Sustainability: the capability to endure.  In biological terms, it can be applied to every facet on Earth, but especially the ability for an ecosystem to maintain ecological process, functions, biodiversity, and productivity over time and into the future.

It seems Jeff McIntire-Strasburg knew he had a good thing going when he came up for the idea for a blog on environmental issues and all things green with Sustainablog in 2003.  This nature lover wanted (and still wants) the world to learn how to help protect and sustain our natural environmental. 

This includes marine ecosystems, life, and landscapes of course.

We know Jeff will be blogging to a greener world--whether it means nature, marine energy, conservation, or climate change.  We'd like to think his blog, tips, news, and information are some of the ways that will help sustain our marine world--and the entire globe.

Charles Darwin relied on observations of marine life, fish, and coral reefs in developing his theory of how species were created through evolution and natural selection.

The National Center for Science Education, America’s leading organization in defending and promoting the teaching of evolution in the public schools, suggests more ways to bring evolution into the marine biology classroom.

Who better to speak on this topic on behalf of the organization than Dr. Louise Mead, the group's Education Project Director, who devoted her childhood years to volunteering at the New England Aquarium, scuba diving, and combing the beach for marine-related finds. She later used her knowledge of marine biology to help students and teachers understand how evolutionary biology has come into play in creating a vast diversity of living organisms.

We have another volcano connoisseur in our midst--and this time, it's a Volcanista! The creator of this magmalicious blog was at one time part of a university research group that studied volcanoes and volcanic hazards.  She's got one heck of a rock on her shoulders---and she loves it of course, hence the Volcanista terminalogy--a woman who is all things volcanology (she loves, researches, and visits volcanoes.)

Rock on!

Volcanista's blog of the same name is about all the things that interest her most in the field: geochemistry, academia, social justice, and of course, some fluff for good measure.

We got a chance to learn more about her fabulous volcano hobby.

What turned you on to studying volcanoes? Is it a hobby or something more? 

The Turtle Island Restoration Network(TIRN) is hoping you won't be the next Jeremy Piven! The boisterous actor once had to pull out of a play he was headlining on account of mercury poisoning!

Fortunately for all, TIRN has just the resources to make sure this won't happen.  With their new non-profit organization, Got Mercury?, the network is educating the world on about the negatives of too much mercury in your seafood and public exposure to the toxin and providing a new tool to measure your Mercury intake and keep you having too much.

He may be a geologist and carbonate sedimentologist who believes his PhD had a large focus on marine geology because the carbonate sediments he studied were the remains of an ancient marine environment.  But that's not all that's got us hooked on Suvrat Kher, the geology blogger who likes to write posts on his blog, Reporting on a Revolution, on everything from carbonate geology to climate change to evolution.  

He also speaks his mind on ocean acidification, which relate to his carbonate work, as an even a slight decrease in pH may cause a decrease in available carbonate ions used to build calcium carbonate skeletons. And of course, Suvrat is an avid believer that speaking your mind (whether by blog or other means) will help us change the marine world.  After all, he did help spark a change while blogging about the current water crises in India.  

We've always known a voice can make a different.  But who knew that voice would be one of a geologist--one who has proven the carbonate geology he studies relates so much to marine ecosystems. The Reef Tank is happy to learn all about it and Suvrat is here to tell us all he knows.

We're proud of Mathias Koester of Germany. Not only does he have a great geology blog, The Lost Geologist and focus much of his work on marine-related findings, but he's also slated become a full-fledged geologist very soon. He's currently working on what will surely be a fabulous thesis for his Masters degree in Germany and of course, that topic has to do with marine geology.

We just had to talk to him. The Lost Geologist specializes in the geology of mineral deposits and uses carbonate rocks as a resource and is amazed at their formation in marine ecosystems. He also gives us his opinion about marine conservation, climate change, and other important marine topics and how they may or may not have something to do with his work.

Check out his responses below.

Tell me about your background in geology, specifically your knowledge in marine geology? 

I'm a German Diplom degree student of Geology. Those unfamiliar with the German degree system can think of the Diplom as the same as a Masters degree. In October I will start work on my final thesis related to shallow-marine carbonate rocks and their resource quality. So I am about to be a full-fledged geologist soon.

The ocean is a natural carbon sink: In addition to biotic carbon sequestration, the ocean naturally absorbs CO₂. Consequently, when we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon that has been trapped for millions of years, and this excess carbon enters the Earth’s carbon cycle.

This anthropogenically-released excess carbon is what causes ocean acidification, and the oceans have become increasingly more acidic since the industrial revolution. More on this from Physorg.com:

The chemistry is very straight-forward: ocean acidification is linearly related to the amount of CO2 we produce. CO2 dissolves in the ocean, reacts with seawater and decreases the pH. Since the industrial revolution, the oceans have become 30 percent more acidic (from 8.2 pH to 8.1 pH). “Under a “business as usual scenario, predictions for the end of the century are that we will lower the surface ocean pH by 0.4 pH units, which means that the surface oceans will become 150 percent more acidic – and this is a ‘hell of a lot’ “, said Jelle Bijma, chair of the EuroCLIMATE programme Scientific Committee and a biogeochemist at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Bremerhaven.

Our future is fired up about climate change and changing the world! How do we know? The Australian Youth Climate Coalition of course! 

The AYCC has become one of the best examples of young people taking a stand against issues that affect the world---and making a huge difference in the process.  

Unfortunately, Australia is the most vulnerable developed country affected by climate change, causing sea level rise and acidity in the ocean.  But with programs like this the highly successful Youth Decide campaign,a partnership between the AYCC and World Vision Australia to give 4.8 million young Australians the chance to vote on climate change and government action, this coalition has proven that a united voice from the generation that will be most affected by the climate change problems, will be the voice that impacts the future.