Guillemots, Puffins and Bears of an Arctic Island
February 9, 2011
Hosted by Rob Moir
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Episode Description
Dr. George Divoky has traveled to remote Cooper Island in the Arctic for nearly 30 years. Braving the elements and the occasional polar bear, his mission is to study the Black Guillemots — seabirds closely related to the extinct Great Auk. Because no other animal is so closely tied to Arctic ice flows, George’s research is contributing to the understanding of climate change on wildlife in Arctic. Climate change is the reason for more puffins and polar bears on Cooper Island. George explains why this is bad for guillemots. He concludes on a hopeful note on how pelican boxes built for nesting sites can save guillemots. George invites school teachers and informal educators to join with Friends of Cooper’s Island to build their own nesting habitats for “the penguins of the north.”
Moir’s Environmental Dialogues
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
With the knowledge of Carson and the courage of Achilles, individuals are steadfastly going the distance to defend wildlife and ecosystems from assaults of environmental degradations and destructions. Join environmental studies scientist Dr. Rob Moir for lively dialogue and revealing narrative inquiry into how individuals are overcoming the obstacles turning forlorn hope into effective actions for oceans, rivers, watersheds, wildlife and ecosystems. Discover how listening to individuals, thinking locally, and acting in concert with other, you can act to save ecosystems. Got environmental stewardship? Become an Eco-steward. Act to bring about a greener and blue Planet Earth.
Rob Moir
Rob Moir is director and founder of the Ocean River Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Moir, an educator and scientist, has been a leader of citizen science and efforts to clean up Salem Sound and Boston Harbor, as founder of Salem Sound Harbor Monitors & Salem Sound 2000, later president of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and through his appointment by the Secretary of Interior to the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership. He was formerly Curator of Natural History at the Peabody Essex Museum, Curator of Education at the New England Aquarium and Executive Director of the Discovery Museums in Acton, MA. Dr. Moir was awarded a Switzer Environmental Fellowship from the Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation, and the James Centorino Award for Distinguished Performance in Marine Education by the National Marine Educators Association, which he later served as president. He was Sea Education Association’s first assistant scientist to work consecutive voyages of the R.V. Westward in 1979 and 1980, an advancement officer for his alma mater, Hampshire College and serves today on the boards of his alma mater, Cambridge School of Weston, Ocean Champions, and the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters. Dr. Moir has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies and a Masters of Science and Teaching from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH and certificate of studies from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.
