Press Releases

• March 17, 2005 - Sierra Club Yodeler
• September 18, 2004 - Mookeeo’s Statement at Ocean Cleanup
• July 12, 2004 - Mookeeo’s Statement at Public Hearing in Santa Rosa.
  Re: Extending National Marine Sanctuary Protection to Sonoma Coast
• July 8, 2004 - Dolphin Man in San Francisco
• July 2, 2004 - Announcing: "The Dolphin's View" trilogy

Sierra Club Yodeler Events and Activities Supplement March-April 2005

My pen name is Mookeeo. I live in Berkeley, CA. I believe you can educate people more effectively if you entertain them at the same time and that’s why I wrote “The Dolphins’ View” trilogy. The bottlenose dolphin’s brain is 25% larger than man. What would they say if they could communicate with man? That’s what my story is about and that’s what brings me here today.

Researchers from Duke University and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland estimated that 308,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises die every year around the world from entanglement. On behalf of myself and on behalf of dolphins, whales, marine mammals and all the creatures that live in the sea, we are thankful for the 20th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, a major part of the International Coastal Cleanup, sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy and the California Coastal Commission. Last year 16,257 miles of shoreline, more than ¾ of the Earth's circumference, were cleaned internationally. In California, volunteers will clean debris at over 400 locations throughout the state from all 1,100 miles of the California coast, as well as the shorelines of many of the bays, creeks, rivers, and lakes that transfer trash and debris to the Pacific Ocean.

Two studies over the last two years, one by the Pew Oceans Commission and the other by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, released alarming reports about the deteriorating health of global oceans. Both of these prestigious Commissions called for more marine protection zones where aquatic life can be studied and nurtured. Let’s implement their recommendations and expand marine sanctuaries and cleanup the oceans, not just today, but every day. As a token of appreciation, we are donating one of our books today to the person who cleans up the most trash. Thank you.

Thank you Congresswoman Woolsey for proposing this protective legislation and giving us the opportunity to voice our opinions.

For the record, my pen name is Mookeeo. I live in Berkeley, CA. I believe you can educate people more effectively if you entertain them at the same time and that’s why I wrote “The Dolphins’ View” trilogy. The bottlenose dolphin’s brain is 25% larger than man. What would they say if they could communicate with man? That’s what my story is about and that’s what brings me here today.

On behalf of myself and on behalf of dolphins, whales, marine mammals and all the creatures that live in the sea, we are thankful for The Gulf of the Farallones and the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. Waters in these underwater national parks are protected from oil spills and other forms of pollution. They are not only places people can enjoy but also places where marine life can thrive. The oil and gas industry is interested in green, the color of dollars but at the cost of red, the blood of marine life, and black, the color of oil and the color of death.

Let’s talk about life. As Congresswoman Woolsey said in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, (8/5/04), marine scientists report that biological productivity and diversity of life along the Sonoma Coast is unique in all the world. If dolphins could speak, they would tell us that too. Biologically and geographically, coastal waters from these marine sanctuaries to the Sonoma Coast are linked, each supporting similar sea and bird life, each within America's most biologically productive coastal upwelling zone.

Two studies over the last two years, one by the Pew Oceans Commission and the other by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, released alarming reports about the deteriorating health of global oceans. Both of these prestigious Commissions called for more marine protection zones where aquatic life can be studied and nurtured. Let’s implement their recommendations and expand marine sanctuaries northward to include the entire Sonoma Coast. Thank you.

There’s a man wearing a dolphin costume selling books from a cart in San Francisco. His story, a trilogy titled "The Dolphins’ View" is about three dolphins that are bioengineered and return to land. "Want to know what they would say," he says to bystanders, "buy the books." The dolphin man is licensed as a street artist in San Francisco. Currently, the books are only available from his cart or his website, www.thedolphinsview.com. "That’s because of species prejudice," he says. "Agents and publishers won’t take books written by dolphins and they don’t think there’s enough of a market for dolphins. Guess they don’t know that dolphins can ‘read’ the ocean a lot better than people." While he sells his books, he asks people to sign a petition to the Prime Minister of Japan asking the Japanese government to stop dolphin slaughters and he distributes "dolphin-friendly" literature from organizations like the Ocean Conservancy and the Marine

Contact Information: e-mail dolphintom2002@yahoo.com, phone (510) 845-5318

"The Dolphins’ View," Book 1, "Transformation"

A dolphin strands on the beach. While recovering after rescue at a stranding center, he experiences an intense epiphany and vows to remedy ills affecting dolphins. Released back into the ocean, he meets two other dolphins and they join him on a great quest. They become dolphin rebels as their unorthodox association and strange ideas casts them outside the mainstream of structured dolphin society.

They meet a reconnaissance party of aliens with advanced technology. They form a bond, but the aliens want to hide from their enemies and limit their assistance. The aliens help the dolphins undergo an astounding transformation and give them the ability to communicate telepathically. But if the dolphins are going to solve their problems, they must do it themselves. They boldly volunteer to enter an alien world, to go where no dolphin has gone before. Now they must prepare to encounter their most dangerous adversary: man, the master of their planet.

Infinity Publishing, trade paperback, 110 pages, ISBN 0-7414-1867-3, $11.95

"The Dolphins’ View," Book 2, "Impossible Dream"

In book 2, dolphins walk on land as finmen, where they meet man and undergo another transformation. Scientists are awed by their discovery and the media create a sensation. They move beyond freakish curiosity when they entertain man but they are exposed to grave dangers. They become engaged in a complex relationship with man: exploited and admired; their bodies confined, but not their spirits. When their prodigious educational development challenges conventional wisdom about man’s superiority, the media and public react with denial, while those who know them are amazed. Their playful dolphinalities contrast the seriousness of their mission and conceal their goals from their hosts. But when they identify the obstacles blocking their quest, depression and rebellion strain their unity and cohesion.

Infinity Publishing, trade paperback, 194 pages, ISBN 0-7414-1868-1, $13.95

"The Dolphins’ View," Book 3, "Hannibal Invades Washington"

The finmen quietly gather allies, forming an alliance to demonstrate their concerns. Their first effort is sensational, but they discover political constraints to their impossible dream. They try again, and become frustrated when they learn the limits of their nonviolent approach. Caught in a crossfire between zealots, corporate interests, and government agencies that don’t share their environmental ideals, they are ridiculed, harassed, and exposed to grave dangers. When they revise their approach to address the great issues of their quest, the FBI and the CIA investigate and hunt them down. As they try to hurdle the formidable obstacles blocking their path, they face another issue - can they survive?

Infinity Publishing, trade paperback, 174 pages, ISBN 0-7414-1869-X, $13.95

Author’s Web Site www.thedolphinsview.com Publisher’s Web Sites www.infinitypublishing.com and www.buybooksontheweb.com