Jumping the Shark Week

For those who are engrossed with the Discovery channel, pop culture, Twitter or Will Ferrel and John C, Riely movies; Shark Week is an epic frenzy of attacks, blood filled oceans and sexy celebrities. For those in the Ocean conservation and science realms it is a jagged double edge sword.

On one side, for as well intentioned as the Discovery Channel may be, Shark Week presents a situation for the need for fact checking and correcting a lot of the misinformation out there.  This year Shark Week began with an epic movie about the Megalodon. This ancestor of the Great White Shark was a mighty and giant predator which gives fright to the bravest amongst us.

The problem here is that the program presented the Megalodon as a contemporary of present day man when the actual animal has not been alive for million of years. At the end of the program a brief flash of an explanation of truth flashes across the screen. This truth, in hummingbird speed, explains that the creature has been extinct for some time. This outraged Ocean Scientists, internal parties, and opened the door to justifiable criticism. The Daily show pointed out the ridiculousness of the situation and even the current Nerd King (and always Wesley) Wil Wheaton stated that Discovery owed an apology to its viewers.  

This situation brought to a head the question, does Shark Week help the Shark Conservation Conversation or hinder it?

On the other side, Shark Week brings the numbers. Streams throughout the internet are abuzz with activity around Sharks and the ocean like no other time of the year. Millions across the globe are glued to their televisions brought by fear, bemusement or morbid curiosity. It is such a landing point that non-profits have even begun to teach virtual classes on how to maximize on the impact of Shark Week through “Sharkinars.” One shark scientist, most easily found by the Twitter handle @WhySharksMattter, has exploded on twitter for laying down shark truths throughout Shark Week. He is even getting his own “Ask Me Anything” session through the popular internet forum Reddit right now (well, 12:00PM EST 8/9/13).

The point that I would love for all non-profits to realize is that Shark Week is a unifier. During this week, it is relatively easy to join into a massive, global, cross-platform discussion that is instantly engaging to a mass audience. It is a period of time where, for a brief moment, divergent and usually competing non-profits are all participating and adding to the conversation. The lesson we, as those who work in advocacy and non-profits, need to learn is that Shark Week is an amazing example of cooperation and collaboration. It even gives the chance to share a well used infographic showing the gravity of the situation. As much as it may frustrate some, it is important to remember that it is bringing new people to the table. Those new people are important.

We can create other opportunities to work with both likely and unlikely partners to amplify the message of all those involved. Things like "Sharktober" or "World Oceans day" can turn into huge campaigns if the right collaboration and programming were made. Getting a popular, attractive celebrity wouldn’t hurt either, but who is counting.

Happy Shark Week and remember; when something brings a new player to the conversation, educate and hope they can be brought on as a partner.

The Climate Reality

The reality of the climate crisis is upon us. The pace at which change is occurring, combined with increasingly sophisticated analyses of past climate records, prompts many climatologist to argue that we are not just racing towards the threshold, but that we have already passed it.

“If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed, CO2 levels will need to be reduced…to at most 350 ppm, but likely less that that,” says NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Last month, the atmospheric CO2 levels reached a new record concentration of 400 ppm. As global milestones go, this was a quiet one. Life went on, business as usual, and the atmosphere continued to accumulate heat-trapping gases beyond the NASA recommended safe upper limit of 350 ppm.

The climate reality conveys a sense of urgency, and can be used to motivate and inspire people to take bold action on climate change. With great challenges, comes great opportunity. 

Stayed tuned for the upcoming OOS Google + Hangout on Climate Change.

In honor of World’s Ocean Day, the Online Ocean Symposium will be hosting a series of three special meetings through Google’s Hangout conferencing.  Much in the way that some of the less environmentally concerned (our outright hazardous) corporations have been using advanced technologies like conference calling and video calling to hold closed meetings that advanced their agendas and lines their pockets at the expense of the oceans, we can now freely and easily use the same type of communications tools to combat the damage that has been done and bring awareness to our beautiful oceans.

It seems surprising to think that today, with the prevalence of social media crossing over into all aspects of life, through media, technology, and even helping to spur on revolution, then not enough has been said about the values that these platforms provide, and inherent opportunities within them for even greater social, political, and environmental change.  We here at the Online Ocean Symposium are quite the early adopters, but still even find ourselves in awe of the power of these tools.

With the Worlds Ocean Day coming soon, on June 8th, we truly have a wonderful opportunity to use these tools and not only help to advance the cause, but strengthen an already growing community of activists across the globe who know are truly empowered in an international coalition of dreamers and earth shakers to accelerate the changes.

In combination with the Google Hangout, we will be running live feeds on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook enabling us  to educate, engage, and interact with supporters everywhere.  Participants in the Hangout include organizations as far geographically from each other as Jenifer Austin Foulkes, the program manager of the Google Ocean’s Program, in Mountain View, California; Richard Vevers from Catlin Seaview Survey and Underwater Earth in Australia; Mission Blue Board Member Sharon Kwok straight from Hong Kong, and of course, our very own Andrew Kornblatt will be moderating.  Each of these organizations is taking a very different tact, yet they are all attempting to achieve the same goal, and by working together, we can all do so much more.  These are just some examples of the people who will be participating, yet it clearly displays the truly global interconnectedness that we now possess, and the power of unity that comes from that.  

In the days before social media, it took 16 years for this day to be recognized by the United Nations after its initial proposal by the Canadian delegation at the RIO Earth Summit of 1992.  In the short 5 years since it’s official recognition, it has been able to garner incredible support from organizations and activists across the world, and by working together with all of the tools at our disposal, we are presented with the opportunity to create a change that won’t merely benefit our grandchildren or our children, but that we can proudly see the initial results of within our lifetimes.  We now have the ability to gather people who all over the globe who sympathize with this cause, and turn them not merely into supporters, but active participants, and create a chorus of voices that cannot be ignored.