MEDIA ALERT : “Bees: The Last Threshold”
THANKS
TO OUR INCREDIBLE PANELISTS & VOLUNTEERS, EW's MEDIA FORUM
#1 reached NBC, LA TIMES, KPFK, Real Talk LA +!
Here
is LA
Times article, naming EW's event, which got the front page
of the Home Section!
Extra
Thanks to the Bees for all the honey, hard work & showing
up in Melanie St.James' Backyard, April 24th,
2007 for EARTH DAY Photo Session (all photos on this page)!
VIDEO
COVERAGE COMMING SOON!!
Looking
beyond economic repercussions, what does the grass-roots indicator
of a 40-70% drop in US Honey Bee populations mean for our food
security and global eco-system?
Press
Release PDF, "To Bee or Not to Bee"
Have
something to say about it?
"2
Bee" EW Media Forum #1 -
The Official Blog
http://green.onevillage.tv/?p=140
Fueled
by an inspired citizen's passion to spread the word - EW is holding
a Press conference titled, “Bees: The Last Threshold”.
This
broad base call to action for Global Sustainability invites Responsible
Media Groups, environmental specialists, scientific, academic
organizations and farmers to enlighten public minds about the
causes and implications of the Bee crisis.
April
17th, 2007, 1-3pm (PRESS ONLY) will be the first of EW's Responsible
Media Forums, recognizing journalism that responds to issues of
greater social and global relevance, as well as highlighting pro-active
solutions.
SPEAKER
BIOS (Summarized):
GEORGE
L. SHILLINGER is a widely accomplished conservationist
working with the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics (TOPP) program in
the Block Lab of Stanford University. His current research involves
the application of new and different satellite tagging technologies
to understand the behavior and movements of pelagic species in
the Eastern Pacific. He is deploying satellite tags on Pacific
leatherback sea turtles at Playa Grande, Costa Rica, on billfish
(sailfish and marlin) off the coast of Panama and Costa Rica,
and on sharks (Galapagos and hammerhead) at Darwin and Wolf Islands
in the Galapagos. Environmentalists say 95 percent of leather
backs in the Pacific Ocean have vanished in the last 20 years
due to human activity like fishing, poaching of their eggs and
building near their nests, and they could become extinct in the
next decade. Fortunately, George’s efforts in organizing the
Great Turtle Race to preserve these prehistoric animals using
cutting-edge electronic tracking science are sparking a green
media explosion. George’s extensive conservation work includes
serving as Senior Research Fellow at Deep Search International,
Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape Research Fellow with Conservation
International and as Acting Director of Bird Life International
in Washington, D.C. On full scholarship, George earned a master's
degree in biology at Stanford in 1997. With real-world knowledge
from his years of observing the mechanics of conservation initiatives,
he added an MBA from Yale to his credentials. He is now a PhD
Candidate in Marine Biology at Stanford University.
ETHAN
PROCHNIK is an Emmy nominated producer, director, writer
whose search for compelling projects has taken him from the 125
degree deserts of Iraq to the frigid temperatures of the Bering
Sea.
Ethan's education included stints at NYU Film School and London
School of Economics. He graduated cum laude from Brandeis University
with a major in History. Ethan started out in journalism and crime
TV, field producing for CNN and CBS News and Fox's “America's
Most Wanted.” After the events of 9/11, Ethan returned to journalism
-traveling to Afghanistan where he broke stories on Taliban drug
use for "High Times." While disguised as an Afghan (and
living with an Afghan family), Ethan also broke stories on the
abuse of captured Al Queda and Taliban prisoners a full year before
the events at Abu-Ghraib.
Ethan
was last seen headed out on a Bering Sea crab boat for Discovery's
top rated, 3 times Emmy nominated “Deadliest Catch” series. Alaskan
crabbers fight 40' waves, arctic cold, and frequent accidents
and drowning in order to rake in paychecks on par with plastic
surgeons. Ethan just wanted to get out of LA. His latest screen
writing venture is an HBO movie about the Dome during Katrina.
Top...
KIRK
ANDERSON is a Bee Keeper with over 30 years experience.
As a member of the Organic beekeepers movement, he uses the small
cell approach to keeping bees, using no chemicals medicines or
artificial feeds. Kirk got his first bees in 1970 from Montgomery
Ward thru the mail and has had as many as a hundred Hives. He
now has 7 hives of all feral bees. He captures swarms and cut
bees out of different places and puts them in his Bee yard.
Born and raised 59 years ago
in Salt Lake City Utah, Kirk has lived in LA since 1988, where
he resides with his wife, daughter and granddaughter. Kirk graduated
from Trade school Machine shop and carpentry. In addition to keeping
Bees he works as a House Painter. Kirk likes bugs and working
with Nature.
VINCENT
MAHNKE is one of the leaders of the revolutionary Green
Ambassadors high school program, along with Sabina Ibarra. The
program is spearheaded by Sara Laimon at Environmental Charter
High School in Lawndale, California. Vincent has always had a
special connection with all types of animals throughout his life
and recently extended his awareness when he learned of factory
farming practices and their brutality. He took action and started
the Organic Green Ambassadors whose goal it is to spread this
awareness to the communities abroad and stop factory farming.
This love of animals goes far beyond cats, dogs, cows, and pigs.
In fact it extends all the way to the insect kingdom and the new
danger posed to bees. "If by my actions I can halt the proliferation
of the extinction of one species and preserve it for a generation
beyond my own, then I'll throw myself into it heart, body, and
soul."
Top...
ANNA
BONNER MIERITZ is manager of Crenshaw Community Garden
and a hobby beekeeper. She learned about beekeeping through the
San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG) and the San Francisco
Bee Club. Anna currently keeps a single hive at Crenshaw garden
here in Los Angeles, which not only aid in pollination of the
garden's crops, but also provide honey and beeswax. She is one
of many small beekeepers around the country who have experienced
a series of bee diseases and parasites, and is now concerned about
the latest threat, Colony Collapse Disorder. Following the Bee
studies closely, Anna will shed light on disparities between current
findings and what has come through to public.
ALANNA
LEVENSON is a self-educated consumer who is passionate
about helping others with various food allergies. After having
been diagnosed as gluten intolerant as well as other food allergies,
she has sought out the information to understand what happens
to her health due to the food she eats. Regardless of the food
intolerance, which can include soy, wheat, gluten, or dairy, her
goal is to inspire others to continue the enjoyment of eating
by taking a different approach to shopping and cooking based on
unique dietary needs. A few of the tools she has used are books
such as “Living Gluten-Free for Dummies” by Danna Korn and “Total
Health” by Dr. Mercola. She also encourages watching documentaries
such as the “Future of Food” in regards to Genetically Engineered
food and the dangers it imposes on our most widely eaten crops
here in the US, and why eating organic foods is so important.
ZORA
TUCKER is a Cal Poly Pomona Lyle Center for Regenerative
Studies Phd Candidate. She is a core organizer of Cal Poly’s environmental
justice network, The GREEN TEAM, which is the driving force behind
Cal Poly’s Earth Day Celebration this year from April 19- 21.
Top...
PATRICK
BURKE is the concerned citizen whose passion for raising
public awareness of the Bee Crisis inspired EW to create &
launch this event – within 2 weeks from conception!
ROBERT
CRAYMER is the visionary founder of Robert
Craymer furniture and interior design. For years he has pioneered
an eco-friendly furnishings line showcased at the RC Green Gallery,
his green flagship store at 300 S. La Brea Ave in LA, CA, and
venue for EW's Pre-Earth Day Press Conference!
MELANIE
ST.JAMES began co-creating a sustainable world by developing
a new Human Security-based Population Theory in her early 20s.
In addition to facilitating Empowerment Works' capacity building
workshops and speaking at diverse environmental & health events,
Melanie's role as Conference presenter & moderator includes
unveiling her Population Theory at the Sustainable Resources Conference
in Boulder, to moderating & co-producing (as co-founder of
the Coalition for a Sustainable Africa ) the Sustainable Orphan
Care panel and inter-active workshop at the 2006 International
AIDS Conference in Toronto. More...
