I was a mere toddler, blanket in one hand, thumb in mouth (think Linus) - wondering what all the fuss was about.

It was dusk and the bats were out, darting this way and that, catching insects as the summer’s sun slid from view, leaving that beautiful blue light before darkness descends.

I shrugged in an awfully precocious manner, looked at mummy, then turned my eyes back to the bats.

And today, Defra (the UK’s Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs) have announced that bats are to be used to help measure the biodiversity of the UK.

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As humans, we collectively tend to be self-absorbed and not think outside our sphere of influence. More specifically, if something in the world doesn’t directly affect us we give little or no attention to it (I’m one of the worst culprits, myself). As such, it’s very easy for us not to think about what human wastefulness and global warming are doing to our plant and animal life. However, losing our earth’s bio and eco-diversity has frightening ramifications for humanity.

Photo credit: Adam Bowman

Taken in the Uintah Mountains, this photo illustrates what humans could lose unless they act to preserve open spaces.

According to Baker University Biology Professor and Natural Areas Director Roger Boyd, biodiversity is the amount of species in a given area. More broadly, eco-diversity refers to the number of ecosystems there are on the planet. If eco and biodiversity continues to decrease on the planet, then less food is available to sustain life. In essence, all of the earth’s biological life is interconnected; if our furry and scale-covered brethren run out of food, so do we.

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Paso del Istmo is a 20 kilometer-long land bridge in Nicaragua. Conservationists believe that the narrow strip of tropical forest could absorb some 170,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases over the next 40 years. What’s more, carbon offsets might make these forests worth more as trees than as lumber.

For millennia, the land bridge has been a corridor allowing animal migration between North and South America. It now has some of the most highly concentrated biodiversity in Nicaragua. Conservation group, Paso Pacifico, wishes to permanently protect the land bridge from developers, but where could they find funding to make this dream a reality?

Enter the carbon offset company, CarbonFund. In league with Paso Pacifico and the Rainforest Alliance, carbon offsets offer the funding to make conservation of the Paso del Istmo land bridge a reality; and they’re not stopping at just conservation.

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The devastating aftermath of this depletion and its toll on the environment should call for another cheaper, plentiful and vastly accessible source of energy on the continent.

Solar cooking is now taking root in Africa more than ever before. Solar cooking projects are springing up on the continent mostly spearheaded by local cooperatives and non-profits working with rural women to assemble cheap solar cookers. Which works for environment.

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Mangroves are not areas to be “reclaimed.” They not only belong where they are, but they are actively reclaiming and preserving land on their own. The whole process is cyclical, beginning with the mangroves’ role as recyclers, and ending with protection of the outlying coral reefs.

The Role of Mangroves in Protecting Coral Reefs
The reclaiming process is as simple as it is vital. The mangrove roots act as natural filters, trapping sediment and run off from the land, thus preventing or slowing erosion.

Removal of mangroves causes a chain reaction. If the mangroves are cleared the sediment and pollutants run unchecked into the sea grass beds. The nutrient-rich effluent promotes the growth of phytoplankton and filamentous algae, which, combined with the sediment clouds the shallow water and blocks out light necessary for sea grass beds to flourish. The environment becomes anoxic, and the sea grass ecosystem dies.

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We’ll be dedicating many of this week’s upcoming articles to wildlife around the world. From March 17-24, we’ll by exploring six continents firsthand for interesting animals that we can share with the community at EcoWorldly.

In addition to sharing some of our planet’s unique wildlife, we’ll also take a look at the issues that are important for protecting wildlife. These issues include:

• Habitat preservation and habitat loss
• Preserving biodiversity and what biodiversity means for individual species
• The impact of construction and development on ecosystems and wildlife

As always, we love to hear your insights, questions, or personal anecdotes about any of the upcoming stories. We welcome you to join the discussion and share your knowledge and views by posting comments on the relevant article. From the writing team at EcoWorldly, thank you.

The structure itself is an ice-bound fortress built with a tunnel that goes deep into the side of a mountain. During the winter, Arctic aire -10°C to -20°C will be drawn into the vault. The surrounding rock will naturally keep the desired deep freeze, and during the summer refrigeration equipment will be used.

The unique structure is its own failsafe, in the event of equipment failure temperatures in the vault take months to warm up to a maximim of -3.5°C. The inside of the seed storage vault is lined with insulated panels as well. Electronic transmitters linked to a satellite system monitor temperature, and send this information back to the Longyearbyen and at the Nordic Gene Bank, where staff will be managing the Seed Vault.

Additional security measures, besides the extreme cold and remote location, include motion detectors and in the event of that failing, there is also the native polar bear population.

(More on the importance of preserving seed diversity after the jump).

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The valleys and gorges through which the river flows are beautiful examples of Appalachia’s rich biodiversity.

“Local researchers have established that the Chattooga River watershed is a unique ecotone for the temperate deciduous forest — a transitional area providing habitats for both northern boreal and southern tropical species in one drainage basin” (Bruce et al., 1995).

Many threatened and endangered species live here, and the well-managed head waters ensure that the river is clean and clear. If you don’t mind giardia, you can even drink the water. Tourists travel hundred or thousands of miles to sample the Chattooga’s rugged wilderness, unique and exciting rapids, and get a taste of Hollywood history: Deliverance was filmed here and is often credited for bringing white water sports into the public eye.

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Arctic becoming the canary in the coal mine for climate change? But oil has briefly hit $100 per barrel and the U.S. economy is tanking. So let’s hold the first-ever oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea … just this once.

Canada’s Boreal Forest a carbon sink twice as powerful as the forests of the tropics? But rising fuel prices have suddenly made it profitable to tap the region’s vast reserves of tar sands … just this once.

Discovering that the coldest, most pristine place on Earth — Antarctica — might also harbor a wealth of oil and gas reserves? Let’s tiptoe around the continent’s edges trying to establish rights to resources below the seabed … just this once.

The list of “just-this-once” announcements from the past few months alone could go on and on, but would make for even more disheartening reading.

For the individual human addict, help sometimes comes in the form of an intervention from friends and loved ones who hope to confront the “just-this-once” behavior before it collapses into outright personal destruction. For an addicted human civilization, though, who will intervene?

Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Wikimedia Commons.

Graphic of the Earth’s geological time scale courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Photo courtesy of Yaniria Sanchez-de Leon, University of Idaho.

Worth bothering about. Because this is just another example of man’s barbaric behaviour towards the defenceless. Another example of abject disregard for anything that stands in his path. And therefore, this is a story that needs to be told.

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Incidental catch, or "by-catch," refers to unintended or unwanted animals caught by the fishing industry. It is estimated that by-catch-related mortality is causing population declines in 13 out of the 44 species of marine mammals that are suffering high death rates from human activities. Commercial fishers use a number of techniques for ensnaring animals, from setting miles of line and baited hooks (called longlines) to catch animals such as sharks, swordfish, and tuna, to using large nets to catch schools of fish. These large nets are towed underwater by what are called trawlers. A trawler is a fishing vessel designed for the purpose of operating a trawl, a type of fishing net that is dragged along the bottom of the sea (or sometimes just above the bottom at a specified depth).

UNEARTHING THE OCEAN FLOOR
A single pass of a trawl removes up to 20% of the seafloor fauna and flora - legally. And the fisheries with the highest levels of by-catch are shrimp fisheries: 80%-90% of a catch may consist of marine species other than the shrimp being targeted. 80%-90% of the animals caught in these nets that are targeting shrimp and prawns are actually non-target animals – they’re by-catch.

Shrimp are bottom-dwellers, which is why trawling nets are used to – remove them from the ocean. Since even jumbo shrimp are really small, the nets used to catch the shrimp are very fine, which means these nets scoop up all the animals – all the life – found on the ocean’s floor. According to a 2003 U.S. News and World Report article on fishing and its detrimental affects on the oceans of the world, every pound of shrimp that’s caught results in the killing of ten pounds of other marine life. According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, in the Gulf of Thailand it can be 14 pounds of by-catch per pound of shrimp.

Now, a lot of the dead by-catch is made up of tiny animals that people don’t have emotional attachments to; that is, they may not be as cute as baby seals or dolphins, but they contribute to the oceans’ biodiversity and they have a right to be there – to live.

The other thing to consider is that the dredging along the ocean floor also breaks up coral and the habitats of bottom-dwellers. And because the same areas are dredged again and again, it’s not like these habitats and inhabitants have time to recover before being destroyed again. Fish populations, communities, and ecosystems are being destroyed so humans can eat shrimp cocktail.

The animals termed as by-catch are often discarded back into the ocean already dead or dying. Many are half-alive and die slow, unnecessary deaths. Trawl nets in general, and shrimp trawls in particular where the discard may be 90% of the catch, have been identified as sources of mortality for many species of concern, including endangered animals and cetaceans, such as whales, dolphins and porpoises. Sea turtles, already endangered, have been killed by the thousands in shrimp trawl nets.

It's hard to get exact number, but another way to put this is that anywhere between 6.8 million and 27 million tons of fish could be being discarded each year. We may be looking at the one fish on our plate or the 5 shrimp in our seafood salad, but countless numbers of animals were dredged up and killed for the individuals we see on our own plates.

CETACEANS (WHALES, DOLPHINS, PORPOISES)
I've been focusing primarily about the by-catch caused by trawling nets and shrimp nets, but there are other commercial fishing methods that also result in by-catch. Nets tend to kill cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises and whales), and longline fishing kills birds, for instance. As for the first group, an estimated 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) die as by-catch each year, because they are unable to escape when caught in nets. We may not think cod fish are particularly cute, but most people get pretty emotional about whales, dolphins, and porpoises. If we don’t consider the cod, perhaps we can consider the animals for whom we do have sympathy.

SHARKS - THE TRUE VICTIMS IN THE HUMAN-FISH RELATIONSHIP
In the case of the shark by-catch in the tuna industry, "data for Pacific longline tuna fisheries are limited, but available data indicate that shark catches are often as high as tuna catches and more than 50 species of sharks and fish are captured as by-catch in West Pacific tuna longline fisheries." (Incidentally, in defense of sharks, it has been estimated that a staggering 100 million sharks are caught every year, have their dorsal fins cut off - to serve in soup, and are thrown back into the ocean to die a slow death.

SEABIRDS - MANY ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION
As I mentioned earlier, seabirds are also inevitable "by-catch" victims, as they dive for the bait planted on long fishing lines, swallow the bait along with the hook, and are pulled under the water where they drown. Around 100,000 albatrosses are killed by longline fisheries every year, particularly where tuna are fished, and because of this, many species are facing extinction. This is very prevalent in the waters off Chile, where sea bass is aggressively hunted by boats towing fifty-mile longlines.

According to the Pew Oceans Commission, Patagonian toothfish long-liners killed around 265,000 seabirds between 1996 and 1999; in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where the total breeding population of the black-footed albatross is 120,000 birds, annual fishing-related mortalities of 1,000 and 2,000 birds are significant; and longline fisheries in the U.S., including the Pacific cod fishery kills some 9,400 to 20,200 seabirds every year.

In subsequent posts, I'll address the dolphins, sea turtles, seals, and other marine mammals who are also written off as "collateral damage." Look forward to more on the un-sustainability of farm-raising fish, on the evidence of fish intelligence, and much more related to our pursuit of gustatory pleasure. Check out my previous post for the reasons to obtain Omega-3 fatty acids from plant sources rather than fish (hint: the fish obtain these fats from plant sources, too!)

Humans have no nutritional requirement for the flesh or secretions of other animals. Like the non-human animals we eat, we can go straight to the source - to the plants - for all the nutrients we need to survive and thrive.

"The aspiration underlying beer is that the natural propensity of yeast to… multiply,… froth and bubble will spill over into an analogous growth and prosperity for those placing the offerings." -Kathryn March, in Katz

Beer builds culture, literally. Not only is it a product of microbial culture, but it's also known for growing human culture. For millennia our species has gathered in ceremony around the magical elixir. This post explores the ecology of the sacred drink and its predisposition to be sustainable from a whole systems perspective.

Micro-Biodiversity

Beer is made by soaking grain in water. When the grain is sprouted its starch is converted to maltose, or malt sugar. Microbial yeast organisms feed on the maltose, bubbling and multiplying as they convert the sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The process is a micro-organismic celebration of biodiversity.

In Wild Fermentation, Sandor Elix Katz suggests that as we consume the micro-biodiversity of beer we are strengthening the connection between our body ecology and the external, natural world. In Radical Brewing, Randy Mosher tells us that historically beer “functioned as an important part of a whole nutritional system.”

Global Anthropological Significance

Beer has also played an integral role in the development of human culture. Katz explains that beer has been associated with every grain ever cultivated and eaten by man. Rice, wheat, corn, rye, soy, barley, and millet, along with many others, have pan-cultural histories as beer. When we ingest beer we experience an altered state that some say led to the creation of human consciousness. Inebriation from fermented alcohol has been attributed to inspiration and spirituality across human culture for over 12,000 years.

Bioregionalism

With big beer on the craft brew bandwagon, it is a good time to ask the question: What is the difference between organic and sustainable (beer)? The answer: Organic is a label applied to growing standards and ingredients. Sustainable is a system of replicating an action infinitely with out net degradation.

In his book, Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World, Christopher Mark O'Brien describes a new wave of bioregional craft breweries and brewpubs that are going beyond the basics of organic ingredients. Bioregionalism, a term coined in the1970's by Peter Berg, is the idea that human activity can only be sustainable if it is localized around a geographic location and natural resources. Berg explains that, “harmonizing with the natural systems of each bioregion is a necessary step toward preserving the whole biosphere.”

O'Brien reports “Craft brewers are very intentionally innovating sustainable practices and working hard to build strong local communities.” Whether using spent grains for bread making, harvesting wind energy to run equipment, restoring local fish populations, or integrating methane energy from spent grain digestion into farm production, bioregionalism is creating sustainable, closed-loop brew systems.

Drinking Ecological Beer

Locally sourced, organic ingredients, recycled bottles and packaging, minimal transportation, and live cultures are all elements that contribute to the ecology of beer. With thousands of craft brewers in the country, there is bound to be one close to you. BrewPubZone.com has a comprehensive directory of micro breweries, brewpubs, restaurants, contract brewers, and large breweries by state. With local addresses, phone numbers and website links, anyone can find who is making the beer in their bioregion. For an option to grocery store brew, bring your own brown jug to the local brewpub and take some culture to go.

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This year, biologist E.O. Wilson was the recipient of one of the TED prizes, and his wish is on its way to becoming a reality. Wilson wants to bring about a catalogue of all the world's species in one place on the web: an Encyclopedia of Life that is accessible to all.

As E.O. Wilson accepts his 2007 TED Prize, he makes a plea on behalf of his constituents, the insects and small creatures, to learn more about our biosphere. We know so little about nature, he says, that we're still discovering tiny organisms indispensable to life; yet we're still steadily destroying nature. Wilson identifies five grave threats to biodiversity (a term he coined), and makes his TED wish: that we will work together on the Encyclopedia of Life, a web-based compendium of data from scientists and amateurs on every aspect of the biosphere.

The people at TED tend to not just have big ideas, but to act on them. So it is no surprise that the Encyclopedia of Life is already underway. After the conference, Avenue A | Razorfish, an award-winning web design company, volunteered to help with the project. They have designed a gorgeous site that will soon house the encyclopedia. Many organizations are working together to begin filling the encyclopedia with information and making it possible for everyone to contribute content. In the age of Web 2.0, the Encyclopedia of Life will be the Wikipedia of all living things (past and present) on the planet. The video showing how the encyclopedia will work is a must-see.

This is a truly unique and ambitious project. Imagine having in-depth information on every single species on the planet available online, easily accessible to anyone. Scientists all over the world will be able to add data and information, and people can enter their own photos of plants and animals and place them on an interactive map. You can glimpse what the site will look like on the beautifully designed demonstration pages. It's obvious that good design has been part of this project from the beginning, and thanks to the folks at Avenue A | Razorfish, the extensive amount of information that will be part of the encyclopedia will be organized and well-presented. The Encyclopedia of Life is a wonderful example of great minds coming together to promote interest in nature, protect biodiversity, and make important information available and accessible to anyone. It brings together science, technology, and good design for the benefit of all the planet's life.

Links: Encyclopedia of Life, news coverage of the site launch, E.O. Wilson's talk at TED, About TED

I posted previously about Free Range Studios and their thought-provoking online videos. Shortly after my post, I found out about a new project of theirs, called The BioDaVersity Code. This time they have teamed up with Environmental Defense, World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club, and many other organizations to create a spoof of The Da Vinci Code that focuses on biodiversity.

The movie stars Robert Penguin and Sophie Minnow, who are trying to solve the murder of a polar bear. In solving the mystery, they learn of the "Priory of Species," representatives of several key species in the web of life on Earth. The moral of the story is that all species are connected, and in a delicate balance that the human race is threatening with unsustainable lifestyle choices. The BioDaVersity Code introduces biodiversity and shows the significance of every species on the planet.

This movie reminded me of a favorite quote of mine, attributed to Chief Seattle:

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

Since we are connected to everything in the web of life, our actions have consequences that not only hurt ourselves, but all living creatures as well as our support system, the Earth. As The BioDaVersity Code shows, we are disrupting the delicate balance of the web of life. Our choices may have more far-reaching effects than we may realize. I think this is an important message for everyone to hear, and, as usual, Free Range Studios is spreading the message in style.

Watch the BioDaVersity Code, or find out more about Free Range Studios.

The New Mexico-based Center for Biological Diversity has turned a library of endangered species sounds into free, downloadable ringtones. The institute wants to utilize mobile media, which has already had an influence on other political and social campaigns. They're hoping that the rare and endangered species ringtones will get the younger generation interested in learning more about these species, and hopefully to bring awareness and action to their cause.

The land and marine animal selection is a bit limited, but there are a wide variety of owl and frog sounds, and a few South American birds listed. But the options will grow as new recordings are submitted to the center. The poison arrow dart frog will soon be added after their scientist gets back from recording it in the jungles of Panama.

After listening to a few sounds online I was curious as to how loud the "ring" would be. Don't let the seemingly soft Mp3 preview fool you. Once on the phone they come through loud and clear.

I downloaded the Orca and the Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant. It took a couple of minutes for the SMS to come through (and there are options specifically for Verizon wireless customers, including knowing what model of phone you have), but the process was simple.

Now when I get a call (Orca) or a text (the Tit-Tyrant), I'll be able to share a few facts about the species and get people thinking about nature for a few minutes in their day.

Listen and download endangered species ringtones.

Via Environmental News Network