It's complicated! The Elephant left the room, but the Orangutan is still there...

Environmental issues are complicated and it would be much easier if someone could just say "palm oil is bad" or "boycott xxxx store" but it doesn't really work like that. There are nuances. And I think it is important to be honest about that, even if it does complicated the simple "DON'T DO X MESSAGE" because people need to be able to trust us... or else they will stop listening. 

Try google "palm oil" and "environment" and you will find some of the controversy on this subject. There is this Smithsonian article about how giving up palm oil might be bad for the environment. There is also an IUCN article about how boycotting palm oil will lead to an increase in the use of other more land-hungry oils... Of course you will also find articles entitled "What is Palm Oil and Why it's Killing the Environment"  and "Why is palm oil bad and what happened to the Iceland advert" (which is much more likely to get clicked on than "Saying ‘no’ to palm oil would likely displace, not halt biodiversity loss – IUCN report" - a note to scientists on getting clicks!!!!)

Source: https://phys.org/news/2014-11-great-apes-threat-palm-oil.html 

I like Orangutans (well, I like the idea of them existing, I haven't met one), so I definitely don't want their homes destroyed, ditto other things that live where we are now growing ridiculous amounts of oil (well, palm fruit for oil).  Cutting down forests or replacing peat lands, also not awesome. Large scale monocultures (one type of crop) are pretty much never going to be awesome. We are probably not going to make as much fuss about turning over huge swathes of continents to wheat production, because the grasslands had their large herbivores hunted out ages ago and small things are cute and all, but they just don't get the same kind of press orangutans are going to get... (am I sounding cynical?) The issue is large scale monoculture more than any particular product, although some products are certainly worse than others. 

For me, I almost think it is just easier to not eat palm oil so that my food doesn't have to be flavoured with any kind of guilt or orangutan tears... and if you feel like that there are some lists for palm oil free products in South Africa here and here. 

Of course, then I need to also make sure there isn't some other oil, that is potentially worse - so maybe I just shouldn't be eating chocolates, biscuits or chips (or a huge amount of other stuff) and I will be healthier for it too. BUT, that is probably not going to happen. So what is the solution here? (In my humble and not at all expert opinion) Well, firstly, as far as possible we should be making our own stuff... but life is busy so... 

Engage with the industry and ask them what their policy is about sourcing sustainable palm oil (it is possible, and hey palm fruit is native to Africa so would have less environmental impact and could have important positive economic impact to poorer regions). Our evil consumer-driven society means that if consumers say they will only buy things from sustainable sources, I am pretty sure that companies will make sure that they source things from sustainable sources? I am hopelessly optimistic about this but I believe in nagging! And I know that there are issues with the eco-labels and whether or not things that are labeled environmentally friendly really are, but I think we should encourage companies to keep striving for improved transparency and excellence and we should be supporting organisations who can legitimately provide neutral labels of sustainability.... Peer pressure is powerful - they taught us that at school! I like the Marine Stewardship Council, although I know they have also been criticized recently, but I think they are genuinely trying to encourage the fishing industry to be better - let's have similar rigorous and transparent standards for other industries. And we definitely shouldn't say that a company switching to environmental sources now is too little too late... we should be asking why on earth all the other companies aren't doing the same!!!! 

I love Cadbury's Wholenut... and I tweeted and asked them about their palm oil policy and they didn't reply :( so I stopped buying their brand for a while, and obviously I must eat a lot of chocolate because next time I tweeted they did reply and with good news - so I went out and celebrated with some Wholenut! Next stop Bakers because... well... Salticrax. 

First I highjacked someone else's tweet about Cadbury's Christmas range having too much packaging and asked "we would also like to know about your palm oil policy". That's when I had the first reply from Cadbury UK but I really wanted a reply from Cadbury SA, so I asked them too. They also had a positive response... I replied with "Great, next stop, recyclable packaging" because, well... you know... nagging... 

However, the most important thing we should be doing is consuming less, LESS OF EVERYTHING. Less stuff. We should all be buying less stuff, we really don't need it. And in an ideal world the stuff we would be buying would have been produced locally, recently... that would be nice (because once upon a time, in my life time, we really did survive when avos and strawberries weren't available all year round). It isn't an ideal world and they don't grow cocoa in the western Cape so I can't really judge, but really, on this Black Friday... think Less is Really More... Please... for the sake of the orangutan (you know, they make umbrellas and display regional greetings - they really are very cute and deserve to have a home).

P.S. Wondering about the elephant?? I think there is only one simple environmental message - have fewer children - but it is one we are not allowed to say aloud... or maybe the Elephant has indeed left the room and we can (although I still don't feel like I can, because I don't have children which is a conscious decision, BY THE WAY, based on the awareness of ridiculously high population levels but people won't believe that anyway because I am also single.)

I'm Melting!

If this continues,
I am going to need a swimming pool!
(Whether or not it continues, I regret all the
[warm] days where a pool has been available
and I didn't swim!)

While I am probably on record somewhere saying that I would never complain about heat, it has been unprecedentedly hot lately. I was just opening the blog page and it took longer to load than normal which meant that it was stuck on the picture of water which is my background. I wanted to dive into my computer screen. Yesterday was a landmark day for me because I voluntarily closed the blind of my office window which you will know is crazy behaviour for me (don't worry - the slats are sideways so I can still see outside). 

We know that this is El Nino driven and exacerbated by climate change. The news is full of stories about droughts and Operation Hydrate (great initiative) and how expensive maize and rooibos are going to be. I do have to wonder why, when we knew an El Nino was predicted, we didn't plan in advance? I know drought doesn't seem like a thing you can plan for, but when it is predicted? Could the water restrictions been enforced before the drought started? Could South Africans not have invested in water tanks? I think we all realise that these hot temperatures and low rainfalls aren't going anywhere - yes, there will be respites - BUT we do know what the climate change predictions for South Africa will be so can we start planning ahead?

Can we start to start to anticipate instead of react? I know there are already some great initiatives but I think we need to keep the momentum from the days leading up to COP21 going. I hope all the climate change deniers are realising that this isn't just a patch of weird weather... these El Nino years are a practice run for the future.

My brain doesn't work in 40C heat and my skin definitely can't cope so what can we do? Some of you might, but I don't have the budget for solar panels and water tanks (and I live in a block of flats with very different priorities - not super proud of my block lately) but, leading up to the local elections later this year, I can ask our local politicians what they are doing in their neighborhoods to a) decrease carbon emissions and b) to mitigate against the impacts (especially if you live in Fishhoek + surrounds) - but take what ever they say with a pinch of salt because it is an election year so keep the pressure on!


P.S. This is the most important issue - Cartoons capture it all

Do they know it's Christmas Time at all?

Yes. I know that BandAid made lots of money that all went to good causes (well I presume that part) which is great  and that PARTS of Africa are still impoverished and desperate but Africa is huge. But, I, for one, am very aware it is Christmas time (and thrilled that it is not snowing!) (I have mixed feelings about the lyrics but not the intentions of that song)

I think anyone that knows me knows that I love Christmas! I genuinely think that people seem happier at this time of year - or maybe I am just happier and project that on my surroundings. I love the cheesy decorations and the cheesy music. I love finding gifts that I hope my family will like and I LOVE that I get to see them all soon. I also love Love Actually and The Holiday and the fact that December means I get to watch them (my own rule - but an important one). I also love that it is Summer. 

It is definitely a time of year that should inspire people to do "the right thing" and I am sure it is (statistically, even) a time of year that has an increase in charitable giving, volunteering and general "do-good-ing". I mean, even I went to help paint a children's hospital this month (actually maybe the end of last month - time also goes so quickly at this time of year). So I think it is an excellent time of year for the COP21 to be happening. I hope that it will inspire the World leaders to look beyond economies and elections and make decisions that will benefit everyone. 

Meanwhile, it isn't just about them, this is something we should all be thinking about ALL the time. And we should face the fact that it isn't easy. I love my car, I do, I love driving, I love the freedom of being able to pop off somewhere. While I was at UCT I took the free Jammie Shuttle and could feel a little smug occasionally but now I drive to work everyday. I also drive to the Common to go for a walk. These are the sorts of things that we should think about changing (although there are always excuses: no public transport routes on my way to work, and I am really walking an awesome dog who lives near the Common). 

These photos were taken in KZN in November - they were
super festive animals. I added the festive fence in -
but just want you to know - they weren't behind fences.

We should think about whether we need to eat something that was flown in from the other side of the world and weigh up the benefits between sustainable from Portugal, ethical from Kenya or locally made products. I don't have the answers, but I do think we need to be asking the questions. I know that my non-conservationist friends probably find me a little tiresome, and my conservationist friends find me a little slack, but we should be setting personal challenges for ourselves and pushing ourselves further. In 2013 I gave up pork and have stuck to that despite the fact that bacon is delicious. Years before that I cut down my meat eating drastically and continue to decrease it. I promise you, it isn't that hard (even though steak is yummy). Think about what you can do (you don't have to tell anyone or shout it from the roof tops to encourage others to do likewise). These are just examples - what are you doing?

If you want a more informed weigh-in on the COP then read the various expert reports (e.g. this one by Conservation International) or the news (e.g. BBC) or official website media reports (here). I am not an expert. I am just an optimist. I am expecting big things out of this meeting. 

P.S. Yes, I know I posted 4 pictures that say Merry Christmas... but I REALLY REALLY wish you a Merry Christmas

  

OGTP... intrigued?

So, OGTP is not some new fancy acronym that the cool kids are using, it is actually just the acronym for the Ocean Governance Training Program that IOI-SA has just finished running... Well, actually it finished last week Friday but recovering from running a 4-week long course takes a little while (and I prefer to blog when the sun is shining - sun makes me a happy person). It is also a partial excuse for my lack of blog posts recently, which at least one person has commented on (THANKS M! I love that someone noticed). 

I want to avoid sound like I am writing up the course report (because I have actually already done that), but I do want to chat about it a little bit. Organising the course was really my main job description so it has been taking up a lot of space in my head and I loved it! When I started here I didn't have a good grip on what 'Ocean Governance' actually is, but now I understand why, it is too huge a thing to get a grip on, it includes everything from shipping and maritime law to alien invasive species and climate change; and yes, we crammed that all in to four weeks. 

Zandvlei

And the biggest perk of this job (for someone who is a nerd like I am) is that I got to sit in on almost all of the lectures, so when I went to watch 'The Martian', (movie with Matt Damon - very good you should check it out!) (I also got free lunch everyday which is pretty awesome). I felt like he was talking about an old friend when he mentioned International Maritime Law. Yes, I know exactly how nerdy that is. 

Zandvlei again.
It was lovely, great
views and lots of birds but also with a HUGE
litter problem (mostly getting
washed down from the informal
settlements, suburbs and
urban areas)... 

So, I promise not to give you a blow by blow account of the course because it is possible that the thought of UNCLOS and ballast water management doesn't make you as it excited as it made me (for at least the duration of the lecture) but I wanted to say that the course really highlighted the HUGE challenges and possibilities that exist in the world. I love that the world has come together recently to commit to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and while I am not naive enough to ignore that the world has come together to make promises in the past (I did after all go to the public parts of the WSSD in Johannesburg) I remain optimistic (actually, there was an advert about it before 'The Martian' and when has there even been an advert like that before a main stream movie?). I hope that good things also come out of the climate change meeting in Paris in December - hold thumbs. I love that these issues are being discussed and taken seriously at the highest level. I also love that this course brought together very intelligent and competent people from all over Africa who will hopefully return to their own countries and carry on the discussion and start making change from within Africa.  

I am aware that people kind of cringe when I sprout on about sustainable fishing or plastic pollution or recycling AGAIN and AGAIN, but I think this is something we should all be talking about - I mean, even Russell Brand is talking about climate change (I saw him in Cape Town recently, (thanks M) and he is really funny while he talks about it). I think one of the mistakes we ALL make is thinking it is someone else's problem, but it isn't. Things change only when there are enough people wanting it to change. I mean people are pretty amazing and inventive but while we actually can't realistically or successfully manage the climate or environment, we can manage people's behaviour. 

The OGTP crew at International Coastal Clean Up Day

I know it is so hard to think about what impact every tiny decision you make will have on the environment, and hard to prioritse in the face of life's insistent immediacies: can afford your bond; what school would be best for your kids; how to deal with that annoying person at work; where to watch the rugby... but we also can't ignore it anymore. OK, enough preaching, thanks for indulging me. The course highlighted a lot of the problems that are out there, which could feel a little overwhelming and depressing, but I am trying to think of it as an opportunity, we can all do something... What are you going to do?

PS I also love that they called me 'Dr Shannon', cheap thrills :)

Taking pollution down to zero - become a planateer!!!

I need your help! PLEASE. 

Do you remember me going on about microplastics and how it would be great to have some way of knowing if you are buying a good or bad product? Well, now you get to help me make that happen for South Africa... yip... all of you (my millions of blog readers... hmmm). There is an app available in other parts of the world that will tell you (when you scan the barcode) whether the product is green (no evil plastics), orange (phasing out evil plastics) or red (evil plastics abound). 

To make the app functional in South Africa I need information. I need to know all the different types of toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, body washes etc there are out there and I need to know what they have in them. So, it would be super helpful if you could explore in to the depths of your cupboards and tell me about your stock of personal hygiene stuff. AND ask all your friends to do so too, pretty please. 

I need the following, (but if it seems a hassle, just send me a reasonably good picture of the front and back of the product and I will sleuth what I need from the picture): 

• barcode
• retailer name
• manufacturer
• product name
• plastic ingredients  (do they contain: polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Nylon, Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) or Polythylene Terphthalate (PET)?)

So, get to digging out your body glitter and foot scrub, deodorant and shaving products... I want to know all about them. I promise not to judge and it would be especially helpful if you do happen to have products that have plastic in so I can let people know about it. This needs to be South Africa only (sorry - supposedly barcodes are different in different countries, but I think we should double check this in Namibia because they are similar shops?) 

I look forward to hearing from you, easiest if you email me on shampton@ioisa.org... or my personal email address (that I don't really want to put on the internet for everyone to see). 

Let's BEAT THE MICROBEAD!!!! 

PS: Don't make me resort to pictures of eco-sadness to get you to help me....

I am thinking of adding this to the IOI-KIDS website, still a working process, but have included it here to give you idea of the issues

Consumerist Conservation

DINOSAURS!!!! 

I know that is an oxymoron, but however much we want to stand on a pedestal of conservation awesomeness, we all buy things!!! And it is hard to consistently make responsible decisions (especially on a limited budget). It is particularly hard because you don't always know if what you are doing is responsible or not. 

My recent pet hate is the use of plastic microbeads. The reason I feel so annoyed about this is because I actually have used facial scrubs and it didn't even cross my mind that washing my face would result in hundreds of little pieces of PLASTIC getting washed out into the sewage and possibly the ocean. WHO would think to put plastic in a face wash (or toothpaste). And so because I have looked into this in a very small way, I have also found out that sneaky plastic has snuck into other personal care products. 

What I really want is for there just to be an easy way to know when I am rushing to buy toothpaste because I ran out unexpectedly (pah! I don't run out of things unexpectedly, well... maybe food) that I am not inadvertently killing off hundred off fish and seabirds by buying that toothpaste instead of another. In fact, I would rather just shop somewhere that shares my feelings about these issues. 

My friends have heard my wax lyrical about Woolworths for reasons that have nothing to do with their environmental policies but I like the fact that they support the WWF SASSI campaign (of course, so does Pick n Pay) and they have a sustainability policy (read about it here). I honestly can't really afford to do my general grocery shopping at Woolworths but when shopping I want someone else to do my sustainability thinking for me. Of course, Pick n Pay also has a sustainability policy (which you can read about here and it includes a rad interactive green house). As I said in my last blog, there is pressure on big business to include social responsibility but that doesn't mean that all companies do.  Still, isn't that what we need? An easy way for people to do the right thing?? I mean, some people are willing to go the extra mile to do the right thing, but what we really want is for it to be easy and obvious for everyone.

Snuck into Kirstenbosch... No, I don't get in for free, 
but I do have friends that do! 

So, back to my pet hate, maybe we can make a list like this PRODUCT list for South Africa? Want to help me? (I have been in touch with beat the microbead - I think it is a cool app and important cause).


PS You SEE! Just after posting this I see something that says that a pair of jeans takes 10 589 liters to make... but you have to wear clothes, right? 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

A really lovely place to picnic if it wasn't covered in tiny
pieces of class and hundreds of cigarette butts. 

On Saturday, we went to help out with a beach clean up in Kalk Bay. For the Capetownians, you know the beach underneath the bridge before you get to the harbour? The dodgy, dirty one? Yes, that's it. On Saturday it wasn't actually that dirty, this didn't fill me with joy though because I am sure much of the rubbish has been swept out to sea during recent rainy days and Spring tides. Nevertheless we still found plenty of small things (and not so small things) to keep us busy (and incidentally to make my hamstrings really stiff - more pilates required!)

The beach clean up came after a "African Marine Debris Summit" that I managed to sneak in to because it was held in my lovely office building. There was an interesting mix of business and conservation which I think is important. There is no use having conservationists telling conservationists how evil industry is, I don't think that gets anyone anywhere. It was interesting to hear that there is no legal requirement for manufacturers to put a label on the products to say whether they are recyclable. It was more interesting to hear that much of the lobbying for responsible plastic manufacture and recycling initiatives comes from passionate people in the plastic manufacturing world. 

It was also interesting to hear how the South African recycling industry has the capacity to expand and is leading the way in Africa. It was crazy to hear that businesses do not want to advertise the fact that their products are almost 100% recycled plastic because they believe their consumers wouldn't want to buy their products if they knew! (I would be shouting it off the rooftops!) It was also interesting to hear that only recently has a company bought a machine that can deal with the portion sized yoghurt tubs that I have been faithfully sending off for recycling for years. At least part of the reason somethings can't be recycled is because companies don't want to use water soluble glue to put the labels on and because they use multiple materials on one product (foil seal, paper label etc). Much of the decision about what gets recycled or not is at the conveyor belt where people manually sort through things and therefore choose large over small, clean over gross... That's what it comes down to... 

I want to rant about the fact that there are still some people that don't sort their recycling out from their rubbish. Wouldn't it be better to pay people to sort through recycling at a recycling station rather than a landfill? I want to rant about the fact that there are people who think it is OK to throw their cigarette butt out their car window, educated adults that should know better. What do you think happens to your cigarette butt? Besides the fact that I have read somewhere that those horrible cigarettes actually impact on birds' eggs because they pick up them up to line their nests, where do you think they go? I want to rant about the fact that people use the excuse of "job creation" to justify their littering. 

OK, I am limiting the rant to one paragraph because no one likes to listen to angry ranting. While I was picking up endless cigarette butts, glass shards and bottle caps on Kalk Bay beach I was wondering where I learnt that it was not OK to litter. I don't remember one moment that made me realise. I know my 8 year old niece is disgusted by litter... how can we get more people to be? How can we make it socially unacceptable? I think people are bombarded with so many causes and troubles that the emotive tales of baby leatherbacks dying from ingested microplastic will be ignored because people can't cope with more bad news (yes, that was one of the talks). 

I am not sure of the answer... but I do know that this is something that we can all help with. I am such a confrontation-avoider and hate talking to strangers but maybe I have to get over that when I see people littering. Maybe we should all carry a bag with us to pick up litter EVERYTIME we go to the beach (I know my Dad does). And maybe we should be selective in our purchases by looking for the labels that tell us what type of plastic it is and whether it can be recycled. I know that un-dyed plastic is also easier to recycle so that is something simple to look out for. Check out some of these websites for more information:

Treevolution or Cape Town Green Map or  WWF South Africa

And talk about it! (In a non-ranting way, sorry about the rant but my fingers smelt like an ash tray and my hamstrings are still stiff!)

What can we do for conservation?

Have I mentioned - I WORK HERE!

I consider myself a conservationist but I sometimes feel a little like a fraud. What have I really done for Conservation? My research programs have had management value but not sure how much my findings have really influenced management. 

I try to eat ethically and live ethically, of course I recycle and eat free range eggs, but these feel like trivial things when one is bombarded with news of coral bleaching, global climate change, rhino poaching and over fishing. Besides, living truly ethically is expensive and being a PhD student isn't exactly lucrative.

I decided at the beginning of 2014 not to eat pork (YES, BACON TOO!) This, by no means, has been easy but I have worked hard to stick to it. It was much more difficult than deciding not to eat seafood which was a decision I made when I was about 10 years old and had heard something about over fishing that decided things for me - it turns out forever.

Even when it is rainy it is still lovely

My latest experiment in reducing my impact on the world was to stop using shampoo and conditioner and therefore decrease the amount of evil chemicals I add to the world (I have heard that they are evil chemicals, but I haven't actually done much research into it). To be honest, I hate washing my hair anyway, so this wasn't a completely selfless act. (And very low risk because if my hair looks horrible I can just wash it with shampoo). 

I decided my month in Walvis Bay would be a good time to try (dolphins don't care what my hair looks like, right?). I had read (on all-knowing Internet) that you can use bicarbonate of soda mixed in water and then rinse with vinegar mixed in water as an alternative to shampoo. I couldn't find apple cider vinegar in Walvis so I just used normal white (wash windows with this stuff) vinegar. I did it once every two weeks and I promise no one said my hair looked gross. I had an independent sniff test to check for vinegar smells and that passed too. I was feeling pretty thrilled after the 6 ish weeks actually although my hair was feeling a little more knotted than usual and quite dry (JHB winter will do that to the best hair).

Check out the Green Point Park - it is lovely

No worries, I had also read on all-knowing Internet that you can use coconut oil as a conditioner. Big tub of expensive coconut oil later, and I am set to try my hair treatment. "Work melted coconut oil thoroughly into hair and leave for two hours then wash out"... wash out? Hardly. Bicarb and vinegar made no impact on my thoroughly greasy hair. It looked terrible - rats tails. I had to shampoo multiple times and my hair didn't even seem more moisturised afterwards (good thing you can use coconut oil for cooking).

I'm trying to get back into no shampoo now so all is not lost. I am at the stage where I am wondering how much damage does shampoo really do? (I am so tempted to just finish the shampoo that is already at home). But I'm hoping that will pass because I like to think even the little things can help.

This is where I park my car for WORK!

My next experiment might be a worm farm (composting is tricky in a second floor flat). I have always wanted one but they are so expensive and I worry the worms would die while I am away but I might have found a way to get some worms....

Let me know of you have any other eco tips (that actually work!!!)

Load shedding silver linings

Load shedding sucks, it has huge economic consequences, is inconvenient and frustrating. It makes me feel a little embarrassed about South Africa especially when I have to cancel a Skype date with friends in UK and Canada because of it (and if you know me well, I'm obnoxiously proud of south Africa so it's incredibly frustrating to be embarrassed by load shedding and SONA2015.)

I know that load shedding can be terribly frustrating. When we had it in 2008 it wasn't that well scheduled, and I had put a 96 well PCR in. You can imagine how frustrating it is to lose that especially when I actually got bands on that gel - and had no way to recreate the conditions - I am sure they weren't real bands, but as you can see, I still remember that plate (I had SUCH troubles with my PCRs in my PhD - optimisation heartbreaks). Now, I think, the scheduling is a little better, usually where it deviates, we get less load shedding than planned, which isn't something to moan about.  

So, it's Sunday night and we're sitting outside drinking chilled white wine until the sun goes down. It is a beautiful still evening. And, this is the first time we have actually had load shedding in a couple of weeks. Load shedding sucks but wow the stars and moon are brighter. Candle light is beautiful and the world seems quieter (unless there's a generator near by).

I think there might even be some good that comes out of load shedding. It makes people appreciate electricity and think about it as precious and worth saving. It starts serious conversations about alternative energy and some people are even starting to invest in solar panels which is definitely a good thing. It forces people to stop their electronic and TV addictions (although I'm emailing myself during load shedding on my phone - just in case I forget these thoughts - so that does rather contradict what I am saying).

When we had to pay for plastic bags, people started to bring re-usable bags. When petrol got expensive, people (for a while) drove slower and were a little more petrol conscious.  Granted, people get used to things quickly and eventually just handed over the extra cash for the plastic bag or petrol, but people thought about things for a while, and some people stuck with the reusable bags, the slower driving. So maybe in a small way, load shedding will make, at least some people, slightly more energy conscious.

There's always a silver lining.  So instead of ranting about load shedding on Facebook try enjoy the moment. Go outside and look at the beautiful stars, light a fire and have a braai, practice low-light photography, make a phone call to someone you haven't spoken to in a while - try doing something that doesn't require electricity for the 2 hours you will be in the dark. For me, it is now time to actually enjoy the candle light, wine and quality time playing trivial pursuit (and the wine!) 

Hope

That seems an appropriate title given that it is one year since Nelson Mandela passed away and I wrote then that he was, for me, hope personified. 

Off the SST website

I am not talking about him though. Last night I went to a talk by Dr Sylvia Earle. I am embarrassed that I didn't actually know who she was and was lured in by free food and a Google search that revealed that she has a Lego figurine made in her image. I figured she must be a person worth listening to... and she was. She is in South Africa to promote various "hope spots" around the South African coastline. Areas of special conservation interest through community involvement. There was also the launch of the book: "South African Coasts" which includes a compilation of photos that have been sent in from the public to portray the public view of the South African coastlines. You can buy it here using technology I don't really understand yet. 

Dr Sylvia Earle started making waves (yes, feel free to shake your head at me at the terribly obvious pun) as a female scientist when reporters still thought it OK to say: "surprisingly the scientists are not physically fit males but young, attractive females, like real life mermaids under the sea". You have to hope that they cringe now. While, thank goodness, Dr Earle and her contemporaries have paved the way for a new generation of female scientists (there are 3 males in my lab of ~10 people) but I couldn't help noticing that at the fisheries stock assessment meeting this week, the 5 (?) person international panel is all male - so maybe we (female scientists) still have some work to do.  (Although this is the second "Rock Star Scientist" female we have had come to chat to us this year. I wrote about Jane Goodall in Feb)

Dr Earle is over flowing with enthusiasm and energy. She said that South Africa is a place of HOPE, written right there on the map 'Cape of Good Hope'. She also said that we should be excited that we live in a time when knowledge is more accessible than ever because "We can't care, if we don't know". She is 79 years old (according to Wikipedia) and still diving and living at full throttle. She, frankly, made me feel like a sloth. Her talk couldn't have come at a better time for me. With no current income and a huge amount of uncertainty and insecurity about what I will do next, the temptation is to move away from conservation and science and into something more stable and reliable and... dare I say it... commercial... BUT, Dr Earle said something that struck: "Somebody needs to speak for the fish". In fact, she was given the nickname "Sturgeon General" (when working as Chief Scientist at NOAA) for her persistence in speaking on behalf of the fish.  

This is OBVIOUSLY something I feel strongly about (and should probably be speaking about more). Sometimes the issues of over-fishing and ocean exploitation can become a little too big to see any light at the end of the tunnel. But, Dr Earle highlighted examples of good things that are happening: Palau has decided that sharks are worth more alive than dead and has banned large scale commercial fishing; there is also the goal to get 30% of the world's oceans declared as marine protected areas by 2030 (we are currently on 3%). There are amazing initiatives all of the world, and one of my favourite is SASSI's green list  and the MSC ecolabels which just give people the power of making knowledgeable decisions.  (Because, our consumer driven society might seem awful on many levels, but it does give the consumers a certain amount of power if they choose to wield it). 

The question that Dr Earle raised was whether we can figure it all out fast enough... She said we can't just sit back and watch it all dissolve. We might not be able to get things back to how they were, but we can work towards making them better than they would be. I reckon that's worth fighting for... 

(Due to an unfortunate incident involving my not-quite-sealed water bottle and handbag yesterday morning, I tragically didn't have my note book on me last night. I was feeling self conscious about the loud clicky-ness of my backberry keypad so I couldn't really jot things down. So, I apologise for not-quite-word-perfect quotes and that I can't give you heaps more information about what she said. I am pretty sure that you can find out more about the Hope Spot initiative, Sustainable Seas Trust, Mission Blue and other marine conservation success stories through the links in the text and all-powerful Google. There is also the trailer to the movie that includes the mermaid line... here! There is also a National Geographic article about marine protected areas in SA here - featuring awesome photos by Tom Peschak)

They are cute, right... but they also represent a huge
conservation concern which you can read about in a brilliant
penguinologist's blog.