Published on Jan 30, 2013
A song I wrote when I visited the site after 9/11; always thought a little heavy, but it is time to get it out there. All photos taken from the web, if there is any infringement, please contact me, I will include credits. Included on my CD “Renegade of the Light Brigade” during the remix and urging of the late, great Steve Burgh.
The many economical and ecological benefits to using human excrement and urine as fertiliser are not to be sniffed at. Fred Pearce gets to grips with a sorely underused resource.
An hour into their journey from Tung Chung pier, the 20 members of the boat party finally got what they had been waiting for – a close encounter with the remaining pink dolphins who still make their home in Hong Kong waters.
But as the boat edged closer to the dolphins in the Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park and the eager tourists reached for their cameras, their excitement quickly turned to shock and distress.
“There were about four or five dolphins in the water and it seemed at first as if they were trying to get hold of something and support it,” said Ho Tak-ching, 34, a guide with Hong Kong Dolphinwatch. “It really wasn’t normal behaviour.”
The dolphins were trying to help a mother support the body of her dead calf and stop it slipping below the water’s surface.
“I started to film and it was then that I noticed the dead baby calf. From its size and colour, I guessed it was a newborn. It was so depressing and so very sad. While I was taking the video I couldn’t stop myself crying.
“There was a group of four or five dolphins taking turns with the mother to try to keep the baby on the surface of the water. We watched it for about 30 minutes.
“At first, I didn’t want to mention it to the passengers. But then some of them noticed the dead baby. They asked me, ‘How has this happened?’ They seemed very upset. They asked if there was something we could do to help, but I said there was nothing we could do.”
Grieving and unable to accept their calves’ deaths, the mother dolphins will spend up to two weeks trying to keep them on the surface of the water, exhausting themselves and going without food as other dolphins rally to help them.
These displays of epimeletic, or care-giving, behaviour demonstrate the intelligence and compassion of dolphins.
Disturbingly, they have also become an increasingly common sight in Hong Kong waters, where dolphin numbers are already in rapid decline.
The sad scene a week ago – captured on video and widely shared on Facebook – was the third separate incident of a dead calf being supported by its mother and other dolphins in Hong Kong waters last month alone.
In a scenario that paints a bleak picture for the future of the Hong Kong population, the calves are believed to have been killed by polluted water ingested by the mothers and then passed on to their offspring in their milk.
Video: Hong Kong Dolphinwatch
Despite being a protected species and a symbol of Hong Kong, figures to be released next month are expected to reveal a further sharp decline in the number of Indo-pacific humpback dolphins – also known as Chinese white dolphins or pink dolphins because of the change in their skin colour as they grow older.
Their abundance – or the number of them in Hong Kong waters at any given time – fell from 158 in 2003 to 78 in 2011.
Figures for last year are being finalised but will show a further “significant” decline, according to the experts compiling the data.
The death of the calves was almost certainly caused by pollutants in the seawater around Hong Kong, said Dolphinwatch spokeswoman Janet Walker.
“The toxins from pollutants accumulate in body fat because the dolphins can’t metabolise it and I am told dolphin milk is 40 per cent fat,” she said.
“The milk is very rich and fatty so it doesn’t disperse in the water when the mother squirts it out.
“That means all the toxins which are collected in the fat cells over 10 or 11 years of the mother living in polluted water goes straight to the first born.”
Walker described the death of three newborn dolphins in one month as “horrendous”.
She said: “There are not many things that kill babies that little. They are not as likely to get tangled in nets as they used to and I wouldn’t think the deaths were cause by a vessel collision because they stick really close to their mothers. So we think it’s toxins in the mother’s milk.
“Ideally, these dolphins should live 30 to 40 years. But here, if they get into their 20s, they are doing well. Half the dead ones every year are juveniles and babies.
“It is so frustrating. We have known about the problems facing dolphins for a long time, but no one is doing anything.
“The government claims to be doing something but then it is building this bridge to Macau and the third runway at the airport. That is an awful lot of construction in the dolphins’ habitat.”
Samuel Hung Ka-yiu with the skull of a dolphin. Photo: Nora Tam
Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, said he hoped the pitiful video would help people wake up to the reality that Hong Kong is on its way to losing for good the dolphin population first recorded in its waters in the 1600s.
“It is heartbreaking to watch,” he said. “You can feel for the mother. Why is she not giving up on the dolphin? It’s because she cannot accept that it has died. And why did it die? It is not the fault of the mother. It is our fault. We are causing this.
“The dolphin’s mother has to hold the baby the entire time otherwise it will sink to the bottom and she will do this for a week or two weeks, not eating at all. She is grieving.
“And what is causing that grief? It is because of us and everything we have done. I really hope people reflect on that.”
Hung, whose group has monitored and campaigned for the conservation of Hong Kong’s dolphin population since the 1990s, said: “I ‘ve never been so pessimistic about the future of our dolphins as I am now.
“I always tried to think that we could turn things around. We are able to maybe sustain the population with good conservation measures and good monitoring. But I think the pace of development pressure and the unwillingness to deal with threats like vessel traffic and the reluctance to deal with anything that hinders economic development is just too huge.”
In previous years, Hung said, his dolphin group had to deal with two or three threats at a time to dolphin habitat.
“Now we are dealing with seven or eight projects at a time,” he said. “It is crazy. There are so many battles to fight.
Read Full Article and Watch Video Here
Amazing video of a fawn born on the beach amongst the barnacles and seaweed on Vancouver Island.
Way to go little guy!
Milan is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and the Bosco Verticale project aims to mitigate some of the environmental damage that has been inflicted upon the city by urbanization. The design is made up of two high-density tower blocks with integrated photovoltaic energy systems and trees and vegetation planted on the facade. The plants help capture CO2 and dust in the air, reduce the need to mechanically heat and cool the tower’s apartments, and help mitigate the area’s…
A noble undertaking to be sure. Were it not for the simple fact that Science has not , for the most part, respected the right of creatures to exist in an environment that is suitable for their rightful existence. Science and mankind alike have, for the most part, considered only it’s pleasure and curiosity where animals are concerned. They have neither respected their lives nor their habitats. Always putting their selfish needs before anything else.
Which leads one to wonder as to the why of this undertaking? I would venture to say it is all for the greater glory of their Scientific careers. They nether care nor are concerned with the well being or happiness of any of these creatures. The proof is in the lack of impetus where pollution, experimental animal research and deforestation are concerned. Just look at the palm oil plantations flourishing at the expense of the Orangutang , the bees and pollinators dying off due to GMO’s. The Whale, porpoise and a long list of sea life. The endless list of animals that are endangered, being poached and savaged on a daily basis, and then there is always the commercialization of the creatures. Aquariums for profit, Zoos that confine these poor animals to cages or concrete pens in many cases in environments that are completely alien and detrimental to the species. Exotic animals captured and sold for the highest dollar to people who think they are pretty and since they have the money why not ? Of course if they can afford it they want what no one else has, regardless of the morality of such a desire. Avarice and social standing know no limits to satiating these desires
A lesser bird of paradise flaunts his flank plumes to entice females.
Who cares what these poor creatures had to endure to make it to that pet shop or dealer. The only thing that matters is they got what they wanted , the animal be damned. After all it is just an animal isn’t it ?
Let’s not forget the Circus, animals taken from their mothers at a young age that are savagely beaten and traumatized to conform for the amusement of those willing to pay for the entertainment and for the profit of those unethical beasts that mistreat and terrorize them on a daily basis. Their suffering is of no consequence and trivial to those who want to possess them.
In light of the cruelty and callousness with which humanity has treated the creatures of this planet, I would venture to say they are better off as a part of history than part of the next series of experiments for the glory of greedy and soulless enterprises.
~Desert Rose~
On Friday at a National Geographic sponsored TEDx conference, scientists met in Washington, D.C. to discuss which animals we should bring back from extinction. They also discussed the how, why, and ethics of doing so.They called it “de-extinction.”
There are a few guidelines for which ancient species are considered, and sadly, dinosaurs are so long dead they aren’t in the picture. Their DNA has long ago degraded, so researchers are fairly sure that Jurassic Park will never happen.
But there are plenty of other animals on the table. The list of candidates is actually pretty long, considering.
Here are the 24 animals they are hoping to one day resurrect.
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Tasmania Tigers were hunted by humans to extinction
Na Son Nguyen/AP
The intimate animal portraits, which feature everything from a featherless chicken to a pair of affectionate chimpanzees, are meant to illuminate the similarities between animal poses, gestures, and gazes, and our own.
Photographing animals on a set, as opposed to in their natural habitat comes with a unique set of challenges.
“You can never predict an animal’s mood,” Flach says on his website. “So you have to plan beforehand to get what you want.” To make the animals feel as comfortable as possible, Flach may adjust the temperature of the studio or play music.
You can purchase a hardcover copy of Flach’s animal portraits here or visit his website to see more of the award-winning photographer’s work.
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The decline in the Monarch population now marks a statistical long-term trend and can no longer be seen as a combination of yearly or seasonal events, experts say.The number of Monarch butterflies making it to their winter refuge in Mexico dropped 59 per cent this year, falling to the lowest level since comparable record-keeping began 20 years ago, scientists reported Wednesday.
It was the third straight year of declines for the orange-and-black butterflies that migrate from the United States and Canada to spend the winter sheltering in mountaintop fir forests in central Mexico. Six of the last seven years have shown drops, and there are now only one-fifteenth as many butterflies as there were in 1997.
In the Hamilton region, Monarchs have been faced with a loss of habitat for many years said Jen Baker, Head-of-the-Lake Land Trust Program co-ordinator for the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club. Milkweed, the Monarchs’ main food source as well as where they lay their eggs, has been decreasing in the region.
“Milkweed can’t necessarily grow in fields that are sprayed for weeds. It might be good for crops, but it’s bad for milkweed,” she said, adding that invasive species also pose a risk.
“Dog Strangling Vine is an invasive plant that is a cousin of the milkweed. We’ve found some females will lay their eggs on the vine and the babies die because that’s not their food.”
Both planting milkweed and trying to control the Dog Strangling Vine population are both efforts the Naturalists’ Club encourages, Baker added.
The decline in the Monarch population now marks a statistical long-term trend and can no longer be seen as a combination of yearly or seasonal events, the experts said.
But they differed on the possible causes.
There are issues facing Monarchs south of the border, too, according to experts. Illegal logging in the reserve established in the Monarch wintering grounds was long thought to contribute, but such logging has been vastly reduced by increased protection, enforcement and alternative development programs in Mexico.
The World Wildlife Fund, one of the groups that sponsored the butterfly census, blamed climate conditions and agricultural practices, especially the use of pesticides that kill off the Monarchs’ main food source, milkweed. The butterflies breed and live in the north in the summer, and migrate to Mexico in the winter.
“The decrease of Monarch butterflies … probably is due to the negative effects of reduction in milkweed and extreme variation in the United States and Canada,” the fund and its partner organizations said in a statement.
Monarchs ‘a shared responsibility’ Omar Vidal, the World Wildlife Fund director in Mexico, said: “The conservation of the Monarch butterfly is a shared responsibility between Mexico, the United States and Canada. By protecting the reserves and having practically eliminated large-scale illegal logging, Mexico has done its part.”
“It is now necessary for the United States and Canada to do their part and protect the butterflies’ habitat in their territories,” Vidal said.
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Sample Photos of Monarch Caterpillars, Butterflied and different varieties of Milkweed to assist in identifying for a butterfly garden
Published on Feb 22, 2013
Environmental leader, eco-feminist, philosopher, and quantum physicist, Vandana Shiva’s expertise seems to have no limits. She has become a globally respected activist for grassroots and alternative globalization movements, biodiversity, bioethics, intellectual property rights, and sustainable living. Some of her books include Staying Alive (1988), The Violence of the Green Revolution (1992), Monocultures of the Mind (1993), Biopiracy (1997), Water Wars (2002), Earth Democracy (2005), and Soil Not Oil (2008). Shiva’s scholarship and activism has been recognized internationally and she has won numerous awards, including the Right Livelihood Award, considered the Alternative Nobel Prize.
Ian Mauro is a Canada Research Chair in “human dimensions of environmental change” at Mount Allison University, in Sackville, New Brunswick. He is both a researcher and filmmaker, with a PhD in environmental science, and his work focuses on hunter, farmer and fisher knowledge regarding environmental change, specifically issues related to food security and climate change. He first interviewed Dr. Shiva in 2002, as part of his doctoral research on farmer knowledge and biotechnology in the Canadian prairies, which in part resulted in the documentary film Seeds of Change (http://www.seedsofchangefilm.org/). He subsequently went on to make various films, including Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (http://www.isuma.tv/lo/en/inuit-knowl…), with acclaimed Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, as well as the Climate Change in Atlantic Canada project (http://www.climatechangeatlantic.com).
The conversation between Drs. Mauro and Shiva took place on February 26th, 2012 at Mount Allison University, with a full audience of 300+ people. This was Shiva’s only New Brunswick event, on a larger Maritime tour, and she went beyond the surface issues facing our world today and explored, through conversation, the solutions and deep changes required for humans to find a more balanced relationship with the earth and each other.
For more information about Dr. Vandana Shiva, visit the Navdanya website: http://www.navdanya.org/
View Related Gallery »Flowers may be silent, but scientists have just discovered that electric fields allow them to communicate with bumblebees and possibly other species, including humans.
It’s well known that color, shape, pattern and fragrances allow flowers to connect with pollinators, but the new study, published in the journal Science, adds electricity to this already impressive lineup.
“We just now have discovered that electrical potentials, an unavoidable by-product of flying in air for bumblebees and being grounded for the flower, is being exploited to benefit both parties,” co-author Daniel Robert told Discovery News. It’s “another example of the beauty of evolution,” added Robert, a professor in the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences.
He explained that bees have a positive electrical charge because they fly in air, which is full of all kinds of tiny particles, such as dust and charged molecules. Friction from these particles causes bees to lose electrons, leaving bumblebees positively charged.
Flowers, on the other hand, “are electrically connected to ground,” he said. Unlike copper wire, which transfers charges very quickly, plants conduct electricity very slowly and tend to possess a negative charge.
For the study, Robert and his team placed petunia flowers in an area with free-flying foraging bees. The researchers then studied how interactions between the two changed the electric fields and the bees’ behavior.
They determined that when a bee lands on a flower, this generates its own electrical field, and therefore a force. It’s as though a mini spark results when the two connect.
Key to cleaner environment may be right beneath our feet
by Staff Writers
University Park PA (SPX) Feb 22, 2013
 File image. |
While many people recognize that clean water and air are signs of a healthy ecosystem, most do not realize that a critical part of the environment is right beneath their feet, according to a Penn State hydrologist.
The ground plays an important role in maintaining a clean environment by serving as a natural water filtration and purification system, said Henry Lin, professor of hydropedology and soil hydrology. Understanding the components that make up this integral part of the ecosystem can lead to better groundwater management and smarter environmental policy.
“We look at nature and we see all the beauty and all the prosperity around us,” said Lin, “But most people don’t know or tend to forget that the key to sustainability is right underground.”
Lin, who reports on his research at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, said that the earth’s outer layer — from the top vegetation canopy to the strata of soils and layers of underground material — helps soak up and purify water by extracting excess nutrients, heavy metals and other impurities. The ground can also act as a storage container for freshwater.
About 60 percent of the world’s annual precipitation ends up in this zone, Lin said. “In fact, there is more water under the ground than there is in the so-called ‘blue waters,’ such as lakes and rivers,” said Lin.
Published on Mar 16, 2012
Every day, we use materials from the earth without thinking, for free. But what if we had to pay for their true value: would it make us more careful about what we use and what we waste? Think of Pavan Sukhdev as nature’s banker — assessing the value of the Earth’s assets. Eye-opening charts will make you think differently about the cost of air, water, trees. teebweb.org
TED Talk at TED Global 2011 – Filmed July 2011
