Bangalore, Karnataka
Bird of the Day: Coppersmith Barbet and Jungle Myna
Bangalore, Karnataka
Renewable Energy Outlook
World electricity production going from black to green
In a significant first, the world now has the capacity to produce more power from renewables than from coal, according to the International Energy Agency.
In a time of troubling headlines, the more promising headlines can get lost, but they are there. At least with regard to renewable energy. Click the image above to read the summary of this book at Anthropocene or the image below to go to the source:
The rapid spread of renewable energy is a bright spot in the global energy transition towards a low carbon economy. Despite lower fossil fuel prices, renewable power expanded at its fastest-ever rate in 2015, thanks to supportive government policies and sharp cost reductions. Continue reading
Elusive Mammals
Jaguar, the indomitable beast. Photo © The Nature Conservancy (Matt Miller)
The photo above is one of the highlights of this story at Cool Green Science. We have been to the location where this photo was taken and agree it is an awesome spot in terms of probabilities. But not as good as the probabilities in the wilderness surrounding Chan Chich Lodge:
Where to See 10 Impossibly Elusive Mammals
BY MATT MILLER
I grew up dreaming about seeing the world’s rarest and most elusive animals. I knew that some would be extremely unlikely if not impossible. See a snow leopard? Biologists spent months, years, seeking snow leopards and never caught so much as a glimpse.
In reality, you can now see many of these cryptic creatures, if you know where to travel and search. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: California Scrub-Jay (Villa del Faro)
Baja California Sur, Mexico
Life Among The Lighthouses
Writing now from Villa del Faro, in Baja California Sur, I am delighted to read this article from the Travel section this week in the NY Times:
Keeping the Fire of Irish Lighthouses Alive
The golden age of lighthouse construction is long gone, but in their wake are beautiful vistas and stories that bring modern Irish history to life.
By
To get to the Clare Island Lighthouse in County Mayo, in the west of Ireland, you climb up to the island’s northern cliffs along a road of stones, past damp sheep chewing grass, around the bend through an alley of fuchsia hedges in bloom. Keep walking until you reach the lighthouse and slip your key in the lock, hang your parka by the door and take a seat beside the peat-burning fireplace. Someone may be nearby to take your drink order, and the reward for a long walk will be a cold gin and tonic and the soft heat of the fire. Continue reading
Snowball Beach
National Public Radio (USA) has this news from the far reaches of cold lands:
Giant Snowballs Wash Up On Siberian Beach
REBECCA HERSHER
There were snowy, icy balls everywhere.
Videos and photos from western Siberia, on the Gulf of Ob, showed an entire beach covered in snowballs that had apparently washed ashore. In one image published online by the Siberian Times, a woman sat on the frozen balls. In another, a dog ran near the balls, which had also formed what looked like a vertical mass of balls mashed together into an icy ball-wall. Continue reading
The Future Of Food & Taxes
Food production causes a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, largely from the raising of cattle and other livestock. Photograph: Mike Kemp/Getty Images
Tax meat and dairy to cut emissions and save lives, study urges
Surcharges of 40% on beef and 20% on milk would compensate for climate damage and deter people from consuming as much unhealthy food
Damian Carrington
Climate taxes on meat and milk would lead to huge and vital cuts in carbon emissions as well as saving half a million lives a year via healthier diets, according to the first global analysis of the issue. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Asian Paradise Flycatcher
female – Dandeli, Karnataka
From Recent Chan Chich Lodge Guests
When this family told me about their encounter with a troupe of monkeys I had not yet seen these photographs, which they shared as they were preparing to depart Chan Chich Lodge. Looking at the photos now I understand why they were so thrilled by the wilderness setting. The first one I saw, above, was just a blur so I skipped it, but when I came back to it I realized this was what the son in the family had most loved–the exploration, the search to see his first animal in the wild. Continue reading
Shepherds, Preserving Many Fine Forms Of Life
Ignore the irony of our recommendation that you click the image above in the interest of remembering a world without ubiquitous connectivity. Listen. Imagine. Digital detox might make more sense after that. Continue reading
Polar Bears On View
Thanks to EcoWatch for this one:
WATCH LIVE CAM: Annual Polar Bear Migration
Explore.org welcomes back the mystical polar bear species to Pearls of the Planet live nature cam family for another season.
The live cameras are being hosted with nonprofit Polar Bears International, which is dedicated to conserving polar bears and the sea ice they depend on. Frontiers North Adventures, a long time ecotourism partner will provide views from its Tundra Buggy Lodge. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Blue Jay
Dunwoody, Georgia
National Park of the Week: Kamikochi National Park, Japan
Photo from emilyerratic.blogspot.com
Within of the northern range of the Japanese Alps lies Kamikochi National Park, an area comprised of a plateau surrounded by vertical peaks, reflective lakes and virgin forests. Kamikochi is considered part of Chubu Sangaku National Park (also known as the Japan Alps National Park) and was extensively used by the logging industry until the mid 19th century when British missionary Rev. Walter Weston (1861-1940) lobbied to preserve the area. There is a plaque commemorating him and on the first Sunday of every June, the Weston festival is held to celebrate the opening of mountain-climbing season.
If You Happen To Be In Tokyo
© SPL Lascaux international exhibition
It’s the rare few who will have the opportunity to enter the original Lascaux Cave, but thanks to the foresight of the French government and the hard work of dedicated scientists and artists, an exact replica was opened in 1983 that gave visitors a chance to experience the amazing archaeological site. Nearly 20 years later additional replicas have begun to tour the world.
A few days ago we posted about Judith Thurman’s receiving a Medal of Chevalier in part for her inspiring writings about the Chauvet cave. It was a happy coincidence that the traveling exhibit had just opened in Toyko’s National Museum of Nature and Science.
The National Museum of Nature and Science, the Mainichi Newspapers, and Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. will hold a special exhibition, “Lascaux: The Cave Paintings of the Ice Age”, from Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 to Friday, Feb. 19, 2017. About 20,000 years ago, dynamic pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves found in southwestern France, the Lascaux Caves. Continue reading
Congrats On Fellowship, Shannon
Good maps and models show us how things are shifting – and are likely to shift in the future — under climate change © Benjamin Drummond
I am happy to meet Shannan this way:
Meet the NatureNet Science Fellows: Shannan Sweet (Cornell)
Conservancy NatureNet Science Fellow Shannan Sweet spends most of her time these days thinking about climate change, agriculture and, well, maps. But the maps that interest her most are not about road trips, or hiking adventures. They’re not even as much about a place as they are about a destination.
Her destination of choice? A world that can feed 10 billion people without exhausting its resources or exacerbating climate change. Continue reading
Navajo Foodways In Time Of Protest
Thank you Maria and National Public Radio (USA):
A Navajo Chef Gives A Glimpse Inside The Makeshift Kitchens At Standing Rock
At the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, as a Sioux tribe fights the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the months-long standoff has raised a question: How do you feed the encamped masses? Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Red-headed Weaver
Dinokeng Game Reserve, Pretoria, SA
From Guests At Chan Chich Lodge
A family from Spain shared with me some photos they took during their first four days in Belize, spent at Chan Chich Lodge. I asked what was their favorite “thing” about Chan Chich and I appreciated the simplicity of their reply: they most enjoyed the simple fact of being in nature. Waking up to the spectacular racket of monkeys claiming territory in the nearby trees Continue reading
The Attention Merchants, Reviewed & Author Interviews
Everyone seems to be in agreement that this year has been exceptional in terms of attention overloading from all directions–political, commercial, “friends,” and so on. Unfortunately, the forecast is for more, and increasingly effective, attention-getting from technology-aided corporations. We have two words for you: Digital. Detox. And in the New York Times review of Tim Wu’s new book, a compelling set of evidence why those two words matter more and more:
…The history of the slow, steady annexation and exploitation of our consciousness — whether by television commercials, war propaganda or tweets — is the subject of Tim Wu’s new book, “The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads.” He starts with the penny press newspapers of New York City, moves on to the heyday of radio and television, and concludes with the chaotic online bazaar of the present, surely better suited to bugs with eyes all over their heads than to ordinary human beings. En route, he covers snake oil, commercial psychology, Timothy Leary, AOL chat room Gomorrahs. His bandwidth is broad. Continue reading
Deforestation & Big Food
This peat soil in Sumatra, Indonesia, was formerly a forest. Clearing and draining such land releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
The solutions are never easy with regard to climate change; for every bit of good news there is a dose of bad news in the form of realism:
Organikos 