Cities Under the Sea

[HFG]

This event is at Egale bluff (SE MN). Here is a letter from the director. Unfortunatly (fortunatly?). My family is comming in town tonight, so I will not be able to make it... though it sounds like they will be video taping the event.

-Fritz
-PS sorry about the messed up formating... the board does not seem to like it if I copy and paste from word.

Letter:

...Dick Murphy is our guest presenter for our upcoming Dinner On The Bluff scheduled for Saturday, February 4^th. Dinner starts at 5:30 sharp. The program at 7. Can you join us?


Joe

Richard C. Murphy has a Ph.D. in Marine Ecology from the Southern California. He began working with Jean-Michel Cousteau and his father, Jacques Cousteau, in 1968. Since that time he has been involved in a wide variety of projects and expeditions in many remote areas around the globe, including University of Papua New Guinea, Fiji Islands, the Caribbean, Indonesia, the Mekong River in SE Asia, the Amazon, Sea of Cortez, Australia and Dr. Murphys role in these expeditions has included serving as chief scientist, photographer, writer, educator or project director.
Since 1973 Dr. Murphy has been involved with Jean-Michel Cousteau in the creation and implementation of field study programs for students of all ages. The objective in these programs has been to share the wonder and importance of the ocean realm to the public. With Jean-Michel Cousteau, he has created the Ambassadors of the Environment educational program for young people. This is a truly innovative outdoor educational experience designed to help the next generation live more gently and sustainably on the planet. These experiences have proven to be transformative and return young people to their homes better informed, inspired and possessing the tools to direct their lives toward more responsible and fulfilling life-styles. He is also deeply involved in the Sustainable Reefs program, designed to help people around the world sustainably manage their coral reefs.
Dr. Murphy has authored over 60 articles in scientific and popular publications. His latest work is a book on coral reefs entitled. Coral Reefs – Cities Under the Sea. The focus of this book is on how a coral reef functions—the jobs of individual residents and how they collectively create a sustainable community. By viewing coral reefs in the context of a human city, one can more easily appreciate the creative ways reef communities operate; they neither undermine their own survival nor that of other communities elsewhere. In other words, a variety of species collectively enhances the survival of the entire community. These are dynamic ecosystems where forces of competition, destruction, and decay are balanced by cooperation, repair, and rejuvenation. There are lessons for those of us who are concerned about making our own communities more sustainable. The subject matter is serious, but it is not taken so seriously that it isnt fun

11/16/05

THE CORAL CITY

by
Richard C. Murphy

Coral reefs are one of the biggest structures created by any living thing, bigger than any building in the world, even the pyramids. Remarkably simple animals, called corals, have worked generation after generation, for thousands of years to construct coral reefs and islands. Creating calcium carbonate homes for themselves, they built the structure of the reef, which remains after they die.

The coral reef is a city full of life and mystery. It is a very special kind of community where the buildings are alive, where roof-top gardens provide food, where there is no pollution and waste is used for beneficial purposes. Here many inhabitants cooperate while others compete. Yet, sometimes there is conflict, deception and trickery. In this city some residents go out in the daytime and come back home at night while others are vagabonds, wanderers with no home. There are also sanitary engineers, builders and demolition teams. There are even doctors in this city. Life constantly changes but there is balance.

The focus of this presentation is how a coral reef functions—the jobs of individual residents and how they collectively create a sustainable community. We will explore how corals construct the structure of this city under the sea. The wisdom involved in integrating form and function should inspire the best of architects. How corals and how reef communities acquire and efficiently use energy should impress any engineer. How raw materials are acquired and utilized without causing environmental disruption or pollution ought to give hope to any environmentalist. Sociologists and psychologists might find interesting parallels between how members of reef and human communities deal with issues such as public housing, dealing with conflict, finding a mate, living together, public health, and social security. And for those concerned about the future, we see reef communities existing in a dynamic equilibrium where forces of competition, destruction and decay are balanced by cooperation, repair, and rejuvenation. Through ecological webs all creatures are inextricably bound together, each to the other, in a common destiny. Evolution and extinction go hand in hand, for as long as life existed on planet Earth spinning through eons of time

But this is also a story about humanity and the places where we live. Coral reefs are, in many ways, like cities even though there are certainly many differences at many different levels of organization. Yet by viewing coral reefs in the context of a city we can more easily see how they operate in ways that neither undermine their own survival nor that of others elsewhere; in other words, how the variety of species collectively enhances the survival of the entire community.
This presentation will be an adventure of discovery. The subject matter is serious, but we will not take it so seriously that it won’t be fun. The audience will leave having a much better idea about how a coral reef functions and, based on this knowledge, people will better understand how we might live a bit more gently on our planet.