Thriving Oceans

On October 3rd I had the great opportunity of attending the Wildlife Conservation Expo in San Francisco.  The speakers were not touching on ocean topics (if interested check out my posts on JournOwl.com), but there was an array of conservation groups in attendance that managed to cover marine wildlife.  And a couple of those groups persuaded me to pose for photo ops in support for whales and 350 species threatened by climate change (i.e. polar bears, orcas, penguins, walrus).

The International Fund for Animal Welfare’s program Tails for Whales has me doing exactly what the program set out to do…making a whale tail with my hands.  And what does the photo accomplish?  “By adding your photo you’re becoming part of a worldwide people power movement petitioning governments everywhere to stop whaling.”  So perhaps you may just find my picture in the future U.S. version of the Tails for Whales book and using my voice (or photo) to help end whaling.

The second opportunity for a photo petition came from an organization of which I am a member, The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).  OK, this might be an ocean site, but I chose to pose with the frog at the delight of the CBD representative.  I was the first to choose the frog at the event, perhaps starting a small trend for the day.

The program is designed:

“To dramatically illustrate why we must reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million to save the planet from climate catastrophe, we are creating 350 Reasons We Need to Get to 350 – a Web-based photo installation with descriptions of 350 species we may lose to global warming if we don’t act soon and strongly.”

“Your photo will become part of a collection of Center photos that 350.org will deliver to media and world leaders at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen this December.”

All in all it just took a few photos to lend support to a couple of worthy conservation organizations so set modesty aside and save those whales!