Science/Conservation/Exploration

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIGITAL MEDIA AND SCIENCEBLOGS.COM FORM STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

2009-12-04

WASHINGTON / NEW YORK (Dec. 3, 2009)--National Geographic Digital Media (NGDM) and ScienceBlogs.com today announced that they have formed a strategic partnership spanning technology, advertising, business and content development.

Through this partnership, Nationalgeographic.com and ScienceBlogs.com will create and exchange content through connected social media features, as well as work together to create new multimedia programming for both sites. ScienceBlogs.com will feature content from National Geographic bloggers and National Geographic explorers. The site also will have access to National Geographic's news resources and will significantly increase its exposure through NGDM's worldwide audience. NGDM in turn will feature content from ScienceBlogs.com and renowned SB bloggers on its award-winning site Nationalgeographic.com.

In addition, NGDM will lead advertising sales -- headed by Jim Hoos, VP of Digital Media Sales -- on ScienceBlogs.com, adding a vibrant social media platform to the portfolio and giving advertisers access to an audience of more than 2 million young, educated and digitally savvy readers. Under the terms of the agreement, NGDM will acquire a minority stake in ScienceBlogs, LLC, parent company of ScienceBlogs.com.

"ScienceBlogs.com shares our mission to create a fully comprehensive Web destination that allows users to explore, engage and exchange," said John Caldwell, NGDM president. "This partnership not only allows National Geographic to strengthen its leadership in the science and technology space, but it also allows NG.com to reach an extensive community of young and engaged users who are deeply immersed within it."

"We are thrilled to be teaming up with National Geographic, a brand we greatly admire and an organization that shares the values of the ScienceBlogs community. This partnership highlights SB's standing in social media and lays the foundation for growth and greater reach and recognition in the future," said Adam Bly, chairman of ScienceBlogs, LLC.

NGDM and ScienceBlogs.com's initial rollout will feature blog content and applications that highlight green, science and technology subject matter.

About ScienceBlogs
ScienceBlogs.com is the leading social media site in the science and technology category, with more than 130 acclaimed blogs, 11 content channels, a jobs platform and a fast-growing audience of 2.4 million unique visitors a month. ScienceBlogs.de, a German-language edition, launched in 2007 in partnership with Hubert Burda Media, and a Portuguese-language edition, ScienceBlogs.com.br, launched in 2008. ScienceBlogs, LLC, is a privately held company majority-owned by Seed Media Group (www.seedmediagroup.com).

About National Geographic Digital Media
National Geographic Digital Media is the multimedia division of National Geographic Ventures, the wholly owned, taxable subsidiary of the National Geographic Society, one of the world's largest educational and scientific nonprofit organizations, reaching more than
375 million people worldwide. At the forefront of the digital media revolution, NGDM publishes Nationalgeographic.com, delivering multimedia content to digital consumers. Nationalgeographic.com is the award-winning Web site of the National Geographic Society and attracts 13 million unique visitors a month. Nationalgeographic.com combines National Geographic's video, photography and maps with in-depth information and interactive features about animals, nature, destinations and cultures. Nationalgeographic.com's news service, National Geographic News, publishes daily stories about science and discoveries.

BoarCroc, RatCroc, DogCroc, DuckCroc and PancakeCroc

2009-11-19

WASHINGTON (Nov. 19, 2009)—A suite of five ancient crocs, including one with teeth like boar tusks and another with a snout like a duck's bill, have been discovered in the Sahara by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno. The five fossil crocs, three of them newly named species, are remains of a bizarre world of crocs that inhabited the southern land mass known as Gondwana some 100 million years ago.

Sereno, a professor at the University of Chicago, and his team unearthed the strange crocs in a series of expeditions beginning in 2000 in the Sahara. Many of the fossils were found lying on the surface of a remote, windswept stretch of rock and dunes. The crocs galloped and swam across present-day Niger and Morocco when broad rivers coursed over lush plains and dinosaurs ruled.

"These species open a window on a croc world completely foreign to what was living on northern continents," Sereno said. The five crocs, along with a closely related sixth species, will be detailed in a paper published in the journal ZooKeys and appear in the November 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine. The crocs also will star in a documentary, "When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs," to premiere at 9 p.m. ET/PT Saturday, Nov. 21, on the National Geographic Channel.

At 40 feet in length and weighing 8 tons, Sarcosuchus imperator, popularly known as SuperCroc, was the first and largest of the crocs Sereno found in the Sahara, but it was not the strangest, Sereno said. He and his teams soon discovered key fossils of five previously unknown or poorly understood species, most of them walking "upright" with their arms and legs under the body like a land mammal instead of sprawled out to the sides, bellies touching the ground.

The crocs and their nicknames:

BoarCroc: New species, Kaprosuchus saharicus; fossils found in Niger. Twenty-foot-long upright meat eater with an armored snout for ramming and three sets of dagger-shaped fangs for slicing. Closest relative found in Madagascar.
RatCroc: New species, Araripesuchus rattoides; fossils found in Morocco. Three-foot-long, upright plant and grub eater. Pair of buckteeth in lower jaw used to dig for food. Closest relative in South America.
PancakeCroc: New species, Laganosuchus thaumastos; fossils found in Niger and Morocco. Twenty-foot-long, squat fish eater with a three-foot pancake-flat head. Spike-shaped teeth on slender jaws. Likely rested motionless for hours, its jaws open and waiting for prey. Closest relative from Egypt. The scientific paper also names a close relative discovered by the team in Morocco, Laganosuchus maghrebensis.
DuckCroc: New fossils of previously named species, Anatosuchus minor. Fossils found in Niger. Three-foot-long upright fish-, frog- and grub-eater. Broad, overhanging snout and Pinocchio-like nose. Special sensory areas on the snout end allowed it to root around on the shore and in shallow water for prey. Closest relative in Madagascar.
DogCroc: New fossils of named species, Araripesuchus wegeneri. Fossils found in Niger include five skeletons, all next to each other on a single block of rock. Three-foot-long upright plant and grub eater with a soft, doglike nose pointing forward. Likely an agile galloper, but also a capable swimmer. Closest relative in Argentina.

"We were surprised to find so many species from the same time in the same place," said paleontologist Hans Larsson, associate professor at McGill University in Montreal and a team member who discovered the bones of BoarCroc and PancakeCroc. "Each of the crocs apparently had different diets, different behaviors. It appears they had divided up the ecosystem, each species taking advantage of it in its own way."

To better understand how these ancient crocs — mostly upright and agile — might have moved and lived, Sereno traveled to northern Australia, where he observed and captured freshwater crocs. Realizing while there that he may have stumbled onto one of the keys to crocodilian success, Sereno saw freshwater crocs galloping at full speed on land and then, at water's edge, diving in and swimming away like fish. On land they moved much like running mammals, yet in a flash turned fishlike, their bodies and tails moving side to side, propelling them in water.

Based on interpretation of the fossils, Sereno and Larsson hypothesize that these early crocs were small, upright gallopers. In the scientific paper, they suggest that the more agile of their new croc menagerie could not only gallop on land but also evolved a swimming tail for agility and speed in water, two modes of locomotion suggested to be evolutionary hallmarks for the past 200 million years.

"My African crocs appeared to have had both upright, agile legs for bounding overland and a versatile tail for paddling in water," Sereno writes in the National Geographic magazine article. "Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era."

To study the crocs' brains, Sereno CT-scanned the skulls of DuckCroc and DogCroc and then created digital and physical casts of the brains. The result: Both DogCroc and DuckCroc had broad, spade-shaped forebrains that look different from those of living crocs. "They may have had slightly more sophisticated brain function than living crocs," Larsson said, "because active hunting on land usually requires more brain power than merely waiting for prey to show up."

To collect the croc fossils, Sereno and his teams endured temperatures topping 125 degrees F, living for months on dehydrated food. Logistics were challenging: For the 2000 expedition, they transported trucks, tools, tents, five tons of plaster, 600 pounds of water and four months' worth of other supplies.

Sereno's research and field expeditions were funded by the National Geographic Society and the Whitten-Newman Foundation.

###

More information on the crocs is available at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091119-dinosaurs-crocodiles-missions.html.

The scientific paper can be accessed at:
http://pensoftonline.net/zookeys/index.php/journal/index

The NGC documentary "When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs" airs Nov. 21 as part of the Channel's second annual Expedition Week.

National Geographic Adventure Magazine Names 2009's Adventurers of the Year

2009-11-12

WASHINGTON (Nov. 12, 2009)--National Geographic Adventure magazine has selected 16 individuals as 2009's Adventurers of the Year, recognizing extraordinary achievements in exploration, conservation, action sports and humanitarian work. The honorees are featured in the December 2009/January 2010 "Best of Adventure" issue of the magazine (on newsstands Nov. 24). A robust and interactive Best of Adventure Web portal with more than 100 pages of content also highlights the 2009 Adventurer of the Year honorees with in-depth feature profiles, exhilarating videos and photo galleries. This year, for the first time, readers can cast a vote online for the honoree they believe best embodies the spirit of adventure. The winner will receive the first-ever "Adventurer of the Year: Readers' Choice Award." Voting, at www.ngadventure.com, begins today and ends Jan. 15, 2010. The Readers' Choice winner will be announced online on Jan. 19, 2010.

A group of 30 explorers, scientists, journalists and luminaries in the world of adventure served on an advisory board for the nomination of this year's top adventurers. The class of 2009 includes a BASE jumper, military veterans, an explorer, road trippers, a surfer, an astronaut, an ultra runner, an educator, a filmmaker and a scientist. They are:

-Khadija Bahram, supported by the aid organization International Rescue Committee, guided an educational program that stretches across five provinces in war-torn Afghanistan reaching more than 10,000 pupils, mostly girls, as well as disabled children.
-Stephen Bouey and Steven Shoppman crossed 69 countries and racked up more than 77,000 miles during a two-and-a-half-year road trip that circumnavigated the globe by road.
-Maya Gabeira, the only sponsored female big-wave surfer in the world, surfed the largest wave by a woman ever, landing a 45-footer at South Africa's Dungeons break.
-John Grunsfeld, known as NASA's "Hubble Repairman," braved hurtling space debris to pull off the repair to end all repairs: Working at zero gravity some 350 miles above the surface of the Earth, the astronaut restored sight to a half-blind Hubble.
-Marc Hoffmeister, an injured Iraq veteran, organized a team of climbers, including his wife, Gayle Hoffmeister, his friend, Bob Haines, and injured vets Jon Kuniholm, Matt Nyman and David Shebib, to attempt the dangerous West Buttress route of Denali in Alaska.
-Albert Yu-Min Lin organized a high-risk, high-stakes project into Mongolia's "Forbidden Zone" to search for the lost tomb of Genghis Kahn, using state-of-the art, cutting-edge mapping technologies.
-Dean Potter recorded the longest BASE jump ever -- 2 minutes and 50 seconds -- while wearing a wingsuit that allowed him to cover some 9,000 vertical feet and nearly four horizontal miles in distance.
-Louie Psihoyos assembled an "Ocean's 11"-esque crew to expose and end the annual slaughter of hundreds of dolphins for meat in Taiji, Japan, a story told in the award-winning film "The Cove."
-Diane Van Deren, survivor of a successful lobectomy, became the first and only woman to complete the Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 430-mile run across frozen tundra in the dead of winter.
-Katey Walter Anthony mounted an expedition to Siberia to seek out and measure beds of thawing permafrost -- a major source of methane gas, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than CO2, yet is not factored into most climate change models.

The National Geographic Adventure Adventurers of the Year feature is presented and sponsored by South African Tourism, South African Airways and Budweiser American Ale.

About National Geographic Adventure
National Geographic Adventure, winner of four National Magazine Awards, is the fastest-growing magazine in the outdoor category and the ultimate guide to the adventure lifestyle. Published eight times a year, with a rate base of 625,000, National Geographic Adventure has
2.8 million readers. It is available by subscription (800-NGS-LINE) and on newsstands in the United States ($4.99) and Canada ($6.99). Its editorial mission supports National Geographic's mission to inspire people to care about the planet. The magazine's Web site is www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure.

Young talent recognized in global photography competition

2009-11-12

Airbus rewards young talent with the announcement of the winners of its international biodiversity photography competition, "See the Bigger Picture." Eight youngsters were chosen from 2,597 entries from 99 countries and took inspiration from surrounding nature for their unique shots.

The international competition, launched in July through a partnership between Airbus, National Geographic and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), part of the United Nations Environment Program, encouraged young people to engage in nature and consider the global loss of biodiversity. The competition was developed as part of Airbus' support for The Green Wave, a youth engagement program of the CBD to encourage young people to learn about the complexity of life on earth and its role in their future.

The winning images were captured by budding photographers from countries as widespread as Canada, Pakistan, Kenya and Estonia, and though divided by geography, all entrants showed a common love of photography, a passion for their natural environment and concern for their futures. Children of Airbus employees were also encouraged to enter and three internal prize winners were selected alongside the five global winners. A further 20 young people were awarded honorable mentions for their entries.

The eight talented winners will receive a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of National Geographic in December. The winners are Anthony Avellano, 12, from La Crescenta, California., USA; Chad Nelson, 12, from Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic; Alex Marttunen, 11, from Vantaa, Finland; Clemence Bonnefous, 8, from Tournefeuille, France; Vinzent Raintung, 8, from Halstenbek, Germany; Julia Kresse, 15, from Jork, Germany; Patryk Majchrzak, 16, from Ostrow Wielkopolski, Poland; Prerona Kundu, 11, from Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

Commenting on the competition, Tom Enders, CEO and president, Airbus, said: "The standard of entries from every corner of the world has been extremely impressive and a great reminder of the variety of living species we have around us. At Airbus, we are working with the CBD and using our global outreach to raise awareness of the need to preserve the variety of life on earth. Acknowledging our responsibility for the world of tomorrow, we are relentlessly pursuing eco-efficiency through innovative technologies, processes and products."

Executive Secretary of the CBD, Ahmed Djoghlaf, said: "We are delighted Airbus and National Geographic are working with us to inspire the next generation about the importance of protecting the rich biodiversity of the world we live in. This competition is helping to deliver that commitment, engaging and educating today's children in the task of safeguarding the planet."

The world is losing biodiversity at an ever-increasing rate as a result of human activity. "This is a global problem that needs to be addressed today if we want to retain the diversity of the natural world for the generations of tomorrow. It is about the food that we eat and the air that we breathe," said See The Bigger Picture ambassador and world-renowned National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore.
Sartore was a member of a global panel of judges who were impressed by the range of subjects that engaged the entrants. Photographs featuring insects, animals, plants and landscapes were submitted by photographers as young as 6 years old.

To view the winning entries and learn more about how to get involved in The Green Wave, visit www.seethebiggerpicture.org. A gallery of the winning photographs can also be viewed at the ftp site http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/see_bigger_picture.

username: press | password: press

-- ends -

Notes to editors

"See The Bigger Picture" honorable mentions:
Afton Carpenter, 14, Gilbert, Arizona, USA
Julian Kiesel, 12, Nyack, New York, USA
Samantha Shapiro, 14, Chappaqua, New York, USA
Alex Sorensen, 14, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Joshua Hartmann, 12, S. Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Chaitra Godbole, 14, Pune, India
Arjun Shankar, 16, Chennai, India
Sachin Vijayan, 13, Thodupuzha, India
Vince Ellison B. Leyeza, 11, Laguna, Philippines
Eleanor Bennett, 13, Stockport, United Kingdom
Malik Babi, 6, Beauzelle, France
Lénaїg Allain-Le Drogo, 12, Saint Luce Sur Loire, France
Richard Guerre, 9, Blagnac, France
Zoe Hamelin, 16, Paris, France
Diego Adrados, 13, Tarifa, Spain
Sara Cuenca Uñac, 13, Alicante, Spain
Mariló Moreno Ruz, 15, Cádiz, Spain
Jonas Harms, 16, Norderstedt, Germany
Marvin Pulter, 14, Germany
Tobias Abrahamsen, 16, Sarpsborg, Norway

Competition statistics:
Total of 2,597 entries from 99 countries. This includes 247 entries from children of Airbus employees in 6 countries.
Over half of the photographs taken were of land-dwelling animals, and the greatest proportion of these were insects.
Some children experimented with underwater shots requiring a high level of skill.
Just over 40% of entrants took photographs at home, showing awareness that biodiversity can be found in our own back yard.

The Green Wave:
The Green Wave is a global biodiversity campaign to educate children and youth about biodiversity.
The CBD is a United Nations treaty promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity
2010 is the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity. On May 22, 2010 (The International Day of Biodiversity), as part of The Green Wave initiative, young people are invited to plant a tree at 10 a.m. to celebrate biodiversity. This will create a wave of tree planting as the activity passes through each time zone across the world.
Photos and stories from the moment can then be uploaded to The Green Wave website to create a virtual wave on the Internet
Visit http://greenwave.cbd.int.

Airbus specific notes:
Airbus believes that growth in air travel is a global need and that the essential social and economic benefits derived from a more connected world can still be unlocked and deliver a greener world, if everybody plays their part
Airbus acknowledges the 2% that aviation contributes to global man-made CO2 emissions, but believes that it also has a responsibility to support others in tackling the remaining 98% of CO2 emissions. Deforestation alone, for example, generates nearly 20% of man-made CO2, so Airbus is working with the CBD, and using its global outreach to raise awareness of the importance of the need to preserve the variety of life on earth
This is why it has committed to support the CBD's The Green Wave initiative

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SIGNS ON AS SPONSOR OF 9TH WORLD WILDERNESS CONGRESS AND WiLD SPEAK

2009-11-05

WASHINGTON (Nov. 5, 2009)--National Geographic announced today its sponsorship of WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress, and the accompanying four-day conservation communications symposium, WiLD SPEAK. WiLD SPEAK, organized by the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), provides a forum for media professionals to discuss environmental issues and themes, share strategies and technologies, and explore how their work can raise awareness and realize conservation objectives. WiLD SPEAK will take place Nov. 9-12, 2009, during WILD9, which will run from Nov. 6-13 in Mérida, Mexico.

Throughout its 121-year history, National Geographic has encouraged conservation of natural resources and raised public awareness of the importance of natural places, the plants and wildlife that inhabit them and the environmental problems that threaten them. In the past four years, 54 articles in National Geographic magazine have been photographed by iLCP members. Photographers whose work has appeared in the magazine and who are scheduled to present at WiLD SPEAK include Michael Nichols, Brian Skerry, Paul Nicklen, Steve Winters, Tim Laman, Christian Ziegler, Frans Lanting, Jack Dykinga, Tom Peschak, Klaus Nigge and James Balog.

Tim Kelly, president of National Geographic Global Media and president/CEO of National Geographic Ventures, and Frank Biasi, director, conservation and special projects, National Geographic Maps, will speak at WILD9.

"We are excited to be part of WILD9 -- a vital forum that is closely aligned to our own mission to inspire people to care about the planet," said Kelly. "It speaks to our ongoing commitment to environmental storytelling across all of our media platforms. We constantly challenge ourselves to take these kinds of stories and find fresh ways to share them with our many audiences. It's an honor to have supported some of the conservation photography showcased at WILD9 and WiLD SPEAK, and we look forward to future collaborations with iLCP."

"This year's congress greatly expands our focus on the visual and written media professions as catalysts and influencers to raise awareness of environmental issues and on their role in achieving conservation outcomes," said WILD Foundation President Vance Martin. "National Geographic is an ideal sponsor of WILD9 by virtue of its commitment to conserving nature and traditional communities, and success in bringing issues, emotion and information to audiences regarding the beauty and fragility of our planet."

WILD9's principal theme is the key role that wilderness conservation plays in mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity and other ecosystem services critical to human well-being.

Please send requests for images to media contacts below.

WILD9 is a partnership between The WILD Foundation and Unidos para la Conservación and relies on the support and participation of many partner organizations.

The National Geographic Society (www.nationalgeographic.com) The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. National Geographic reflects the world through its magazines, television programs, films, music and radio, books, DVDs, maps, exhibitions, live events, school publishing programs, interactive media and merchandise. National Geographic magazine, the Society's official journal, published in English and 32 local-language editions, is read by more than 35 million people each month. The National Geographic Channel reaches 310 million households in 34 languages in 165 countries. National Geographic Digital Media receives more than 13 million visitors a month. National Geographic has funded more than 9,200 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geography literacy.

iLCP (www.ilcp.com) Its mission is to further environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography. iLCP is a project-driven organization, with a vision to translate conservation science into compelling visual messages targeted to specific audiences. iLCP works with leading scientists, policy makers, government leaders and conservation groups to produce the highest-quality documentary images of both the beauty and wonder of the natural world and the challenges facing it. From poaching to global warming, from habitat loss to cultural erosion, from sustainability to biological corridors, the work of conservation photographers covers the range of threats to biodiversity and is a critical component in the conservation toolbox.

The WILD Foundation (www.wild.org) Founded in 1974, WILD is the only international organization dedicated entirely and explicitly to wilderness protection around the world. WILD works to protect the planet's last wild places and the wildlife and people who depend upon them, because wilderness areas provide essential social, spiritual, biological and economic benefits. We believe that intact wilderness areas are an essential core element of a healthy modern society.

Unidos para la Conservación (www.unidosparalaconservacion.org) Founded in 1992, Unidos is a nonprofit Mexican conservation organization that has actively promoted the concept of wilderness conservation in Mexico. Its working strategy combines the establishment of alliances with government, nonprofit and corporate partners with the promotion of a conservation culture through publications and films in a search of conservation solutions through specific action.

THE WORLD IS BLUE: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One

2009-10-08

WASHINGTON (Oct. 8, 2009)--In her latest book, published by National Geographic, world-famous marine scientist Sylvia Earle, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, tells how 50 years of destructive -- and ever increasing -- oceanic change is threatening the very existence of life on Earth.

In THE WORLD IS BLUE: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One (National Geographic Books; ISBN: 978-1-4262-0541-5; Sept. 15, 2009; $26; hardcover), Earle portrays a global ecosystem on the brink of irreversible environmental crisis unless we act immediately. Time is running out, she warns, and nowhere is this clearer than in the seas, which cover three-quarters of the planet's surface -- a vast, unexplored water world upon which every living thing depends.

Weaving together anecdotes of her years of ocean exploration with the latest findings about the state of the seas, Earle shows how, since the mid-20th century, we've done untold damage to a vital system that has evolved over 3.8 billion years. For millennia the sea has seemed like an inexhaustible resource, but overexploitation has driven many species to the edge of extinction. Destructive and wasteful fishing techniques, pollution and global warming threaten everything from tiny but indispensable microorganisms to magnificent creatures like whales, tuna and swordfish.

-In the past 50 years, hundreds of millions of tons of ocean wildlife have been removed from the sea, while hundreds of millions of tons of waste have been poured into it.

-Ninety-five percent of some species, including bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, American eel and certain sharks have been killed.

-Destructive fishing techniques -- trawls, longlines, rockhopping dredges -- not only continue to take too much, they have destroyed habitats and killed millions of tons of animals that are simply discarded. Each year, industrial fishing wantonly kills hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, seabirds and turtles and hundreds of millions of fish.

-Half the world's shallow coral reefs are gone or in a state of serious decline. In much of the Caribbean, 80 percent are dead. Deep coral reefs, thousands of years old, are being destroyed by new deep trawling technologies.

-More than 400 oxygen-deprived "dead zones" have formed in coastal areas in recent decades, and the number is increasing, reflecting changes in ocean chemistry.

-The ocean's pH is changing as a result of so much carbon being released into the atmosphere, causing seas to become acidic and corrosive.

"What is most troubling, perhaps," writes Earle, "is the profound, widespread ignorance about the ocean and its vital importance to everyone, everywhere, all the time. It is not just the fact that less than 5 percent of the ocean has been seen, let alone explored. Even what is known to scientists is not widely appreciated by the public, and certainly not by most policymaking officials."

Fortunately, we have not yet passed the point of no return in saving this vital resource. In this persuasive and passionate book, Earle offers solutions, actions we can take now to stem or reverse the damage before it's too late, because what we do -- or fail to do -- in the next 10 years, she says, may well resonate for the next 10,000.

The ultimate goal, Earle argues, is to find responsible, renewable, sustainable strategies that will restore the health of our blue world. These include smart aquaculture and smart seafood choices; plans of action to protect biodiversity and to mitigate and recover from the impacts of climate change, new technologies to map, photograph and explore the 95 percent of the ocean we have yet to see; and -- Earle's wish -- a global network of marine protected areas, "hope spots large enough to save the ocean, the blue heart of the planet." At present, less than 1 percent of the total area of the sea is protected.

"My wish is a big wish, but if we can make it happen, it truly can change the world and help ensure the survival of what is actually my favorite species, human beings," Earle writes.

About the Author
Called "Her Deepness" by The New Yorker and The New York Times and a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer. She is leader of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, chair of the Advisory Councils for the Harte Research Institute and for the Ocean in Google Earth. Earle is a 2009 recipient of the coveted TED Prize for her proposal to establish a global network of marine protected areas. She has authored more than 175 publications and lectured in over 70 countries.

THE JASON PROJECT LAUNCHES ENERGY CURRICULUM

2009-10-01

ASHBURN, Va. (Oct. 1, 2009)--A new science curriculum unit from The JASON Project is enabling students to explore one of society's most riveting and important issues -- energy -- in a new distribution format featuring print-on-demand and other solutions for 21st-century classrooms.

"Operation: Infinite Potential" is the third unit in JASON's new line of science curricula, following the award-winning ecology and weather units. Each unit fully integrates digital and print content into inquiry-based instruction. Using "Operation: Infinite Potential"'s research articles, hands-on labs, field assignments, videos, computer games and other multimedia, students work side-by-side with leading scientists to investigate and analyze emerging technologies designed to meet the needs of an energy-hungry planet.

For the first time, JASON is offering users the flexibility of free downloading and printing of all online Student and Teacher Editions in the new curriculum line. Individual chapters of PDF-formatted pages or the entire books may be printed in color or black and white. JASON is continuing to offer complete curriculum units, with all interactives and multimedia, free online. Print editions, including a DVD with up to two hours of video, are available for purchase.

"Teachers are faced with the need to become even more innovative, especially in these economic times, and JASON is helping them keep pace by providing world-class resources free online," said Caleb M. Schutz, president of The JASON Project. "This is important to educators, administrators and parents as well as our partners. Now every student, regardless of circumstances, has access to free science curriculum that is nationally recognized for excellence."

"Operation: Infinite Potential" was developed in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Shell, the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and the National Geographic Society. The unit provides five to nine weeks of classroom material with suggested lesson plans, extensions, interdisciplinary connections and teacher resources.

"NOAA is pleased to be partnering with The JASON Project to introduce students and teachers to real-world examples of the science taught in this new science curriculum," said Louisa Koch, director of education for NOAA. "Space weather and tsunamis are exciting ways to learn about energy. NOAA's vision is 'an informed society that uses a comprehensive understanding of the role of the ocean, coasts and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make the best social and economic decisions.' Our ongoing partnership with The JASON Project helps us make progress toward achieving that vision."

"Shell is very excited to partner with The JASON Project to provide such a powerful tool to teachers and students," said Serge Giacomo, head of Shell International Corporate Identity. "Today we are challenged with diminishing conventional oil and gas supplies, increasing demand for energy and growing levels of CO2. Shell recognizes that the 'Operation: Infinite Potential' project exemplifies the types of critical technologies that teachers and students must rely upon to help transition to a new energy future."

"For the United States to remain technologically competitive in the 21st century, it is essential that scientists and engineers team with educators to inspire youth, provide tools and materials for K-12 science and math programs, and create a learning environment that prepares today's students to be tomorrow's researchers," said NETL director Carl Bauer. "NETL is delighted to work with The JASON Project to meet these important goals."

"Oak Ridge National Laboratory's participation in the JASON energy curriculum unit was a tremendous success for everyone involved," said Thomas Zacharia, ORNL deputy laboratory director for science and technology. "'Operation: Infinite Potential' offers students a valuable and innovative educational experience. We look forward to working again soon with JASON and the other partners on this project."

JASON's digital and print resources are designed for grades 5-8 and used by teachers throughout K-12 for differentiated instruction or individual learning plans. All student resources are aligned to state science standards and designed for use with JASON's online assessment tools. When combined with teacher resources for lesson planning and classroom management -- and comprehensive professional development -- JASON provides a complete instructional solution that couples the power of digital learning with the ease-of-use of textbooks.

JASON's theory of education is based on lighting the spark of inspiration through sustained connections with "great explorers and great events" in rigorous curricula. Its new curriculum line -- launched in 2007 -- brings compelling scientists and cutting-edge research to life, and has garnered multiple awards:

-CODiE Award: Best Science Instructional Solution (2009) for "Operation: Resilient Planet," JASON's ecology unit, presented by the Software & Information Industry Association
-CODiE Finalist: Best Education Solution and Best Online Instructional Solution (2009) for "Operation: Resilient Planet"
-Distinguished Achievement Award in the category of Best Educational Toys and Games (2009) for "Operation: Resilient Planet" video game from the Association of Educational Publishers
-Award of Excellence (2008) for "Operation: Monster Storms" weather curriculum from Tech & Learning magazine
-CODiE Award: Best Online Instructional Solution (2008) for "Operation: Monster Storms"
-CODiE Finalist: Best Science Instructional Solution (2008) for "Operation: Monster Storms"

Visit www.jason.org to access JASON's free online science curricula.

About The JASON Project
A nonprofit subsidiary of National Geographic Society, JASON works with NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and other leading organizations to develop inquiry-based science curricula and professional development. JASON was founded in 1989 by Dr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence best known for his discovery of RMS Titanic and who today serves as JASON's chairman and chief scientist.

MIKE FAY TAKES ON THE REDWOODS

2009-09-15

WASHINGTON (Sept. 15, 2009)—The man who walked 2,000 miles through African wilderness has taken on a new challenge: the American redwoods. Mike Fay, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and a conservationist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, has completed the first comprehensive transect of the entire range of the coast redwood tree — from Big Sur in southern California north to the last known redwood, just over the Oregon border.

"I've been walking in forests for 40 years," said Fay. "Never could I have imagined a woods as grand as this."

Over the 1,800-mile, 333-day transect, Fay exhaustively documented the forests' wildlife, plant life and the condition of forests and streams. He talked to loggers, foresters, biologists, environmentalists, local business owners and timber company executives, all of them dependent on the forests.

More importantly, he witnessed the aftermath of the cutting of at least 95 percent of the original growth in the most wood-laden forest on earth. Fay spent most days on the transect pushing past gigantic stumps, through weedy stands of small trees amid crumbling road systems, and across rivers choked with gravel and silt whose fisheries had collapsed.

"The devastation I've heard about was real," Fay said. "You don't fathom what clear-cutting means until you see it day after day. The thousands of ancient stumps are still there, so you can imagine the forest as it once was."

The transect is featured in the cover story of the October 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine and in a film, "EXPLORER: Climbing Redwood Giants," airing at 10 p.m. ET/PT Tuesday, Sept. 29, on the National Geographic Channel.

Nearly all of the nation's original redwood growth has been cut down, victim of an industry that sprang up soon after the California Gold Rush, starting in 1848, when eastern businessmen saw gold in the reddish, straight-grained, rot-resistant wood. The San Francisco fire of 1906 further fueled the redwood industry, resulting from the urgent demand for timber to rebuild the devastated city.

In the years that followed, timber barons cheaply acquired thousands of acres of federal lands in the redwood range, beginning an era of corporate lumbering that continues today. By the early 1950s mills were cutting more than a billion board feet of redwood lumber a year.

Of the 1.6 million acres of remaining redwood forest today, 34 percent is owned by three companies, 21 percent by the state of California and the federal government, and the rest by smallholders. Less than 5 percent of the roughly 2 million acres of ancient forest remains. Besides logging, redwoods today face other threats: urban development, population growth and climate change.

"The battle to save the redwoods has already been fought, and look, we're left with table scraps," said Steve Sillett, a forest scientist at Humboldt State University, whose research is funded by National Geographic, Save the Redwoods League and the National Science Foundation. "The challenge now is understanding how to improve management on the 95 percent of the redwood landscape that's just starting to grow."

Sillett, who has spent more time high in the redwood canopy than anyone, has helped discover an entire ecosystem living there. At those lofty heights, thickets of berry bushes, ferns and other conifers rise from dense mats of soil that are perched on broad limbs or in trunk forks.

After coring and measuring two dozen trees — ranging from 95 feet to 370 feet tall — from the canopy down, Sillett has found that the redwood's annual rate of wood production increases with age for at least 1,500 years. Sillett found that the older the trees get, the more high-quality, rot-resistant heartwood they put on.

Thanks to their phenomenal growth, resistance to disease, insects and rot, and incredibly long lives, redwood forests are the best of all forests at capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking away the carbon in their wood, scientists have found.

All along the redwood range, Fay met land owners, ranchers, foresters and loggers who had discovered a new way of managing the forests. Fay believes this system — which brings vigor back to the ecosystem while keeping people in business — can serve as a blueprint not only for the redwoods but for forests around the world. Their desire to make the forest a sustainable resource, not merely a supplier of lumber, is a principle that should be applied around the world, he says.

In brief, these veteran foresters are carrying out single-tree selection. Every 10 or 15 years, they take about a third of the timber in a stand, going for the least robust trees — for instance, ones that are deformed or have broken tops. This creates more open space, allowing the remaining trees to get a greater share of the sunlight, which speeds their growth. Every year the amount and quality of the standing wood increase, and because regeneration happens gradually, the process can proceed for centuries. The advantages are twofold: short-term income and a larger payback over the long term.

The redwood transect, supported by National Geographic, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the Redwoods League, represents renewal of a historic partnership. In 1917 a group of prominent and passionate conservationists traveled to northern California to inspect the fabled redwoods groves. The men were appalled at the vast destruction of redwood forests along the newly completed coastal Highway 101 running north of San Francisco into Oregon. The group included Henry Fairfield Osborn, director of the New York Zoological Society (forerunner of the Wildlife Conservation Society); Franklin K. Lane, U.S. secretary of the interior; Stephen Mather, director of the National Park Service; and Gilbert H. Grosvenor, young editor of National Geographic magazine. As a result of this trip to the groves, Save the Redwoods League was founded in 1918 and formally incorporated in San Francisco in 1919. National Geographic went on to advocate for the redwoods in its pages.

In an essay in the October 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine, Fay calls for a White House conservation conference, a century after President Teddy Roosevelt brought together governors, Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and members of professional societies for such an assembly. "We need to generalize this simple notion: Rebuild our natural capital thoughtfully and reap the benefits," Fay writes. "... We can — and must — do this not just with our forests and wildlife but also with the fish in our oceans and streams, the soils on our farms, and the grass in our pastures. The redwoods can show us the way."

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National Geographic Adventure and National Geographic Traveler magazines will feature redwoods in their October 2009 issues. For more information: www.nationalgeographic.com/redwoods
For photographs or footage, contact Barbara Moffet, bmoffet@ngs.org.

SCALE THE WORLD'S TALLEST TREES IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL'S EXPLORER: CLIMBING REDWOOD GIANTS AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE'S OCTOBER COVER STORY, "THE TALLEST TREES"

2009-09-15

They are living giants — among Earth's largest and longest-lived trees. Some tower higher than 350 feet, or taller than the Statue of Liberty; some may have been seedlings when Jesus was born. These natural legends house secret-garden worlds high up in their canopies and shroud centuries-old mysteries.

This fall, National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Channel (NGC) journey deep into the great redwood forests on the American West Coast for an illuminating look at these magnificent wonders — from the outermost edges of the forest to the tip of a single tree's crown. For the first time, we'll size up the health and future of the redwood range on foot and scale the trees' hulking limbs 30 stories up to glimpse rich canopy ecosystems in the clouds. Then, we'll see how state-of-the-art digital technology provides a never-before-seen perspective of a 300-foot tall titan.

The redwood adventure is described in the cover story of the October issue of National Geographic magazine and in NGC's Explorer: Climbing Redwood Giants, premiering Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. More information can be found at www.nationalgeographic.com/redwoods

In 2007-2008, conservationist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay set out to walk the entire redwood range to study how forestry management is affecting the trees' survival. Both the magazine cover article and film illuminate Fay and his hiking partner's unprecedented 333-day, 1,800-mile trek from Big Sur north to southern Oregon. "There's nothing that compares to the redwood," says Fay in the film. "When you walk through one of the ancient groves of redwoods, you get a feeling like no other forest can give you."

Over the course of their grueling journey, Fay became convinced that California could be at the forefront of a new philosophy of forestry, one that holds the promise not just of sustainable logging but of some forest recovery.

In the National Geographic magazine cover article, author Joel Bourne describes the complicated logging history of the redwood range and reveals the forestry management techniques that may lead toward Fay's vision of redwood forests managed not only for human benefit but also with an eye to bringing back the rich diversity of ecosystems that once flourished throughout the redwood range.

Graphics show how canopy gardens grow, and Michael "Nick" Nichols' photographs of the forests, their wildlife and the communities around them bring home the beauty of this unique American habitat. The issue includes a five-page foldout poster of Nichols' full-length portrait of a 300-foot tree.

Juxtaposed with the challenges of Fay's 11-month trek through clear-cuts, second-growth forest, dense underbrush and soaring cathedral-like old-growth stands, Explorer: Climbing Redwood Giants highlights the work of forest scientist Steve Sillett of Humboldt State University ― the first scientist to climb into redwood canopies and pioneer studies of their rich canopy ecosystems. Hear about his "mind-blowing" findings in the canopy during his extensive eight-year research, including immense tree limbs that support three-foot-thick mats of canopy soil, huckleberry bushes with fruit and even wandering salamanders.

Sillett's painstaking cataloging and measurement of trees by hand is complemented by a new use of lidar (light detection and ranging) technology, which allows him to pinpoint trees from airplane surveys — prompting discoveries of tall trees hidden on slopes or valleys. Viewers are taken up into the trees to experience the mystery and grandeur of the canopy and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how National Geographic photographer Nick Nichols captured a unique perspective of a 300-foot tall tree. Nichols used state-of-the-art digital technology and human ingenuity to rig cameras that smoothly traveled from the crown of the tree to its base.

With insight from Fay's extreme expedition and Sillett's detailed research, as well as that of foresters practicing forest management, National Geographic celebrates the majesty of the remaining ancient giants and shines a light on what the future holds for our redwood forests.

"If you're lucky enough to get up into the crowns of one these trees, it puts your own insignificant existence in perspective," says Sillett in the film. "It makes you realize that there's something much greater than yourself."

Together, National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Channel reach more than 350 million people worldwide.

Explorer: Climbing Redwood Giants is produced by National Geographic Television for the National Geographic Channel. For National Geographic Television, executive producer is Jonathan Halperin, series producer is Max Salomon and producer/directors are John Rubin and James Donald. For the National Geographic Channel executive producer is Kathleen Cromley, senior vice president of production is Juliet Blake and executive vice president of content is Steve Burns.

For more information, visit natgeotv.com/explorer.

# # #

About National Geographic magazine
Long recognized for outstanding photojournalism, award-winning National Geographic magazine offers in-depth reporting on science, world cultures, archaeology, paleontology, adventure and the environment to inspire readers to care about the planet. Reaching more than 35 million readers a month, the magazine is the official journal of the National Geographic Society, founded in 1888. Sale of the magazine supports the exploration and research work of the Society, one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Published in English and 31 local-language editions, the magazine is available on newsstands or can be ordered by calling (800) NGS-LINE or visiting its Web site at www.ngm.com.

National Geographic Channel
Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel (NGC) is a joint venture between National Geographic Ventures (NGV) and Fox Cable Networks (FCN). Since launching in January 2001, NGC initially earned some of the fastest distribution growth in the history of cable and more recently the fastest ratings growth in television. The network celebrated its fifth anniversary January 2006 with the launch of NGC HD which provides the spectacular imagery that National Geographic is known for in stunning high-definition. NGC has carriage with all of the nation's major cable and satellite television providers, making it currently available in nearly 70 million homes. For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com.

THREE WINNERS NAMED IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S GEOTOURISM CHALLENGE 2009

2009-09-09

WASHINGTON (Sept. 9, 2009)—A "carbon neutral" airline in Costa Rica, a "voluntourism" program in rural Cambodia supporting local education, and a free community-mapping Web site in Spain have taken top honors in the second Geotourism Challenge, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Ashoka's Changemakers.

The winners practice and advance the growing trend of geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 10 finalists out of 611 original entries from 81 countries. Entries for "Geotourism Challenge 2009: Power of Place" almost doubled over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

All three cutting-edge, innovative winners provide visitors with the opportunity to participate in sustainable travel; each winner will receive a $5,000 prize:

Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon-neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula. To date, Nature Air has compensated for nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the protection of more than 500 acres. In addition, Nature Air recently helped develop Costa Rica's first alternative fueling station through its wholly owned fueling company, Aerotica. Nature Air fuels all ground equipment and vehicles with bio-diesel (a mix of recycled vegetable and cooking oils) collected from employees and restaurants.
PEPY ("Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself") is Cambodia's Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, providing adventure bike tours and on-site volunteer projects, like building rainwater collection units. All participants make donations to enhance education in impoverished rural Cambodia, where PEPY is based. It supports education for more than 1,700 families in 12 villages and six schools in rural Siem Reap Province, about 40 miles (65 km) from the city of Siem Reap, site of the Angkor temples.
Wikiloc Community Maps in Girona, Spain, created by a software engineer with a passion for travel, is built on information — including maps, photos and video — submitted to offer honest impressions about destinations. Wikiloc is a great source of outdoor activities, from mountain biking to ballooning. The site also promotes thematic activities like gastronomic routes, sightseeing urban trails and walks in archaeological areas. Created in 2006, the site is already translated in 14 languages, and more than 65,000 trails are included.

"We're excited to support three new innovators stretching the possibilities of geotourism," said Charlie Brown, Changemakers' executive director. "These winners are pushing us closer to realizing and sustaining a kind of travel that will enrich cultures and environments across the globe."

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, director of National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations, said, "The winners are outstanding examples of geotourism practices that extend to good destination stewardship. They are committed to conserving and enhancing the quality of their locales while benefiting local people and providing visitors with authentic experiences. Geotourism is no flash in the pan: Travelers around the globe are seeking it out in both rural and urban settings. We're delighted to showcase the winners and runners-up who are leading the way."

The seven Geotourism Challenge runners-up:

Mongolia's Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through noncommercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people.
Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city's abandoned ravines into a much-respected public park and nature exploratory center.
Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building.
Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, United States, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects in each of the cities where it operates.
RiverIndia.com's Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips, Arunachal Pradesh, India, help protect India's Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions.
Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area.
Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda's Route of Freedom, Rua Bom Jesus, Brazil, commemorates the "Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil" with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley.

For more details about the innovative work of all 10 finalists, go to the Geotourism Challenge 2009 website at www.changemakers.net/geotourismchallenge.

A panel of expert judges selected the 10 finalists in July, while the public chose the top three winners through online voting during a four-week period this summer, ending Aug. 12. The expert judges were Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, a vice president of the National Geographic Society and editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China.

About Ashoka's Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an "Everyone a Changemaker" world through networking, relationship-building, and the sourcing of funding opportunities.

Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers has created one of the world's most robust laboratories for launching, refining, and scaling ideas for solving the world's most pressing social problems.

About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com. To learn more about the mission and work of the , visit www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/.

For images of the three 2009 Geotourism Challenge winners, visit http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/geotourism_challenge/

username: press
password: press

National Geographic Kids — September 2009

2009-08-27

The Secret of the White Lion -- Exotic and majestic, white lions are beloved by many people around the world. But these big white cats -- merely a color variation of regular lions rather than a separate species -- are controversial. White lions are the result of a rare color gene mutation. Not many lions carry the mutation, and in the wild, white lions are extremely rare. However, breeders interested in the animals' moneymaking potential know how to create more white lions, which is causing concern and debate. White lions continue to exist only because people inbreed close relatives, which can result in serious health problems -- problems that could spread to other captive lions or wild lions they may breed with. Plus: Free white lion pullout poster. Page 14.

Twenty Cool Facts About Money -- National Geographic Kids shares 20 cool things about American money and its history, including: A quarter's edge has 119 grooves; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces approximately 38 million bills a day with a face value of more than $274 billion; if you placed $2.2 million in pennies side-by-side, they'd stretch from New York City to San Francisco; when the first U.S. Mint opened in Philadelphia, it was guarded by a dog the government bought for $3 in 1793; and only two current U.S. bills do not feature presidents -- $100 (founding father Benjamin Franklin) and $10 (Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary). Check out all the fun facts. Page 12.

National Parks Trivia Challenge -- The United States is home to 58 national parks that are visited by more than 61 million people every year. National Geographic Kids tests your national park knowledge with an eight-question, multiple-choice trivia challenge. What funny name is used for the bizarre, totem-pole-shaped rock formations found at Bryce Canyon? According to legend, what Everglades animal did early sailors mistake for a mermaid? What Grand Teton animal would win a 50-yard dash? See how many answers you know. Page 26.

Space Vacation -- Thrill seekers have long traveled the Earth in pursuit of unforgettable vacations. But those who crave the ultimate in extreme adventure will soon be able to leave the Earth behind. National Geographic Kids explores five out-of-this-world vacations that scientists believe will be possible someday. Play zero-gravity laser tag on an orbital resort. Ride an elevator 22,000 miles straight up to space. Take a planetary sightseeing cruise. Scale Mars' Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system. Go beyond our solar system on an alien planet safari. Page 20.

National Geographic Kids, a multitopic, photo-driven magazine for 6- to 14-year-olds, empowers its readers by making it fun to learn about the world. Its numerous industry awards include Periodical of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from the Association of Educational Publishers. Published 10 times a year, National Geographic Kids has a circulation of 1.2 million and is available by subscription for $19.95 a year and on newsstands for $4.99 a copy. Its Web site is at kids.nationalgeographic.com.

National Geographic Announces Fourth Annual International Photography Contest

2009-08-06

WASHINGTON (Aug. 6, 2009)--National Geographic readers around the world are invited to take part in the 2009 National Geographic International Photography Contest. Readers of National Geographic's English-language editions in eight countries as well as readers of 20 of the magazine's international local-language editions are eligible to participate. The international grand-prize winners will receive a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., and their winning entries will be published in all participating editions of National Geographic magazine. Winning entries from each territory will be featured in their local editions of National Geographic magazine.

English-language-edition readers in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom are eligible to enter up to a total of six photographs across three categories: People, Places and Nature. Entries should be submitted electronically to www.ngphotocontest.com. The contest began Wednesday, Aug. 5, and ends Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time (ET). Photos can be black-and-white or color, shot with a digital camera or with conventional film, and must be submitted digitally. Each entry consists of an entry form, a single image and an entry fee. The entry fee is U.S. $12 per photo for entries received before 11:59 p.m. ET Oct. 15, 2009, and $22 per photo for entries received between Oct. 16 and Oct. 31. For details and official contest rules, visit www.ngphotocontest.com. Void where prohibited.

English-language-edition entries will be judged at National Geographic headquarters by a panel of three judges: National Geographic staff photographer Mark Thiessen; design editor of the international editions of National Geographic magazine Darren Smith; and White House photo editor Jenn Poggi. First-place category winners of the English-language-edition competition will win a digital camera kit.

The participating international local-language editions will submit their winning entries in each category to National Geographic headquarters to be judged alongside the winning English-language entries by Thiessen, Smith and Poggi. The judges will announce three international grand-prize winners in December 2009.

"We are thrilled to continue our annual photography contest," said David Griffin, National Geographic's director of photography. "The work we have been seeing in recent years is truly astounding and speaks to the truth that photography is a worldwide, universal language — one that everyone can appreciate and enjoy."

The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.

National Geographic Adventure Survival Guide '09 -- August/September 2009

2009-08-03

On Newsstands August 4, 2009

Eight Black Swans -- When the unexpected happens, it pays to be prepared. For an adventure-style "Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook," National Geographic Adventure came up with eight colossal disasters -- a tsunami hitting the Northwest; the West running dry; an avalanche striking inbounds; megafires burning hotter and longer in the backcountry; being trapped overseas by a pandemic; America's power grid crashing; getting caught in bandit cross fire; the GPS system winking out -- and asked the experts what to do to get out of harm's way. See how any one of these "black swans," low-probability, high-impact events, could happen, and how to survive. Plus: Adventure interviews John Hillcoat, director of "The Road," the end-of-days thriller due in theaters this fall, based on Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Page 56.

One Rogue Wave -- What started as a weekend fishing trip in ideal conditions quickly turned from bad to worse. Already clinging to an overturned boat, seven fishermen watched as the ocean rose up in a way no one could have predicted. For the next 18 hours, adrift in the Atlantic, the men waged a desperate battle against time, hypothermia and the ocean itself. National Geographic Adventure pieces together the story of this survival epic. Page 48.

Going Back In -- Twelve years ago, two strangers formed an unlikely bond during a wilderness course in Wyoming. Then their friendship was cut short by a fatal accident. Actor Andrew McCarthy returns to the scene of the tragedy that changed his life forever. Page 66.

The Wild Bunch -- The National Wild and Scenic Rivers network protects the United States' most pristine waterways -- and its greatest river trips. It's an entire park system that can be explored by boat -- 166 national parks flying under the radar. Paddle in hand, National Geographic Adventure rafts one of the best, Oregon's Rogue River. Plus: Five more not-to-be-missed whitewater rides on the Salmon River (Idaho), Rio Chama (New Mexico), the Kern (California), the Chattooga (Georgia and South Carolina) and the Wolf (Wisconsin). Page 72.

Special Report: Everest Overshadowed -- "Everest season" is the time when all eyes zero in on the world's highest mountain to see what records, hijinks, tragedies and personal bests will ensue. Yet the most striking feature of this Everest season is that the most notable climbing did not happen there. Instead, many of the world's top climbers quietly eschewed Qomolangma's well-trodden routes for desperately hard first ascents on peaks far from the fray. Page 14.

The Big Trip: British Columbia -- The 2010 Winter Olympics will make British Columbia a superstar, but savvy adventurers know the Canadian province has already taken the gold as an outdoors outpost. National Geographic Adventure details an action plan north of the border. Page 40.

*Contact Ethan Fried if you have questions, need additional information or would like to schedule an interview with a National Geographic Adventure expert.

National Geographic Adventure, winner of four National Magazine Awards, is the fastest-growing magazine in the outdoor category and the ultimate guide to the adventure lifestyle. Published eight times a year, with a rate base of 625,000, National Geographic Adventure has 2.5 million readers. It is available by subscription (800-NGS-LINE) and on newsstands in the United States ($4.99) and Canada ($6.99). Its editorial mission supports National Geographic's mission to inspire people to care about the planet. The magazine's Web site is www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure.

FIRST SCRIPTED FEATURE FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION TO AIR OCTOBER 6 ON PBS' EMMY-AWARD® WINNING SERIES NOVA

2009-07-23

WASHINGTON (July 23, 2009)--The president of National Geographic Television (NGT), Michael Rosenfeld, announced today NGT's first scripted drama, "Darwin's Darkest Hour," which has completed principal photography in Canada. World-renowned television production company NGT, nominated this year for 11 Emmys, already has won more than 130 Emmy awards for its factual programming production.

Starring Henry Ian Cusick ("Lost") and Frances O'Connor ("Mansfield Park," "The Importance of Being Earnest," Steven Spielberg's "Artificial Intelligence: AI"), the two-hour drama will air in the U.S. on the PBS signature series NOVA. Scheduled to air Oct. 6, 2009, "Darwin's Darkest Hour" will coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his seminal work "On the Origin of the Species." The film will be distributed internationally by Cinema Management Group (CMG).

"We felt it was important to cast actors who will connect deeply with the roles of Charles and Emma, since we plan to shine a new light on the enigmatic Charles Darwin, showing his vulnerabilities while also making his great insights understandable," Rosenfeld said. "With Cusick, we have found the perfect blend of star power and personal intensity to portray a man who sparked a scientific revolution. O'Connor's natural warmth and on-screen radiance make her ideal for the role of Emma."

In 1858 Charles Darwin received a letter from naturalist Alfred Wallace, explaining his own theory of evolution. This was the trigger event that led to the publication of Darwin's seminal theory on the origin of species.

"NOVA is pleased to work with National Geographic and share the story of one the most important scientific figures in history with PBS audiences nationwide," said Paula S. Apsell, senior executive producer of NOVA and director of the WGBH-Boston Science Unit. "'Darwin's Darkest Hour' will bring to life the compelling human story behind the groundbreaking science -- revealing Darwin's personal struggles that he went through to ultimately launch his brilliant theory."

For "Darwin's Darkest Hour," NGT harnesses the extensive scholarship and massive online resource of the Darwin Correspondence Project to provide a dramatic account of the life of one of the most influential men in the history of science. The meticulously researched and scientifically accurate screenplay was written by U.K. writer John Goldsmith. Former head of the British Writers Guild, Goldsmith has scripted numerous historical dramas including "Victoria and Albert," "David Copperfield," and "Kidnapped!" The script was crafted in consultation with a respected group of Darwin and evolution scholars.

The film is directed by John Bradshaw. Producer is Michael Mahoney. Executive producers are Norman Stephens and John Bredar. Senior executive producer for NOVA is Paula S. Apsell.

Support for "Darwin's Darkest Hour" has come from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which supports documentaries and feature films through its program in public understanding of science and technology and has also funded the Darwin Correspondence Project. The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation also contributed.

In Japan, "Darwin's Darkest Hour" will air on Japanese public television, NHK, under a co-production agreement secured by National Geographic Television International.

About "Darwin's Darkest Hour"
The drama unfolds over the course of roughly two weeks in June and early July of 1858. During this time, Darwin's world seems to disintegrate: His life's work, what he called "his abominable volume," is in danger of being scooped by an unknown; at the same time, one of his children is stricken by scarlet fever and one with diphtheria. Darwin is reeling, with his career and home in tumult. His wife, Emma, is a rock. She tells Charles that she will help him solve the problem but that he has to explain what the letter from Alfred Wallace means and how it impacts his own theory. Although her husband's work challenges her deep Christian faith, they agree to disagree. Through Emma's careful coaxing, we flash back with Charles to his journey and to the evolution of his theory of evolution, learning with Darwin as he figures out what he called "the mystery of mysteries" and come to understand why the letter from Wallace is such a bombshell. In the end, it is the remarkable, erudite Emma, a classically trained pianist who studied with Chopin, who will see Charles through this nightmare, even as one of her children dies of fever. Charles and Emma, along with his colleagues, plot out a path through the crisis, allowing Darwin to proceed with publication of one of history's most influential theories. Never before has a more personal or more accurate account of Darwin's life at this critical juncture been explored.

About National Geographic Television
National Geographic Television (NGT) is the documentary TV production arm of the National Geographic Society (NGS), known around the world for its remarkable visuals and compelling stories. NGS is one of the largest global scientific and educational organizations, supporting field science on every continent and providing NGT with unparalleled access to developing stories around the world. In 1963 NGT broke ground by broadcasting on American network television the first moving pictures from the summit of Everest. Since then, NGT has continued to push technology to its limits to bring great stories to television audiences worldwide. With more than 130 Emmy Awards and nearly 1,000 other industry accolades, NGT programming can be seen globally on the National Geographic Channel, as well as terrestrial and other cable and satellite broadcasters worldwide through international sales by National Geographic Television International, and on U.S. public television stations.

About NOVA
Now in its 36th year of broadcasting, NOVA continues to produce in-depth science programming and upholds a longstanding reputation for providing unprecedented access to critical science stories including the first test tube baby, the eradication of smallpox and the developing branch of theoretical physics, string theory. NOVA is television's most-watched primetime science series; in the U.S. alone, the popular public television series reaches an average of five million viewers weekly. NOVA documentaries regularly reach tens of millions of viewers across the world and are broadcast by over 75 separate channels, covering more than 150 countries. Over the years, the series has garnered almost every industry award multiple times including the Emmy, the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred duPont-Columbia University Award, the television equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. NOVA is produced for PBS by the WGBH Science Unit at WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.

About Cinema Management Group
CMG is a full service foreign sales company founded in 2003 by industry veteran Edward Noeltner. CMG actively licenses worldwide live action feature films with budgets ranging from US$ 2 - 12 million, animated features in the budget range of US$ 10 - 16 million and quality documentaries. During the recent Cannes Film Festival, CMG licensed over 25 international territories on the US$ 5 million budget martial arts feature "Blood and Bone," to be released first quarter 2010 by Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as a half dozen territories on the civil rights drama "American Violet," recently released by Samuel Goldwyn Films. In Cannes CMG also successfully launched the new 3-D Digital animated feature "Khumba," coming off the successful launch of the animated feature "Zambezia," during the AFM and Berlin, having pre-sold that film in over 20 territories. On the documentary front, CMG is representing Cirque du Soleil and The Beatles' documentary feature: "All Together Now," as well as "Against the Tide," narrated by Dustin Hoffman and produced by Moriah Films, the production unit of The Simon Wiesenthal Center. For more information, please consult www.CinemaManagementGroup.com

About Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The New York-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology, economics and the quality of American life. The goal of the public understanding of science and technology program, which supports the use of books, film, radio, television, theater, the Internet and other media to reach a wide non-specialist audience, is to enhance people's lives by providing a better understanding of the increasingly scientific and technological environment in which we live. The Foundation is a major supporter of public television documentaries, docudramas and dramas about science and technology, including acclaimed series such as "The American Experience" and "NOVA scienceNOW," and Emmy- and Peabody-winning shows such as "The Elegant Universe," "DNA," "Forgotten Genius" and "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer." The Foundation also supports six of the nation's leading film schools and screenplay development programs at Sundance, Tribeca, the Hamptons and Film Independent to encourage more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes of scientists, engineers and mathematicians in the popular imagination. Sloan co-funded "The Correspondence of Charles Darwin," a landmark multi-decade effort to publish more than 14,000 letters between Charles Darwin and over 2,000 correspondents around the world.

VOTING OPENS TO SELECT BEST IDEAS AROUND GLOBE FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

2009-07-15

WASHINGTON (July 15, 2009)—Ten of the most innovative, sustainable travel programs around the world have been named finalists in the second annual Geotourism Challenge sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Ashoka's Changemakers. From now through Wednesday, Aug. 12, the public can vote online at www.changemakers.net/geotourismchallenge for the three finalists they consider most cutting-edge in providing visitors with authentic travel experiences, whether in a big city or a remote spot. The three winners will be announced Wednesday, Sept. 9, and each will receive a $5,000 prize.

All the finalists practice and advance geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 611 entries from 81 countries. Entries almost doubled this year over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

A panel of expert judges — Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China — selected the finalists based on their innovation, social impact and sustainability/viability.

Said Maathai, "The entries really address community needs, teach, entertain and are accompanied by a lot of passion. I admire the finalists' enthusiasm and wish them much success."

The 10 finalists are:

Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city's abandoned ravines into a much respected public park and nature exploratory center. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/fr/node/23438)
Mongolia's Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through non-commercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/23485)
Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in southern Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/20613)
Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/24143)
Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects — such as an artist apprenticeship — to benefit local residents. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21933)
RiverIndia.com's Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips help protect India's Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/19044)
Trout Point Lodge, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21375)
PEPY, Cambodia's Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, is where on-site learning projects combine with donations to personally invest visitors in sustaining and enhancing education in Cambodia. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/node/21931)
Wikiloc Community Maps, created by a company in Girona, Spain, are built on information provided by visitors and hosts to offer honest and authentic impressions about destinations.
Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda's Route of Freedom commemorates the "Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil" with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/24996)

"This year's entrants truly demonstrate how tourism is transforming the world at the global and local level," said Charlie Brown, Ashoka's Changemaker's executive director and facilitator of the judging process. "Not only do they provide insights and practical lessons for an effective tourism operation, but they also highlight some of the most important destinations for travelers to visit now."

About Ashoka's Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an "Everyone a Changemaker" world through networking, online competitions and relationship-building. Changemakers creates opportunities for those who want to be at the center of social change by offering competitions that are supported by philanthropic organizations. The competitions and the community connect those who are passionate about change and make ideas come to life. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org or www.changemakers.net.

About National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com. To learn more about the mission and work of the Center for Sustainable Destinations, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/.

National Geographic Adventure Explores Top National Parks

2009-06-16

WASHINGTON (June 16, 2009) -- National Geographic Adventure: June / July 2009 issue on newsstands June 16, 2009.

America's Ultimate National Parks -- The grandest canyon, the hottest desert and the tallest forest -- all storied landscapes protected by America's National Park Service. National Geographic Adventure Editor at Large Robert Earle Howells lays out tips, tricks and detailed action plans for nine of the country's greatest wildlands that are sure to make for an unforgettable summer. Hike the High Sierra Camps of Yosemite; enjoy crowd-free camping on the Grand Canyon's North Rim; wander through groves of virgin deciduous forest and seas of wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains; set up a base camp to explore Death Valley, the hottest, driest, lowest and largest national park in the contiguous United States; embrace true Alaskan backcountry -- think glaciers, coastal forests, tundra and mountain ranges -- at Lake Clark; enjoy heart-stopping scenery and alpine inspiration at Glacier National Park; go on an American safari through the 2-million-plus acres of Yellowstone; stand in awe of the planet's tallest trees in Redwood national and state parks; and feel the sobering power of surf, fog and waves, with gray whales, bald eagles, sea otters and sea lions as companions, in Olympia National Park. Plus: Adventure heads out on the trail with Ken Burns, director of the upcoming PBS series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Page 48.

Cat Fight -- Squeezed for space and targeted by poachers, India's tigers have reached a tipping point. When 22 tigers were discovered missing from Ranthambhore National Park, the forest service denied there was a problem. But deep in the world's most celebrated tiger sanctuary, an unlikely hero has emerged. Adventure Contributing Editor Paul Kvinta tracks the smart, driven, God-fearing vegetarian with Jack Bauer tendencies. Page 60.

The Longevity Expedition -- Dan Buettner, former world-record cyclist and author of the best-selling book " The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest," is traveling the globe gleaning longevity secrets from the world's healthiest humans. One lesson the adventurer didn't expect to learn: Living long may mean staying put -- and planting a garden. Page 76.

More Adventure, Less Money -- The economic crash changed everything -- including the landscape of adventure travel. Now more than ever, outfitters and lodge owners will work to deliver the trip of a lifetime at an affordable price. Play it smart with 10 ways to capitalize on the new economy of adventure. Page 71.

iPhone Travel Apps -- West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro sorts through the more than 2,000 available apps for the travel inclined to find the eight best handheld-helpers that are changing the way travelers interact with the world. Page 22.

*Contact Ethan Fried if you have questions, need additional information or would like to schedule an interview with a National Geographic Adventure expert.

National Geographic Adventure, winner of four National Magazine Awards, is the fastest-growing magazine in the outdoor category and the ultimate guide to the adventure lifestyle. Published eight times a year, with a rate base of 625,000, National Geographic Adventure has 2.5 million readers. It is available by subscription (800-NGS-LINE) and on newsstands in the United States ($4.99) and Canada ($6.99). Its editorial mission supports National Geographic's global mission to inspire people to care about the planet. The magazine's Web site is www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure.

INDIAN DUNES BIOBLITZ RELVEALS PARK'S RICH DIVERSITY

2009-05-15

PORTER, Ind. (May 18, 2009)—After 24 hours of exploration and documentation, the Indiana Dunes BioBlitz has provided a snapshot of the many species that call Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park home. Led by more than 150 scientists from around the country, thousands of amateur explorers, families and schoolchildren from Illinois, Indiana and Michigan conducted an inventory of the plants, bugs and other creatures that inhabit one of the nation's most biologically diverse national parks. The event, from noon Friday, May 15, to noon Saturday, May 16, was presented by National Geographic and the National Park Service in collaboration with Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Chicago Wilderness.

Highlights:

The species count now stands at 1,200. Over the next few months, organizers expect this number to increase significantly as state-of-the-art testing of the collected samples continues.
BioBlitz participants identified several species of mollusks, fungi and beetles that had not previously been documented in the park.
More than 5,000 people of all ages participated in the program during the 24 hours, including more than 2,000 registered school children from the tri-state area (Illinois, Indiana and Michigan) and more than 150 scientists.
The Celebrate Biodiversity Festival that follo-The Celebrate Biodiversity Festival that followed the BioBlitz included several bands, talks, nature walks, live animal demonstrations and other activities. With the tagline "Every Species Counts — Especially You!", the festival focused on sustainability and encouraging the public to do their part to protect the environment.

The BioBlitz was part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom. Participants combed the park, observing and recording as many plant and animal species as possible in 24 hours. Activities included exploring the dunes, catching insects, searching for hidden wildflowers in woodlands, seining fish and other aquatic organisms, and observing and catching bats with nets at night.

"This was a fantastic opportunity for the public to meet the scientists and understand what makes Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore a special place," said Constantine Dillon, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore superintendent. "Despite the rain and thunderstorms, thousands of people came out to help us learn more about the park."

"I was amazed by the energy everyone brought to this event," said John Francis, National Geographic's vice president for research, conservation and exploration. "Like the biologists who thrive on surveying nature, the volunteers and students had an adventure they will never forget — and improved their knowledge of this special place."

The Indiana Dunes BioBlitz is the third in a series of 10 annual BioBlitzes to be hosted by National Geographic and the National Park Service leading up to the Park Service's centennial in 2016. During closing ceremonies Saturday at West Beach, the BioBlitz flag was passed to the deputy superintendent of Florida's Biscayne National Park, where the fourth BioBlitz will take place in spring 2010. Within sight of downtown Miami, yet worlds away, Biscayne protects a rare combination of aquamarine waters, emerald islands and fish-bejeweled coral reefs.

The Indiana Dunes BioBlitz was made possible through the support of foundations, nonprofit organizations and corporations. Foundation and nonprofit supporters include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; The Harold M. and Adeline S. Morrison Family Foundation; Encyclopedia of Life; Friends of Indiana Dunes; and Science Chicago: Life's A Lab. Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) was the leading corporate sponsor of the 2009 BioBlitz. Corporate support was also received from Olympus, Southwest Airlines, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Indiana American Water.

NOTE: Images are available at
http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/bioblitz
User name: press
Password: press

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S 2009 GREENDEX™ SURVEY OF CONSUMERS IN 17 COUNTRIES FINDS INCREASE IN GREEN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR WORLDWIDE

2009-05-11

WASHINGTON—In their second annual survey to measure and monitor consumer behaviors that have an impact on the environment, the National Geographic Society and the international polling firm GlobeScan have found an increase in environmentally friendly consumer behavior in 13 of the 14 countries that were surveyed in both 2008 and 2009. Released today, "Greendex™ 2009: Consumer Choice and the Environment — A Worldwide Tracking Survey" is a comprehensive measure of consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods. Greendex 2009 ranks average consumers in 17 countries — up from 14 in 2008 — according to the environmental impact of their discretionary and nondiscretionary consumption patterns.

Like last year, the top-scoring consumers of 2009 are in the developing economies of India, Brazil and China; American and Canadian consumers again score lowest. Consumers registering the best year-on-year improvement in environmentally sustainable consumer behavior are the Spanish, Germans, French and Australians, while Russians and Mexicans show the smallest increase. Brazilians are the only consumers measured in both 2008 and 2009 to show a decrease in their Greendex score.

Much of the increase in the overall 2009 Greendex scores was due to improvement within the category of housing, where the Greendex measures the energy and resources consumed by people's homes. Changes within the categories of personal transportation, food and consumer goods were mixed, some up, some down. The results show that both cost considerations and environmental concerns were motivators in consumers adopting more environmentally sustainable behavior over the past year.

First conducted in 2008, the Greendex survey was expanded in 2009, with the addition of Argentina, South Korea and Sweden to Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the United States. Seventeen thousand consumers were polled online (1,000 in each country), answering questions that measured their behavior in the areas of housing, transportation, food and consumption of goods. Each respondent earned a score reflecting the environmental impact of his or her consumption patterns within each of these four categories, and four corresponding "sub-indices" were created. Consumers were then assigned an overall Greendex score (a measure of the relative environmental sustainability of their consumption patterns) out of 100, based on their performance within the four sub-indices. By comparing this year's scores with the previous year, changes in environmentally sustainable consumption at both the global level and within countries can be monitored.

Consumption as measured by the Greendex is determined both by the choices consumers actively make — such as repairing rather than replacing items, using cold water to wash laundry, choosing green products rather than environmentally unfriendly ones — and choices that are controlled more by their circumstances — such as the climate they live in or the availability of green products or public transport. The initiative considers both of these types of factors, with 60 percent of the 65-variable index based on choice or discretionary behavior.

Findings
Consumers in all 14 countries surveyed in both 2008 and 2009 show an increase in their Greendex scores this year, except those in Brazil, whose slight decrease dropped them from first to second place.

Greendex Overall Scores

Consumers     2009 2008

Indians (1)            59.5       58.0
Brazilians (2)         57.3       58.6
Chinese (3))          56.7       55.2
Argentineans (4)    54.7       NA
South Koreans (4)  54.6       NA
Mexicans (6)          53.8       52.7
Hungarians (7)      53.3       51.7
Russians (8)           52.0      51.1
Spanish (9)            51.4      48.0
Germans (10)         51.1      48.1
Swedes (10)           51.1      NA
Australians (12)    50.5      47.8
French (13)            49.5       46.5
British (13)            49.4       48.2
Japanese (13)        49.3       47.4
Canadians (16)     47.5       46.3
Americans (17)     43.7       42.4

Not surprisingly, respondents in most countries named the economy as their No. 1 national issue, much more so than in 2008. But the results indicate that economic troubles may have worked to the environment's advantage in a number of instances: Among those who reported that they reduced energy consumption at home over the past year, some 80 percent say that cost was one of the top two reasons they did so. And of those who say they reduced their consumption of fuel for motorized vehicles in the past year, nearly three-quarters cite cost as one of their top two reasons. Furthermore, majorities in four countries — Argentineans, Mexicans, South Koreans and Chinese — said that high fuel prices motivated them to change their transportation habits permanently.

"Interestingly, the economic upheaval appears to have had a silver lining for the environment," said Terry Garcia, National Geographic's executive vice president, Mission Programs. "But will positive behavior changes survive when an economic recovery starts? We hope the green behaviors that consumers are adopting now to cut costs will become part of their permanent lifestyles and that environmental concerns will become increasingly important for consumers around the globe."

While, overall, consumers felt the economy was the most important issue facing their countries, consumers in many countries registered strong concern about the environment. Many said this concern was one of the top two reasons for recent behavior changes. Fifty-five percent of consumers across the 17 countries agreed they are "very concerned about environmental problems"; only 14 percent disagreed.

Chinese, South Korean and Brazilian consumers were the most likely to register concern about the environment. Air pollution, climate change/global warming and water pollution ranked fourth through sixth on a list of 12 global concerns, just behind the economy, fuel costs and poverty. Roughly two-thirds of consumers said they were concerned about each of these environmental issues.

Six in 10 consumers across the 17 surveyed countries agree that people need to consume less in order to improve the environment for future generations (only 12 percent disagreed), showing that consumers recognize the connection between their actions and the environment.

When it comes to overall Greendex scores, consumers in the top-scoring developing countries generally show smaller increases this year than those in developed countries, due in part to their adopting more consumptive behavior as they become more economically successful and aspire to higher material standards of living. However, in spite of fears their Greendex scores could drop with economic development, most of these countries have improved their scores.

"Both the powerful inertia of energy-intensive countries and the growing consumerism in large, rapidly developing economies present a challenge to governments and industry. It is critical for both to create more sustainable choices for consumers across the full spectrum of consuming behavior," said Lloyd Hetherington, CEO of GlobeScan.

2009 Trends: Housing
Consumers in all surveyed countries registered significant improvements in their 2009 housing scores, with Brazilians, Indians and Mexicans again topping this sub-index. Countries in which the average consumer's housing score improved most notably were India, China, Mexico, Spain and France. U.S. consumers, who earned the lowest housing scores, also improved in 2009, but by a smaller margin than all other consumers surveyed. People in developing countries score higher in this area in part because they generally have smaller residences and use less energy in their homes.

This year's survey found that since 2008, consumers across many countries are now more likely to engage in energy-saving activities, such as adjusting thermostat settings, minimizing their use of fresh water, and washing laundry in cold water to save energy. This is due to both cost and environmental considerations.

Brazilians continue to be much more likely than other consumers to purchase renewable or "green" electricity, and this year consumers in two other emerging economies, India and Mexico, have shown increases in "green" electricity purchases. Argentineans, Russians and Mexicans are the most likely to report installing energy-saving appliances in the past year. Russians, Canadians and Argentineans are most likely to have sealed drafts in their homes, installed thermal windows, or installed or upgraded insulation this past year.

Transportation
Transportation is an area where many consumers can choose behavior that makes a vital difference in protecting the environment. Overall, scores were flat or down in this sub-index from last year. Consumers who showed the biggest drop in transportation scores live in India, Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, Canada and the United States. Despite this drop, Chinese consumers scored highest overall in the transportation sub-index, followed by Argentineans and Indians. Transportation-related behavior is generally more environmentally friendly in developing countries where consumers tend more than others to walk, cycle or use public transportation, or choose to live close to their most common destination. But transportation scores fell most sharply in developing countries in 2009, perhaps as a result of peak prosperity in early to mid-2008.

Many consumers also report decreased fuel consumption over the past year and say cost is the main reason. Among motorized vehicle drivers only, between three and eight in 10 across the countries surveyed agree that increased fuel prices caused at least a temporary change in their transportation habits. Among U.S. drivers who say they changed their transportation habits because of higher fuel prices, 85 percent say they have reduced how much they drive. Among Chinese consumers who have changed their transportation habits due to fuel prices, 85 percent have increased the amount they bike or walk. Sixty-four percent of Brazilians whose transportation habits have changed say they have increased the amount they carpool.

Asked why they don't take public transportation more often, consumers cite availability and efficiency as issues. Additionally, Indian and Russian consumers claim public transportation is too crowded, Japanese attribute low usage of public transit to the high cost and Mexican consumers point to safety considerations.

Food
Indians, Australians and South Koreans top this index, though Indians' score dropped 4.5 points since last year. Countries in which the average consumer's food score improved the most were Germany, Australia and the United States; those whose scores dropped the most were in India, Brazil and Hungary.

Since 2008, consumers in seven surveyed countries, the United States, Australia, Great Britain, France, Japan, Mexico and Russia, decreased their consumption of bottled water — an encouraging sign that messaging around this environmental initiative is being heard. Swedes, at just 6 percent, are the least likely to drink bottled water every day. Germans remain the most likely to drink bottled water — 68 percent do so daily.

Indian consumers ate fewer local foods and fruits and vegetables in 2009 and increased their consumption of imported foods and bottled water. However, their Greendex score is boosted by the fact they eat the least amount of meat and seafood, while consumers in other countries tend to consume both meat and seafood at least once a week.

Americans, British, Germans and Spanish are more likely now than a year ago to consume locally grown foods several times a week or more. Brazilians and Indians are less so.

Argentineans are the top beef eaters, with 66 percent saying they eat it several times a week compared with 8 percent of South Koreans or Hungarians. Mexicans have increased their beef consumption this year; 48 percent eat it several times a week compared with 39 percent last year. Ninety percent of Japanese eat fish or seafood at least weekly; just 34 percent of Indians and 25 percent of Hungarians do.

Goods
Topping this sub-index this year are Indians, South Koreans and Chinese. The biggest year-on-year improvement was recorded by Indians, Russians and French, while Brazilians recorded the biggest drop.

Consumers in South Korea, Australia, Canada, the United States and many of the European countries surveyed report a decrease in consumption of everyday household goods over the past year. While seven in 10 of those who have reduced consumption of household goods cite cost as one of their main reasons, one-third say environmental concerns were their primary motivating factor.

The frequency of recycling has substantially increased in nine of the 14 tracking countries this year. Consumers in developed countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Great Britain tend to recycle most often. South Koreans and Russians are least likely to recycle.

Since 2008, the number of consumers who prefer to fix broken items rather than buy new ones has risen in six of the countries, including Canada and the United States and in emerging economies such as Brazil, China and Mexico. There has been a rise in the number of consumers who prefer to buy second-hand items. This increase is seen in nearly half the countries surveyed.

Avoidance of environmentally unfriendly products is up among consumers in six countries, with Indians, Brazilians and Mexicans showing the biggest year-on-year improvement in this area. These consumers, along with Chinese, also are the most likely to say they buy environmentally friendly products all the time. Americans, Hungarians, British, Spanish and Japanese are least likely to do so.

The French remain the most likely to use their own shopping bags, with this behavior up among consumers in 12 of 14 countries where this question was asked last year. Nearly four times as many Chinese reported using their own shopping bags this year as last, though this is probably due in large part to the fact that free plastic shopping bags are no longer available in Chinese stores. Russians and Americans report the lowest use of their own bags, at one-third each.

Swedes are least likely to prefer disposable household products over reusable items, while Indians, Argentineans, Mexicans and Brazilians are most likely to prefer disposable products.

Discover Your Greendex Score
Individuals around the world can find out where they rank on the Greendex scale by visiting www.nationalgeographic.com/greendex and taking an abbreviated survey. They can also examine the Greendex survey results by country, measure their knowledge of some basic green issues against what others around the world know and get tips on living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Market Basket
Providing context for the Greendex results, a "Market Basket" for each country was assembled using a set of independently collected macroeconomic indicators, gathered by the Economist Intelligence Unit, that mirror, in part, the consumer behavior measured by the Greendex survey. The purpose of the Market Basket is to provide an external estimate of the results of changes in consumer behavior over time. The Greendex, for example, measures things consumers are doing to save energy in a country; the Market Basket measures whether total energy consumption in the country is actually going up or down. The Market Basket is also a framework for comparing the relative environmental impact of each country's size and growth rate, over time.
See http://www.nationalgeographic.com/greendex/assets/Market_Basket_Report_May09.pdf for results.

About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 360 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibits; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

About GlobeScan
GlobeScan Incorporated (www.GlobeScan.com) is a global public opinion and stakeholder research consultancy with offices in London, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington. GlobeScan conducts custom research and annual tracking studies on global issues. With a research network spanning 75+ countries, GlobeScan works with global companies, multilateral agencies, national governments and non-government organizations to deliver research-based insights for successful strategies.

JASON SCIENCE CURRICULUM EARNS 2009 CODIE AWARD

2009-05-07

ASHBURN, Va. (May 7, 2009)--The JASON Project has captured its second major educational award of 2009, winning a coveted Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE for excellence and vision in educational technology and digital content.

Operation: Resilient Planet, JASON's multimedia ecology curriculum, was named Best Science Instructional Solution by a nationwide group of educators, technology specialists and journalists. They also selected the unit as a finalist in the categories of Best Education Solution and Best Online Instructional Solution.

JASON is a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Geographic Society.

"We are delighted with this latest recognition," said Caleb M. Schutz, president of The JASON Project. "Our goal is to deliver a 21st-century educational solution for students and teachers everywhere, and this important award helps validate our progress."

Earlier this year Operation: Resilient Planet garnered a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. The unit's video game is a finalist in the category of Best Educational Toys and Games, with the winner to be announced in June.

The latest award signals a strong endorsement of JASON's new curriculum line, which launched in September 2007 with the release of the Operation: Monster Storms weather unit and was followed by the ecology unit last summer.

Technology & Learning magazine bestowed its Award of Excellence on Operation: Monster Storms in 2008 for "breaking new ground and demonstrating clear superiority over similar products in the market."

The weather unit also won a 2008 CODiE for Best Online Instructional Solution and was named a 2008 finalist for Best Science Instructional Solution.

JASON is in final development of an energy unit, Operation: Infinite Potential, scheduled for release this summer and developed in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, Shell International, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Geographic Society.

About The JASON Project
JASON is a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Geographic Society. Since 1989, JASON has worked with leading scientific institutions and other organizations to develop inquiry-based science curricula and professional development. JASON was founded by Dr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence who discovered the shipwreck of RMS Titanic and who today serves as JASON's chairman and chief scientist. For more information, visit www.jason.org.

AFTER 75 YEARS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE SOLVES MYSTERY OF LOST EXPLORER

2009-04-30

NEW YORK (April 30, 2009)--In a joint announcement today with National Geographic Adventure magazine, researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder released the results of a DNA test that positively identifies the remains of famed explorer and artist Everett Ruess, who disappeared in 1934, solving a mystery that has baffled law enforcement for more than 75 years.

Dr. Kenneth Krauter, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, presented test results that compared the DNA of a femur found in the Utah desert to saliva samples taken from four of Ruess's nieces and nephews, the closest living relatives. The test examined the inheritance of some 600,000 markers using gene chips from the Affymetrix Corporation and found that the saliva samples and the DNA extracted from the femur share approximately 25 percent of those markers by inheritance. Nieces and nephews are expected to hold about one-quarter of their genetic markers in common with an aunt or uncle. The test provides essentially irrefutable evidence of a close blood relationship between the Ruess family DNA and the bone DNA. Subsequent tests comparing the bone DNA with 50 unrelated people confirmed the results, with considerably less than 1 percent of markers shared in this way.

"This was a textbook case," said Krauter. "We had a large number of markers and, when comparing the bone DNA and the Ruess samples, the mode of inheritance of those markers was exactly what you'd expect for the relationship between an uncle and a niece or nephew."

The DNA confirmation is the capstone of a yearlong investigation by National Geographic Adventure magazine and its contributing editor David Roberts. Ruess, a writer, artist and icon of the American Southwest, was last seen near Davis Gulch in Utah in 1934. Since his disappearance, at age 20, scores of searchers have canvassed the area, and his legend has grown to rival that of other lost American explorers, such as Amelia Earhart. In 1942 author Wallace Stegner took measure of Ruess, comparing him to a young John Muir, and in 1996 Jon Krakauer devoted 10 pages of "Into the Wild" to Ruess. The complete story of Ruess, his disappearance and the discovery of his gravesite appears in the April/May 2009 issue of National Geographic Adventure, currently on newsstands.

The key to breaking the case came from an unlikely source: Denny Bellson, a traditional Navajo, who was unaware of the Ruess mystery prior to helping to solve it. In May 2008 Bellson's sister, Daisy Johnson, relayed a story her grandfather had told her of a young Anglo who was murdered in the Utah desert. Bellson found the site soon after.

The grave was excavated by Ron Maldonado, the Navajo Nation's supervisory archaeologist, and -- with permission from the family -- the remains were handed off to forensic anthropologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The anthropologists, Dr. Dennis Van Gerven, professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his graduate student assistant, Paul Sandberg, used fragments of skeleton to create a biological profile of the victim.

"The shape of the pelvis told us that the individual was male," Sandberg reports in the April/May issue of National Geographic Adventure. "The degree of developmental maturity of the bones told us that he was between the ages of 19 and 22."

The anthropologists stabilized the fragile bone pieces, which were sun-bleached and eroded after decades of exposure, and painstakingly rebuilt a portion of the skull. They then superimposed an image of the remade skull on photographs of Everett Ruess taken in 1933, shortly before his disappearance. "The bones match the photo in every last detail," Van Gerven said after finishing the analysis. "Even down to the spacing between his teeth."

The results of the DNA test not only confirm the forensic work of Van Gerven and Sandberg but validate Navajo oral tradition. "If this were going before a court of law, you'd want to build a case," said Van Gerven. "That's what we've done here, with Navajo oral tradition, the forensic analysis and now the DNA test. We can be certain that this is Ruess."

The investigative team also included Matt McQueen, assistant professor, Institute of Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder; and Helen Marshall, research assistant, molecular, cellular and developmental biology, University of Colorado at Boulder.

National Geographic Adventure, winner of four National Magazine Awards, is the fastest-growing magazine in the outdoor category and the ultimate guide to the adventure lifestyle. Published eight times a year, with a rate base of 625,000, National Geographic Adventure has 2.5 million readers. It is available by subscription (800-NGS-LINE) and on newsstands in the United States ($4.99) and Canada ($6.99). Its editorial mission supports National Geographic's global mission to inspire people to care about the planet. The magazine's Web site is www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure.