Thursday, November 5, 2009
No to Copenhagen 'Carbon Logging'
No to Copenhagen 'Carbon Logging'
GOOD REDD Fully Protects and Restores Old Forests as a Global Climatic Imperative
By ClimateArk Climate Change Portal http://www.climateark.org/
a project of Ecological Internet
November 5, 2009
Copenhagen climate talks must not provide 'Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation' (REDD) carbon market funds for old, natural forest logging, or for conversion of natural or semi-natural forests and other ecosystems to plantations. Ending deforestation and degradation of old and relatively ecologically intact primary and old growth forest ecosystems, and the ecological restoration of late-successional old growth forests, are keystone responses to maintaining global climate, biodiversity, water and ecosystems.
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=protect_old_forests
Indications are that UN Copenhagen climate talks will allow selective logging and plantation establishment in primary and old-growth forests as a means to "fight" climate change. In draft texts, European and African negotiators have removed safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations, and language ensuring first time industrial logging of primary rainforests are excluded from carbon finance has still not been included. This despite the fact no single international ecological policy initiative would protect global climate (and biodiversity and ecosystems) more effectively than protecting and restoring old forests wherever possible.
Old forest logging must end -- to maintain climatic stability and achieve global ecological sustainability. This requires a rejection of the myth of "Sustainable Forest Management" in old forests, acknowledging that fully-intact, natural old forests both remove and store long-term, far more carbon than natural forests that are selectively logged or replaced by plantations. Timber industry propaganda -- claiming logging ancient forests somehow saves them -- has been greatly aided by large NGOs like Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace, who continuously greenwash unknown amounts of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) "certification" of old forest logging as desirable and even sustainable.
MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=protect_old_forests
DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.climateark.org/blog/2009/11/by-ecological-internets-climat.asp
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wildlife crime soaring in Britain, driving some species close to extinction
Under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 it is a criminal offence for anyone to wilfully kill a badger
The number of wildlife crimes more than doubled in the last year, from 2,177 to 5,854, with badgers and rare birds among the most persecuted, according to the National Wildlife Crime Unit, a police-led, multi-agency unit which gathers intelligence on national wildlife crime.
Cases of cruelty to animals in their natural habitat are now being reported at a rate of 120 a week. Among them are badger bating, egg thefts, bird trapping, deer poaching, hare coursing and habitat destruction.
"There is an increase in wildlife crime in general. We are seeking to use wider policing powers, such as the Proceeds of Crime Act, to target criminals where it hurts them most – in their pocket," he said.
Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB's conservation director, added: "There is far too much wildlife crime going on in the countryside. The scale of it is unacceptable in the modern age.
"The hen harrier is pretty close to being extinct in England, in large part down to wildlife crime."
Northumbria is Britain's wildlife crime capital, with 525 reported cases between February and July this year. The county is also responsible for the highest number of wildlife shootings.
Humberside was the worst area for poaching, with 119 incidents, while Grampian saw the highest number of reports of wildlife being trapped or snared.
Tayside and Lancashire, along with Grampian, were worst for crimes against birds of prey - hen harriers are targeted partly because of their reputation for preying on game such as grouse. North Wales had the most cases of badger persecution and habitat destruction.
Bats in Gwent were the most tormented in the country, Lincolnshire had the most cases of hare coursing and infringements of the new fox hunting rules were most reported in Devon and Cornwall.
The NWCU figures did not include attacks on domestic or farm animals which, says the RSPCA, have also risen from 105,000 investigated in 2003 to 140,000 last year. Dog fighting has risen tenfold since 2004 to nearly 300 incidents last year, and airgun attacks on animals and sheep and cattle rustling are also on the increase.
One of the most worrying trends was the increase in cruelty to badgers, thought to be motivated in part by the belief they are responsible for spreading bovine tuberculosis.
Between February and July this year, the NWCU recorded 241 incidents of badger persecution - nearing the total for 2008, which was 280.
Badger baiters are now feared to be travelling all over the country to find them, motivated by payments of up to £1,000 for a live badger for a dog to be set on.
Conservations including the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts believe that police are failing to be consistent in their handling of offenders, meaning many feel they can act with impunity. A government review into how wildlife crime is tackled is under way and will report in spring next year. Full Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6479165/Wildlife-crime-soaring-in-Britain-driving-some-species-close-to-extinction.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Study Suggests Insecticide Causes Lupus and Arthritis

New research out of Philadelphia suggests a link between women’s exposure to household insecticides (including roach and mosquito killers) and the autoimmune disorders rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Previous research has shown a link of agricultural pesticides to higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Autoimmune diseases are diseases where the immune system goes haywire and begins to attack the body. Farmers were shown to be a high risk group for this reason.
Women who reported applying insecticides had a higher risk of developing the two autoimmune disorders than women who reported no insecticide use, whether or not they had lived on a farm. Those who used the insecticide the most often and most frequently had double the risk.
Read more of this story
Friday, September 25, 2009
New York City Activists Unfurl 35-foot Banner on High Line to Protest Park's Use of FSC-Certified Amazon Wood
From Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet (EI)
http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/
Contact:
Tim Doody: rainforestsny@gmail.com
Simon Counsell: info@fsc-watch.org
Dr. Glen Barry: glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org
PHOTOS AND VIDEO OF BANNER: http://RFNY.org
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32461153@N08/
September 24th, New York: This morning, environmental activists unfurled a 35-foot banner blocking the iconic view of 10th Avenue from the High Line park to protest the Amazon wood used in the park for bleachers, benches and decking. The banner read, "High Crime on the High Line! FSC Lies: Amazon Wood Is Not Sustainable!"
Two New York City-based groups, Rainforest Relief and New York Climate Action Group, coordinated the banner action to confront the "First International FSC Friday," an event held on September 25th by the Forest Stewardship Council to promote their certification scheme.
According to Friends of the High Line's website, the tropical hardwood used throughout the High Line was certified by FSC-accredited agencies. The wood, called ipê, originates from primary Amazon forests in Brazil and Peru. Ipê trees are typically 250 to 1,000 years old and grow an average of one or two trees per acre.
"We targeted the High Line because it's one of the highest profile parks in the world," said Tim Doody, a spokesperson for Rainforest Relief. "We think there are well-intentioned designers and architects who have no idea that the FSC certifies wood from ancient primary forests, including the Amazon. That kind of logging destroys vital carbon sinks and opens the forest to land speculators, cattle ranchers and plantation farmers."
Formed in 1993, the FSC accredits agencies that in turn certify logging operations according to a set of principles that the FSC claims will protect forests and local people. However, a growing number of environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth UK, Rainforest Foundation, Ecological Internet and World Rainforest Movement, are accusing the FSC of violating their own principles.
"Instead of launching vacuous marketing ploys such as 'FSC Friday,' the FSC would be better off trying to address some of their underlying issues," said Simon Counsell. Counsell, a founding member of the FSC, now monitors the agency on FSC-Watch.org.
Citing a study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, Counsell stated, "Research in the Amazon has shown that, over a period of years, commercial logging greatly increases the overall propensity of the forest to dry out, burn and disappear. This happens regardless of whether the logged areas are certified or not."
On July 12, 2009, the Brazilian government announced that federal police had broken up a timber-laundering ring in the Amazon involving 3,000 "eco-certified" companies that had been receiving illegal wood for years. FSC-certified companies are among the implicated.
Dr. Glen Barry, founder of Ecological Internet, said "It has become evident to environmentalists in the know that FSC has become an obstacle to ending ancient-forest destruction and addressing climate change and biodiversity loss." EI is demanding that FSC stop certifying wood from ancient primary forests around the world -- and has been carrying out high-profile protests against groups such as Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace who are leading the greenwashing of FSC logging. Further actions are planned soon.
The government of Norway has turned criticism of "eco-certification" schemes into policy. In 2007, officials there banned the use of all tropical timber in public buildings. "The government wants to stop all trade with unsustainably or illegally logged tropical forest products," stated Norway's Directorate of Public Construction and Property (Statsbyyg). "Today, there is no international or national certification that can guarantee in a reliable manner that imported wood is legally and sustainably logged."
"What's missing in the certification debate is the broader issue of simply reducing the consumption of wood products," said Tim Keating, Executive Director of Rainforest Relief. "All the world's forests cannot be industrially logged, and there are so many alternatives—like post-consumer plastics—that should be considered first."
###ENDS###
DISCUSS RELEASE:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/09/new_york_city_activists_unfurl.asp
LINKS:
High Crime on the High Line: Why Is NYC's Highest-Profile Park Using Amazon Wood?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/142327/high_crime_on_the_high_line:_why_is_nyc's_highest-profile_park_using_amazon_wood/?page=entire
Report from The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States: Condition and Fate of Logged Forests in the Brazilian Amazon
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12947.full?sid=0fbcc483-fde9-4c7d-96a6-cdd6bfb4e1d2
http://RainforestsOfNewYork.org
http://www.RainforestRelief.org
http://www.FSC-Watch.org
http://www.EcologicalInternet.org/campaigns/
http://www.fsc.org/fscfriday.html
---
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Arctic Geese Skip Migration as Planet Warms

No Longer Just Summer Birds Discovery News Video Sept. 16, 2009 --
In the Fall of 2007, tens of thousands of small arctic geese called Pacific brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) decided not to go south for the winter.
For these long-haul migratory birds, it was a dramatic choice -- they usually spend the cold months munching their favorite eel grass in the waters off Mexico's Baja peninsula. But changes in Earth's climate have so affected them that the barren windswept lagoons of western Alaska are looking more and more appealing.
The trend is likely to continue, according to a new study, affecting not only brant but a host of migratory birds around the globe.
David Ward of the United States Geological Survey in Anchorage has been studying brant behavior for nearly three decades.
When he began back in the 1970s, only around 4000 birds toughed out the winter in Izembek Lagoon, a 25-mile long stretch of protected water on the Alaska Peninsula. Two autumns ago, the number had climbed to 40,000 -- nearly 30 percent of the total population.
"The birds normally wait for a storm system to come down through the Aleutians," Ward said. "They catch the tail winds down south. But the track of storm systems is a little different now."
WATCH VIDEO: Is Alaska America's poster child for climate change? Related Content:
Full story:http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/09/16/birds-migration-warming.html
Saturday, September 19, 2009
EARTH MEANDERS-ESSAY
EARTH MEANDERS
Ecological Overshoot: Climate, Inequity and Corruption
A call for reluctant Earth revolutionaries to unite and slay the economic growth machine consuming ecological being.September 20, 2009By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological InternetEarth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk, http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/http://www.ecoearth.info/earthmeanders/
A disease is ravaging Earth as ever more people, consume ever more, destroying natural ecosystems that are our shared habitat. In a few short centuries the violent, expansionist and deeply ecologically unsustainable Western mindset has become virtually universally accepted. The meaning of life is more, ever more of everything, at the expense of a finite biosphere. The emptiness of such a vacuous worldview is revealed through changing climate, devastating human inequities and an irredeemably corrupt economic system.More than just a climate crisis, humanity is facing profound over-population and injustice that are spurring dozens of inter-related ecological and social crises. Billions suffer as their basic human needs go unmet, while billions more gorge themselves. Forests, prairies, streams, rivers, estuaries, wetlands, lakes, soil, oceans, air and all the rest are all life's flesh and blood. Humanity, Earth and kindred species have entered the late stage condition of ecological overshoot -- whereby our cumulative demands upon ecosystems exceeds their life-giving capacity and causes them to collapse. We are eating creation. Hardly anyone is thinking or acting at the necessary scale to avert global ecological Armageddon. Market based solutions are pervasive with corruption and inequity. Nothing we do is going to maintain an affluent life, as it is now for some. Widespread economic decline will certainly accompany abrupt climate change and global ecosystem collapse; indeed, it has begun. If existing political systems are unable to deal with the inevitable collapse of the growth machine, at the same time as pursuing rigorous environmental policy-making, then new political structures will be necessary. A stewardship revolution that maintains life of some worthy, habitable sort is possible. Surely in a free country whose liberty came from such means, we can talk about revolutionary violence, as Thomas Jefferson said would continue to be necessary. "The blood of tyrants and patriots must flow to renew the soil." What could be more glorious than fighting, and perhaps dying, for the Earth, and maybe even succeeding in saving her (and us)?It is time for a credible revolutionary threat to protect the biosphere. What is needed is a steady ratcheting up of pressure – protests, sit-ins, sabotage, assassinations -- giving opponents every opportunity to respond to reasoned arguments – and culminating in guerrilla warfare and whatever else is necessary to save the Earth. If a few thousand insurrectionists can tie up the American military in Iraq, think what dedicated, highly decentralized and autonomous groups of tens of thousands of Earth insurgents could do to bring down industrial capitalism and the Earth eating growth machine.People power protest culminating in an Earth Revolution needs to be done urgently yet thoughtfully. Not speaking of mob rule or rioting -- that is what is coming from the status quo. We are speaking of highly disciplined, targeted protests including the possible use of violence to bring down the equipment and individuals responsible for destroying global ecosystems, and herald in a new ecologically sustainable, just and equitable way of living with the land, water and sky. Living must become a matter of what you can give to ecosystems, and others with whom you share being, rather than only being concerned with what you can take.Economic growth cannot continue forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, and the myriad of other eco-crises solved. Efforts to cap and trade, certify, sustainably manage and otherwise reform our way out of the situation are orders of magnitude inadequate and failing. Free markets appear to inherently be unable to price carbon and other externalities. It is becoming increasingly unlikely (if not impossible) that current political and business growth systems can reform in time to maintain the ecosystems necessary for life.The looming death of Gaia and most or all being is no one's fault, or rather, it is all our faults. As many species have done previously, we have collectively overgrazed our habitat. We simply must immediately allow traditional ecological disturbance, regeneration and succession patterns to again operate. The industrial growth machine must be powered off and we must herald in an era of ecological stewardship and restoration. Even while we organize and pursue revolutionary action; each of us must plant, tend and restore our Earth's natural ecosystems and permaculture gardens, and help others to do so.Only dramatic and immediate revolutionary action to destroy the growth machine offers any hope of maintaining a livable Earth. We must commit to stopping burning and cutting -- antiquated means to make a living -- indeed killing those that refuse to stop. Rich people are setting themselves up to be fine in geo-engineered comfort while sacrificing the poor who no longer have free ecosystem services to sustain them. There can be no engineering of a biosphere; indeed, thinking we can has brought us to this moment. We must return to nature. We must hold onto our humanity as we collapse and renew ourselves. Earth Revolution is as much about helping those that want to reconnect to Earth as it is sabotaging equipment and killing people directly responsible for ecocide. This means sharing food and water, shelter and clothing. But bring those responsible for ecocide to justice, utterly destroying them, their institutions and their equipment. The must be no indiscriminate terror, but if our warnings go unheeded, targeted violence against known ecological criminals is justified and warranted.Given the momentum of nearly seven billion seeking to be super-consumers , do not see any other way to stop the forces of destruction other than a revolution. There is absolutely no way current energy and other resource use-- much less expected growth in population and per capital consumption -- can be produced either from agrofuels or more drilling. Humans have hit the biogeochemical limits of a finite planet, and each of us must seek what is enough, rather than always more.It is well past time to be men and women of fortitude, set aside our computers and amusements, and commit our minds and bodies to stopping the destruction of being. We must demand more courage and less corruption from ourselves and our leaders. The Arctic has already been changed forever. Soon your neighborhood, ecosystem and bioregion will be too (if you really look, almost certainly it is already). Please, as I do, take the end of human being through needless habitat destruction personally.Part of the solution is allowing people to get back to Earth on their own plot of land. How we live in the future will be by necessity less urban. We will be called upon to make do with what is in our bioregion. Let me make some further suggestions to you. Acquire land and seeds. Make or restore an Earth friendly shelter and plant trees and permaculture forest gardens. Prepare to live in your changing bioregion. Go back to the land. Ecologically farm and restore as you connect with like minded Earth revolutionaries to clandestinely carry out escalating protest, sabotage and guerrilla war.I urge you to really think about what is necessary -- both personally and in terms of social change -- to sustain being, and committing to it. Token managerial reforms of the antiquated ecologically damaging activities of burning and cutting are not enough. Technology is not going to save us. Market campaigns using glamorous celebrities are not enough. Petitioning our leaders is not going to save us. Personal efforts will only get you and Gaia so far. Only escalating protest action targeting the destroyers, their equipment and their Earth eating worldview can still avert biosphere disintegration.Set aside your best efforts at ecological denial, acknowledge the task before us, and join with others in becoming a reluctant revolutionary. An Earth insurgency could topple the growth machine in a day, though it may take years. The sooner the better, as more ecological remnants will exist to serve as the basis of ecological restoration. Even as we pursue revolutionary strategies and tactics to maintain a habitable Earth, commit to remaining free and humane. The answer is neither tyranny of the left nor right. Above all else we must achieve global ecological sustainability through just and equitable means.Protest and restore natural ecosystems including old forests right now. Work with others to destroy coal, tar sands, fishing trawlers, oil palm, industrial agriculture, pipelines and ancient forest loggers. Start today. Now continued human existence depends upon your courage, ecological wisdom and taking direct lethal action in defense of our shared ecological heritage. Each of us and together will transition to a state of ecological grace, quickly, and through action against the Earth destroyers, or we will all die a horrific and barbaric death together as being ends. If we choose to fight for Earth there is hope, otherwise there is none. Share the anguish of not knowing if revolutionary violence is the answer or not. But it has to be considered comprehensively, thoroughly and quickly. Prove me wrong and demonstrate how to ecologically sufficiently address converging eco-crises in a couple years time within current economic and political systems. Yet revolution is almost certainly the only possible way to sustain and restore healthy ecosystems as the basis of human civilization and all life. Be strong, slay the growth machine, for Gaia.###
Discuss essay:http://www.ecoearth.info/blog/2009/09/earth_meanders_ecological_over.asp
This is an excerpt from Dr. Glen Barry's forthcoming new book entitled "New Earth Rising". Sadly, this will not be finished by Copenhagen, though we intend to publish the introduction soon as we begin serializing it at http://www.newearthrising.org/.
We eagerly seek a publisher and financial backers to finish the book which is nearing completion.---
Friday, September 18, 2009
First ever recorded Humpback in Thames found dead

First ever recorded Humpback in Thames River found dead. Credit ZSL/CSIP.
Humpback whale dies in Thames
September 2009. A 28ft (9.5m) Humpback whale has been found dead in the River Thames near the Dartford Bridge.
Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) received reports that a whale had been spotted in the Thames last Thursday, but no further sightings were made until the animal was found dead on Saturday; the body was subsequently recovered by a Port of London Authority (PLA) patrol boat.
The team of scientists from ZSL, who were also involved with the rescue of the Thames whale in 2006 and the mass dolphin stranding in Cornwall (Mass dolphin stranding in Cornwall - at least 26 dolphins dead) last year, carried out a post-mortem examination of the juvenile male Humpback whale in-situ in facilities provided by the PLA. The post-mortem examination was undertaken as part of the Defra funded collaborative UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), which is managed by ZSL.
Rob Deaville, project manager of the CSIP said "Preliminary results from the post-mortem examination indicate that it may have died as a result of starvation, but further tests are still pending and may provide additional information about what happened to this whale".
First ever recording of a humpback in the Thames
This is the first time that a humpback whale has been found in the Thames. The last humpback whale found stranded around the UK coast line was in 2007 at Port Talbot in Wales.
12 Humpback strandings in 20 years
Rob Deaville added "There have only been 12 strandings of humpback whales in the UK in the last 20 years and this is an incredibly unusual event. Although it's obviously a sad outcome in this instance, the post-mortem examination has given us a rare opportunity to examine a truly extraordinary animal at close quarters. Information gathered through examinations like these will hopefully help further our understanding of such animals and also help contribute to improving their conservation status."
Strandings that undergo post-mortem examination can also provide a unique insight into causes of death, diseases, environmental contaminant levels, reproductive patterns, diet and other aspects of the general health of cetacean populations in the seas around our coasts. This provides important baseline data to help detect any future outbreaks of disease, unusual mortality events or responses to environmental change (e.g. climate change).
Information from the post-mortem examination will be added to a database on stranded cetaceans, which is managed by the CSIP and provides an essential resource for identifying factors which may cause cetaceans to strand, helping to prevent these events happening in the future.
Double Whammy of Pollution for Mississippi River in Minnesota

Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on September 18th, 2009Posted in Health, Water
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee samples river water for endocrine disrupting pollutants.
Study results publicized this week suggest Twin Cities water resources and the Mississippi River downstream from the Cities are suffering from pollution by road salt and endocrine disrupting chemicals.
The results are from U.S. Geological Survey analysis of watersheds around the U.S. The road salt results indicate chloride levels that may imperil aquatic life in creeks and rivers in the Twin Cities. A study by the University of Minnesota released last winter found that about 70% of the salt applied to roads in the area remained in the Mississippi River and tributaries. Nearly 350,000 tons of road salt are applied for de-icing in the Twin Cities metropolitan area annually.
The U.S.G.S. also reported that 73% of male smallmouth bass sampled in the Mississippi River near Lake City, Minnesota have characteristics of both genders, which researchers believe may be the result of exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds in wastewater.
The Minnesota Legislature earlier this year appropriated funds provided by the state’s new conservation tax to continue and expand a study of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wastewater conducted by the state Pollution Control agency. The Minnesota Department of Health has also received state funds to evaluate endocrine disruptors in the state. Targeted materials include PCBs, heavy metals, household compounds such as laundry detergent and shampoo, and many pharmaceuticals.
A local nonprofit organization, Friends of the Mississippi River, hosted a 2007 presentation by University of California researcher Dr. Tyrone Hayes about work he has done linking low levels of atrazine, a widely used agricultural herbicide, with feminization of amphibians. A 2008 state study found atrazine even in high-quality lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, suggesting the chemicals are also being transported through the air. Also in 2008, a state Pollution Control Agency staffer alleged in a lawsuit that he was fired for being a whistle-blower about atrazine pollution in the state. He later dropped the suit. The researcher, Paul Wotzka, continues to speak out publicly, recently telling Minnesota Public Radio that says animal tests tie atrazine in small amounts to birth defects. “If you were pregnant mother, drinking water in June and you had these high spikes of atrazine in your water, you would want to know about them,” he said.
Last winter’s University of Minnesota road salt report urged more judicious application, observing that the school had reduced its use of the de-icer 41% through such an initiative.
Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
46 Orangutans Released Back To Wild

BOS RETURNS 46 ORANGUTANS BACK TO THE WILD
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) has successfully released 46 orangutans back into the wild. These orangutans had been rescued from starvation, injury, illness or captivity by BOSF’s Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Introduction Project, and have now been returned to a tropical rainforest in the remote heart of Borneo, where they should be safe from human persecution – and the devastation of their habitat by the palm oil industry.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Giant rat and new marsupial amongst 40 new species discovered in Papua New Guinea
September 2009. A new species of giant rat is one of 40 new species discovered on a recent expedition to a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea. Weighing in at 1.5kg, and measuring 82cm from nose to tail, the Bosavi Woolly Rat is one of the biggest rats in the world - as big as a domestic cat.
The find was made in the crater of the extinct volcano Mount Bosavi while filming for the Lost Land Of The Volcano, the third in a series of BBC One expeditions to remote jungles. The crater is 4km wide with walls up to 1km high, trapping the creatures inside a lost world.
The rat is silvery grey and the name woolly is due to its dense fur. The animal's teeth suggest it has a largely vegetarian diet and probably builds nests in either tree hollows or underground. Dr Kristofer Helgen, Smithsonian biologist, and Gordon Buchanan, were first on the scene, when the rat was found by a tracker from the Kasua tribe that lives outside the crater.
Dr Helgen says: "This is the one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, related to the same kind you find in the city sewers, but a heck of a lot bigger.''
Gordon says: "I had a cat and it was about the same size of this rat. This rat was incredibly tame. It just sat next to me nibbling on a piece of leaf. It won't have seen a human being before. This crater of Mount Bosavi really is the lost world."
To read more ,visit the website:
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sign on to protect leatherbacks at Las Baulas
We are circulating the attached (also pasted at end of this email) scientist/organizat ional sign-on letter to urge the Costa Rican government to reject a current bill that proposes to downgrade Las Baulas National Park - the most important nesting beach for the eastern Pacific leatherback - to a National Wildlife Refuge and allow development at this critical nesting site.
Las Baulas National Park is critical to the survival of the Pacific leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), declared as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Populations of Pacific leatherback sea turtles have crashed by 90 percent over the past two decades and are not recovering. Today, fewer that 1,000 female leatherbacks survive in the entire eastern Pacific. Las Baulas National Park has an exceptional global value as it provides the most important nesting site for this remaining eastern Pacific population. Downgrading this national park and the subsequent development would have devastating impacts on the survival of the Pacific leatherback.
If you would like to sign on please reply to me karen@seaturtles. org with the following information:
Name
Title
Organization Name
City
State
Country
Your support is greatly appreciated. Feel free to email me at karen@seaturtles. org with any questions.
Sincerely,
Karen Steele
Campaign Coordinator
Sea Turtle Restoration Project
Project of Turtle Island Restoration Network
PO Box 370
Forest Knolls, CA 94933
Ph: 415-663-8590 ext. 109
Fax: 415-663-9534
http://www.seaturtles.org
September 7, 2009
Sra. Hannia M. Durán
Jefa de Area Comisión Permanente Especial de Ambiente
Asamblea Legislativa
San José, Costa Rica
Estimada Señora Durán:
RE: Law Project No. 17.383 entitled "Law to rectify the Leatherback Marine National Park's Boundaries and Creation of Guanacaste's Leatherback National Wildlife Refuge"
In 1995 Costa Rica recognized its unique responsibility in ensuring the continued survival of the Pacific leatherback by protecting one of the last nesting beaches in the eastern Pacific and the other delicate ecosystems of Ventanas, Grande, and Langosta Beach, through the creation of Las Baulas National Park by Law. Las Baulas National Park is critical to the survival of the Pacific leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), declared as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Populations of Pacific leatherback sea turtles have crashed by 90 percent over the past two decades and are not recovering. Today, fewer that 1,000 female leatherbacks survive in the entire eastern Pacific. Las Baulas National Park has an exceptional global value as it provides the most important nesting site for this remaining eastern Pacific population.
On behalf of the undersigned scientists and organizations we are writing to urge you to reject Law Project No. 17.383 pending before the Environment Commission of the Legislative Assembly, that proposes to downgrade Las Baulas National Park to a Mixed National Wildlife Refuge and open its beaches up to coastal construction projects. With Pacific leatherback sea turtles so perilously close to extinction it is inconceivable to remove this protection and allow development in sensitive areas near the turtles' nesting sites. Such developments will have a negative impact on the nesting process of the leatherback through lighting, additional access of people, vehicles and domestic animals, and could likely lead to the elimination of this most important population of leatherbacks.
In addition, if this legislation is passed it will undermine Costa Rica's reputation as a global leader in conservation through its "Peace with Nature" initiative. This policy catapulted Costa Rica to the front of the line of countries committed to the preservation and protection of their natural resources and its longstanding commitment to the preservation of sea turtles.
Over the past few years multiple bills have been written, each one proposing to rezone Las Baulas National Park and open its beaches up to coastal construction projects. Fortunately every one of these bills has been rejected. We urge you to do the same with bill 17.383 and continue Costa Rica's commitment to protecting the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle, and preserving its national parks and the extraordinary abundance of life protected within their boundaries.
Sincerely,
Monday, September 7, 2009
Join Borneo's Penan Indigenous Peoples in Standing up to Malaysian Rainforest Destruction-Action Alert!
with
Ecological Internet's Rainforest Portal, http://www.rainforestportal.org/
September 7, 2009
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=malaysia_penan_blockade
Malaysia is the world's leading rainforest destroying nation. Insist Malaysian authorities respect native customary land rights and boundaries of Penan's last remaining ancestral rainforest reserves; halt rainforest destruction in Sarawak for oil palm, pulp plantations and hydro-electric dams; and ensure rainforest destruction and abuse of indigenous rights by Malaysian companies end globally.
NOTE: After sending this protest you are forwarded to several crucial ongoing alerts, which we ask you to please send as well.
MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=malaysia_penan_blockade
DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/09/alert_join_borneos_penan_indig.asp
Sunday, August 23, 2009
ARE WE REALLY CATTLE?
August 20, 2009
Have we really become "We the sheeple," or are we still human beings? The planet is dying under the thrall of a small minority of men who think of the rest of the human race as "cattle," livestock for them to buy and sell.
The ruling class behaves much like a spoiled child, if they don’t get to have everything their way all of the time, they throw this massive temper tantrum and threaten to upset the whole game. They have gotten their way in everything for so long that they have fallen under the spell of their own propaganda. They believe that we are sub-human animals, who should be herded into the best outcome possible. But, have the rest of us begun to accept this as well?
As members of the human herd, most of us recoil at the "bovinian" suggestion, but consider just how much we do behave like a herd. We willingly accept being treated like a herd, trusting our lives to politicians because we appreciate not having to make hard decisions for ourselves, being contented as cows, as our leaders and their hired hands drive us down a path to destruction, for the sake of them making a few dollars more in profit.
Preserving profits for the ruling elite is the only motivation (other than media-manipulated patriotism and nationalism) compelling us to fight our resource wars in Asia and Africa. The leaders of the entire world pretend that we are there to fight against terrorism, even though they know that the terrorism comes with us, their hope being their own little "piece of the action." The American way is to wage war with dollars, as well as bombs.
What the hell is the matter with people? Has everyone so bought-in to the propaganda that leads them to their own deaths that they believe the lies that control us? Willfully following sell-out leaders, who are leading their own countries to death and slavery is more than merely suicidal, it’s something a dumb animal would do.
Does the herd even think of itself as human anymore? Would it really matter what the herd thought about anything, anyway? Nothing will change as long as we willingly accept this idiocy. We have not changed. We are still human beings. Our feelings and concerns for ourselves, our families and our friends are legitimate, and just as real and as valid as those shared by the ruling class elitists who send our sons and daughters into battle to control the gas and oil, just like everyone who is being targeted by our government as it sends forth Special Forces and their "Islamist" counterparts to kill, not in the name of freedom, but to seize unfair economic advantage!
The entire "conflict" within the "arc of crisis" that is schemed over by Brzezinski and friends is manufactured for our entertainment and distraction. It is foolishness to look at "militant Islamists" and the CIA Special Forces teams who are sent in to fight them as two separate entities, without realizing that they are one and the same.
In Central Asia, the scary "Islamists" appear, as if by magic, wherever the oil companies have an interest. Theories are floated that the sudden rush of militant extremists in western China and the former countries of the Soviet Union is explained as an unfortunate by-product of Pakistan’s anti-Taliban offensive, as militants trained in Pakistan’s FATA Region return to their native countries.
From Russia to China and southwards, attacks begin in targeted nations and then someone appears in the national media to warn of the "Islamist" threat. News stories begin to appear of running gun battles and explosions, linking all of them to the "militant" threat. Attacks are made upon adversaries of the United States and those countries then become blacklisted as unstable for development and the subservient, media dutifully reports that our enemies have been attacked our other enemies.
Whose interests does this serve—crazy militants, with their warped dreams of a "caliphate," or American oil companies, who are trying to undermine China, Iran and Russia? The "powers that be" are playing a very dangerous game with all of our lives.
How long will the countries targeted by American/Islamist limited warfare continue to tolerate this bold assault? China, in particular, is presently bound by the economic chains that have been forged with the United States. How much longer will it continue to abide provocations in Xinjiang and other Chinese interests from Central Asia, to Pakistan, to Africa? It would be extremely unprofitable right now for China to haul the United States before the UN Security Council or to take military actions in retaliation for this low-intensity war that has been waged upon them. But that will not always be true. When the American house of cards finishes collapsing all bets will be off.
Our new administration in Washington has been empowered with as mandate for change, yet the only change that they have opted for is to accelerate the plans for world conquest in Central Asia. The only real impediment to that plan is the American people. Will the people continue to tolerate Obama’s impersonation of Bush and allow this obscene escalation of the neocon wars?
The ruling class fears an aware, vigilant majority. They know the people’s power and they tremble before it. It is only the people themselves, the "sheeple," who fail to realize the awesome powers delegated into our hands. It upsets the self-appointed whenever anyone begins to regain any measure of that control back, depriving the secret rulers of their illegitimate power to dictate the terms of our lives. The worst thing of all for them would be if all people everywhere were suddenly allowed to start thinking for themselves, with everyone making their own decisions.
The human race finds itself in an extremely unusual dilemma; if the best-laid plans of mankind’s finest minds succeed, then humanity may cease to exist. If the plan that has been crafted by the finest minds, financed by the world’s greatest "benefactors" and supported by nearly every government on the face of the planet, succeeds, then "humankind" may cease to exist, to be replaced by a new master-race parasitic species and its new sub-human host species (the living remainder of the "useless eaters").
A great moment of crisis has been manufactured for us. The decisions that have been made have maneuvered us into a kill box, so that the harvesting of the "useless eaters" may begin.
If mankind as a whole cannot embrace a new benevolent identity and move forward together, then, thanks to our enslavement to technological advancements, our old malevolent identities are positioned to destroy all life on this planet. A decision to change must be made on a societal level. The world cannot change, humanity cannot evolve to the next level, until someone leads the way. The self-appointed leadership of the "free world" has to either lead the way or get out of the path of others who understand the path to mankind’s salvation.
The way of force must be replaced by the path of cooperation. This is not a direction that is presently coming from the United States; it is entirely an Asian phenomenon. The Western Darwinian world of domination by the strongest has brought us to the point of economic collapse and unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe. The rulers of this old order have one solution to all problems—more force, the closed fist. There is a better way.
Wherever the models of supply and governance are breaking-down, force is the immediate solution, the only solution offered. If all the people cannot be fed, then obviously (only to inhuman thinkers) there must be too many people, therefore, we must thin-out the herd of "useless eaters" (non-productive members of society). Simply helping the people in need would not be "profitable." The United States, as the leader of the developing world, must have more energy and other strategic resources available to it than the rest of the world, therefore, we are justified in moving those resources out of the Middle East and Central Asia into our hands, whatever is required to do so (taking by force).
Likewise, in domestic policies such as health care and education reform, it is "wasteful" of limited resources to supply high-dollar medical treatments to those patients whose health will never improve, or expensive educations to students who are less than "exceptional." The way of force embraces such cost-cutting ideas, depicting them as moral choices, since limited funds are not "wasted" on life-supporting treatments for the terminally ill, or on educational opportunities for mediocre students ( those should be wasted the ignorant cousins of the elite).
This is the thinking of the old order that has put us in our current dilemma. The "selfish man" having his way when he really shouldn’t, has created a real threat to all mankind. The selfish must give way to the needs of the entire community.
A new generation of selfless leaders is arising to meet the challenge posed by the dying order. Where "selfish man" cannot conceive of anything but a profit-based international order, "new man" cannot accept thinking that does not contain a human element, a compassionate direction. The old malevolent thinking is violence based, whereas new man cannot conceive of killing his fellow man. Selfless leaders of the humanity movement have great difficulty in understanding the thinking of the heartless corporate extortionists. There is a basic disconnect between the thinking of the old man and the "new man" who is rising-up amongst them. This gives the new man the advantage, if he can only take advantage of it.
This brings the situation down to where we witness a rising minority of "new men" facing-off against a persevering minority of the super-wealthy, who are perhaps even more dedicated to preserving their old selfish order of mankind, whatever the potential costs. The leadership of the rising humanitarian order is trying every reasonable means at its disposal to overturn the old order, while the leadership of the house of profit is using every means in its limitless bag of tricks to destroy the threat.
Through economic and military coercion the United States has persuaded the world into allowing it almost free rein in shaping international institutions and the ideas that are acceptable to world opinion. We have created an illusory image of ourselves which hides American war crimes and crimes against humanity behind a hypocritical mask of humanitarianism and "foreign aid."
Membership in America’s club requires a sell-out of their countrymen from the leaders of the nations that are seeking our "aid packages" or entrance into our economic system. The sell-out is to embrace our manufactured image, blinding themselves to the reality that our leaders create. The real image of America, one of double-dealings and secret wars, is hidden from the world by common consent. The pay-off for these leaders is the personal fortunes that each of them has acquired and gained notoriety for in their home countries.
By letting Americans determine which words and opinions are "politically correct" in acceptable discussion in the media, crimes are hidden and false realities become the foundation of public debate. In this way, internal debate bends to accommodate the false American reality. This American power to simultaneously bully and seduce their way in the world, extending into the basic rights of the Nations involved, has allowed our inept leaders to force upon the world the situation we face today. Further bullying and super-scheming by Obama and Brzezinski will not achieve American objectives of total power. Another way must be found.
It is only a matter of time before America is taken out of the world’s way. It is inevitable that the world will embrace the way of international cooperation, over the American way of secret and open conquests. The only alternative to a world centered on meeting its own needs is the present course we are trapped on, one wherein the victor claims all the spoils of war. That world cannot be attained within our technological environment (do the math). Nature will continue, either with us, or in spite of us.
The world needs a life-changing moment, one that will force all thinking humans to make life-changing decisions, so that we can all emerge from it as a different people, new men and women.
Everything is now black and white, not black or white as it should be. The way forward is for each of us to begin to see both sides, or all sides, of contentious issues. Life has conditioned us to divide everything new into categories, based on determinants of fear, greed, or other motivators. We have to understand that these are the motivators of children, or animals, not adult human beings. There are so many simple solutions to be found by those without blinders, with two eyes to see.
The world will solve its problems and go on, as long as we don’t prevent that from happening. The question of whether we will continue to seek to force the world to accept American domination, or if we will learn to play well with others, will determine whether or not we are accepted into the new order that is now emerging in Asia and beyond.
The energy supplies and other natural resources that are being fought over will be moved to markets, no matter what. Fighting to claim them, or to keep others from obtaining them, is a backwards policy, meant to enrich the few at the sake of the many. All of this will change.
Whether or not this Nation will be part of the new world alliance is a question that each of us must answer. Will we passively allow the United States to perish from the face of the earth or develop into the full-blown pariah nation that have been becoming, that we will deserve for impeding the advancement of the human race, or will we stop the madness and deception by altering our leaders’ commitment to their present path? Or, will we interfere with their petty plans?
Barack Obama has a very clear choice to make, whether he is going to be remembered as humanity’s emancipator from war or as history’s last tyrant? Obama has to decide what means more to him, pursuing a path that will engender hope in the entire human race, or pursuing his own ambition. Will he take a stand for freedom and human decency by ending all of our wars right now with the stroke of a pen, or will he continue to drag us down the path of total war in Central Asia, the path that we were bound to by the former tyrants, Bush and Cheney?
- peterchamberlin@naharnet.com
Credit:http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m57143&hd=&size=1&l=e
IDA NEWS

Victory For Tina, Jewel, And Maybe Queenie?
Breaking News! USDA Undersecretary Ann Wright's office has confirmed that Tina and Jewel were confiscated Thursday August 20! Stay tuned for more information!
For two years, IDA and our members have been working tirelessly on behalf of three elephants - Jewel, Tina, and Queenie - suffering in a travelling circus. IDA members have written tens of thousands of letters and e-mails to their Representatives, Senators, and the USDA.
You've made thousands of phone calls. We've held demos across the nation, wherever these poor creatures have been forced to perform their demeaning, unnatural stunts. And, with the assistance of caring people, we have documented their deteriorating condition as they traveled from city to city in the hands of their incompetent and abusive handler.
It appears our efforts have paid off. Victory seems to be very close. Click here to read more!
The New York Times reports that Exxon Mobil Corp. pleaded guilty in federal court last week to killing at least 85 protected birds, including hawks and owls, in five states. The birds died from exposure to natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities at Exxon Mobil drilling and production facilities in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Read the full New York Times story here..
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), with decades of experience defending and supporting activists, has just published "Operation Backfire: a Survival Guide for Environmental and Animal Rights Activists." The NLG is giving the guide away free at http://ida.convio.net/site/R?i=LgCgk3hn4-kt9LQ0zR4iwQ...
It's a pocket-sized booklet that features a "know-your-rights" section with advice for handling various legal issues that activists often encounter, especially those involving Constitutional rights. The NLG also set up a "Green Scare Hotline" at 888-NLG-ECOL (888-654-3265) for more assistance.
The Pryor Mountain wild horses in Montana are the descendents of the horses brought to the Americas with the Spanish Conquistadors in 1500. One horse in particular, Cloud, pictured here, and his family are perhaps the most famous wild horses in the world - having been the subject of fascinating documentaries and books. But their fame is not going to protect the herd from a drastic government round up planned to begin September 1. Read more and send an e-mail to government officials.
Got a tabling event or demo coming up? IDA will be happy to send you as many copies as you need (within reason!) of our latest Guardians Magazine..
E-mail Jessica or call (415) 448-0048 x215.
This and other cool vegan buttons only $1. Click here to see more!
In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa.
In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.
In Defense of Animals3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031http://us.mc1100.mail..yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=idainfo@idausa.org
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Meat of the Problem Is Meat
By Ezra Klein
The Washington Post, July 29, 2009
Straight to the Source
[Editor's Note: The OCA believes in eating organic, grass-fed, humanely raised meat if you feel that you can't live without meat in your diet. But we also applaud vegetarians and vegans, as well as those who are helping to reduce their carbon and ecological footprints by cutting back on meat consumption. This article might oversimplify the issues a bit in respect to these options, but the OCA commends the Washington Post for covering the relationship between climate change and industrial agriculture so well.]
The debate over climate change has reached a rarefied level of policy abstraction in recent months. Carbon tax or cap-and-trade? Upstream or downstream? Should we auction permits? Head-scratching is, at this point, permitted. But at base, these policies aim to do a simple thing, in a simple way: persuade us to undertake fewer activities that are bad for the atmosphere by making those activities more expensive. Driving an SUV would become pricier. So would heating a giant house with coal and buying electricity from an inefficient power plant. But there's one activity that's not on the list and should be: eating a hamburger.
If it's any consolation, I didn't like writing that sentence any more than you liked reading it. But the evidence is strong. It's not simply that meat is a contributor to global warming; it's that it is a huge contributor. Larger, by a significant margin, than the global transportation sector.
According to a 2006 United Nations report, livestock accounts for 18 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Some of meat's contribution to climate change is intuitive. It's more energy efficient to grow grain and feed it to people than it is to grow grain and turn it into feed that we give to calves until they become adults that we then slaughter to feed to people. Some of the contribution is gross. "Manure lagoons," for instance, is the oddly evocative name for the acres of animal excrement that sit in the sun steaming nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. And some of it would make Bart Simpson chuckle. Cow gas -- interestingly, it's mainly burps, not farts -- is a real player.
But the result isn't funny at all: Two researchers at the University of Chicago estimated that switching to a vegan diet would have a bigger impact than trading in your gas guzzler for a Prius (PDF). A study out of Carnegie Mellon University found that the average American would do less for the planet by switching to a totally local diet than by going vegetarian one day a week. That prompted Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to recommend that people give up meat one day a week to take pressure off the atmosphere. The response was quick and vicious. "How convenient for him," was the inexplicable reply from a columnist at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "He's a vegetarian."
The visceral reaction against anyone questioning our God-given right to bathe in bacon has been enough to scare many in the environmental movement away from this issue. The National Resources Defense Council has a long page of suggestions for how you, too, can "fight global warming." As you'd expect, "Drive Less" is in bold letters. There's also an endorsement for "high-mileage cars such as hybrids and plug-in hybrids." They advise that you weatherize your home, upgrade to more efficient appliances and even buy carbon offsets. The word "meat" is nowhere to be found.
That's not an oversight. Telling people to give up burgers doesn't poll well. Ben Adler, an urban policy writer, explored that in a December 2008 article for the American Prospect. He called environmental groups and asked them for their policy on meat consumption. "The Sierra Club isn't opposed to eating meat," was the clipped reply from a Sierra Club spokesman. "So that's sort of the long and short of it." And without pressure to address the costs of meat, politicians predictably are whiffing on the issue. The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, for instance, does nothing to address the emissions from livestock.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Australia Plans Airstrikes to Kill 650K Camels in Outback

Written by Derek Markham
Published on August 12th, 20091 CommentPosted in Nature & Conservation
Australia’s wild camel population is out of control. An estimated 1 million roam the outback, destroying fragile ecosystems, fouling water holes, and causing a threat to endangered wildlife.
They are Australia’s largest invasive species, and the government is spending $19 million AUD to deal with the excess population of desert dwellers. The country’s solution? Slaughter them from helicopters and serve them up as camel burgers, camel pies, camel sausages, camel steaks, and camel mince.
First brought to Australia by explorers in the 1840s from India and the Middle East, the feral camels are now capable of doubling their population every nine years. The one million camels cause intense competition with livestock for forage, and have been known to wreak havoc on water pipes and bathrooms in their search for water.
Environmentalists generally agree with the culling of the animals to help preserve native species, and point out that lean camel meat is healthier than beef or lamb and a good source of low cholesterol protein. However, animal rights groups say that birth control for the animals would be more humane than wholesale slaughter.
Those opposing the plan claim that with the camel population due to double in a decade, the culling would not be effective.
“What happens in 15 years when the numbers come back again? Do we waste another £9.5m.” - Paddy McHugh, camel catcher and exporter
News of the culling brought some namecalling from the press, with Erin Burnett, an anchor on CNBC, calling Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd “a serial killer”.
“He has launched air strikes - air strikes - against camels in the outback.” - Burnett
Burnett later said the comment was a joke, and invited Rudd to be a guest on her show.
Image: wollombi at Flickr under CC License
Monday, August 10, 2009
Tell Greenpeace: Consuming Toilet Paper Made from Canada's Ancient Boreal Forests Must End

Greenpeace Canada claims Canadian boreal forest victory while falsely stating clearfelling old forests for paper products is "sustainable" when FSC certified. These photogenic poseurs fail to grasp the ecological necessity of ending consumption of all products made from old forest destruction, and generally reducing consumption of all paper products. Nothing to change as old boreal forests and toxic plantation monocrops will continue to be clearcut to wipe bottoms. Please demand that Greenpeace repudiate the agreement with Kimberly-Clark and not enter into any further negotiations that greenwashes old forest logging. Let Greenpeace know global ecological sustainability -- including climate, water and biodiversity -- depends upon protecting primary forests and restoring others to old growth status.
MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://forests.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=gp_ancient_forests
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Call for International Action for the ELEPHANTS of INDIA -
2nd August 2009
Whilst in Kerala in December, I learned of threats to the future of the world's largest remaining population of wild Asian Elephants who inhabit the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.
I believe that at least some of these threats can be stopped through an international email campaign
Please check out our 4-minute video about the issue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSCebiOCs9A and learn more at
http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/e/appeal.htm
Take action at
http://www.forests.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=india_elephants where, with just a few clicks of the mouse, you can send emails to dozens of decision makers in India who hold the future of these magnificent creatures in their hands
If you are on Facebook, please join the Facebook cause "Long Live the Elephants" ( http://www.causes.com/elephants ) and ask your Facebook friends to also join this cause,
for the Earth
John Seed
- for the Earth - John Seed
Rainforest Information Centre
Box 368 Lismore
NSW 2480
AUSTRALIA
61 2 66897519
johnseed1@ozemail.com.au
http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Urge Secretary of State Clinton to Reject Deadly Tar Sands Oil Pipelines
Hillary's Choice: Urge Secretary of State Clinton to Reject Deadly Tar Sands Oil Pipelines
By Ecological Internet's Climate Ark Climate Change Portal
http://www.climateark.org/
July 29, 2009
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=canada_tar_sands
Alberta Canada's tar sands development is the most ecologically destructive project in the world; destroying vast natural water rich boreal ecosystems, perpetuating global addiction to fossil fuels, and ensuring abrupt climate change. Tar sands and their pipelines must be stopped using all means necessary. Please start by protesting for disapproval of massive pipelines which will facilitate continued fossil fuel dependency,
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=canada_tar_sands
DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.climateark.org/blog/2009/07/alert-hillarys-choice-urge-sec.asp
---
Human Pollution Causes Cancer in Wildlife

Cancer in wildlife caused by human pollution is on the rise, according ot Newsweek. Our impact on the environment is leading to health problems in wild animals, especially considering much of our trash contains carcinogens. A report titled “Wildlife Cancer: a Conservation Perspective” published in Nature Reviews Cancer found “mounting evidence of human’s contribution to carcinogenesis in wild-animal populations across the globe, thanks to man-made toxins dumped into wildlife’s natural habitats.”
» See also: Do Hot Dogs Cause Cancer? Jersey Residents Demand Warning Labels
Last year, it was discovered that Tasmanian devils may become extinct in 20 years due to an infectious cancer called devil facial tumor disease, but many other species are also experiencing increased rates of cancer. For example, 17 percent of San Francisco’s famous sea lions die from renal failure or paralysis caused by genital carcinoma. A majority of these sea lions’ bodies contained high concentrations of PCBs and DDT. The report’s lead author Denise McAloose warns:
I am concerned that we as humans continue to impact the environment quite significantly,. As the human population continues to grow and utilize resources and damage the environment, I do believe that we will continue to see the emergence of disease, including cancer in wildlife.
If pollutants are causing cancer in wildlife, imagine what it is doing to the human population as well.


