Future Uncertain for Thailand's Elephants

Researchers from the University of Manchester's School of Social Sciences see a cloudy future for Thailand's domesticated elephants, most of whom -- along with their mahouts (elephant drivers) -- lost their jobs when the country banned logging in 1989. Many of the 2,000 elephants went into the the tourism trade and found better lives there, but some are walking the streets to beg alongside their owners or standing outside restaurants all night long trying to lure in diners.

Overall, the team, led by Professor Rosaleen Duffy and Dr. Lorraine Moore, found that the elephants are better off in the tourism trade than in logging. But they could be used in other ways, such as helping to grow the declining population of about 1,000 wild elephants. The Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) rehabilitates captive elephants, helping them to survive in the wild.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Uncertain future for elephants of Thailand" (University of Manchester/EurekAlert, July 25, 2008)
• Visit the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre Web site

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition opposing the use of elephants in street-begging in Thailand
  
• Adopt an elephant from the World Wildlife Fund for $25
• Sign a petition urging eBay to ban all ivory sales on its site

photo courtesy 9.81 meters per second squared, Creative Commons

Dolphins Get Much Needed Help

After years of campaigning, the World Wildlife Fund has succeeded in its efforts to have the New Zealand government increase the protection of the Earth's rarest marine dolphin from deadly fishing nets, which have contributed greatly to the animal's decline and approach to extinction. The critically endangered Maui's dolphin is down to 111 individuals in the wild. On October 1, a larger area of water will be off-limits for set net and trawl fishing, a move helping not only the Maui's dolphins, but also its South Island cousin, the Hector's dolphins, which are down to 7,270 individuals from a high of around 26,000 three decades ago.

“The new measures mean fewer dolphins will die," said Rebecca Bird, Marine Programme Manager at WWF New Zealand. “After years of government delays and more dolphin deaths, we are now seeing real action to improve their chances of survival.”

GET INFORMED

• Read "Net Gain For Endangered Dolphins" (ScienceDaily, July 16, 2008)
• Read "Deep thinkers: The more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be" (Guardian, July 3, 2003)

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt a dolphin from the World Wildlife Fund
  
• Sign an Ocean Project petition to end Japan's dolphin slaughter

photo courtesy nittynorns, Creative Commons

Democrats Demand Release of EPA Climate Change Documents

Former US Environmental Protection Agency deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett announced that Vice President Dick Cheney's office censored six pages of congressional testimony to cover up global warming-related threats to public health. In a letter to Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Burnett explained how the Council of Environment Quality and the Office of the Vice President sought to delete the parts of the testimony of Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who had planned to say that the CDC considered global warming a public health threat.

Boxer said that the administration feared that Gerberding's testimony would lead to Clean Air Act regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. President Bush has consistently opposed the setting of mandatory emission limits. EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson has refused to explain his agency's decision not to regulate greenhouse gases based on the CDC's findings.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Cheney's Staff Cut Testimony On Warming" (Washington Post, July 9, 2008)
• Read "EPA chief won't explain climate choices" (Associated Press, July 24, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign Senator Barbara Boxer's Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee petition urging EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson to turn over all communications related to the EPA's findings about global warming's consequences on public health and the environment

photo courtesy Miguel A. Lopes "Migufu", Creative Commons

Experts Say No to Wetland Development

The food and fuel crises have pushed farmers and developers to look for new places to support agriculture and energy, and they are looking at the world's wetlands, which include marshes, bogs, swamps, river deltas, mangroves, tundra, lagoons and river floodplains. But on July 25, the last day of the 8th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference, 700 of the world's leading experts on the subject released the Cuiaba Declaration. Named after the Brazilian city hosting the event, the document urges policymakers to resist the pressure to convert wetlands, which are critical to the well-being of healthy ecosystems, providing carbon storage, biodiversity, water supply and storm-protection.

"If we don't plan and invest properly now, the cost to recreate artificially the services wetlands provide will dwarf the cost of preserving and protecting them in the first place," said conference co-chair Paulo Teixeira, a co-ordinator of the Cuiaba-based Pantanal Regional Environmental Programme. "It is time to recognize the incalculable value of wetlands to all species -- ours included."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Rising demands threaten wetlands" (BBC News, July 25, 2008)
  
• Read "Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops" (United Nations University, July 25, 2008)
• Visit America's Wetland Foundation Web site

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the "We Are Wetlands" petition to save America's wetlands

photo courtesy DennisSylvesterHurd, Creative Commons

US May Allow Loaded Guns in National Parks

The United States Interior Department has proposed repealing a 25-year-old law prohibiting loaded weapons in the country's national parks. Conservationists and animal rights organizations including the Humane Society argue that this will limit the ability of park rangers to identify poachers. Jeff Ruch, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, asked, “Why on earth would we put the security of our national icons and safety of park visitors at the mercy of an NRA-sponsored political mud wrestling match?”

Tens of millions of animals are legally hunted, but rangers estimate that about the same amount are illegally slaughtered. The National Parks Service has extended the deadline for public comments on the issue, which will be decided soon.

GET INFORMED

• Read "What's At Stake: Don't let the NRA open our national parks to poaching" (Humane Society of the United States, June 6, 2008)
  
• Read "Supreme Court Decision Scrambles National Park Firearm Plan" (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, June 30, 2008)
• Read "Environmentalists gird for battle with Bush over rule changes" (USA Today, July 5, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a Humane Society petition urging the US Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Policy and Directives Management to prevent park visitors from carrying loaded weapons

photo courtesy 5 Flip-Flops (Earl), Creative Commons

Use of Lab Animals on the Rise in UK

England, Scotland and Wales used 3.1 million animals in laboratory testing last year, according to the UK's Home Office. This six percent increase from 2007 continues an upward trend driven by the use of rodents for genetic experiments. While dogs, cats, horses and non-human primates -- all protected by the Animals Act of 1986 -- represent only one percent of lab animals, mice and rats make up 80 percent. Birds, reptiles and fish round out most of the remaining animals.

"The government repeatedly state[s] that animals are only used where absolutely necessary," said Barney Reed, a senior scientist at the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals. "Yet with the numbers going up yet again the public will quite rightly question this statement."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Lab animals numbers continue trend" (BBC News, July 21, 2008)
• Read "Top 10 Worst CEOs for Animals in Laboratories" (PETA)
• See which companies test and don't test on animals
• Visit Stop Animal Tests

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition urging IAMS to stop testing on animals

photo courtesy Rick Eh?, Creative Commons

California Moves to Protect Endangered Turtles

Moving to protect endangered sea turtles, the California legislature adopted a resolution opposing federal proposals to allow longline swordfish fishing off the state's coast. Longline fishing involves thousands of hooks on lines that stretch for hundreds of miles. Only about half of each catch results in swordfish: The remaining half is composed of the endangered turtles, and also seals, dolphins, sharks, albatrosses and other animals.

Scientists estimate that the Pacific leatherback and North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles will become extinct within ten to twenty years if existing fishing practices are not changed.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Bay area legislatures pass resolution urging protection of endangered sea turtles" (CBS 5, July 15, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Take the Sea Turtle Restoration Project Seafood Pledge
• Sign a WildAid petition to prevent longline fishing in the Galapagos
  

photo courtesy jinjerjack, Creative Commons

Replanting Mangroves to Save Lives

A new study from the Philippines shows that low-cost, locally-managed replanting of mangroves along the nation's 36,000-kilometer coastline is more effective than big-budget, governmental efforts -- a finding that could be very important in saving lives. Mangroves help protect against typhoons and storms, but coastal development from fisheries, logging, tourism and residential expansion have eroded this valuable, life-saving resource.

Many replanting initiatives have been started, but with varying success. The authors of the report -- J.H. Primavera from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center and J.M.A. Esteban from De La Salle University in Manila -- argue that mangrove survival rates are higher when local communities have a vested interest in the replanting efforts. They have called on the Philippine government to "muster enough political will...for mangrove rehabilitation."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Mangroves Key To Saving Lives" (Science Daily, July 22, 2008)
• Read "The Shrimp Effect: Does Eating Shrimp in Canada Kill People in Myanmar?" (13.7 Billion Years, May 8, 2008)
• Visit the Mangrove Action Project Web site

GET INVOLVED

• Send a free Mangrove Action Project eCard to your friends and family
• Donate to the Mangrove Action Project
  
• Sign a petition to save the mangroves at Bimini

photo courtesy Manogamo, Creative Commons

Ontario Makes Landmark Forest Conservation Pact

Ontario has designated at least half of Canada's Northern Boreal Forest -- some 225,000 square kilometers, or about the size of the United Kingdom -- as a protected area in what is the country's largest-ever forest conservation commitment. Canadian Premier Dalton McGuinty said, "It is, in a word, immense. It's also unique and precious. It's home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world." Additionally, the government will enact legislation that will give aboriginal tribes a piece of the profit if mining exploration is done in the region -- what McGuinty said will be "the right balance between conservation and development."

Several conservation groups have expressed concern about the loss of the boreal's unique bird population in recent years. According to the Canadian conservation campaign Save Our Boreal Birds, "rusty blackbirds have declined by 95 percent, olive-sided flycatchers, boreal chickadees, bay-breasted and Canada warblers, and evening grosbeaks by more than 70 percent, and scaup and scoters by over fifty percent." The region stores almost 100 billion tons of carbon, with an additional 12.5 million tons absorbed every year.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Ontario to protect vast tract" (The Toronto Star, July 15, 2008)
• Visit the Save Our Boreal Birds Web site

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition to protect Canada's boreal birds
• Protect an acre of forest for $15 to combat climate change

photo courtesy Rick Leche, Creative Commons

Dead Baby Penguins Appear on Brazil's Shores

Over 400 dead penguins from Antarctica and Patagonia, most of them babies, have washed ashore on Rio de Janeiro's beaches in the past few months. It is common to find some penguins here, either alive or dead, but rescuers and conservationists are concerned about the increased number this year.

Penguin experts are unsure about the cause. One reason may be commercial overfishing, which forces the birds to travel farther for food, getting swept up in strong ocean currents in the process. Another may be pollution: This year, about 100 penguins -- many of them covered in petroleum -- have been brought to Niteroi, the nation's largest zoo, for treatment. Most of Brazil's oil is provided by the Campos oil field, which lies offshore. Global warming, which creates more cyclones and makes the oceans rougher, could be another reason. The Brazilian government airlifts dozens of penguins back to Antarctica or Patagonia every year.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Hundreds of baby penguins found dead in Brazil" (Yahoo! News, July 20, 2008)
• Visit the International Penguin Conservation Work Group
• Visit the Penguin Geek blog

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt a penguin from Defenders of Wildlife for $20
• Sign the "We Can Solve It" petition for a global treaty on climate change
• Download the Environmental Defense Fund's "Pocket Eco-Friendly Fish Selector" to make choices that help prevent overfishing
  

photo courtesy djbones, Creative Commons

Judge Overturns Bush's Decision to Allow Wolf Killings

A US federal judge last week overturned President Bush's decision to remove the protections that were given to Northern Rocky Mountain wolves through the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit was filed by a dozen conservation groups against the US Fish and Wildlife Service, state governments and livestock and trophy-hunting organizations.

Judge Donald W. Molloy said that the wolf had not yet met the requirements of its federal recovery plan, also noting that Wyoming had not agreed to maintain an appropriate wolf population before it began the killings. Though the decision brings an immediate end to the slaughter of over 100 wolves since Bush lifted the protection in February, it is a temporary injunction before the the final ruling is made later this year.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Another Species in Danger" (New York Times, July 19, 2008)
• Read "Wolf Killings Stopped: Federal Court Temporarily Restores Protection to Wolves in Northern Rocky Mountains" (Center for Biological Diversity, July 18, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a National Resources Defense Council petition expressing opposition to the removal of the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List
  
• Sign a Defenders of Wildlife petition urging the US Fish & Wildlife Service to support science-based wolf management
• Sign a Defenders of Wildlife petition urging Alaska governor Sarah Palin to end aerial wolf hunting

photo courtesy ucumari, Creative Commons

Antarctic Marine Life Crushed By Icebergs

Eighty percent of all Antarctic life lives on the seabed, and it is threatened by an increasingly common visitor: icebergs. Due to the warming climate, the winter sea ice is shrinking more rapidly, releasing huge icebergs from glaciers that pound and scrape the bottom of the ocean, up to 500 meters below the surface. And this means trouble for the Antarctic worms, sea spiders, urchins and other marine creatures that live near the shore.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Fragile Antarctic Marine Life Pounded By Icebergs: Biodiversity Suffering" (Science Daily, July 18, 2008)
• Watch video and see pictures of the recent Wilkins ice shelf collapse

GET INVOLVED

• Find out how you can help keep Antarctica cool
• 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 asbjorn.hansen, Creative Commons

Kenya's Economy Tied to Forest Health

The United Nations Environment Programme said that Kenya is in danger of losing an economic asset worth around $300 million: the Mau Forest. The country's largest forest ecosystem brings in revenue and resources through tea, tourism, agriculture, water and energy, but has been imperiled by deforestation. Prime Minister Raila Odinga said, "The excisions and the widespread encroachments have led to the destruction of nearly a quarter the Mau Complex area over the last 15 years. Such an extensive and on-going destruction of a key natural asset for the country is nothing less than a national emergency."

In addition to establishing a task force to combat the illegal logging and charcoal industries, President Mwai Kibaki has asked the Japanese government -- which is currently funding the area's Sondu Miriu hydro power station -- to consider also financing the Ol-Karia IV Geo thermal project.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Protecting Mau Forest in Kenya's Economic Interest" (Environmental News Network, July 18, 2008)
• Read "Kenya: Government Will Safeguard Mau Forest" (AllAfrica.com, July 18, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Donate to help Mau forest conservation
• Sign the International Friends of Kenya petition to stop Kenya's proposed forest excisions
• Protect an acre of forest for $15 to combat climate change

photo courtesy © Giorgio, Creative Commons

South Korea Pushes to Legalize Dog Meat

South Korea is pushing to list dogs as livestock in an attempt to legalize the practice of eating dog meat. Though current South Korean law prohibits the sale and consumption of dog meat, and the Animal Protection Law -- which went into effect in 1991 -- classifies dogs as domestic pets, there is a bustling underground trade. Some experts estimate that up to 2 million dogs are slaughtered in South Korea every year.

Animal rights group In Defense of Animals (IDA) president Elliot M. Katz said, "It's inconceivable that, as the rest of the world is strengthening animal protection laws, the South Korean government is allowing 'man's best friends' to be boiled alive, beaten, butchered and eaten under its knowing watch." IDA is planning demonstrations today at the South Korean consulates in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Beijing's 112 Olympic-designated restaurants have been asked to take dog meat off their menus during the games. Traditional Chinese medicine considers dog meat healthy and nutritious.

GET INFORMED

• Read "IDA Protests South Korea's Plan to Classify Dogs as Livestock" (In Defense of Animals, July 17, 2008)
• Read "Restaurants told to take dog meat off menus" (China Daily, July 12, 2008)
• Read "Hell on Earth for Dogs in Korea" (In Defense of Animals, August 31, 2007)
• Visit the C.A.R.E. (Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth) "Save Dogs in Korea" campaign Web site
  

GET INVOLVED

• Send an pre-written letter urging South Korean officials to enforce existing laws to protect dogs
• Sign a C.A.R.E. petition urging President Lee Myung-Bak to prevent the legalization of dog meat
  

photo courtesy kilroy238, Creative Commons

Marine Life Bounces Back After Fishing Ban

Five years ago, the waters off the eastern coast of Lundy Island became the United Kingdom's only "no-take" zone, where fishing is completely prohibited. Set up by Natural England and the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee in concert with local fishermen, the ban has allowed the area's marine life to recover from years of overfishing. Lobsters, for example, are now seven times more populous within the protected zone than outside.

Scientists are tagging lobsters within the no-take zone, and asking fishermen to alert them when they catch one to show migration patterns out of the area. Conservationists see a win-win situation for lobsters and fishermen: Having a protected zone where females can reproduce undisturbed will lead to larger lobster catches outside of the zone. The absence of fishing in this area also allows sponges, coral and other marine species to thrive.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Fishing Ban Brings Seas to Life" (Scientific American, July 16, 2008)
• Learn more about overfishing at Overfishing.com
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Pew Environment Group petition urging the US National Marine Fisheries Service to stop overfishing
• Download the Environmental Defense Fund's "Pocket Eco-Friendly Fish Selector"
  

photo courtesy asbjorn.hansen, Creative Commons

Bush Lifts Ban on Offshore Oil Drilling

President George W. Bush has lifted the executive ban on oil drilling on the outer continental shelf in an effort to increase the nation's oil production in the face of soaring gas prices. In ending the ban, which was signed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, Bush has pushed the Democratic-led Congress to lift their own legislative ban.

Opponents of the plan -- many within the Bush administration -- believe that opening up offshore drilling would neither reduce prices at the pump in the short-term, nor provide a long-term energy solution, a viewpoint shared by Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Bush lifts executive ban on offshore drilling" (Associated Press, July 14, 2008)
• Watch the video of Bush's speech (Associated Press, July 14, 2008)
• Read Senator Obama's response to Bush (Time Magazine, July 14, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the National Resources Defense Council's petition urging Congress to oppose the lifting of the legislative ban

photo courtesy JohnMMM, Creative Commons

Global Land Grab May Decimate Forests

A new study has found that the demand for land to grow crops, fuel and wood is on track to exceed supply. Published by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of forest conservation organizations, the report, "Seeing Through the Trees," estimates that the planet -- excluding tropical forests -- has only 200 of the 515 million hectares humans will need by 2030.

Co-author of the report Andy White said, "It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone." Currently one-fifth of carbon emissions is caused by deforestation.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Forests to fall for food and fuel" (BBC News, July 13, 2008)
• Visit the Rights and Resources Initiative Web site

GET INVOLVED

• Eliminate these palm oil products from your life to help stop rainforest deforestation
• Sign the Defenders of Wildlife petition urging U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell to protect roadless areas and old-growth forests in the Tongass National Forest -- and the martens and other forest wildlife that live there
• Protect an acre of forest for $15 to combat climate change

photo courtesy Giampaolo Macorig, Creative Commons

Water Experts Raise Warning Flag

Price increases fueling the global food crisis have been driven by such well-known causes as climate change, biofuel production, population growth and drought, but according to Colin Chartres, the director general of the Sri Lanka-based non-profit research group International Water Management Institute, there is one factor that is paid little attention: the declining supply of water.

In an editorial published by the Science and Development Network, Dr. Chartres sounds the alarm, noting that the current rate of water usage for food production will not sustain the estimated addition of 2.5 billion people to the world's populating by 2030. It takes one liter of water to produce one calorie of food, meaning that an average person on a Western diet requires up to 3,000 liters of water every day, an amount that is currently difficult to attain. In addition to the development of "super-crops," Dr. Chartres recommends investments in water, including the creation of better water storage, reservoirs and irrigation systems.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Invest in water for farming, or the world will go hungry" (Science and Development Network, July 10, 2008)
• Visit the International Water Management Institute Web site
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the petition to adopt Article 31 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will give all people the right to clean and accessible water

photo courtesy Michael Foley Photography, Creative Commons

US Timber Plan Threatens Unique Forest Wildlife

The rare marten caurina is found only on Kuiu and Admiralty Islands in the Tongass National Forest. Located in southeastern Alaska, the Tongass is largest forest in the United States and home to many other animals, including grizzly bears, salmon, bald eagles, Queen Charlotte Goshawks and Alexander Archipelago wolves. Conservationists are concerned about their welfare following the Bush administration's recent plan to allow logging on more than two million acres in the forest.

On Friday, two conservation groups -- Greenpeace and Cascadia Wildlands Project -- filed a suit against the US Forest Service, arguing that the agency has concealed the true environmental impact of old-growth logging in the Tongass. Larry Edwards of Greenpeace said, "The Forest Service has misapplied the science and has stonewalled all challenges." Rodger Schlickeisen, the president of the animal advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife, said that the Tongass "serves as one of the last refuges for wildlife in a warming world, and the administration should not deprive its unique wildlife of this safe harbor."

GET INFORMED

• Read "New Logging Plan Threatens Rare Forest Mammals" (Defenders of Wildlife, July 11, 2008)
• Read "Suit Filed to Stop Timber Sales in Alaska's Tongass" (Alaska Report, July 11, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Defenders of Wildlife petition urging U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell to protect roadless areas and old-growth forests in the Tongass National Forest -- and the martens and other forest wildlife that live there

photo: USFWS

Lawsuit Filed to Protect Wildlife from Oil Drilling

Two environmental groups -- the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment -- filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging a new rule issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service that allows oil companies to disturb the polar bears and Pacific walruses that live in and around the Chukchi Sea off the eastern Alaskan coast. The area is estimated to hold as many as 30 billion barrels of oil and gas. After refining, one barrel of crude oil yields about 19.5 gallons of gasoline.

In February, the Bush administration completed the first sale of leases to extract oil from the Chukchi Sea since 1991, netting high bids of $2.6 billion. Rick Steiner, a professor at the University of Alaska Marine Advisory Program in Anchorage, said, "Opening the Chukchi Sea just for one more oil fix, fully expecting that it will cause significant harm, shows that we are unwilling to control our oil addiction and look beyond it into a sustainable future. We should be ashamed."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Suit seeks ban on oil companies disturbing wildlife" (Reuters, July 8, 2008)
• Read "Timeline of recent actions concerning polar bears" (Associated Press, June 14, 2008)
• Read "Chukchi Sea Lease Sale Is a Risky Fix for Our Oil Addiction" (Anchorage Daily News, February 8, 2008)
• Read "Bush wants more oil drilling, but sites not clear" (Associated Press, July 11, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Defenders of Wildlife petition urging the US federal government to provide polar bears full protection under the Endangered Species Act
• Sign the Center for Biological Diversity petition urging US Congress members to support the Polar Bear Seas Protection Act, H.R. 6057
• Sign the Alaska Wilderness League petition urging the 2008 US presidential candidates to commit to permanently protecting the Alaskan wilderness
  

photo courtesy Yukon White Light, Creative Commons

One-Third of Coral Reefs Face Extinction

The first global study of the planet's coral reefs has been published in the journal Science and its findings are, according to one of the researchers, "frightening." Alex Rogers from the Zoological Society of London added, "I don't think politicians and the public are aware of the gravity of the situation we're in regarding coral reefs and other marine ecosystems."

The report estimates that a third of the world's reef-building corals face extinction due to overfishing, climate change, pollution and coastal development. The scientists fear that, since other plants and animals rely on the reefs for their survival, entire marine ecosystems will collapse. In addition to the potential natural disaster, there is also a significant economic impact: The reefs generate about $30 billion annually from tourism, coastal protection and fisheries.

GET INFORMED

• Read the BBC News story
• Read the Science News story
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Reef Check Foundation's International Declaration of Reef Rights
  

photo courtesy PsychoScheiko, Creative Commons

One Search for Extraterrestrial Life May End

The world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope -- a main source of data in the search for extraterrestrial life -- may be shut down. The fate of Arecibo Observatory lies with the US Congress, which will vote on two bills that will decide its funding. The telescope, located in Puerto Rico, gathers data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home (SETI@home), a project managed by the University of California in Berkeley. SETI@home explores the possibility of life outside of Earth using the accumulated number-crunching power of home computers, which are offered by the public.

The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), a national research center operated by Cornell University in cooperation with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

GET INFORMED

• Read the Washington Post story
  
• Visit the Seti@Home Web site
  
• Visit the Arecibo Observatory Web site
  

GET INVOLVED

• Send a pre-written letter to Congress urging them to fund Arecibo
• Download BOINC, the SETI@home program that allows your idle computer to analyze data for the project
  

photo courtesy adamgaston, Creative Commons

Celebrities Call G8 Delays in Aid "A Disgrace"

Oxfam's "Celebrity Ambassadors" have presented an open letter to the leaders of the G8 countries at their summit in Japan, urging them to address climate change and the global food crisis. The letter calls the delays in fulfilling the G8's 2005 promise to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010 "a disgrace." Celebrities who have signed the letter include Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Davis, Minnie Driver, Gael Garcia Bernal and Annie Lennox.

GET INFORMED

• Read the PerthNow story and the Oxfam celebrity letter
• Learn about Oxfam
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Avaaz.org petition to Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda and G8 leaders to take action on climate change
• Sign the Oxfam petition to G8, UN and EU leaders to mobilize emergency funds to stop the global food crisis

photo courtesy Peter Casier, Creative Commons

Secret Report Says Biofuels Caused Food Crisis

UK newspaper the Guardian has obtained a confidential World Bank report that says the rise of biofuels has caused global food prices to skyrocket. The most detailed study of the crisis made thus far, the report finds that food prices are up by 75%, a figure radically different from the stated claims of the United States government, which has argued that biofuels account for less than a 3% rise in food prices.

The Guardian called the unpublished study "damning," adding that "sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush."

GET INFORMED

• Read the Guardian story
• Read "Castro was right" (Economist)
  
• Read "UK to slow expansion of biofuels" (BBC News)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Oxfam petition to the G8, UN and EU leaders to mobilize emergency funding to stop the global food crisis
  
• Sign the Co-op America petition urging GM and Ford to stop supporting corn-based ethanol

photo courtesy mrobenalt, Creative Commons

Satellite Watches As Polar Ice Shelf Crumbles

A disintegrating piece of Antarctic ice shelf the size of Manhattan was captured by a camera on board a NASA satellite. It is the latest of seven major Antarctic ice shelf collapses in the past three decades. For almost two weeks, huge chunks of ice broke up and floated away. The Wilkins ice shelf, a 5,000-square-mile mass of ice that has floated off the Antarctica Peninsula for centuries, finally lost 160 square miles to the Pacific Ocean. Many scientists believe that the western Antarctic peninsula is warming more rapidly than any other place on Earth.

GET INFORMED

• Watch video and see pictures of the Wilkins ice shelf collapse
  
• Read the Scientific American story

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 Martha de Jong-Lantink, Creative Commons

US Supreme Court to Decide Between Navy and Whales

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to address a case filed by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that claims the Navy's use of sonar off the southern California coast is harmful to marine life. The Navy contends that the exercises pose little threat and are essential to national security. However, the Navy's own estimates show that hundreds of whales may be permanently injured and about 170,000 marine mammals may be significantly disrupted by their current sonar exercises, which are to be conducted over the next two years.

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 the New York Times editorial
• Watch a National Geographic video about whales and Navy sonar
• Watch a clip from the new Wild Kingdom series, "Decoding Humpbacks," premiering today in the US on Animal Planet
  

GET INVOLVED

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

photo courtesy robdownunder, Creative Commons

Listening to the Secret Lives of Elephants

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has made available recordings taken of African elephants living in Ghana and Central African Republic as part of the Elephant Listening Project. A collaboration between IFAW and Cornell University's Bioacoustic Research Program, the project focuses on the rarely seen forest subspecies of African elephant, which lives deep in equatorial forests and cannot be easily monitored or counted.

Less intrusive to wildlife than other forms of monitoring, acoustic monitoring can help understand migration patterns and reactions to destabilizing forces such as mining, logging and human development. In addition to dealing with these factors, the African elephant also faces the illegal international trade in ivory products.

GET INFORMED

• Listen to African forest elephants through the Elephant Listening Project
  
• Learn more about the Elephant Listening Project

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt an elephant from the World Wildlife Fund for $25
• Sign a petition urging the North American and European members of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to oppose the proposal to designate China as a trading partner in raw ivory
  
• Sign a petition urging eBay to ban all ivory sales on its site
  
• Sign a petition to end elephant culling in South Africa
  

photo courtesy ucumari, Creative Commons

North America's First Carbon Tax in Effect

Drivers of the Canadian West Coast province of British Columbia have become the first residents of North America to pay a carbon tax. The tax came into effect on Tuesday amidst controversy, with some prices at the pump reaching C$1.50 per litre.

The tax is an effort to entice consumers to use energy more efficiently and also to help the country achieve their goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 33 percent by 2020. Critics say that the tax will affect mainly the poor and people are already changing their habits because of high gas prices.

GET INFORMED

• Read the Reuters story

GET INVOLVED

• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe
• Protect an acre of forest for $15 to combat climate change
• Save gas with these tips
  

photo courtesy mjb84, Creative Commons

Penguin Decline Is Bad Sign for Oceans

New research indicates that Magellanic penguins are threatened not only from overfishing and pollution, but also by climate change. P. Dee Boersma, a biologist at the University of Washington who has studied the birds for the past three decades, wrote in Tuesday's issue of BioScience that breeding pairs of the Punta Tombo colony in Argentina are down 22 percent, partly due to a lack of edible marine life caused by the loss of sea ice, which is a direct result of global warming.

Dr. Boersma believes that the struggle of the penguins is a strong indicator of larger problems for the oceanic environment as a whole, stating, "we have entered a new era of unprecedented challenges for marine systems."

GET INFORMED

• Read the New York Times story
• Visit the International Penguin Conservation Work Group
• Visit the Penguin Geek blog

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt a penguin from Defenders of Wildlife for $20
• 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 Gerald Davison, Creative Commons

Mountain Gorilla Conservation Pact Begins

Rwanda has released $174,000 to the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the first transaction under a recently formed transnational agreement between the two nations and Uganda in an effort to conserve the mountain gorilla. With only 720 individuals remaining, the mountain gorilla is one of the world's most endangered great apes.

The Dutch-funded initiative was launched in February by the International Gorilla Conservation Program, a coalition of the African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna and Flora International, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature.


GET INFORMED

• Read the African Wildlife Foundation report
• Read Rwanda's Daily Monitor story
• Watch Anderson Cooper's CNN video report, "Gorilla's Under Threat"

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt a mountain gorilla from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
• Sign a petition to help Uganda's Bwindi community benefit from conserving gorillas
  

photo courtesy youngrobv, Creative Commons

Greenland's Request to Kill Humpback Whales Denied

At their recent annual meeting in Santiago, Chile, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) rejected Greenland's request to kill 50 humpback whales. Commission officials said the petition involved commercial interests, which violates the moratorium on commercial whaling established in 1986.

Also at the meeting, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet pushed for a permanent whaling ban along Chile's coast and the creation of a whale sanctuary. IWC's working committee includes the pro-whaling countries of Iceland, Japan and Norway, as well as anti-whaling nations Australia and New Zealand. IWC's 2009 conference will take place in Madeira, Portugal.

GET INFORMED

• Read the Associated Press story
• Read an email received by 13.7 Billion Years from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society about the IWC report
• Read about the US Navy's dispute of restrictions to protect whales
  

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt a whale from the WDCS for $30
• Volunteer with the WDCS
• Sign the Whale's Revenge petition to end whaling
  

photo courtesy rubonix, Creative Commons