Carl Safina
Encyclopedia
Carl Safina is president and co-founder of the Blue Ocean Institute, and author of several writings on marine ecology and the ocean, including the award winning Song for the Blue Ocean (1998) and Eye of the Albatross (2002).
In the 1990s he brought fisheries issues into the environmental mainstream. His early research focused on seabird ecology. He lead campaigns to ban high-seas driftnets, to re-write U.S. federal fisheries law, to work toward international conservation of tunas, sharks, and other fishes, and to achieve passage of a United Nations global fisheries treaty.
Safina, who has a PhD in ecology from Rutgers University, is the author of more than a hundred scientific and popular publications. His work has been featured in National Geographic magazine and in The New York Times. He has also contributed a new Foreword to Rachel Carson’s seminal work, The Sea Around Us.
Safina is the author of 6 books. His first book, Song for the Blue Ocean, was chosen a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction selection, and a Library Journal Best Science Book selection; it won the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction.
His second book, Eye of the Albatross, won the John Burroughs Medal and the National Academies’ communications award for the year’s best book. Safina’s Voyage of the Turtle was a N.Y. Times Editors’ Choice. He published his first children’s book, Nina Delmar: The Great Whale Rescue in 2010.
The View From Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World was released in January, 2011. It has drawn two starred reviews, was named a New York Times Editors' Choice and was National Geographic Traveler’s book of the month. Safina’s chronicle of the Gulf blowout, A Sea in Flames, was released on April 19, 2011--the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. A Sea in Flames is also a New York Times Editors' Choice.
Safina has been profiled on Nightline and twice in the New York Times; named among “100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century” by Audubon magazine; and featured on the Bill Moyers PBS special “Earth on Edge.” His new TV series, Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina, premiered on PBS in April 2011.
He has honorary doctorates from the State University of New York and Long Island University. Safina is founding president of Blue Ocean Institute and is adjunct professor at Stony Brook University.
Safina is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Pew Fellow, an Utne Reader
visionary, and a recipient of Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo’s Rabb Medal, among other honors.
Honorary Degrees
Literary Awards
Other Honors and Distinctions
Boards
Safina has been a Senior Fellow
with the World Wildlife Fund
and is a MacArthur Fellow
.
He has been a visiting fellow at Yale University and is an adjunct full professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University.
Biography
Carl Safina works to show that nature and human dignity require each other. His writing has illuminated how the ocean is changing and what the changes mean for wildlife and people. His recent works probe the ways in which our relationship with the natural world plays out in scientific, moral, and social dimensions.In the 1990s he brought fisheries issues into the environmental mainstream. His early research focused on seabird ecology. He lead campaigns to ban high-seas driftnets, to re-write U.S. federal fisheries law, to work toward international conservation of tunas, sharks, and other fishes, and to achieve passage of a United Nations global fisheries treaty.
Safina, who has a PhD in ecology from Rutgers University, is the author of more than a hundred scientific and popular publications. His work has been featured in National Geographic magazine and in The New York Times. He has also contributed a new Foreword to Rachel Carson’s seminal work, The Sea Around Us.
Safina is the author of 6 books. His first book, Song for the Blue Ocean, was chosen a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction selection, and a Library Journal Best Science Book selection; it won the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction.
His second book, Eye of the Albatross, won the John Burroughs Medal and the National Academies’ communications award for the year’s best book. Safina’s Voyage of the Turtle was a N.Y. Times Editors’ Choice. He published his first children’s book, Nina Delmar: The Great Whale Rescue in 2010.
The View From Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World was released in January, 2011. It has drawn two starred reviews, was named a New York Times Editors' Choice and was National Geographic Traveler’s book of the month. Safina’s chronicle of the Gulf blowout, A Sea in Flames, was released on April 19, 2011--the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. A Sea in Flames is also a New York Times Editors' Choice.
Safina has been profiled on Nightline and twice in the New York Times; named among “100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century” by Audubon magazine; and featured on the Bill Moyers PBS special “Earth on Edge.” His new TV series, Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina, premiered on PBS in April 2011.
He has honorary doctorates from the State University of New York and Long Island University. Safina is founding president of Blue Ocean Institute and is adjunct professor at Stony Brook University.
Safina is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Pew Fellow, an Utne Reader
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
visionary, and a recipient of Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo’s Rabb Medal, among other honors.
Education and awards
Degrees- Ph.D. in Ecology, Rutgers UniversityRutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
- M.S. in Ecology, Rutgers UniversityRutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
- B.A. in Environmental Studies, State University of New York at PurchaseState University of New York at PurchasePurchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...
Honorary Degrees
- Honorary Doctorate, State University of New YorkState University of New YorkThe State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
(2005) - Honorary Doctorate, Long Island UniversityLong Island UniversityLong Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
(2003)
Literary Awards
- National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Technology's "Year's Best Book for Communicating Science," for Eye of the Albatross (2003)
- John Burroughs Writer’s Medal. (2003)
- Herman Melville Writer's Award. New York State Marine Educators' Association. (2001)
- Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction. (2000)
- New York Times Notable Book for "Song for the Blue Ocean" (1998).
- Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Selection Award for "Song for the Blue Ocean" (1998).
- Library Journal Best Science Book Selection Award for "Song for the Blue Ocean" (1998).
Other Honors and Distinctions
- Utne Reader visionary. (2011)
- Bianimale Fellowship. (2006)
- George B. Rabb Medal. Chicago Zoological Society. (2006)
- Senior Fellow Appointment. World Wildlife Fund. (2003–present)
- George H. Cook Distinguished Alumnus Award. Rutgers University’s Ecology and Evolution Program. (2003)
- Conservation Award. International Game Fish Association. (2001)
- "Genius" Fellowship. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. (2001)
- Carl R. Sullivan Conservation Award. American Fisheries Society. (1999)
- Distinguished Alumnus Award. American Association of State Colleges and Universities. (1999)
- Named among the 100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century. Audubon Magazine. (1998)
- Elected a Resident Fellow of The Explorer's Club. (1998)
- Conservation Award. South Fork Naturalists Society. (1998)
- Conservationist of the Year. SoundWatch. (1998)
- Alumni Honor Roll. State University of New York. (1996)
- Pew Scholars Award in Conservation and the Environment. Pew Charitable Trusts. (1991)
- Elected Member, American Ornithologists Union. (1991)
Boards
- Blue Ocean Institute
- Duke University's Center for Marine Conservation Steering Committee
- Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment Advisory Board
- South Fork Natural History Society Board
- World Wildlife Fund's Marine Leadership Committee
Safina has been a Senior Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
with the World Wildlife Fund
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
and is a MacArthur Fellow
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
.
He has been a visiting fellow at Yale University and is an adjunct full professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University.
External links
- Biography of Carl Safina in Current Biography Magazine
- Blue Ocean Institute, official site
- Carl Safina on the BP Oil Spill’s Ecological Impact on the Gulf Coast and Worldwide - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...