Green Options » BBC

Kakapo - World’s Rarest Parrot - Gets It On With Photographer’s Head: Video!

Rhishja Larson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:21:17 +0000

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Sirocco, a male Kakapo, is grinning from ear-to-ear as he makes a play for a very unusual partner.

While filming the BBC’s “Last Chance to See” series, filmmaker Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine have a surprising encounter with an amorous Kakapo named Sirocco.

Sirocco, one of just 124 of his kind, appears eager to increase the population of his species - whether or not there’s another Kakapo around.

In the meantime, however, a human head will do just fine.

Elephants in Captivity Teach Humans a Lesson

Joe Mohr — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:40:15 +0000

The BBC posted a new report stating that elephants in captivity do not live as long as their free-roaming counterparts. Also, they are noticeably more stressed and unhealthy by comparison.

Seems logical.

What struck me most from this article is how we can replace the word “elephants” with “humans” and the same rings true.

Does Terrorism Have An Economic Motive?

Reenita Malhotra — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:31:31 +0000

In the world Islamic fundamentalism, most of us believe that terrorism is brought about by religious bias. But the terrorist might in fact have an economic motive. It is abundantly clear that he who risks and often sacrifices his own life in the very act of creating terror does not have a personal economic motive however it is likely that he is motivated to destroy economies. Wealth, abundance and prosperity after all symbolize the ‘evil’ that the Islamist sees as an adversary.

Terrorist attacks occur almost daily in larger and smaller numbers impacting civilians all over the world (Terrorism Research Center) however it is the large scale attacks in major global financial centers that leave the world reeling in shock. An attack on a town in Afghanistan, Gujarat or Dagestan is quickly forgotten as people resume their daily lives the next day. But an attack on New York or London destabilizes the country’s entire economic machine for several days, leaving its citizens and those elsewhere in the world fearful and helpless. When the major financial center is Mumbai, the nerve center of an economy that is growing at 9% per annum, the terrorist’s motive is greater. Perhaps because economic growth in a country with which a terrorist can ethnically identify, is a telling sign that the threads of ‘evil’ have become deeply ingrained within his own people.

BBC released a documentary in 2005 entitled “The Power of Nightmares.” It outlines the history of the Neo-Conservative movement in America and interestingly enough it shows how Al-Qaeda and the Neo-Conservatives were rooted in the same ideology: that the economic prosperity of the West represented a decline of social values. For the Neo-Cons this spurred a desire to create state terror in the guise of war. For Al-Qaeda it spurred a desire to declare war in the guise of terror.

Jennifer and Kristen Featured on the BBC’s “World Have Your Say”: Would You Stop Having Kids to Save the Environment?

Jennifer Lance — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:19:28 +0000

First the New York Times, now the BBC! Today, Eco Child’s Play’s Kristen Chase and myself were featured on the BBC’s program “World Have Your Say“. The topic was “Would you stop having children to save the environment?“ I was invited to join the conversation with John Guillebaud, professor of family planning at University College, London, because of my post “Should We Stop Having Children to Save the Earth?“, and Kristen was invited for a comment she left on my post, before she was a writer on our blog. The BBC asks:

Should the wealthiest in the world stop having kids? Indeed, would it best if we all kept to 1 or 2 per couple? Or does the fail to take into account religion, culture and every person’s right to have as many children as they like?

You can download the podcast (it’s called “Overpopulation”) to the program or listen to it using the BBC’s iplayer.