Polar bear populations have been declining over the past few years, attributable, some claim, to man-made global warming. Al Gore helped the plight of the polar bear by including in his award winning An Inconvenient Truth a cartoon of a polar bear swimming, unable to find land. The cartoon was inspired by evidence that some polar bears had drowned – a hitherto unforeseen occurrence.

So it is good news that on Wednesday the Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced that the polar bear has finally been listed as “threatened” under the ESA. However he was certain to ensure in his announcement that the decision should not be “misused” to regulate global climate change.

“Listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable losses of polar bears. But it should not open the door to use of the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources,” said Kempthorne. “That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the ESA law. The ESA is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy.”

Not surprisingly, the announcement has been met with mixed reviews.

Some environmental groups are expressing concern over the climate change caveats that have been placed on the decision.

“This decision is a watershed event because it has forced the Bush administration to acknowledge global warming’s brutal impacts,” said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s not too late to save the polar bear, and we’ll keep fighting to ensure that the polar bear gets the help it needs through the full protections of the Endangered Species Act. The administration’s attempts to reduce protection to the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions are illegal and won’t hold up in court.”

On the other hand however, there are those who are praising the decision.

“Today’s decision is a tremendous victory for one of the world’s most iconic and charismatic animals,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund US on the group’s Web site. “The other big winner today is sound science, which has clearly trumped politics, providing polar bears a new lease on life.”

That the decision has finally been made is without a doubt a blessing, and will hopefully go a long way to ensuring the survival of one of this planet’s most majestic creatures. However it is hard to escape the fact that the US government simply failed to follow the rules in naming the polar bear on the ESA, presumably to secure the $2.7 billion lease of oil reserves in the Chuckchi Sea.

“Had the polar bear been listed prior to January 9 as the law required, that lease sale could not have moved forward without some substantial additional review of the impacts to polar bears,” said Siegel.

Either way, we can only hope that those fighting for the polar bear will make the most of this new ruling to provide a measure of safety and security.

Source

credit: mape_s at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Pictured here is a painting of a baby panda I worked on for a project my partner and I wrote called Sustainability Illustrated. We hope it translates well in Chinese.

It is times like this when innocent creatures of our natural world may inspire us to make the planet a better place!

Imagine an organism, native to the American prairie, whose value to people prompted wholesale hunting to fill the demands of a niche market. In the period of roughly a decade and a half, consumers managed to rediscover and exploit natural reserves of this species which had originally been utilized by Native Americans in the eastern United States. The organism, echinacea (not the American bison), consists of 9 species of plants, some of which are recognized as endangered by federal and state authorities.

What Is Echinacea and How Does it Work?

The blanket term echinacea usually refers to three species of this plant: Echinacea angustifolia, Echinacea purpurea, and Echinacea pallida. All three varieties are native to North America and are often packed into individual or homogenized mixtures that are marketed as immunity boosters and touted to either prevent colds or lessen their impact/duration. Echinacea can be used preventatively or post-exposure to shorten the duration of colds when the rhinovirus (the cause of the all-too-common cold) has invaded and incubated, causing symptoms (the sniffles). Doses are delivered orally and come in the form of tinctures, pills, or drinks with intake instructions specific to the product listed within the packaging.

The active components have yet to be identified but echinacea is believed to improve immune defenses by stimulating lymphocyte activity. Lymphocytes are the white blood cells that fight disease-causing pathogens by identifying, marking, and “eating” them. Additionally, echinacea appears to increase interferon levels which interfere with the reproduction of viruses like the rhinovirus.

The Market for Echinacea

The demand for echinacea was extremely high around the close of the last century. Echinacea sales totaled some $300 million a year in the late 90s; however, these numbers have since dropped to around $150 million a year. According to the Nutrition Business Journal, 2006 saw a drop in echinacea sales with $129 million-worth sold in the United States. Theories abound as to the potential reason for a dip in sales of late including a reported lack of effectiveness and the presence of other remedies (goldenseal, vitamin C and zinc combinations, etc).

I believe that high demand for echinacea will resume. The most recent study published in July 2007’s The Lancet Infectious Diseases concluded that taking echinacea reduced the risk of catching a cold by 58%. Additionally, it lessened the duration of colds by an indefinite amount (couldn’t agree on that one, I guess).

Save the Echinaceae?

Humanity has done a good job of learning from the past. Due to the diligent efforts of the American Bison Society, the buffaloes are once again roaming parts of the central U.S.. Likewise, wild endangered echinacea plants are protected in states like Florida, Michigan, and Tennessee. A rigorous monitoring system set up to protect wild echinacea plants would be well-advised before the next surge in demand (October through April, roughly). In the meantime, seek out and patronize dealers that practice sustainable agriculture.

For further reading on endangered/protected animal and plant species, go to:

The US Deparment of Agriculture
The US Fish and Wildlife Service

Read More about Alternative Health Products and Practices:

Natural Remedies for Morning Sickness

Homeopathic Pink Eye Relief

Rescue Remedy

Image credit: bcballard at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

If you’re a college student looking for an internship this Summer, we’re looking for web publishing and marketing interns.

A 2007 study of health practice trends cited in an issue of Alternative Therapies estimated that nearly 1 of 5 Americans reported using herbals for treatment of health conditions or for health promotion (Gardiner et al., “Factors Associated with Herbal Therapy Use by Adults in the United States,” 22-29). This translates to a multi-billion dollar industry that will probably only grow as public education and the cost of medicines continue to rise. This trend, which spells good news for herbal therapy retailers and users, does not come without its share of potentially negative environmental consequences.

At-Risk American Herbs

The rise of herbal medicine intake in the United States has led to threats to the native floral populations that make up those medicines. In 2004 the World Health Organization listed five American plant species including American ginseng, black cohosh, echinacea, goldenseal, and slippery elm as “at risk” for endangerment. A brief description of these herbs and their characteristics shows why they’re in such demand:

• American Ginseng. Also called Panax quinquefolius, American ginseng shares many indications with its Asian cousin ranging from use as an aphrodisiac to enhancing stamina; however, common usage of ginseng is as an adaptogen to return one to a healthy state after exposure to a stressor. This plant grows wild in the eastern and southern United States.
• Echinacea. The darling of the herbal healing trade, three species of echinacea (angustifolia, purpurea, and pallida) represent the bulk of herbal remedy sales in the U.S. accounting for over a hundred million dollars-worth sold in 2006, alone. Multiple studies have shown echinacea to have an impact on the severity and duration of cold symptoms. This plant is native to the eastern and central United States.
• Goldenseal. Hydrastis canadensis grows wild in the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada. Used by Native Americans for centuries to paint skin and treat disease, goldenseal is touted to assist with coughs as an expectorant (induces coughing) and to treat minor wounds. (Note: despite rumors to the contrary, there is no proof that goldenseal clears urine of drug evidence.)
• Black Cohosh. Cimicifuga racemosa, or black cohosh, has been in use for years to lessen menopause symptoms and fluid retention. The verdict is still out on this one and women who are or may be pregnant should avoid this one altogether. Use caution when mimicking hormonal activity with any substance. This plant is a native of the eastern United States.
• Slippery Elm. Ulmus fulva (sometimes ulmus rubra or red elm), the slippery elm, is used to coat the lining of the stomach to soothe digestive irritation or topically to soothe irritated skin. There is still not much scientific documentation to support these claims, so be careful. This tree grows in the central and southern United States.

Many of the above medicinal herbs are not just in demand locally but across the world, as well. This demand will increase as public knowledge about their benefits increases. Efforts should be made to enlighten harvesters and consumers of the plight of these plant species in order to foster responsible consumption.

Also in the Green Options Media blog network:

Eco Child’s Play: Herbs for Kids

Eco Child’s Play: Homeopathic Pink Eye Relief

Image credit: Eggybird at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Wildlife Works’ has a visionary company mission to create brilliant sustainable solutions for wildlife conservation enabled by the power of the global purchaser, a term they coined Consumer Powered Conservation.

Why am I in awe of WW? Because their promise to every customer is to use the proceeds of the sales to save endangered and threatened wildlife around the globe. Their dream and guiding principle is to protect wilderness habitats, build schools, create jobs, and bring benefits for those people who share land and resources with wildlife!

In our first location in Kenya, Africa, we created the 80,000-acre Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary, where elephants, cheetahs and 45 other large mammal species now roam freely. In addition, we built and operate our Eco-factory next to the sanctuary, where we employ members of the local community to create some of our products.

Wildlife Works gear is as good for the planet as they are for your soul: “You’re wearing the brand that says you won’t sit quietly by while the last wild things in the last wild places disappear forever.”

The Bush administration has announced it will wave more than thirty federal laws to finish building a wall along the Mexican border by the end of this year. The Washington Post calls the move the most sweeping use of the administration’s waiver authority during the wall’s construction. The waivers allow the Bush administration to bypass mandatory reviews on how the wall will affect ecological areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. House Homeland Security Committee chair Bennie Thompson called the waiver “an extreme abuse of authority.”

Environmental groups have filed petitions challenging the waivers before the Supreme Court siting several potential ecological hazards that would be created by the fence. Biologists are especially concerned about a handful of extremely rare jaguars that prowl up from Mexico over mountain trails in some of the wildest country in the southwest.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff issued two waivers covering 470 miles of the border from California to Texas where the department plants to build fencing into a flood-control levee in a wildlife refuge. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Chertoff warned, “Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation.”

Like it or not, what Secretary Chertoff refers to as, “endless debate” and “protracted litigation,” have become central components of our democratic system. Issuing a waiver of environmental impact studies for a controversial border fence threatens the very underpinnings of our democratic processes and sets a very dangerous precedent for future incursions. Slippery slope anyone?

Photo: Daquella Manera

Photo courtesy of the Conservation Leadership Programme.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) this week released new climate maps showing that Burmese pythons, an invasive species of snake now comfortably at home in the Everglades, could extend their range to as much as a third of the continental U.S. by 2100 as the climate warms. 

While there’s no guarantee the pythons will find the types of food and shelter they like farther north, the temperatures across not only all of Florida — but much of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North and South Carolina as well, along with parts of California, Arizona and New Mexico — will likely be toasty enough for the snakes by the end of this century, USGS researchers say.

“Wildlife managers are concerned that these snakes, which can grow to over 20 feet long and more than 250 pounds, pose a danger to state- and federally listed threatened and endangered species as well as to humans,” said Bob Reed, a USGS wildlife biologist who helped develop the maps. “Several endangered species have already been found in the snakes’ stomachs. Pythons could have even more significant environmental and economic consequences if they were to spread from Florida to other states.”

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

“Rushing to allow drilling in polar bear habitat before protecting the bear would be the epitome of this administration’s backward energy policy, a policy of drill first and ask questions later,” Rep. Ed Markey said at a hearing of the House (of Representatives) Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which he chairs.

(More on this at http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews)

(Image courtesy of circadianshift.net/archives/2003_07.html)

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user brian0918)

Xeko doesn't just talk the eco-talk, though: it walks the eco-walk. All of the playing cards are made of recycled stock and printed with soy inks. In addition, players are encouraged to return their card wrappers to the company and earn Green Star points, which can be traded for free downloads. Furthermore, four percent of profits are donated to Conservation International for work to save the hotspots. What are hotspots? Hotspots provide the setting for Xeko missions, and are "the most threatened and species-rich places on Earth."

Currently numbered at 34, the hotspots contain 75 percent of the planet's most threatened mammals, birds and amphibians while covering just 2.3 percent of the Earth's surface. An estimated 50 percent of all vascular plants and 42 percent of land vertebrates exist only in these hotspots.