From the rolexawards.com:

The Laureates of the inaugural series of the Young Laureates Programme will be chosen in March 2010 by a panel of distinguished, highly talented individuals. The winners will be announced in April 2010.

Please visit the new Young Laureates programme website to meet the finalists in the inaugural series.

View the list of Jury members here.

Would You Know What To Do With A Python?
Would You Know What Not To Do?

To date, several large Pythons have been reported in Sarasota County. We need your eyes to spot them so we can catch them before they spread further.

Python Patrol Workshop

Monday, April 26, 2010
Session 1: 9 am - 12 pm
Session 2: 1 pm - 4 pm

Sainer Pavilion
New College of Florida

Space is limited. To register for this FREE workshop, go to the following website:
http://pythonpatrol.eventbrite.com/

PDF Flyer

Reposted from ncf.edu:

Join New Topics New College for a visual tour of the places in the world most affected by climate change, from the poles to mountains and our cities, and some of the actions being taken to combat the warming, presented by Gary Braasch,  an explorer and photojournalist from Portland, Oregon. Braasch is an environmental photojournalist who creates remarkable images and important documentation about nature, environment, biodiversity and global warming. Included will be images from Florida and the Atlantic Coast, underscoring the local effects and dangers of rapid climate change.  Braasch recently reported and photographed from the Copenhagen international climate negotiations last December, and will offer his perspective on the direction being taken by the world’s nations in reacting to and reducing global warming. The talk will take place at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion (5313 Bay Shore Road) on March 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm.  Tickets are $15.  For more information or to make a reservation, please call the New College Events Hotline at (941) 497-4888 or email events@ncf.edu.

Tuesday, March 9 at 4:00 pm

“Climate Change – a Visual World View of Global Warming”
Gary Braasch, explorer and environmental photojournalist
Faculty host:  Meg Lowman, professor of biology and environmental studies, New College of Florida
Underwritten by the TREE Foundation

New Topics New College is a collaboration of the New College Foundation and New College of Florida.  This dynamic community series pairs prominent national speakers with New College faculty for stimulating discussions on relevant topics of our time.  A reception follows each program and provides an opportunity to meet the speakers, students and faculty.

New Flyer

(Click for larger image)

As part of Earthwatch Board of Directors, I visited the leatherback turtle and the sustainable coffee research projects in Costa Rica during January 2010. This group photo of the BOD is at the Golding Research Center where the turtle project is head-quartered. - Dr. Lowman

Story on BBC News featuring research done by Lowman’s student, Bryson Voirin:

Researchers in Panama have found the first evidence of a sloth that has been killed by an owl.

They found the body of a radio-collared three-toed sloth with lethal wounds that suggest it was hunted by a spectacled owl, which ate its organs.

Three-toed sloths are much larger than spectacled owls, a bird of prey standing around 45cm tall.

That adds to the impression that sloths are helpless on the ground, and camouflage is their main defence.

Details of the extraordinary kill are published in the journal Edentata.

Full story.

Photo essay.

On January 20-28, 2010, students and families joined CanopyMeg for the Amazon Rainforest Workshop: The Ecology and Culture of the Amazon Jungle. Below are student logs from the trip.

=== Molly Welsh’s Journal ===

Part One: Personal Reflective Essay

I was rendered speechless as I traversed the canopy walkway, enveloped in the vibrant emerald green of the majestic treetops of the Peruvian Amazon. Mere words could not do the stunning landscape justice, and I lapsed into a deep silence as I contemplated the power and importance of the natural world. The treetops seemed to stretch for miles, creating a vast expanse of thriving life. Though I was humbled into silence at the magnitude of the rainforest, the atmosphere hummed with life. I was immersed in the unfaltering buzz of the cicadas, the crisp rapid clicks of the tree frogs, and the various melodic bird calls. The silhouette of a hawk swooped down and caught a bat in mid-air as the sun set slowly and delicately painted the sky with pastel yellow, purple, and orange hues. The fog rolled in and settled over the treetops, and the scene epitomized perfection.

Click here to continue reading Molly Welsh’s journal from the trip.

=== Jessa Baker-Moss’ Log ===

Our amazing trip to the Amazon taught me so many things. As a liberal arts student, I’ve had little access to scientific information. Through helping Professor Lowman collect data I learned about the process through which researchers gain knowledge. I never imagined there would be so much paper cutting involved! Graphing and measuring the area and herbivory of the leaves was a tedious yet rewarding process, and it opened my eyes to all of the hard and careful work that it takes to generate statistics (and now I know words like “herbivory”!) I enjoyed hearing about the flora and fauna- I never knew that rainforest leaves grow larger towards the bottom of the forest, or that the “tipping point” at which climate change will be partially irreversible is 20%. The fact that we are at 17% now has made me realize how urgently the issue of deforestation needs to be addressed.

However, the part about our trip that I enjoyed the most was the cultural immersion. I haven’t spoken Spanish since high school and I was surprised by how much of it I picked up in a short week. It truly is much easier to learn a language when surrounded by native speakers. It was difficult to be seen and verbally identified as a tourist- I don’t think that any traveler wants to be seen that way- yet by seeing ourselves through the Peruvian’s eyes, I understood both them and ourselves better. Visiting the village on the last day was one of the most powerful experiences of the trip. To see how little we have and how much we have in comparison made me value my life in the USA a lot more and reinforced my desire to pursue a career that allows me to work directly with people, so that I can help provide resources to those in need.

Now that I’m home, I intend to educate others about what I have learned in the rainforest, and to be more aware of my consumption in my own day to day life. I have already showed all of my friends and family the photos that I have taken, along with information regarding climate change and deforestation, as well as the need for clean water and health care in third world countries. I think the fact that I have been there and seen it with my own eyes will make these problems more real to my loved ones and compel them to take action in order to help find solutions.

New article published in Edentata.

Voirin, J. B., Kays, R. W., Lowman, M. D., and Wikelski, M. 2009. Evidence for Three-Toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) Predation by Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata). Edentata 8-10:15-20.

From the Pelican Press’ “A Sarasota Minute”:

Its observation tower rises 75 feet above the floor of the surrounding live-oak hammock, looking almost other-worldly…like something straight out of James Cameron’s film Avatar. Its 85-foot long suspended walkway sways amid the treetops…much to the delight – and sometimes trepidation – of visitors making their way across. The breathtaking view from the top stretches for miles and is unlike any other in this corner of the world.

“It” is the Canopy Walkway at Myakka River State Park. And this year marks its 10th anniversary.

Full story

With good intentions, delegates arrived from 192 nations in Copenhagen, Denmark last week for the UNFCCC (United Nationals Framework for Climate Change Convention). Their goal was to meet, talk, draft, edit and finalize a document to limit carbon dioxide emissions into our atmosphere, a resource that every country shares. Although the meetings were primarily political in nature, scientific underpinnings served as drivers to seek an international solution. It was generally assumed that the major powers would dominate the conversation as they usually do, and the rest would meekly tweak the agreement as it was drafted. Following conventional diplomatic wisdom, the expected result was a piece of paper with technical language and many signatures; yet as with previous UNFCCC meetings, a piece of paper can gather dust instead of inspiring political will. Without binding language and enforcement, no agreement on paper can guarantee actions back home. America is an example of a country that not only fell short but has also altered its emissions targets midstream. A major global time-bomb exists – How can countries negotiate a binding agreement that will actually inspire action by all the signatories, and will be quick because poorer nations can not afford adaptation?

Three elephants crowded into the living room at Copenhagen, not only taking center stage but also driving the conversations. These elephants represented emotion, ethics, and ecosystems. COP15 took on a new sense of urgency as small voices told their stories; as citizens around the world become aware of the imminent losses of life posed by rising emissions into our atmosphere and oceans, and as the scientific evident becomes stronger.

1. Emotions ran high early in week 1, when the Tuvalu delegation tearfully explained that their islands are inundated by the sea with every political delay, and that Mother Nature will not wait for paper-pushing exercises. This brought a reality check to the seriousness of COP15, and galvanized many activist groups into action worldwide. The notion of citizens losing a homeland their ancestors had occupied for thousands of generations brought a heightened sense of emotion to COP15. Other small-nation voices joined their outcry, and the AOSIS (association of small island nations) became a large voice at the conference.
2. Ethics has escalated, especially with the understanding of imminent tolls of climate events on poorer nations. African countries, lacking funding and technology face large-scale famines, infectious diseases, droughts and desertification, and ultimate loss of millions of lives. Their continent serves as an early-warning signal to the rest of the world – many extreme impacts of climate change are already apparent, and ironically, they do not have the energy technologies to adapt or mitigate. This gives rise to the ethics of developed countries. Should the United States pay for our long history of polluting the atmosphere? Due to the longevity of carbon in our atmosphere, he carbon emissions that Americans have emitted over the past 50 years will continue to drive up temperatures for the next several hundred years, long before similar impacts will be felt by China’s relatively recent emissions. In short, who should pay? US climate change envoy Todd Sterns, says “ American should not pay for those damaging pollutants released before we know their danger.” Other nations, especially those without economies that can afford R and D for clean energy technologies, disagree.
3. The third elephant in the room is the ecosystem science itself. The IPCC (intergovernmental panel on climate change) has released several reports over the past two decades, representing thousands of scientists, thousands of peer-reviewed technical studies, and thousands of hours of review. These reports indicate that climate change is not only serious, but that current trajectories put all species at great risk over the next 100 years. An interim report, The Copenhagen Diagnosis, claims that the IPCC reports are too conservative and that polar ice melt is occurring more rapidly, ocean and rainforest ecosystems have exceeded tipping points and are in serious decline, and millions of people face imminent death from water shortage, fires, and famine.

Amidst the deliberations and opposing arguments, I propose one creative solution to this stalemate. A large fund is needed to develop clean energy technologies. One thing is clear from the UNFCCC discussions: all the world’s people need and want energy. Energy is the key to rising out of poverty, and rising out of poverty is essential to insure education, health, and quality of life for all people. But, providing clean energy for 6.5 billion people is an enormous challenge. If we continue to rely on coal and fossil fuels, their emissions will destroy the very Earth that we inhabit. As the UK leaders said to the UNFCCC, “we would be like a parasite that destroys its host.” Clean energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro-power are essential to planetary health. But the challenge is time – the world needs innovative new technologies now, not later.

Perhaps the best hope of “Hopenhagen” is to create a large, international R & D fund to create clean energy, where each country contributes dollars based on its past carbon emissions history. (Hillary Clinton touched on the idea of a climate change fund in her recent speech at UNFCCC.) An expert team of visionary scientists, diplomats, engineers, economists, and innovators should be appointed to allocate funds fairly to qualified innovative energy companies and inventors. The committee should be comprised of at least half women (because history illustrates that they will get the job done)! The development of affordable clean-energy technologies will lead to greater equity between all nations and all people, lower our current emissions, and transition the world into a clean-energy era. Let’s find solutions today, not tomorrow.

How ethics underpins all of the UNFCCC decisions

“If ninety-eight doctors say my son is ill and needs medication, and two say ‘No, he doesn’t he is fine.’ I will go with the ninety-eight. It’s common sense – the same with global warming. We go with the majority, the large majority.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California

: : : : :

For a typical mom in a rural village of India or Ethiopia, breakfast does not involve take-away Starbucks, micro-waved oatmeal, frozen waffles, or sparkling tableware extracted from an automatic dishwasher. Instead, it usually consists of leaning over a wood-burning stove for many hours every morning, inhaling pollution while cooking for your family. This scenario exists for millions of moms in India, China, South America, Indonesia, as well as Africa. While traditional cooking has a fairly small energy footprint compared to western cooking, it emits black carbon (otherwise known as soot). Two major ethical, economic, and ecological issues surround these cook-stoves: fire wood (a declining resource for many developing countries), and black carbon (a by-product of cooking with wood linked to health risks and global warming). The outcomes of COP15 may directly impact mothers cooking breakfast around the world, as governments strive to create policies to control carbon emissions on a global scale.

Black carbon, commonly called soot, results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels or biomass such as wood. Common sources of soot are wild fires, diesel engines, wood stoves (or other bio-fuels), and agricultural burn-off. When soot disperses into the air and settles on surfaces, it accelerates global warming, second only to carbon dioxide emissions. But the good news is that soot disintegrates from the atmosphere after only a few days or weeks, whereas carbon dioxide lasts for centuries. So, the eradication of soot could slow down the planet’s current warming trends, providing more time to develop clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, nuclear, and hydrogen.

Soot has a two-fold effect on climate change – its dark particles not only warm the air but they also melt the ice or snow upon which they land. Scientific evidence indicates that black carbon may cause up to 50% of the Arctic ice melt; when the black particles settle on ice and snow, they reduce surface reflectivity and increase melting rates. Himalayan glaciers may lose up to 75% of their ice by the year 2020, accelerated by wind-dispersed soot throughout southeast Asia and China. In addition, soot causes lung disease in women and children who use wood-burning stoves.

Eradication of soot proves a “quick-fix” or relatively short-term solution to abate rising global temperatures as compared to the challenges of removing carbon dioxide emissions. Yet it poses enormous ethical issues. Should villagers in developing countries who use very little energy during their entire lifetimes (as compared to Americans and other developed countries) give up their stoves to pay for climate change? Nonetheless, the recent discovery of soot’s significance could also lead to win-win solutions. If developed countries take the lead to design technologies for cleaner stoves, developing countries could become the beneficiaries of cleaner cooking. And if people who use large amounts of energy contribute to the purchase and distribution of clean cook-stoves, this effort could buy time to enable new energy technologies to offset the more serious issue of carbon dioxide emissions.

Scientists and policy-makers at COP15 consider the reduction of soot a “low-hanging fruit” which can be plucked quickly to delay the otherwise dire consequences of rising global temperatures. What about a million-dollar prize for designing a clean cook-stove? It must be not only durable, but also produce food that tastes good to the users. Solar-powered stoves would reduce soot by as much as 90%. But replacing hundreds of millions of cook-stoves is no easy task. Still, energy experts believe that changing the cook-stoves of 3 billion people may actually be easier than changing the energy habits of 300 million Americans. What is ethical? Should mothers in India be restricted from their old ways of cooking, while American moms have been belching significantly larger carbon emissions into the atmosphere for 50 years? Who pays for whom, and how can the proverbial energy pie be carved equitably? From an ethical perspective, it does not seem acceptable for 3 billion people to eliminate their small energy footprint, when their counterparts in America have had an enormous energy footprint for several generations. These are some of complex issues under negotiation at the UNFCCC in Copenhagen this month. The outcomes will shape the world’s energy future; but more importantly, they may also foster sensitivity for human ethics as an underpinning of planetary stewardship.