December 16, 2010

Season for Sharing, Day 4 -- Save Our Oceans with Edie Widder

My dear friend, Janeen Mason, introduced me to Edie Widder, President and Sr. Scientist at O.R.C.A. (Ocean Research and Conservation Association).

Janeen is an artist who loves the ocean.

Here are a couple of the covers of books she's written and illustrated:




I love Janeen's brilliantly colorful artwork and I love brilliantly colorful her!

So when she asked me to come to her home to have lunch with some interesting people, I said, "YES!"

One of those people was Edie Widder, whom Janeen knew when Edie worked at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution -- a very cool place.

Edie studied bioluminescent sea life -- sea creatures who generate their own light -- and is an expert on the subject.

To watch a fascinating talk about bioluminescence, check out Edie's TED video: Glowing Life in an Underwater World . . .




When I met Edie, she was quiet and unassuming. You'd never guess she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, based on her work with ORCA.

But when she talked about what ORCA is doing to help the oceans and what is at stake if we don't all do something to help the oceans, I was captivated. I went home and made a donation.

If you'd like to donate to help Edie Widder and her team help our oceans, here's the link.

Thank you.

2 comments:

Janeen Mason said...

Thank you, Donna for posting this. Every time I talk to Edie I learn more about our oceans. She's smart and solid, passionate and incredibly hardworking. Her work is worthy of every dollar you can afford to send.

Here's a link to a video PBS did on her for NOVA Science Now. You'll get to meet the person behind the science:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/edith-widder.html

Wild About Words said...

Thanks, Janeen!