The auction in South Africa marked the end of a “once-off” sale of ivory approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) involving South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.   Since October, the four countries have participated in a series of legal ivory auctions and have sold over 100 metric tons of ivory, mainly to Chinese and Japanese buyers.  All together, the UN sanctioned auctions have earned about US $15 million.

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Yikes. We’ve all heard stories about the Irish Potato Famine, what has been called Ireland’s “biggest catastrophe.” We’ve learned that a lack of biodiversity among potato crops in Ireland at that time was a major factor in that disastrous event.  What if the same thing were to happen to the poultry industry?  Scientists warn that with the way the industry has evolved, this is all too possible.

Hundreds of chicken breeds certainly exist, but today’s commercial broilers all descend from about three lines of chickens, and poultry raised for eggs all come from only one line.  This has led to breeds of industrial chickens that have only half the genetic diversity of native chickens.

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Protesters from the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), dressed in traditional, white beekeeper suits, delivered a petition signed by more than 140,000 people to Downing Street today, calling for £8 million funding research into causes of the bee decline.

Over the past 12 months, one in three of Britain’s honey bee colonies – amounting to nearly two billion bees, have been lost.  These losses are the greatest yet for the UK.  The causes of the massive die-off are unclear, and the apiarists fear there is nothing to prevent a similar devastation in the year to come.  The beekeepers claim that the Government is doing nothing to prevent it from happening.

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Barack Obama has many relatives living in Kenya, but they aren’t the only ones rooting for him today.  Pretty much all Kenyans, including Cabinet ministers, religious leaders and businesspeople, said a victory by Obama would be good for the country.

Kenya has long been a popular destination among eco-tourists and some hope that with Obama as president, more will be drawn to visit the country.  Despite the uphill struggles faced by Kenya’s environmentalists, the tourism industry is definitely doing its part to save the country’s fragile wilderness.

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/11/04/would-obama-be-good-news-for-development-and-eco-tourism-in-kenya/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/04/dry-mushrooms-could-slow-global-warming/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/04/dry-mushrooms-could-slow-global-warming/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:59:23 +0000 Meg Hamill http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/04/dry-mushrooms-could-slow-global-warming/ New research shows that mushrooms feeding on dead vegetation in soils of northern areas like Alaska and Siberia, eat less and produce less harmful carbon dioxide, when temperatures climb.

When researchers from UC Irvine set out to investigate how climate change was affecting carbon dioxide output by fungi in dryer parts of the Northern Hemisphere, they discovered something altogether surprising, and not at all in line with predictions.

Oftentimes mushrooms feed off of dead vegetation in the soil.  During this process, they emit carbon dioxide that was being stored in that dead matter, into the atmosphere.

Scientists expected warmer than normal soils to emit larger amounts of carbon dioxide because cold temperatures are believed to slow down the process by which fungi convert soil carbon into carbon dioxide.

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Elephants, hyenas, baboons and birds all gather at the dumping site in Chobe to feed. Just this year, three elephants have died after consuming plastic from the garbage heap.

Thunya Sedodoma, the principal wildlife warden in the park, said that last year, plastics were found in the stomach of a dead elephant. She said it is not uncommon to see plastic in the feces of elephants. Sedodoma said that this year alone, the park has recorded over 70 deaths of wildlife, all related to feeding from the garbage dump.

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In an intriguing shift of tactics, the McCain campaign reminds the public that he has historically worked diligently to reduce global warming.  By using Barack Obama’s own praise of his past global warming proposals, perhaps McCain is trying to narrow the perceived divide among parties, on this issue.

For a long time now, I’ve been hearing about the worrisome disappearance of amphibians around the world.  One third of amphibian populations on Planet Earth are threatened with extinction.  A new study finds that atrazine, the second most widely used farm herbicide in the country, is partly responsible for this decline.

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In two weeks The National Organics Standards Board is expected to vote in Washington on what kinds of fish can actually be labeled organic.  Tell Washington what YOU think by signing a petition from the Consumer’s Union.

We’re all pretty clear on what “organic” means when it comes to vegetables, poultry and red meat, but what about fish?  This is a question that has been on our radar for quite some time. There is a limited amount of seafood being sold as organic at stores in the US but oftentimes these products were certified in other countries.

The organic fish question still has us scratching our heads, because as of yet there has been no “official” organic designation when it comes to seafood in the US.  That’s about to change.

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In general it is thought that rural America feels more closely aligned with the Republican Party’s conservative social views.  However, right now it’s the Democrats who support the ethanol and subsidy policies that help so many farmers in the middle of the country to stay afloat.

Corn growers from across the nation are heading to the polls next week, and many are still feeling confused.

John Wallbrown owns a 2,800-acre farm in Portage County, Ohio.  He said that he has heard from peers who are upset with the Republican Party, and though he still plans to cast his ballot for McCain, he told the Beacon Journal in Ohio that:  ”McCain will probably lose some votes this year.”

Historically McCain and Obama have not agreed on the issue of farm subsidies.  Subsidies offer a financial safety net for farmers across the nation, whose livelihoods are very tied to the whims of nature.  McCain has been opposed to them, while Obama has offered support.

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Google Earth has taken us up and out into the universe, and now they are taking us down and under the surface of the sea. The new Google Earth ‘layer’ will allow people to experience a ‘virtual dive’ under the water at sensitive ocean areas all around the world.

With a click of the mouse, viewers will be able to access video streams, photo galleries, conservation strategies and local stories specific to that spot.  Conservationists working in partnership with Google Inc. unveiled the new technology at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) world congress in Barcelona.

It seems as though right now the underwater Google plugin is only available for Windows, but I imagine a Mac version won’t be far behind.

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I don’t know how much you know about the Law of Attraction or if you’ve ever heard of it. But surely you’ve heard of the phrase, ‘What you resist, persists.’ The more we don’t want something, the more it finds us. For example - the more we resist forming relationships with a certain type of person in our lives, the more we attract that same kind of relationship over and over again.  The more we resisted President Bush, the more he stayed in office.  I truly believe that the reason he won two terms as President is because everyone from all sides was so intently focused on him– Democrats with negative energy and Republicans with positive energy.

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What is this mystery gas?

Nitrogen trifluoride. Nitrogen trifluoride is one of several gases used during the manufacture of certain computer and television screens, and also in thin-film photovoltaic cells.

Oh my.  Once again we run into the old dilemma:  the manufacturing of the very thing meant to solve a crisis, is actually adding to the crisis.

Many industries used Nitrogen triflouride as a replacement for perfluorocarbons, another type of potent greenhouse gas.  At the time it was thought that only about 2 percent of the nitrogen trifluoride used in manufacturing, escaped into the atmosphere.

Nitrogen trifluoride is about 17,000 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.  However, emissions of the gas currently add up to only about 0.15 percent of the total human-produced global warming effect. It is estimated that the amount of this gas in the atmosphere is increasing by about 11 percent per year.

Carbon Dioxide is still, however, the main gas contributing to global warming.

Using new technology, a research team in California funded by Nasa, discovered that there are thousands more metric tons of the chemical in the atmosphere, than was previously thought.

Because the gas is used so frequently, and it’s dangers are not that well known, scientists have now recommended adding nitrogen trifluoride to the greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol.

Source: LiveScience

Photo:  Wikimedia Commons

]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/24/new-dangerous-greenhouse-gas-tied-to-global-warming/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/10/23/wal-mart-holds-chinese-summit-for-ecological-sustainability/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/10/23/wal-mart-holds-chinese-summit-for-ecological-sustainability/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:59:13 +0000 Meg Hamill http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/10/23/wal-mart-holds-chinese-summit-for-ecological-sustainability/ In what is being called the “the most ambitious private sector drive yet” to go green, Wal-Mart told hundreds of the chain’s top Chinese suppliers this week that the store intends to raise standards and “green” its supply chain.

You read correctly.  At this week’s “sustainability summit,” in Beijing,  Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s CEO,  told top Chinese suppliers that the chain “intends to use its market power to get more than just low prices.” At the gathering: Procter & Gamble, FedEx, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola and Rubbermaid.

The Financial Times called the summit “the most ambitious private sector drive yet to reduce waste and pollution in China’s export-focused manufacturing industries.”

“Our environmental footprint is primarily through our supply chain as a company,” says Matt Kistler, head of Wal-Mart’s global sustainability efforts. “So we have the ability to really build a world-class, better quality, better value supply chain.”

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The Fish and Wildlife Service has called 15 people to Washington this week to speed read 200,000 comments in 32 hours.  The public comments are regarding a proposal by the interior department to exclude greenhouse gases and the advice of federal biologists from decisions about whether dams and power plants could harm species.

Dale Hall, Fish and Wildlife Service Director, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the short time frame for processing the comments was requested by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and, indeed would set a record.  Usually the review process takes months.

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I think it’s time for a little humor in these final two weeks before an important election.  And so I’m writing an election story about a dead goldfish named Princess Nudelman. The news however, is not being seen as humorous to some, who fear the mistake might be a sign of election fraud. The mailing has generated a number of complaints from residents throughout the state.

“I am just stunned at the level of people compromising the integrity of the voting process,” said Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, a Republican, who said she has noticed problems with almost 1,000 voter registrations this year.

Beth Nudelman, Democrat and owner of the dead fish, said that Princess may have found herself on some sort of mailing list after the family put her name down when applying for a second phone line.

“There was no fraud involved,” said Nudelman. “This person is a dead fish.”

It is thought that the registration materials were sent by the “Women’s Voices, Women Vote” project.  This not-for-profit group encourages single women to vote, and purchased the list of names from a vendor.

From this one mailing, 63,500 people returned their voter applications. In order to validate identities, the mailing asked for a social security number and a driver’s license number.

It doesn’t seem to me anything worth getting all riled up about.  If someone is truly interested in getting people out to vote, they’ll probably come up with a better tactic than luring in the dead pets of Greater Chicago.

Source: msnbc

Photo:  Wikimedia Commons

Wayne Sawchuk recently found some atonement for decades of his life spent logging, partying and grizzly hunting. Funded mostly by private donors, Sawchuck played a major role in the conservation of the MuskwaKechika Management Area in Northern British Columbia.

Taking a month to cross, even with horses, the land has been touted as “the biggest well-kept secret in North America,” and “North America’s Serengeti.”  Teeming with grizzly, black bear, wolf, lynx, caribou, elk, moose, bison and stone sheep, it is the largest intact wildlife habitat in the entire Rocky Mountain chain and only slightly smaller than the state of Maine.

In the early 1990’s, the government of British Columbia came under pressure to make a final decision on how to manage the province’s resources.  Wayne Sawchuk, still a logger at the time, recognized the opportunity of a lifetime and teamed up with other key players to protect the tract of land.

Involved in the efforts were guide outfitters, recreational hunters, the oil and gas industry, snowmobilers, businesspeople, environmentalists, timber industries and government officials.  Sawchuk had a tremendous impact in the conservation efforts, as he led the media, government and scientists through the area on horseback so that they could get a first hand glimpse at what they were talking about.

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As the presidential election draws near, Americans will be voting on a number of key issues, among the most important, I think we all agree, is energy.  Will we choose John McCain, the nuclear candidate, or Barack Obama,  the wind, solar, and fuel-efficient car candidate?

One issue that ties in to this debate: the significant loss of lake,  river & marine life that gets sucked into the cooling systems of many older nuclear power plants, battered against the sides of pipes, and heated to death by steam.

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A law protecting the dignity of plants?  Laugh if you will.  I’m down on my knees in respect and awe.  At last the Western World is realizing the dire importance of taking other species into account.

Recently, the Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to determine the meaning of dignity when it pertains to plants.

Lo and Behold, the team published a treatise on “the moral consideration of plants for their own sake.” The treatise established that vegetation has innate value and that it is morally wrong to partake in activities such as the “decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason.”

Over a decade ago, an amendment was added to the Swiss constitution in order to defend the dignity of all creatures — including vegetation — against unwanted repercussions of genetic engineering. The amendment was turned into law and is known as the Gene Technology Act. However the law itself didn’t say anything specific about plants, until recently, when the law was amended to include them.

The obvious question at hand:  how does this new ruling affect the production of genetically modified organisms?

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The study found that 10 popular brands of bottled water, purchased from grocery stores and other retailers in 9 states and the District of Columbia, contained 38 chemical pollutants altogether, with an average of 8 contaminants in each brand.  The group is not disclosing most of the brand names at this point, but did single out Wal Mart’s “Sam’s Choice,” as a brand to be wary of.

The Environmental Working Group found that some of the Sam’s Choice bottled water bought from stores in Mountain View and Oakland, California, came from the Las Vegas Valley Water District’s public water supply, which is sometimes chlorinated.  Scott Huntley, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Valley Water District, said he had no knowledge that Wal-Mart was using Las Vegas’s water supply for bottling.

On Tuesday, the Environmental Working Group filed a notice to sue Wal-Mart, stating that the chain did not effectively warn the public about the health risks of their bottled water.

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