Oceanites is a US-based, nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization, founded by Ron Naveen in 1987 (https://oceanites.org). Its mission is to advance science-based conservation and to increase the awareness of climate change, its potential impacts, and climate change adaptation through the lens of Antarctic penguins. Since 1994, Oceanites’ Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI) has monitored and analyzed penguin and seabird population changes across the vastly warmed Antarctic Peninsula. Significantly, the ASI is the only nongovernmental, publicly supported, scientific research project working in Antarctica — and the only project monitoring penguin population changes across the entirety of the Antarctic Peninsula. In that region, it’s warming as fast as anywhere else on Earth (over the last 60 years, by 3˚C./5˚F. in the austral winter). Since 2016, Oceanites has maintained the Antarctic continent-wide penguin population database known as MAPPPD (http://www.penguinmap.com). This database is an open access decision support tool that assembles Antarctic penguin population data and makes the data free and accessible to the public. The MAPPPD database is continually being updated and is utilized by Oceanites to generate its State of Antarctic Penguins reports, which comprehensively summarize the ongoing status — population size and population trends — of Antarctica’s five penguin species. Regarding policy making in Antarctica, Ron Naveen has served as an adviser on the U.S. Delegation to the Antarctic Treaty Meetings and, for the last seven years, Oceanites has been an invited, international expert observer to meetings of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which manages fishing of Antarctic krill and toothfish. Oceanites also focuses its efforts to promote education and outreach by providing the best available scientific information into the hands of everyone. The reality is that Oceanites’ study penguins are the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ who remind us that we are all biological creatures. Just like penguins, our human future also depends on The 4 Vitals — whether and how we can adapt and still have a safe homes, food to eat, good health, and continue to produce children for generations to come. Landing Page to obtain Children’s eBook Series
https://oceanites.org/ron-counts-penguins/
