Sea Shepherd Conservation Society UN reports that 22,000 elephants were poached last year in Africa Elephants are one of Africa’s critical “keystone” species, and estimates place the total population of elephants around 450,000. The loss of 22,000 mostly adult elephants, or roughly 5%, is critical as elephant young require the care of the parent. The demand for ivory that fuels the poaching conducted on the continent comes primarily from Asia, and more specifically from wealthy Chinese who pay over $1000 per pound for what is seen as a status symbol. The poaching trade has advanced beyond automatic weapons and chainsaws in its process to harvest the animals' tusks. In September of this year, cyanide was used to poison the water supply of an area, killing 109 elephants. Read more... Orphaned elephants don’t typically survive long after the loss of the parent.
Is Asian Pollution Intensifying Pacific Storms? Separating the Hype from Reality. The media over the past week have given a lot of play to a paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that claims that Asian pollution is enhancing storms over the Pacific Ocean, with effects extending globally. We are talking headlines in hundreds of major media sources around the world. As illustrated below, the headlines have been pretty scary. But as I will show below, the PNAS paper really proves no such thing and this situation is another example of unhealthy and counterproductive hype and exaggeration in the media. The paper, Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Pacific Storm Track Using a Multitscale Global Climate Model (found here) is by Yuan Wang of Texas A&M and collaborators, with the last author being Mario Molina, a member of the National Academy of Sciences (keep this in mind, it will be important later). “The climate model is quite clear on this point. Let me begin by noting that the Wang et al. study is limited to modeling.
Navdanya How Fat Might Be the Key to Improving People's Lives Sometimes the most amazing scientific discoveries happen by accident; a loaf of moldy bread or a game of connect the dots with a public water pump becomes a clue to a breakthrough. Researchers at UCLA announced a similar happy accident this week: the discovery of human stem cells in adipose tissue, aka fat, taken from liposuction procedures. This is actually nothing new; researchers have noted the presence of adipose stem cells since 2001, and they’ve been used in a variety of procedures in both human and veterinary research. These cells, though, are particularly special. Why? As with all exciting scientific discoveries, there’s a lot more work to do before we leap to any conclusions about the significance of the findings and what they mean for the biomedical sciences, but they’re a step in a potentially very promising direction. All because a machine failed in the lab one night and a researcher’s cells were left stranded without oxygen and nutrients!
Light pollution could be contributing to cancer, depression, and obesity Air and water pollution are pretty understandable health risks. But light pollution? It sounds a little hokey at first. Tons of streetlights and lit-up office buildings make Earth look freakishly nocturnal from space, sure, but could they actually make us sick? Rebecca Boyle says yes. That’s because our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, and melatonin protects our DNA, ultimately preventing cancer. Shift workers, who rise with the night and work awash in blue light, experience not only disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep deprivation, but an increased risk of breast and prostate cancer. Thankfully, it’s not too hard to fix: When we, in the industrialized world, do manage to turn off the lights, there are measurable, beneficial effects on our circadian rhythms.
350.org Australia Save the Last 20,000 Polar Bears | COMPASSION AND EMPATHY FOR ANIMALS | causes.com WARNING: Video contains graphic footage The Polar Bears ,their Habitat shrinks by Global Warming. By the additional Hunting for their Pelts they are in Danger of Extinction. There are only 20,000 left! The argument with the Inuit is just a bullshit pretext. Now in the Arctic Circle, hundreds and thousands of hunters come to hunt for polar bears for $35,000 a head, and they come from all over the world- Mexico, Europe, the U.S, and even Canada's "Inuit" communities, many of whom hunt their quotas and legally sell them onto outsiders wiling to part with cash. Hunter Photo: HSUS- American trophy hunters are gunning for Canada's shrinking polar bear population President Obama has proposed,with Russian Support, a Ban on the Trade in Polar Bears, but another Polar Bear Range State, Canada, is adamantly opposed to it 新しいFB-グループで共有し、緊急時における動物のために他の請願に署名 새로운 FB-그룹에 공유하고 비상의 동물에 대한 다른 탄원서에 서명
Idaho officials scrap plan to poison ravens TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A plan by state wildlife biologists to kill 4,000 ravens in three Idaho areas by feeding them poisoned chicken eggs was postponed due to federal environmental permitting delays. Idaho Fish and Game officials won't start the two-year program aimed at boosting sage grouse numbers, the Times-News reported ( Tuesday. State officials said the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its Wildlife Services is the only entity in the state with permission to administer the poison that experts say kills only birds in the corvid family, which includes crows, ravens and magpies. The federal agency didn't get a supplemental environmental assessment completed on time to put out the poison, called DRC-1339, this spring, said Jeff Gould of Fish and Game. He said putting out poison during the summer isn't as effective because ravens aren't gathered in large numbers. Idaho lawmakers approved spending $100,000 on the project.
ANTaR Wildfire sparked by target shooters results in Utah evacuations Thousands of families in Utah have been evacuated from their homes as winds continue to fuel a wildfire believe to have been sparked by target shooters. Residents of at least 2,300 properties in the northern part of the the state sought refuge Friday, as flames scorched a growing area around 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. High winds that have helped fan the blaze onto tinder-dry grasslands are expected to last throughout the weekend, prompting fears of further upheaval for some people in areas of risk. The fire began to take hold on Thursday. Authorities were initially worried as flames moved toward property owned by an explosives company, but the focus turned yesterday to saving homes as winds kicked up and the fire moved toward Saratoga Springs. On Friday, fire officials were calling in additional aircraft and extra ground crews. Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said he feared the fire could take down the area's power grid, shutting off electricity to up to 7,000 homes.