way up Half Dome at Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Scott Gediman)

Does Billy the Kid deserve a pardon ??

Nearly 130 years after the death of Henry McCarty, alias William Bonney, but better known as Billy the Kid, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will take some of the final hours of his administration to decide whether to pardon the baby-faced gunslinger.

Richardson will review evidence that in 1881, one of his predecessors promised to pardon Bonney for killing a sheriff in return for his testimony in a murder case. The record suggests that New Mexico territorial Gov. Lew Wallace later reneged on that promise.

Richardson has promised a decision by Dec. 31, his final day in office.

"The Heart of the USS Monitor"

When archaeologists and Navy divers recovered the warship Monitor's steam engine from the Atlantic in 2001, the pioneering Civil War propulsion unit was enshrouded in a thick layer of marine concretion.

Sand, mud and corrosion combined with minerals in the deep waters off Cape Hatteras, N.C., to cloak every feature of Swedish American inventor John Ericsson's ingenious machine, and they continued to envelop the 30-ton artifact after nine years of desalination treatment.

This month, however, conservators at the Mariners' Museum here and its USS Monitor Center drained the 35,000-gallon solution in which the massive engine was submerged and began removing the 2- to 3-inch-thick layer of concretion with hammers, chisels and other hand tools.

Working slowly and carefully to avoid harming the engine's original surface, they stripped off more than two tons of encrustation in their first week of work, gradually revealing the details of a naval milestone that had not been seen since the historic Union ironclad sank in a storm in December 1862.

"This is a technological marvel. It was cutting-edge in its day. But what's really neat is revealing all the wheels, oil cups, valves and other parts that the Monitor's crew used to operate the engine," said conservation project manager Dave Krop.

"If you consider that it spent nearly 139 years underwater, it's in outstanding shape — though some of the wrought iron has seen better days. And there are some copper alloy parts that look brand-new when they're first uncovered — like they just came off the shelf."

Smaller, more compact, yet just as capable as other steam engines of its day, the Monitor's vibrating side-lever engine was the ideal match for Ericsson's revolutionary warship.

Its long, low, horizontal cylinder enabled the engineer to place it below the vessel's waterline as well as behind a thick armor belt — and that well-protected position virtually eliminated the vulnerability associated with the much larger and more easily targeted engines of the day, most of which towered above the deck of a ship.

Ericsson was so confident in his engine's capabilities that he ignored orders to equip the vessel with masts and rigging.

And it astounded Union and Confederate observers with the way it performed in its historic clash with the rebel warship Virginia — also known as the Merrimac — in the March 8, 1862, Battle of Hampton Roads.

"If the turret and the guns were the Monitor's muscle, this steam engine was its heart," said historian Jeff Johnston of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper

Commentary by Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic

If you were looking for symbolic bookends to the year in architecture, you could do worse than to start with the January opening of Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper and finish with the recent run of "In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards," a musical-theater production about controversial plans to build a mammoth Frank Gehry-designed development in Brooklyn.

This was the year we began to make real sense of the fallout from the economic crisis and the boom years that preceded it. The Burj and "In the Footprint," odd as it might sound, were in that sense two sides of the same coin, two cautionary tales about Brobdignagian urban dreams unique to the architecture of the last decade.

Opened with great fanfare on Jan. 4 as the tallest building in the world, the 2,717-foot-high Burj Khalifa, designed by Chicago architect Adrian Smith, acted instantly as a kind of 160-story Rorschach Test. For some critics it was a technical and aesthetic triumph, a productive marriage between broad-shouldered American capability and Dubai's vast ambition. The trouble was that unlike its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi — or even tiny nearby Qatar, which this month landed soccer's 2022 World Cup — Dubai built its skyline not on petroleum reserves, of which it has few, but literally and metaphorically on sand, attempting to turn speculative growth itself into an economic engine.

The bottom, of course, ultimately fell out of that Ponzi-like strategy. When the Burj Khalifa opened it was almost entirely empty, and it has stayed that way: A report last month revealed that of its 900 condominiums, a staggering 825, or 92%, remain vacant. (Most were sold to real-estate investors who now cannot find tenants.) The Chicago Tribune's Blair Kamin and others have pointed out that vacancy is nothing new in the history of super-tall buildings, and of course they're right: the Empire State Building was mocked as the "Empty State Building" when it opened in 1931.

But the Burj is a different architectural animal simply because it's unclear — even now — whether Dubai will in any of our lifetimes figure out a way to fill the massive number of high-rises, gated communities, office parks and other architectural wonders it built over the last decade. ( Manhattan in 1931 was in a deep economic trough, to be sure; but it had many decades of expansive growth in front of it.) Click on the heading above for the complete story.

"Horse Feathers" (1932)

For those who love Marxist comedies — as in the Marx Brothers — their early Paramount films are far funnier and more anarchic than the more staid MGM releases. Here Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo take on the institution of higher education in this wild and crazy farce. Groucho plays Professor Wagstaff, the president of Huxley College, who decides to bolster enrollment by staging a winning football game. Zeppo plays his son, Chico is a bootlegger and ice salesman and Harpo is the dog catcher who is more interested in catching women. The smart, funny script was penned by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and S.J. Perelman, and Ruby also co-wrote the musical numbers that include the classics "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It" and "Everyone Says I Love You."

"It's a Gift" is a real treasure !!!

W. C. Fields, "It's a Gift"(1934) provided much praise for Mr. Muckle and Carl LaFong. They were involved in two of the best gags in what is arguably W.C. Fields' most satisfying comedy. Fields, who helped write the script under the nom de plume of Charles Bogle, plays Harold Bissonette, a small-town shopkeeper who is constantly being beaten down by his family, friends and customers, such as Mr. Muckle (Charles Sellon), a cranky blind man who is hard of hearing and by turns destroys everything in sight at Bissonette's store. Another high point finds Bissonette trying to sleep on the family's porch, where he is harassed by an insurance salesman looking for a man called Carl LaFong. The final scene was shot at Fields' own, new 7-acre estate in Encino.

David Osborne produces music and magic

By Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Las Vegas — The pianist zipped through "Sleigh Ride" in the sumptuous casino lounge, his breezy rendition sailing by gamblers who'd sipped too many whiskey-and-eggnogs.

The jaunty melody competed with beeping and blinging slot machines named Zeus and Stinkin' Rich. One patron nodded off next to a still-smoldering cigarette. Another tried to accompany the piano, tipsily, with a harmonica.

But on this mid-December night, David Osborne endured the quirks of the Bellagio casino's Baccarat Bar with smiling cheer. He knew that on Monday, he was scheduled to play the White House. Again.

The casino pianist, somewhat improbably, is also a presidential pianist. Osborne has helmed White House holiday events during three administrations, briefly glimpsing commanders in chief unscripted and unvarnished.

One president and his wife wanted John Lennon tunes interspersed with Christmas favorites. Another burst into song himself. A vice president even tried to lure the pianist into a policy debate.

For lounge players such as Osborne, the White House is pretty much the ultimate gig. But like a lot of lounge scenes, the patter matters almost as much as the playing. And as in all show business venues, getting there depends a lot on who you know.

Osborne's entree into such a rarified world came through a mix of salesmanship and serendipity — and the help of a U.S. senator and a former president. For the whole story, click on the heading above.

Phil Cavarretta, 1916-2010

Phil Cavarretta, who was the National League's most valuable player in 1945 when he led the Chicago Cubs to their last World Series appearance, died Saturday in Lilburn, Ga. He was 94.

Cavarretta died of complications from a stroke, his son, Phil Cavarretta Jr., told the Associated Press. He also had suffered from leukemia for several years.

Cavarretta, a left-handed-hitting first baseman and outfielder, played 20 seasons with the Cubs from 1934 to 1953 before playing his final 77 games in 1954 and '55 for the cross-town White Sox.

In a statement, the Cubs called Cavarretta "a local hero and a tremendous player." He ranks in the top 10 in most of the team's offensive categories.

Cavarretta led the National League in batting in 1945 with a .355 average as the Cubs won the National League pennant. They lost to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series and have not won a pennant since.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco: Nature journal's Newsmaker of the Year

The environmental journal, Nature, has selected Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as its Newsmaker of the Year. Much like TIME magazine's Person of the Year award, it is not a title that necessarily conveys good things or bad - just that your actions were newsworthy and had an impact on society.

Dr. Lubchenco came to NOAA in March, 2009 with the scientific community having high expectations. As a celebrated scientist with time spent in key positions at the Ecological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), many looked to Lubchenco to bring a well-needed reorientation toward science at NOAA. But much the same way as President Obama was immediately put to the test with a faltering economy, so was Lubchenco in the form of the Gulf Oil Spill. That environmental disaster tested her management and political skills and not all was smooth sailing.

However, her accomplishments in other areas have been ambitious and commendable. She has taken strong positions on overfishing through the implementing of the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act, brought more scientists into the agency, and contributed to the strategic development of the Obama Administration's new ocean policy, among other accomplishments.

Rather than simply recite the excellent article, In the Eye of the Storm by Richard Monastersky, which chronicle's her career, her ups and downs within NOAA to date, and her plans for the future; I have chosen excerpts and you can download a PDF of the entire article here:

"A sprawling department of 12,800 people with a budget of US$4.7 billion, NOAA has responsibilities stretching from the bottom of the sea to the top of the atmosphere and even to the Sun, which it monitors for signs of solar storms (see 'A global reach'). That mandate put Lubchenco at the centre of the government's response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil-spill disaster — a brutal test for a scientist with little previous management experience."

"As a celebrated scientist and vocal conservationist, she made her name urging other researchers to speak out on issues of public importance, a stance that not all of her academic colleagues were comfortable with. Now, at an age when many of her cohort are easing back, she is taking on the most ambitious challenge of her career: reorienting how the nation responds to pressing environmental problems such as dwindling fish stocks, rising seas and a changing climate. She has bold plans to strengthen scientific research at NOAA, make it more relevant to society and improve the health of ecosystems and coastal communities."

"Lubchenco recalls that she turned down Obama's transition team several times when she was first offered the job. Leaving her husband and research behind in Oregon seemed too big a sacrifice. But in the end, she says, she believed in the new president and in the opportunity to achieve her lifelong goals. "I came to NOAA to lead and enable change where it would make a difference," she later explained. The rough days so far have not discouraged her. "Meaningful change is not for the timid."

NOAA, as a vibrant, scientific-based government agency, can be an important resource and contributor to the development and implementation of vital environmental policy. Let's hope that Dr. Jane Lubchenco can fulfill the role of Newsmaker of the Year by leading NOAA in fully realizing its potential.

Read more about Jane Lubchenco in Nature.com.

Arctic Climate Change: subtle changes can have deadly impact

Scientists who have been studying the effects of climate change on Arctic sea ice, predict that, with its seasonal contraction and expansion, we can expect ice-free summers by the end of the century if not sooner. Disconcerting images of starving polar bears and proposed plans for extensive shipping through the Northwest Passage have been of major concern to environmentalists. However, researchers are studying a myriad of subtle effects that, collectively, could have a pronounced and deadly effect on the region and beyond.

Disrupted geography from melting ice that affects hunting/searching patterns is one of the leading concerns. A study recently published in Biological Conservation estimated that in the Western Hudson Bay area, there is a 3-6% starvation rate for polar bears when there is a 120-day summer fasting period. But it is estimated that with an increase to a 180-day fasting period due to increased loss of summer sea ice, the starvation rate climbs dramatically to 28-48%.

Also, the report cited female reproductivity declining in a non-linear fashion (IE: a dramatic drop) when food searching efficiency decreases faster than sea ice habitats. In other words, it doesn't not take much in the way of a changing habitat to produce a major population crash.

Another effect of climate change and the influx of warmer waters into the Arctic is a greater exposure to parasites. A study in Polar Biology looked at the increasing prevalence of Taxoplasma gondii, a potentially deadly parasite, in polar bears and seals in Norway. It is not clear whether the parasite is being transmitted by warm water invertebrates, migratory birds, or human interactions - but climate changes can bring any or all of these potential carriers into play.

Finally, researchers from several universities and NOAA reported, in the latest issue of Nature, the possibility that several marine mammal species could become extinct over time due to interbreeding brought on by climate change. Many marine mammals are unique to the Arctic because they are geographically isolated. These isolated species have adapted to life in an ice environment. With the loss of that ice, there can be an intermingling of related species moving up from the south. But, according to the researchers, this intermingling can produce hybrids that, over time, are unable to cope with the changing environment. In essence, it's not a mixing of the best qualities but that of qualities that will actually weaken their long-term chances for survival.

As stated in a Newswise release, "In later generations, the process begins to have more negative effects as genomes mix and any genes associated with environment-adapted traits are recombined. Genes related to any trait that once allowed the animal to thrive in a specific habitat can be diluted, leaving the animal less well suited to surviving and reproducing there."

As evidence, in 2006, hunters killed a polar bear with brown patches on its fur. DNA testing revealed it was a polar/grizzly bear hybrid. Such a hybrid, borne from polar and grizzly bear contact during the summer months, may have a very poor chance of survival in the Arctic winter months.

We like simple explanations to the challenges we face, but climate change has very complex and far-reaching implications. However, the more we learn about the impacts of climate change, the better we realize that it is a challenge we must address. That much is simple to comprehend.

Island of the Great White Shark: a stocking stuffer with teeth

Okay, readers, here's my one crass holiday plug. Island of the Great White Shark is my documentary tribute to the great white sharks of Isla Guadalupe, Baja and the dedicated researchers and scientists who study these amazing animals.

Going on six years ago, I spent several seasons filming the white sharks that migrate to this prehistoric island about 150 miles of the coast of Baja, Mexico. Since then, the lead Mexican researcher featured in the film, Mauricio Hoyos, has gone from grad student to Ph.D. but still returns to the island each year to tag and track sharks.

With online sales in full swing this weekend, you can find the DVD of Island of the Great White Shark at Amazon.com. Amazon also suggests other shark DVDs, like a Discovery Channel Shark Week collection and a well-seasoned classic like Blue Water White Death. That would give you quite a range of perspectives from sensationalistic to realistic, from fearsome to fascinating.

Check it out and may your holiday shopping be a pleasant and sane one.

Glowing Snail: Scripps studies bizarre illuminating mollusk

This was a fun piece of news that caught my eye from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California. It seems there is a small sea snail that can produce bioluminesence, strong enough with which it can illuminate the entire shell.

Researchers Dimitri Deheyn and Nerida Wilson have studied a particular species of "clusterwink snail" which has the ability to produce light but uses it in a way that is different from other bioluminescent creatures. Typically, bioluminesence is more focused - a dangling light lure atop a deep sea angler fish, a row of lights along a fish's lateral line, or literally a pair of high beams under the eyes. But with this particular snail, the light is emitted in all directions and the shell adds to the overall effect.

"It's rare for any bottom-dwelling snails to produce bioluminescence," Wilson said. "So its even more amazing that this snail has a shell that maximizes the signal so efficiently."

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences), the researchers theorized that the bioluminesence acted as a kind of "burglar alarm" triggered at the presence of a predator. The diffusion of the light caused by the shell perhaps makes the snail look bigger than it is and therefore a less appealing easy catch for a hungry crab or shrimp. The researchers are interested in the implications of how light can be transmitted through various materials, like the shell. Also curious is one of the study's funders, the U.S. Air Force, who would be interested in how this research could perhaps provide new approaches to better illuminate instruments and aircraft data readouts.

"Our next focus is to understand what makes the shell have this capacity and that could be important for building materials with better optical performance," said Deheyn.

Military applications aside, I find it very fascinating. It reminds me of the various little "glow-in-the-dark" plastic critters I had as a kid that would illuminate my room when the lights went out. But nature's parlor tricks are always way cooler.

Read the Scripps news release on the glowing snail.

"Designs on Film"

With hundreds of rare photographs, set sketches, and original renderings showcasing films of every era and genre—many shown here for the very first time—author Cathy Whitlock offers movie fans a backstage pass to 100 years of Hollywood’s most memorable film sets. In the vein of Deborah Landis’s Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, Whitlock’s Designs on Film delivers a fascinating tour through Hollywood’s back lots, including the stories of how numerous movies came to their final on-screen looks—whether by collaboration, conflict, or divine chance. Movie enthusiasts, set designers, and fans of classic and modern Hollywood will thrill for this look behind the scenes of Tinsel Town’s greatest triumphs. The illustration above was for the 1937 film "Lost Horizon."