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Water Hour

Just passing this along at the request of the organization putting on the event..... Spread the word!! With all the bad news lately about the Gulf oil spill and the like, this is something we can all take part in which will help make a difference to our planet!

Water Hour is coming at 8 pm on June 11!

Wonderfully, it is taking off - especially at www.waterhour.org ; on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/n/?group.php&gid=289743054301 and on Twitter www.twitter.com/WaterHour.

This is amazing given that the first inkling was such a short time ago.

Water Hour aspires to be a global happening to protect water. The global launch will take place in June a year from now. Tangible, incremental steps will be taken starting with the all-important pilot test on June 11. Don't be fooled by the word 'pilot'. For everybody who participates, it will be the real thing. But at the same time we will be testing every dimension of the program needed for global uptake over the coming year.

Here's how you can help:

Before June 11 - Start participating yourself at the links above. www.waterhour.org, for example, has several ways to get involved. The site will guide you.

Relay this note to everybody in your networks. This is so important. Our power for change is in our combined networks.

Send the attached media release to all the media you can. [see text of media release below]

During Water Hour - Celebrate water . in big or small ways. Lots of ideas for celebrating are at www.waterhour.org.

However you celebrate, post it on one of the Water Hour social media.

After Water Hour - Return the questionnaire we will send you. Your feedback will transform the pilot into an amazing global happening to protect water.

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Water Hour Press Release

Launching a global happening to protect water

First-ever Water Hour – 8 pm, June 11 - www.waterhour.org

Picture all the water in the world filling up a one-gallon pail. Now picture one tablespoon from this pail. That tiny proportion is all that’s available for human use! And because of population, pollution, over-use and evaporation caused by global warming, this precious little amount is dwindling at an alarming rate.

If the coming water crisis concerns you, here's an exciting opportunity to take action and awareness-raising to a new level. Water Hour, 8 pm on June 11 is a moment to celebrate water, to create a torrent of messages and an outburst of action for water! Water Hour takes a whole new approach - leave fear and guilt behind, reconnect with the awe and wonder of water in our lives, and create positive change from a positive place. It's about falling in love with water...all over again. Water Hour taps into the enormous power of social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, connecting us across the globe to create something wonderful.

You and everyone in your network can participate right now at www.waterhour.org.

Just follow these steps:
1. Ready
Reconnect with your amazing, touching, hilarious experiences with water. Share your water moments on the website for a chance to win a beautiful framed print by photographer James Phillips. www.jamesphillipsphotography.com/waterhour
2. Set
Submit your ideas for how to celebrate Water Hour on June 11.You can vote for ideas submitted by others and see the top-voted ideas before the big event.
3. Go!
Take part in the top-voted ideas during Water Hour or express yourself in your own way – just be sure to share your action and messages with the world through the Water Hour social networks.
4. Keep going!
Declare your commitment, large or small, on www.waterhour.org to protect water at home and in your community.

Where we’re coming from…

For a generation, we tried the same recipe to motivate action for the environment -- disaster scenarios + guilt + don’ts - like “Don’t leave the tap running when you brush your teeth”. Yes, this has motivated action, but not the breakthrough in public engagement required by the scope and urgency of the challenges we face. Water Hour is changing the conversation. It aims to motivate in a new way, starting from a new place.

Water Hour is a celebration, a time to reflect on what water really means, and a dynamo of action to protect water. The event is designed to encourage:
· on-the-ground action and celebrations, preferably recorded in postings, photos and video to share with others online
· communication of messages worldwide through social media, with www.waterhour.org as a hub driving huge participation on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

However people choose to mark the hour, they are invited to get involved in a journey to re-awaken their connection to water, and to commit to its protection:

Savour the moment
Take a little time to reconnect with those moments in your life when you had a powerful experience with water. We’ve all had them – playing deliriously in water as a child, being awe-struck by its beauty, frightened by its power, calmed by its stillness. Ever been lashed by an angry downpour, felt a waterfall’s mist, gulped a glass when thirst won’t wait? Savour those moments and share them on www.waterhour.org/watermoments.

Celebrate
At 8 pm on June 11, celebrate! Take part in the top-voted ideas for Water Hour or express yourself in your own way. You may want to dance it, tweet it, pray it, sing it, improve it, paint it, post it on Facebook, make a sign about it, cook it, photograph it, upload photos that hold it, shout it, swim it, party it, chant it, rally for it, meditate it. However you mark the hour, share it with the world on the Water Hour social networks.

Declare
Declare your commitment to protect water. What action, large or small, will you take to conserve water in your household or workplace, to clean and protect the rivers and lakes and aquifers where your water comes from, to stop pollution, to assure that water is shared fairly?

Water Hour is an initiative of the Ecologos Institute’s wider water protection program called Water Alive. www.ecologos.ca www.water-alive.org

For further information please contact:
Nanci Malek – Bentertainment 519-925-0591 bentertainment@rogers.com

Rachel Kristiansen

Wildlife Coordinator - Energy Minerals Counties Coalition

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Humpback whale

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

The ocean

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Any kind of cat. I just have a connection with them

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Pollution - NOT carbon emissions, but litter and pollution of the oceans

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Our natural resources are being extracted by more and more environmentally-friendly methods, and land reclamation is completed quickly and efficiently. Stop fighting the benefits of their use and start worrying about real issues.

Chris MacIntosh

Private Citizen

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

So hard to say, so many. Living now in the SF Bay Area, I am still astounded that I can go to see elephant seals in their natural environment every winter. That's one of those things I still think is only a "TV program" event. When I was perhaps 7 or 8, I remember going to the Edinburgh Zoo and seeing this sign "elephant seal". Of course I knew what an elephant was, and what a seal was, but the 2 names together? I was so awed when I moved here and discovered this almost-mythical animal right here!

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

Yellowstone NP will always have a huge place in my heart. I spent 3 summers working for the concession, moving there from Manhattan (NY). I first learned about hiking, backpacking, developed my curiosity about the natural world and geology, and have never been an urbanite again.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Domestic animal: cats "wild" or zoo animal: snow leopard evokes memories of childhood visits to Whipsnade Zoo, where they had a pair (this was back in the 1950s and 60s) which I thought were such beautiful cats with their markings and thick tails.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Excessive population of humans: this magnifies the effects of everything else we do not respect enough to ensure the long-term survival and thriving of (sorry, terrible grammar).

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Learn to share. Within the human community we try to help and not harm others. We should try to extend that attitude to other species.

Bruce H. Campbell

Retired Wildlife Ecologist

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Working with Alaska brown bears from 1984-88. a magnificent animal.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

Yes. East Eagle Creek in the wallowa mountains of north eastern OR. Spent many weekends there while growing up. Now still the same place and I wish I could still spend weekends there.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Alaska brown bear because they are huge powerhouses that, for the most part, are pretty laid back. In my four years working hands-on with them, I never had a negative experience with one. Had many face-to-face encounters including female with 2 yo cubs. I'm not afraid of this animal but I have a huge amount of respect for them.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Continued habitat loss including the Amazon forest. The future challenge will be global warming.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Enjoy and take care of them. They belong to our children.

David Mozer

Director - International Bicycle Fund (www.ibike.org)

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Seeing wildlife around me riding a bicycle. The has happened both in Africa and North America. The world seems unencumbered at those moments.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

As a child I love the waterfalls of the Cascade Mountains (Washington State, USA). I still like the combination of mountains and raging rivers.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Black and white colobus monkey.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

private automobiles now. population in the future (starting now).

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

It takes much longer for a wound to heal that it does to cause one. This goes for wounding and poisoning Mother Nature as well.

Katie Mason

Oregon State University

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I am eternally grateful that my parents made sure that our family spent a lot of time outdoors. We hiked and camped and gardened and fished and gathered mushrooms and cross-country skiied and kayaked/canoed, and many other things. While we were engaged in these activities we were always encouraged to observe what was going on around us, lie down and watch a spider spinning a web or ants disassembling a dead mouse or a cicada shedding its skin. We always had plant and animal identification books with us and spent time identifying things and learning about them - their range, the conditions best suited to their flourishing. This appreciation and participation in the outdoors has shaped my attitude about conservation, recreation and my own lifestyle.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

My favorite places in the outdoors during my childhood were my backyard in Portland, OR (my parents lived in the city but had fruit trees, flowers, and a vegetable garden and there was always so much to do and explore in the backyard), my grandma's tree farm in Virginia (I believe it was a white pine tree farm, but basically for me it was like summer camp - swimming, fishing and canoeing in the pond, walking in the woods, learning to shoot a rifle and a bow and arrow, gardening, catching lightning bugs, watching cicadas and snakes shed their skins), and the Columbia River Gorge where my family regularly hiked and gathered mushrooms (chanterelles and morels). Today I would say that my favorite places in the outdoors are the Oregon coast, the Cascade Mountain range and the high desert of Eastern Oregon - I am a Pacific Northwesterner and find myself feeling closest/most connected to the world around me and any higher power there might be, when I am outdoors. The coast is so beautiful whether it's sunny and breezy or cold, raining and gale force winds. The ocean is mesmerizing and always makes me feel a bit small and put things in perspective. I think I feel most in my element when I am hiking in the temperate rainforest of the Cascade Mtns and the Columbia River Gorge - they are so verdant and there is so much going on that is worth exploring, looking at, watching - there is something very calming about this as well. Eastern Oregon is so different from Western Oregon - I am coming to appreciate the rather starker beauty of it - the colors are amazing and the sense of space is pretty wonderful as well. I find the light is often quite magical in Eastern Oregon. I went to college in Massachusetts and, while New England is a beautiful part of the world, I never felt as connected to the outdoors, even when out hiking or bicycling - I don't know if it had to do with how the space feels or what.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

It's hard to choose just one favorite. I have always liked river otters because of their playfulness. I have very fond memories of a pair of guinea pigs we had when I was a child - they had such personalities and go into all kinds of mischief. I find birds fascinating - their physical structure as well as their social systems. I love domestic cats and dogs and have a couple of each - their companionship and personalities can't be beat for city living. Meerkats are hysterically funny. I guess I'm drawn to animals who's social system and individual personalities are evident, upon observation, to me. For example, while I studied fisheries management policy in graduate school, I do not find fish all that interesting. I understand that I may be projecting human emotions onto animals at times, but often times animals really do have their own personalities and their social systems and hierarchies are fascinating.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Habitat loss resulting in species loss of plants, insects, and animals. Habitat loss can come from expansion of human settlements, flooding/melting associated with global climate change, clearing for agriculture and fuel wood, resource extraction, etc.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Learn about it, get out in it and enjoy it in a respectful manner and you will feel compelled to protect it in one way or another. It really can help you feel connected to the rest of the organisms on the planet and help us realize that our lives, while important, may not be the only important lives on the planet, and our troubles, while important, may not be the biggest troubles on the planet, and that we're not always the apex species (like when you're hiking through the woods and suddenly realize a bear or mountain lion has been through there recently and you think "in a fair fight (ie no guns) I wouldn't win"...not a bad thing to be reminded of every once in a while - especially when we get to thinking ourselves pretty amazing and indestructible.

Mr Keith Smith

Private Citizen

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

My dad taking me to see a white badger at night in Epping Forest.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

As a child it was the london canals and marshes. Now my local woodlands and also Northumberland.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Owls because although many are well studied many are not and i think there is still much to learn about them.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Without doubt the loss of natural habitats. Global warming will not be a problem if re - generation of the great jungles can be a possibility they are the lungs of the world.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Look after your planet and its wonders it's the only one we have.

Bill Hilton Jr.

Executive Director - Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

When I was in 7th grade I brought a Praying Mantis to my science teacher who asked me to present it to the class. The big insect crawled up my sleeve and got inside my shirt, which got such a positive crowd response I decided to become a biology teacher.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

The woods near my house in Brookline, a suburb of Pittsburgh PA. Hilton Pond (York SC) is where I live and work and enjoy nature most.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I'm sort of into hummingbirds at this point; I conduct research on Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the U.S. and Central America.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Loss of habitat through the abuse of natural resources will just about doom us and many of the organisms with which we share the planet. It may be we've already reached the tipping point and can do nothing to save ourselves.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

We should have wise dominion over the world, and not try to dominate it.

Claudia Munera

Biologist/Consultant, Guatemala

Jul 23, 2009

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I don't think it was a particular interaction, I prefer to talk about several...my mother is an animal and nature lover and then she influence in my personal perception about animals, I grew up with animals both in my house and in the family farms. Once as adult and as a biology student discovering the world of birds was very important for me.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood? How about now??

Yes, I had plenty in one of the farms where we used to lived when I was a child, I love a small patch of andean forest, and to lay in a water tank that was located in front of a mountain with pines (it wasn't native pines, but at that age I didn't knew about that).

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Birds, and may especially owls and toucans. We had a small Tropical Screech Owl that fell from its nest and we take care of him...

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Currently, habitat transformation due deforestation and contamination. Then in the future we will face the consequences as climate change, famines and lack of water.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Save water, reduce overcomsuption, walk instead of drive whenever is possible