Officials from 13 nations are meeting to discuss conservation efforts to save the endangered tiger. Officials from countries where tigers still roam – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam - are taking part in the Asia Ministerial Conference (AMC) on Tiger Conservation. The conference runs from January 27 to January 30, 2010, in Thailand. Read the rest of this entry »
Continuing a series on Ecovillages I started last month, this article delves into some of the unique features and successes of the extraordinary Auroville ecovillage in India.
Auroville’s main goal has always been “to realise human unity — in diversity”. It is also concerned with “sustainable living and the future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind.” It is involved in ongoing researching on these topics. Ideally, it’s intended that Auroville (City of Dawn) eventually consist of 50,000 people from India and around the world.
The idea for the ecovillage or township started to sprout in the mid-1960s by its main founder, Mirra Alfassa, “The Mother” (born in Paris by an Egyptian mother and Turkish father), and the project was founded in 1968.
In 1966, before it was founded, the project (located in southern India) had already received the backing of UNESCO, support which has continued in a variety of ways since then. “In 1966 UNESCO passed a unanimous resolution commending it as a project of importance to the future of humanity, thereby giving their full encouragement.”
As people around the world watch the unimaginable images being streamed out of Haiti, humanitarian aid is finally reaching the people that have been devastated by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on January 12, 2010. Food, water, medical provisions, shelter and supplies are slowly reaching those affected by the catastrophe. Read the rest of this entry »
Give people a little winter weather and they cry out that global climate change is a myth.
Well, unfortunately, that is not the case.
Before we get too excited about the cold weather, here are a few things to look at, including the fact that the scientist who said we were entering “global cooling” doesn’t really say so at all. Read the rest of this entry »
The Masvingo regional court has sentenced a member of the Mazhongwe rhino poaching gang to 17 years in prison for killing an endangered rhino.
Justice – at last: Zimbabwe rhino poacher Tichaona Mutyairi has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for killing a rhino and firing on police in October 2009.
After years of letting the killers walk free, could this case finally be the turning point in the war against rhino poaching in Zimbabwe?
Once the largest importer of illegal rhino horn for use in ceremonial dagger handles, Yemen is no longer considered a driving force in the current rhino poaching crisis.
While demand for illegal rhino horn in Asia surges and threatens to undermine decades of conservation efforts, the market for illegal rhino horn in Yemen has decreased sharply.
This post presents amazing video clips of the courtship behaviour of six birds. Such amazing behaviour that is linked to appearance and build is worth thinking about just over 200 hundred years after the birth of Darwin. The post simply explains the behaviour in a single paragraph, gives a link for further study and leaves the reader to watch the short video.
Sage-Grouse
The sage-grouse from temperate North America, is one of the many species of birds that practice lekking, a behaviour in which the male birds gather and put on displays that aim to attract female birds. The female bird selects a male based on her judgement of the display. The most attractive males mate with many females strengthening the advantage of an attractive display.
According to Defenders of Wildlife, 2009 was a very bad year for the Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi. Nearly 20 percent of the Florida panther population was killed by vehicles last year. Years ago, these magnificent cats roamed free in eight states. Today, less than 100 of the endangered panthers are believed to exist in the wild. Read the rest of this entry »
Good news from Uganda: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary has welcomed a third baby rhino!
2010 is off to a promising start at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where a white rhino calf was born on January 2 – the third baby rhino following more than 25 years of regional extinction.
A young American lady, Katie Spotz, has just started to row across the Atlantic Ocean on her own. Why? Katie, 22 years old, hopes to raise $30,000 for Blue Planet Run and give clean water to 1,000 people by doing this!
Katie just pushed off from Senegal yesterday and is on her way. She hopes to make the 2,500-mile journey in just over 100 days. The map above shows her progress up until now (updated every 20 minutes on her twitter page by Google Earth).
Apparently, she really will not see another human being for the entire trip (although she is sure to have bird visitors — her first one photographed in the picture below). She has not been rowing for long, but apparently she is not new to such adventures.
Think globally, act locally has been a mantra for the environmental movement for decades. At EcoLocalizer, you can find local news and information about citizens, organizations and businesses that are taking positive green steps forward in their neighborhoods and communities.
