http://www.woc2009.org/
A Midwestern View of the Ocean
Indie Filmmakers show the health of our oceans - but will it play in Peoria?
Two indie filmmakers plan to visit Indonesia to document the World Ocean Conference in May 2009, and take their message back to Peoria, Illinois, where they live. The Illinois filmmaking duo, Chris Rockhold and his wife Ann, are making an educational film, hoping to spark interest in oceans in the Midwest because oceans connect everyone through rivers and streams – and that includes runoff from pollution.
The Rockholds formed the Minahasa Ocean Group to test environmental educational programs at four universities in Central Illinois. Minahasa refers to tribal unity and the native people of North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, where Ann Rockheld was born. The film duo will show how the next wave of oceanic politics will affect everyone, even the Midwesterner who has never seen the ocean.
Their mission, said Rockhold “is to stimulate economic growth in local communities by providing new information for old problems, such as run-off from our rivers that carry pollutants out to sea.” They hope to spark young minds to create the next great idea that will build the new economy, and keep marine life healthy and abundant. Rockhold said, “We believe that the next great idea will directly come from our efforts in this new educational global film project… to show how the health of the reefs affects us all.”
Calling the film, “Inspiring the Next Generation,” Rockhold will draw attention to new technologies and the need for cooperation between nations before reefs are destroyed. Oceans play major roles in determining the world climate system, but climate changes or global warming, has threatened marine life and the livelihoods of coastal people.
U.S. President Barack Obama is slated to visit Indonesia during the May, 2009 World Ocean Conference proceedings. Key to this event is a summit meeting for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) which includes world leaders from six different countries who will take part in the signing of an international treaty to protect the safety of the coral reef in the region. This treaty has the support of the United States and Australia.
Obama has made energy and climate change a security issue and said, “Sea levels are rising…coastlines are shrinking…we've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season." In April, Obama is also meeting with representatives of the 16 major economies and the UN secretary general to help broker a UN agreement on global warming.
For May’s conference, leaders from Australia, Indonesia, The Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands plan to discuss the many threats to the oceans. Included in this mix are some 1500 oceanographers and scientists who will discuss climate change in Manado, Indonesia. The WOC Conference is a global organization whose mission is to create “sustainable management of marine resources."
Rockhold’s film, “Inspiring The Next Generation” will show new information from top scientists from around the world, and show how the preservation of the oceans and food supplies are directly affected by the health of the reefs. The film will show how even the health of the Illinois River that runs south to the sea is in danger. They hope to raise awareness of ways to restore and remediate waterways with new treatment approaches like ‘active capping,’ that stops contaminated sediments in runoff.
Pollution and over fishing have a destructive impact on the marine ecosystem and have accelerated the extinction of many marine species. More than four years after experts urged the Bush administration and Congress to ‘immediately overhaul’ the nation's oceans policy, very few of their recommendations are in place and the state of the oceans is deteriorating rapidly. Obama’s plans signal a “sea change" in U.S. environmental policy and this new wave in politics just may affect Peoria as much as it does the coastal regions.
The World Ocean Conference plans to discuss 32 topics including saving the ocean from global warming and climate change and sound the alarm for a new ocean policy – one that states a nation's intent to manage the oceans for long-term sustainability, rather than short-term profits. Over fishing has decimated entire species of tuna, swordfish, marlin and cod as some researchers estimate only 10 percent of all such large fish remain.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 75 percent of the 600 fish species it monitors are fully exploited or depleted and a recent study suggests the fish in large marine ecosystems are being caught at rates that are at least double the level considered sustainable.
The Minahasa Project will include underwater filming at the Bunaken Island, the crescent-shaped island which lies in the heart the Bunaken National Marine Park, a biodiverse location, chosen as a one of "10 Top Snorkeling Spots" in the world by Forbes Traveler.com.
“We plan to use local divers to film underwater, and we have a film crew ready,” said Rockhold. One featured player in this movie is the Coelacanth fish, pronounced "see-la-kanth." Scientists from around the world believed the fish to be extinct, when suddenly it reappeared off the coast of Africa. The six foot fish is also known as the Dino fish, and is unique in the animal kingdom because it is predates the dinosaurs by millions of years and is referred to as a 400 million year old "living fossil." The Coelacanth was also "discovered" alive and well in 1997, in Sulawesi, Indonesia, attracting marine scientists from around the world.
