Ocean Country: One Woman's Voyage from Peril to Hope In Her Quest to Save the Seas

WHO: After a near-drowning accident in which she was temporarily paralyzed, environmental activist Liz Cunningham crisscrossed the globe in an effort to understand the threats to our endangered oceans. She tells the story of her journey in an intimate new book, Ocean Country: One Woman’s Voyage from Peril to Hope in Her Quest to Save the Seas, involving unexpected encounters with conservationists, fishermen, sea nomads, and scientists in the Mediterranean, Sulawesi, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Papua, New Guinea.

Drawing on examples from sustainable fisheries and marine-protected areas around the world, she concludes with a call to action to support conservation organizations and help combat climate change. Ocean Country is a story of finding true hope in the midst of urgent environmental crises.

WHAT: Cunningham will read excerpts from her book and sign copies afterward. Twenty-one percent of royalties from the book are being donated to the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF) which funds small-scale conservation projects around the world - from protecting manta rays in Peru to saving sea turtles in Florida and Costa Rica. MCAF Manager Elizabeth Stephenson will discuss various successes of the long-standing micro-funding program.

WHEN: The free lecture and book signing takes place Thursday, May 12 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: New England Aquarium’s Simons IMAX Theatre, Central Wharf, Boston, Mass.

REGISTRATION: Pre-registration is encouraged at: http://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=106429&view=Detail

THANKS: The Aquarium’s series of free lectures, films and discussions is made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.