Today I received some nice mail from the Florida Freelance Writers Association. I opened up the large envelope and was pleased to find a certificate for 2nd honorable mention in the Children's Literature category. That category encompasses everything from poetry to short stories, novel chapters and nonfiction. A really nice touch was the sticky note that had the words "interesting info, well-researched and well-told. Congrats!" Thanks!

I'm researching a new subject now - another endangered animal. The descriptions in some of the papers I've found are really graphic. A few pictures I've come across are just ghastly. It's really sad to see the suffering. There is certainly no shortage of material on the topic, so that's a good thing.

I look forward to my daily emails from the Bermuda Biological Station. There is excitement in those emails (I think it's all the "!"). The website contains photographs and journal entries for each day of the adventure. I have read about the discovery of brittle stars, sea squirts, and a Portugese man-of-war. Great trip and a great way to instill a love of science.

Right now, my daughter Julia is on a plane headed to the Bermuda Biological Station. It's a fantastic opportunity for her and her classmates to stay at a real research station that is off limits to the public. The 8th graders and a handful of high school seniors spend a week studying marine animals and the geography of Bermuda. One of the nice things this group does is that each kid brings down a book to donate to the library there. They are also planting cedar. From what I've heard, cedar products used to be common in the stores, but now it sounds like they've over done it.
Anyhow, to those on the plane.......best wishes for a great time!

Happy Endangered Species Day!

On Wed., the polar bear was finally put on the endangered species list due to its shrinking habitat. "Global climate change posses a substantial threat to the habitat of polar bears." Posses should be poses, but someone was probably in a hurry to get it down in case the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed it's mind about listing the polar bear. After all, it took three years to get it on the endangered species list. I have browsed the endangered species list many times, but I've never seen so much written about any one animal.

The rainforest in Indonesia is being hacked up for palm oil. Another casualty of this destruction is the orangutans. In this National Geographic video you'll see them in diapers (how cute). If the destruction continues, The Center for Orangutan Protection estimates they could be extinct in THREE years. It seems to me some worldwide organization needs to be in charge of patrolling rainforests instead of the governments of countries. The Indonesian government is opening up land for palm oil plantations. 1.1 million acres of protected land is at stake.

Here's an email I received from Unilever on May 8th. On April 21st I posted a link to a video of suppliers chopping down the Indonesian rainforest to obtain palm oil. I emailed Unilever, a major company that uses palm oil in their products. They responded with this letter. In it they wrote that on May 1st 2008, we "announced our support for an immediate moratorium on any further deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil cultivation." Unilever posted a video on their website. In the video they claim the Indonesian Government must help monitor the rainforests. I totally agree. It seems to me if google maps viewed via satellite or google earth can zoom in on houses then why can't we monitor rain forests this way? Is there such a thing as a satellite that stays put and does not orbit? Why not put a motor on a satellite so it goes in the opposite direction and at the same speed as its orbit? Just a thought.

On Wed. May 7, Connecticut became the fifth state in the nation to enact tough new global warming legislation. Bill 5600 was passed by Governor Rell. I'm so glad I live in a state that values the voices of educated scientists that devote their lives to their studies. Now if all states enacted similar legislation.....think of the power.

Slowly, I'm adding new links to this website. Today I added a link to I.N.K., a site for nonfiction writers.

I added my blog to the verveearth website after checking it out. It's a geographical map of the world that allows you to zoom in on a location and find blogs in that area. And believe me, there are no shortage of blogs. You can also look for blogs by category (travel, art, photography, politics, music, writing....). Unfortunately, I didn't see a category for science. Enough time spent on that, now it's back to some exciting research!

Here are some nice comments that were made about my grizzly bear presentation.

"Thank you so much for the great grizzly bear program you provided for our mother/child banquet. The children were all interested and involved, you had so many activities that they could get their "hands on". I was impressed that you could accommodate such a wide age range. Thanks again, I've had lots of positive feedback."

Thanks for having me!