Green Group discussion

In this interview, Mr. Safina will be joining us on Friday, December 11th at 5:00 PM EST to answer questions. We can post questions here early on this thread.

Here is a link to Carl's website:

https://www.carlsafina.org/

Here is a link to the Safina Center:

https://www.safinacenter.org/

Mr. Safina will be stopping by on Friday, December 11th at 5:00 PM EST to answer any questions that may be listed here and to answer any more you might have.

Hi Carl, thank you for helping us to understand nature.

Do you believe wildlife has been benefiting from the reduced human activity this year, enough to make a difference to species survival? Or has poaching and logging gone unchecked?

Hi, Carl:

Big fan of Saving the Oceans and am reading A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout right now. The opening chapters are haunting, a "perfect storm" confluence of events. Unfortunately, devastating oil spills don't seem that rare: my part of Michigan had a spill into the Kalamazoo River not long ago, and we're fighting like heck to close Enbridge Energy's aging Line 5 that crosses the Straits of Mackinac.

My main questions:
- Do you see a happy ending for the U.S. (and the world more broadly) in terms of reducing the reliance on fossil fuels that leads to these environmental calamities, especially as oil companies drill deeper in more remote, challenging places to reach deposits?
- What in your experience is the best way for us to effect positive change in this area (fossil fuel reduction)? Is it grassroots activism, regulatory enforcement, new / better laws?

Hello Carl,

I haven’t read any of your books so far, but I have been going through the list of them here on goodreads, and see among them a few that I would like to read. I’m curious about if writing any of them meant more to you than the others? And if so, why?

Best regards,
Hákon.

I am fascinated by the intelligence of octopuses. What is the key to their smartness?

Clare wrote: "Hi Carl, thank you for helping us to understand nature.

Do you believe wildlife has been benefiting from the reduced human activity this year, enough to make a difference to species survival? Or h..."

The ventures of wild animals into areas that usually have too much disturbance shows the resilience they have, as well as the pressures they feel around us (with good reason). But I don't think it's enough to make a big difference or last long-term—unless we remember and seek a wider co-existence. The habitat destruction and intensive farming that makes the real difference has continued, unfortunately.

Jimmy wrote: "I am fascinated by the intelligence of octopuses. What is the key to their smartness?"

Their intelligence is high, and it's mysterious. There seems no reason, from their lifestyle (short-lived and not very social), for them to be particularly intelligent. Perhaps their physical configuration, allowing so much manipulation, offered opportunity for intellect to translate into survival value. They have a distributed nervous systems with, essentially, eight networked brains. Astonishing, fascinating. Here's my review of what I think is the best recent book exploring their minds. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/bo...

Brian wrote: "Hi, Carl:

Big fan of Saving the Oceans and am reading A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout right now. The opening chapters are haunting, a "perfect storm" confluence o..."

Fossil fuels are becoming more expensive to get as the easy sources become depleted, and clean tech is continuing to ramp up, with big offshore wind projects coming to fruition. All incentives help (personal, regulatory) but pricing will likely make the real, long-term ending for fossil fuels. We are in the early transition period now.

Hákon wrote: "Hello Carl,

I haven’t read any of your books so far, but I have been going through the list of them here on goodreads, and see among them a few that I would like to read. I’m curious about if wri..."

That's like asking which of your own children is your favorite! ;).
They are meant to be different and to cover very different ground. Which is the best first one for you to delve into depends on your interests. The first is about world fisheries, the next two about how the oceans are changing, Lazy Point gets into philosophy, one is about the harrowing Deepwater Horizon blowout, the recent two are about non-human intelligence/emotion and non-human culture.

Thank you, Carl, for your answers. We appreciate your taking the time to be here.

So sorry I missed Mr Safina's visit - just want to share I LOVED this episode!!! http://chedd-angier.com/savingtheocea...