Bob Simon's untimely death is a cause for sadness. I had the good fortune of spending some time with him when I was living in Australia and Bob was there to film a story on the Great Barrier Reef. I know the exact day I met Bob Simon: 10 April 1999. The reason I remember this day so well was that my second child, Laura, was born at 2:30 am on 10 April.

This is the first of two posts about the application of report cards to enable a collective impact process. The collective impact model facilitates positive change … Collective Impact is a term used to refer to collaborative projects that create “needle-moving” changes to complex and intransigent problems. I ran across the term for the first time a few days ago, and it resonated strongly with me.

Brianne Walsh and I traveled to Westborough, Massachusetts for a scientific synthesis workshop on climate change and moose in the North Woods of Northeastern U.S. The workshop was located at an amazing new facility which serves as the field headquarters for MassWildlife (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife). This building was opened last autumn and is a zero-net-energy building which includes an artificial trout stream stocked with brook trout in the atrium.

In a partnership with the Maryland state government, the Chesapeake Bay. This website (chesapeakebaystory.umces.edu) uses water quality, fisheries and habitat data, various maps and graphs, and scientific publications to inform a narrative version of the historical trends of Chesapeake Bay health. The website describes various ecosystem health indicators, and displays annual maps and graphs using a slider bar on a timeline, as well as a map grid which displays summary maps for every year.

In the spring of 2014, Charles Darwin University in Australia's Northern Territory signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allows us to exchange staff for extended periods. The goal is to increase our shared capacity for synthesis and communication of river and coastal management science. To begin flexing the cooperative spirit of the MOU, I will be traveling to Darwin (with family in tow) this January 2015 for about 3+ months.

Often the focus on science communication is the data visualization or the words or phrases chosen about a topic. But another important aspect of communicating science, both informally and formally is the use of hand drawn sketches. These sketches can be very simple black and white lines to complex color drawings. These sketches can be created using a stick to draw something in the dirt or sand, or chalkboards and whiteboards, or modern tablets and computers that have drawing applications.

ADDENDUM … This blog was posted three weeks ago on Christmas Day, and since that time I have received extreme praise as well as extreme condemnation. I was striving for neither of these reactions. For those people who felt that this parody was in poor taste or felt that it was an affront to them, I apologize. It was intended as a whimsical parody of a holiday favorite.

This is a continuation of my blog on the several themes that emerged at the 2nd International Ocean Research Conference, entitled ‘One Planet One Ocean’. Oceanic plastics. The realization that 28 million pieces of plastic enter the ocean every day was staggering.

There were several themes that emerged at the 2nd International Ocean Research Conference, entitled ‘One Planet One Ocean’. The status and future of oceanic fisheries were a major theme, both with plenary speakers and in panel discussions. Another theme was the emerging threat of plastics in the ocean, both the macroplastics that form floating ‘garbage patches’ in the oceanic gyres and the nano and microplastics being discharged from human activities.

As part of the 2nd International Ocean Research Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Lynne Shannon (University of Cape Town) and I organized a pre-conference workshop on ecosystem indicators. This workshop proved to be a valuable opportunity to explore the development and use of ecosystem indicators. The workshop summary is as follows: How is your ecosystem doing? Advances in the use and understanding of ecosystem indicators workshop … Conveners: