“Cinema is an artistic spectacle, a source of emotion, but it can also function as a weapon to serve and defend the most noble causes, not the least of which is nature.” Jacques Perrin, July 2005.
After “The Monkey Folk”, “Microcosmos” and “Winged Migration”, French movie director and producer Jacques Perrin presents his new film “Oceans” which is released in French theatres today January 27. He doesn’t call it a documentary but a “wild opera”.
Sailing 10 knots in the middle of a tuna shoal, accompanying dolphins in their wild rush, swimming with the great white shark shoulder against fin… The movie Oceans is about being a fish among fishes. It is about questioning Man’s footprint on wild life and answering with images and emotion to the following question : “The ocean ? What is the ocean ?”

More than 4 years and 54 sites of shooting on all oceans and seas of the planet, 70 expeditions, 12 teams, more than 100 species shot… and at the origin of all this the simple dream of the two film directors : swim with fishes and dolphins, accompany them in their underwater movements whatever be their speed and acrobatics. In one word, stick to them, create a proximity that would become complicity and new emotions : stop watching a show and be part of it. Never slow down : the speed and energy feeling is far too precious. This is it : a living camera which dances with whales, jumps with dolphins, bursts with tunas and glides with manta rays…

In order to combine image quality with the handiness necessary  for the shooting, the team has “re-invented” cinema : Thetys the world unique gyro-stabilized camera which allows shooting with a perfectly straight horizon while speeding on and surfing the waves, Birdyfly the electric remote controlled helicopter, tiny and silent, that can get close quietly to the largest cetaceans or Jonas the torpedo that hosts a camera, towed at full speed behind the boat to accompany and precede tunas and dolphins, without disturbing them.

The wildlife and human challenge has come with an incredible technical challenge, taken up thanks to the collaboration of companies and sea lover individuals from all around the world, in a unique goal : help us re-discover the ocean.

While watching the trailer and images, the wide opened eyes and mouths, the dream of Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud has come true.

PS : For those who criticize some of the sponsors’ names (Total of Veolia for example), I believe that we should rather rejoice that the movie directors managed to draw off such a big amount of money to these companies, while it would have been extremely difficult to produce it only with “green” and “eco-friendly” funding. I don’t think that these companies can get off lightly just with this movie, what matters for us is the result, and what a result !

Download the shooting sites map (22Mo)

Download the scientific file and information (38Mo)

The departure for the big journey of Xavier Moraga – 50 day trip on the Inca Trail – is coming soon. Here are more information.

“Distance traveled from Paris to Paris: 45.000km (23.000km from Buenos Aires to Buenos Aires)
Highest point reached: Uturuncu Volcano: 6010m
Lowest point reached: Sea level
Point the most southern reaches 65 ° south latitude to Anvers Island (Ushuaia is 54 ° 48 ‘, the Antarctic Polar Circle is at 66 ° 34′ or 200km around the South Pole to 2500km)
Largest change in altitude: from Arica (sea level) to near Lake Chungara (over 4500m)
From March 10th to 28th we will not descend below 2400m, with an average altitude of about 3800m.”

We are waiting for your questions, suggestions, tips. Anything is welcome! If you would like Xavier to test some material in real conditions, give something to the local population etc.

In terms of ecology, Costa Rica is apart. Indeed this Central American country decided to link its development with the protection of nature. Development that involves the reforestation of the country: in 1986 the country’s forest cover was only 21%, now representing over 50% of the surface area. Óscar Arias, President of the Costa Rica (and Nobel Peace winner) placed ¼ of the country under protected status, and refused to open to oil exploitation. Renewable energies also continue to expand
Costa Rica was one of the first to implement a system of payments for environmental services. Thus, the owners of the forest sector who manage sustainably their fields, contributing at the same time to the carbon sequestration, preservation of the hydraulic system and also the beauty of landscapes, receive an allowance. Let’s do not forget Costa Rica attracts nearly two million of tourists a year. This benefit is financed by a tax levied on the consumption of fossil fuels.

Source
Photo credit

Let’s admit it, the latest version of the iPhone or the new range of netbooks make you dream right? You may find it difficult to keep up with the ICT (Information and Communication Technology)? React! To become an eco-citizen, have a rational consumer behavior.
At present, we all know the devastation caused by these new ICTs on the environment. Between 2005 and 2008, according to a study by Idate, these high-tech devices have been detonated their electricity consumption by 20%! Despite efforts made by the major manufacturers, including choosing an eco-design, these devices are too power hungry. Because households over-equip themselves with flat-screen televisions, laptops or mobile phones.
Over-consumption is also caused by a rapid turnover, which gives irreparably wanting to change the material to be at the forefront of innovation (therefore be trendy).
Another problem not to overlook: the fact that these devices remain in standby (or sometimes on) like the ADSL boxes.
So leave our land breathes, and at the same time save money on our electricity bills (do not forget that this “high-tech consumer” is the 3rd item of household expenditure after heating and hot water). Interact with your reason and not just walk with your heart.

Source: Lesnumeriques.com
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With this simple but effective hook the website offers ecofriendly environmental acts to achieve on a daily basis, while savings! The ideas and advices are diagrammed to show that we can be green in our lives every day. A friendly-environment lifestyle website for all. We learn how to boil water in an environmentally manner, we discover that there are alternatives to buying a recharge card for your mobile, for example re-crediting your mobile phone through your credit card. The site Ekolo Geek lets you learn while having fun. Playful, it offers wallpapers, fact sheets to hang over the coffee machine at work and lots of other things!

Canal Bio is a small supermarket selling organic food, belonging to the network Biocoop, 1st network of health stores in France. Since January 1995, Canal Bio is based on an ethical and ecological charter regularly checked by a certifying body. The products sold locally are all fair trade, and the shop is certified by Ecocert. Canal Bio offers after making your purchases to deliver them at home.

Open on Monday from 2:30pm to 8pm, and from Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 8pm. Closed on Sundays.

Canal Bio
46 Bis, quai de la Loire
75019 Paris
France
T. : 01.42.06.44.44
F. : 01.42.06.13.55
info@canal-bio.fr

Between “conventional wine” and “natural wine”, it can be hard to keep up sometimes. There isn’t any official definition for organic wine, nor a special term to affix on bottle’s labels.
However, this wine produced according to a unique process, actually exists.
In order to fit the label “organic wine”, it must be produced in small quantities by independent producers, in low-productivity vineyards with organic hand-picked grapes and sugar-free. It must not contain any foreign-yeast soil nor go through rectifications of acidity, micro-oxygenation and inverse osmosis.
Moreover, natural wine is neither filtered nor sticky; it must not contain any sulfur.
The benefits of consumption are numerous: taste, good health and it also has a reduced impact on environment thanks to sustainable agriculture.
Pierre Jancou, a former cook and restaurant owner, now cellarman, was the one who had the idea of creating Morethanorganic, an alternative for a better world but in some ways, without flavor.

The Gavarni Hotel is surrounded by numerous clinics as the Clinique du Trocadero, located 5min away from the hotel. Ranked 27th by the Figaro Magazine, listing the 50 best private clinics in the country, the Clinique du Trocadéro is perfect for your next surgery.  This ranking is unique in its kind, devoted to human-sized institutions. For plastic surgery or restorative, or both an ENT and cardiology consultation, this health remains one of the best in Paris.

Open daily from 7:30am to 8pm.

Clinique du Trocadéro
S.A.S Clinique Paul Doumer
62, rue de la Tour
75016 Paris
France
T. : +33.1.40.72.40.40
F. : +33.1.40.72.40.68

France may spend winter in the dark. Indeed, on November 2nd France had 18 power stations stoped out of 58 for maintenance, breakdowns or strike. The shadow of a blackout looms over the winter and France in particular on two of its regions: Brittany and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur. As some are surprised: “France is the country that has the most nuclear reactors and has to beg for electricity to its neighbors.” – Stephane Lhomme / network Sortir du Nucléaire – Source JDD. fr. France will indeed need to find solutions to the growing demand of electricity of French households.

The solutions proposed by the Network of Transmission of Electricity (NTE): “voluntary erasure” (manufacturers agree to reduce their consumption remuneration), shedding of selective consumption, but also a strengthening of interconnections with other countries. Nevertheless, the priority remains the awareness of French in relation to energy savings: “Our initiative in Brittany, Ecowatt, which is to inform in real time when the network is overloaded, shows that more and more French are now ready to mobilize in case of peak consumption. “- Dominique Maillard / NTE – Source Figaro.fr.

The French are encouraged to reduce their energy consumption. But do not forget to remind them that it would be easier to achieve such reductions if their housing was better insulated during construction. Before all these things, government and public buildings must act by making houses, offices and buildings better insulated, keeping energy costs as well as introducing mandatory use energy saving lightbulbs. A long-term task that requires motivation at all times.

Concerning the waste produced by humans, plastic is the most devastating one to our environment. It is found everywhere, whether in cities and countryside, mountains, deserts, rivers, and even the bottom of the ocean. This invader that has only existed for a century will be one of the curses of our planet for the next thousands of years. An international awareness, whether in developed or not, beginning to take place gradually, does not prevent manufacturers to produce objects, containers and plastic packaging. Tonight, ARTE airs a Canadian documentary from 2009, at 8.35pm on the subject. A good way to report adverse effects that just a little piece of plastic can cause to our beautiful blue planet.

“The Curse of the plastic” – 2009 Canadian documentary at 8:35pm on Arte.

Watch the trailer of the TV show in French.