17 posts tagged “conservation”
Once a month I will report on a tree species and its status, as well as the harvesting of it, and expose a company that is exploiting and decimating it. From Rainforest Relief: The majority of mahogany on the market today is taken illegally from rainforests in Brazil and Bolivia. Outlaw timber companies invade indigenous reserves, park and nature preserves destroying not only the fragile forests, but the homelands of indigenous tribal peoples. Tree poachers punch new roads into pristine forests, cut valuable trees, transport the wood to middlemen and exporters who in turn sell it to importers in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The U.S. is the world’s leading importer of mahogany. At least eight indigenous Amazonian tribes have had members murdered at the hands of mahogany loggers, prompting the campaign cry, “Mahogany is Murder”. Smaller volumes of mahogany are imported from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala and a few other Central and South American rainforest countries. The Brazilian intelligence agency has reported that 80% of logging in Brazil is illegal. Eduardo Martins, the head of the Brazilian environment agency (IBAMA), has been quoted on at least two occasions stating that the 80% figure is correct and that the agency would need four times its current budget to properly enforce illegal logging. Two agencies in Brazil have declared South American mahogany within Brazil (the largest part of its range) to be endangered. Caribbean (true) mahogany is commercially extinct from its native areas in the West Indies, driven to near extinction by overlogging to feed the British demand for mahogany in fine furniture. When we buy mahogany doors, paneling or furniture, we participate in driving forests, endangered species and human cultures into extinction. Overhead Door Company sells mahogany doors.
I am only just now writing about this because when I first heard of it, I was too sad to do so. Now I am ready.
On June 10, 2008, a large dolphin kill occurred off the coast near Cornwall, UK. The area is known as the Fal Estuary.
When they became stranded in the river, the tide went out. They were obviously confused and disoriented. A marine biologist stated they were young and healthy and well-fed. Some speculated they went there to feed and another that maybe an Orca was after them. But closeby another dolphin kill occured, 15 kilometres away. Then ten kilometres away another school was spotted unusually close to the shore.
26 dolphins died that day. Only seven were rescued.
When questioned about sonar testing in the area at that time, the Royal Navy denied any testing had occurred. On June 16, it came out that they had indeed been testing sonar then, in fact had emitted it from a Merlin helicopter. The technology is called the "dipper", and it hunts submarines by blasting (dipping) it into the water.
Sonar has been proven to damage the hearing in cetaceans, to the point of even causing permanent hearing loss. Cetaceans use their own internal sonar to navigate and communicate.
Just dedicate your sorrow
Here and now
To the soul of the sea.
(Heart)
Milk now costs more than petrol (aka gasoline). This is normally the case most of the time, in the US of A. However, with gas now at about $4 per gallon, that makes milk more than $4 per gallon, which is expensive, which is why it is in the news.
A combination of events caused this rise. The obvious is higher transport cost due to higher fuel prices. Milk is transported by diesel trucks, and diesel costs more than gasoline in the US. Another event is flooding. Add droughts to that too. Cows eat stuff that grows in the ground. When the crops they eat are disrupted, the cost of feeding the cow goes up. In case you are not aware (and if you are not, God help you), most milk comes from cows. (That, the most common kind, is the milk that is being discussed here.)
Costco, a US company that sells items (anything from Ralph Lauren jeans to vitamins to tomatoes) in "bulk", or larger amounts (like you have to buy twelve rolls of paper towels instead of one) to the regular person (anyone who buys a membership), has announced it will do its part to lower milk prices by its innovative new square plastic milk jug*. They say this will help with prices, because this enables them to tranport more gallons of milk on the trucks than would normally be the case. (Om...wouldn't weight be more of an issue, since the heavier the load, the more fuel the truck uses? So, if you could stack more jugs in a truck, wouldn't it cost more to move it?)
Costco apparently has the most intelligent rocket scientist geeks on the planet back there in the think-tank working on ideas for them (they snitched them from NASA with lures of chocolate chip muffins in dozen-count boxes and six-packs of Oil of Olay daily cleansing face wash with AHAs).
Newsflash** to Costco:
* Plastic is made from fossil fuel. If you want to use less fossil fuel, do not use plastic.
** Square things to put milk in were invented in 1932.
Back in the States for awhile, I have a thing I do to entertain myself when sitting at long traffic lights: I count the SUVs that go by as opposed to the little cars. SUVs always outnumber the little cars about seven to one. (by the way, my car uses no fuel at stop lights) Men’s Health magazine has an interesting article in its latest issue. It rates the cities with the biggest gas (gasoline, aka petrol) guzzler vehicles per capita (Men’s Health what? Yep). Charlotte, of my home state North Carolina, ranked a whopping tenth from the top. (all those NBA moms driving hummers…yuck.) The greenest city in the state based on vehicle fuel-suckage is Durham (bunch of hybrid driving liberals, thanks, y’all). Who ranked biggest wasters (called "fossil fools" by Men’s Health, I love it, I wish I had thought of that term) on the US map? Well, jest y’all think about it. What state do Dubya and Jeb hail from? The grand city of Arlington, Texas wins the prize. Number two for piggy at the pump is Yonkers, New York; number three would be….(drum roll)…again, from Texas: El Paso. Numero quatro, Riverside, California (hour and a half long commute to work one way, anyone?) Five, Birmingham Alabama (in Birmingham they luv the guvna…woo hoo hoo). Number six, Fort Worth, Texas (Dang!)and number seven biggest gas hogs, El Paso, Texas. Seattle ranks number one in least petrol usage per person. Burlington, Vermont is number two in greenest drivers, and Portland, Oregon numero tres. In North Carolina, public transportation (bus) usage is on the rise. Big surprise; nothing like money to get some action when common sense will not. It’s been there all the time, but loads and loads of people prefer to ride alone in their car to work and back, and the roads got more and more clogged. There was talk (and money spent and work started) of a commuter train. But Dubya cut the federal funding that was to go towards the building of it in 2002 (how do I know? I worked where I had access to that knowledge) so it got poop-canned. Fabulous. Instead they spent millions on widening the highways between the Triangle cities, where more and more people move each year from afar and take up residence. (They call it the "New Atlanta" in honour of the horrid traffic problems). Meanwhile, no train. This is the time for change. This is the turning point, and if people can learn to ride the bus, or move to where they can walk or bike to work (and thus lower their trouser size, another problem in the States), they can be part of a transportation revolution that defies the Big Oil companies, General Motors Corp, and the oil dictatorship that sold them out. Sigh…but meanwhile, China’s petrol use is on the rise, ten per cent per year on average. More and more people there want and get their hands on cars….and apparently (which I was unaware of before today, oops) their government ALSO (like ours did) has been keeping petrol prices low to "stimulate the economy" but now that’s all over with. And people there are whinging. Aw…get in line. Personal Spip: I remember when my mom (rest her soul) wanted to buy a new SUV…I talked her into getting a hybrid one. (It’s better than a non-hybrid SUV, but at 35 mpg highway, not a great alternative, but she was determined.) My sister then wanted to trade her Lincoln Navigator (that my mom bought her, thanks) for something even bigger and stoopider, a Cadillac Escalade last year; this with my advice against it. I warned her, prices would rise…I hope she did buy the horrid thing, and is whinging like a champ about gas prices and can’t buy as many Coach handbags as last year. Meanwhile, I drove my Prius about 300 miles on a trip to and from somewhere last month and spent $37 on…weeee… you reap what you sow, baby. The future is bright for me and my kind (and I am not talking about my Dubya-voting family members), cause we have that special thing called vision. Peace out.
Recently, you may have asked yourself (or not), "What in the heck is Smart-Grid?" No, it’s not a new toothpaste that makes your teeth whiter than Arnold Swarzenegger’s unnaturally gleaming choppers. No, it’s not a new technology by Victoria’s Secret to hoist your breasts even higher off your chest. It’s about energy use, and electricity demand. Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton talk about it briefly in their energy plans. Barak’s take on it is informed whilst Hillary’s is quite odd and obviously naiive. (This was discovered by me, before I decided who I would vote for in next week’s primary). You, the consumer, need to know what it is, because it is coming your way in the near future. Smart-Grid 101 What’s in a name? Smart-grid is a nickname for system of utility applications that enhance and automate the monitoring and control of electrical distribution networks for added Its goal is to add reliability, efficiency and cost effectiveness to the process of distribution of electricity. Which countries are using or testing smart-grids? ("on" means, onwards from that year) Denmark Norway (2007 on with compulsive implementation by 2013) Italy (2000 on, 27 million on smart-grid by 2005) Ireland (2005 on, compulsive in all homes by 2012) America (2006, legislation approved in California to develop) Australia (2004 on) Turkey (gas/water/elec meters; 500,000 pre paid meters employed…pre-paid means people are very much aware of their usage, spot on) The Netherlands (2005 on, compulsive by 2013) Finland Sweden (2004 on, compulsive by 2009) New Zealand (2005 on) Canada (2007 on) What is happening with it right now? Pacific Northwest National lab has joined up with local utility companies to develop a smart-grid test project with area homes. They are partnered with the Gridwise Architecture Council, an org that arose out of the US Energy Dept (well, I do declare, they did something progressive for once!). Xcel Energy Company out of Boulder Colorado has plans in the works for a hundred mil sunk into its smart-grid project. Roy Palmer, head of regulatory affairs at Xcel says, "We just can't keep building more coal plants." (Smart dude.) In Baltimore, Maryland, households using smart-grid get a lower rate at off-peak times. In a suburb of Milton, Ontario, 200 test homes were implanted with a little box hooked up to their home computer, that enables them to use smart-grid technology by deciding if they apply it to items in their household when other homes are at peak use. It can be overridden by household members, if they think the thermostat is not high or low enough for comfort. They can also set it to lower the temp in the house during cold weather at night like at midnight when everyone is asleep, or turn off the porch light at a certain time. Groovy cool (sorry). In the future: Appliances would be designed to interact with smart-grid. The implementation of such technology will save us on energy usage, and over 20 years, to prevent the building of 90 more coal fired plants, says John Wellinghoff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Smart-grid will prevent rolling blackouts in areas like southern California where at peak times power plants are sucked as dry as an iced latte on a hot summer day. What can you do: Get involved. For info on attending meetings of the Gridwise Architecture Council, go to http://www.gridwiseac.org/getinvolved/ Read. http://www.smartgridnews.com/
China has banned free plastic shopping bags from all stores. This movement began in January 2008 and will commence June 2008. As of a year ago, San Francisco has banned petroleum based plastic bags but biodegradable ones are allowed. In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic shopping bags: 33 p. It only took a week for the amount of plastic shopping bags people helped themselves to per trip to drop 94%. (nothing like cost to convince people to change) Other cities in the world have joined the foray.
What are plastic bags made of (I am sure you are waiting with bated breath): polyethylene (polythene in the UK). Which is a hydrocarbon, which means it is made from fossil fuel. Oil and natural gas. WHY do they make them from that when fossil fuel is so precious? Well, until of late, no one thought it very precious, at least no one in any industry that makes anything out of such a thing that something else could be used instead (did you get all that? I enjoyed putting it that way). (and yep, geologists have been harping for years, ff is precious! FF is not plentiful in the long run! And treated like, they were saying the sky is falling!)
Whilst we can lower the consumption of plastic bags in shopping, where else are they being used and to what extent is this bad? Do you notice what that bag of soil you bought was packaged in? How about the cotton balls (aka cotton wool in the UK) you use on your face? I remember when cotton balls came in a cardboard box, like cereal. And while we are on the subject of cereal, note your breakfast food comes in a plastic bag inside of a cardboard box. Does this keep it fresher? It probably does. Is there an alternative? You betcha. Waxed cardboard, like milk cartons. What about your dry cleaning bags (I do not take my clothes to a dry cleaners, thanks. If you researched what they use you would do the same). What do your magazines come in? (I stopped delivery of mine and buy them in a store which I walk to) The trend has been, to put everything they can in plastic bags, cause it is cheap. (But for how long will it be cheap?) Who will absorb the cost when it catches up with fuel cost? The consumer, my dear fellow humans. We will.
Are plastic bags naughty, given the obvious, filling up landfills, using stuff made from fossil fuel mined from the earth, and killing sea turtles (in case you didn’t know about that tidbit) who think they are jellyfish? Well, the American Chemistry Council (a lobby group for the plastics industry, thanks) claims plastics make “your life healthier, cleaner and safer”. Sod off! As if! They whine about the bag bans and claim this “will not reduce American’s dependence on oil”. They also lie that “plastics are fully recyclable”. They are NOT. After they have been recycled the first time they lose their strength and become less recyclable. Also they give off by-products whilst being recycled. Glass and metal are the only containers, that are 100% recyclable. (I am not getting into building materials, car parts etc here) You can email their spokesman Chief Whiney Pants at keith_christman@americanchemistry.com and tell him to if you like.
What’s that sound (besides the whinging of the American Chemistry Council and the plastic bag manufacturers)? It’s the sound of less plastic bags rattling in the wind.
Peace out.
The definition of cull, is:
- To pick out from others; select.
- To gather; collect.
- To remove rejected members or parts from (a herd, for example).
To cull a seal, is to kill it by clubbing, and in some cases, shooting. The clubbing is preferred because it usually does not damage the fur coat, which shooting can do. The club is called a hakapik, and looks like a big spiked hammer.
In 2003, Canada made it possible that 975,000 seals could be culled over a 3 years period. This happened after new markets for seal fur opened in Russia and China. (sounds familiar: I wrote before about the poaching of elephants and the renewing of the market of ivory trade in Africa)
Yesterday, the government of Canada decided 275,000 seals can be culled this year. 2000 of the seals can be culled by people for "personal use" as well as 5000 by aboriginal hunters. The rest, 258,000 seals, will be killed "commercially". 16000 of those are leftovers from the quota not killed last year by commercial seal hunters.
Belgium, Holland and Germany has decided to ban seal products in their countries. The EU is also on the bandwagon, choosing to consider a ban. This compelled the government of Canada to claim it has consulted with vetenarians and they have a list of "recommendations" for culling: the killers have to check the irises of the clubbed seals to make sure they are dead before they skin them.Also they are supposed to "slit their arteries beneath their flippers" after clubbing or shooting them.
After Belgium had announced its ban (in 2007), Greenland claimed it would sue the country for its loss of income for its Innuit people. (My opine: I will not condone anything cruel just because it provides a living for people. That is NOT a good enough reason. "Sweetie, we can't afford food because people are against wearing fur from baby animals we kill". Sod off. You do not get my bleeding heart for your human family that survives on the blood of baby animals clubbed to death.)
Most seals culled are less than three months old. (They are not supposed to kill babies less than 12 days old. Wow. I am impressed. Are you impressed with the humaness of that? Sorry, did you detect sarcasm?) They are helpess for about 25 days after they are born and live off their mothers' milk.
Seals are culled for their fur. Versace and Gucci use seal fur in their clothing. The meat is sold in Asia for pet food. Also their genitals are cut off and sold in Asia as aphrodisiacs (Wassup wit dat part of the world selling a variety of products for getting it up. And what, they can't order Viagra over the Net?)
If you want to get really angry, check out http://www.furcanada.com/skins-furs-and-hides.html who even sells polar bear fur.
Not his finest hour, for Isenhour: Pro golfer Tripp Isenhour III (love the name, not) was having an instructional golf video being filmed to which he starred in, when a hawk decided to make some noise. Tripp became irritated, drove his golf cart closer to the bird, which was at the time about 300 yards away, and hit many shots at the bird, to which he failed to hit. Then later on during the filming, the bird moved closer, a reported 75 feet away. The agitated golfer with three I’s after his last name, declared "I will get him now", and fired shots at it until he hit it. Which killed it. It was a Red Shouldered Hawk, a protected bird. (Violent temper, check. No respect for animals, check. Poncy arse, check.) It fell to the ground bleeding from both nose holes. It happened in Florida at the Grand Cypress Golf Club, his "home course". Now under the gun (pardon the terminology) with fines and possible jail time, the golfer released a statement claiming, "I want to let everyone know there was neither any malice nor deliberate intent whatsoever to hit or harm the hawk. I was trying to simply scare it into flying away." (Really? Since when does "I will get him now" mean, I am trying to scare him away?) He was charged March 5 with cruelty to animals. The film crew buried the bird at the golf course, and later on investigating authorities dug it up. The Red Shouldered Hawk is listed as endangered and protected as a migratory bird due to a marked decline in species since the 20th century. Males build the nests and use the same nest year to year, which they refurbish regularly. They communicate vocally and through courtship flights. The Humane Society wants action taken against the hawk-killing golfer for the upcoming PGA Tour. Rightly so.
500 years ago, a coastal wetland in southeast England was drained of its salt marshes to create land suitable for growing crops; specifically, wheat. Now that land will be allowed to return to its natural state. The project is headed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Recently a smaller and similar project was undertaken by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Birds have already been showing up over the year or so since it was allowed to transition back to its natural state. The new project will encompass 730 hectares, or 1800 acres, in an area known as Wallasea Island. I have noticed that in the UK, it has become desirable to have locations for people to get out in nature and walk for long hikes, which are even advertised on county web sites to attract tourists. People do not want massive development or for natural areas to disappear. This illustrates the wonderful conservation mindedness of the UK: Most people want to have direct contact with nature. (They also do not mind sacrificing or something being less convenient, if it is better for the planet. And they make it happen with public outcry to the media. Also they use the power of the pound, by not purchasing things that are detrimental. And produce is labelled with its country of origin, and organic is standard in food stores, and usually around the same price as regularly produced food.) When I was last in grad school, I did an EIS, an Environmental Impact Statement, as a project for an Ecology course, on a like project. In fact, it was called the Farmlands to Wetlands Project, and it was done by a coastal conservation organization. It was refreshing with all the development that still goes on in coastal North Carolina.
