Consider these two numbers: 100 and 100, as in 100 miles-per-hour and 100 miles of driving range. Those are the two key metrics for the all-electric Brammo Empulse motorcycle that was launched in Los Angeles earlier this month.

I was thrilled to hear that Oregon-based Brammo is ready to start selling the Empulse, after writing about the promise of electric motorcycles for Home Power Magazine’s August-September 2011 issue (PDF article here). One of the key factors holding back the electric motorcycle industry is lack of product choice—as well as undeveloped sales and service channels. The Enertia, Brammo's previous product that it's been selling for a few years, is capable of a top-speed of 60 mph, and a range of 42 miles on a single charge. So, the Empulse represents a serious bump up in power and range—giving it an appeal that the Enertia lacked.

Of course, the extra power and range comes at a cost. The Empulse R, the upscale version of the new model utilizing carbon fiber, is priced at a lofty $18,995—compared to the Enertia’s $7,995 sticker price. Production for the Empulse R will take place first with limited availability in June 2012 and in volume by Q3 2012. The more modest Empulse with plastic bodywork will be available in Q1 2013 for $16,995.

Both Empulse models come with a water-cooled AC motor, integrated six-speed transmission, seating for two, regenerative braking and on board J1772 Level 2 charging capability. (That’s the same J1772 charging standard used for electric cars.)

Regardless of range, top-speed and price, electric motorcycles are a thrill. “Every opportunity we’ve had to put motorcyclists on our bikes, they come away with smiles on their faces,” said Brian Wismann, director of product development at Brammo, when I interviewed him last year.

In fact, electric motorcycles can accelerate so fast from a standstill that manufacturers have to be careful that they don’t shoot out from between the rider’s legs. At the same time, they are very quiet—providing a sensation of flying down the road. “The only thing I hear when I ride my motorcycle is the wind inside my helmet, a little bit of chain noise, and the tires on the road,” said Harry Mallin, a Kansas City-based attorney who has been riding a Brammo bike for nearly two years. “It’s much more of a visceral experience and closer to nature, compared to the rumble of a gas bike,” he said. “On an electric bike, you can hear the crickets in the summer.”

Tules on Twitchell Island in the Delta. (Photo: Josh Cassidy/KQED)

With thousands of acres of rich farmland, the Delta has a long agricultural legacy. But farming there can be a risky business. Dozens of farms have been flooded over the past half century as aging levees have collapsed.

That became a reality for farmer Rudy Mussi on the morning of June 3, 2004. It was clear, sunny day. "You never expect a flood in the summer months," says Mussi.

Mussi was growing corn and asparagus on lower Jones Tract, an island in the Delta, 10 miles west of Stockton. That morning, he got a phone call. Water was flooding onto his farmland.

"Your heart stops for a second or two and then realism sets in. And you just start moving your equipment and get it to high ground," says Mussi.

How did a flood happen a on a sunny day? It's because of a basic rule of physics. Mussi farmed on an island below sea level, like a lot of the islands in the Delta. The Delta used to be a huge swath of wetlands, where two major rivers met San Francisco Bay. Today, earthen levees hold that water back – most of the time.

"Once a break occurs, you know, there's no way you're gonna stop that, not with 10 feet of water on the other side," Mussi says. Draining the island and repairing the levees around Jones Tract cost about $90 million.

The levee break on Jones Tract in 2004. (Photo: CA Department of Water Resources)

It wasn't an isolated incident. Over the last century, more than 150 levees have failed in the Delta.

Delta Infrastructure at Risk

"This is how we get ourselves in kind of an arms race between the water and the land," says Jeff Mount, professor with the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California-Davis.

Levee-building began in the 1850s, when settlers came to the Delta for the rich soil. More than a thousand miles of levees were built. "This network of levees through time had to get bigger and bigger for a very basic reason: the land has been steadily lowering," says Mount.

As farmers exposed the rich peat soil, it started decomposing. The land level dropped; "In some places they talked about four inches per year," says Mount. Today, it's less than an inch per year thanks to better farming practices.

Add up all those inches over the past century and some islands are now 30 feet below sea level. That puts a lot of stress on the levees. There are also other concerns: rising sea levels and extreme floods. "And then the big 800-pound gorilla in the room – we're due for a very large earthquake on the San Andreas system."

Add up all these risks and Mount says there's a two-thirds chance of a catastrophic levee failure in the next 50 years. That, of course, affects farmers and communities in the Delta, but it could also impact California's water supply.

"The raindrops that fall in Mount Shasta are consumed by people in San Diego. Water moves a great distance and this is one of the critical hubs in that system," says Mount.

Fixing the Delta's levees is estimated to cost billions. But on some islands, scientists are experimenting with a new fix.

Farming Carbon

Peat soil samples on Twitchell Island. (Photo: Josh Cassidy/KQED)

On a windy day on Twitchell Island in the Delta, ecologist Lisa Windham-Myers of the US Geological Survey pushes her way through a wetland filled with a tall, reed-like plant known as tule.

"The plant grows… some of these are 16 feet tall. They're just huge," she says. That growth is changing the ground we're standing on. Windham-Myers pulls out a sample of the dark peat soil.

The wetland produces soil at a rapid rate – four inches a year on average. That's huge, says USGS scientist Brian Bergamaschi, in a place where the land is sinking. "These islands are like bowls and the way we see projects like this is you want to fill up the middle of that bowl and help level out the whole island."

Planting wetlands like this one could raise the land level and water table on the inside of levees, relieving some of the pressure. But why would farmers want to replace cash crops with tule? Windham-Myers points to the soil.

"This is basically almost 100 percent carbon. These take up far more than a typical forest environment," she says. California is setting up a market for carbon, as part of the state's effort to cut global warming emissions. Early next year, companies that need to reduce their emissions could pay farmers to store carbon in wetlands like this.

USGS scientist Brian Bergamaschi talks with Delta farmer Al Medvitch. (Photo: Josh Cassidy/KQED)

Today, two farmers are here checking out the project: Steve Mello, a Delta farmer on Tyler Island and Al Medvitch, a farmer in the Montezuma Hills.

"The potential has been demonstrated well. You guys are standing in the middle of it. But in order to move from here to market, we need to develop a lot more techniques so people can come and verify that the carbon is stored," says Brian Bergamaschi, describing how wetland farming might work.

Both farmers seem open to the idea. But Mello says ultimately, it depends on the bottom line. "It would absolutely need to cash flow. While it could dovetail with levee stability, it would still need to generate enough to amortize your property value."

Still, Mello says assuming carbon prices are high enough, growing patches of wetlands could be a feasible way to improve the levees and to stay farming.

Photo of Ribbon Cutting by Christopher Lane

5/22/12 Update: I was just sent images from Christopher Lane, Assistant Director of Marketing at the Stanford Shopping Center, who helped produce this press event so I'm updating this blog with one of his images. (A link to all the images is given at the end of this blog.)

On the afternoon of Tuesday, May 15, 2012, I hitched a ride with my closest friend from San Francisco out to Palo Alto to attend the ribbon cutting for the first public fast charger in California for electric vehicles in Stanford Mall. This was definitely a green carpet event as it took place in the shopping mall’s garage within walking distance of the fast charger. Many people drove in zero emission cars to attend and the podium was lined on both sides with electric vehicles. Out of the many electric vehicles that were parked, most of them were Nissan Leafs, the same model we drove in from San Francisco. I counted 17 electric vehicles in all which I was told was a modest turnout at a EV event!

Now I’m not new to electric vehicles and the infrastructure. I tagged along with Obrie Hostetter, the Northern California EV Infrastructure Director at 350 Green, a developer of electric vehicle (EV) charging station networks. Her company, along with a partnership with the city of Palo Alto and John Ryan Company, Inc., was responsible for the permitting and construction necessary to place the Level 3 Fast Charger.

A level 2 charger will take about 7 hours to fully charge an EV battery; the Level 3 fast charger can charge the battery up to 80% in 30 minutes. Most EV owners do the majority of their charging at night at home and stay within a close proximity mitigating “range anxiety”. To give you an example: the ideal range of a Nissan Leaf for freeway driving is about 100 miles. With an infrastructure of fast chargers, that range can be increased without spending a lot of time to recharge the battery. This is just the first step in a fast charger infrastructure, as plans are in place to install 25 public fast chargers near retail locations by the fall of 2012.

EV drivers sign up for a payment card from 350Green to use the fast charger station. Use of the card and how to properly use the station was demonstrated after remarks from Palo Alto's Mayor Yiaway Yeh as well as the partners involved in making the public charging station possible. There were quite a few statistics that came out that were enlightening about this new technological movement: 1) There are over 3000 EVs in the Silicon Valley making Palo Alto a great corner stone for the EV infrastructure; the fast charger has already gotten quite a bit of use — since being turned on, it’s been used 3 to 4 times a day; 136 EV drivers have already signed up for the payment card to use at the station and the infrastructure to follow.

So what is the best ribbon to cut at such a green event? Applause went up when a gas hose was cut in front of the fast charger station and the Nissan Leaf it was charging with 100% renewable energy!

More photos of this event can be found here.

The film is about an unusually large population of whale sharks that gathers off the coast of Mexico’s Holbox Island during the summer months to feed and mate. Narrated by marine biologist, Sylvia Earle, the film explores how the recent discovery of this population of whale sharks – the largest fish in the world- is shifting the economic focus of the surrounding area from fishing to eco-tourism. The film highlights the successes as well as the ecological concerns that have arisen from this transition.

Diver and whale shark vertical feeding. Photo by Kip Evans

If I was actually able to switch places with Kip Evans, I’m not sure how he would feel about working at KQED and running the QUEST TV series. I’ll admit, my job is pretty much as cool as it gets for a Bay Area science geek and TV producer like me, but Evans's resume makes the day-to-day aspects of my job look downright mundane.

He’s an internationally known photographer who’s been widely published in books and magazines including National Geographic, Outside, Sea and Patagonia. He’s an underwater cinematographer and documentary producer who’s worked on shows for BBC, CNN, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. He’s also the Director of Photography and Expeditions for the Sylvia Earle Alliance and has served for many years as the great marine biologist’s chief photographer and videographer.

I first became aware of Kip Evans's work in 2008 when I produced a QUEST TV story about Sylvia Earle. We only had about two hours to shoot an interview with Earle and that was all the time she could give us for the whole story. We normally shoot with the main subjects of our stories for two or three days in order to get enough footage to make a 10-minute story. So, because I had only a sit-down interview with Earle, I had to acquire all of the footage and photographs of her throughout her career. We were happy to locate Kip Evans and licensed some spectacular underwater footage and photographs from him.

Dr. Sylvia Earle in the Deep Rover submarine. Photo by Kip Evans

So, when I was thinking about who we could feature in our new segment, “Your Videos on QUEST,” where we feature the work Bay Area filmmakers who tell science, environment and nature stories, I immediately thought of Evans. I feel lucky that he answered the phone when I first called because it seems that he’s often traveling around the world to shoot photographs and video about what he and Sylvia Earle call “Hope Spots”- places that are critically in need of protection and conservation because they are vital to saving what’s left of the planet’s oceans.

When I was in college studying biology and cinema production, my dream was to one day, travel the world as a cinematographer shooting films and TV shows about science and nature. I’m not at all disappointed with where I ended up but I realize that one of the most special things about my job is that I get to meet people like Kip Evans and Sylvia Earle and showcase the important work they are doing to protect the environment. I suppose it’s the next best thing to being them.

A map of the Delta created by the US Geological Survey in the 1910s.

As detective stories go, this sunny, spring day in the Delta isn't a typical backdrop. In the distance, tractors move slowly through dry fields of row crops.

"Once he got lost, they were wandering all over," says Alison Whipple of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, a non-profit research group based in Richmond. Her colleague, Robin Grossinger, agrees. "They were all over this place." The two are trying to piece together the path of William Wright, a man who got hopelessly lost somewhere nearby.

I should probably mention: it happened 160 years ago. Whipple and Grossinger are historical ecologists. They use sources like old photos, hand-drawn maps and early land surveys to sleuth out what this landscape looked like before it was dramatically remade by Californians.

The Delta's landscape has been dramatically remade over the last 200 years. Today, it's a crucial part of the state's water system, supplying 25 million people and irrigating millions of acres of farm land. But with this re-engineering, the Delta's ecosystem has collapsed, harming the fishing industry and putting water supplies at risk. Little is known about what it once looked like.

Lost in a Delta Marsh

Standing on a levee about 20 miles south of Sacramento, Whipple and Grossinger are discussing what they found a tattered, yellowing notebook uncovered in a state archive. It contains stories from William Wright, a duck hunter who spent a long, cold night lost in the Delta in 1850.

"On all sides stretched a vast wilderness of tules from ten to fifteen feet in height. The driving storm of sleet was bad, but the pitchy darkness was infinitely worse… Our situation was so miserable that no words can do justice to it."

It's not just the dramatic story they're interested in. It's passages this like one:

"The lakes proved to be from one hundred to three hundred yards in width, as near as we could judge. The water was very cold and often waist‐deep."

When Whipple and Grossinger read his account, they knew they’d found a Holy Grail source document. Its detail reveal a landscape that doesn't exist here today and hasn’t existed for some time.

"The Delta is probably one of the most intensively transformed parts of California and it was also changed really early on because of such fertile land," says Grossinger.

As California's Gold Rush boomed, farmers came to the Delta for its rich soil. Land went for a dollar an acre and settlers turned the wetlands into dry, agricultural land. 97% of the historic marshes were lost.

“We have here maybe one of the most important parts of the state's ecosystem and we don’t actually know how it used to work," Says Grossinger.

Alison Whipple and Robin Grossinger examine historic maps in the Delta.

He and Whipple have layered together thousands of historical sources that reveal an ecosystem of incredible complexity. “We would be in trees right here with a couple winding channels that were dry in the summer but had flowing water in the wintertime," explains Whipple.

Yearly floods from the Sacramento River inundated Delta marshes creating habitat for birds and young salmon. Closer to San Francisco Bay, hundreds of miles of small tidal channels branched out like capillaries in the wetlands. Today, most of those channels have been filled in.

Returning the Delta to this pristine state just isn’t possible, says Whipple, and that’s not the goal of the project. But knowing how the ecosystem once worked could improve the habitat restoration efforts that are happening.

Restoring Habitat

Liberty Island is one place in the Delta that looks as it might have 200 years ago. Not long ago, it was a low-lying expanse of farmland, protected by tall levees.

“The levees broke and it wasn’t financially worth reclaiming,” Says Carl Wilcox of with California’s Department of Fish and Game. The landowners gave up when the island flooded 15 years ago. After that, nature took over. Tules and cattails started sprouting and wildlife followed.

Returning vegetation at Liberty Island in the Delta.

Now, “some of the endangered native fishes, Delta smelt, longfin smelt are using this area,” says Wilcox. They're finding endangered Chinook salmon as well. "These are more productive areas for them, they’re more protected, they’re less prone to predators."

California Considers Ambitious Restoration Plans

California is using the Liberty Island project as a model for a proposal to restore 65,000 acres of Delta habitat. It's part of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan – a major overhaul of the Delta’s water infrastructure.

Leo Winternitz of the Nature Conservancy says bringing back habitat for declining wildlife could make the state’s water supply more reliable. Restrictions under the Endangered Species Act have limited how much water can be pumped from the Delta in recent years.

There is one big problem with restoration: most of the islands in the Delta are below sea level.

"Just south of here, some of the islands, they're in the 17 to 25 below sea level range. So if their levees broke, what you’d have is a large open body of water. You can’t create tidal marshes in those areas," says Winternitz.

That leaves only a few places where restoration is feasible. Winternitz says in those areas it’s crucial the state look to the past to create the same interconnected habitat that once was.

Governor Jerry Brown's administration is set to unveil the sweeping plan to restore the Delta later this year.

Chinook salmon, Feather River Hatchery, Oroville. Credit: Dan Brekke

After years of dire tidings, the news this year about California's chinook salmon all sounds good.

Federal fisheries biologists have predicted big numbers of Sacramento River fall run chinook–the state's biggest, most commercially important salmon fishery–and the biggest population of Klamath River fall-run fish in memory. The California Salmon Council, a commercial fishermen's group, forecasts a harvest of 3 million pounds this year. That's triple last year's take and represents a comeback from the Great Salmon Crash of '08-'09, when the sudden collapse of the Sacramento fall run forced state and federal officials to shut down salmon fishing two years in a row. Salmon fishermen who barely hung on through the crash, along with those who sell them gear and supplies and process and market their catch, can look forward to something like a prosperous season.

And for the rest of us, the civilian salmon lovers? Victor Gonella, who heads the Golden Gate Salmon Association, promised in March that "consumers can look forward to some of the best food on earth–wild salmon, coming to a dinner plate near them soon."

Yes, that all sounds good. But here's the rest of the story.

Feather River Hatchery

A declining catch

Let's start with that commercial harvest number. We won't really know until later this year how the season turns out, but that 3 million-pound catch is only impressive next to the recent string of disastrous salmon years. The forecast for this year is nearly one-third lower than the average yearly harvest for the decade before the crash. And National Marine Fisheries Service data shows the catch has been slowly dwindling since 1950, with a more rapid decline starting in the late 1980s.

But nothing prepared fishing communities, scientists, or interested onlookers for the population crash that took place in 2008. Everyone would still like to know why it happened. Scientists have studied factors from water pollution to a big bridge project in the Carquinez Strait–did construction noise harm out-migrating juvenile salmon?–without identifying a single factor. The consensus is that circumstances ranging from poor ocean feeding conditions to water diversions from the Delta played a role.

But this is a mystery with an answer hiding in plain sight.

From abundance to scarcity

Once, salmon returned by the millions each year to the Bay, the Delta, and the rivers and streams in the Central Valley. Napa Valley pioneer George C. Yount recalled the region between San Pablo Bay and Sutter's Fort (in present-day Sacramento) as one where "the Rivers were literally crouded [sic] with salmon." And there's plenty of pioneer testimony that echoes that description.

What changed? Just everything, starting with the Gold Rush, which brought forth fabulous wealth and wrought unimaginable environmental destruction to salmon streams. And then dams, cities, farms, and industry. In a word: Us.

Feather River Hatchery

Even some efforts to preserve commercial chinook salmon populations may be hurting rather than helping the fish. When the Sacramento River fall-run chinook population collapsed a few years ago, it happened despite a long and aggressive effort to use hatcheries to replace spawning streams destroyed by dams, logging, and development.

But the heroic effort to improve on nature—even trucking baby hatchery fish downriver so they can avoid predators, polluted water, and Delta pumps—could be exacting a toll on the long-term fate of the run. Some biologists believe that the combination of habitat loss and hatchery production has essentially wiped out the last truly wild Sacramento Valley fall-run chinook. Worse, the surviving hatchery stock lacks the genetic variety of wild fish and could be more vulnerable to changes in ocean conditions or disease–and thus more prone to collapses like the crash of '08-'09.

The outlook

Is there anything hopeful about the salmon's story in California? There is. Over the past twenty years, government and resource managers have taken the first steps to restoring both water and habitat for chinook salmon. One of the most publicized actions—a limit on pumping from the Delta at certain times of year to protect threatened salmon and other species. That action was prompted by an environmental lawsuit, and it prompted a wave of lawsuits from farm and city water users south of the Delta. Outside of court, both the state and federal governments are working on plans that are supposed to restore the Delta and its species while delivering the water that farms and cities expect. Doing that will take a lot of money and determination.

The chinook can't help with the cash, but they may provide a lesson about persistence. As a species, they are the product of millions of years of evolution. The few wild fish still out there have been doing what they do, sometimes climbing thousands of vertical feet out of the Central Valley to their home streams, for a very long time. They are engineered to deal with disasters on their home streams and famine at sea. Given half a chance, they not only survive, but thrive. Fortunately or unfortunately for them, they now depend on us for that chance.

Our tour begins with a beautifully landscaped front yard

Imagine this audacious plan: we return our grid of manicured yards into watershed and wildlife-friendly spaces. From a bird or butterfly’s perspective, it would be a transformation from sterile segmented turf fields to bounteous habitat full of nectar plants, insects, hiding places and nesting spaces.  This "Bay-Friendly"
gardens initiative is underway around the Bay Area under the sponsorship of Stopwaste.org. Last weekend some generous, certified “Bay-Friendly” garden owners opened their yards for tours.

A red fox squirrel scampers through the garden

We were able to purchase a tour booklet and tickets to gain entry to meander around and view the seven principles of "Bay-Friendly" gardening used in very different ways.  As their website states, "It’s an approach to landscaping with room for lots of personal preferences and interpretations." The gardens were beautiful, creative, and a great way to bring the natural world into people’s every day lives.

What struck me was the amount of insect and wildlife activity in the featured gardens.  These gardens were busy with insects visiting flowers on the sunny Sunday afternoon.  Squirrels scampered through the trees and a variety of birds were flitting about and calling from the shelter of trees and shrubs.  Like little wildlife havens, the yards were alive with an abundant diversity of plants and wildlife compared with other nearby yards of traditional turf grass and ornamental plants.

Garden creekside retreat featuring water permeable surface and artistic seating area

"Bay-Friendly" gardening also calls for the limited use of pesticides. Toxic chemicals, along with trash pollution, pose big problems to our bay and creeks.  Diazinon and chlorpyrifos are two commonly used insecticides.  According to a report by TDC Environmental, the two are “of great concern, because elevated levels of the two pesticides have been linked to findings of toxicity in wastewater treatment plant effluent, storm water runoff, urban creeks (including all San Francisco Bay area urban creeks), estuaries (including San Francisco Bay), and the Sacramento River.  Much of this toxicity occurs in urban areas, apparently reflecting urban releases—rather than agricultural releases—of diazinon and chlorpyrifos.”

Thimbleberry provides food for native birds and insects

"Bay-Friendly" gardens seem to need fewer pest control measures because the owners strive to create healthier soil conditions, choose plants that are best suited to our climate and location in the garden which, in turn, encourages beneficial insects.  Ultimately this combination keeps the pest populations in better balance.  When control measures are called for, there are resources available to help you choose those least toxic to the environment. Our Water, Our World website has some great resources including a downloadable pocket guide.

The "Bay-Friendly" garden website is a great resource, too, for both home gardeners and landscaping professionals.  There’s an interactive page showing some examples of good gardening practices. There is still one more tour you can attend in Marin County on May 19 to gather ideas for your own "Bay-Friendly" garden.  We’ve also been working on creating a "Bay-Friendly" landscape around the Crab Cove Visitor Center.  Maybe you’ll see us on the Alameda County garden tour, once we get certified, in the next couple of years!

Additional Links:

Pesticide pollution prevention ideas

Sunset Magazine landscaping ideas with less lawn

A new species of coral, Chrysogorgia monticola, discovered more than a mile and a half deep at the Davidson Seamount. Courtesy NOAA / MBARI 2002.

This underwater mountain is the Davidson Seamount, an impressive geological structure which like the roughly 30,000 seamounts throughout the world, was generated by underwater volcanic activity. In 1933, it became the first geographic feature called a "seamount" and it is named after George Davidson, an astronomer and geographer.

So what makes the Davidson Seamount so special?

As Andrew DeVogelaere, Research Coordinator for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary told me during our filming for this QUEST story, "It’s special because of its shape. Most sea mounts are circular…This one is oblong, because as it developed over millions of years, it was on a spreading center.Think of Hawaii underneath the water…that juts up from the sea floor mud thousands of feet."

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Research Coordinator Andrew DeVogelaere during a break from the filming of his interview. Photo by Sheraz Sadiq / QUEST.

The other reason why this seamount is so special is its reputation as an oasis of deep sea coral life. Approximately 30 species of deep sea corals have been found at the Davidson Seamount. While it may seem odd that any animal could survive let alone thrive in this dark, frigid environment, the deep sea corals opportunistically position themselves on the steep sides of the Davidson Seamount to catch nutrients and plankton rushing up from deep sea currents.

But venturing to this seamount is no easy feat; in fact, the top of the Davidson Seamount is still 4,000 feet below the surface of the water! Undeterred and with the high-tech submersible tools at their disposal, DeVogelaere and fellow marine biologist Jim Barry of MBARI launched a research trip in 2006 to the 26 mile-long Davidson Seamount to explore the rich biodiversity teeming in its dark, watery depths.

The trip was a follow-up to a 2002 research expedition funded by NOAA, also under the direction of Andrew DeVogelaere at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The impetus of that trip was to catalogue, through the use of a Remotely Operated Vehicle mounted with sophisticated cameras, the abundance and diversity of deep sea corals and other striking animals such as anemones and fish observed along the sides and valleys of this volcanic, rocky formation.

A bubble gum coral spotted more than 4,300 feet deep at the Davidson Seamount. Courtesy NOAA / MBARI 2006.

In 2006, the team returned to the seamount and once more recorded hours upon hours of breathtaking HD footage. The scientists were also trying to develop a model that would help them predict where other corals might be in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which the Davidson Seamount was incorporated into in 2009. Some deep sea corals were also transplanted from a less acidic region at the top of the seamount to a more acidic region farther below to assess how these transplanted corals would fare in the face of increasing ocean acidification. Not only did the scientists find evidence of ocean acidification at 12,000 feet, they also found evidence of the toxic pesticide DDT and trash, including a Coca-Cola bottle.

On a personal level, this was an aspect of the story which indelibly affected me – how is it that creatures like corals, which can live thousands of years, survive in an inhospitable environment thousands of feet beneath the surface of the ocean?

A black coral clinging to the side of the Davidson seamount. A species of black coral was discovered off the coast of Hawaii and dated to 4,600 years old! Courtesy NOAA / MBARI 2002.

Sadly, these seemingly fragile but resilient, ancient organisms are experiencing stresses, such as ocean acidification, to their ancient marine habitats which may far outstrip their ability to adapt.

Jim Barry is studying the effects of ocean acidification on deep sea organisms like urchins and, as he told me, he plans to bring into his lab precious corals (so named for their value as jewelry) to see how they contend with increasing levels of acidity. "The California coast could be considered the front line for ocean acidification damage, within 50 years, and certainly by the end of the century…As ocean acidification due to our C02 emissions intensifies along this coast, those corals are gonna have a hard time," Barry said.

MBARI Staff Scientist in his lab at Moss Landing, looking at a tank containing urchins. Photo by Sheraz Sadiq / QUEST.

Stephen Palumbi, Director of the Hopkins Marine Station, is another amazing, eloquent marine biologist whom I interviewed for this story. He specializes in tropical corals which are also vulnerable to the effects of ocean acidification. His research in American Samoa focuses on "super corals" – species of corals which thrive in waters that would be too warm for most other corals.

Palumbi similarly struck a somber note in regards to ocean acidification, trawling and other pressures facing corals, be they in the cold, deep ocean or in the warm, shallow waters of the tropics.

Stephen Palumbi, Director of the Hopkins Marine Station in his lab at Pacific Grove. Photo by Sheraz Sadiq / QUEST.

"The biggest worry is that we humans are such game-changers. We change the rules wherever we go," he said. "That record of coral success, which has been a quarter of a billion years that corals have been successful on our planet, …is about to come to an end because of the way we are so incredibly changing the oceans."

Indeed, it's a race against time. DeVogelaere told me that we know less about the deep ocean than the surface of the moon. With tens of thousands of seamounts around the world, perhaps now is the time to descend high-tech ROVs thousands of feet into the cold, watery abyss and illuminate the stunning, ancient corals of the deep, documenting their diversity and habitat range around the world before they disappear.

In the course of my production on this story, I was lucky enough to acquire some very compelling footage of bottom trawling activity. In particular, Greenpeace International allowed me to use the powerful clip of a large bubblegum coral being thrown overboard, part of the senseless bycatch scooped up in the shipping vessel's trawl net. The size of the coral, which took two men two throw overboard, indicates that it must have been growing for at least hundreds of years in the deep sea. Greenpeace also had video shot in the deep Bering Sea, where parts of the seafloor bore scars from trawling activity. Oceana, another NGO diligently trying to protect the world's oceans, shared black and white video footage originally shot by NOAA of a trawl net scraping the seafloor and scooping up any and all marine organisms in its indiscriminate, destructive path.

There are many admirable conservation organizations around the world, but zoos and aquariums have a unique advantage: they welcome 175 million people through their gates each year. On a nice, affordable day out, these zoo-goers can be exposed to conservation messages at a variety of levels. In fact, zoos were ranked among the top most trusted messengers of wildlife conservation.

Zoos and aquariums are now on the forefront of wildlife protection. They raise and donate funds, send medical, educational and operational supplies to projects, raise awareness through lectures, classes and publications, donate expertise by sending vets and other staff to project sites and sell indigenous wares in their gift shops. They band together with other zoos in their ecosystem to work on local conservation issues, breed and release species, and provide medical attention to local wildlife. They are full service.

The conservation of wildlife is central to the mission of the Oakland Zoo as well, and we fully embrace the projects we are closest to. The Budongo Snare Removal Project in Uganda is a good example.

A chimp from the Budongo Forest Reserve in Uganda

This project protects endangered chimpanzees by providing a snare patrol and removal team, an educational outreach program and a means for getting protein for ex-poachers: goats!

The Oakland Zoo Conservation Fund has been the sole financial supporter of the project since 2001. The funding is raised through an evening event and silent auction, called For the Love of Primates, in February, giving us a chance to raise awareness about the project, as well as funds. Discovering Primates Day also happens in February, where guests participate in fun, hands-on stations and learn about all primates and what each of us can do to help them.

Kids participate in The Oakland Zoo's "ZooCamp"

In 2011, the Oakland Zoo’s ZooCamp selected the Budongo Snare Removal Project as their beneficiary, thereby designating one dollar of every camper registration as a donation to the project.

During the week, 1000 plus children donned in yellow t-shirts with the Budongo logo, connected to chimps and the project in a variety of ways. They visited our dynamic group of chimpanzees, created enrichment for them and participated in a theatrical, live presentation called Budongo Hour. Their ZooCamp gift was a Kibale Bead bracelet made by an artisan group in Uganda.

Meanwhile, an intrepid group of adults and an enthusiastic group of teens collected cameras, laptops, books, school supplies, medical supplies and notes of appreciation from staff and ZooCampers, and set sail for Uganda to visit the project. After a very warm welcome, each group delivered their goods, walked the forest with the snare patrol team, attended ex-poacher meetings, got schooled in their outreach programs, and experienced first-hand the joys and challenges of maintaining a successful conservation program. I think the highlight for many of us was the day spent working to de-worm the many goats in the program.

The Oakland Zoo team in Uganda

Back at the zoo, a new concept launched: Quarters for Conservation. This program donates $.25 from each zoo admission to one of three featured conservation programs, and in our inaugural year, the Budongo Snare Removal Project was selected. Visitors receive a token at the gate and vote for their favorite project at the conservation voting station. Signage and often a volunteer, enlighten all Oakland Zoo visitors about the plight of these Ugandan primates.

As we have reached a critical time in the history of conserving wildlife, now is the time for all of us to care and take action. It is fortunate that most zoos do just that. We look forward to creating more ways our zoo can fully embrace the Budongo Snare Removal Project and all of our planet’s precious wildlife.

2012 Toyota Rav4 EV. Credit: Toyota

Toyota has announced the release of its 2012 all-electric RAV4. This is the company's second effort at making a green RAV4. The unveiling of the small SUV, which will be powered by Tesla, took place Monday at the Los Angeles Convention Center as part of the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium. Toyota leased a version of the electric RAV4 from 1997 to 2003. Many of the original models, which were subsequently bought, are still on the roads.

The specs

The RAV4 EV combines a Tesla designed and produced battery and electric power train with Toyota’s small SUV. The electric RAV4 has an anticipated driving range of about 100 miles which is, sadly, not much different than its predecessor. The charging time should be about 6 hours using a 240v charger. The Tesla components will be manufactured at the Tesla location in Palo Alto. The manufacturing of the Rav4 EV will take place at Toyota’s plant in Ontario.

Unveiling of Toyota's Rav4 EV in Los Angeles. Credit: Jessica Gilman

What does an electric RAV4 driver think?

Jay Friedland has put 93,000 miles on his 2001 all-electric RAV4 and still gets about 85 miles per full charge. Although he has not driven the 2012 model, he likes his old RAV4 EV so much that he visited a Palo Alto Toyota dealer four months ago to put a deposit down on the new model. “I have been waiting for a long time,” says Friedland who was at Monday’s unveiling. “It was the car that changed my life,” he explains.

After going electric eleven years ago, Friedland became a major advocate of the electric drive and is now the legislative director for Plug-In America where he works on EV policy and government incentives.

Friedland was part of the group Don’tcrush.com which urged Toyota not to demolish its electric RAV4s when the Japanese car maker discontinued the model. Unlike GM with its EV 1, Toyota eventually allowed drivers to buy their lease out. “I love the quiet, the fast acceleration, the fact that I've saved 45 tons of CO2 from going into the atmosphere," Friedland says.

Where can I get one?

The MSRP for the new, electric RAV4 is expected to be $49,800, before tax credits. The car will go on sale later this year in select markets including Los Angeles, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego.