Dead Zones Plaguing the Oceans

In 1976, they caused a half-billion-dollar loss for fisheries in New York and New Jersey. Each year, they kill 83 tons of fish and other ocean life in Cheseapeake Bay. Over 400 of them have been identified around the globe. They are caused by fertilizer runoff and the burning of fossil fuels. They are known as "dead zones" -- and they are spreading.





GET INFORMED

• Read "Oceanic Dead Zones Continue to Spread" (Scientific American, August 15, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign an NRDC petition supporting a new ocean protection bill
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy ingridz, Creative Commons

Getting Close to the Elephants of Samburu

Writer David Quammen and photographer Michael Nichols joined famed biologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton on a trip to Samburu-Laikipia, an 11,000 square-mile ecosystem in a remote part of northern Kenya to visit a family of elephants for a National Geographic story. What they found was not only a home where Loxodonta Africana can thrive, but -- with a growing Kenyan population that inevitably leads to more shootings and more tramplings -- also a place with growing risks for elephants and humans alike.

One of the world's most pre-eminent elephant experts, Douglas-Hamilton has studied these majestic animals for 40 years. "If you had asked me, when I was ten years old, what I wanted to do," he says, "I'd have said: I want to have an airplane; I want to fly around Africa and save the animals."

GET INFORMED

• Read Quammen's National Geographic story, "The Samburu Elephants: An African Love Story," and see Nichols' photographs of the elephants eating, sleeping and playing (National Geographic, September 2008)
  
• Read about Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Wikipedia)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Give up your ivory through the International Fund for Animal Welfare amnesty program (UK only)
• Adopt an elephant from the World Wildlife Fund for $25
• Sign a petition urging eBay to ban all ivory sales on its site
• Join AWF's Elephant Conservation Research Project

RELATED POSTS

• Elephant Extinction Possible by 2020 (August 3, 2008)
• Future Uncertain for Thailand's Elephants (July 31, 2008)
• Listening to the Secret Lives of Elephants (July 5, 2008)
  
• South Africa to Start Elephant Culling (May 5, 2008)
• African Conservation Gets $10 Million Gift (May 1, 2008)
  

photo Michael Nichols, National Geographic

Wind Energy Not So Great for Bats

For Anne Youngman, an officer of the Bat Conservation Trust in London, one of the main topics of conversation at the 11th European Bat Research Symposium which begins next week in Transylvania will be about the declining populations of bats in Scotland. Bad weather, food scarcity and habitat loss due to human development have threatened their survival. But there is an emergent -- and more unlikely -- threat that Youngman expects will be a hot topic this year: the wind farms in Portugal.

She says, "One of the concerns is that the blades turn so fast the bats can't detect them and another is a change in pressure which it is believed to damage the bats internally." The turbines in Scotland are less of a problem for bats, most likely because they are built in open fields where bats do not tend to fly.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Dark times overshadow bat events" (BBC News, August 14, 2008)
  
• Read "Sound Barrier: A new device may aid bats by scaring them away from wind farms" (Plenty, August 6, 2007)
• Visit the Bat Conservation Trust
• Watch a video of Dharma Webber, Director of Indigo Wings - Californai Native Bat Conservancy, talk about bats

GET INVOLVED

• Help these injured, rescued and orphaned bats
  
• Build a bat house to help stem bat habitat loss
• Find out how to make your palm trees help bats in need

photo courtesy woowoowoo, Creative Commons

A Six-Step Plan to Save the Oceans from An Extinction Crisis

Create marine reserves. Enforce fishing laws. Develop aquaculture. Eliminate fertilizer use subsidies. Reduce the use of fossil fuel. Start local conservation. If these six steps are taken, argues Jeremy Jackson, senior scientist emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, we may be able to avert an extinction crisis in the world's oceans. In a talk last year at Middlebury College, "The State of the Ocean," Jackson said, "Our amnesia about what is natural is the greatest threat to the environment."

He predicts that overfishing will lead to an edible species loss which will cause not only an extinction of other species up and down the food chain, but also the growth of toxic algae, disease outbreaks and increased coastal "dead zones." In an essay entitled "Ecological Extinction and Evolution in the Brave New Ocean," Jackson writes, "Some may say that it is irresponsible to make such predictions pending further detailed study to be sure of every point. However, we will never be certain about every detail, and it would be irresponsible to remain silent in the face of what we already know."

GET INFORMED

• Read "A recipe for saving the world's oceans from an extinction crisis" (EurekAlert/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, August 13, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration to stop biodiversity loss by 2010
• Download the Environmental Defense Fund's "Pocket Eco-Friendly Fish Selector" to make choices that help prevent overfishing
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy Micah A. Ponce, Creative Commons

UK Scientists Call for End of Animal-Pain Tests

In a new report published by the journal Neuroimage, a group of British scientists has concluded that using animals for pain research has limited value and alternative technologies should be developed. While the use of both conscious and anesthesized animals in lab tests for chronic pain treatments is common, the authors argue that animals cannot provide an accurate guide to the human pain process. The emergence of modern brain imaging and the use of human cells and tissues may help to change the current methods of testing to find treatments for such chronic ailments as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia.

"Animal models don't represent human patients sufficiently well," said Qasim Aziz, a professor from the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and one of the authors of the report. "I would like to see far greater uptake of...other human-relevant approaches to pain research."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Call to end animal pain-research" (BBC News, August 14, 2008)
• Visit StopAnimalTests.com
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a P.A.W.S. Club petition against animal testing

photo courtesy Samuel Judge, Creative Commons

Amazon Threatened By Oil and Gas Exploration

The world's most biodiverse and intact rainforest sits in the western Amazon, covering an area that includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. But according to a new three-year study by Duke University and the non-profit organizations Save America's Forests and Land Is Life, this pristine area -- known as the "lungs of the Earth" -- is now threatened by oil and gas exploration projects.

Co-author Dr. Stuart Pimm of Duke University said, "Filling up with a tank of gas could soon have devastating consequences to rainforests, their peoples and their species." The ressearchers contend that the single greatest threat from energy development in the region is the creation of new roads, which endanger the region's plants, animals and humans through colonization, deforestation, overhunting and illegal logging.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Oil and gas projects in western Amazon threaten biodiversity and indigenous peoples" (EurakAlert/Public Library of Science, August 12, 2008)
• Read "Happy Markets, Happy Forests" (13.7 Billion Years, April 27, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Donate to Rainforest Action Network
• Take these seven steps to help save the Amazon rainforest
  

photo courtesy 10b travelling, Creative Commons

Alaska's Wolf Control Program Under Fire

In March, a federal judge upheld Alaska's practice of shooting wolves from planes and helicopters as part of their wolf control program, but banned it in four areas covering about 15,000 square miles, in a case brought by four conservation groups -- Friends of Animals, Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Sierra Club. Alaska's Department of Fish and Game estimates there are between 7,700 and 11,200 wolves in the state, and believes they are preying too heavily on the moose and caribou needed by subsistence hunters. The conservation groups claim that the science used by the state's wildlife managers is not sufficient to justify the killing of almost 800 wolves in the last five years.

According to the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, 28 wolves were killed near their dens so far this summer, including 14 wolf pups illegally killed by Alaskan state officials. On August 26, Alaskans will have a chance to weigh in on the debate at the polls with a ballot initiative.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Alaska Judge Upholds Aerial Wolf Killing But Limits Extent" (Environmental News Service, March 18, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a Defenders of Wildlife petition urging Alaska governor Sarah Palin to end aerial wolf hunting

photo courtesy Susan Renee, Creative Commons

Slowing Human Population Growth May Stop Species Extinction

Human activity is responsible for the extinction of thousands of species, and we are in the midst of the sixth great species extinction in the Earth's 4-billion-year history, with at least 2,000 amphibians and 91 percent of certain species currently in danger. Additionally, almost 50 percent of all forests and temperate grasslands are gone. According to Stanford University scientists Paul Ehrlich and Robert Pringle, the way to stop this from happening is to reduce the growth of the human population and to change human behavior, from eating beef to driving cars. One species that is thriving is the human race, with a surging population currently at 6.7 billion.

Ehrlich and Pringle suggest that educating women about birth control is an important first step in slowing population growth. They write, "Education and employment -- for women especially -- along with access to contraception and safe abortions are the most important components." Regarding population, Ehrlich says, "The most basic response is...starting a decline. Second is doing something about consumption. If you don't do anything about those, then you are in trouble in all the others: more people...more greenhouse gases...more rapid climate change."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Population Bomb Author's Fix For Next Extinction: Educate Women" (Scientific American, August 12, 2008)
• Read the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Conservation International petition to combat species extinction, urging government leaders to incorporate forest protection into their national policies on climate change
• Sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration to stop biodiversity loss by 2010

photo courtesy ucumari, Creative Commons

North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years

Last summer, global warming caused over one million kilometers of Arctic ice melt, and this year's loss could be worse. Several days ago, storms over Alaska's Beaufort Sea drew warm air into the Arctic Circle, causing a rapid disintegration of the ice cap. In light of this startling development, scientists now fear that North Pole sea ice may disappear completely by 2013 -- not in 60 years as previously believed.

This massive loss of sea ice will have dramatic effects on ecosystems, weather patterns and the environment in general. Major storms will be set to cover the northern hemisphere, while polar bears, seals and other animals that depend on the ice will be put to a grim test of survival. Without the anchoring sea ice, glaciers may fall, raising sea levels and submerging low-lying coastal regions such as Bangladesh and many Pacific islands. Also, without the ice's ability to deflect the sun's rays, global temperatures will rise significantly.

"We always knew it would be the first region on Earth to feel the impact of climate change, but not at anything like this speed," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. "What is happening now indicates that global warming is occurring far earlier than any of us expected."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up" (Guardian, August 10, 2008)
• Read "Sudden ice loss in Arctic could make '08 worst ever" (Vancouver Sun, August 11, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the "We Can Solve It" petition for a global treaty on climate change
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy 9.81 meters per second squared, Creative Commons

Studying How Whales React to Sonar

A pioneering study by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Navy and leading international scientists has shed new light on the behavior of some of the most mysterious whales, such as deep-diving beaked, pilot, false killer and melon-headed whales, in an attempt to understand how they react to sonar by attaching sensors to the animals while they swim near realistic military operations around Hawaii.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) claims the Navy's use of sonar off the southern California coast is harmful to marine life. Scientists widely agree that sonar interrupts the normal behavior of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals who use sound to communicate, navigate, locate food, find mates and avoid predators.

GET INFORMED

• Read "How Whales and Other Marine Mammals React to Sonar" (Science Daily, August 9, 2008)
• Read "Of Whales and National Security" (New York Times, July 2, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the NRDC petition urging Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter to adopt measures to keep marine life safe

photo courtesy air freelancer, Creative Commons