Sonnett Media president Dan Sonnett (aka Pilotflame Ryder) presented a clip from the new PBS documentary “The State of the Ocean’s Animals” in the virtual world of Second Life to a near-capacity crowd at the popular Laguna Beach sim on Tuesday, March 27, 2007.
A crowd of 81 avatars lounged on the beach and watched an 11-minute clip from the program featuring the sea otters of Monterey Bay and the otter conservation program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Laguna Beach owner Valiant Strangelove created an impressive stage — complete with swimming sea otters and billowing kelp — to feature the clip and for the question-and-answer session that followed.
The documentary is the tenth installment of public television’s award-winning Journey to Planet Earth series. In this program, viewers join Academy Award® winner Matt Damon as he takes a hard look at why nearly half the world’s marine animals may face extinction over the next twenty-five years. Compelling case studies from across the globe focus on how global warming, sea-level rise, over-fishing, and habitat destruction are beginning to empty the world’s oceans. The one-hour episode, which airs on PBS stations on March 28, 2007, also features inspiring stories of hope and courage that celebrate of the beauty and diversity of the natural world.
The story of Monterey Bay’s sea otters offers a glimmer of hope in the fight to protect the ocean’s animals. On the coastline of Monterey Bay, sea otters are a major tourist attraction. Once nearly hunted into extinction because of their fur, federal protection laws help bring the sea otter population recover from 50 animals to over 2,500. This has had an enormous impact on the health of the local ecosystem. Without the sea otters to eat abalone and sea urchins, these creatures proliferated and threatened to destroy the kelp forest that is home to thousands of fish and marine animals.
But recent discoveries have uncovered an alarming trend. Otters have been mysteriously dying off due to infectious disease — and Monterey Bay has lost 20 percent of its population. Since sea otters are critically important to the health of the kelp forest ecosystem, they offer an accurate read on the health of the oceans.
Produced by Emmy Award winning filmmakers Marilyn and Hal Weiner and in association with South Carolina ETV, Journey To Planet Earth is the only continuing primetime television series that deals exclusively with the most critical environmental and sustainable development issues of the 21st century. Sonnett Media has been proud to support the series since 2002 by creating and updating the companion Web site for the series on PBS.org.
Sonnett Media created content for each episode of the series and supported an educational outreach initiative through the Web site. Beginning this year, Sonnett Media also launched a vital marketing campaign that has reached out to new audiences through YouTube and Second Life. The screening and discussion marks the first time a PBS documentary has been presented before broadcast to an audience in Second Life.
