Bruliam wines and Antarctica - a great combination!

Recently, we learned about a wine company that sponsors a contest wherein fans of the wine can win money for the charity of their choice by wearing the company's shirts in exotic locales. One fan, Jana Hirschenbein, submitted a photo of herself wearing the shirt in Antarctica, and donated the proceeds from her win to our organization. We're honored to be the beneficiary of her win, and are quite impressed that Bruliam actually gives all their profits to charity, not just a bit here and there for photo contest winners! Looks like they make good wine, too.

We're also a bit jealous of Jana's photo backdrop (i.e., the Antarctic peninsula). Just because you work for an Antarctic organization doesn't mean you get to go to Cuverville Island and enjoy breathtaking scenery. In any case, we're very pleased with Jana's combination of two great things - good wine and the Antarctic wilderness.

Nature Conservancy photo contest reminder

Hey everyone,

Don't forget that October 4 is the deadline for The Nature Conservancy's annual photo contest. Here's a little info from TNC about the contest:

This year, 35 photos will be selected as honorable mentions and finalists. The winner will be selected by public vote and featured on the cover of The Nature Conservancy's 2012 calendar, which reaches over 2 million households, and on our website - www.nature.org.

It's easy to submit photos! Contestants can enter using the Conservancy's free Flickr(TM) photo sharing group at -
http://www.flickr.com/groups/thenatureconservancy/.

All photos submitted to Flickr(TM) should include the tag - "PhotoContest-TNC10". Deadline for submissions is October 4, 2010 11:59 PST - less than two weeks away!

For more information visit - http://my.nature.org/photography/.

We know there's lots of great photography from Antarctica - make sure you send in your best photos!

Send GrrlScientist to Antarctica

There's been a contest taking place over the past two weeks to send a blogger on an all expenses-paid trip to Antarctica with Quark Expeditions. While our organizational position on Antarctic tourism is complex in that we think it's a great way to inspire people to protect a faraway region, but it's an activity that can harm fragile environments, I think if anyone is to get this job it should be someone who understands science and provide a scientific perspective on what she sees. So I am endorsing GrrlScientist, who writes a great blog and would do a great job. Vote for her here.

Nature Conservancy Photo Contest

Got some great photographs of Antarctica just taking up space on your hard drive? Don't let them languish in obscurity- enter them in the Nature Conservancy's 4th Annual Nature Photography contest! According to the organization:

"The winning photo (selected by a public vote on nature.org this winter) will be seen by millions of nature lovers, and will be featured on both our 2011 nature calendar and on nature.org.

We are looking for your most breathtaking images of nature, including lands, waters, plants, animals or people. Photographers keep full ownership of their photographs but grant us the right to use their image in support of our mission. The contest runs through September 30th."

Last year's finalists included a stunning photo of a glacier in Antarctica.

Emperor Penguins are AWESOME.

I clearly do not monitor ASOC's Flickr account closely enough, or I would have noticed that several of our emperor penguin pictures are being used in an AwesomeOff. Or should that be AWESOMEOFF? Anyway, should you decide to check out this contest, I think you will agree that male emperor penguins are way more awesome than the Notorious B.I.G. doll, or the Peekaru, which is a garment that allows your parasitic twin to finally get some air.

Male emperor penguins are of course famous for their dedicated egg tending. The female penguin lays the egg, and then, exhausted from that process, treks back out to the ocean to feed. The male, meanwhile, remains several miles inland (no predators there), incubating the egg, which sits on top of his feet under his warm overhanging belly blubber. He slowly burns off his fat stores whilst keeping this egg warm and away from the ice, in the middle of some very unpleasant weather. He even feeds the chick with some stored-up food when it hatches, despite being pretty close to starvation himself. Only when his mate returns to take over caring for the chick will he be able to return to the ocean and get a decent meal. It gets so cold that the male penguins huddle together to form a giant rotating mass so as to share the burden of being fully exposed to the wind (penguins move in and out of the warm center). They somehow manage coordinate this without letting the eggs roll off their feet. It's no fun, even if the result is an adorable fluffy penguin chick.

Having defeated three opponents in this month's AwesomeOff, male emperor penguins are waiting for a new contest. When they get one, make sure to vote for them. I don't even care who their opponent is - of the slate of June combatants, I count exactly zero others who can survive in the Antarctic without protective gear or food, balance an egg on their feet for weeks at a time, and look good doing it.