Victor Douieb Sculpts the Invasive Lionfish

source image courtesy of epicdiving

In April, artist and conservation activist Victor Douieb gave a lecture at the New England Aquarium as part of their free lecture series. Victor, who was never formally trained in the arts, started his career as a dental assistant making molds of patients' teeth. As an art enthusiast and diver, he wanted to purchase a sculpture of a hammerhead shark for his home, but was unable to find one - so he made his own! Since he began sculpting in 2008, he has created pieces that portray both endangered species and invasive species. My personal favorite is the pop art rhino: 

Victor also talked about his latest work - sculptures of the Lionfish. Lionfish are an invasive species originally from the South Pacific that can now be found all along the east coast. They are highly detrimental to the habitats they invade because they eat almost anything, and have no predators. So how did Lionfish get here? Most likely they were released by humans into coastal waters - theories target the Atlantis resort in approximately 1985. And because they live in reef areas where many endangered species live, it is incredibly hard for people to catch Lionfish without threatening other fish. While there is no immediate solution to the problem, Victor is bringing awareness to the issue through his art in the hopes that people will take notice and come up with innovative ways to reduce Lionfish numbers.

Museum of Science Educates Boston on Bee Decline

source image courtesy of DIYdreamer

Boston's Museum of Science is concerned alongside farmers, agriculturalists, economists and consumers with the sudden decline of the honey bee population.  Bees are responsible for the pollination of flavorful goods such as almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries and many others.  They are commercially shipped en masse across the U.S. often for rental by farmers.  The bee population has fluctuated over time but this recent extreme loss of bees can is defined by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  The main factor in this phenomenon is that the bees seem to disappear.  In CCD Cases, there are very few dead bees found in the hive or around the apiary and sometimes the bees leave behind larvae and eggs.

Honey bee pollination supports an estimated $25 billion worth of agricultural production.   As of now, there isn’t an explanation for this drop in bee population.   A Museum of Science representative, Erin Ross, mentions that one theory may be, “Varroa mites, viruses, climate change, pesticides, and other factors - combine to create the ‘perfect storm.’” Many organizations, private and government funded, are committed to finding an explanation.

The Museum of Science’s Hall of Human Life offers a section on the bee’s role in food production, their social structure and their unique ability to reverse aging and return to a former body type.  Our Discovery Center allows children to dress up as bees and do the “waggle dance” in order to teach them about how bees communicate the location of pollen and nectar.  From this exhibit you can see three working hives located on the roof, one of which should be very active as the weather warms up. There is also another hive on display in the Museum.

Spotlight: Operation Blue Pride

When our veterans come home from war, many struggle with what to do next. They have often endured immense physical pain and sometimes also suffer from PTSD. Approximately 22 service members commit suicide each day. One organization is trying to heal our heroes and our planet at once. Operation: Blue Pride teaches veterans how to scuba dive and educates them about shark conservation. Scuba training has proven to be a very effective self-healing and empowerment tool helping veterans regain their independence and sense of purpose. One of the first vets to participate in the program was Boston native, Sgt. Chris Maddeford, who spoke to a group at the New England Aquarium in April. "Operation: Blue Pride enriches the lives of severely wounded veterans, and helps save our oceans."

Take Action Now to #SaveCitySoil

source image courtesy of The Boston Globe

City Soil operates its composting site at the Boston Nature Center in Mattapan. They have partnered with the Suffolk County Conservation District to develop the Mattapan Ecovation Center, an enclosed composting system and intensive 4-season urban agriculture demonstration on state-owned land leased from Zoo New England.

Unfortunately, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) recently announced a plan to evict City Soil from 50% of their leased site – including the area dedicated for the innovative urban agriculture project. Why? An out-of-town corporation, Landscape Express, has strong-armed the DCR into evicting City Soil and awarding the leased land to them for sales and parking space, under a no-bid expansion of their contract to manage the DCR’s neighboring site.

To prevent this eviction, hundreds of City Soil supporters such as the Conservation Law Foundation, Higher Ground Farm, Boston Natural Areas Network and more called State Senator Pacheco and Environmental and Energy Affairs Secretary Sullivan. Pacheco called the founder of City Soil that day and let him know that he heard the message loud and clear, but he's not sure  he can do anything about it. City Soil then made its next move and collected over 200 signatures on a petition to send to Governor Patrick.


You can help support city soil by joining the twitter campaign #savecitysoil and by calling Secretary Sullivan or Governor Patrick's Office:

Secretary Rick Sullivan

Phone: 617-626-1101

Email: rick.sullivan@state.ma.us, rachel.kreitz@state.ma.us

Governor Deval Patrick

Phone: 617-725-4005

Boston's Green Events this Week

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MONDAY

• Treat yourself to some vegetarian tacos for Cinco de Mayo!

TUESDAY

• Boston Area Sustainability Group Meetup: Transportation
• Shark Research Confessions at the New England Aquarium

WEDNESDAY

• Extreme Life of the Sea Lecture at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

THURSDAY

• Brooklyn Boulders Bike Week Continues

FRIDAY

• Mayor's Bike Festival

SATURDAY

• Last minute shopping for Mother's Day! Pick out something sustainable!

SUNDAY

• Enjoy a vegetarian or vegan Mother's Day feast with your family.

Lessons from #FutureofNature Population

Monday night was the first event in the 2014 Future of Nature Series hosted by The Nature Conservancy. The topic was population and how to deal with the projected growth to 10 Billion people by 2100. Included in the panel were academics, economists, activists, and aid workers who shared their experiences and predictions.

SHOCKING STATISTICS:

• 1 million people are added to the global population every 4.5 days
• For every $1 spent on family planning, $6 is saved
• The population of Pakistan is approximately 400 million. The country is the size of Texas, which is home to just 26 million.
• The "ideal" population for the planet - for everyone to have a high quality of life without putting strain on natural resources, and without incorporating future developments in technology - is 2 billion.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Overpopulation is a threat to global security
• Family planning is now legal and supported by many governments and religions around the globe
• Managing population growth while encouraging economy growth may be a challenge
• Consumerism and first-world lifestyles are much more devastating to environmental resources than overpopulation
• As populations urbanize, population growth rates will go down
• Educating men as well as women will encourage better support for family planning
• The biggest challenge in healthcare and family planning services is distribution - getting to remote communities is costly. 

While the talk was somewhat unnerving (10 billion people on earth would be insane!) it was also hopeful. Through education, funding, and technological development, we can hopefully find a solution to this global worry.

Join the next #FutureofNature conversation:

INVESTING IN NATURE: CONSERVATION AND THE BOTTOM LINE: MAY 12, 2014

Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Theatre

527 Tremont Street, Boston

Reception 5:30 p.m.; panel 6:30 to 8 p.m.

How can environmentally sound investment provide competitive economic and ecological return for businesses and for society? Can market-based solutions create a stronger economy and a healthier environment?

Speakers will include: Mark Tercek, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy and author of Nature’s Fortune; and Howard Stevenson of Harvard Business School.

Boston Races to Solar

In April, Mayor Walsh launched the Race to Solar, a program for local non-profits and small businesses to increase the adoption of solar power installations and energy efficiency measures. Race to Solar is a partnership with Renew Boston, NStar, National Grid, and Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) to promote energy efficiency upgrades and make solar power more affordable and accessible for non-profits, including houses of worship and schools, and small businesses that own their buildings.

Through the Race to Solar, organizations will be able to take advantage of a competitively priced option for installing solar power. To participate, non-profits and small businesses must own their buildings, have suitable site conditions for a solar installation, and be in good financial standing.  The goal of Race to Solar is to promote and facilitate the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems on the buildings of 40 local non-profit organizations, adding approximately 1 megawatt of clean, renewable electric power capacity to Boston and Cambridge.  SunBug Solar was selected as the solar installer.  

To learn more about the Race to Solar and speak directly with program providers, please attend an upcoming technical workshop:

• Wednesday, April 30th, 10am to 12pm, Cambridge City Hall Annex, 344, Broadway, Cambridge
• Thursday, May 1st, 6pm to 8pm, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, 239 Harvard Street, Cambridge
• Thursday, May 15th, 6pm to 8pm, Curtis Hall, 20 South Street, Jamaica Plain
• Tuesday, May 20th, 6pm to 8pm, Carpenter’s Center, 750 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester