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Did You Know?"....probably in the long run the
most destructive enemy of the natural world will turn out to be the
capacity of humans not just to change nature and environment but to
be persuaded to like the changes, no matter how dismal they are---just
so no obvious public health hazard is involved." |
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Make your voice heard! |
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The Yangtze river dolphin, until recently one of the most endangered species on the planet, has been declared officially extinct following an intensive survey of its natural habitat. The freshwater marine mammal, which could grow to eight feet long and weigh up to a quarter of a tonne, is the first large vertebrate forced to extinction by human activity in 50 years, and only the fourth time an entire evolutionary line of mammals has vanished from the face of the Earth since the year 1500. Conservationists described the extinction as a "shocking tragedy" yesterday, caused not by active persecution but accidentally and carelessly through a combination of factors including unsustainable fishing and mass shipping. Read the article. |
The future of humanity has been put at risk by a failure to address environmental problems including climate change, species extinction and a growing human population, according to a new UN report. In a sweeping audit of the world's environmental wellbeing, the study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that governments are still failing to recognise the seriousness of major environmental issues. The study, involving more than 1,400 scientists, found that human consumption had far outstripped available resources. Each person on Earth now requires a third more land to supply his or her needs than the planet can supply, it finds. Read the article. |
"If economic growth depended purely on population
increase, Africa, Latin America, Indonesia and the Philippines would
be rich and powerful today," notes Financial Times writer Victor
Mallet. |
There are numerous reasons to protect wetlands, but they are being lost at an alarming rate, despite decades-old state promises that there should be no net reduction. In his book, "Losing It All to Sprawl," nature writer Bill Belleville, said, "We assume wetlands are protected because we are told they are. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regional office in Jacksonville issues an average of 2,000 permits a year to dredge or fill tracts of wetlands three acres or smaller in Florida. Because the work is presumed to have little impact on the aquatic environment, the work receives scant monitoring from other agencies." Read the editorial. |
| Sometime this month, the U.S. population is projected to reach 300 million. In times past, reaching such a demographic milestone might have been a cause for celebration. In 2006, it is not. Population growth is the ever expanding denominator that gives each person a shrinking share of the resource pie. It contributes to water shortages, cropland conversion to non-farm uses, traffic congestion, more garbage, overfishing, crowding in national parks, a growing dependence on imported oil, and other conditions that diminish the quality of our daily lives. Read the article by Lester Brown. | A federal plan made public would mothball the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge - established a century ago by President Theodore Roosevelt - and shutter dozens of others across the Southeast, while cutting scores of the refuge personnel. Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, the nation's first national wildlife refuge, will lose the staff assigned to working with visitors and eliminate active outreach to the public. The plan to eliminate the Refuge's visitor services is among the sweeping cutbacks highlighted in the new "Workforce Management Plan". Read the story. |
| On 3 Feb, after NASA climate scientist James Hansen
told the NY Times he was being harassed for speaking out about greenhouse
gas emissions (WN
3 Feb 06) , NASA Chief Michael Griffin issued a "scientific openness"
policy. However, on 6 Feb, the phrase, "understand and protect our
home planet," was quietly removed from the NASA mission statement.
It had been cited by Hansen to justify his remarks. From What's New by Bob Park |
Research funded by the USFWS Wildlife Without Borders Program indicates as many as 14,000 ospreys are killed by fish farmers each year within the 7 Latin American countries surveyed. When these findings are applied to the 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries that have fish farms along the birds' migratory route, the actual mortality rate for ospreys is most certainly much higher....The research clearly shows that the threat is significant. Read the article. |
| We need to bring in business to bring down taxes.
This development will give us jobs. Environmental protection will hurt
the economy. Growth is good for us.
If we've heard those arguments once, we've heard them a thousand times,
stated with utmost certainty and without the slightest evidence. That's
because there is no evidence. Or rather, there is plenty of evidence,
most of which disproves these deeply held pro-growth beliefs. Read
the article. |
Biologists list hybridization with feral mallards
as the biggest immediate threat to the conservation of Florida's mottled
duck. Because of the relatively small size of the Florida mottled duck
population, complete hybridization of the population is a serious concern.
Currently, mallards can be found year-round throughout Florida on water
bodies at city and county parks, apartment and condominium complexes and
in other urban and suburban areas. These year-round resident mallards
are not part of Florida's native wildlife, and, like most other exotic
species, are causing problems. Learn more. |
The Time To Act Is Now: The
Climate Crisis and the Need for Leadership by Al Gore Read the article. |
Natural cavities normally used by screech owls are
hard to find; hurricane-damaged nest trees have been cut and hauled
away as have the snags and hollow palm trunks that fell. Owls cannot
excavate a hole, and must rely on woodpeckers to do so. Man can help,
especially this month as owl pairs search for a suitable site to lay
their eggs. View instructions to
build a screech owl nest box. |
| "Florida has more wetlands than any other state but Alaska. They stop floods, clean up water pollution, and replenish drinking supplies. Yet despite government promises, they are disappearing." View the St. Pete Times special report Vanishing Wetlands | Is drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge worth the effort? View Report |
| Ever wonder how much pollution is being released into your neighborhood? Find out here! | Florida's Environment - More Violation Notices But Less Results. View the article. |
| Can we live harmoniously with our planet? View an article by a creator of the Gaia Theory. | Are politics and money replacing real science? View disturbing survey results. |
| A total of 20,000 new species, from beetles to dolphins, and from monkeys to birds, are expected to be uncovered by zoologists in 2005. 'It's a race against time,' said biologist Professor James Mallet. 'We are wiping out species at a terrible rate while we are finding thousands of new ones. But although it may seem encouraging to find new animals, we often only come across a new beetle or spider because its habitat is being destroyed for a new farm. Its prospects aren't good.' Read the article. | The global trade in endangered wildlife, according to the US Fish
& Wildlife Service, is estimated at $4.2 billion a year making it
second only to the trade in illegal drugs. View more information: |
All
images and text copyright Pelican Island Audubon Society. E-mail: piaudubon@bellsouth.net |
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