[Coral-List] Education of the masses

[Arrecifes de coral]

Dear Antares Ramos Álvarez and Coral List,
I think most of us, who got the message from the 11 th ICRS, are working hard to write a clear, concise message to the media in our countries about that coral reefs are in trouble and We all need to be part of the solution. Since 1997, the First International Year of the Reef, in  Colombia,  on a voluntary  basis, We have involved the academia, government agencies, NGOs, private sector and the media (Radio, TV news and news papers) to deliver the message. We believe that it is responsibility of all of us to engage in these endeavors if We want to make a difference.
We (40 Colombian coral reef researchers) are working together to write a declaration. The draft is available in Spanish, please visit :
http://icri-colombia.blogspot.com/
Your comments are welcome there or directly to nohora.galvis at gmail.com !!!!
Nohora Galvis
ICRI-Colombia> Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:00:58 -0400> From: antares at aya.yale.edu> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> Subject: [Coral-List] Education of the masses> > ¡Hola!> > I've been brainstorming about how to get the message out on why the reefs> are important...which I'm very grateful it was given such media emphasis> during the closing of the ICRS. And I just thought of billboards, those> hideous and obnoxious adds we see when we are driving. If we can't beat> them, join them...> Simple messages such as,> "Did you know that corals are animals? We can still save them" (the> inspiration for this one I thank Sarah Frias-Torres, who was telling me how> one of the main issues to get the Acroporas listed under the US Endangered> Species List was that the public and politicians thought that corals were> rocks).> "Did you know that coral reefs are responsible for providing food to N% of> the world?"> "Did you know that corals are an important component in HIV and cancer> medicines?", etc. etc. etc.> Simple yet informative and educational.> > BUT funding would definitely be the huge issue here. Any ideas on funding> bodies that would be interested? Maybe the media could donate space in> their papers and programs?> I think this could be a great effort and a great campaign to start on the> year of the coral reefs to serve the purpose of educating the masses. Food> for thought...(pretty much literally!)> I'd love to hear any comments.> > With best wishes from Puerto Rico,> > Antares> > Antares Ramos-Alvarez, MSc> PhD Candidate> Tropical Ecology Group> University of Oxford, UK> > > > -- > "Some of the most peaceful moments are lived underwater, while trying to> coexist with that world."> _______________________________________________> Coral-List mailing list> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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