Ted Danson says a closed sign on a beach led him on a 20-year quest to save the world's oceans.

Ted Danson
Special to CNN

Today, Monday, June 8, we recognize the first U.N.-sanctioned World Oceans Day. The event comes after years of pressure from conservation groups and thousands of activists who clamored for everyone to know and understand what’s happening in our oceans.

I became an ocean activist in 1987. It was the fifth year of “Cheers” and my family moved into a neighborhood that was on the water, in Santa Monica, California. One day I took my daughters to the beach to go swimming, but it was “closed” and I couldn’t answer my daughter’s question why.

That’s really how it started. That and “Cheers” was paying me a lot of money and I felt I had better be responsible with it. So, I started to get involved.

It turned out in our new neighborhood there was a fight to keep Occidental Petroleum from drilling 60 oil wells on Will Rogers State Beach in Los Angeles. They wanted to slant drill into the Santa Monica Bay. The fight was led by a man named Robert Sulnick and we became great friends and found a way to beat them.

Keep reading

Dr Fred Boltz
Conservation International

Today, Conservation International will present Anderson Cooper with our most prestigious award – the Global Conservation Hero Award – in honor of the entire team responsible for CNN’s Planet in Peril Series.

It’s the first time that we’ve ever given the award for journalism. Previously it has gone to some very powerful people – the former head of the World Bank and to the CEO of Wal-Mart – for the huge strides that they have taken in protecting the environment.

This year’s award reflects the major achievement of Planet in Peril which has fearlessly engaged the American public in issues that the mainstream media had previously been reluctant to cover.

The key to the show’s success – and to the award that we are presenting to the team that made them – is their incredible determination to tackle huge and complex subjects head-on and to make them accessible to ordinary people. Whether it is the spread of diseases from wildlife to humans or the conflicts developing over natural resources that sustain us all, the shows made connections between what is happening in some of the world’s poorest nations and what is happening right here in the US.

And now, more than ever, it is critical that people in this country understand how completely connected the US is to the rest of the world. At the end of this year the governments of the world will meet in Copenhagen to agree a plan for what needs to be done to address climate change, and the US will be one of the most important players in that debate.

Keep reading

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more on how viruses spread from Dr. Nathan Wolfe on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

In this clip from Planet in Peril: Battle Lines, Anderson Cooper talks to Dr. Nathan Wolfe about disease transmission.

Lake Kara is the largest of the six lakes in Band-e-Amir.

Editor’s Note: This week, Afghanistan opened its first official national park. It’s called Band-e-Amir and was officially announced by the country’s National Environmental Protection Agency. This designation affords legal protection to the lakes and surrounding landscape – about 230 square-miles – and ensures its sustainable environmental management. The land is mostly dry grassland and desert highland habitat with six lakes. Estimates suggest approximately 5,000 people live in the 14 villages that make up the region. The Wildlife Conservation Society has been working with local organizations to set up the management of the Band-e-Amir.

Dr. Peter D. Smallwood
Country Director, Wildlife Conservation Society-Afghanistan

“You’re working WHERE?” I’m running the Wildlife Conservation Society’s project in Afghanistan.

“But… is there any wildlife LEFT in Afghanistan?”

This is a fairly typical start to conversations I have on my short trips outside of Afghanistan. Even here in Kabul, when I meet up with other NGO workers, they always ask: is there any wildlife left? The answer is yes.

Afghanistan is roughly the size of Texas, but is much more diverse than one would expect for a landlocked country of this size, sandwiched in between Iran and Pakistan. Typically, one thinks of the deserts of Kandahar and Helmand when thinking of Afghanistan, but there’s much more to this country: high mountains and alpine valleys in the north east are home to Marco Polo Sheep (like the American Bighorn sheep, only bigger), Ibex (wild goat), and the illusive, legendary snow leopards hunt them. Great Brown bears roam those mountains too.

There are beautiful forests in the steep eastern mountains: evergreen forests, some with pistachio and old walnut trees mixed in. Markhor goats and Asiatic black bear live here, along with Persian leopards and several other cat and fox species. There is a lot of wildlife left. And much of it is in trouble. It’s the usual trouble: habitat destruction, overhunting, overgrazing of the grasslands, crowding out the wildlife.

Keep reading

Lake Kara is the largest of the six lakes in Band-e-Amir national park.

Another lake in the park.

Wildlife Conservation Society’s scientist Chris Shank with two Afghan park guards.

A person stands at the top of one of the travertine dams that make up the series of six lakes.

To learn more about the park, go here.

Researcher BJ Kirschoffer. Courtesy: Polar Bears International

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

That icicle hanging beneath BJ Kirschhoffer’s nose is exactly what you think it is. Polar Bear researchers officially call them snotsicles. And it’s what you get when it’s about 50 below zero and you’re outside for eight hours straight. The mission is to record what few have ever witnessed: hibernating Polar Bears emerging from their dens with their cubs. Human beings are not made to survive in 50 below zero. Neither are video cameras. But the ingenuity of BJ Kirschhoffer,  Director of Field Operations for Polar Bears International, and the research team at Brigham Young University, helped capture one of the most remarkable scenes you’ll ever see in the natural world. You can view it exclusively on CNN by clicking to the rest of this story.

Researcher crawling into den – after the bears left. Courtesy: Polar Bears International

TALES FROM THE CRYPT

When someone begins a sentence with the words: “Most dens I’ve been in …” you know you’re talking to a Polar Bear expert. The expert, in this case, is Tom Smith of Brigham Young. He describes Polar Bears as “highly honed seal killing machines” whose dens are like “crypts,” as small as three feet tall, four feet wide, and five feet long. This for an animal that is a couple of feet taller and as much as three times heavier than Shaquille O’Neal.

Keep reading

Ismael Estrada
AC360° Producer

I’ve got three wonderful kids between the ages of two and seven, but they make a mess. Okay, my wife and I also contribute, but we never collected this much garbage before we had kids.

I swear we end up filling our trash and recycle bins to the very top each and every day. I guess I never think of where all this garbage goes, I only try to do our part and make sure our paper, cans, bottles, etc. get to the bins where they’re supposed to be recycled. Sadly, for me, that’s where it ends. I feel like I’ve done my part.

A very good friend and colleague Bill Kirkos at CNN feels very differently. He took a year off from his paid newsgathering duties and studied the trash issue putting together an eye-opening documentary, “Trashed.” Most of us touch on an issue when covering stories, but get moved on to the next story so quickly that you hardly have the time you would like to dedicate yourself to the things that you cover.

Bill sunk his own money into his project and has since returned to the newsroom working as a freelance producer with us at CNN. Some of these figures from the EPA and other noted sources got him motivated to check out what’s going on after we dump our trash.
Keep reading

Program Note: Tune in tonight for more on Ikaria and to hear more clues for a longer life on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

The island of Ikaria, Greece, where residents may have some secrets to living longer, healthier lives.

Erica Hill
AC360° Anchor/Correspondent

Forget counting calories, crunches and laps around the track. What if the secrets to a long life involved a lot less work and a much more enjoyment? Turns out, sex and sleep could be just as important to a long, healthy life as omega-3s and cardio. I know, you’re thinking, “This is too good to be true!” Followed by, “I can barely find time for the little sleep I get right now.” Stick with me – I promise it’s worth it.

All this week, we’ll help you find ways to make these simple secrets to a long life work for you. An active sex life and plenty of rest are just two reasons scientists think people on the remote Greek island of Ikaria are living longer, healthier lives. Of course, I’m guessing living on a Greek island doesn’t exactly lead to depression, but for those of us who can’t pack up and move to a Mediterranean paradise, we can reap the benefits of Ikarian culture at home.

Keep reading

Tigers in Thailand get electronic “passports” to help combat smuggling. CNN’s Dan Rivers reports.

A local man buys food at a marketplace in Bangladesh.

Because of Cyclone Nargis, a farmer in Myanmar is plowing his field weeks after the regular planting season. Natural disasters can exponentially increase the impact of the food and economic crises on the poor.

In Turkana, Kenya, a woman hoes the fields in preparation for planting. At the G-20 this week, President Obama promised to double U.S. aid for global agricultural development.

Robert Zachritz
World Vision

The President announced his plan yesterday to double U.S. assistance for global agricultural productivity and rural development and called for a comprehensive strategy to alleviate chronic hunger. Why now — when our own nation is hurting?

As a matter of fact, the Food Action and Research Center reported yesterday that 32.2 million Americans – nearly one in 10 – received food stamps in the month of January, a record high in the United States. The report illustrates the daily economic struggles American families are facing, and when we are suffering here at home, it can often be difficult to remember the needs of those beyond our borders. In tough times, it’s tempting to take care of ourselves before we address the needs of others. But some perspective may be in order.

Since 2007, the number of hungry people worldwide has increased to nearly 1 billion – nearly one in six people. These aren’t people who will have to eat at home more or buy cheaper groceries. These are people who will lack the nutrition necessary just to maintain basic health. These are children who could suffer stunted physical development or even permanent brain damage because they didn’t get enough of the right foods in their early years.

When Americans hit hard times, services like unemployment insurance and food stamps are available to ensure that individuals’ basic needs are met. But in the poorest countries, these social programs simply don’t exist. Many families spend as much as 75 percent of their income on food. When prices for basic staples rise, many people simply don’t eat.

Keep reading