The Great Declination

As humans steadily populate the border of Kenya's popular Masai Mara Reserve, wildlife populations steadily dwindle

Starting in July and ending sometime in October, over a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of Thomson's gazelles and zebra will participate in one of the most awesome natural wonders of the world -- the Great Migration.

This massive annual move across the Serengeti and Mara plains has made the Masai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya famous.

But the landscape is changing quickly, and the way it's been going for the last 15 years, it doesn't bode well for many of the wild animals living within this popular, 1,500-square-mile safari destination.

According to a new study by the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), several wildlife populations have "decreased significantly" due to habitat loss from the increase of permanent human communities around the reserve that require more land for livestock and crop farming.

Populations of giraffes, hartebeest, impala, warthogs, topis and waterbuck have all experienced major declines.

Additionally, the study -- which analyzed monthly data of hoofed species taken between 1989 and 2003 -- warns that, in the ranchlands, the retaliatory killing of wildlife that destroy crops or threaten livestock is "common and increasing."

"The situation we documented paints a bleak picture," said the study's lead author Joseph Ogutu. "[It] requires urgent and decisive action if we want to save this treasure from disaster."

GET INVOLVED

• Support the African Wildlife Foundation
  
• Support the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

RELATED POSTS

• Throwing Some Light on the Dark Continent (April 7, 2009)
• New Homes for Kenyan Wildlife (December 9, 2008)
• Getting Close to the Elephants of Samburu (August 19, 2008)
• Wildlife Populations Look Good on Kenyan Ranch (August 2, 2008)
• Kenya's Economy Tied to Forest Health (July 19, 2008)
• Kenya's Maasai Compensated for Lion Attacks (June 18, 2008)
• African Conservation Gets $10 Million Gift (May 1, 2008)

image: wildebeests at Masai Mara, zebra in background (image credit: DEMOSH)

Sittin' on Top of the World

A century after humans first reach the North Pole, a celebration of scientific discovery

On April 6, 1909, American explorer Matthew Henson became the first human ever known to stand at the North Pole. "It'll work," said Henson, "if God, wind, leads, ice, snow and all the hells of this damned frozen land are willing." He was a member of the famed expedition led by Admiral Robert E. Peary.

"I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world," Henson said. Though Adm. Peary received many honors, Henson slipped into obscurity, working as a federal customs clerk in New York for most of the next three decades. He died in the Bronx in 1955, but not before Presidents Truman and Eisenhower honored him for his achievement.

Earlier this month, exactly 100 years later to the day, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) together hosted a celebration in Washington, D.C., of the research accomplishments of the International Polar Year (IPY), an expansive scientific program dedicated to studying the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.

Scientists expect that IPY-funded research can be expected to be published for years to come.

The celebration included a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the landmark Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), which demarcates Antarctica as a continent meant only for scientific research and peaceful uses.

Now that's pretty cool.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Greenpeace petition urging Secretary Salazar to undo the Bush changes to the Endangered Species Act to help protect the polar bear and its habitat
  
• Find out how you can help keep Antarctica cool and prevent global warming
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

RELATED POSTS

• Ashley Judd to Congress: Commit Some Cap and Trade Revenue to Help Wildlife (April 25, 2009)
• Fate of Polar Bears in Salazar's Hands (April 22, 2009)
• Breaking the Ice (April 5, 2009)
  
• Farewell to the Polar Bears (January 14, 2009)
• Using Art to Tell the Sad Tale of Polar Bears (September 29, 2008)
• Court Makes Deadline for Penguin Decision (September 13, 2008)
• Polar Bears Swimming Miles from Coast Cause Concern (August 23, 2008)
• North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years (August 12, 2008)
• Lawsuit Filed to Protect Wildlife from Oil Drilling (July 12, 2008)
• Polar Bears Win Victory In Court (May 2, 2008)
• North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years (August 12, 2008)
• Lawsuit Filed to Protect Wildlife from Oil Drilling (July 12, 2008)

image: Matthew Henson, United States Library of Congress

A Possible New World Fit for Life

The most Earth-like planet yet discovered may contain water

In the Libra constellation about 20 million light years away, there is a planet known as Gliese 581d. And so far, it's one of the planets that has been discovered that is most like Earth.

According to a recent article in National Geographic, scientists at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science conference, held last week at the University of Hertfordshire in the the United Kingdom, announced that new measurements of the exoplanet's orbit places it in the right position from its sun to be a source of liquid water.

This is pretty big news. Many astronomers believe that the discovery of life on other planets is imminent -- it's just about noticing the right spectroscopic signals given off by these various exoplanets. To date, there are 76 confirmed planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition to add the option for US taxpayers to contribute to NASA on the IRS 1040 tax form
• See what's in the sky tonight
• Download the new Google Earth 5.0, which now has an interactive map of the entire surface of Mars
• Buy a beginner telescope from the Discovery Channel store ($99.00)

RELATED POSTS

• When Galaxies Collide (April 17, 2009)
• Blast From the Past (March 28, 2009)
• Captured on Film: The Personification of Dread (March 13, 2009)
• The Shadow Lives of Others (March 3, 2009)
• EDITORIAL: The Final Frontier According to Ptolemy, Kennedy, Hubble and Obama (November 17, 2008)
• The Most Viewed Meteor Shower Arrives (August 9, 2008)
• Martian Soil Appears to Support Life, Scientists "Flabbergasted" (June 28, 2008)
  
• DNA Building Blocks Found in Meteorite Formed in Deep Space (June 24, 2008)

image: An artist's impression of Gliese 581 d and speculative moons (image credit: debivort, Wikimedia Commons

Free Lucky

For one aging elephant stuck in a Texas zoo, life is lonely and harsh. That she's still there is a crime

There is a case of animal cruelty going on at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas. Lucky, a 48-year-old female Asian elephant, has been kept in solitary confinement in an inadequate exhibit that is damaging her health. She has signs of foot disease, a clear indication that an environment is pretty rotten.

Female elephants are extremely social, but since the untimely death of her companion Alport from "undetermined causes," Lucky has been alone. And she feels grief, one of several behaviors -- including compassion, learning, memory, mothering, play, tool use, self-awareness and possibly even language -- exhibited by elephants that put their level of intelligence right beside primates and cetaceans (whales and dolphins).

In a letter, In Defense of Animals (IDA) president Elliot M. Katz, DVM, urged San Antonio Zoo executive director J. Stephen McCusker "to make the ethical, moral, and financially responsible decision to close the San Antonio Zoo’s elephant exhibit and send Lucky to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, which stands ready to transport and house her for the rest of her life."

That was in November of 2007. Lucky is still stuck at the San Antonio Zoo, which made IDA's Top Ten Worst Zoos list.

She may be named Lucky, but thanks to Mr. McCusker, this poor old elephant is anything but.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Voice for Animals petition to free Lucky from the San Antonio Zoo and send her to the Elephant Sanctuary
• Send a personal message to the San Antonio Zoo
  

RELATED POSTS

• Remembering Buddha's Precious Pachyderm (February 26, 2009)
• 2,000 Elephants Missing in Chad (December 15, 2008)
• Getting Close to the Elephants of Samburu (August 19, 2008)
• 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)

image: Lucky the Elephant, In Defense of Animals

The Restoration of Clean Water

Congress considers cleaning up America's water

Enacted in 1972, the Clean Water Act (CWA) is the main law in the United States that protects the nation's waters from pollution and destruction.

But today, due to two Supreme Court rulings, many bodies of water are not receiving protection from pollution, something that the Clean Water Restoration Act will fix.

The non-profit environmental law firm Earth Justice is calling all Americans to set aside a few minutes on April 30 to call their senators in an effort to show public support for the passage of the Clean Water Restoration Act.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign an Earth Justice letter to Congress supporting the passage of the Clean Water Restoration Act
• 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

RELATED POSTS

• A River Runs Through It (April 11)
• More Than Four Decades Later, A Portuguese Mine Still Pollutes (February 17, 2009)
• The River Runs Dry (January 27, 2009)
• Ancient Water Source Key to Australia's Future (December 27, 2008)
• Save Kolahoi, Save Kashmir (October 28, 2008)
• Got Water? Visions of Planet Earth in 2030 (October 14, 2008)
• Starbucks Wastes Water, A Lot of It (October 8, 2008)
• Future of Water Looking Murky (September 4, 2008)
• Hundreds of Ducks Dead After Landing in Toxic Waste (May 11, 2008)

image: sunset over the Potomac River and Arlington, Virginia (image credit: Kevin H.)

Ashley Judd to Congress: Commit Some Cap and Trade Revenue to Help Wildlife

Celebrities ask Congress for five percent of the revenue from the new cap and trade legislation to help wildlife survive a warming world

On April 23, actress Ashley Judd and wildlife biologist and Animal Planet television host Jeff Corwin spoke to Congress about the need to pass comprehensive global warming legislation that includes funding to help protect America’s wildlife and natural resources from the impacts of global warming.

They testified on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, according to a Defenders of Wildlife press release.

"I had the good fortune to grow up in three states -- Kentucky, Tennessee and California -- that are blessed with stunning, diverse and productive landscapes," said Judd. "Those landscapes have shaped my life and my values, and I am deeply worried that in an era of global warming -- evidence of which we experience on our own farm -- future generations of Americans will have fewer natural resources to draw upon than do we, and their opportunities will therefore be less than our own."

They called on Congress to dedicate five percent of the revenue from new global warming cap and trade legislation to safeguard wildlife and ecosystems from the effects of global warming.

"I worry deeply about what kind of world awaits my two young daughters if we fail to address this threat," said Corwin. "In the lifetime of my young daughter Marina, born just last year, twenty to thirty percent of the world’s plant and animal species will be on the brink of extinction if we do not act now to curb global warming."

He added, "I have been to the North Pole to study the iconic polar bear, whose habitat is melting away before our eyes."

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a Defenders of Wildlife letter urging your representative to take just 5% of the anticipated revenue from new global warming cap-and-trade legislation to safeguard wildlife and ecosystems from the effects of global warming (US citizens only)
• Sign the Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare
  

RELATED POSTS

• Fate of Polar Bears in Salazar's Hands (April 22, 2009)
• Farewell to the Polar Bears (January 14, 2009)
• The Politics of Protecting Species (December 17, 2008)
• North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years (August 12, 2008)
• Lawsuit Filed to Protect Wildlife from Oil Drilling (July 12, 2008)

image: polar bear, US Fish & Wildlife Service

Test Drive: Syncing 'Planet Earth' and 'Ágætis Byrjun'

Merging the images of a nature documentary with the music of rock band reveals a whole greater than the sum of its parts

TEST DRIVE

The 2006 Emmy Award-winning documentary series Planet Earth, according to Alex Williams in an April 17 New York Times article, "has been embraced by cultish devotees who show their love in all kinds of ways that those who made it could hardly have imagined."

Williams noted the recommendation of "one commenter from South Carolina": "(Planet Earth on mute) + (Sigur Rós on whatever sound system available) = life changing beauty epicness." This "sync" is a consciousness-raising update of Dark Side of the Rainbow, the famous pairing of the music from the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) with the visuals of the film The Wizard of Oz (1939), which creates moments of apparent synchronicity between the two unrelated works.

13.7 Billion Years did a test drive of this idea, muting actress Sigourney Weaver's narration (Weaver narrated the American version of the DVD; the original was narrated by the famed voice of BBC nature documentaries David Attenborough) and turning up the volume on Sigur Rós' debut album Ágætis Byrjun (2000).

The result was remarkable indeed. This sync should be compulsory in schools and played in every house with a stereo system, a CD player, a DVD player and TV. And Planet Earth has been seen by a good amount of people: The five-disc box set has sold over three million units -- a record for documentary films.

From the 2,000-mile migration of three million caribou in the Arctic tundra to the intricate mating rituals of New Guinea's birds of paradise, Planet Earth captures natural scenes that most of us would not normally get an opportunity to witness. Merged with the ethereal music of Ágætis Byrjun -- which Rolling Stone called "achingly gorgeous" with "an odd majesty" -- it takes on a near-spiritual level that no narrator could possibly accomplish with a script.

The human voice may actually do a disservice to the immensity of the images of the film. Perhaps only music, that most abstract of art forms, can do it justice. Perhaps it helps that Sigur Rós is from Iceland, at least to non-Icelandians: Their male singer, Jón Þór Birgisson, who sings Icelandic lyrics with a falsetto voice that sounds remarkably feminine, brings an otherworldly element to the proceedings.

Produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and co-produced by the Discovery Channel and NHK in association with CBC, Planet Earth was described by its creators as "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet." It would be difficult to disagree.

The landmark 11-part series has set the new standard for nature documentaries not only in its scope, but in its technology. It is the first nature documentary to be filmed in high definition. The air shots were taken with a special airborne Cineflex camera equipped with a 400mm lens that was able to surreptitiously zoom into individual animals from up to a kilometer away.

Planet Earth required over 2,000 days of filming, 70 camera crews and over 200 locations. It was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC and took four years to make.

Not surprisingly, "Ágætis byrjun" is Icelandic for "a new beginning."

GET INVOLVED

• Buy Planet Earth from Discovery Channel
• Buy Ágætis byrjun

image: "The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,000 kilometers (18,000 statute miles). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Photographing the Coral Triangle

Seventy-five percent of all the world's known species call it home, but it is under attack by mankind

It is Earth's most biodiverse marine ecosystem. It is almost six million square kilometers in size. It is the Coral Triangle, an area that supports over 600 reef-building coral species across Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

The planet's coral reefs are estimated to provide $300 billion in value each year, giving hundreds of millions of people food, jobs and protection. And the medicinal value of these "rainforests of the sea" has yet to be fully explored.

But they are losing in a fight against humanity -- overfishing, pollution, coastal development and ocean acidification are taking their toll. According to the first global reef exctinction study, one-third of reef-building coral species face extinction.

"Perhaps 30 years ago, the biggest misconception people had was that the oceans are so huge that man could never pollute them nor could we ever over-exploit life in the sea," said Capt. Philip G. Renaud, the Executive Director of the Living Oceans Foundation. "That has changed now, but many of our bad habits unfortunately haven’t changed fast enough."

Now, Jürgen Freund and Stella Chiu-Freund are having a closer look at the situation. The Australia-based husband and wife team have been commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Global Photo Network to go on an 18-month photojournalistic expedition to investigate, according to their blog, "the connectivity between the wildlife and peoples of the region, and the threats they face." Known as the Freund Factory, the pair is one of the world's top underwater photographic teams.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition sponsored by the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium urging policymakers to help protect coral reefs by committing to low carbon economic growth
• Visit the Coral Triangle Photo Expedition blog
• Visit the Living Oceans Foundation
  

RELATED POSTS

• Enter the Dead Zone (April 20, 2009)
• Coral Reefs: Here Now, Gone Tomorrow? (April 3, 2009)
• 13.7 BILLION YEARS EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Philip Renaud, Executive Director, Living Oceans Foundation (Part 1 of 5) (March 15, 2009)
• Oceanic Acid Trip (March 10, 2009)
• Google Earth Goes Deep (February 5, 2009)
• Indonesia Creates Asian Reef Conservation Group (November 24, 2008)
• Hundreds of Species Discovered on Great Barrier Reef (September 21, 2008)
• One-Third of Coral Reefs Face Extinction (July 11, 2009)

image: yellow and blue Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus) from East Timor (image credit: Nhobgood)

Fate of Polar Bears in Salazar's Hands

Bush's eleventh-hour alterations to the Endangered Species Act could be rescinded. That would be welcome news for polar bears

On his way out of the White House, George W. Bush made some last-minute changes that significantly weakened the Endangered Species Act (ESA), making it easier to destroy the environment in the name of industry.

One change is a new rule that allows governmental agencies to avoid a scientific review for road-building, logging and oil and gas leasing projects -- a review specifically provided by the ESA to ensure that endangered species and their habitats are not harmed.

One of the endangered species most affected by Bush's modifications to the ESA is the polar bear, whose eroding habitat is Alaska's eastern coast, the site of the oil-rich Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Because of man-caused global warming, the polar ice is melting and the polar bears are drowning, literally. The government's leasing of areas for oil and gas exploration has become a main point of contention between conservationists and energy companies.

But things may change in the Obama administration. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has until May 9 to rescind what Greenpeace has called Bush's "reckless regulations" and restore the full power of the Endangered Species Act.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Greenpeace petition urging Secretary Salazar to undo the Bush changes to the ESA to help protect the polar bear and other endangered species

RELATED POSTS

• First Mammal Outside of Alaska May Receive ESA Protection (February 23, 2009)
• Farewell to the Polar Bears (January 14, 2009)
• Bush Withholds Protections for Threatened Seal (December 26, 2008)
• The Politics of Protecting Species (December 17, 2008)
• In Yosemite, They're Movin' on Up (and Out) (October 15, 2008)
• Using Art to Tell the Sad Tale of Polar Bears (September 29, 2008)
• Court Makes Deadline for Penguin Decision (September 13, 2008)
• Polar Bears Swimming Miles from Coast Cause Concern (August 23, 2008)
• North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years (August 12, 2008)
• Lawsuit Filed to Protect Wildlife from Oil Drilling (July 12, 2008)
• Polar Bears Win Victory In Court (May 2, 2008)

image: NorwegianMarcus

Here's Looking At You, Earth

NASA celebrates Earth Day with a special high-def image feed of our planet -- direct from the International Space Station

Traveling at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour at an altitude of 220 miles, the International Space Station can actually be seen from the ground with the unaided eye. But what's more important is what it sees when it looks down at us.

According to an April 20 press release, NASA television will broadcast a special high-definition feed tomorrow featuring views of the Earth taken by cameras on board the space station to celebrate Earth Day.

Orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, the station's crew of six experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. Since the first crew arrived in November 2000, the space station has been continuously occupied: So far, it's served as humanity's permanent outpost in space.

The special high-definition views of Earth can be seen on April 22 from 6 to 9 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. EDT on NASA Television, which was "designed to provide real-time coverage of Agency activities and missions," according to their Web site.

GET INVOLVED

• Send a personal birthday greeting to astronaut Michael Barratt on board the ISS that will be transmitted directly to the space station
  
• Join the Earth Day Network
  
• Get a schedule of Earth Day programming on NASA TV and satellite coordinate information
• See a listing of all of NASA's Earth Day activities
  
• Sign a petition to add the option for US taxpayers to contribute to NASA on the IRS 1040 tax form
• See what's in the sky tonight

RELATED POSTS

• When Galaxies Collide (April 17, 2009)
• A Room With A View (March 4, 2009)
• Kepler and the Gate to the Black Forest (February 15, 2009)
• Basic Chemistry of Life Found on Exoplanet (December 14, 2008)
• EDITORIAL: The Final Frontier According to Ptolemy, Kennedy, Hubble and Obama (November 17, 2008)
  

image: Backdropped by a blue and white Earth, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation. Earlier the STS-119 and Expedition 18 crews concluded 9 days, 20 hours and 10 minutes of cooperative work onboard the shuttle and station. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 2:53 p.m. (CDT) on March 25, 2009. Photo credit: NASA

Enter the Dead Zone

Mankind's carbon emissions are making it hard for marine life to breathe

Around a third of our carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels ends up dissolved in the oceans. One result of this is the acidification of seawater, which is harming marine organisms. One third of the planet's reef-building corals face extinction due to this changing chemistry.

But there is another negative effect: The more the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide, the less oxygen there is, making it harder for marine animals to respire. The end result: dead zones.

Now, according to a recent report on ScienceDaily.com, a new study by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) shows that these dead zones, "devoid of aerobic life," will likely increase dramatically over the next century.

GET INVOLVED

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

RELATED POSTS

• Coral Reefs: Here Now, Gone Tomorrow? (April 3, 2009)
• 13.7 BILLION YEARS EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Philip Renaud, Executive Director, Living Oceans Foundation (Part 1 of 5) (March 15, 2009)
• Oceanic Acid Trip (March 10, 2009)
• Google Earth Goes Deep (February 5, 2009)
• Indonesia Creates Asian Reef Conservation Group (November 24, 2008)
• Hundreds of Species Discovered on Great Barrier Reef (September 21, 2008)
• One-Third of Coral Reefs Face Extinction (July 11, 2009)

image: map of the Mississippi River basin, showing sub-basins and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico (Environmental Protection Agency)

Ursus Melancholius

Vietnam's law prohibiting the trade in bear bile has a new enforcer -- the Vietnamese people

Bile is a bitter yellow-green fluid produced by most vertebrates, secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Aiding in the digestion of fats, it was considered a "vital humor" in antiquity. (The ancient Greek word for "black bile" is the precursor to the word "melancholy.")

The bile of Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) in particular, has been an important ingredient in traditional Vietnamese and Chinese medicine. As such, these countries have kept these so-called "bile bears" in captivity to extract this "vital fluid." In 2005, Vietnam made this trade illegal, but lack of enforcement has allowed the grisly business to continue.

The bears are kept in cramped extraction cages called "crush cages" and the bile is removed either through a catheter inserted into the gall bladder or collected as it freely drips from a puncture wound made in the bear's abdomen. After a few years, when a bear can no longer produce any more bile, it is killed for its meat, fur, paws and gall bladder.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has funded a hotline run by Education for Nature (ENV), Vietnam’s first non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of nature and the environment through education. With the help of the public calling in tip-offs, bears have already been rescued from illegal bear farms. The hotline has been promoted through radio, television and print ads.

GET INFORMED

• Watch the the WSPA/ENV television ads promoting the bear bile hotline, currently airing in Vietnam [Ad 1] [Ad 2] (WARNING: these clips contain graphic images and sounds of bears in distress)

GET INVOLVED

• Support the WSPA's efforts to protect wild bears from the life-long cruelty of bear farming

RELATED POSTS

• The Russian Bear Hunt (November 28, 2008)
• Ancient Forests Not Something to Sneeze At (September 18, 2008)
• Warmer Yellowstone Allows Bears to Flourish (March 18, 2008)

image: Phillip

A Real Killer: The World's Toughest Dog Race

Dogs continue to give their lives in a race that commemorates a journey in which dogs saved humans. It really makes no sense at all

Threatened by a diptheria epidemic in 1925, the small Alaskan city of Nome was saved by an antitoxin that was delivered in a record-breaking five-and-a-half days by the hard work of 150 sled dogs led by 20 mushers. The journey came to be known as "The Great Race of Mercy."

The dogs and mushers became national heroes. Balto, a sled dog who led the final leg of the "serum run," became a celebrity: Just ten months after the mission, a statue of the Siberian husky was erected in New York's Central Park.

In 1973, the 1925 run was commemorated with the first annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, but it has received criticism for the deaths of dogs due to the race's extremely harsh conditions over a distance of 1,150 miles.

According to a story on Examiner.com, six sled dogs died this month during the 2009 Iditarod. Two died from fluid in their lungs. Two died from hypothermia. One cause of death was unknown. And one dog just dropped dead between checkpoints.

Over the history of the Iditarod, at least 142 dogs have perished. This grim fact begs the question: Is it really worth it? The top 30 mushers who split the hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money certainly think so.

GET INVOLVED

• Send an In Defense of Animals letter urging Iditarod sponsors to withdraw their support of the race

RELATED POSTS

• Thousands of Dogs Poisoned to Death in Bali (March 9, 2009)
• How Much Is That Doggie in the Window? (November 20, 2008)
• Where Man's Best Friend Is on the Menu (October 24, 2008)
• South Korea Pushes to Legalize Dog Meat (July 18, 2008)
• Breeder Offers Greyhounds to Medical Research (June 2, 2008)
• Neutering Stems India's Stray Animal Population (May 31, 2008)
• Farm Bill Combats Puppy Mills, Dog Fighting and Animal Abuse (May 27, 2008)
• For Dog's Death Used As Art, No Law Broken (March 15, 2008)
• Dog Used as Art, Tied Up, Starved to Death (March 14, 2008)

image: soldiersmediacenter

When Galaxies Collide

Four galaxies have crashed together. For the first time ever, it's been captured on film

According to a NASA press release, four separate galaxy clusters have collided. Three different telescopes witnessed the event. It is the first time such a phenomenon has been documented.

About 5.4 billion light years away from Earth, the massive galaxy cluster known as MACSJ0717 is experiencing collisions from a filament -- a stream of galaxies, gas and dark matter -- that is 13 million light years in length. (One light year is about 10 trillion kilometers.)

In this composite image, the four different galaxy clusters are marked with A, B, C and D. Hot gas is represented from an image taken by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which orbits the Earth every 64.2 hours. As most X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, they are not detectable by terrestrial telescopes. Chandra allows astronomers to view these rays before they reach us. Reddish purple represents the coolest gas and blue is the hottest gas. Temperatures in between are shown as purple.

The galaxies shown are from an optical image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits the Earth every 96 minutes. Data from Keck Observatory in Hawaii was also used to determine the geometry of the event.

"It is one of the most complex galaxy clusters ever seen," the press release states. "Other well-known clusters like the Bullet Cluster and MACSJ0025.4-1222 involve the collision of only two galaxy clusters and show much simpler geometry."

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition to add the option for US taxpayers to contribute to NASA on the IRS 1040 tax form
• See what's in the sky tonight
• Download the new Google Earth 5.0, which now has an interactive map of the entire surface of Mars
• Buy a beginner telescope from the Discovery Channel store ($99.00)

RELATED POSTS

• A Smashing Reunion for the Galaxy Twins? (February 9, 2009)
• EDITORIAL: The Final Frontier According to Ptolemy, Kennedy, Hubble and Obama (November 17, 2008)
  

image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IfA/C. Ma et al. Optical: NASA/STScI/IfA/C. Ma et al.

Severn Suzuki: Eco-Warrior

Many years ago, Severn Suzuki spoke harshly to the UN about safeguarding the environment. At the time, she was twelve

In 1992, at the age of twelve, Severn Suzuki delivered a seven-minute speech to United Nations delegates at the Rio Earth Summit, one of the meetings that led to the Kyoto Protocol. "If you don’t know how to fix it,” she pleaded, “please, stop breaking it."

As the founder of the Environmental Children's Organization (ECO), Ms. Suzuki gave an emotional speech that was harsh in its critique. She wanted the delegates to think about the world they would ultimately bequeath to their children.

Now, to mark Earth Month, Guernica Magazine has conducted an interview with Ms. Suzuki, who turns 30 this year. In it, she discusses the science trend in the Obama administration, "ethno-ecology" and the role that the United States and Canada should play in green initiatives.

GET INVOLVED

• Celebrate Earth Month

RELATED POSTS

• EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Philip Renaud, Executive Director, Living Oceans Foundation (March 16, 2009)
• Happy Markets, Happy Forests (April 27, 2008)
• EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Alfredo Quarto, Executive Director of the Mangrove Action Project (October 27, 2008)

image: Nick Wiebe

The Air That We Breathe

We never thought nickel played a significant role in the history of life. Boy were we wrong

During the early part of Earth's 4.5 billion year history, methane was the primary gas, created by microorganisms called methanogens. Free oxygen was rare. It reacted with so many substances. Additionally, oxygen accretion is inhibited by methane.

But somewhere between 2.7 and 2.4 billion years ago, something major happened. Scientists call it the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), a time that saw a big increase in cyanobacteria, blue-green algae that produce oxygen. Life on the planet looks like it does today mainly because of this event. What actually caused this to happen has remained a mystery.

But now, according to a new report published in Nature, scientists believe they have at least one piece of the puzzle in place -- a decrease in nickel.

An analysis of sedimentary rock has revealed that, at the time of the GOE, the oceans experienced an enormous drop in the concentration of dissolved nickel -- something methanogens love. When the nickel left, so did the methanogens, opening the door up to the development of cyanobacteria and leading to an evolution of oxygen-breathing animals and oxygen-producing plants.

What caused the drop in nickel? Scientists don't know yet, but for now, they can oygenate easier knowing they're one step closer to filling in the story of our big blue marble.

GET INVOLVED

• Join the Earth Day Network

RELATED POSTS

• The Shadow Lives of Others (March 3, 2009)
• The Common Ancestor of All Life on Earth (December 21, 2008)

image: NASA photo taken by either Harrison Schmitt or Ron Evans of the Apollo 17 crew

Illegal Whale Meat Still on Japanese Menus

The Japanese continue to trample on the international moratorium on whaling. They have the blood of hundreds of dead minke whales on their hands to prove it

Though Japan officially ended commercial whaling in 1986 when it agreed to an international moratorium. However, it has used a loophole in the law allowing for the killing of whales for "scientific research," holding onto the activity as an important aspect of their culture. The whale meat doesn't seem to make its way to scientific research organizations -- it has been reported to appear in Japanese groceries and restaurants.

Yesterday, a Reuters story reported that Japan killed 679 minke whales, a number that is much less than their goal due to the efforts of anti-whaling activists like Sea Shepherd, which interceded and prevented the killing of 305 whales by their own account. "We continue to speak the one language these whale pirates understand," said Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson said in an official statement. "Profit and loss: we need to keep their losses up and their profits down. We will eventually beat these killers with aggressively applied economics."

In the northeast Atlantic, there are an estimated 103,000 minke whales, a type of baleen whale which can live for up to 60 years and first appeared during the Oligocene epoch about 34 million years ago. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) lists the minke whale as a threatened species.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Whale's Revenge petition urging the International Whaling Commission to close the loophole that allows whaling in the name of so-called "scientific research" (1,097,771 signatures have been collected so far)
• Volunteer with Sea Shepherd
  

RELATED POSTS

• Bloody Waters in the Faroe Islands (February 19 , 2009)
• Gray Whales, Meet Big Oil (November 22, 2008)
• Palin Rebuffed As Unique Alaskan Whales Score Major Victory (October 18, 2008)
• Whales Get New Sanctuary in Chile (September 30, 2008)
• First-Ever Whale Songs Heard in New York Waters (September 20, 2008)
• Greenland's Request to Kill Humpback Whales Denied (July 1, 2008)
• Greenpeace Activists Jailed in Tokyo (June 22, 2008)
• US Condemns Iceland's Whale Hunt (May 26, 2008)

image: Bawolff

They May Have Leather Backs, But Inside It's Plastic

Leatherback turtles have been around for 110 million years. But a 19th-century invention may be ushering their exit

Alexander Parkes was born in England in 1813, the son of a brass lock manufacturer. After working as an apprentice to a brass founder, he patented a process to electroplate art works in 1841. But he is probably most known for the revolutionary substance he developed in 1856 he dubbed Parkesine. We know it by another name: plastic.

It's arguable that Mr. Parkes' invention has made lives easier -- at least for humans, and in the short run. One-hundred and fifty-three years later, at least one verdict is in: It's made life harder for turtles.

According to a new study, plastic has been found in one-third of leatherback turtles, an ancient turtle species listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The study was based on necropsy reports of 400 leatherbacks that died since 1885.

GET INVOLVED

• Reduce your plastic waste
• Stop using plastic water bottles by switching to resuable eco-friendly water bottles made by Sigg

RELATED POSTS

• Tata vs. Turtles (March 12, 2009)
• Sea Turtle Victory (January 31, 2009)
• One Man's Trash is All Our Trash (January 12, 2009)
• California Moves to Protect Endangered Turtles (July 25, 2008)
  
• China to Ban Plastic Bags (May 24, 2008)
• Conservationists Celebrate World Turtle Day (May 23, 2008)
• Ed Norton Says, "Bag the Bag" (May 4, 2008)
• Massive Pile of Garbage Grows in Pacific (April 10, 2008)
• Death by Plastic (March 28, 2008)
• Helping Endangered Turtles in Sri Lanka (March 20, 2008)

image: NOAA

Appalachian Mountains Get A Breather

Environmental standards for mining were slackened under Bush. Now the Obama administration is toughening things up

Commenting on the Bush administration in an April 11, 2008, article in the National Journal, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer was quoted as saying, "I view this administration as environmental outlaws."

What a difference a year makes.

Last month, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson ordered a review of up to 200 pending surface coal mine applications. As opposed to underground mining, surface mining removes layers of soil and rock, scarifying the landscape and destroying ecosystems.

And now, according to a recent AP article, the EPA has revoked a Virginia mine permit, forcing the operator to obtain a new permit under more stringent environmental guidelines, and also wants more standards in place before the Army Corps of Engineers gives out permits for two surface mines in West Virginia.

"The days of reckless, unchecked destruction of Appalachian mountains are numbered," said Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, in an April 8 press release. "There is much more work to do, but President Obama’s EPA has taken bold action on mountaintop removal coal mining, and we applaud their intervention."

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Sierra Club's letter urging your representative to permanently protect the Grand Canyon from uranium mining
• Join the Reality Coalition to help push the coal industry to come clean about dirty coal

RELATED POSTS

• What Is Clean Coal? (February 28, 2009)
• More Than Four Decades Later, A Portuguese Mine Still Pollutes (February 17, 2009)
• $700 Billion Bailout Bill Includes Tax Breaks for Dirty Fuel (October 5, 2008)
• Mining for Answers in the Philippines (April 6, 2008)

photo: mountaintop removal mining, West Virginia, NRDC Media

A River Runs Through It

A new report on America's endangered waterways is gloomy, but offers legislators some possible solutions

Twenty-five million Californians rely on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta System. But its ecosystem is at risk due to an outdated water supply.

Flowing through Oregon, Washington and Idaho, Lower Snake River (pictured) has four dams that have decimated the river's once extraordinary salmon runs.

In Pennsylvania, Laurel Hill Creek is a picturesque and popular trout stream, but it's threatened by excessive water removal from energy and land development.

These are just three of the 10 most endangered rivers in America, according to a new report released by the non-profit conservation group American Rivers. It is their first report since 1986. The report covers the rivers facing major legislative decisions this year.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign American Rivers' petitions showing lawmakers your concern for the health of America's rivers (for US citizens)
• 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

RELATED POSTS

• More Than Four Decades Later, A Portuguese Mine Still Pollutes (February 17, 2009)
• The River Runs Dry (January 27, 2009)
• Ancient Water Source Key to Australia's Future (December 27, 2008)
• Save Kolahoi, Save Kashmir (October 28, 2008)
• Got Water? Visions of Planet Earth in 2030 (October 14, 2008)
• Starbucks Wastes Water, A Lot of It (October 8, 2008)
• Future of Water Looking Murky (September 4, 2008)
• Hundreds of Ducks Dead After Landing in Toxic Waste (May 11, 2008)

photo: Daniel Mayer

Animal Farm

More than three decades ago, Peter Singer suggested that our moral obligations transcend our species. Nicolas Kristof wonders if we're finally catching up to that rather revolutionary idea

In an April 8 op-ed, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof takes California's landmark Prop 2 legislation -- which affords some basic standards of care to farm animals -- to ponder the animal rights movement, saying that the new law deals with the "overarching ideas about the limits of human dominion over other species."

Kristof notes that the movement was fomented not only by the public's emotional reaction to the distressed conditions farm animals are put through, but also by "Animal Liberation," a seminal 1973 article written by Princeton scholar and applied ethics expert Peter Singer that was expanded into a book in 1975. That book, Kristof says, "helped yank academic philosophy back from a dreary foray into linguistics and pushed it to confront such fascinating questions of applied ethics as: What are our moral obligations to pigs?"

In a live discussion with Singer in December at the Center for Inquiry, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins said, "What I am doing is going along with the fact that I live in a society where meat eating is accepted as the norm, and it requires a level of social courage which I haven't yet produced to break out of that. It's a little bit like the position which many people would have held a couple of hundred years ago over slavery. Where lots of people felt morally uneasy about slavery but went along with it because the whole economy of the South depended upon slavery."

Perhaps California, that restless state of innovation and manifest destiny, will one day be looked at as a major influence in the nation's rethinking of its huge appetite for animal flesh. And while Prop 2 is certainly not the Emancipation Proclamation -- its relatively modest goals include making sure that pigs live in cages at least big enough for them to stand up and turn around -- it represents a tremendous step towards a world where humans care not just about what they eat -- but also the underlying moral question of how these animals end up on the dinner table.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Humane Society's petition urging Congress to pass a law that gives poultry the same humane slaughter rights currently afforded to other farm animals
  
• Join the Farm Sanctuary's Advocacy Campaign Team
• Cook these vegetarian recipes from the Humane Society

RELATED POSTS

• The Gloomy Dean (January 30, 2009)
• If We Really Are What We Eat, Most of Us Are A Bit Disturbing (October 17, 2008)
  
• Californians to Vote on Landmark Anti-Cruelty Act (September 22, 2008)

IN THE NEWS

• University Threatened by Animal Activists (Radio Netherlands, March 20, 2008)
• Fur Is Down (Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society of the United States, April 8, 2009)

photo: Farm Sanctuary