World Wildlife Day, March 3, 2020

Sustaining All Life on Earth

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) says the message of this year’s World Wildlife Day, March 3rd, is "Sustaining all life on Earth."

CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero emphasized that it's important to "raise awareness of the multitude of benefits of wildlife to people" and the "threats" that animals and plants are facing.

Higuero called on "governments around the world, the private sector and individuals to add their voices and take action to help conserve wildlife and ensure sustainable use before it’s too late.”

Started by the United Nations in 2013, World Wildlife Day has focused on many urgent problems, including animal poaching and trafficking,

protecting elephants

and big cats,

safeguarding undersea life, and more.

The UN says World Wildlife Day is an opportunity to celebrate the beautiful and varied types of wild animals and plants around the world.

Numerous events highlighting biodiversity and ways to sustain animal and plant life are scheduled.

At a time when 25% of the world's animal species are currently threatened with extinction and natural ecosystems have declined by 47%, action is needed to protect them.

And to sustain all life on Earth.  

SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

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Drone Detects Plastics in Water

Testing New Technology

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Engineering design companies Draper and Sprout have joined forces to develop the prototype for a remote-controlled, submersible drone that can collect and analyze microplastics in the ocean.

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is designed to help scientists determine where the microplastics are coming from and how to prevent them from entering the water.

Once deployed, the drone's job is to skim the top nine meters of water, searching for microplastics and testing them, while simultaneously transmitting GPS coordinates.

With thrusters on either side of the unit and rudders for steering, the drone can navigate coastal regions and rivers, moving from place-to-place.

Draper, a non-profit, spin-off lab from MIT, is known for many research innovations, including navigation and flight-control systems for the astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission.

Sprout Studios, a Boston-based multidisciplinary design company, has tackled problems ranging from making low-cost energy products to creating devices to deliver cell-based cancer immunotherapy treatments. 

The team's ray shaped AUV drone was listed as one of the Best Inventions of 2019 by Time magazine.

Working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the drone prototype has recently begun testing in Hawaii.

In addition to gathering microplastics data, Draper/Sprout hopes that it can use the information to develop "something that's comparable to the World Air Quality Index. A kind of global weather map" – to measure plastics pollution levels.   

SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.