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PRNewswire-USNewswire
-- The Washington, DC and London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today revealed that proposals to resume commercial whaling under the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will cost nearly 19 million dollars over the next decade. Estimated additional costs for the US during this time would be over $988,000 if costs were shared between member countries.
A document posted to the IWC's website outlines basic costs for setting up a Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Scheme (MCSS) in the event that the IWC agrees to allow commercial whaling by Japan, Norway and Iceland to resume.
The cost of the scheme is estimated at $1,880,000 per year, with additional start-up costs of $250,000. This does not include surveys to gather vital data for the calculation of alleged "safe" catch limits. The proposal on whether to legalize whaling will be considered by IWC members in Agadir, Morocco, June 21-25.
"It's certain that US citizens don't want their tax dollars used to subsidize the killing of whales," said EIA Campaign Biologist Samuel LaBudde, who added:
"Financing whale hunts is not consistent with American interests and reason enough to reject the proposal to legalize Japan, Norway and Iceland's commercial whaling."
At present, total income paid by IWC members amounts to about $2,234,000, which contributes to the various costs associated with the operation of the IWC and its programs. The estimated cost for monitoring commercial whaling by just 3 of the 88 IWC members would almost double membership fees.
In previous IWC discussions about additional costs, whaling nations have refused to shoulder the majority of the burden. If these costs are divided between member countries at the rate they currently pay in membership fees, the US would have to give an extra $100,000 per year beyond the $115,000 it already pays.
EIA is concerned that the cost of monitoring whaling would detract from current conservation efforts. The proposal promises that during the ten-year period
"many new, positive conservation and management benefits will be introduced."
However, it is likely that many countries will reject paying additional fees, and instead try to shift funds from existing conservation programs towards work on whaling.
Far from bringing whaling under control, the proposal throws a financial lifeline to an economically distressed and environmentally unsustainable industry, and risks diverting already scarce resources from vital conservation efforts.
"It's a sweet deal for the three countries that have sabotaged and corrupted the IWC for more than 25 years, but a disaster for everyone else" said EIA Senior Campaigner Clare Perry, who added:
"Unless nations unite to reject this proposal, the world will lose its best chance of consigning commercial whaling to the history books where it belongs."
NOTES:
(1) IWC/62/10 http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/commission/IWC62docs/62-10.pdf
SOURCE Environmental Investigation Agency
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/press/plan-to-legalize-commercial-whaling,1333569.htmlPRNewswire-USNewswire
-- The Washington, DC and London-based Environmental... more
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Please go to: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7149086.ece for details on the extreme depth of corruption of the "pro-whaling" industry.
Revealed: Japan’s bribes on whaling http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7149091.ece
FACTS:
Hunting myths
Pro-whaling nations have perpetuated myths to justify their killing:
Whales eat too many fish Some scientists say whales reduce fish stocks, leaving less for humans. Japan has even suggested that whales consume six times the world’s commercial fish catch.
Other researchers say this is nonsense. The seas were teeming with both fish and whales for millennia — until humans came along. The key change was the arrival of steam power, which allowed trawlers to plunder the oceans.
Whaling is humane Whalers say they use explosive harpoons to kill the animals “quickly”, but the International Whaling Commission estimates that death takes an average of 14 minutes if harpooned accurately — and potentially hours if not.
Whales that do not die immediately are supposed to be shot with rifles. However, Greenpeace campaigners who have witnessed such incidents say some creatures are dragged backwards until they drown.
Whaling has a cultural heritage Japan, Norway and Iceland have a long history of small-scale coastal whaling (as did Britain), but this is a far cry from the modern industrialised version. A Greenpeace-commissioned opinion poll in 2006 found that 69% of Japan’s population was against whaling and only 5% ate whale meat.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7149086.ecePlease go to: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7149086.ece for details... more
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The whaling issue is creeping back into the news more often again and this article is no exception.
Japan has announced another horrific whale hunt with a quota of 260 (endangered) whales.
In recent news, Australia announced plans to take legal action against Japanese whaling, which includes the involvement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It has been known for a long time that Australia has an issue with Japan’s whaling, especially in the Southern Ocean and their decision comes after a series of rather critical events, including the Sea Shepherd incident, a 6-week scientific research study and countless failed negotiations through the IWC. http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/05/29/australian-government-plans-to-take-legal-action-against-japanese-whaling-starting-next-week/?utm_source=greenfudge&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=related
The IWC 'Morocco' meeting is expected to happen this month. The main focus of this meeting is to agree on the terms that will delegate whaling in the future and hopefully settle a long-term dispute between pro-whaling and anti-whaling nations.
As for Sea Shepherd, Captain Peter Bethune is currently in trial in Japan for his actions during the last Southern Ocean campaign. While he has the support of Sea Shepherd during his legal battle, they have revoked formal association with him otherwise. This includes removing him from the crew and disallowing him on further campaign adventures. A Sea Shepherd spokesperson claims it is because Bethune brought a bow and arrows aboard the Ady Gil at the beginning of the campaign, but other crew members said it was no secret and the equipment was not intended for human harm, which makes one wonder why they would make an issue of it now.
Japan is setting out for another whale hunt, but this time it’s in the Pacific Ocean. Their targets include: 100 Minke Whales, 100 Sei Whales, 50 Bryde’s Whales and 10 Sperm Whales. It should be noted that Sei Whales are an endangered species and it was meat from that very whale that resulted in the closing of a particular sushi restaurant in California (The Hump). Further studies of that meat linked its origins to Japan—and while they don’t hide the fact that a lot of the whale meat goes to restaurants and the like, there is something to be said about the distributing of meat or product from an endangered species. http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/04/14/new-study-links-endangered-whale-meat-with-japan-possible-illegal-trading/
This brings us to the final update, which is in regards to the awesome Tokyo Two. In 2008, this pair of Greenpeace-Japan activists stole a box of whale meat from a delivery service depot in Japan. The plan was to use the box (about 50 pounds!) as evidence that whale meat from state-funded hunts was being embezzled. Well, right now prosecutors are demanding these 2 should spend at least 18 months in jail for their theft and trespassing actions. However, Greenpeace responded by saying the demand was “severely disproportionate” and they also held a protest against the prosecution in Montreal. The protestors gathered signatures and are planning to send them to the Japanese government. Other similar protests can also be expected to happen in China, Germany, India, New Zealand, and the US.
http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/06/11/many-updates-in-the-world-of-whaling/?utm_source=greenfudge&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=relatedThe whaling issue is creeping back into the news more often again and this article is... more
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As officials reported a gradual increase in the amount of oil being captured from the spewing wellhead at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, BP said yesterday that it plans to replace the cap collecting the crude next month with a slightly bigger device.
The current device is collecting about 466,200 gallons of oil per day, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the oil spill response, said yesterday at the White House. He also elaborated on comments made over the weekend that the spill cleanup would last into fall, acknowledging the full process would take much longer.
“Dealing with the oil spill on the surface will take a couple of months,’’ he said yesterday, but the process of getting oil out of marshlands and other habitats “will be years.’’
The patchy oil slick from the ruptured pipe off Louisiana has stained beaches and marshes in spots along more than 100 miles of coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, and a sheen on the surface was spotted as far as 150 miles west of Tampa.
Tar balls continued to roll onto shore yesterday morning farther west at Pensacola Beach, Fla., leaving a line in the sand visible from the high-rise condos above as the sun rose. Beach walkers had to stay between the line of dime- and quarter-size tar balls and the retreating surf or risk getting the gummy, rust-colored gunk stuck to their feet.
Jody Haas, a tourist from Aurora, Ill., was among the few walking the beach early yesterday after a crowded weekend. Haas, who had visited the beach before, said it was not the same.
“It was pristine, gorgeous, white sand,’’ she said. “This spot is light compared to some . . . It’s just devastating, awful.’’
At Barataria Bay, La., just west of the mouth of the Mississippi River, large patches of oil the consistency of pancake batter floated in the still waters yesterday. A dead sea turtle, caked in brownish-red oil, lay splayed out with dragonflies buzzing by.
The Barataria estuary, which has become one of the hardest-hit areas, was busy with shrimp boats skimming up oil and officials in boats and helicopters patrolling the islands and bays to assess the state of wildlife and the movement of oil. On remote islands, oil visibly tainted pelicans, gulls, terns, and herons.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2010/06/08/bp_plans_to_upgrade_containment_device_in_july/As officials reported a gradual increase in the amount of oil being captured from the... more
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In less than a week, the rescue center at Fort Jackson has received more than five times as many oiled birds as it received in the previous six weeks since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill began.
A report Wednesday from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that the Louisiana center has reported 415 birds since the BP PLC well blew wild in April. Sixty-six of those had been reported by last Thursday. The number since then is 349, with 61 of them added since Tuesday.
In addition, 14 birds have been brought to the Alabama center, 12 in Florida and one in Mississippi.
Since the start of the spill, bird rescue crews have found 633 dead birds -- about one in six VISIBLY oiled.
A total of 32 sea turtles have been rescued, 28 of them in the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/oiled_birds_arriving_at_rescue.html
NOTE: Thses numbers do not include the number of sea turtles (dolphins, seahorses or other wildlife) found dead due to the oil spill or toxic dispersant.In less than a week, the rescue center at Fort Jackson has received more than five... more
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OF COURSE THERE ARE PLUMES... WHY WOULD BY EVEN ATTEMPT TO LIE ABOUT IT?
WHAT ABOUT ALL OF THE DEADLY SLUDGE THAT HAS SUNK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEAFLOOR?
THE EPA APPROVED USE OF THE TOXIC CHEMICAL DISPERSANT MAKES THIS DISASTER EVEN MORE HORRIFIC. WHEN COREXIT MIXES WITH THE OIL AND WATER, IT EVENTUALLY IT BECOMES INVISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO CLEAN UP.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/08/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T2OF COURSE THERE ARE PLUMES... WHY WOULD BY EVEN ATTEMPT TO LIE ABOUT IT?
WHAT ABOUT... more
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(CNN) -- World Oceans Day, June 8, arrives this year at a time when people are especially focused on the safety of waters threatened by the Gulf oil disaster. Yet it is also a time when more people are committing to work to preserve the oceans than ever before.
Among them is Roz Savage, who last week completed the third and final leg of her effort to row across the Pacific Ocean. Savage was one of dozens who took part in the Mission Blue cruise in April, organized by the nonprofit group TED to develop a strategy to save the oceans.
In her talk on the Mission Blue cruise, taped before the final leg of her Pacific journey, Savage estimated that her trip across that ocean required more than 8,000 miles of rowing, spending 312 days on her own in a 23-foot rowboat. Savage is the first woman to row solo across the Pacific, from the West Coast of the United States to Papua New Guinea. (Maud Fontenoy rowed a shorter route from Peru to Polynesia in 2005.)
Learn more about the "Mission Blue Voyage" http://blog.ted.com/2010/04/ocean_hope_at_m.php
VIDEO: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2010/06/07/ted.roz.savage.ted
Page Link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/08/savage.world.oceans/index.html(CNN) -- World Oceans Day, June 8, arrives this year at a time when people are... more
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by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
A cap placed over a severed pipe is siphoning some oil from the broken BP well in the Gulf Coast, the company said today. The company’s CEO said this morning on CBS that it was possible that this fix could capture up to 90% of the oil, but that it will take 24 to 48 hours to understand how well this solution is working. Adm. Thad Allen, the former Coast Guard chief and oil spill incident commander, called the cap “only a temporary and partial fix.”
Despite the capping procedure, it became clear this week that the onrush of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon rig will not cease any time soon. Even in the best case scenario, thousands of barrels of oil will still flow into the ocean. Destruction is already spreading along the Gulf Coast, and before the oil stops leaking, species might be extinct and industries destroyed.
In the coming months—it’s not clear how many—oil will continue to pollute the Gulf of Mexico. BP and the Obama administration are talking about August as the end of this crisis, but other experts have projected that the spill could last until Christmas.
As Justin Elliott reports for TPMMuckraker, BP told the government it could handle a spill much larger than this one. In the initial exploration plan for the well, BP claimed “it was prepared to respond to a blowout flowing at 300,000 barrels per day — as much as 25 times the rate of the current spill,” Elliott writes. BP cannot, it turns out, respond to a blowout flowing less than 20,000 barrels per day, and the consequences for the Gulf communities are only beginning to emerge. The first casualty will be Gulf ecosystem and its inhabitants. The second casualty will be the livelihood of Gulf communities that have depended on fish, shrimp, and oysters for survival.
How long?
In 1979, another company released torrents of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, in much shallower waters than where BP was drilling. As Rachel Slajda writes for TPMMuckeraker, the clean-up methods the oil industry relied on three decades ago are similar to the technology BP is trying now. The Ixtoc spill was comparatively easy to address; yet it still took 10 months to stop.
During that spill, the nearest state, Texas, had two months to prepare for the oil to hit shore, and still “1,421 birds were found with oiled feathers and feet,” Slajda writes. The fishing industry escaped much damage, but the tourism industry lost 7-10% of its business.
Dead fish
In Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and other states affected by this spill, fish, fowl, restaurateurs, and oystermen won’t get off easy. As Care2 reports, the National Wildlife Federation has already documented the deaths of more than 150 threatened or endangered sea turtles and of 316 seabirds (“mostly brown pelicans and northern gannets”).
And BP is trying to keep images of the animal victims away from the public. Julia Whitty, reporting from Louisiana, writes for Mother Jones:
All up and down this shoreline angry and scared people told me some scary and infuriating stories in the past few days. I heard about the the dead and dying wildlife we’re never going to see because the victims are being carted away to early responder ships and to inaccessible buildings onshore. I’ve seen some of those photographs which can’t be shown (according to BP’s new orders) of dolphins swimming through thick gunky oil, struggling sperm whales trailing wakes a mile long in thick gunky oil, dead jellyfish in gunky oil.
Extinction
The impact of the oil spill goes beyond those individual bodies, though. As Inter Press Service reports, environmentalists and scientists “are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures and wildlife.”
“You could potentially lose whole species, have extinction events,” Michael Blum, a Tulane ecology professor told IPS. “Brown pelicans were just taken off the endangered species list. On this threshold, a big dieback and mortality event, they would be pushed back into a situation where they could be endangered.” Also at Care2, Jay Holcomb, Executive Director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, demonstrates a brown pelican being de-oiled, her feathers shampooed with Dawn detergent, her head and pouch cleaned with Q-tips.
Livelihoods destroyed
For generations, Gulf Coast residents made their living by fishing. Their fishing grounds are now off-limits. Some have found short-term work with BP fighting the oil. But those jobs come with new hazards.
Some clean-up workers have reported dizziness, nausea, and shortness of breath that they think comes from exposure to chemical dispersants. BP is not providing safety gear that would clean the air workers breathe and has threatened to fire clean-up workers who bring their own, Colorlines reports.
In the long-term, Gulf Coast fishermen may have no source of income and will have to abandon their homes and professions.
“It’s a way of life,” shrimper Dean Blachard told Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman this week. “They destroyed a way of life, a way of life that if you take it away too long, you can’t learn this in a school. This is passed from generation to generation, so the daddy teaches the son, and the son teaches his son. And, you know, once the chain is broke, you’re never going to get it back.”
It’s understandable that the residents of the Gulf Coast might want BP to pay for the damage. At The Nation, Chris Hayes reveals that BP could be on the hook for mitigation, the cash value of injured property, and for punitive damages–all beyond the cost of cleanup itself. But, as Zygmunt J. B. Plater, a law professor who chaired a legal task force on the Exxon Valdez spill, explains:
“In Alaska, most of the damage was suffered by communities who had their quality of life destroyed, and there’s no way to put a dollar value on that.”
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the environment by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Mulch for a complete list of articles on environmental issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Pulse, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
A cap placed over a severed pipe is... more
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An increasing number of children's books—including some detailing the hazards of rainforest deforestation—were found to have been constructed from paper that originated in Indonesia’s rainforests, according to a report commissioned by Rainforest Action Network.
The report, entitled “Turning the Page on Rainforest Destruction,” discovered that 18 of 30 kids' books chosen at random contained controversial wood fibers.
How is this possible?
Well, the Indonesian logging industry is like the American Wild West.
Every tree for him or herself.
There are virtually no government or self-imposed industry checks and balances.
As such, pulp and paper companies are clear-cutting rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and replacing them with acadia pulp wood plantations.
The biggest benefactor of this lawless pastiche?
China.
Over an eight year period, 2000 to 2008, Chinese sales of children’s picture books to the U.S. ballooned by more than 290 percent, averaging an increase of more than 35 percent per year.
According to the report, China is the top importer of Indonesian pulp and paper. Furthermore, a large portion of the Chinese paper industry is associated with one controversial supplier in particular—Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL).
Last month, The Forest Stewardship Council, a defacto global regulator that encourages sustainably managed forests, suspended the certification of APRIL due to “evidence of conversion of rainforests for acacia plantations, the destruction of 'High Conservation Value Forest,' draining peatlands, as well as continuing conflicts with local communities,” according to Mongabay.
Rainforest Action Network’s report, which was conducted by independent laboratories, also found that:
Nine of the ten leading publishers of children’s books are selling books manufactured on paper that threatens Indonesia’s rainforests.
Publishers with paper policies and climate commitments had a similar percentage of books containing controversial fiber to publishers without policies.
Industry paper policies and best practices are currently lacking the capacity or failing to screen out fiber that is sourced from endangered forests or from controversial sources and suppliers. http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/06/03/childrens-books-about-rainforest-deforestation-traced-back-to-rainforest-deforestationAn increasing number of children's books—including some detailing the... more
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ScienceDaily (June 2, 2010) — People could help to prevent species of birds from becoming extinct by recording sightings of all kinds of birds online, including common species, according to a new study published in PLoS Biology.
The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London, are urging the public to become 'citizen scientists' to help prevent today's common bird species from becoming threatened tomorrow.
To establish whether a certain species of bird is at risk of becoming endangered, so that they can act to protect it, scientists need to be able to compare present-day data on the species with a 'biodiversity baseline', describing when and where birds were found in the past.
The new research explores what information is available across Europe and Asia about current populations of gamebirds. It reveals that far less data is currently being collected on common species than in the past, meaning that there is no up-to-date biodiversity baseline for scientists to refer to.
Over the past 30 years, the scientific literature has increasingly concentrated on recording data about species that are endangered and those that live in protected areas of high biodiversity, according to the study. It shows that whereas early museum records dating back two centuries covered all species, including common birds, today scientists collect very little data on common species.
Dr Elizabeth Boakes, lead author of the study from the Division of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, said: "The lack of recent data on common species and areas of low biodiversity is extremely concerning -- we need people's help to record the birds they see, however commonplace, on bird-watching websites. We think this kind of citizen science will be key to future conservation research.
"People may not think that they are helping much by recording the date they saw a pigeon in central London, say, but actually it could make a big difference as we do not know what threats species might encounter in the future. We also urge websites to standardise data entries, for example asking that sightings are directly plotted onto an online map -- it takes a long time to read through people's personal blogs! In this way we can all help to create an accessible, comprehensive and permanent record of biodiversity," added Dr Boakes.
In the new study, researchers from Imperial, The World Pheasant Association at Newcastle University, The University of Queensland and Beijing Forestry University collected over 170,000 records from the last two centuries on 127 species of gamebirds or 'Galliformes', a group that includes pheasants, partridges, chickens and quails, almost a third of which are threatened. The researchers obtained the data from museums, scientific literature, bird ringing records, bird atlases and website reports from birdwatchers.
Their survey of these records showed that museum collections provided a quarter of the data and are invaluable in documenting historical biodiversity. However, the team often came across deteriorating specimens with labels impossible to read. Recent funding cuts mean that many museums are unable to maintain their collections adequately, so these records may be lost in the future.
The team is also worried about the longevity of the 20,000 literature records in the study, many of which are not publicly available as they were published by organisations rather than journals. Ringing records were also hard to access; only seven of the 80 ringing groups the researchers contacted were able to send computerised data.
Data from websites where members of the public record bird sightings accounted for less than one percent of the data the researchers collected, but the team hope that the internet will enable citizen scientists to make a big impact on future biodiversity research.
This research was funded by The Leverhulme Trust and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).ScienceDaily (June 2, 2010) — People could help to prevent species of birds from... more
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Click the link for beautiful photos.
London, England (CNN) -- The Alaotra Grebe, a small diving bird native to Madagascar has been officially classified extinct, according to a leading bird conservation organization.
BirdLife International reported that the species, once found on Lake Alaotra, the largest lake in Madagascar, declined rapidly due to carnivorous fish being introduced to the lake and the use of nylon gill nets by local fishermen.
"No hope now remains for this species. It is another example of how human actions can have unforeseen consequences," Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife International's director of science, policy and information said in a statement.
Invasive alien species are causing extinctions around the globe, Bennun says, and are one of the major threats not just to birds but to other wildlife.
BirdLife International's report is the latest update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species for birds and highlights additional cases of the negative impact of invasive species on bird life.
The status of Zapata Rail -- a blue/brown bird native to Southwest Cuba -- was upgraded to "critically endangered" due to the introduction of mongoose and exotic catfish to its marshland habitat.
In Asia and Australia, pollution of coastal wetlands is contributing to the falling populations of wading birds like the Great Knot and the Far Eastern Curlew.
The destruction of inter-tidal mudflats in Saemangeum, South Korea, an important migratory stop-over site, has seen numbers of the Great Knot fall by 20 percent, according to BirdLife.
But the news isn't all bad. Conservation projects are having a positive impact on the survival of bird species.
In particular, the Azores Bullfinch has been downgraded from "critically endangered" to "endangered" thanks to conservation work to restore its natural vegetation on its Atlantic island home.
And in Colombia, the numbers of Yellow-eared Parrot have been rising as its nesting sites are preserved and local communities take part in educational programs to learn about conservation.
Martin Fowlie, communications officer at BirdLife International told CNN: "The overall state of the world's birds is getting worse year on year. But these are two very good examples in the list this year that show conservation works.
"We have the skill and the expertise, so these things can be prevented. But we need commitments from governments to provide money to help birds and animals to survive."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/26/bird.extinction.red.list/index.html?hpt=T2Click the link for beautiful photos.
London, England (CNN) -- The Alaotra Grebe, a... more
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By Nikolas Kozloff:
To the degree that Americans are paying attention to the environmental plight of marine wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, they may focus most upon dolphins and whales.
However, the U.S. public is much less familiar with another marine mammal, the manatee, which could also be placed in jeopardy as a result of the BP oil spill. One of the most outlandish creatures on the planet, the shy and retiring manatee, which gets its name from an American Indian word meaning "Lady of the Water," is one of my favorite animals.
First described as a cross between a seal and hippo, the manatee has a wonderfully round body, mostly black skin the texture of vinyl, a bright pink belly, a diamond-shaped tail and a cleft lip. Manatees belong to the biological order Sirenia which includes dugongs and Steller's Sea Cow, the latter hunted to extinction in the Bering Sea during the 1700s.
"Sluggish, squinty-eyed and bewhiskered," notes the New York Times, the manatee "is more likely to have its rotund bulk compared to a sweet potato." Living life in the slow lane, manatees are fond of doing nothing much at all. When they're not eating, they take frequent naps. An exclusive vegetarian that feeds on water lettuce and hyacinth, the animal eats 10 percent of its body weight in a single day. Not surprisingly manatees are robust -- they can grow up to ten feet long and weigh nearly a ton.
In the wake of BP's disaster, the manatee could be in for a rough patch. Indeed, oil could ultimately result in death or significant injury in the event that manatees are exposed to petroleum.
The docile sea creature, which can be found along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, could ingest oil-damaged sea grass beds and other vegetation. If the marine mammals come into contact with surface oil, this could irritate their eyes and mucous membranes while clogging the animals' nostrils.
The manatee is already endangered and the BP spill poses yet a further problem for the animal. Because manatees need to surface to breathe air, they could become exposed to oil on the water. If they ingest oil, manatees could develop lesions and erosions of the esophagus, liver toxicity and kidney problems. Ingestion could kill the organisms in manatees' stomachs which aid in the digestion of sea grasses consumed by the animals.
Of particular concern is the plight of Bama, the first Alabama manatee to be tagged by scientists. From mid-May to mid-November, Bama and at least a dozen other manatees call Alabama home. Currently, Bama is migrating back home to Alabama from Florida. Though manatees don't tend to travel in pods or herds, it's likely that Bama represents the advance guard of manatees making their way back towards the northern Gulf.
In murky waters, the manatees' acute sense of touch and vibrissae, located on the face but also all over the body, come in handy. These bristly vibrissae serve to transmit information to the brain via nerve fibers. Though other animals such as dogs have vibrissae, they don't have them in such large numbers and typically only on the face.
"For now," notes the Times, "the question of how intertwined the sensory abilities of manatees might be remains unanswered. Yet even what is known reveals a degree of complexity that argues against labeling them as sweet but dumb -- peaceable simpletons."
Long derided as stupid by humans, the manatee will now have to steer clear of man's environmental folly in the Gulf. Though Bama and other manatees have poor vision, perhaps their other extra sensory abilities will alert them to danger. It may be the only tool they have at their disposal as the animals seek to survive the despoliation of their habitat.
http://www.nikolaskozloff.com/blog.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nikolas-kozloff/bp-and-the-perilous-voyag_b_584267.htmlBy Nikolas Kozloff:
To the degree that Americans are paying attention to the... more
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A top BP executive insisted today that the dispersant that the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered it to stop using to control the gulf oil spill was approved by the EPA, is working well and is the best dispersant available.
"The EPA had to approve and the Unified Command and the Coast Guard had to approve the use of that product. It is approved and in fact we've been using it and it has been effective," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles told "Good Morning America" today. "It's making a difference in this fight to try and keep this stuff from coming to shore."
Though Suttles said BP will continue to search for a better alternative, he said "right now we cannot identify another product that is available that's better than [dispersant] Corexit." His statement brings into question whether BP will comply with the EPA's deadlines for replacing Corexit.
In a statement Thursday, the EPA gave BP 24 hours to find a "less toxic" http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/0897f55bc6d9a3ba852577290067f67f!OpenDocument ispersant and 72 hours to start using it. For weeks, BP assured the government that using Corexit was safe, with officials describing them like soap suds. But on Thursday others painted a far more sinister picture.
"Any living organism that contacts this stuff, particularly the mixture of dispersant and oil, is at significant risk of acute mortality," said marine biologist Rick Steiner.
In fact, EPA testing released Thursday indicates that where the dispersant had been used, 25 percent of all organisms living at 500 feet below the surface died.
"I haven't seen any evidence to show that," Suttles said today. "We're doing extensive monitoring as is NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the EPA. What we're trying to do is make sure this oil doesn't meet the shoreline... We do have some trade-offs here."
BP has already dumped 700,000 gallons of the dispersant into the sea, and prior to the EPA's announcement, the company defended its use of Corexit after questions were raised about a corporate connection between BP and Nalco, the maker of the product.
In a statement to ABC News Thursday, BP called the chemical "one of the most well-studied dispersant" and said it chose Corexit in part because it could "get a sufficient supply to meet our needs on short notice."
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/oil-spill-bp-official-epa-approved-toxic-dispersant/story?id=10708060A top BP executive insisted today that the dispersant that the Environmental... more
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Finally ... some good news! Today, Nestle, the world's biggest food and drinks company, announced that it will cease using products that drive the tropical rainforest destruction.
This is great news for our environment in what has otherwise been a bleak few weeks as
President Obama continues to dig in (or drill in) and stand firm behind his plans to increase offshore drilling...despite the BP Deepwater oil disaster AND continues to work to LIFT THE BAN on COMMERCIAL WHALING.
In Indonesia, palm oil and pulp plantations are both driving deforestation and pushing orangutans to the brink of extinction. After being caught red-handed, Nestle has committed to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage "high-risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation."
This exclusion would apply to companies such as Sinar Mas, Indonesia's most notorious palm-oil and pulp-and-paper supplier, if it fails to meet the criteria set out in the policy.
It also has implications for palm oil traders, such as Cargill, which continue to buy from Sinar Mas. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20860.cfm
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/reports4/caught-red-handed-how-nestleFinally ... some good news! Today, Nestle, the world's biggest food and drinks... more
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I'm sure that many of you are already aware of the plight of the Passenger Pigeon. For those that aren't, it was a native bird in the U.S. until perhaps the 1930's. Flocks of them were said to take three days to pass during migration and contain billions of individuals. I less than 60 years, we managed to wipe them from the face of the planet forever. They are one of the more prominent examples of the casualties of human ignorance. Their story (and the poem below) consistantly brings me close to tears and in light of the recent events in the Gulf and the broader threats of extinction. I thought I'd pay a little homage to this wonderful creature that should never have had this fate. I wish I could have known you Martha.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon
"In 1857, a bill was brought forth to the Ohio State Legislature seeking protection for the passenger pigeon. A Select Committee of the Senate filed a report stating "The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, traveling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here today and elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly produced."[21]
"Fifty-seven years later, on September 1, 1914, Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, died in the Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, Ohio. Her body was frozen into a block of ice and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was skinned and mounted. Currently, Martha (named after Martha Washington) is in the museum's archived collection, and not on display.[22] A memorial statue of Martha stands on the grounds of the Cincinnati Zoo."
More info at link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon
Gone
"I felt the fatigue in my grandfather's sigh,
As he spoke of a glorious day gone by.
When he saw a host fill the western sky-
He saw it with his own eyes."
"They soared beneath heaven's rays
And darkened the sun for three days;
Their song and their clap made my grandfather cry-
I could only see it in my mind's eye."
"Folks said that grand army would never perish,
Such beauty-such awe-they did not cherish,
So the last of the Passenger Pigeons died-
You can only see them in your mind's eye."
-B.E. BarberI'm sure that many of you are already aware of the plight of the Passenger... more
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ScienceDaily (May 13, 2010) — For many lizards, global climate change is a matter of life and death. After decades of surveying Sceloporus lizard populations in Mexico, an international research team has found that rising temperatures have driven 12 percent of the country's lizard populations to extinction. An extinction model based on this discovery also forecasts a grim future for these ecologically important critters, predicting that a full 20 percent of all lizard species could be extinct by the year 2080.
The detailed surveys of lizard populations in Mexico, collected from 200 different sites, indicate that the temperatures in those regions have changed too rapidly for the lizards to keep pace. It seems that all types of lizards are far more susceptible to climate-warming extinction than previously thought because many species are already living right at the edge of their thermal limits, especially at low elevation and low latitude range limits.
Although the researchers' prediction for 2080 could change if humans are able to slow global climate warming, it does appear that lizards have crossed a threshold for extinctions -- and that their sharp decline will continue for decades at least.
Barry Sinervo from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California in Santa Cruz, along with colleagues from across the globe, reached these conclusions after comparing their field studies of the lizards in Mexico with extensive data from around the world. Their research will be published in the May 14 issue of Science, the peer-reviewed journal published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.
After compiling the global field data, Sinervo and his colleagues studied the effects of rising temperatures on lizards' bodies, and created a model of extinction risks for various lizard species around the world. Their model accurately predicted specific locations on five continents where populations of lizards have recently gone extinct, and it might inform researchers on how these patterns of extinction will continue in the future.
"How quickly can Earth's lizards adapt to the rising global temperatures? That's the important question," Sinervo said. "We are actually seeing lowland species moving upward in elevation, slowly driving upland species extinct, and if the upland species can't evolve fast enough then they're going to continue to go extinct."
According to the researchers' global model, which is derived from today's trends of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, about six percent of lizard species are due for extinction by the year 2050. Since carbon dioxide hangs around in the atmosphere for decades, the researchers say that this statistic can no longer be avoided. However, they do say that concentrated global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could possibly avert the 2080 scenarios, in which 20 percent of lizard species are expected to disappear from the planet.
The detailed study notes specifically that lizards that bear live young are particularly at risk of extinction, compared to those that lay eggs. "Live-bearers experience almost twice the risk of egg-layers largely because live-bearers have evolved lower body temperatures that heighten extinction risk," Sinervo said. "We are literally watching these species disappear before our eyes."
Sinervo began focusing his attention on lizard extinctions after he noticed an obvious trend during his field work in France. He identified an unsettling pattern of lizard extinctions with French researchers, Jean Clobert and Benoit Heulin, while they were surveying some of their well-documented populations. Disturbed by their findings, they contacted colleagues around the world -- Jack Sites and Donald Miles in the United States, Fausto Méndez-de-la-Cruz in Mexico, and Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha in Brazil -- and a global collaboration ensued.
"This work is a fine example of interdisciplinary science and international collaboration, using methods and data from a range of scientific disciplines to improve confidence in the prediction of the biological effects of contemporary climate change, and in particular showing how long-term records and research are so crucial to the understanding of ecological change," said Andrew Sugden, the International Managing Editor of Science.
"We would never have been able to do this without certain free, online tools like Google Scholar and Google Earth," Sinervo said. "It took us awhile to pinpoint the appropriate search terms. But once we did, we locked onto key published studies. I was surprised at how fast researchers began sending us data… That's what happens though: When scientists see a problem, with global evidence backing it, they come together."
In order to fine-tune their model with this surprising global outpouring of data, Sinervo and his colleagues used a small electronic device that mimics the body temperature of a lizard basking in the sun. They placed these thermal models in sun-drenched areas for four months at sites in Mexico where lizard populations were still thriving -- and at sites where they have already gone extinct.
"There are periods of the day when lizards can't be out, and essentially have to retreat to cooler places," Sinervo said. "When they're not out and about, lizards aren't foraging for food. So we assessed how many hours of the day lizards would have been driven out of the sun at these different locations. Then, we were able to parameterize our global model."
For the authors, who claim a deep appreciation for these lizards and the important role the reptiles play in the global food chain, these findings are both "devastating and heart-wrenching." But, they say, hope does remain for the world's lizards.
"If the governments of the world can implement a concerted change to limit our carbon dioxide emissions, then we could bend the curve and hold levels of extinction to the 2050 scenarios," Sinervo concluded. "But it has to be a global push… I don't want to tell my child that we once had a chance to save these lizards, but we didn't. I want to do my best to save them while I can."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100513143447.htmScienceDaily (May 13, 2010) — For many lizards, global climate change is a... more
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UN AIRLIFTS YOUNG GORILLAS TO SAFETY
Gorillas airlifted out of Congo after threat from rebels intensified
The UN has airlifted four young eastern lowland gorillas out of a war zone in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the safety of a sanctuary
At Risk
The animals which were flown from a battleground in Goma to The Kasugho sanctuary in the North Kivu province were moved out of the area where they risked being taken by traffickers and sold as exotic pets or killed for bush meat.
War
Eastern lowland gorillas only survive in the DRC and there are thought to be only 5000 left surviving in the wild. The rescue mission was part of a larger project to protect Africa’s remaining gorillas from the intensifying illegal trade in baby gorillas. As the number of armed rebels has proliferated in the east region of the DRC young gorillas are increasingly being caught for the exotic pet market. Older members of the species are more often killed and sold locally as bush meatUN AIRLIFTS YOUNG GORILLAS TO SAFETY
Gorillas airlifted out of Congo after threat... more
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A joint report released today by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) finds that our natural support systems are on the verge of collapsing unless radical changes are made to preserve the world's biodiversity. Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ahmed Djoghlaf, called the bleak report "a wake-up call for humanity."
The report is the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3). Employing scientific assessments and 110 government reports, the report confirms that governments around the world have failed in their 2002 pledge to reduce biodiversity loss by this year. Instead, the five biggest causes behind biodiversity loss—habitat destruction, over-exploitation of resources, pollution, invasive species, and climate change—have either worsened or stayed the same.
"We need a new vision for biological diversity for a healthy planet and a sustainable future for humankind," Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, said.
In addition the report warns that several ecosystems are heading toward tipping points from which they may never recover. Due to a combination of climate change, deforestation, and fires, the Amazon rainforest may change irrevocably; while coral reefs are being pounded by overfishing, warmer waters, and ocean acidification; finally freshwater ecosystems like lakes and rivers are losing biodiversity and abundance due to nutrient runoff.
"Business as usual is no longer an option if we are to avoid irreversible damage to the life-support systems of our planet," Djoghlaf said.
Officials are increasingly comparing the current biodiversity crisis to the global economic meltdown of 2008-2009, stating that while governments moved quickly to tackle the economic crisis they have responded languidly to the many threats to the world's environmental systems. These systems underpin the human economy by providing food, clean water, pollination, pest control, buffers from natural disasters, medicine, and carbon sequestration to name a few of their natural goods, known to researchers as 'ecosystem services'.
"For a fraction of the money summoned up instantly to avoid economic meltdown, we can avoid a much more serious and fundamental breakdown in the Earth’s life support systems," write the report's authors.
Yet, Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the UNEP, says that "many economies remain blind to the huge value of the diversity of animals, plants and other life forms and their role in healthy and functioning ecosystems from forests and freshwaters to soils, oceans and even the atmosphere."
* see comments below for more
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0510-hance_wake_up.htmlA joint report released today by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the... more
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The US Environmental PROTECTION Agency has approved the use of the toxic chemical dispersant for CONTINUOUS use by BP.
A BP official is telling The Associated Press that the company has received federal approval to continuously spray chemicals underwater on the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP PLC spokesman Mark Proegler said the company received Environmental Protection Agency approval and began pumping dispersant on the site starting at 4:30 a.m. Monday. The company plans to continue spraying and taking tests.
The dispersant has never been tried at such depths before this spill and officials have been 'worried' about the effect on the environment.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6469610n
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/10/national/main6470974.shtmlThe US Environmental PROTECTION Agency has approved the use of the toxic chemical... more
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