Large Glacier Calving Event. A Pacific Island Atoll and its “living laboratory.” In Sundry: Mental contrasting.

There are statistics about the polar ice caps melting and polar bears left on small bergs, isolated. This phenomenom appears to be accelerating as the oceans warm. The power of nature is shown in this 5 min. film.

Turning to a warmer clime, in the current issue of “Nature Conservancy” magazine is a piece in from the Pacific Islands. It’s called “Paradise Protected.” President Obama decided last September to expand the protected area in the Pacific to 6 x its former size. That makes it the world’s largest marine preserve. Included in this preserve is Palmyra Atoll, purchased by the Nature Conservancy back in 2000. The article reports the Conservancy has been collaborating with the National Fish and Wildlife Service since to establish a “living laboratory” in a wildlife refuge which will now protect 490,000 sq. mi.

This atoll shows remains of an abandoned WWII U.S. Navy bunker. It’s about 1,000 mi. south of the Hawaiian Islands. And, yes, there are plenty of living coral reefs to explore (carefully).

In Sundry Department– Reaching Goals

In a recent Washington Post “AnyBODY” column, columnist Christie Aschwanden reports on new research about “mental contrasting” published in Gabriele Oettingen’s 2014 book, Rethinking Positive Thinking. Oettingen says: “We found that positive dreams and fantasies are not only not helpful, but they might actually hurt.” Mental contrasting, on the other hand, helps us to prepare for potential setbacks amid goal reaching. Aschwanden sythesizes it by saying: “First, you identify your wish or goal, then you take a moment to imagine how great it will feel to attain it, next you think about obstacles you might encounter and finally you building a plan to overcome these barriers.” (And, yes, there’s a related smartphone app called WOOP.)