Bhitarkannika National Park, Odisha
Support Sea Shepherd
Of all the posts we could possibly share on the last day of the year, the jolly roger gets our nod this year more than most. Heavy weather ahead, and these folks know how to sail through and get done what no one else is willing or able to do when it comes to protecting marine ecosystems.
We have shared as many news stories as we could follow since starting this platform, and always hope to see more. Their story is not as well known as it should be, nor do they have as much financial support as they need to continue to carry out their mission, so we urge support:
WE ARE SEA SHEPHERD
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization.
Established in 1977, our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. We use innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.
A Beverage Commentary We Can Relate To
Blackberry Cooler, Orchid Thief and Mumbai Mule.Credit Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.
We have never before seen an article by this author that would be considered relevant to the themes we write about, link to, and find worthy of promotion; normally she writes about “drinks,” drinking culture, bar stuff. But here she touches on a theme we have spoken of often among ourselves in our day to day work (but would not likely have ever written about here): that ridiculous word “mocktail” — the word police should come and take it away, lock it up and throw away the key.
On the other hand, we have been watching and tasting in amazement as our beverage teams in India, Costa Rica, Belize and Baja all come up with ever-more inventive ways to enjoy liquids that do not intoxicate. Our biggest challenge, after they do the heavy lifting on the chemistry side of the equation is finding words worthy of a name, and worthy of a category that means non-alcoholic. So, hats off to Rosie on this one:
Don’t Call Them ‘Mocktails’
I’m always thrilled when a certain former drinking buddy comes to see me at the bar. He stopped drinking alcohol years ago, but he’s as fun to be around as he was when we sat side by side at a corner bar in TriBeCa many nights in the ’90s — probably more so. Continue reading
China Closes Out 2016 With Another Important Conservation Statement
A Chinese police officer watched over ivory products being prepared for destruction during a ceremony in Beijing in 2015. China’s ban announced on Friday would shut down the world’s largest domestic ivory market. Credit Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
Yesterday’s news, combined with today’s, could be called a conservation bifecta:
China Bans Its Ivory Trade, Moving Against Elephant Poaching
China announced on Friday that it was banning all commerce in ivory by the end of 2017, a move that would shut down the world’s largest ivory market and could deal a critical blow to the practice of elephant poaching in Africa. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Black-and-white Warbler
Monument Mountain, Berkshires, MA
Thank You, China, For Pandolin Protection
An undated photo, released Wednesday, shows Shanghai customs officers checking pangolin scales at a port in Shanghai. Chinese customs seized over three tonnes of pangolin scales, state media said, in the country’s biggest-ever smuggling case involving the animal parts. STR/AFP/Getty Images
Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for reporting the news related to this remarkable animal:
China Announces Its Largest-Ever Seizure Of Trafficked Pangolin Scales
Camila Domonoske
Chinese officials have seized 3.1 tonnes (more than 3.4 tons) of illegally trafficked pangolin scales from a port in Shanghai, according to state media. Continue reading
Droning Over Wetlands
Thanks to The Nature Conservancy’s Cool Green Science team for helping us realize we almost missed this story:
Flight Over the Bas-Ogooué: Using Drones to Map Gabon’s Wetlands
BY JUSTINE E. HAUSHEER
How do you map a nearly inaccessible 9,000-square-kilometer African wetland that is home to hippos, forest elephants, crocodiles, and the notorious Gaboon viper?
Enter the drones.
Nature Conservancy scientists are using unmanned aerial vehicles to create the first-ever detailed wetlands habitat map of coastal Gabon, in collaboration with scientists from NASA, and other conservation groups working in Gabon. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Orange-headed Thrush
Uttarakhand
ReefCl Annual Report 2016
The citizen science activities we’ve discussed during this past year go beyond bird counts and uploading data. In the case of the invasive lionfish, participants have to really get their feet wet, so to speak.
In addition to creating a viable income in local fishing communities affected by the lionfish invasion by the developing the market for the meat and the spines, numerous organizations invite volunteers to assist in the eradication process itself. Continue reading
Visit Katinka Matson
Ranunculus 2009
We encountered Katinka Matson while reminding ourselves of the annual question presented at the start of 2016 over at Edge. So we went looking for more about her. We agree with all the sentiments expressed on this artist’s own website:
“Her floral pictures are so intense that looking at them, you almost get the feeling that you are able to peer around the flowers themselves.” — The New York Times Magazine Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Blue-crowned Motmot
Tacacori, Costa Rica
The State Of Great
Gov. Jerry Brown at his 2,514-acre family ranch in Colusa County, Calif. “I wouldn’t underestimate California’s resolve if everything moves in this extreme climate denial direction,” he said. “Yes, we will take action.” Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
This article, by Adam Nagourney and science writer Henry Fountain, gives climate-concerned citizens everywhere hope that recent tectonic shifts on the political landscape in the USA will not result in complete abandonment of reason within all the states of that union:
LOS ANGELES — Foreign governments concerned about climate change may soon be spending more time dealing with Sacramento than Washington.” Continue reading
For the Birds: a Message to North American Policymakers
The State of North America’s Birds 2016
We continue to laud the importance of eBird on this site, gaining special importance as it becomes more and more clear that wildlife doesn’t acknowledge political borders. The data gleaned from tens of thousands of Canadian, Mexican and U.S. citizen scientists who contribute to eBird indicate that more than 350 species in North America migrate up and down Canada, the U.S.A, and Mexico over the course of a calendar year.
And according to the recently released State of North America’s Birds 2016 report, those three countries—their governments, and their societies—need to step up and do more to preserve our continent’s spectacular and shared natural heritage of birdlife. This report is the first-ever scientific conservation assessment of all 1,154 bird species in North America, and it was only possible because of the tremendous scale and big-data capabilities of citizen-science….
Among the many takeaways from eBird maps and models includes one of relevance to our property, Chan Chich Lodge, located on 30,000 acres of Belizean forest in the Yucatan peninsula.
The Yucatan Peninsula is one of North America’s most vital bird habitat regions
Not only is the Yucatan rich with endemic birdlife, it’s a critical wintering area for more than 120 birds species that migrate from Canada and the U.S.A. In winter, the entire population of Magnolia Warblers relies on an area of tropical forest in Mexico only 1/10 the size of its boreal forest breeding range, with the Yucatan as the bull’s-eye of their wintering range.
Fast Cats’ Feast
The cheetah is the fastest animal on land—a fact that is often repeated, but seldom truly appreciated. When documentary-makers film cheetas, they typically go for low-angle close-ups that capture the creature’s majesty, but that underplay its speed. The BBC’s The Hunt bucked the trend last year with aerial shots that reveal just how fast the cheetah is.
Ed Yong, writing on the Atlantic’s website, refers to the video clip above with his opening paragraph of Cheetahs Never Prosper. The cat lays the table for its feast, in full speed, and then Mr. Yong shares some plain truths: Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Kashmiri Flycatcher
Ooty, Tamil Nadu
Redeeming Schemes Punctuated With Question Marks
An impression of the town square at the Babcock Ranch development in Florida. Photograph: Babcock Ranch
For every redemption story there seems to be at least one more redemption puzzle. Conundrums. This is one of those. We want to love the scheme for some of its nobler aspects, but then realize it is impossible to do so unconditionally. And finally, simply, impossible:
The solar-powered town: a dream for the environment – or a wildlife nightmare?
Babcock Ranch, the brainchild of ex-NFL player Syd Kitson, aims to be a model of sustainability but campaigners fear it will be tragic for endangered panther
Edward Helmore in New York
Florida real estate has a bad habit of reflecting the boom-and-bust cycles of the US economy but Babcock Ranch, a new development opening early next year and designed to be the world’s first solar-powered town, is hoping it can provide the Sunshine state with a model for sustainable living. Continue reading
Redemption, Dammed Rivers Edition
It’s been only two years since the removal of the last of the dams that obstructed the Elwha River, in Washington State, but already species are returning. Photograph Courtesy E. Tammy Kim
Among our favorite story types, the story of ecological recovery, which is to say of redemption, the following is a welcome addition to the files of 2016:
NEW LIFE ALONG WASHINGTON STATE’S ELWHA RIVER
By E. Tammy Kim
…Shaffer and her colleagues have sampled the Elwha’s nearshore region, where the river meets the ocean, once or twice a month since 2006. August, of course, is an ideal time; when you go in January, McBride said, “your fingers freeze, so you just put ’em under your armpits.” The work of the C.W.I. now seems particularly vital, because, for the first time in several generations, the forty-five-mile-long Elwha is a living river, end to end. Between 2011 and 2014, two large, century-old hydroelectric dams were demolished as part of a federal recovery effort. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Northern Rough-winged Swallows
Atlanta, Georgia
Food’s Future Seen In Urgent Present Perspective
Cristiana Couceiro
When this particular chef develops a thought into action, we are at least curious. When he shares a short essay on how the future of food might work, such as A Blueprint for the Future of Food, we take note. The following is from Turning Points, exploring how key moments from this year might signal something important coming in the year ahead.
Turning Point: France becomes the first country to outlaw food waste.
Not long ago, just before boarding a trans-Atlantic flight, I overheard a woman tell her friend that she had packed her own water bottle because she disliked wasting all the plastic bottles given out on planes. A few minutes later she was on the phone with another friend, explaining that she was on her way to Europe for the weekend to shop and relax. Continue reading
Greening Museums
Illustration by Emily Woodworth
There have been moments in recent months when continued attention to the little details we see, and link to concerning incremental improvements in environmental sensitivity, social responsibility, or any other sustainability metric seems akin to “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” Political turmoil, and specifically political commitment to dismantle environmental protection in various influential countries, might make incremental change seem even less significant to some. These deck chairs are different. Every instance of care and action is a data point worthy of attention, and we will continue to connect the dots. Today, from the Field Museum of Chicago and their awesome Green Team:
THE FIELD MUSEUM’S GREEN TEAM
A Greener Field (the Museum’s “green team”) began as a grassroots recycling effort in 1989, and now has over 40 members representing every area of the Museum. Staff members who share the Museum’s commitment to improving sustainability attend monthly meetings which provide an outlet for them to share successes and challenges in terms of greening their departments, as well as a vehicle to initiate and help implement institution-wide programs. From bike sharing programs to recycling and composting Continue reading
Organikos 