"Media That Inspires" is an ongoing conversation at TakePart that recognizes the power that films, books, and other media have to compel change and prompt action. TakePart is asking people who make a difference every day about the works that have inspired them.
Margo Pellegrino has a few loves in her life: firstly (and foremostly), her family, and secondly, our oceans.
A long-time advocate for the oceans, Pellegrino is in the midst of a two-month paddling journey from Seattle to San Diego via the Pacific Ocean.
She is making the trip in her outrigger canoe to raise awareness about four critical ocean issues: overfishing, pollution from storm water runoff, plastics and debris, and ocean acidification.
This isn't the first journey for Pellegrino.
She paddled 2,000 miles from Florida to Maine in 2007, made a 500-mile paddle from New Jersey through the Chesapeake Bay in 2008, followed by a journey along the Gulf Coast from Miami to New Orleans in 2009.
Here is the media that inspires her to paddle the ocean's vast waters.
Q: Which film or book was a wake-up call and made you truly aware of an issue?
A: Believe it or not, the articles in a Patagonia catalog prompted me to take action. There was an article, an excerpt, really, from Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed about Easter Island.
Easter Island was devastated, totally destroyed. Think Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. All the resources were used up and the people were starving by the time they were "discovered" by the Europeans. Haiti is an example of a modern-day Easter Island. The resources are used up, and the people look to the outside world for funding and help. How secure are you when you have to do that? If we devestated our natural resources, if we destroy our ocean, no one will be able to bail us out.
We need to start thinking of our ocean as a giant fish tank. If you've ever kept fish you know you can get away with "overstocking" your tank if you keep up with water changes. If you don't, you can do an "emergency water change" and maybe save your fish. But no one is going to do an emergency water change for the ocean....
Q: Which film or book inspired you to take action and get involved in an issue?
A: Peter Benchley's memorial DVD is phenomenal. I suppose books I've been influenced by are David Helvarg's Blue Frontier: Dispatches From America's Ocean Wilderness, and his book 50 Ways to Save the Ocean is a perfect antidote to feeling overwhelmed with ocean issues. Carl Safina's books, particularly Song for the Blue Ocean. Dr. Sylvia Earle's books. And who wasn't influenced by Jacques Cousteau on Nat. Geo?
Q: Is there a book or film out right now that particularly inspires you?
A: The film, A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish. It is all about ocean acidification. We need to get our brains around this ASAP. There's a lot we can still do.
A little about ocean acidification: The ocean is becoming more acidic because the ocean absorbs the extra CO2 in the atmosphere. This is bad for shellfish and certain little creatures called pteropods. Their shells dissolve in more acidic waters. What stinks is young salmon eat pteropods, so if they go....
Sea Change presents the problem in a very matter-of-fact way and provides solutions. Basically, we are changing the chemistry of the ocean. We are heading into unknown territory here where we can only guess at the consequences. We do know that corals generally don't like their water parameters tinkered with. They like a certain temperature, certain pH and certain nutrient level. They are not happy in more acidic water and they are definitely at risk. Certain primitive algaes that haven't been around for millions of years do like more acidic water, but they are not desirable.
Q: What is your favorite escape and guilty pleasure?
A: Reading books and watching movies that make me laugh. Any Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and The Pink Panther movie.
My favorite escape is running in the woods with my dog and running with and reading to my kids. Oh, and Seinfeld reruns are definitely a guilty pleasure! And Nuns on the Run and Dogma. Hmm. That's more than I thought!
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