First Friday Films to show "Castaways" Friday

First Friday Films will be featuring another episode of BBC’s South Pacific, entitled Castaways, on April 6^th, 2012 at 6:30pm at the American Memorial Park Visitor’s Center as part of their ongoing monthly environmental film series. 

Remote islands that emerge out of the ocean as a consequence of different geological events are initially barren of land-based living creatures, but not for long. This episode looks at how plants, animals and humans all eventually find their ways to even the smallest and most remote of islands by riding ocean and wind currents or taking advantage of storms. Some crafty organisms even find ways to hitchhike around by attaching themselves to other species or riding along on boats with people.  Come see another episode of this beautiful series presented in HD quality Blu-ray!  

 

First Friday Films is a monthly film series brought to you through a partnership with the National Park Service and the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ), with generous support from community groups. This particular film is provided by the Bearden Foundation.

   

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 50 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public. For more information about First Friday Films, check out their blog at www.firstfridayfilmssaipan.blogspot.com or email fffsaipan@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list.

 

Stay tuned for more information regarding our upcoming Environmental Awareness Month Film Festival on April 27 and 28 at American Memorial Park.

First Friday Films to show "There Once Was an Island" tomorrow

Its the first week of February, which means its time for another First Friday Film event!  Tomorrow (Friday 2/3), we will be screening the award-winning film There Once Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho, by New Zealand director Briar March. Showtime will be 6:30pm at the American Memorial Parks Visitors Center.
This very moving feature documentary is not to be missed. The film follows three people from Takuu atoll in the Solomon Islands as their community experiences the devastating effects of climate change firsthand. Will they decide to stay with their damaged and sinking island home or move to a new and unfamiliar land, leaving their culture and language behind forever?  You can see the trailer for the film here: http://www.thereoncewasanisland.com/

Additionally, we will have Noah Idechong, Speaker of the House of Delegates of Palau and founding member of the Palau Conservation Society, giving a very special video presentation about the effects of climate change on Micronesia and how Palau and other Micronesian nations are looking to combat it through political means.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 80 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public.  A special thanks goes to the NMI Council for Humanities, who sponsored this film.

See you tomorrow!

Talakhaya film to be show on channel 2 tonight!

A new documentary on Rota’s Talakhaya Revegetation Project will be featured tonight, Jan. 25, on Channel 2 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

The Talakhaya Revegetation Project was implemented in 2006, where community planting efforts were greatly increased to reduce impacts of decades of deforestation by illegal burning.

The 14 minute, locally shot and produced documentary highlights the challenges they face with burning and soil erosion, the revegetation efforts of the community, and the project's successes over the last 5 years to reduce sediment from running off of the land and polluting adjacent coral reef ecosystems.   The short film will air immediately following Channel 2’s evening news programs.

Funding for the film and the Rota DLNR headed revegetation program has come from the U.S. Coral Reef Initiative.

Don't Miss it!

First Friday Films to show "Economics of Happiness" Friday (Jan 6th)

First Friday Films will be featuring its first film of the year and you don’t want to miss it. The Economics of Happiness, a film by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick, & John Page, will be showing on January 6, 2012, 6:30pm at the American Memorial Parks Visitors Center. 

Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of business and banking. The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On one hand, the alliance between governments and big business continues to promote globalization and consolidation of corporate power. And on the other, people all over the world are resisting those policies. Communities are coming together to re-build more human-scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – the economics of localization.  More information about the film can be found here.

Anthony Pellegrino, owner of Saipan Aquaculture Co. Inc. and Cargo Air Bridge, will be on hand to discuss his vision for a sustainable local economy in the NMI as well as to share how he believes the community can participate in building it.  Additionally, he will be answering audience questions following the film.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 65 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public.

Nominate Kathy Pagapular Ruszala's Sixth Grade Class for a Peter Benchly Ocean Award

Here it goes, I'm asking for your help yet one more time. Will you nominate Kathy Pagapular's San Vicente Elementary School Sixth Grade Class for a Peter Benchley Ocean Award in Youth Activism? Kathy's class supported shark protections in the Northern Marianas this year and jumpstarted momentum for a year of shark conservation. They deserve recognition.

Click here to learn how to nominate San Vicente Elementary School for a Peter Benchley Ocean Award in Youth Activism.

The deadline for nominations is December 31, 2011. Nominations should include 2- 6 paragraphs on the nominee and why the nominator finds them deserving in their category. Feel free to include supporting materials and/or links. Please include the nominees contact information and your contact information.

Submit to benchleys@bluefront.org. Mark subject line - Benchley Nomination - Youth Activism. Nominators names will be held in confidence.

2011 was a watershed year in shark conservation. And where did it all start? Saipan. On January 27, Governor Ben Fitial signed a law criminalizing the sale, trade, and possession of shark fin. This act kicked off 12 months of improved protections for sharks, including shark sanctuaries in The Bahamas, Honduras, the Marshalls, and Tokelau, shark fin bans in Guam, California, Washington, Oregon, and half a dozen Canadian cities, protections for oceanic whitetips, hammerheads, and silky sharks on the high seas, and agreements by international and regional bodies to implement more protections in 2012.

The law in the Northern Marianas was supported by many in the community, including fishermen, divers, and the conservation-minded, but a sixth grade class at San Vicente Elementary School may have done more than anyone else to make sure sharks received protections.

I could tell their story, but filmmaker Rob Stewart does it much better with his short film Sharkwater Saipan. This short film is just a preview of Rob's second feature film Revolution, due out in theaters next year.


Watch Sharkwater Saipan on Youtube.

I am asking you to write your own nominations (but I am available to help or edit). Two paragraphs should not be that difficult. Think of this award as something that will come home to the Marianas, not just San Vicente Elementary.

I make this request as the Saipan Blogger and the Godfather of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, not as someone who works for an organization that shall go unnamed. I have had the honor of meeting many shark champions around the world this year including Tony DeBrum from the Marshall Islands, Ev Quiel and Melanie Blas on Guam, Manoa Rasagitale in Fiji, Rob Stewart in Canada, and many others, but my home and my heart lies with Saipan. So let's bring that award home!

Fiesta Resort & Spa: Makaka Beach Clean-up

On Dec 17th, 40 volunteers collected 20 bags weighing approximately 100 lbs. This is our last, but not the least, beach clean-up for the year 2011. The clean-up was followed by calisthenics lead by our S&R lifeguards and a healthy breakfast at the cafeteria.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

 

Tan Holdings: Susupe Beach Park Tree Planting

Sharing with you are the pictures from our recently concluded “1st Tree Planting” initiative of Tan Holdings at the Susupe Beach Park. A group of 50 executives and key managers went out early in the morning of Saturday, Dec 10, 2011 to join and participate in this worthy activity. More tree planting activities are set for 2012 as we continue our commitment to share our time in preserving our mother earth.