Turning Garbage into Art: Beach Plastic by Richard Land and Judith Selby Lang

Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang collect tons of plastic debris off a beach near their Norther California home and clean, categorize and store it before using it to create beautiful artwork.

Explore their website Beach Plastic

via Colossal

SeagullCam

via BoingBoing

Comment on YouTube

This bird is well known to the police and INTERPOL. He was not always a bad gull. He has changed his MO. He is suspected in a number of robberies at ATM’s. Not only did it provide him with cash, stolen ID’s were used in identity thefts. I think he just got in with the wrong crowd, jail birds.

Help Schooner Ernestina Set Sail Again – Saturday, October 30, 2010

New Bedford Standard Times report and my friend Don Cuddy wrote a good overview of what’s going to take place on Saturday at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Supporters to meet to chart future of troubled Ernestina (Oct. 27, 2010)

For more information and to register for the event, visit the Sail Ernestina website or Facebook page.

This is Schooner Ernestina Week on Sea-Fever, so please make sure you check out all of the interesting and informative posts on one of the world’s most storied ships.

TEDx Woods Hole: xPlorations (Oct. 16th)

I love TED Talks and we’ve featured a bunch of them here on the Sea-Fever blog. Next Saturday, October 16, 2010 is TEDx Woods Hole: xPlorations so Luke and I are planning to head over and check it out. Check out their website and Facebook page. It’s a free event open to the public so if you’re floating around Cape Cod, you might want to check it out. Here’s the awesome line up:

MBL Director and CEO Gary Borisy will host the afternoon event, which will feature the following speakers and performers:

    • Dan Ariely – New York Times bestselling author and professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University will speak on “Temptations and Self-Control.”
    • David Bolinsky – The founder of XVIVO Scientific Animation will show some of his cinematic-quality visualizations of topics on the edge of medical and scientific discovery.
    • Amy Bower –Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) senior scientist who, despite being legally blind, has traveled the world to study ocean currents and their interaction with climate, will discuss “Science Without Sight.”
    • Tamara Clark – Designer and illustrator who, with her collaborators, will present a visual and musical tour focusing on “Patterns in Nature.”
    • A.M. Dolan – Falmouth-based actor and playwright will perform selections from the writings of visionary designer, architect, poet, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller, whose Woods Hole geodesic dome is one of the oldest remaining.
    • Glenway Fripp – Jazz virtuoso, composer, and accompanist on piano.
    • Roy Gould – Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics education researcher will explore “Other Worlds: Searching for Earthlike Planets from the Classroom.”
    • Adam Lazarus –Ant expert Lazarus will share some of his colorful adventures in species collection—and what he’s learned about people along the way.
    • Bill Mebane – The MBL’s superintendent of aquaculture engineering and director of the Sustainable Aquaculture Initiative in Haiti will discuss the challenging choreography of “A Dance of Two Cultures: Science in Rural Haiti.”
    • Beth Murphy – Documentary filmmaker will reflect on making her new film “The Promise of Freedom,” which focuses on Iraqis who risked everything to work for U.S. soldiers and diplomats as translators, drivers, civil engineers and cultural liaisons.
    • Christopher Neill – MBL senior scientist will introduce “Arctic Thrills”—a rare display of polar dancing.
    • Arthur Newhall – This WHOI ocean acoustics engineer (by day) and musician and composer (by night) will perform island-rhythm-inspired “Rhythms of the Ocean”.
    • Hanumant Singh – WHOI Deep Submergence Laboratory chief engineer will reveal “A Robot’s Vision of the Ocean Depths.”
    • Jonathan Todd –President of the pioneering John Todd Ecological Design company in Woods Hole will address sustainable design.

TEDx is a new program that enables local communities such as schools, businesses, libraries, neighborhoods or just groups of friends to organize, design and host their own independent, TED-like events.

Sick Ocean, Sick People

There’s a tight and surprising link between the ocean’s health and ours, says marine biologist Stephen Palumbi. He shows how toxins at the bottom of the ocean food chain find their way into our bodies, with a shocking story of toxic contamination from a Japanese fish market. His work points a way forward for saving the oceans’ health — and humanity’s.

Vac from the Sea!

Vac From The Sea from Fast Company

Wow, Electrolux really sucks! In a good way!

Watch this:

From Fast Company:

Hans Stråberg, the President and CEO of Electrolux, explains the reasoning behind Vac from the Sea:

Our oceans are filled with plastic waste. Yet on land, there is a shortage of recycled plastic. The supply of sustainable raw material, such as recycled plastic, is crucial for making sustainable appliances, and assisting consumers in making their homes greener. I therefore hope people will join us in raising awareness about the threat plastic poses to marine habitats, and the urgent need for taking better care of the plastic that already exists.

FotoFriday: The One Ton Tar Ball and more tragic BP oil spill photos

One Ton Tar Ball from BP Oil Spill

Wow! A one ton tar ball from the BP oil spill.

The troubling part is that they are actually showing us this. Imagine what we aren’t seeing! :(

Here’s a slide show from the official Deepwater Horizon Response Flickr account.

Vodpod videos no longer available.