Green Options

A jaguar recently swam onto an island located in the Panama Canal. It then triggered a hidden camera that took its picture. This is the first time a jaguar has been photographed in the 86 year history of 3,707 acre Barro Colorado Island– one of the most well-researched tropical ecosystems in the world.

The hidden camera had been set up as part of an annual effort to inventory mammals that live on Barro Colorado Island. According to the researchers who set up the cameras, the finding is exciting given that jaguars are already considered rare throughout the entire country of Panama (see photo below).

So just how far did the jaguar have to swim?

Scientists from Conservation International and the Ecotropia Foundation have discovered ten new amphibian species.

Their discoveries took place in a mountainous area near Panama called Tacarcuna. The newly identified species include three transparent, or ‘glass’ frogs, three poison dart frogs, and one frog with spiky skin and orange legs. Glass frogs have a partly transparent skin which makes some of their internal organs visible. Frogs with this type of smooth, absorbent skin are seen by some as indicators of ecological health because they are very sensitive to toxins. They live mainly in forests, except during the breeding season.

Editor’s Note: MTV’s Rainforest story was also covered on our network by Sustainablog.org.

This US News headline – ‘Is MTV Being Hypocritical?’ — may seem a little obvious. But, this time, the mixed messages aren’t about body image issues or consumerism. The hypocrisy is about the environment.

At the same time that people are praising the channel for bashing green-washing with their Switch campaign, the crews of MTV are taking part in some green-washing of their own. Hmm, hypocrisy about hypocrisy?

Seemingly unrelated to — and uncognizant of — recent news and outcry about the destruction of rain forest and beach in the Republic of Panama, as sustainablogger Alex Felsinger wrote about earlier this week, MTV Networks International is issuing 10 public service announcements to rally youth for the environment.

In a Sept. 15 article published by AdWeek, the new “MTV Switch” initiative will roll out as five PSAs and five short films, potentially reaching, MTV says, 560 million 15- to 25-year-old viewers in 162 countries.

After the Viacom-owned network finished filming their new treasure-hunt themed “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” on a remote, uninhabited island in the Republic of Panama, locals returned to find their beach tattered and abused.

The television show, which premieres on September 17^th, took over the neighboring, inhabited island in militant style by hiring the local police to prevent residents from accessing a public beach. As it turned out, according to local witnesses, MTV had cleared a small patch of rainforest to build a tiki-hut structure near the beach, developed an access road through the forest, and installed generators and lighting on the beach.

Here’s a chance to support a great group making a direct, positive impact on the global community: Northwestern University’s chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World has done rural electrification work in the isolated community of Santo Domingo, Panama. In the words of the Northwestern students:

“We collaborate with the village to provide families with electricity generated by solar panels. We will train and equip community members to install and

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