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California bill would ban orca shows at SeaWorld | CNN

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A California state legislator wants to ban the orca killer whale shows at SeaWorld, in the wake of CNN's controversial documentary "Blackfish."

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Smart, Social and Erratic in Captivity (Published 2013)

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A film, a book and a trainer’s death have renewed debate among scientists and animal advocates on the wisdom and morality of keeping killer whales in marine parks.

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online, or both. Every single story, video, and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Scholastic Magazines+ cover the latest topics to enhance instruction in math, science, reading, social studies, and more! Subscribe Today!

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I would like to begin by defining “zoo.” It is a park-like area in which live animals are kept in cages or large enclosures for public exhibit. Hold on, large enclosures? More like tiny cages. As zoo funds are cut, cages become smaller wi

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This piece is a response to "The Modern Zoo" from the May 2008 issue of Teen Ink. I volunteer at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and have gotten to know its keepers, veterinary staff, and other workers. According to the writer of "The Modern Zoo," staff torture animals, do not provide adequate living space, and keep the animals merely to entertain. In my three years of volunteering, I have never seen, nor had any reason to suspect, any foul play at my zoo. The allegations in "The Modern Zoo" that all zoos are inhumane and cruel is false, I believe.

According to the article in Teen Ink, "Zoos claim to educate visitors. Yet we've all seen the one-sentence signs that describe monkeys. What can be learned from this? Certainly not enough to justify inhumane captivity." One-sentence signs are not the end of zoos' efforts to educate. At my zoo an entire department is devoted to educating the public about conservation of animals and our planet. If zoos didn't care about education, why would they have this? While exhibits may display signs with brief information, staff work daily at the zoo to educate visitors about conservation and other critical topics.

Some zoo employees visit schools and businesses to educate the public about how to be more responsible with our environment. This department even organizes conservation projects around Ohio, such as the community effort to remove waste from Big Creek. Volunteers spent a day restoring the creek to a more healthy ecosystem. The zoo is also part of a national conservation campaign called Year of the Frog, dedicated to saving amphibian species from extinction. Zoos put forth tremendous effort to educate people, and to say that they do not is just not true in my experience.

"Zoo animals endure inadequate living conditions with no space," claims the article. It's not fair to make this generalization. My own zoo, for example, is planning a one-of-a-kind, spacious exhibit for its elephants. The exhibit encompasses many acres, and will be large enough to support a breeding population. If zoos didn't care about adequate space for their animals, why would they waste time raising millions of dollars to build this type of exhibit? Also, my zoo cares a lot for its animals; it houses the second oldest hippo in North America and its polar bears are twice the age of those in the wild.

I witnessed a life-saving surgery on a 13-year-old wolf. Veterinarians worked for two hours to save his life. Thirteen is very old for a wolf. Zoos do care for their animals, and do what they can to keep them strong and healthy.

"These animals are simply meant to entertain," claims "The Modern Zoo." That too is false. At the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, animals are never forced to do anything for the sake of visitors' entertainment. We believe in positive animal/ human interaction. Zoo staff never force or coerce an animal due to this policy.

The author of "The Modern Zoo" is obviously very passionate in his opinion about zoos. I am also very passionate. I have not written this to personally attack him. Rather, I am simply stating facts. "The Modern Zoo" paints zoos as cruel, inhumane facilities, but it is both unfair and untrue to claim this about all of them. Many have state-of-the-art veterinary facilities and work hard to save endangered species.

I hope that readers will see that zoos seek to protect and save endangered species, as well as educate and encourage the public to do the same.

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This piece is a response to "The Modern Zoo" from the May 2008 issue of Teen Ink. I volunteer at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and have gotten to know its keepers, veterinary staff, and other workers. According to the writer of "The Modern Zoo," staff torture animals, do not provide adequate living space, and keep the animals merely to entertain.

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Largest online community empowering people to lead a healthy and green lifestyle while taking action on important causes such as human rights, animal welfare and global warming.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Easy to Use. Hard to Put Down.
With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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Easy to Use. Hard to Put Down. With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Learn more about the Association for Zoos and Aquariums’ members, educational programs, and conservation efforts, as well as the kinds of facilities we support.

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Newsela | Arthritic elephant finds relief in a pair of enormous Teva sandals

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Real sanctuaries are safe, comfortable places for animals to live after they've been rescued from not-so-nice places like circuses or laboratories. People can sometimes visit these sanctuaries, which is an awesome way to learn about and see animals without supporting businesses that hurt them, like roadside zoos or wildlife parks. Roadside zoos and wildlife parks use animals to make money. It's confusing because they sometimes call themselves "sanctuaries" or "rescues" to bring in more customers, because they know that people don't want to visit roadside zoos, but they're being dishonest when they do that.

It's important not to get these horrible places confused with actual sanctuaries. But how can you tell the difference? It's easy! There are a few simple questions you can ask about a place to figure out whether it's helping or hurting animals the animals who live there.

You can find answers to these questions by browsing a facility's website and social media pages (your parents can help):

1. How are animals housed?

Real sanctuaries make sure that an animal's living space is as close to their natural habitat as possible. Animals should live with others of their own kind so they can have friends. It's mean to keep them all alone in small, dirty pens with concrete floors and nothing to do-and you should stay away from places like that.

2. What kinds of activities do the animals get to do?

The animals' living area should have lots of ways for them to play and enjoy themselves! For example, there should be a large structure for chimpanzees to climb on, water for bears to soak and splash in, and large fields for roaming and exploring. Animals need these things if they're going to be healthy, happy, and comfortable.

Animals should also live with others of the same species so they can communicate with each another easily and form relationships and groups. In many sanctuaries, the animals who already live there help teach the newcomers how to get back in touch with their natural instincts and enjoy life again.

3. How big is the facility?

Animals should be given enough space to explore, roam, climb, and forage. And a real sanctuary NEVER takes the animals out of the facility to show them off.

4. Are visitors allowed to touch or hold the animals?

True wild-animal sanctuaries (with big cats, bears, primates, or wolves) NEVER allow visitors to touch or hold the animals, even babies, and that includes taking photos with them. This would be scary for the animals and dangerous to the visitors, too!

5. Where did the animals come from?

The animals who live there probably came from a place where they were mistreated, so they have a sad and painful past. The staff will want to share each animal's story so that visitors can learn about the various places that hurt animals (like laboratories, circuses, and roadside zoos). Real sanctuaries provide animals with a permanent home for the rest of their life. They NEVER trade, borrow, or loan animals.

6. Does the facility breed animals?

Sanctuaries NEVER breed animals, meaning that they don't make any of the animals have babies. Places that do breed animals are using them to make money-that's not right, and that's not a sanctuary.

7. What is it like to visit a sanctuary?

Most sanctuaries only allow very limited visits. Usually a guide takes people on a small tour of the place and doesn't let them walk around by themselves.

8. Is it accredited?

True sanctuaries are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), a group that makes sure sanctuaries follow strict rules to protect the animals who live there, like the ones listed above.
*****
All living, feeling beings deserve a comfortable place to live where people aren't always staring at them. A true sanctuary puts the needs and wants of the animals first. So if you care about animals, NEVER visit a roadside zoo or a wildlife park, and explain to your friends and family why places like that are bad for animals!

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8 Ways to Tell a REAL Sanctuary From a Roadside Zoo | PETA Kids

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Roadside zoo or animal sanctuary? This list will explain the difference-so you can figure out if a place is hurting or helping animals.

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Smithsonian's National Zoo: We Save Species

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/ CBS News

WASHINGTON - The National Zoo has a reputation as a leader in animal care, science and cute photo opportunities such as the naming of Bao Bao the baby panda earlier this month.

But a CBS News investigation has learned that behind the scenes, there are insider allegations of mismanagement involving animal care. Five sources with more than 35 years' combined experience at the National Zoo have raised concerns to CBS News about recent animal injuries, deaths and escapes.

The sources don't want to be identified for fear of retaliation. They say problems began last year when the zoo decided to double the population of the Cheetah Conservation Station, adding a half dozen new species but no extra space. Besides cheetahs, the CCS also houses zebras, gazelles and other species.

CBS News asked animal biologist and ethicist Marc Bekoff to look at the complaints. He was an independent reviewer of a 2005 National Academy of Sciences investigation of the zoo that found "systemic problems at the highest levels."

Of the newly raised issues, Bekoff said: "I call it 'fetch and pray.' You get the animals and then you pray that the project will work out."

The CCS' new animal mix didn't always work out. Issues identified by the zoo sources include two newly acquired hornbill birds that were kept in an indoor shack for seven months because their exhibit yard wasn't ready. Only after a volunteer complained were the birds allowed in an outdoor space. But the wallaby that had to share its yard with these new arrivals became frightened, according to sources, bloodied its nose and spent much of its time frightened and hiding.

One of two new red river hogs quickly became malnourished and died of an infection. The other hog, along with oryxes and sitatungas (two types of antelopes), sometimes became overly aggressive when mixed together, and some were injured in vicious fights.

It's not unusual for animals to spar, but the zoo sources say management failed to predict easily foreseeable conflicts between species and genders, and had ineffective backup plans for separating and protecting the animals when the conflicts arose.

"It's no surprise to me as a field biologist that so many of them do not work out," Bekoff told CBS News. "They're just too hastily put together and they're not well thought through."

Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson says the National Zoo meets the highest industry standards and the animals always receive the best care.

"We take great care in introducing our animals to these various habitats and transitioning them. Ideally, these things wouldn't happen, of course," said Baker-Masson. "I think my colleagues were very well aware and they know these species and they know how to take care of these species. ... Every single animal has a very specific course of action and a plan."

Bekoff says the zoo's plans appear to have been inadequate. "They should only be able to get the animals when it can be shown that they can properly house them and care for them."

Two animals in the CCS, a Dama gazelle and a pregnant kudu (another type of antelope), died when they got spooked on separate occasions and ran into barriers in their confined spaces, breaking their necks.

The gazelle death happened last month after a zebra attacked a veteran zookeeper. The commotion apparently frightened the gazelle, which is on the endangered species list. Zoo sources say it wasn't found for hours. The pregnant kudu died last June. Zoo sources say as the animal lay suffering with a broken neck, workers were unable to quickly locate necessary veterinary records.

Baker-Masson says Dama gazelles and kudus are skittish animals by nature and were housed in adequate spaces that met the requirements of the American Zoological Association, which recently re-accredited the facility.

As for the hornbill birds that were keep indoors for eight months, Baker-Masson says the space was "more than adequate and it gave the staff a very good amount of time to prepare and work with the hornbills" but "ideally they would have [had] access to their outdoor yard space more quickly."

Bekoff calls the lengthy indoor confinement "totally unacceptable."

"There's not one single excuse that I would accept," he said. "Basically this is a form of animal abuse and animal neglect. ...They get an 'F' in this project.'

Zoo sources also expressed concern about two escapes from the CCS: a vulture whose wings were allegedly not properly clipped and a red panda who managed to climb out of its exhibit. Both animals were later recaptured and zoo officials say the failures that allowed the escapes have been fixed.

CBS News has learned that the zoo convened a task force last summer to investigate the internal complaints about animal care at the CCS. The task force made findings last August and Baker-Masson says some of its recommendations are already being implemented.

Zoo officials refused CBS News' repeated requests to release the task force report even though, under public records law, it's considered public material.

As to why the National Zoo is withholding the information, Baker-Masson provided a number of rationales. First, she said that the task force report was still only a draft, four months after it was scheduled to be completed. However, when CBS News asked for the draft, she would not provide that either.

Later, in an interview, Baker-Masson said that the task force report is finished, but that the zoo isn't ready to release it.

"We're more than happy to [release the task force report]," Baker-Masson told CBS News. "But we have to do it in a thorough and process-oriented way that makes sense."

She acknowledged that some of the concerns investigated were founded.

"Absolutely," Baker-Masson said. "Anytime a concern is raised, it's looked at very seriously and we have to examine, you know, what changes are appropriate for that particular species, what changes are appropriate for the staff, what changes are appropriate for the facility itself. So yes, absolutely, some changes have been made."

Another incident the zoo is keeping mum about is the November zebra attack on the zookeeper. Baker-Masson says that AZA standards require that there always be a barrier between a keeper and zebras, which can inflict serious bite wounds. But the zoo says three weeks after the attack, it still has not identified how the zebra got to the keeper and it would not release the incident report or other public information about it. The injured zookeeper was recently released after several weeks in the hospital.

Sharyl Attkisson

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Are there animal care problems at National Zoo?

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Behind the scenes, there are insider allegations of mismanagement involving animals at famed D.C. facility

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Plastic retail bags - the kind you get from your grocer or at the corner store - are being targeted for bans and taxes in communities around the country, regardless of the unintended consequences. Bans and taxes have a negative impact on working families and seniors on fixed incomes, but they don't help the environment in any meaningful way-in fact they can cause bigger problems.

Banning and taxing recyclable, reusable products doesn't make sense, even in the most well-intentioned scenarios. Keep reading to find out why.

Environment
Plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly option at the checkout. Find out the surprising green truth for yourself.

Recycling
Plastic bag recycling is simple and effective, thanks to thousands of recycling drop-off locations across the country.

Jobs and Economy
Bag bans and taxes make trips to the grocery store more expensive, especially for low- and fixed-income families - with no meaningful impact on the environment to back them up. They also threaten thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Health
Be mindful with your reusable canvas and non-woven bags. Without frequent washing and appropriate storage, reusable bags can harbor dangerous bacteria.

Reuse
Nearly 90% of Americans reuse plastic bags. What do you do with yours?

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Plastic retail bags - the kind you get from your grocer or at the corner store - are being targeted for bans and taxes in communities around the country, regardless of the unintended consequences.

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Toronto is banning plastic shopping bags in stores.

Starting in January 2013, you'll have to bring your own reusable bag to the store to cart your goods away.

More than 250 million bags end up in landfill every year, never breaking down into compost, according to a report by CBC News.

Plastic bags can also clog drainage systems and, when they are washed out to sea, can hurt fish and other marine animals.

Plastic bags are banned or restricted in about a quarter of the countries in the world, according to online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Countries including Italy and South Africa have banned plastic bags. Many large cities have also banned them.

Toronto currently charges five cents per bag-for instance, for people who want a plastic bag to carry their groceries home.

The five-cent fee was put in place to discourage people from using the non-environmentally friendly product. Instead, people are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags to stores.

After Ireland put a fee on plastic bags in 2002, 90 per cent fewer bags were used. In 2010 Washington D.C. began charging five cents per plastic bag and that city's consumption of them went down from 22.5 million to three million in the first month.

In Toronto, the plastic bag fee has cut down on the number of plastic bags used by half, according to Metro newspaper.

A ban was not exactly what Toronto mayor Rob Ford had in mind when he brought up the subject at City Council on Wednesday. In fact, he wanted to end the five-cent fee on bags.

However, Councillor David Shiner proposed a very different motion. He suggested Toronto do away with plastic bags altogether.

That motion passed, 24 to 20. Starting on Jan. 1, 2013, retailers in Toronto will not be allowed to give out or sell any plastic shopping bags, including ones that claim to be "compostable or biodegradable."

According to Metro, "Ford appeared upset after the vote, blinking rapidly." Ford said council's decision didn't make any sense, and said he felt the motion will be overturned.

Council also voted to stop the five-cent fee for plastic bags, from July 1 until the ban takes effect. That means stores will be able to hand out plastic bags free in Toronto for six months.

Ford later told a news radio station that he would like to see Torontonians come down to City Hall to protest the ban. He said he thinks the ban is the dumbest thing Toronto council has ever done.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
What do you think should be done about plastic bags. Should they be free of charge, cost 5 cents, or be banned altogether. Make a jot list of reasons to support your answer.

Reading Prompt: Purpose
Use the information in today's article to write a letter to Toronto's City Counsel. OK, now go ahead... and send send it. Let them know what you think!

Primary, Junior, & Intermediate
Identify a variety of purposes for reading and choose reading materials appropriate for those purposes (OME, Reading: 1.2).

Grammar Feature: Verbs
Verbs are action words. Every sentence includes at least one verb. The verbs authors choose help readers understand the text. Underline the "key" verbs in today's story that help you understand it. How do these verbs affect your understanding?

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Mayor Ford is furious that Toronto's city council voted to ban all plastic bags in 2013. Read the facts and form your own opinion! Kids News

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In order for us to understand why people enjoy extreme sports, it is vital for you to understand what extreme sports are; the background, why they are called extreme and why they are categorize on the basis of enjoyment styles.

In recent years, the term extreme sports has evolved on grand scale. It can be categorized into three main types: Air, Land and Water. Now you'll start unleashing, how they work and why do people enjoy them.
These extreme sports are often subject of debates based of the fact that how a sport is called extreme. Often popular in younger-than-average crowd (though not mandatory), these sports are not inducted or sanctioned by schools. These sports are practiced mostly on individual level, while in many cases professional coaching can also be acquired.

Now we tell you the secret recipe of their buzz:

Control and physics: The reason why people enjoy these sports are that they are normally played, exercised or practiced in free or uncontrolled environment like base jumping and sky diving. It means while traditional athletes play in controlled environment like fields and gyms. Extreme athletes have to operate and display their skills in free-flowing natural environment. For this reason the aspects and understanding of laws of physics and how to apply and use them are really crucial for success.

Thrill: This is the single most attractive factor in people's interest for extreme sports. The adrenaline rush is what differentiates it from any other type of sports. The thrill that is derived in extreme sports is highest. The athletes are fully exposed and at the mercy of direct danger. The catch is how to maintain composure and apply skills when it is in extreme scenario. Extreme sports are also widely condemned for the same reason. As many don't think it is a game to put one's self in harm's way with full throttle, without understanding the intensity of consequences.

Pushing The Limits: Extreme sports as the name goes is about pushing the limits. The balance and control of regular instincts application is tried in the highest pressure scenario. The response, nerves and the grip over the un-controllable is the main zeal why people who play or watch, enjoy it.

Man against Nature: As we mentioned earlier that they are about natural elements- Air, Water and Land. These games are loved because the natural elements react to human extreme or instincts. The passion of man to overcome the natural barriers is an addiction for these athletes and spectators. Many a time these overtures have dire impacts, but the fear of danger is the prime motivator to excel in its skill.

Some of the mainstream extreme sports are base jumping, bungy jumping, sky diving, gliding, extreme skiing, mountain biking, cliff-diving, scuba diving, wind surfing. No matter what extreme sport you may enjoy know your limits, or you'll be pushed.

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In order for us to understand why people enjoy extreme sports, it is vital for you to understand what extreme sports are; the background, why they are called extreme ...

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Is your kid obsessed with becoming the next X Games star, Olympic medalist, or YouTube stuntman? Young kids often have no fear when it comes to taking risks, but are extreme sports like dirt bike riding and bungee jumping dangerous for kids?
Related: Sports Safety Tips for Your Child
Though traditional sports like football, basketball, and hockey aren't exactly going out of style, the world of extreme sports is growing in popularity. Kids and adults alike are participating in increasing numbers in these risky-if not sometimes downright dangerous-sports. But why?

From skateboarding and snowboarding to BMX biking and rock climbing, pop culture and social media have collided to amp up physical activity and make super-sized stunts seem like the norm. Long gone are the days when peer pressure from classmates, neighbors or older sibs drove younger children to drop into a half-pipe or launch their bike off a crazy incline.

Today's kiddos are also influenced by...well, influencers. YouTube stars, TikTok creators, and even Olympic athletes have turned extreme sports from something that only the wildest child would attempt to everyday activities.

If your littles are begging to do extreme sports and you're totally new to these types of activities, read on for more info on the risks, benefits, times to encourage your kiddo, and when to flat out say a big 'ol, " NO."

Extreme Sports Growing More Popular with Kids

Some kids are happier riding their skateboards than dealing with the structure of soccer practice. Others like cruising around on their BMX bikes until their legs just quit, surfing themselves silly, or spending the entire weekend learning new tricks on their inline skates.

Of course, young kids are also attracted to extreme sports because they're cool. And who doesn't like being on the cutting edge? Snowboarding, the bad-boy little brother of skiing, was legitimized by sports traditionalists when it became an official Olympic event at the 1998 Nagano Games.

Fast-forward to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which were actually held in 2021 thanks to the pandemic) and skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing became legit gold, silver, and bronze events!

Studies Show Fewer Kids Are Joining School Sports Teams

Have the days of dribbling a ball down a court or passing a puck gone the way of the dinosaurs? According to stats from Project Play, in 2021 the most popular youth sports for children ages six through 12 were bicycling, basketball, and baseball. Even though more than 5.2 million children biked in 2021, this was a significant change from way back in 2008.

The Project Play statistics show that only 18 percent of children reported bicycling in 2021, while a whopping 27.7 percent got active on two wheels in 2008.

Basketball team play dropped from 16.6 percent to 14.5 percent participation and baseball from 16.5 percent to 12.6 percent between 2008 and 2021. The number of children playing other popular team sports, such as soccer, tackle football, and flag football, also dropped during the same time frame.

Basketball is Less Popular But Bicycling is Big with Teens

The same downward trends didn't happen for teen participation in all traditional sports. Bicycling participation grew from 16.8 percent to 21 percent between 2008 and 2021 and baseball play rose from 8.2 percent to 9.5 percent.

What could account for the overall downward trend in team and individual youth sports play? There isn't one reason. But some of the possible explanations include an increasingly competitive climate, the high cost of intensive travel sports (such as hockey), or interest in other activities -such as extreme sports.

Dangerous Sports: Kids in BMX, Climbing, and Bungee Jumping?!

We spoke to Paul Vail, 29, a BMX freestyle bike rider for more than 14 years to learn more about the kinds of extreme sports kids are trying.

Vail says that when it comes to extreme sports, "Today's kids who've been riding skateboards or BMX bikes since they were 12-year-olds will become the parents who say, 'Yes, skateboarding, bike riding -- perfectly acceptable sports for my kid to do. And don't tell me they have to play football or be on the basketball team to be accepted, because that's no longer true.'"

Vail balks at the term "extreme sports." "People have been skydiving, skiing, riding bikes, doing tricks, and taking jumps forever. I think the extreme sports label is a gimmick. I like the term 'alternative sports'."

Extreme or not, it's important to encourage kids to express themselves physically, whether their athletic tastes are trendy or traditional. Both solo and team-oriented sports can build self-confidence, relieve stress, and promote physical fitness -- all of which are vital to growing kids and adults alike.

Kids in "alternative" sports are expressive, highly skilled athletes. And sports like rock climbing, snowboarding, inline skating, surfing, skateboarding, extreme skiing, and mountain biking (to name just a few), require significant technical ability as well as strength and endurance. Plus, alternative sports can help your kids develop positive qualities like discipline, persistence, and determination.

Kids in Ski Jumping or Snowboarding

BMX, skateboarding, and bungee jumping aren't the only extreme sports kids flock to. Even though ski jumping might seem like a new adventurous activity, it made its Olympic debut way back in 1924.

Of course, this doesn't mean kiddos were climbing up mountains, whooshing down slopes, and flying into the air on two skis a century ago. While this soaring sport isn't exactly new, its youth appeal has spiked in recent years. According to Women's Ski Jumping USA, five to eight years old is the age average for ski jumpers to start the sport!

Like ski jumping, snowboarding is a winter-time extreme sport that has skyrocketed in popularity. Again, snowboarding became Olympic-official in 1998. Almost a decade later, in 2006, then-19-year-old Shaun White made his first bid for the gold. But White certainly wasn't the last teen to take this extreme sport up a level and put it center stage.

Seventeen-year-old Chloe Kim became the youngest women's Olympic halfpipe competitor to nab the gold in 2018 at the PyeongChang games. With role models like White and Kim to follow, a whole new generation is getting into the halfpipe!

Not only do today's kiddos follow these, and other top athletes, but during the Olympics, they can watch the extreme antics of snowboarders on YouTube, TikTok, and just about every other social media site.

Kids and Sport Injuries

How dangerous are extreme sports? As a parent, your child's safety is priority number one. And that's why you're not so sure about your kiddo's extreme activities. Even though extreme sports do often come with, as the name implies, extreme risks, these aren't the only athletics that can result in serious injuries.

According to Stanford Medicine Children's Health, each year over 3.5 million children (14 and under) are injured during sports play. This includes more than 775,000 kiddos who require ER treatment. The majority of the injuries requiring hospital-level care are the result of collisions, falls, overexertion (during informal recreational activities) or object-related impacts.

When it comes to the most injuries per sport, football takes the top spot-with nearly 215,000 five- to 14-year-olds treated in hospitals in one year. This number is higher than what you find with some extreme sports. But in general, more children play this type of traditional team sport than engage in extreme activity.

A 2015 study published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine looked at the prevalence of head and neck injuries in extreme sports. The researchers found that between 2000 and 2011 there were more than four million total injuries from these types of activities (this includes adult injuries).

Over 11 percent of these were head and neck injuries. Of these head and neck injuries, the extreme sports with the highest number of incidents included skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, and motocross.

Fear is probably the number-one reason many of us avoid taking risks. For athletes in extreme sports, conquering fear is part of the adventure of sport. When a skateboarder is practicing tricks on a 15-foot ramp (commonly called a half-pipe), or a mountain biker is flying down a rock-strewn single-track trail, and he makes a mistake and falls -- well, it's going to hurt a little. Okay, maybe a lot.

But the athletes we spoke to didn't complain about injuries. In fact, most have enjoyed relatively injury-free experiences in their sports. Brian Krause, a competitive skydiver for the U.S. Army's Golden Knights, has taken thousands of jumps out of airplanes without so much as a sprained ankle.

But Matt Donovan, a pro downhill mountain bike racer from Massachusetts, said that when he first got serious about racing, his season was "very injury-laden. I had two concussions, a separated shoulder, a broken hand, multiple cuts, and lacerations. And I cracked a rib."

There are two kinds of sports injuries:

1. Chronic Repetitive or Overuse Injuries

Overuse injuries can cause stress fractures, muscle tears, or progressive bone deformities.

2. Acute Injuries

Acute sports injuries occur as a result of trauma from contact with a major force. Acute sports injuries include fractures, broken bones, dislocations, and more serious spinal and brain injuries.

Is It Wrong to Let Children Do Extreme Sports?

Should safety concerns stop your child from trying an extreme sport? There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. If your adventure-loving kiddo is all about skateboarding, snowboarding, parkour, BMX biking, or any other high-octane activity, you will need to think about:

Your Child's Age and Developmental Level

Is your child developmentally ready to handle the challenge? What is their skill level when it comes to basic coordination and athletic tasks like running, jumping, and balancing? Can you trust them to act responsibly, follow an instructor's directions, and wear safety equipment correctly?

Your Child's Motivation

Does your child want to become the next Tik Tok star? If your tween has dreams of easily twisting a BMX bike around in mid-air like their fave influencer or thinks videos of teens crashing their skateboards into just about anything and everything is hilarious, they may struggle to stay safe while engaging in an extreme sport.

The Instructor or Coach

Who will teach your child about the sport? A YouTube video or IG video are not a substitute for the real deal. Only a qualified instructor or professional should instruct your child.

The Safety Equipment

Do you know what safety equipment your child will need? Will they wear it? You may need to learn more about the equipment standards before you allow your child to participate in extreme activities.

What types of equipment do children need? The specific items depend on the sport. These could include a helmet, shoulder pads, shin pads, elbow pads, or wrist guards.

According to Seattle Children's Hospital, skiers and snowboarders should wear a helmet that meets ASTM, CEN, or Snell standards. Skateboarders should wear one that conforms to the ASTM F1492 standard. Children who ride bikes or scooters should wear a helmet that meets CPSC or Snell standards, knee pads, and elbow pads.

When is an extreme sport too extreme? If you don't feel comfortable with your child engaging in the activity or don't feel that they can follow safety directions, it's okay to just say no. Some sports are not age-appropriate for younger kids, and you should wait until they're a bit older to try them out.

It's also okay to talk to ask questions, talk to a pro, or take your time gathering facts, stats, and any other info about the adventurous activity! Learn more about extreme sports by taking our quiz here.

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Kids and Extreme Sports: Should They Be Allowed?

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Should kids do extreme sports? BMX riders, snowboarders and X Game stars weigh in on the benefits and risks of kids doing extreme sports.

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They do it because they have to. They need the feeling of exertion, that head rush of air and attitude. They want what Warren Shouldice knows is hard to explain unless you flip head over skis, knees over board, and kick snow in the face of danger.

That's what drew Shouldice to freestyle aerials and helped him become a world champion after he had broken his neck and compressed his back. It's what powered the late Sarah Burke to four Winter X Games championships and made her a success in the superpipe, skiing's answer to snowboarding's half-pipe.

"It's almost no fun doing it if there's no risk involved," said Shouldice, a 12-time World Cup medalist in a daredevil game. "The trick is making it a manageable risk."

When Burke died Thursday, nine days after falling during a training run in Park City, Utah, it saddened a nation and a sporting community world-wide. Burke was 29 and happily prepping for her sport's inclusion in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She had been injured many times before - a broken back, a torn shoulder - but nothing could dampen her love of skiing and the need to push herself to the brink of manageable risk and beyond.

Such is the appeal of many established and extreme sports, both for participants and spectators. The risks and rewards provide the thrills. Alpine skiing, particularly the ultra-fast downhill, has been a major attraction for decades. But the advent of the X Games upped the adrenalin quotient considerably.

The Games were the brainchild of ESPN producer Ron Semiao. In 1993, Semiao was looking for programming to fill the cable channel's fledgling ESPN2. He spotted a series of oddball sports that seemed to have a culture all their own and suggested to his bosses that ESPN create a made-for-TV sporting event. Two years later ESPN launched the first Extreme Games, a week-long competition that featured bungee jumping, mountain biking, skateboarding and street luge. Ratings weren't great and some critics panned the spectacle as "moronic." But ESPN stuck with it and made the games an annual event, later adding a second winter sports program. It also changed the name to X Games.

The popularity of the X Games took off and today they rival the Olympics in some respects. The X Games pull in more than 100,000 spectators and draw a television audience of around 44 million. They have also attracted major sponsors such as Ford, BF Goodrich, Sony and athletes such as Shaun White make up to $8-million annually in sponsorship deals.

The X Games are so popular, ESPN has announced plans to expand from two annual events to six, three summer and three winter. Bids from potential host cities have been flooding in, including one from Whistler B.C., which sees the X Games as a complement to the 2010 Olympics. Meanwhile rival network NBC has started a competing series called Dew Tour with PepsiCo and the Olympics have taken up some X Games sports, including Burke's specialty halfpipe skiing, which will be in the 2014 Games in Sochi.

The X Games "have gone viral," says Lee Berke, who runs consulting firm LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media Inc. in New York. "It's very grassroots in its appeal." Berke added that the X Games have won over major sponsors because the viewing audience is so young, largely 18-34, which means many have yet to form brand loyalties.

But at the root of it all is the question: why? Why do athletes gamble with their lives by doing something so inherently dangerous? Like flying upside down off a 22-foot snow wall or skiing from ridiculous heights?

Asit Rathod has a wonderful life. He's single, active, works at a sales job in Portland, Ore. But as often as he can, he climbs to the top of Mt. Hood and skis off a cliff with a parachute on his back. He's done it many times and is now eyeing bigger verticals - Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest.

Ask him why he does it and Rathod's passion runs wild.

"People always say, 'Why do you feel the need to risk your life?' It's about the power of adventure. In day-to-day life, adventure has been ripped from us in the way we drive, the way we eat. You get to that place where you have to have that adventure," he said. "The risk is always the excitement."

Rathod was a good friend of Shane McConkey, who died in 2009 when he skied off a cliff in Italy and his chute failed to open. Over the past four years, Rathod has lost "six, seven good friends" to extreme-sport accidents yet he has no plans to take up something with a safer track record.

"You remember their spirit. You remember their smile," he said of his fallen comrades. "If anything, it gives you more inspiration to do what you're doing. It's like Nietzsche said, 'The secret to reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously.'"

Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, was saddened by the news of Burke's death but insisted freestyle skiing is no more dangerous than any other winter sport. "There are always risks attached to sport," he stated.

Mitigating those risks is the relentless challenge. The International Ski Federation is presently examining how to equip downhill skiers with air bags to protect them during high-speed spills. FIS has been working with Dainese, the Italian company that makes protection for mountain bikers and motorcyclists. Canadian downhillers Erik Guay and Jan Hudec have been involved in the testing. Three years into the project, FIS is hoping to have a race suit fully ready for the end of this year.

Not so high tech, yet just as important, is the way young athletes are trained for their sport. Alpine Canada is holding a series of speed skills camps to instruct young racers on how to ski safely. At Calgary's Canada Olympic Park, there are plans to expand on an acrobatics room with trampolines and foam pits for budding freestylers. The kids, ages 9 to 14, practise there first before graduating to jumping off a ramp and landing in an air bad. Eventually, after hundreds of practice jumps, they move to the snow and begin in moderation.

"What we're doing is hiring top coaches to train top athletes," said Daniel Lefebvre, COP's director of education/sport development. "You have to build their confidence."

Shouldice, who recovered from both of his bad crashes but is currently sidelined with a concussion, endorses all of that - solid training and coaching. He also believes Burke's death, whole tragic, will not adversely affect freestyle skiing.

"I don't think this is going to change anyone's opinion of freestyle," he said. "Yes, there are risks. There are risks driving to work every day, Look at the number of people in freestyle and this is our first death. A lot of sports can't say that."

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Given the risks involved, where's the appeal in extreme sports?

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It is part adrenalin rush and part risk/reward that drive people to take part in established and extreme sports

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Overconfidence and a lack of training and a habit of not wearing safety gear, especially helmets, help cause more than 40,000 head and neck injuries nationally a year in sports like skateboarding.

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The World's First Wingsuit Champion Is Crowned

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The World's First Wingsuit Champion Is Crowned has 322 reviews and 0 ratings. Reviewer hsess wrote: "nice article"

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Do you like the excitement of extreme sports? If so, you might be an 'adrenaline junkie'. Find out more about white-water rafting and parkour in this video.

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/ CBS News

Extreme sports bring excitement, and are starting to draw big bucks.

But are the athletes putting too much on the line?

The daring participants say extreme sports are all about the thrill, the rush of adrenaline they get. They're climbing higher, jumping farther and moving faster, all in the name of personal glory.

Still, when things go wrong, they pay a heavy price.

Humans aren't supposed to fly, but Jeb Corliss comes pretty close.

His extreme exploits have a huge following. One video of him in action alone has gotten almost 9 million views.

Corliss hurt in stunt jump
Uncertainty clouds recovery of skiier Sarah Burke

On Monday, Corliss was seriously injured on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. Moments after he stepped off a cliff -- a 3,500-foot drop -- he hit the wall, breaking both his legs. He had to be taken by helicopter to a hospital.

Only a day before that, another extreme athlete, ice climber John Roberts, died after a 60-foot fall in Colorado.

And last Tuesday, free-skier Sarah Burke was critically injured during a training run in Utah.

All of these athletes take risks and are at the leading edge of extreme sports -- a one-time bit player on the sports scene that has exploded in recent years, thanks in part to social media and TV coverage.

The extreme athletes known as "Birdmen" even attracted the attention of "60 Minutes" in 2010.

Sponsorships have helped extreme athletes soar to new heights. Corliss has eight sponsors, including camera company GoPro.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman says what Corliss does is risky, but not nearly as risky as most people would think, because he's so good at it.

Corliss jumped without permission from South African authorities, a jump that not only put him in danger, but his rescuers, as well -- one of the many reasons why big brands tend to shy away.

"A lot of big brands, (and) rightly so, don't want to take that chance. You don't want to see blood spattered all over a logo that you've invested millions and millions of dollars in," says sports marketer Joe Favorito.

But, Favorito adds, athletes who are determined will find a way. "What they're trying to do is offset costs and take it to another level as, quote, a professional athlete," he said. "And people think, when you're associated with sponsors, that makes you a professional. Sometimes, it makes you become a little more risky."

Professional skier and base-jumper JT Holmes knows how dangerous extreme sports can be. He knew Burke, and watched his close friend, Shane McConkey, die after jumping off a 2,000 ft cliff. Holmes was also the subject of the Steve Kroft "60 Minutes" story on "Birdmen," and was a stunt man for the film "Transformers." Holmes insisted on "CBS This Morning" that he engages in extreme sports because they're "just good, clean fun." He admitted he thinks about the possibility the activities could kill him. "Certainly," Holmes said. "Every single jump, every single ski run, you have to be aware of the (possible) consequences and, if you're going to choose to put yourself in these perilous situations, you need to be prepared."

To see the entire interview, click on the video below.

Trending News

Jeff Glor

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They've become big business, but a death and some injuries have led some to question whether they're worth the money, thrill

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The battle between bottled water enthusiasts and tap water die-hards is finding new ground on YouTube, with dueling videos from environmental activists and the International Bottled Water Association.

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A sea turtle swims through the water and spots a white blob floating near the surface. "Yum!" it thinks. "A jellyfish!" Chasing after its dinner, the turtle swallows the item. But the floating blob isn't a jelly-it's a plastic bag that could make the sea turtle sick.

This sea creature isn't alone: Over 700 species of marine animals have been reported to have eaten or been entangled in plastic. Scientists think that the amount of plastic in the ocean might triple by 2050-and that would mean seriously bad news for the ocean and the creatures that live there. But by understanding the issue and taking action, you can help stop that from happening.

What's the problem with plastic?

First, let's get real: Not all plastic is bad. Bike helmets, car airbags, and many medical supplies made with plastic save lives. Plastic water bottles can bring clean drinking water to people who don't have it, and plastic straws can help people with disabilities drink.

The problem is that most of us use and then toss way more plastic than we need: things like grocery bags, drink bottles, straws, food wrappers, and plastic packaging around toys. This kind of plastic that's used only once before being thrown away is called single-use plastic, and it makes up more than 40 percent of all plastic trash.

Where does the plastic go?

That's a lot of trash. Scientists think that 8.8 million tons of plastic winds up in the ocean every year-that's as if you stacked up five plastic grocery bags full of trash on top of each other on every foot of coastline in the world.

How does it get into the sea? Plastic left on the ground as litter often blows into creeks and rivers, eventually ending up in the ocean. And because plastic trash is different from other types of waste-it doesn't decompose back into nature like an apple core or a piece of paper-it stays in the ocean forever. That means discarded fishing nets and six-pack rings can entangle animals; harmful straws and grocery bags can be mistaken as food.

What can we do about it?

You can do so much to help keep Earth clean! You can look at how much single-use plastic your family uses by filling out a plastic journal for a week-then talking about what you can do to use less. Need ideas? Check out these quick tips to reduce your plastic waste. By working together, our choices can help save animals-and the ocean they live in.

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What Are Some Advantages of Bottled Water?

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While some people might argue that it’s silly to spend money on something you can get for…

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Newsela | Opinion: Turn on the taps! Bottled water industry is bad for the Earth

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Bottled water is a big business that depletes aquifers, harms ecosystems and adds to the garbage disposal problem. Plus, tests show bottled water is no healthier than tap water.

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Bottled Water - Always There When You Need It

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Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. The bad news: Sea life can’t tell the difference between plastic and food.

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I think we should boycott zoos it isn’t right for the animals that get beat and are depressed with no friends or family around but if we let them out into the wild they won’t know how to hunt or clean themselves they won’t know what to do what side is the right side????😿🦁🐆🐅🐱🐳🦉🦊🦄🐈

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Aquariums and marine mammal theme parks like SeaWorld, the Miami Seaquarium, and Canada's Marineland are part of a billion-dollar industry built on the suffering of intelligent social beings who are denied everything that's natural and important to them.

Wild orcas and other dolphins live in large, complex social groups and swim vast distances every day in the open ocean. In captivity, they can only swim in endless circles inside tanks that, to them, are the equivalent of bathtubs and they're denied the opportunity to engage in almost any natural behavior. They are forced to perform meaningless tricks and are often torn away from family members when they're shuffled between parks. Many die far short of their species' natural life expectancy.

Families Torn Apart

Countless marine animals (even the original Shamu) were taken from their rightful ocean homes and placed in tanks. Tilikum, the orca who lashed out and killed SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau and two other people, died in a concrete prison 33 years after he was taken away from his Icelandic family. Lolita, torn away from her family when she was just a baby, has spent half a century in the same tank at the Miami Seaquarium. Some countries continue to capture wild dolphins and whales.

Captivity's Tragic Consequences

Frequently housed with incompatible tankmates, dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals are often drugged in order to manage stress-induced aggressive behavior and relieve the endless monotony of swimming in circles. They break their teeth chewing on the metal bars and concrete sides of their tanks and are forced to perform tricks for tourists in exchange for food-all in the name of entertainment.

While wild female orcas can live to be more than 100 years old, orcas at SeaWorld often die by the time they reach their teens and rarely approach even the average life expectancy of wild orcas. More than 40 orcas have died at SeaWorld from causes such as bacterial infections and fractured skulls. More than 300 other dolphins and whales along with approximately 400 pinnipeds have also died at the parks.

While Marineland can no longer breed whales and dolphins or confine new ones-thanks to Canada's recent ban on their captivity-it's still imprisoning the animals currently languishing there. Dozens of dolphins, whales, and walruses have died there-including a walrus named Apollo who recently suffered a heart attack. An orca named Kiska-who was abducted from her family in the ocean as a baby 40 years ago-is confined in isolation and can do nothing but swim in endless circles inside her cramped tank.

The Trouble With 'Interactive' Programs

Touch tanks as well as "swim with dolphins" and "paint with dolphins" programs allow the public to pet, kiss, paint with, or even ride these animals. Such programs invade their already diminished worlds and are intrusive, stressful, and even dangerous for them, as well as being risky for human participants.

Animals in "petting pools" are frequently exposed to foreign bacteria and other pathogens, and they can become anxious, frustrated, aggressive, and even neurotic as a result of being confined to shallow tanks and exposed to constant interaction with humans. Members of the public have been injured at SeaWorld's dolphin-petting pools.

Even programs that enable people to swim with dolphins in nature can be invasive. Boats and swimmers may chase, harass, and scare them, interfering with their natural feeding, resting, migrating, and playing behavior.

Poor Government Regulations

Captive marine mammals have some federal protections in the U.S., but enforcement is lax. There are simply too many animal exhibitors for the limited number of U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors-as of February 2020, there were 104 inspectors for 12,851 facilities. Even when exhibitors are cited for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act, they're rarely assessed fines or meaningful penalties.

Keeping Dolphins Free

In nature, orcas work cooperatively in search of food. They share complex relationships in a matrilineal society and-in some populations-rarely leave their mother's pod. They have group-specific food preferences and behavior. These attributes, along with their pods' unique dialects, are considered a form of culture that is unrivaled by any species other than humans.

Other dolphins, too, maintain dynamic relationships within a large social network. They live with up to a few dozen others in a pod and can swim as many as 60 miles each day and dive to depths of nearly 1,500 feet in nature.

The world is moving away from keeping intelligent, sensitive cetaceans in captivity. In the U.S., the National Aquarium is building the dolphins in its care a seaside sanctuary-a safe ocean cove in which captive marine mammals can be released into a protected area of the sea to dive deep, feel the ocean currents, and finally live like they should, all while still receiving care, food, and veterinary support. Two whales have been moved from a marine park in China to a seaside sanctuary in Iceland, and The Whale Sanctuary Project just announced plans for a seaside sanctuary for rescued orcas and belugas in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Governments around the world are also recognizing that dolphins (including orcas) and other cetaceans do not belong in tanks. Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, and Croatia have all banned the practice of keeping cetaceans in captivity. In 2013, India's Ministry of Environment & Forests banned the practice of keeping dolphins captive for public entertainment. Other countries, including Brazil, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, and Norway, have highly restrictive standards that make it nearly impossible to keep cetaceans in captivity. The last dolphinarium in the U.K. closed more than 20 years ago.

What You Can Do

Please don't visit marine parks, and never buy tickets to roadside zoos or aquariums that keep ocean animals in captivity. Encourage your local aquarium to create more space for rehabilitating (and releasing) injured wildlife by refusing to breed more animals.

You can also leaflet at local roadside aquariums or marine parks, pressure officials to avoid subsidizing these facilities with taxpayer money, write letters to the editor of local publications, and support legislation that prohibits the capture or restricts the display of marine mammals.
Please join PETA in urging SeaWorld and other marine parks to stop using animals and to relocate the orcas, bottlenose dolphins, and other animals to seaside sanctuaries, where they can thrive in the enrichment and diversity of the sea while still receiving the care that they require.

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Aquariums and Marine Parks are no safe havens for marine mammals like dolphins and whales. Learn more on how you can help animals and not support these facilities.

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SeaWorld plans to spend upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars to build an expanded killer whale environment and programs to protect the creatures in the wild, the company announced Friday.

This announcement comes two days after SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. released a report showing a significant drop in revenue for the first half of 2014. The company has also come under fire from animal-rights activists who claim the company was mistreating its killer whales.

In addition to the new habitat, SeaWorld is pledging $10 million in matching funds for killer whale research. The company said it is embarking on a multi-million dollar partnership focused on ocean health, the leading concern for all killer whales and marine mammals. The total investment will be hundreds of millions of dollars, officials told NBC 7.

SeaWorld San Diego will be first park to debut the new killer whale environments, named the Blue World project, with a planned total water volume of 10 million gallons, nearly twice as much as the existing facility. The new environment will also provide the world's largest underwater viewing experience for guests.

"Our guests will be able to walk alongside the whales as if they were at the shore, watch them interact at the depths found in the ocean, or a birds-eye view from above," Jim Atchison, chief executive officer and president of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., said in Friday's announcement.

PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman called the announcement "a desperate drop-in-the-bucket move to try to turn back the hands of time."

In a written statement obtained by NBC 7, Goodman said, "It will not save the company. What could save it would be the recognition that it needs not to make larger tanks but to turn the orcas out in seaside sanctuaries so that they can feel and experience the ocean again, hear their families, and one day be reunited with them. A bigger prison is still a prison."

Images: Changes Coming for SeaWorld San Diego's Orca Exhibit

At a special announcement in San Diego, SeaWorld lead veterinarian Dr. Christopher Dold said the park has invited a number of experts to be part of an advisory panel to help design the project.

Plans will include a fast-water current. "A treadmill for killer whales," Dold said. "The whales can swim through this and be exercised and stimulated."

Each animal will react differently but they will all explore it and staffers will monitor their reactions, Dold said.

The announcement comes midway through a challenging year for the major theme park. Officials have launched a new publicity campaign to combat the effects of the documentary "Blackfish," which focuses on claims of whale mistreatment. The park also successfully fought a proposed bill in California that would ban using killer whales as performers.

In June, dozens of riders stranded for hours hundreds of feet off the ground in the park's iconic SkyTower ride. Then, in July, a controversial anti-SeaWorld ad was unveiled in time to greet Comic-Con crowds in San Diego.

City Council President Todd Gloria and other city leaders attended Friday's announcement.

The city has a vested interest in how SeaWorld San Diego conducts business because the 190-acre theme park sits on city-owned property in Mission Bay Park.

The city earns revenue in a number of ways from ticket to alcohol sales - an estimated $14 million a year.

It's also one of the city's largest employers with a staff of 2,500 to 4,500 depending on the season.

"This new habitat enriches the experiences for our visitors to our region expanding on their appreciation for killer whales and all marine life and our environment as a whole ," Gloria said. "I think we can all agree that's an important message and one that's worth investing in.
-NBC San Diego's R. Stickney contributed to this report. Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that the new environment will cost upwards of $10 million. SeaWorld says the project will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

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SeaWorld to Expand Killer Whale Environments

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Sea World plans to spend hundreds of millions to build an expanded killer whale environment and programs to protect the creatures in the wild, the company announced Friday. to build an expanded killer whale environment and programs to protect killer whales in the wild, the company announced Friday

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Mystic Aquarium is Connecticut’s most unique aquarium experience. Learn more about events, programs, experiences, and more or plan your trip to Mystic Aquarium today.

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Aquariums support conservation and promote education through meaningful encounters
By Bruce Carlson
I am seated in front of a massive window that holds back 6.3 million gallons of sea water at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It's a Thursday afternoon and about 125 people are in this gallery, including several dozen children seated on the floor, mesmerized by the amazing creatures just on the other side of the glass. We are watching two whale sharks being fed while a narrator explains that they are plankton feeders. The kids are enthralled; not only by the whale sharks, but also by the thousands of other animals they have access to in these exhibits. During the past five years, more than 11 million people have had this same experience. I am certain that more than just one of the millions of children who have been here will decide to dedicate their lives to marine biology and conservation as a result of their trip to the aquarium.

Scuba Diving readers are among the lucky few who have seen and interacted with the magnificent creatures that live in the ocean. An even smaller group has had up-close encounters with the largest animals in the sea: whales, dolphins, whale sharks and manta rays. These encounters are unpredictable and brief, yet they are experiences that make a lifelong impression on the people who have them. And not only does the sport of diving require specific training and physical prowess, the trips to dive in the places where these most interesting creatures live cost a considerable sum. Airfare, boat charters, gear rentals and more make these encounters a luxury many people cannot afford. But thanks to places like the Georgia Aquarium, the thrill of seeing a whale shark or a manta ray is no longer an exclusive experience, but rather an accessible encounter for the masses.

What aquariums and zoos do best is help bring people and animals closer together. And the more we learn about animals, the more we care about them and their environments. So how could a place like this not encourage people to be active in the conservation of these creatures? As I write this, I can see the impact of this tremendous educational and empowering experience in the eyes of these young children.

But the impact goes beyond education. The revenue generated from guest attendance at many zoological parks and aquariums around the world is used to support research and conservation. For instance, the Georgia Aquarium has provided research grants to scientists in the U.S. and Mexico to document the aggregation of whale sharks that appears each year off the town of Holbox on the Yucatan peninsula. From 2003-2010, more than 700 whale sharks were tagged and photographed, and over many years this data will give us a good understanding of population dynamics of whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Aerial surveys funded by the aquarium have also contributed valuable data on where to establish boundaries for the new Whale Shark Biosphere Preserve created in Holbox in 2009. The new preserve will help protect whale sharks from possible exploitation and ensure that their food supply -- plankton and fish eggs -- is not endangered from pollution.

This is just one example of how aquariums give back to nature. Over from 2005-2010, aquariums and zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums provided nearly $89 million to more than 3,700 conservation projects all over the world. These programs for species ranging from tiny Banggai cardinal fish in Indonesia to great white sharks off California to beluga whales in Alaska are giving the animals a better chance to thrive in the wild.

When people ask me whether or not large animals, like whale sharks, should be kept in aquariums or zoos, I tell them to ask the children at the aquarium that day. I am sure they would give you a resounding "yes." The awe they are feeling will turn into appreciation and respect for living creatures they might otherwise have never known.
Bruce Carlson was the Chief Science Officer at the Georgia Aquarium from 2002-2011. A diver since 1967, he is also the former Director of the Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu.
Large Marine Animals Do Not Belong in Bath Tubs
By Kim McCoy
Captive marine animals are often referred to as "ambassadors for their kind," as though they have some choice in the matter or this is somehow a noble pursuit. My question is always: What did these innocent beings do to deserve the extreme trauma of a potentially lethal wild capture (yes, these still happen routinely around the world) followed by a life sentence in a liquid prison that is unnatural in every conceivable way; an environment rife with stress, boredom, frustration of natural instincts, forced human interactions, increased mortality rates and decreased quality of life? Wouldn't they be much better ambassadors in the wild?

With startlingly few exceptions, most aquariums worldwide (and certainly entities such as casinos and marine "abusement" parks) exist exclusively for the purpose of generating profits through commercial exploitation. Animals are regarded as expendable commodities, high death and illness rates are anticipated costs of doing business, and the underlying message is that confinement of animals for profit and human entertainment is acceptable.

While nearly all aquariums attempt to justify this exploitation under the guise of conservation, education and research, only a tiny percentage actually conduct legitimate conservation programs. Even then, the money spent on conservation represents a fraction of the overall income generated off the backs of these animals and begs the question: Wouldn't the money spent finding ways to keep animals alive in artificial environments be better spent solving conservation issues in their natural habitats in the first place?

The standard argument is that aquariums are necessary because they educate people and create awareness of the plight of wild animals, resulting in a call to action. But there is no solid evidence that viewing captive animals translates directly into any sort of practical conservation action. To the contrary, viewing animals in unnaturally small, often chlorinated enclosures desensitizes people to the cruelty inherent in their removal from the wild. It encourages the false notion of animals in isolation that are dependent upon humans for survival, rather than integral elements of ocean ecosystems that are fully competent to care for themselves. More important, it discourages the correct view of marine animals as sentient beings with their own intrinsic value, deserving of the right to live their lives free from human interference.

Aquariums and the research conducted therein teach us nothing of migratory or foraging patterns, actual life spans or complex natural behaviors exhibited by large marine animals in the wild. How, for example, is a young child supposed to learn, by looking into a concrete and Plexiglas enclosure only 30 feet deep, that whale sharks routinely dive to almost 5,000 feet? That child sees an animal swimming in endless circles. Whale sharks can live for up to 150 years in the wild, yet we applaud facilities that can keep them alive for three to 10 years in captivity, as if that is somehow an accomplishment.

No man-made enclosure can adequately simulate the tides, the biodiversity, or the sheer vastness and freedom of the open ocean in order to meet the complex physical and psychological needs of large captive animals. Enclosures are designed for human convenience and comfort, not the animals' well being, and even the best-designed enclosures frustrate and confuse critical senses relied upon in the wild for navigation, danger avoidance or locating prey, such as dolphin echolocation or a shark's ability to detect and interpret vibrations and electrical activity.

While it is legitimate to conclude that some facilities are more or less damaging than others, the lives led by large captive marine animals are so contrary to the natural experiences of their wild counterparts - and the purported benefits of confinement are such a stretch - that it is simply unforgivable to keep these animals in captivity.

Wouldn't we all be much better off funneling the billions of dollars spent supporting commercial captive enterprises into learning about our oceans through more compassionate and accurate means, such as observation in the wild (with responsible operators), virtual reality simulations, books, DVDs and/or IMAX theatres? Don't we owe it to our children, to the animals and to our planet to move forward in a way that inflicts no harm?
Kim McCoy is the Executive Director of Big Life Foundation, and was the Director of Campaigns for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a nonprofit organization specializing in international ocean wildlife conservation, from 2007-2009. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com Editor's Note: This story was originally published in Scuba Diving magazine in 2010.

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Should big marine animals like killer whales and whale sharks be kept in aquariums or at parks like SeaWorld? Two experts debate the pros and cons.

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Newsela | Argentine court's ruling gives basic human rights to captive ape at zoo

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It was the first ruling of its kind. The orangutan, named Sandra, was living in a cage at the Buenos Aires Zoo for the last 20 years. Experts must find her a new home away from the zoo.

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Reintroduction programs, by which animals raised or rehabilitated in AZA-accredited zoos or aquariums are released into their natural habitats, are powerful tools used for stabilizing, reestablishing, or increasing in-situ animal populations that have suffered significant declines. Reintroductions may include animals that have spent some of their early life-stages being cared for in a "headstart" program that gives them a greater chance of survival than those born in the wild, those brought in for rehabilitation from illness or injury, those moved from one area for release elsewhere, or those that are offspring of animals that have had several generations cared for by AZA-accredited institutions.

Examples of AZA Reintroduction Programs

Asian wild horse: Equus ferus przewalskii, also known as takhi and Przewalski's horse, roamed the grassland steppes of Europe and Asia for millennia. But by the late 1960's, it was driven to extinction in the wild due to human persecution, grazing competition, and high mortality from harsh winters. Over the next several decades, zoos worldwide bred rescued individuals and worked with in-country partners to reintroduce the descendants back to the wild. Today, there are more than 500 Asian wild horses running free in Mongolia and China. In 2014, the Asian Wild Horse SSP launched the True Wild Horse Initiative to support in situ research and conservation efforts for Asian wild horses.

Black-footed Ferrets: In 1987, 18 of the remaining black-footed ferrets were placed into the care of AZA-accredited institutions as well as partner organizations and agencies. Due to the efforts of the AZA Black-footed Ferret SSP Program and their partners, these animals have successfully reproduced and thousands have been reintroduced into their historic range since 1991. Learn more about this species' road to recovery.

California Condors: In 1982, only 22 California condors existed in the wild. Conservation breeding and management of these animals in AZA-accredited institutions, overseen by the California Condor SSP, increased this population to almost 200 birds within 20 years. By 2014, their population totaled 425 animals, including 219 living in the wild. To learn more about the condor's ex-situ rearing efforts visit the San Diego Zoo website. Visit the USFWS Endangered Species Program to view a video of this success story.

Ohio River Basin Freshwater Mussels: Freshwater mussels are an imperiled group of North American animals with an estimated 43% of the species found in the Ohio River basin. In 2001, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, the Wilds, Ohio State University, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department founded the Freshwater Mussel Conservation and Research Center. This Center has developed innovative conservation methods which have yielded the exceptional propagation, culture, translocation, and reintroduction of numerous state and federally listed freshwater mussel species back into Ohio's streams, rivers, and lakes.

Golden Lion Tamarin: In 2003, the previously Critically Endangered golden lion tamarin was downlisted by the IUCN to Endangered after nearly thirty years of conservation efforts involving the Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program (GLTCP) at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and the Associação Mico-Leao-Dourado in Rio de Janeiro. New populations were established in Brazil's União Biological Reserve through the translocation of 47 individuals in six isolated groups from their original isolated habitats. This reintroduction program has also contributed to the protection of 3,100 hectares of forests within the tamarins' range.

Karner Blue Butterfly: While healthy populations of the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly remain in a handful of its historic range states, the species disappeared from Ohio in 1992. In 1998, the Toledo Zoological Gardens became the first institution to breed the Karner blue butterfly for reintroduction into the wild at restored sites and later offered assistance to the Detroit Zoological Park with releasing butterflies to a site in southeast Michigan.

Oregon Spotted Frog: In 2014, the Oregon spotted frog was listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act, after having been lost from almost 80% of its historic range. The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, working with the Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Team in Canada on a headstart program, bred this species for the first time in 2010 and released tadpoles and metamorphs into native habitat. Other partners, led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, are engaged in its recovery in the United States, including the Oregon Zoo, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, and Woodland Park Zoo.

Palila: The palila is an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper species that has suffered population declines due to the destruction of the dry forests it inhabits. Efforts to expand the palila population back to its historic range at Pu'u Mali have included successful releases of birds bred at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center as part of the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program run by San Diego Zoo Global, as well translocation of wild birds by the US Geological Survey.

Red Wolf: Red wolf populations had declined significantly by the 1960s due to intensive predator control programs and loss of habitat. 14 wolves out of a remnant population found along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana became the founders of a successful breeding program involving AZA-accredited institutions and the AZA Red Wolf SSP.

Wyoming Toad: The Wyoming toad was officially classified as Extinct in the Wild in 1994, when only one ex-situ population remained. This population was brought into the care of AZA-accredited institutions and, under the supervision of the Wyoming Toad SSP, it successfully managed to produce tadpoles and toadlets that continue to be reintroduced into the wild. AZA institutions and their partners continue to conduct regular releases of this species, as wild populations of the Wyoming toad are not yet self-sustaining.

More Reintroduction Projects

To learn about other reintroduction projects AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums are studying, developing, or conducting, explore the Conservation and Research Database. For reintroduction-related research projects, select "Research" as the project category, "Species and/or Habitat Conservation" as the keyword category, and "Reintroduction and Translocation" as the keyword. For field projects, select "Field Conservation" as the project category, "Ex Situ-Related" as the keyword category, and "Reintroduction" as the keyword.

Reintroduction-related Resources

AZA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) play key roles in advancing the science of reintroduction programs in which AZA Animal Programs or its accredited institutions participate. Numerous reference materials and tools have been developed to advance the science and success of reintroductions.

AZA Guidelines for Reintroduction of Animals

AZA asserts that the scientific and ethical complexity of reintroduction necessitates guidelines for those who plan, conduct, fund, regulate and publicize reintroductions and in 1992 developed a bibliography that identified a variety of documents addressing reintroduction guidelines. These guidelines are often contradictory and AZA has suggested that sincere consideration be given to all bibliographic sources and guidelines during the planning stages of reintroduction, and that reintroduction be regarded as science, with surveys of the pertinent literature, interdisciplinary participation, formulation of testable hypotheses and goals, thorough documentation, rapid publication of results, and review of the program by independent referees be incorporated. Read more about the AZA Guidelines for Reintroduction of Animals.

IUCN/SSC Reintroduction Specialist Group

The Reintroduction Specialist Group (RSG) promotes the reintroduction of viable populations of animals and plants back to their natural ecosystems, contributing to conservation efforts worldwide. The RSG manages a network of global voluntary members to provide reintroduction practitioners with tools such as reintroduction guidelines, networking resources, and publications to provide a means for distributing information on reintroduction projects. Practitioners are encouraged to explore the RSG's website for the most current resources about reintroduction and other conservation translocation efforts.

Avian Reintroduction and Translocation Database

In 2008, Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens established an Avian Reintroduction and Translocation Database (ARTD) to centralize information about the avian species, release sites, and release events that take place around the world. The database describes every aspect of the reintroduction effort for each species including the variables that impact the efficacy of releases, species biology and ecology, habitat suitability, demography, and genetics.

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Reintroduction programs, by which animals raised or rehabilitated in AZA-accredited zoos or aquariums are released into their natural habitats, are powerful tools used for stabilizing, reestablishing, or increasing in-situ animal populations that have suffered significant declines.

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Why Zoos Matter

We at the Saint Louis Zoo are passionate about the work we do. We not only care about the work we're doing, we are fostering animals that are threatened or endangered and supporting their perpetuation into the future.

Making a Difference

The world around us is changing fast. Species of wildlife are facing global extinction on a massive scale. About 41 percent of all amphibian species and 26 percent of all mammals are now threatened with extinction, and fully half of the world's primates - our closest relatives - teeter on the edge of existence. We face the loss of one in eight of all bird species. Overall, the extinction rate has increased a hundred-fold over the last century, and today we estimate that over 18,000 species face oblivion. Zoos are in a unique position to make a difference. Zoos are focused on offering the very best possible nutrition, enrichment and environment for animals in their care.

The many committed people at zoos care deeply about animals, working with an incredible variety of species, from one-celled creatures to elephants. Our research on behavior, reproductive biology, nutrition, animal health and genetics is valuable to wildlife managers, field researchers and other scientists.

For example, the Saint Louis Zoo has been doing a mother/infant bonding study with antelope and other hoofed animals at Red Rocks for 14 years. The data we've gathered - how often and when a species typically nurses, who initiates nursing, proximity, grooming, nuzzling - has provided information to field researchers that would be hard to come by otherwise.

We are animal experts

Zoo professionals are experts on breeding small populations of endangered species. That knowledge, too, has become valuable to scientists working with wildlife populations. Nowadays animals in wild habitats are often found in small, fragmented groups because of agriculture, logging or other human activity.

We collaborate with organizations worldwide on conservation breeding, habitat preservation, community development, public education and research.

Explore our conservation efforts

From Fence to Field

In 2004, the Saint Louis Zoo established the WildCare Institute to work in conservation hotspots locally and around the globe.

From Forest Park and Missouri streams to the Horn of Africa or the coastline of Peru, the Zoo is taking a holistic approach to wildlife conservation. While the Zoo has been involved in helping save endangered species for decades, our goal today is create a sustainable future for wildlife and for people around the world. Ultimately, we need to help save the ecosystems on which animals and humans depend. WildCare Institute addresses three key ingredients in conservation success: wildlife management and recovery, conservation science, and support of the human populations that coexist with wildlife.

Connecting people to animals

People learn at zoos. They learn in our formal classes, lectures, camps, teacher workshops, distance learning, zoo tours, overnights and outreach programs. Informally they learn from keeper chats, docent volunteers, interpreters, signage and special exhibits. Most important, they learn from observing zoo animals.

On a scale of 1 to 10, our visitors rate their educational experience at the Saint Louis Zoo as a 9.1.

Unique Experiences.

Zoos are a place where families can have unique experiences together every time they visit. Today's families are more conscious than ever of the need to teach their children about the natural world and respect for living creatures.

Why do people come to the zoo?

Why do zoos matter?

Because we care.

We want to keep this planet's amazing wildlife around for future generations.

Donate to our Conservation Fund

If you'd like to contribute financially to our conservation efforts, you can make a donation through the Saint Louis Zoo.

Learn more

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The Saint Louis Zoo is dedicated to saving species and bringing people and wildlife together. Home to over 16,000 animals, many of which are endangered, entry is free every day for everyone, an important part of our commitment to people and animals - always.

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This is the holiday season in the United States. People are buying gifts and carrying them home, usually in plastic shopping bags. They are only a small amount of the huge number of disposable plastic bags that are used all year long to contain groceries and other items.

Janet Larsen directs research for the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She says too many plastic bags end up as litter, polluting waterways.

"They get caught in bushes and trees. In storm water systems, they end up clogging up sewers."

In an effort to keep plastic bags out of the environment, California recently became the first state to ban businesses from giving new plastic bags to customers. Some other states and cities charge a small amount of money for every bag given out. That is meant to encourage people to bring their own bags when they go shopping.

Mark Daniels is senior vice president for environmental policy at Hilex Poly, one of the country's largest plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers. He says people should be able to get new plastic bags without paying. Mr. Daniels says they are a good environmental choice.

"Every single scientific litter study that has been done always show that plastic retail are a fraction of one percent."

Some environmentalists claim that plastic bags are clogging landfills. However, Mark Daniels points to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency that says that is not always true.

"All plastic bags, not just retail bags, are 4/10ths of one percent the waste stream."

Five years ago, Washington D.C. placed a 5-cent fee on every plastic bag given out by businesses in the city. The money is being used to clean up the local Anacostia watershed.

And the effort is making a difference. Brian Van Wye heads storm waterprogram implementation at the city's Department of the Environment. He says once people started to pay for plastic bags, they used less of them. Fewer bags ended up in the waterways.

"The stream clean-up groups are telling us that they've seen a 60 percent reduction in the disposal bags that they find while they're doing stream cleanups."

He also says that's helping to save water life.

"We also know that plastic bags, they break down over time. It's something aquatic life will consume and ingest and that can cause serious harm and potentially death for aquatic life like fish and turtles."

But customers who say they need shopping bags aren't always happy about paying for them. At a Washington restaurant, Bill Ford says he has to use a bag to carry out his lunch.

"I don't know why some people need to pay because, some people, a small minority of people are throwing stuff into rivers and waterways."

Still, Carol Powers, who also paid for a bag, approves of Washington's program.

"It seems kind of silly to pay five cents for a bag, but if that's what it takes to help save the environment, then it's a good idea."

Hilex Poly and other manufacturers are recycling the bags. Mark Daniels says that is a better alternative than taxing or banning them.

"We reprocess it, we clean it, we shred it, we make new post-consumer recycle product and put that back into the manufacturing of new bags."

But Janet Larsen of the Earth Policy Institute doesn't think that's the answer.

"The plastic bag industry has often used recycling as a deterrent for communities that, even when residents are saying, we want to limit these. It really doesn't help to minimize the problems. What we would advocate for would be a washable, reusable bag to take the place of all those plastic bags."

Bags like the one Carol Chastang uses to carry her lunch...

"This is my contribution to keeping the environment cleaner and safer."

More than 18 million Americans now live in communities that tax or ban plastic bags, and that number is expected to go up again next year.

I'm Anne Ball.
This story came from VOA reporter Deborah Block. Marsha James wrote it for VOA Learning English. Jeri Watson was the editor.
______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

litter - n. things that have been thrown away and are lying on the ground in a public place

disposable - n. something that is made to be thrown away after it is used once

clog - v. to slowly form a block in (something, such as a pipe or street) so that things cannot move through quickly or easily

alternative - adj. offering or expressing a choice.
Now it's your turn to use these Words in this Story. In the comments section, write a sentence using one of these words and we will provide feedback on your use of vocabulary and grammar.

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This is the holiday season in the United States. People are buying gifts and carrying them home, usually in plastic shopping bags. They are only a small amount of the huge number of disposable plastic bags that are used all year long to contain groceries and other items.

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Opinion | Ten Cents a Bag? That’s About Right (Published 2014)

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A bill introduced by the New York City Council to limit the use of plastic bags is a good start.

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UPDATE: Caleb Moore dies following crash

President Obama says if he had a son, he'd be leery about letting Barack Jr. play football.

It's safe to assume he's ordered the Secret Service to change the channel if his daughters turn on the Winter X Games.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be half-pipers. ESPN's snow festival is making football look like a water balloon fight. Caleb Moore, a 25-year-old Texan, is clinging to life after crashing his snowmobile.

"The prognosis is not good at all," his uncle, Charles Moore, told the Denver Post. "It's almost certain he's not going to make it."

Caleb's brother, Colten, separated his pelvis in a different accident. Another snowmobiler fell off during a jump. His snowmobile veered into the crowd and slightly injured a 13-year-old spectator.

Two more X-Gamers were carted off with knee and head injuries. Another fractured her back during the ski slope-style competition. Rose Battersby later posted an update on Facebook: "My spine has been put back together and I am pleased to say my toes can wiggle!!!"

Good for her. Now if she had any sense, she would never stick them back inside a ski boot and try a 360-degree double-spin with a twist.

That's my first reaction to the carnage. People certainly have the right to try to turn a snowmobile into a magic carpet. But what gives the X Games immunity from the reform movement sweeping America?

Concussions are forcing the NFL to reinvent the game. The government is trying to protect us from Big Gulps. Shouldn't somebody step in and save these daredevils from themselves?

The answer seems obvious, but it's not that simple. The complexities start with the name - extreme sports.

People compete as much against the limits of reason, physics and imagination as they do against the guy in the next snowmobile. Take away that quest, and you take away the essence of the sport.

"We are the modern-day explorers," snowmobiler Jimmy Fejes told the Post. "There are no new places in the world to see and discover, so you have to create new things."

Trite but true. Ernest Hemingway (or somebody like him) once said, "There are only three true sports - bullfighting, mountain climbing and motor racing. The rest are merely games."

If you can't die doing it, it doesn't count. X-Gamers know freestyle skier Sarah Burke died last year when her head slammed into a halfpipe wall.

They watched as Kevin Pearce spent four months in the hospital after a similar accident in 2009. He spent four months in the hospital and had to re-learn how to walk, talk and eat.

Deep down the X-Gamers must think it'll never happen to them. They know the risks, but they are compelled to explore the extreme.

Before Burke, no woman had ever landed a jump with a 180-degree rotation in competition. That's three complete spins in midair. Then it was on to the next limit.

"When is enough enough?" snowmobiler Paul Thacker said.

Don't ask him. Thacker was paralyzed from the waist down in a 2010 wreck. He's back competing in the X Games adaptive competition.

"It's kind of like you tell me I can't do something and I'll show you how I can," Thacker said. "It's how we are wired."

The X Games put out the usual press release saying how it puts safety first, and all procedures have been followed. But really, how safe can you make a competition that involves doing back-flips with 450-pound snowmobiles?

Moore had done it hundreds of times, but something went wrong last Thursday. He crashed face-first in the snow and the snowmobile landed on top of him.

He walked off with help and went to the hospital with a concussion. Then they found a heart contusion that required surgery. On Sunday, his family said Moore had a "brain complication."

Thousands have tweeted #prayforCaleb. Keep those hashtags handy because flipping snowmobiles is a growth industry.

Winter X Games ratings are up 32 percent from last year. The ski halfpipe has been added to next year's Sochi Olympic program.

This stuff makes undeniably great TV. More attention will mean more sponsors and money and reasons for people to push the limits. Not that they needed another reason.

They are doing what comes naturally, and it will never be safe. There will be another Burke and another Moore.

Their competitors will see it and pause.

Then they'll go back to pretending it can't happen to them.

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X Games snowmobile crash shows extreme sports are extremely dangerous

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UPDATE: Caleb Moore dies following crash President Obama says if he had a son, he'd be leery about letting Barack Jr. play football. It's safe to assume he's ordered the Secret Service to change the channel if his daughters turn on the Winter X Games. Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be half-pipers.

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Much of the chatter during Sunday's Super Bowl will undoubtedly be about how the rhetoric is heating up over long-term head injuries in football. But Coloradans needn't look any further than our own backyard mountains for discussion on a similarly dangerous development.

Snowmobiler Caleb Moore died Thursday from injuries to his heart and brain after a violent crash during last weekend's Winter X Games in Aspen in which his 450-pound snowmobile landed on top of him during a competition.

Just hours before his accident, Moore told The Denver Post that his snowmobiling career was launched "after barely a month of practice."

As a trend, most snow sports for amateurs have ostensibly gotten safer over the last decade, with helmet use up over 171 percent and 67 percent of skiers and snowboarders opting to protect their heads, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Despite that, serious injuries on the slopes have increased while the number of annual skier days has decreased by more than 6 million.

While the NSAA cites just a one in a million chance of incurring a serious injury on the slopes, the movement on the mountains is still to be better, higher, faster and more daring and treacherous recreationally, in competition, in the backcountry - and perhaps with less experience - than ever before.

There were 54 in-bounds skiing and snowboarding fatalities nationwide in the 2011-12 season, plus 51 serious injuries. In the 2002-03 season, there were 37 fatalities and 33 serious injuries.

Chris Nowinski, a former WWE wrestler and founding executive director of the nonprofit Sports Legacy Institute, which aims to advance the study, treatment, and prevention of the effects of brain trauma in athletes, says while safety is the purpose of helmets, they actually encourage risk-taking behavior "because they can limit immediate consequences like pain and lacerations."

The International Ski Federation has made significant changes in equipment rules in order to make the sport safer for professionals, but while athletes are competing at the same venues as past generations with more secure measures in place, the risks are still larger as the push in competition is to go bigger. The 100 miles per hour World Cup downhill ski barrier was broken for the first time during the Wengen downhill in Switzerland last month, for one. And Powder magazine recently questioned the future of women's slopestyle after most of the U.S. team was sidelined with injuries like concussions and a torn ACL at last year's U.S. Grand Prix.

Über-snowboarder and two-time Olympic gold medalist in the halfpipe, Shaun White is roundly praised as a showman with tremendously intricate skills, although he also has the benefit of sponsors to pay for a state-of-the-art, incredibly safe practice facility. In a 2010 "60 Minutes" profile, he gave a tour of his training camp, which includes a foam pit and 500-foot super pipe in the San Juan Mountains, which was built expressly for him by a sponsor and only accessible by helicopter. Most other athletes might have the benefit of safer equipment, but they still don't have that kind of entrée to such protective care.

Access to safer equipment also tends to make more casual snow riders feel perhaps prematurely qualified to attempt to emulate their professional icons. The popularity of events like the Winter X Games in Aspen, Burton Open in Vail and the Dew Tour in Breckenridge and extreme athletes like Tanner Hall help contribute to a precarious culture that some argue is getting out of hand.

Ted Mahon, a career skier who has skied all of Colorado's fourteeners as well as climbed Mount Everest, said that while in all sports there is a progression wherein prior generations try to build on the accomplishments of their predecessors, "in the case of skiing, the progression has gotten to a point where to move forward to the next level, the margin of error has grown very thin."

He also believes that much of the field at events such as the X Games is just too young to understand the gravity of their attempts towards X gold.

"If you're 16 and they dangle prize money, sponsorships and the chance to star in a Red Bull video, it's no wonder the kids want to do it," Mahon said.

Gadgets like GoPros, the helmet cameras that Men's Fitness magazine praises as "just the device to capture whatever it is that gets your adrenaline pumping" aid and abet tweens and adolescents who try imitating the extraordinary tricks they see in competitions and commercials in an effort to impress their actual and social-media friends - while in terrain parks. Without age minimums and extra monitoring from ski patrol in the parks, the chance of injury is great.

Still, two-time extreme skiing world champion Chris Davenport commends the ski industry as a whole, including the resorts, for trying to make the sport safer and thinks families who ski recreationally aren't doing it much different today than, say, 20 years ago. Yet he agrees there's an alarming inclination on the professional side to push the envelope to near-fatal extremes.

"You have to do the new trick, go bigger in the pipe, flip the snowmobile - this is what keeps franchises like the X Games going. Otherwise it wouldn't be as interesting."

Mahon agrees, and believes to an extent that contenders like Moore are just answering the demand of the crowds - and likely ESPN.

"People watch snowmobiling because they know there's going to be a crash. It's not such an interesting event," Mahon said. "It's actually kind of silly. Everyone's just waiting for the wipeout."

Nowinski believes the biggest concern with events like the X Games is that there's no one setting limits to the risks athletes can take.

"If the sport's leadership doesn't have a firm hand in telling athletes not to kill themselves and to take reasonable risks instead, there's no limit to how much damage they can do to themselves," Nowinski said.

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell is attempting to make that league safer after a highly publicized spate of head injuries and suicides, even if some players and fans don't necessarily appreciate the increased number of fines and flags for hits that referees deem dangerous.

Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard told CBSSports.com that while he thinks Goodell is killing the league, he still worries "there's going to be a death on the field one day because of the direction we're taking." Ultimately, he said he agrees that something has to be done about player safety.

Tanner Hall last year told HBO's "Real Sports" that "a lot of the consequences can be death because that's just where the progression of skiing is going," but he wasn't on the same page as Pollard about whether he thought that any kind of intervention was in order.

"The answer is to keep going," Hall said.

Whether the prize is the highest ratings on ESPN, the most lucrative energy drink endorsement deal or the best amateur GoPro video to share on Facebook on Twitter, one thing is clear: Few appear to be interested in applying the brakes.
Meredith C. Carroll of Aspen writes a weekly column in The Denver Post. Contact her at meredithccarroll@hotmail.com or on Twitter @mccarroll.

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M. Carroll: Extreme sports: Higher, faster and more treacherous

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M. Carroll: Extreme sports: Higher, faster and more treacherous

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Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. The bad news: Sea life can’t tell the difference between plastic and food.

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Let us help you live a life you love. Find tools to help you have fun and make the most out of each and every day.

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The shows, made famous by SeaWorld parks and featuring in the film Free Willy, have drawn crowds for years. The ruling means they could be banned.

The landmark decision follows the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40.

She was dragged underwater by a five-ton bull orca in front of hundreds of spectators at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.

Three US Appeals Court judges said SeaWorld, which boasts 27 performing killer whales and 11 million visitors a year to its three parks in Florida, California and San Antonio, Texas, had "violated" its duties as an employer by exposing trainers to "recognised hazards".

A spokesman for SeaWorld said yesterday it was "seriously considering" a final legal appeal.

Until then, it said, there would still be "human interactions and performances with killer whales".

The spokesman stressed the company would comply fully with any new safety laws.

Activists have fought to close the hugely popular orca shows since Ms Brancheau's death in February 2010 and their crusade was given a huge boost last year by the documentary cinema film Blackfish.

It revealed how Tilikum was known to have behavioural issues and had killed two people before Ms Brancheau after being wrenched from his mother as an infant by hunters and then forced to live in unnatural conditions.

His other victims were Keltie Byrne, 20, a marine biology student, and tourist Daniel Dukes, 27.

Mr Dukes evaded the park's security after it closed and dived into Tilikum's tank. He was discovered, dead and naked, draped over the orca's immense back. It was Ms Brancheau's killing, however, that sparked international uproar and Naomi Rose, from the Animal Welfare Institute, said: "We welcome this decision. It supports our contention that, from a common sense perspective, it is simply not safe to work in close contact with an intelligent, multi-ton marine predator."

A fellow trainer who chose to remain anonymous, said yesterday: "Dawn loved the whales, especially Tilikum, and was fully aware, and respectful, of his awesome power.

"She would have been heartbroken at the prospect of orca shows being banned but unless SeaWorld can win a final appeal, that looks like what will happen."

Los Angeles-based media analyst Mike Raia said: "The likeliest outcome is that they will be exhibited but in a way that does not involve contact with their trainers; perhaps in some subterranean giant tank, so they can be viewed closely without danger."

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SeaWorld killer whale shows face ban after three die

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The shows, made famous by SeaWorld parks and featuring in the film Free Willy, have drawn crowds for years. The ruling means they could be banned. The landmark decision follows the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40. She was dragged underwater by a five-ton bull orca in front of hundreds of spectators at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.

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Experts explain why some people feel the need to push themselves to the edge in extreme sports.
From the WebMD Archives

It starts off with a 2.4-mile swim. The next phase is a 112-mile bike ride. If that's not enough, the final leg of the race is a 26.2-mile run -- a full marathon. It's a triathlon -- and the most famous one is known as the Ironman. Why would anyone in their right mind want to submit themselves to such agony?

"There's an innate characteristic in some people," says Justin Anderson, PsyD, a sports consultant for the Center for Sports Psychology in Denton, Texas. "Some people are turned on by that stuff; they get a lot of adrenaline by it, and they gravitate toward activities that give them that feeling. For some it's jumping out of airplanes, for others it's climbing Mt. Everest, and for others, it's the Ironman. When they find that sport or activity that gives them that feeling, they say there is nothing better."

What is their motivation, and why do people keep pushing the envelope to more extremes, never feeling satisfied with their last conquest? Why do the rest of us tap into our inner voyeurs when the X-Games are on TV? And why do we find pleasure in watching extreme athletes risk their lives? Experts, along with an Ironman who's in training for his third competition, give WebMD the science behind the rush.

The Motivation of Marathoners

So what is it that makes a person push themselves beyond the limits, when the rest of us are sitting comfortably on our couch? Their motivation stems from achieving a goal, and being competitive.

"Researchers [have] found that the primary difference between the elite and the nonelite triathlete was that the goal was key, and competition was the second factor," says Lester Mayers, MD, director of sports medicine at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y.

The goal, whether it be crossing the finish line after a grueling triathlon or reaching the 29,035-foot peak of the highest mountain in the world, is the Holy Grail; accomplishing it with a competitive edge is what this small and elite group of people seek out. It's also knowing that you are one of very few who have dared to dream -- and achieved that dream.

Continued

"It's a sense of identity," says Mayers. "The triathlon is not a sport that is crammed full of people. There are only a handful of people who have the ability to train for and accomplish this feat."

While competing in a group of elite athletes may bring money, fame, and glory, most importantly to some, it also brings a healthy dose of respect.

"Skiing down from the top of a mountain where a helicopter drops you off alone, or jumping out of planes, I have a feeling those people have a sense of identity and that identity is important to them because they feel that earns them respect," Mayers tells WebMD. "Caring for athletes as I do, my own personal opinion is that the most important desire they have is for respect."

The Adrenaline Factor

When it comes to extreme sports, the adrenaline factor likely plays a role in explaining why athletes reach for the outer limits as well.

An "adrenaline rush" occurs when the adrenal gland is stimulated through an activity that causes stress on the body, and certainly extreme sports, such as backcountry snowboarding and bungee jumping, fall into the category of causing stress. According to the University of Maryland Endocrinology Health Guide, the stimulation of the adrenal gland releases a number of hormones, including epinephrine, or adrenaline. This increases the heart rate and the force of heart contractions, facilitates blood flow to the muscles and brain, causes relaxation of smooth muscles, and helps with the conversion of glycogen to glucose in the liver. For extreme athletes, this adrenaline rush is a feeling that can't come often enough.

"A lot of extreme athletes report that they are seeking that rush," says Anderson. "They're looking for those sensations they get from putting their life on the line."

It's a feeling that can't be duplicated in any other activity, and for many, explains Anderson, it's a true sense of feeling alive.

"The emotion that the adrenaline feeds in to is a heightened sense of being alive," Anderson tells WebMD. "All your senses are in an acute level of awareness, and it's that fight or flight response. They either do it and live -- or they die. That is what they are playing in to, and that is a very primitive thing that is going on."

Continued

Pushing to the Edge

So why is it that their last accomplishment is never good enough? Why do extreme athletes always need to push it to the next level, closer to the edge?

"Extreme athletes say that it's the law of diminishing returns," says Anderson. "Reaching the same goal over and over doesn't bring the same amount of excitement as it did the first time, so they want to push the envelope and go for the next big goal."

Take free diving, for example, explains Anderson. "People who free dive with no oxygen tank are always pushing deeper and deeper into the ocean with just one breath," he says. "They're never satisfied with their last dive."

It's the risk that is appealing, and the riskier, the better.

"The mentality is that people who are drawn to extreme sports are risk takers," says Jenn Berman, PhD, a psychologist in private practice in Beverly Hills, Calif., who was a member of the 1984 exhibition Olympic team in gymnastics. "It's that they love to push themselves to the limit -- physically, emotionally, and in every way possible."

There is always another goal to be set and reached, and the bar just keeps inching upward.

"Each time they have a success they want to push themselves farther. Any great athlete tends to do that, but this is especially true in extreme sports," says Berman. "Once they accomplish something, they will start to lose the rush, so they have to push themselves harder and set the bar higher."

From the Mouth of an Ironman

Experts say it's about goals, competition, respect, adrenaline, and always reaching for the next level. Rick Hall, a registered dietitian and two-time Ironman athlete, explains how right they are.

"Competing in the Ironman is solely for me," says Hall. "It's the ability to say I've done it. It's pushing my body to its absolute limits. I'm competitive in nature in life and business but when it comes to competing as an athlete at the Ironman level, it's about self-competition and how well I can do and what my personal best can be."

Continued

While Hall explains that during the event he often asks himself why he would put himself through such agony; the answer becomes clear when the end is in sight.

"It's a long-endurance event, and several times during the day, and when you're way out in the middle of nowhere and you're away from spectators, you think, 'Why am I doing this?'" says Hall. "But you get to the finish line, and it answers those questions all at once. It's an absolute adrenaline rush, and it's very emotional."

At the end of the Ironman, there are thousands of people screaming for competitors to put one foot in front of the other and cross the line.

"It's one of the few sports where there's no booing -- everyone wants you to succeed and they're screaming for you because you've just accomplished a huge feat," says Hall. "When I cross the finish line, I'm ready to sign up for the next one. For me, that's a big rush, and it lasts for several weeks. "

Hall -- who completed his second Ironman in better time (by one hour) than his first -- is already training for No. 3 in 2007.

"There's a statistic out there that says less than half of a percent of the world's population can complete a regular marathon," says Hall. "Now consider adding a 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike [ride] to that, and you can imagine that there aren't many people who can say they can do it, or have done it."

Watching the Extreme

Most of us are content to play the role of screaming fan at the end of an Ironman, standing by while elite athletes like Hall cross the finish line. Why is it that we enjoy watching others endure the blood, sweat, and tears of extreme competition?

"Why do we like to watch NASCAR? Boxing?" asks Berman. "It's human nature to have curiosity about the outcome of such extreme sports and how people can defy death."

Continued

Will they live, will they die? Will they succeed, will they fail? It certainly brings a new meaning to the reality TV trend.

"It's different for everyone, but it's exciting to watch these people compete," says Anderson. "They are testing themselves to an extreme measure, and watching them push themselves while you say, 'I could never do that,' is fascinating."

So why doesn't a mere mortal feel the urge to go the extreme?

"While we all enjoy the feeling you get from participating in something extreme, extreme athletes just gravitate toward the activities that create these emotions," says Anderson.

The science behind the rush really comes down to the finish line, the top of the mountain, the next big wave -- the finale.

Sources

Published May 22, 2006.

SOURCES: University of Maryland Medical Center web site: "Endocrinology Health Guide." Justin Anderson, PsyD, sports consultant, Center for Sports Psychology in Denton, Texas. Jenn Berman, PhD, private practice, Beverly Hills, Calif. Rick Hall, RD, MS, faculty, Arizona State University, Phoenix. Lester Mayers, MD, director of sports medicine, Pace University, Pleasantville, N.Y.

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Experts explain why some people feel the need to push themselves to the edge in extreme sports. From the WebMD Archives It starts off with a 2.4-mile swim. The next phase is a 112-mile bike ride. If that's not enough, the final leg of the race is a 26.2-mile run -- a full marathon.

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What Was the Apollo Program? (Grades 5-8) - NASA

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Apollo was the NASA program that resulted in American astronauts’ making a total of 11 spaceflights and walking on the moon.

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Scholastic Teaching Tools | Resources for Teachers

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Explore Scholastic Teaching Tools for teaching resources, printables, book lists, and more. Enhance your classroom experience with expert advice!

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Fabien Cousteau is leading a team of scientists, educators, and filmmakers this month on the longest-ever expedition in a stationary habitat beneath the sea. The project, called Mission 31, aims to build awareness about the need to protect the ocean and honors a historic expedition 50 years ago by Cousteau's famous grandfather, explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Launched on June 1, Mission 31 is a 31-day, privately funded expedition at Florida International University's Medina Aquarius Reef Base.

The habitat lies 63 feet (19 meters) below the surface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Windows look out on swimming fish and deep coral reefs. (See " Stunning Underwater Photos for World Ocean Day.")

The team is studying climate change, ocean acidification, plastics pollution, decline of biodiversity, and predator-prey relationships. Cousteau and his colleagues are also making a documentary film and have participated in more than 50 educational Skype sessions with schools, aquariums, and museums in the United States, Canada, Australia, Kenya, and the Czech Republic.

Guests who have dived to Aquarius for short visits with the Mission 31 team include National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle, Greg Stone of Conservation International, marine artist Wyland, actors Adrian Grenier and Ian Somerhalder, and retired NASA astronaut Clay Anderson.

"Jacques Cousteau was my hero, and I believe Fabien is following closely in his flippers," Wyland said in a statement. "Fabien is sharing the beauty of our undersea world with everyone and inviting artists, scientists, and all of us on this epic mission that will help us all have a better connection with our water world."

On June 11, Jacques Cousteau's birthday, Florida Governor Rick Scott called to wish the team well. The members also celebrated by wearing red caps, as Cousteau often did, and eating French pastries and "red cap" cookies.

Aquarius is the world's only underwater marine laboratory. It measures 43 by 20 by 16.5 feet (13 by 6 by 5 meters) and weighs approximately 81 tons. It has six bunk beds, hot water, a mini-kitchen, climate control, computers, and wireless Internet.

Fifty years ago, Jacques Cousteau led a 30-day expedition underwater aboard a habitat called Conshelf II in the Red Sea off Sudan. He and his team proved that "saturation diving," which means living and working at a pressure higher than on the surface, was possible for long periods. Mission 31 is 30 feet (9 meters) deeper than Conshelf II.

National Geographic spoke with Fabien Cousteau, as well as scientists Liz Magee and Grace Young, inside Aquarius via Skype. Magee is a research diver with Northeastern University; Young graduated in May from MIT with a degree in mechanical and ocean engineering, with a specialty in marine robotics.
What was the impact of Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf II expedition 50 years ago, and how did it inspire your current mission?
Cousteau: My grandfather was a pioneer in building underwater habitat. He and his team spent 30 days gathering scientific data, on both the ecosystems around their habitat and the physiological effects of working underwater. We are going one day longer than that expedition in a symbolic nod to honor them and to point the way toward future ocean exploration.

I grew up with a grandfather who was a visionary, a philosopher, and a wonderful storyteller. He was also very connected with young people. Being the oldest grandchild I got to live 30 years of my life with him. I've been on expeditions since a young age and have been immersed in that world.

Conshelf II has always been one of those legendary stories I kept in the back of my mind. When Sylvia Earle did her Mission Aquarius [in July 2012] to highlight the importance of ocean habitats, I realized I wanted to live the dream of becoming an aquanaut. And I realized what an amazing platform it is for education.
You are underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and President Obama just announced plans for a huge new marine sanctuary around remote islands in the Pacific. How important are these protected areas?
Cousteau: Being a third-generation explorer, it brings me a lot of hope to see that the U.S. is leading by example. The Obama administration is protecting swaths of ocean that really need protecting. I look forward to seeing it come about and being enforced.

We desperately need protected areas around the world so we can rebuild the natural bank account that we all need.

Magee: If more people were exposed to the wonders of the sea, then everyone would be all for protecting it. That's why part of our mission is exposing people who don't normally think about the ocean to how vital it is to our livelihoods and our lives.

Young: I find it incredibly frightening that we have the technology to completely destroy the ocean in my lifetime, but marine protected areas are hope spots, as Sylvia Earle calls them.
Now that the mission is more than half over, what has it been like to live and work underwater for days at a time?
Cousteau: Today [June 19] is day 19 of the mission, which makes it officially the longest mission that has happened in the Aquarius habitat. We have another 13 days to go.

It's now been a few days since Liz and Grace joined us. They switched out with Andy [Shantz] and Adam [Zenone], two students from Florida International University. They've become surface dwellers again. We also have a team of 36 people at the surface, both scientists and support staff.
What have you learned about the physiological and psychological effects of living long-term underwater, at high pressure and without the sun?
Cousteau: We wear bands that monitor light and our activity, and we are doing a survey of how we sleep. We're working long days down here. At first we got up at 4:30 every morning and went to bed at 11. Now things have slowed down a little bit, and we're getting up at 6 but still going to bed around 11. We're studying the effects of being down here.
How did the decompression go for the first team-Adam and Andy-that left after the first part of the mission?
Cousteau: The decompression process takes about 18 and a half hours; it's lengthy. But living at saturation allows us to go diving as long as we want.

Magee: When we were getting ready to go down, we saw Adam and Andy come up. They said they were sad that it was over, but they were really excited to see the sun.
How does the saturation diving work?
Magee: After 24 hours of being down here, we are considered fully saturated, or fully nitrogen loaded. So we have more nitrogen dissolved in our blood [because of the pressure from the surrounding water].

That means we can stay out in the water diving for up to nine hours. It's such a unique opportunity, and one of the things I was most excited about, to be able to dive for so long.

Cousteau: When astronaut Clay Anderson came down here, he could only stay for 45 minutes. In that case it is just like a normal 60-foot (18-meter) dive. If he had stayed longer, he would have had to go through decompression.
Do you think we are any closer to realizing Jacques Cousteau's vision of underwater colonies?
Cousteau: Technologically speaking, we're absolutely capable of doing it at this point; it's a matter of funding and willpower. On the flip side of that coin, there is a lot of technology now that my grandfather had only dreamed of: for example, the ability to talk to you on the surface [through WiFi]. Underwater habitats are a fantastic tool for science and education, and they provide a unique perspective.

Young: I could see myself having an underwater vacation house, but I'd miss my friends and family too much to live underwater permanently.
You have pointed out that we have explored only about 5 percent of the ocean. Why is it important to keep exploring?
Cousteau: I think it's paramount to learn more about the ocean, not just for science, which is incredibly important, but also for ourselves. We need to learn more about the interconnectivity of the ocean. This is our life support system. Otherwise, we are just a little brown rock in space like all the others. There's no such thing as healthy people without a healthy ocean.

We're polluting what's left in ways that are starting to affect us. It's leading to increased rates of cancer and all sorts of other diseases. We're basically using the ocean as a garbage can.

Young: I'm concerned we might destroy ecosystems in the deep sea before we even know they existed. Now we have the technology to mine the seafloor, overfish, and destroy coral reefs by changing acidity.
Your team has been studying ocean acidification. How have you been doing that, and what have you learned?
Magee: There are beautiful giant sponges right outside the habitat. Some could be thousands of years old. Some call them redwoods of the reef. And we're setting up sensors inside them to measure such variables as oxygen and temperature, so we'll be able to understand what happens with rising acidity of the water and its impacts on the sponges. It will also help us better understand the activity of these sponges.
What else are you studying?
Magee: We are using sonar to study predators and prey. The sonar mounts to the top of your helmet so you can visualize it. And Grace brought a high-speed camera.

Young: The camera came out just five weeks ago, and we got one of the first models. We had a housing built for it, and we are using it for the first time underwater. Last night we looked at Christmas tree worms. We hope to better understand how the creature moves.

Magee: A grouper fish releases a pulse of sound to stun prey fish. We hope to capture that with the high-speed camera. It's so fast that you wouldn't hear it if you were diving right next to it. The only way we can hope to capture it is by spending hours in the water, and the only way we can do that is by saturation diving. The only way to do that is by a habitat, so Aquarius gives us the gift of time.
When retired astronaut Clay Anderson visited you at Aquarius earlier today, did he find the habitat similar to being in space?
Cousteau: NASA uses Aquarius as a training ground for space because the parameters are very similar to living in space. In 2003 Clay Anderson came down here to train. It's also thrilling to have an astronaut here to explain why it is so important for exploration in general.

Young: In my background in robotics, I think of the ocean and space as similar environments.
What do you do for fun underwater?
Magee: Yesterday was really fun for me. I made a dive over five hours, my longest ever. It's really fun just being in the water.

Young: We can watch movies, but we haven't much-we have too much fun looking out the window.

Cousteau: We have playing cards, but they haven't been opened. Most of the time we're just looking out the window. It's so fascinating. It's a unique experience.

Magee: The fish are just as intrigued with us as we are with them. Last night we had a grouper that was staring in at our window. She was checking us out.

Cousteau: It's also neat how many people are watching us online. We have a constant video stream. My mom saw me blow my nose, and she emailed to ask if I had a cold.
What have been the coolest things you've seen on the mission?
Cousteau: One evening [while diving] I was waiting for the cameraman, and I looked over at a post [outside the habitat]. All of a sudden, it started smoking. I thought it might be an electrical fire or something. But when I got closer, I realized there were about 30 Christmas tree worms on the post, and they had started spawning all at once, so it looked like smoke. I also saw a giant tarpon swimming around close enough to touch. A few days ago we saw a grouper strike a barracuda. I've never heard of that behavior before.

Young: What amazes me is I'll look at a patch that looks like empty sand, but the more you look the more you discover. I saw a piece of sea grass and then saw it walking. I thought I was hallucinating, and then I saw it was a tiny crab.

Cousteau: For Mission 31 we have the goal of reaching 331 million people around the world, and hopefully we'll double that. We'll have a feature documentary, and we have many blog posts and information on our website. We've done many sessions with classrooms around the world.

We hope to continue the synergy that we're starting to see around ocean protection. It's critical so our children will be able to enjoy the ocean. When I first had the idea for the mission, I didn't know if we would pull it off, but my grandfather used to say only the crazy ideas succeed.

Young: It's been a splash.
This interview has been edited and condensed. Follow Brian Clark Howard on Twitter and Google+.

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Fabien Cousteau Leads "Aquanauts" in Record-Breaking Undersea Expedition

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Fabien Cousteau is leading a team of scientists, educators, and filmmakers this month on the longest-ever expedition in a stationary habitat beneath the sea. The project, called Mission 31, aims to build awareness about the need to protect the ocean and honors a historic expedition 50 years ago by Cousteau's famous grandfather, explorer Jacques Cousteau.

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Amitai Etzioni says there are bigger priorities than a new push for manned exploration in space

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Many people dismiss space exploration as a luxury, but this attitude is not only wrong, it's dangerous.

Satellite technology has revolutionized our planet in almost every way. Weather satellites help us track developing hurricanes, allowing meteorologists to warn people days in advance. That saves thousands of lives. Communication satellites allow us instant access to information all over the world using radio, television, and phones. Some people credit in part the fall of the Soviet Union to ease of information access; the people in those countries saw what the rest of the world was doing, accelerating the process of reform. GPS satellites allow us to track ships, airplanes, and even people who may be lost or in need of help.

Reaching outward into space has helped us in other ways as well. A fleet of satellites (YOHKOH, SOHO and others) study the Sun so that we can better understand it. Huge solar eruptions can damage satellites and cause power blackouts (like in Quebec in 1989), and the Sun directly influences our environment. Understanding the Sun is a critical use of space technology.

Exploring the other planets helps us put the Earth in context. Why is Mars dry, cold, nearly airless, and dead? Why is Venus covered in thick clouds and suffering a runaway greenhouse effect? Why do hurricanes on Jupiter last for centuries? All these questions (and thousands more) help us understand our own planet, and allow us to see how humans are affecting it. Certainly understanding asteroids is important- we need to learn how to move them in case one is heading our way; an asteroid impact could wipe out all humans on Earth, so our very future is tied to space travel.

There are simple technological reasons for space exploration as well. Some estimates say that for every dollar invested in the Apollo program, more than 20 have been returned. That's a huge payoff! Computer tech, communications, rocketry, and many other fields have benefited hugely from space exploration.

And there is one more reason. Humans strive to learn, to explore, to push boundaries, to see what's around the corner. This is in many ways a fundamental need, and space exploration is a fantastic manifestation of that. The Universe is huge, beautiful, mysterious, and, ultimately, knowable. Even if the other reasons were not there, this alone should be enough for us pursue our exploration.

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Many people dismiss space exploration as a luxury, but this attitude is not only wrong, it's dangerous. Satellite technology has revolutionized our planet in almost every way. Weather satellites help us track developing hurricanes, allowing meteorologists to warn people days in advance. That saves thousands of lives.

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For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun.

Early space activities were dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union. However, as time went by, Europe and Japan also learned how to build their own satellites and rockets. Today, countries such as China, India, South Korea, Israel and Brazil are developing their own space industries.

During the last 60 years, unmanned probes have been sent towards all of the planets in the Solar System, as well as many satellites, asteroids and comets. Spacecraft have soft-landed on half a dozen worlds, while rovers have driven over the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. The Sun has also been explored in great detail by a fleet of spacecraft.

Many space observatories, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, have been launched to look at the distant Universe. They have sent back some amazing pictures taken in visible light. But they can also observe stars and galaxies at wavelengths that are invisible to human eyes - radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. The flood of discoveries has changed the way we look at the Universe.

More than 500 people have also flown in space since Yuri Gagarin paved the way in 1961. 20 people have travelled to the Moon and 12 of them have walked on the Moon. Space stations have been built, and astronauts have learned to live and work in space for many months, or even years.

Last modified 26 January 2011

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For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun.

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I am convinced that if NASA were to disappear tomorrow, if we never put up another Hubble Space Telescope, never put another human being in space, people in this country would be profoundly distraught. Americans would feel that we had lost something that matters, that our best days were behind us, and they would feel themselves somehow diminished. Yet I think most would be unable to say why.

There are many good reasons to continue to explore space, which most Americans have undoubtedly heard. Some have been debated in public policy circles and evaluated on the basis of financial investment. In announcing his commitment to send the country back to the moon and, later, on to Mars, President Bush quite correctly said that we do it for purposes of scientific discovery, economic benefit, and national security. I've given speeches on each of those topics, and these reasons can be clearly shown to be true. And presidential science advisor Jack Marburger has said that questions about space exploration come down to whether we want to bring the solar system within mankind's sphere of economic influence. I think that is extraordinarily well put.

But these are not reasons that would make Americans miss our space program. They are merely the reasons we are most comfortable discussing. I think of them as "acceptable reasons" because they can be logically defended. When we contemplate committing large sums of money to a project, we tend to dismiss reasons that are emotional or value-driven or can't be captured on a spreadsheet. But in space exploration those are the reasons-what I think of as "real reasons"-that are the most important.

When Charles Lindbergh was asked why he crossed the Atlantic, he never once answered that he wanted to win the $25,000 that New York City hotel owner Raymond Orteig offered for the first nonstop aircraft flight between New York and Paris. Burt Rutan and his backer, Paul Allen, certainly didn't develop a private spacecraft to win the Ansari X-Prize for the $10 million in prize money. They spent twice as much as they made. Sergei Korolev and the team that launched Sputnik were not tasked by their government to be the first to launch an artificial satellite; they had to fight for the honor and the resources to do it.

I think we all know why people strive to accomplish such things. They do so for reasons that are intuitive and compelling to all of us but that are not necessarily logical. They're exactly the opposite of acceptable reasons, which are eminently logical but neither intuitive nor emotionally compelling.

First, most of us want to be, both as individuals and as societies, the first or the best in some activity. We want to stand out. This behavior is rooted in our genes. We are today the descendants of people who survived by outperforming others. Without question that drive can be carried to an unhealthy extreme; we've all seen more wars than we like. But just because the trait can be taken too far doesn't mean that we can do without it completely.

A second reason is curiosity. Who among us has not had the urge to know what's over the next hill? What child has not been drawn to explore beyond the familiar streets of the neighborhood?

Finally, we humans have, since the earliest civilizations, built monuments. We want to leave something behind to show the next generation, or the generations after that, what we did with our time here. This is the impulse behind cathedrals and pyramids, art galleries and museums.

Cathedral builders would understand what I mean by real reasons. The monuments they erected to the awe and mystery of their God required a far greater percentage of their gross domestic product than we will ever put into the space business, but we look back across 600 or 800 years of time, and we are still awed by what the builders accomplished. Those buildings, therefore, also stand as monuments to the builders.

The return the cathedral builders made on their investment could not have been summarized in a cost/benefit analysis. They began to develop civil engineering, the core discipline for any society if it wishes to have anything more than thatched huts. They gained societal advantages that were probably even more important than learning how to build walls and roofs. For example, they learned to embrace deferred gratification, not just on an individual level, where it is a crucial element of maturity, but on a societal level, where it is equally vital. The people who started the cathedrals didn't live to finish them. The society as a whole had to be dedicated to the completion of those projects. We owe Western civilization as we know it today to that kind of thinking: the ability to have a constancy of purpose across years and decades.

It is my contention that the products of our space program are today's cathedrals. The space program satisfies the desire to compete, but in a safe and productive manner, rather than in a harmful one. It speaks abundantly to our sense of human curiosity, of wonder and awe at the unknown. Who can watch people assembling the greatest engineering project in the history of mankind-the International Space Station-and not wonder at the ability of people to conceive and to execute the project? And it also addresses our need for leaving something for future generations.

Of course the space program also addresses the acceptable reasons, and in the end this is imperative. Societies will not succeed in the long run if they place their resources and their efforts in enterprises that, for whatever reason, don't provide concrete value. But I believe that projects done for the real reasons that motivate humans also serve the acceptable reasons. In that sense, the value of space exploration really is in its spinoffs, as many have argued. But it's not in spinoffs like Teflon and Tang and Velcro, as the public is so often told-and which in fact did not come from the space program. And it's not in spinoffs in the form of better heart monitors or cheaper prices for liquid oxygen for hospitals, although the space program's huge demand for liquid oxygen spurred fundamental improvements in the production and handling of this volatile substance. The real spinoffs are, just as they were for cathedral builders, more fundamental.

Anyone who wants to build spacecraft, who wants to be a subcontractor, or who even wants to supply bolts and screws to the space industry must work to a higher level of precision than human beings had to do before the space industry came along. And that standard has influenced our entire industrial base, and therefore our economy.

As for national security, what is the value to the United States of being involved in enterprises which lift up human hearts everywhere? What is the value to the United States of being a leader in such efforts, in projects in which every technologically capable nation wants to take part? The greatest strategy for national security, more effective than having better guns and bombs than everyone else, is being a nation that does the kinds of things that make others want to do them with us.

What do you have to do, how do you have to behave, to do space projects? You have to value hard work. You have to live by excellence, or die from the lack of it. You have to understand and practice both leadership and followership. You have to build partnerships; leaders need partners and allies, as well as followers.

You have to accept the challenge of the unknown, knowing that you might fail, and to do so not without fear but with mastery of fear and a determination to go anyway. You have to defer gratification because we work on things that not all of us will live to see-and we know it.

We now believe that 95 percent of the universe consists of dark energy or dark matter, terms for things that we as yet know nothing about. Is it even conceivable that one day we won't learn to harness them? As cavemen learned to harness fire, as people two centuries ago learned to harness electricity, we will learn to harness these new things. It was just a few years ago that we confirmed the existence of dark matter, and we would not have done so without the space program. What is the value of knowledge like that? I cannot begin to guess. A thousand years from now there will be human beings who don't have to guess; they will know, and they will know we gave this to them.

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