The fund raising for LMV Productions’ new documentary, ‘Eye on the Needle’, is under way! The documentary is about the conservation of Cleopatra’s Needle on London’s embankment presented by Dr Paul Harrison. It may be slightly out of the normal remit of LMV’s research but the topic is a passion of LMV’s director Edward Scott-Clarke, who studied Egyptology at university. Have a look at the crowd-funding page on Sponsume we have set up and if it is a subject you’re interested in, please go ahead and back us. We have a great selection of rewards lined up and the film is a non-profit venture, just as with all LMV’s projects.

La Mode Verte has added it’s name to a bill in the US state of California that aims to encourage the recycling of fast-food takeout packaging, thereby reducing the amount of waste entering the environment. The Senate Bill 529 Fast Food Packaging and Marine Pollution Reduction, which has been put forward by Senator Mark Leno to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee in Sacremento, has also been supported by great organisations such as Heal The Bay, 7th Generation Advisors, Sierra Club California, and the Surfrider Foundation. LMV is proud to support the bill, which “would prohibit food providers from distributing single-use food packaging and bags unless the packaging or bag is accepted for either recycling or composting in at least 75% of households in a jurisdiction.” According to the bill, plastic pollution jeopardises California’s $40 billion ocean economy and the city of LA already spends around $1 billion on clearing waterways of trash. The bill, if passed, would be a huge step in reducing the impacts of this pollution.

A still from Plastic Shores: A DOW Agrosciences bottle found in Honolulu Harbour

We are pleased to announce that LMV Productions have been working on a 30 minute version of Plastic Shores especially for the classroom environment. The work would not have been possible without the help of South Wiltshire Agenda 21, who already have every secondary school in the county lined up to receive a DVD of the film. Plastic Shores is a documentary about the effects of plastic pollution on the world’s oceans and was launched in March 2012 at the United Nations. It has since been screened in 12 countries and translated into five languages (a sixth, Japanese, is pending). However, at 56 minutes, it was slightly too long for a classroom slot at the average school, particularly if the teacher wanted to galvanise some kind of debate on the subject of marine debris. Agenda 21, with the help of Barchester Green Investments, CPRE Wiltshire, and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, sponsored the shortening of the film, which is nearing completion. It is hoped that we can get a copy to every school in the country! Stop back for more information shortly.

Heated clashes. Picture: Eliza Muirhead/Sea Shepherd Australia

www.themercury.com.au 10th March 2013

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have yet again forced the Japanese whaling fleet to fall well short of their maximum quota for whale carcasses. The fleet recently returned to port with 75 whales on board compared to the 800+ it could have culled. Despite the Australian government lodging a complaint at the International Court of Justice about Japan’s continued whaling programme, citing the country’s failure to uphold its international obligations, Japan continues to hunt whales. Sea Shepherd’s fleet has grown recently and now consists of four ships. This has allowed the conservation group to be more direct in their protests. However, growing aggression has led to claims of violence and harassment on both sides. In 2010, one of Sea Shepherd’s boats, The Ady Gil (formerly of Earth Race), was almost sunk by a Japanese whaling ship.

www.bbc.co.uk 11th March 2013

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has made a progressive step towards the conservation of sharks around the world by  giving added protection to three endangered species. The convention, currently being held in Bangkok, Thailand, voted by a two-thirds majority to increase the status of the ocean whitetip, three species of hammerhead, and the porbeagle sharks, as well as Manta rays. Despite strong opposition from Japan and China, two countries known for their taste in exotic marine species, a shift in the attitude of South American nations such as Brazil and Colombia helped the motion pass. However, it could still be overturned on appeal on the final day of the convention this week. Although the move stops short of banning the shark fin trade altogether, it does introduce stricter regulations that can result in sanctions on animal products if flouted. Many shark populations have plummeted 90% in the last 100 years largely as a result of overfishing. As many as a 100 million sharks are captured every year.

LMV have recently come into contact with the Terra Mar Project, a fantastic initiative that calls for the protection of the world’s high seas. The open ocean is outside of the legal jurisdiction of any government and has therefore been exploited to a dangerous extent. Overfishing and pollution have ravaged the oceans but the Terra Mar Project believes that every individual on the planet has duty to ensure the marine environment is protected. Following the Law of the Commons, which states: “The high seas belong to all of us and should be protected for generations to come”, TMP encourages people to become a ‘citizen’ of the high seas and therefore promote awareness of its plight to friends, family and contacts. Currently, less than 2% of the oceans are protected with the UK leading the way after creating the world’s largest marine reserve around the Chagos Islands.

Become a citizen of Terra Mar now and help protect the high seas of the planet.

Factory fishing in the Bering Sea. Photograph: Natalie Fobes/Corbis

www.guardian.co.uk 9th February 2013

David Milliband, the brother of Ed the leader of the Labour Party, is to lead the newly formed Global Ocean Commission, a body to tackle the lawlessness of the open ocean. Mr Milliband will be alongside Nelson Mandela’s former finance minister, Trevor Manuel, and the former president of Costa Rica, José María Figueres, as well as yet-to-be-announced commissioners picked from former heads-of-state and senior ministers. The oceans are beginning to feature more prominently in global politics as their fate is looking increasingly uncertain. The open seas are beyond any national legislation and are therefore lawless. Preventable problems like over-fishing and pollution are causing severe damage to the marine eco-system and the former could lead to a collapse of numerous fish-stocks by the 2040. David Milliband is a good candidate for his role in the Global Ocean Commission. During his position as Foreign Secretary under the last UK labour government he established the world’s largest marine reserve around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean; an area of no-fishing covering 640,000 square kilometres. ”The worst of the current system is plunder and pillage on a massive scale,” David Miliband told the Observer. “It is the ecological equivalent of the financial crisis. The long-term costs of the mismanagement of our oceans are at least as great as long-term costs of the mismanagement of the financial system. We are living as if there are three or four planets instead of one, and you can’t get away with that.”

Elephant Butte Reservoir from usbr.gov

www.latimes.com 25th January 2013

Texas has lodged a complaint against the neighbouring state of New Mexico with the US Supreme Court this month. Texas claims New Mexico “has been diverting water it is obligated to send downstream under the 75-year-old Rio Grande Compact.” The compact was created in 1938 between Texas, New Mexico and Colorado and established a “formula” for allocating the Colorado river’s water to the various states. Two giant reservoirs, the Elephant Butte and Caballo, were built in New Mexico as a result yet Texas now claims that as many as 2500 wells have been installed below the Elephant Butte diverting water from the river to the underground aquifer. This, says Pat Gordon, Texas’ representative on the Rio Grande Compact Commission, has reduced water for the irrigation network. New Mexico denies the allegations claiming those drawing water from the river actually have water-rights that predate the compact.  A prominent water law specialist Charles DuMars seemed to back New Mexico in the dispute when he stated that the compact “only requires that New Mexico deliver a set amount of water into Elephant Butte Reservoir…as to what happens to the river between there and Texas, New Mexico’s water law probably applies, not the compact.”

Ed Scott-Clarke filming in Cayman Brac, by Michelle de Villiers

This evening (24th January) at 6:10, Plastic Shores director Edward Scott-Clarke will be on BBC Wiltshire talking about the film. Shortly after at 7:30, a screening is taking place in Salisbury, Wiltshire with Ed holding a Q&A afterwards. Organised by Agenda 21, the showing is part of a broader fund-raising attempt to raise money to create a shorter version of Plastic Shores for schools across the country.

President Obama Arriving for the Inaugural Ceremony, from nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com 21st January 2013

In perhaps a surprising move, President Barack Obama put climate change at the forefront of his inaugural speech. Eight whole sentences were devoted to the subject, more than any other. The focus on climate change comes after a comprehensive failure to introduce any legislation on the issue in his first term. This time around, the president plans to use his executive power to avoid opposition by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Climate change was also brought up in election-night speech where he related it directly to the rise of extreme weather. A number of steps will be taken to help the US tackle the issue of greenhouse gases. The main step will be the power given to the Environmental Protection Agency to clamp down on emissions from coal power-stations. Another is to increase energy-efficient standards in buildings and home-appliances. A third is to increase the development of public transport. Despite a failure to secure any legislation in his last term, emissions in the US still dipped 10% between 2008 and 2012, a result of the economic slow-down and moves towards energy efficiency by government and industry.