” Center of Biological Diversity- saving San Pedro”

June 3, 2011 at 2:30 am (Environmental crisis, good news, Nature's wonders, Saving endangered animals + plants)
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2 Thumbs Up Award  to Center for Biological Diversity

Twice in 10 years, the  federal courts have ruled in favor of Mother Nature ruling the San Pedro River the last major free-flowing Southwestern desert river needs protection. The judges ruled that more groundwater pumping in the Sierra Vista, AZ  area would jeopardize two endangered species living along the San Pedro River. Sierra Vista pumps about 6,100 acre-feet more water than is replenished by rainfall and other means.

Unless the U.S. Army operations at Fort Huachuca decreases their presence  this ground water pumping from the only undammed free flowing river in Arizona would  endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher and the Huachuca water umbel.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Army officials would not comment on the ruling. It overturns their 2007 biological opinion on how pumping for the fort would affect the river.

But a U.S. Geological Survey official, Bruce Gungle, a hydrologist and chief of the survey’s San Pedro project, acknowledged Tuesday there isn’t much more the region can do to conserve water to protect the river, although other measures such as the  importation of Central Arizona Project water has long been discussed, but not acted upon.

In Friday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima said:

• The biological opinion “committed legal error” by failing to analyze the effects of the fort’s actions on whether the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher and the Huachuca water umbel will recover from their imperiled status.

• The Wildlife Service’s opinion relied, in violation of the law, on “uncertain and unspecified” measures to ease the pumping. The opinion mentioned 26 water-related measures, but the judge said it is difficult to determine which of those are actually planned, and that nearly one-third of the projects aren’t financed.

• The Army’s reliance on this 2007 opinion was “arbitrary and capricious,” and the Army violated its duty under the Endangered Species Act to ensure its operations don’t jeopardize the species.

The ruling responded to a suit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society. In 2002, in response to an earlier suit filed by the center, another judge tossed out an earlier Wildlife Service biological opinion, forcing the 2007 rewrite.

The Sierra Vista area pumps about 6,100 acre-feet more water than is replenished by rainfall and other means, studies have shown.

The ruling’s significance should be “that it is finally clear that they can’t come up with enough mitigation measures to preserve the river with the fort’s current troop strength,” said Robin Silver, the Center for Biological Diversity’s conservation chairman. “In order to save the river, they need to reduce the number of missions at Fort Huachuca.”

2 Thumbs Up Award  to

The Center for Biological Diversity + Mother Nature’s eternal thanks for saving the San Pedro.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  http://bit.ly/jjR6dV 

Image 1. courtesy of  http://1.usa.gov/lGD5bg 

Image 2. courtesy of  http://bit.ly/mJHAuN 

 

 

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“Saving the Giant Sequoia”

May 26, 2011 at 8:34 pm (Environmental crisis, Saving endangered animals + plants, working together)
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The Giant Sequoia National Monument (GSNM) and its diverse array of rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species are under greater threats than ever. A plan recently approved by the U.S. Forest Service would continue controversial large-scale logging and road building in this unique habitat.

You can help by asking

Rep. Raul Grijalva to support a Congressional letter to President Obama asking him to use his presidential powers to protect the GSNM.

In spite of a decade-old Presidential proclamation calling for an end to logging and road building within the boundaries of the Giant Sequoia National Monument (GSNM), the Forest Service recently approved a plan that would put this sensitive endangered species habitat at untold risk. Continued logging has damaged and fragmented ecosystems, displaced endangered and threatened plant and animal species and robbed future generations of the ability to be among Giant Sequoias–the largest trees on Earth.

Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) has prepared a letter to President Obama asking that he transfer GSNM to the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. You can read the letter below. The National Park Service is the appropriate agency to manage the Giant Sequoia National Monument, to ensure that all of our remaining Sequoias, along with the diverse array of rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species, have full and permanent protection.

Take action! Ask your Member of Congress to co-sign Representative Farr’s letter asking President Obama to transfer the GSNM to the National Park Service.

Giant Sequoias are the largest trees on Earth, and fifty percent of the world’s Sequoias are in GSNM. The Giant Sequoia National Monument is a unique forest ecosystem supporting a wealth of rare, threatened, and endangered species. The Pacific fisher, great gray owl, American marten, northern goshawk, peregrine falcon, California spotted owl, California condor, several rare amphibians and the western pond turtle all rely on this forest habitat now threatened by large-scale logging.

Tell your Representative that you support protecting the Giant Sequoia National Monument by transferring its management to the National Park Service.

The GSNM was set aside by President Clinton in 2000 for the purpose of ending logging and road building within its boundaries. In the decade that followed, it has seen continued destruction despite the intention of the proclamation. Numerous members of Congress have pressured the Forest Service to end this mismanagement and federal courts have ruled the Forest Service’s logging plan to be in violation of the Monument proclamation. Yet the Forest Service intends to move forward with its controversial logging plan.

The President can permanently protect this diverse endangered species habitat by transferring it to the National Park Service. Please ask your Representative to co-sign Representative Sam Farr’s letter to President Obama today.

Thank you for everything you do for wildlife and wild places.

Article courtesy of   http://bit.ly/iuaHuy

Image courtesy of   http://bit.ly/jb9UM3

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“Brazil enviro What’s the beef ?”

April 15, 2011 at 5:37 pm (agriculture, Environmental crisis, food safety, good news, Saving endangered animals + plants)
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Brazil issues $1.2 bln in fines on beef companies
Brazilian authorities announced Thursday they are seeking $1.2 billion in fines against 14 companies accused of buying beef from farms exploiting illegally deforested areas or slave labor in the Amazon.

Federal prosecutor Anselmo Henrique Cordeiro Lopes told AFP that he gathered evidence for more than a year and tried unsuccessfully to get companies to sign a deal banning the practices.

Among the accused was JBS Friboi, the world’s largest beef exporter, which told AFP that the complaint was “a surprise” because it was in advanced stages of negotiations with prosecutors on an agreement.

The farms are located in the Amazon state of Acre. Brazil is one of the world’s largest beef producers, but it is estimated that that livestock has caused 80 percent of deforestation in the Amazon in recent years.

The complaint also named Brazil’s Institute for the Environment, which was accused of failing to supervise the companies.

Prosecutors are seeking $625 million in fines and the same amount in compensation for environmental damage, according to Cordeiro Lopes.

JBS Friboi and three other large meat producers had signed a pledge in 2009 banning the purchase of cattle from certain deforested areas in Amazonian states.

It’s not the first time prosecutors have cracked down in illegal farming practices.

In 2010, Brazil fined Lima Araujo Agropecuaria $2.9 million for keeping 180 of its workers in slavery on two of its properties.

Among the 180 enslaved workers freed from the two ranches in the northern state of Para were nine adolescents and a child of 14 years, officials had said.

Article courtesy of  http://bit.ly/ePPc7F

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“When the snows melt”

April 3, 2011 at 10:00 pm (atmospheric/weather, Environmental crisis, pollutants, saving oceans/waterways)
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File image courtesy AFP.

Winter is passing and there are signs that spring is coming to the northern hemisphere. But for University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) environmental chemist Torsten Meyer, springtime has a two peaked dark side.

There are two peak con­t­a­m­i­nant releases from the melt­ing snow pack: “one at the begin­ning of the melt period involv­ing water sol­u­ble chem­i­cals, and one at the end involv­ing par­ti­cle asso­ci­ated chemicals.”is the dark murky side of springtime snow melt pollution.

“During the winter months, contaminants accumulate in the snow and …when the snow melts, these chemicals are released into the environment at high concentrations.”

In a specially designed, temperature-controlled laboratory at UTSC-which includes a homemade snow-gun and a chemical pump-Meyer creates large baths of fresh snow already tainted with organic contaminants.

This one-of-a-kind set-up enables the researcher to slowly melt his “dirty” snow, collect the melt-water and track which chemicals emerge from the snow pack and when.

Meyer’s research reveal:

The spring peak contaminant flush at the very beginning of the melt,…that comes with a deluge of pollution.

When the snow turns black with muck and grime, many harmful chemicals – including those from pesticides, car exhaust, telecommunications wiring insulation, water repellent clothing, paints or coatings – may have already seeped out of the snow and into the surrounding ground water or surface water.

Challenges:

How can municipalities choose their snow dump sites to avoid the rush of pollutants?

How can aquatic organisms and amphibians, fish and invertebrates be protected are at a vulnerable stage of their life cycles during the spring snow melt flush?

Suggestions anyone?

Excerpts and Image courtesy of   http://bit.ly/f3O3x9

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“Finally world food shortage- time to grow local”

March 31, 2011 at 11:29 pm (agriculture, Environmental crisis, food safety, working together)
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They tried to stamp out locally grown grown veggies and fruits for two decades. Now the about face time is here. Due to rising prices of gas, transportation and global warming’s effect of crops going and growing local is necessary.

The Worldwatch Institute’s recently released report, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, shows that diversifying food production by including local and indigenous vegetables can boost communities self-sufficiency and protect vulnerable populations from price shocks.  GO LOCAL!!

“The solutions to the price crisis won’t necessarily come from producing more food, but from listening to farmers, investing in indigenous vegetables, and changing how foods are processed and marketed,” said Danielle Nierenberg, co-director of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet project.

Over a 15-month period, researchers with Nourishing the Planet traveled to 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa highlighting stories of hope and success in agriculture.

The project’s on-the-ground research unearthed hundreds of environmentally sustainable solutions for reducing hunger and poverty. “The project aims to create a roadmap for the funding and donor community to ensure that agricultural funding is directed to projects that really work,” said Brian Halweil, Nourishing the Planet co-director.

Mainstream generally GMO agricultural tends to focus on a handful of staple crops,

such as rice, wheat, and maize as mono crops, and uses expensive, high-tech inputs,

creating an unsustainable and vulnerable food system.

 

Last year’s drought in Russia that damaged a third of the country’s wheat harvest, together with widespread flooding in Pakistan and Australia, caused price shocks around the world.

Skyrocketing food prices are especially destabilizing in poor, import-dependent countries such as those in Africa, where households spend up to 80 percent of their income on food. In Egypt, the world’s leading wheat importer, a 70 percent rise in wheat prices helped trigger the recent wave of protests that swept the country. Subsequent unrest across the region is raising fears about global instability.

Investing in agricultural development, especially indigenous vegetable crops, could help feed economically challenged communities worldwide, boosting their resilience to price shocks while helping farmers protect biodiversity and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

“There is no other single sector of the global economy that is so central to meeting the needs of the nearly 7 billion people on the planet, while also protecting the health of the environment,” said Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin.

Food security is not only about the quantity of food we eat, but also about the quality and diversity of food sources. In contrast to the staple grains that receive disproportionate attention from development aid, vegetables can offer a sustainable solution for a diverse and balanced diet.

Growing vegetables can help address the “hidden hunger” of micronutrient deficiencies that affects some 1 billion people worldwide, and also brings multiple benefits for farmers.”Vegetables have shorter cycles, are faster-growing than cereal crops, and require little space,” says Abdou Tenkouano, director of AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center’s Regional Center for Africa and State of the World 2011 contributing author.

The small-scale “revolution of greens” that is currently underway in Africa deserves greater attention from the global funding and donor communities. Researchers, nongovernmental organizations, and farmers across the continent are rediscovering traditional diets, improving the availability of nutritious indigenous vegetables (such as moringa and lablab), and reigniting interest in traditional vegetable dishes.

Nourishing the Planet’s on-the-ground research offers three major policy recommendations to boost worldwide interest in and availability of indigenous vegetable varieties:

Listen to farmers. Organizations like AVRDC and the International Development Research Centre hold periodic workshops and field days, bringing together farmers, consumers, businesses, and communities to identify varieties of onion, tomato, eggplant, and okra that grow the best, taste the best, and perform best at local markets. This helps researchers develop more nutritious and locally adapted varieties that enhance and complement specific food preparations.

Get seeds to farmers. The seeds of preferred vegetable varieties are being made more widely available in Africa and elsewhere. Better seeds mean more vitamins in the food, better-tasting food, and ultimately less hunger and malnutrition. After scientists at AVRDC developed two higher-yielding tomato varieties with thicker skins-making them less vulnerable to pests and damage-farmers growing these varieties raised their incomes by 40 percent.

Take advantage of what’s local. As the impacts of climate change become more evident, indigenous vegetables that have been neglected for decades are regaining attention because of their tolerance to drought and resistance to pests. Researchers have developed improved varieties of amaranth, African eggplant, African nightshade, and cowpea that are now widely available in many parts of Africa.

In Uganda, Project DISC (Developing Innovations in School Cultivation), supported by Slow Food International, is reigniting an interest in these foods by teaching students how to grow and cook indigenous vegetables.

Article provided by   http://bit.ly/dKtHFt

Image courtesy of  http://bit.ly/gNroWM

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“Nature’s Crusaders 2 Thumbs up Award goes to Care2 and you”

March 31, 2011 at 4:13 pm (endangered animals and plants, Environmental crisis, food safety, Saving endangered animals + plants, saving oceans/waterways, working together)
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Thanks Care2 and thanks to all Nature’s Crusaders readers who are passionate about helping Mother Nature’s people, wildlife and environment.

These huge victories show that you’ve made a difference.

Guam Signs a Bill Banning Shark Finning
Guam became the third country to ban shark finning, a process that cruelly removes the fins off sharks to make

One fin catch shark slaughter

shark fin soup. Nearly 15,000 signatures went out to the Governor of Guam and he listened. Great work and we hope others will follow in Guam’s footsteps to ban shark finning. Read more.

Costco Has Become a Leader in the Sustainable Seafood Industry

Costco has become a leader in the sustainable seafood industry by stopping the sales of 12 “red-listed” seafood species. Greenpeace and over 30,000 Care2 members convinced Costco that fishing “red-listed” seafood is not only damaging to the environment, but often these fish are harmful to humans. Thanks Costco! Read more.

Canada Won’t Air Fox News Style Broadcasting
After the public discovered that the Conservative Harper government was attempting to change the rules that prevented media outlets from broadcasting false or misleading news, their reaction was swift and decisive. Activists got together to let the Canadian government know they won’t allow false news to be broadcast. All attempts to change the rules were abandoned and Canada will continue to have honest news broadcasting. Read more.

Thank you for your efforts and for being a part of Nature’s Crusaders and the Care2 community. You’ve made a real difference in the lives of people and animals.

You can share your own success stories with us by emailing care2 and Nature’s Crusaders

 

Nature’s Crusaders 2 thumbs up Award goes to Care2 this month for all its efforts and dedicated consistent hard work to help our planet be healthier, happier and safer for all.

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“Where the next big earthquake hit?

March 23, 2011 at 8:41 pm (Environmental crisis, geology/earth sciences, good news, working together)
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Coral Reefs Can Predict the Site of Coming Earthquakes

Where will the next big earthquake hit?

Geologist Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham and his doctoral student Gal Hartman of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Physics and Planetary Sciences in the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences are examining coral reefs and submarine canyons to detect earthquake fault zones.

 

Aboard a marine vessel that traversed the waters of Israel and Jordan and peering at depths as deep as 700 meters, the researchers analyzed the structure of the seabed. Seeing active submarine canyons, mass wasting, landslides, and sediment slumps related to tectonic plate movements and earthquake activity.

The most important indicator for earth quake activity is the location of the fault. Looking at and beneath the seafloor, the team of researchers from three countries saw how the known active faults are deforming the upper sediments of the Red Sea. They also saw other faults know just how many active faults are in the region. This should help predict where the next big earthquake will strike.

What made their study particularly unique is that they used the offset along linear structures, of fossil coral fringing-reefs to measure what they call “lateral slip across active faults.” With this knowledge, researchers were able to calculate total slip and slip-rates and how active the fault has become.

Working with an international team of Israelis, Americans and Jordanians, Prof. Ben-Avraham and his team are developing a new method to determine what areas in a fault zone region are most at risk. Using a marine vessel, he and his colleagues are surveying a unique geological phenomenon of the Red Sea, near the coastal cities of Eilat and Aqaba – but their research could be applied anywhere, including Japan and the west coast of the U.S.

“We can now identify high-risk locations with more certainty, and this is a boon to city planners. It’s just a matter of time before we’ll need to test how well cities will withstand the force of the next earthquake. It’s a matter of proper planning,” concludes Hartman.
In a recently published in the journal Geo-Marine Letters, the research details a “mass wasting” of large detached blocks and collapsed walls of submarine canyons along the gulf region of the Red Sea. They believe the geological changes were triggered by earthquake activity.

Now it is possible to identify high-risk locations with more certainty, and this is a boon to city planners and disaster/emergency teams. It’s just a matter of time before we’ll need to test how well cities will withstand the force of the next earthquake. It’s a matter of proper planning to help save lives.

Resources

Excerpts and Image courtesy of   http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Fault_Finding_Coral_Reefs_Can_Predict_the_Site_of_Coming_Earthquakes_999.html

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“Japanese need your help”

March 14, 2011 at 10:15 pm (Environmental crisis)
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World Care Civilian Emergency Relief Center of Tucson is on high alert to assist

An 8.9 earthquake hit Japan, March 11, 2011. As aftershocks continue to hit the region, assessments of the tsunami will continue to come in over the next week. Thousands of bodies are reported to have washed ashore and worse yet nuclear power plant melt downs are increasing.

World CaWorld Care is collaborating with FEMA Region 9 to manage civilian volunteers and supply aid to affected regions if needed. Region 9 includes Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, Guam, the North Mariana Islands, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Federal State of Micronesia, and American Samoa.

Rescue workers combed the tsunami-battered region north of Tokyo, where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed in the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has dubbed the multiple disasters Japan’s worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to $180 billion, analysts said it could tip the world’s third biggest economy back into recession.
World Care is collaborating with FEMA Region 9 to manage civilian volunteers and supply aid to affected regions if needed. Region 9 includes Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, Guam, the North Mariana Islands, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Federal State of Micronesia, and American Samoa.

Early warning systems and FEMA evacuation plans have been very effective in Hawaii and California so that casualties and injuries caused by this disaster are prevented or minimized.

World Care encourages civilians within communities to be ready to respond when disasters strike. It is currently working in partnership with local and state government agencies in a city-wide effort to develop a disaster communications plan and training.

Fifth largest earthquake in the 20th century and the largest since the Japanese have begun taking recordings in the 18oos.  See video.

Please if you cannot give any of the things World Care needs then sent light, love, comfort and support to all suffering people and animals everywhere. Thank you-Mother Nature

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  http://bit.ly/ga2hEB

Excerpts and Image courtesy of  http://yhoo.it/eWgPXt

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“Saving the grizzlies’ home in Castle Canada”

March 8, 2011 at 6:20 pm (ancient animals, Environmental crisis, Saving endangered animals + plants, working together)
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Save the grizzlies of Castle Canada

The CASTLE grizzly bears are under assault if the plan to begin roading and logging the heart of the Castle’s wild grizzly habitat this June.
Atop the Crown of the Continent ecosystem in the  northern section of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, towers the Castle wilderness, the heartland of the grizzly bear habitat in Alberta, Canada. The Castle needs to be protected as a Wildland Park.

Time is running out. Alberta’s legislature closes shop on March 14, by which time the Castle’s fate may be sealed.

The Castle was once part of the Waterton Lakes National Park, which adjoins Montana’s scenic Glacier Park. But years ago the Castle’s protections were removed, and now it is threatened by ski resorts, oil and gas developments and all-terrain vehicles. It has become a population sink for bears, the place grizzlies go to die.
Save the grizzlies of Castle Canada
Time is running out, you voice and all other animal lover’s voices are needed to tell the Alberta legislature before it closes this session on March 14, to protect the grizzly’s of Castle  by declaring their ancient homeland a Wildland Park.

Urge Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach to stop the logging of this prime grizzly bear habitat, and to renew the Castle’s protections as a Wildland Provincial Park.

Save the grizzlies of Castle Canada

 

Resources

Excerpts courtesy  of http://bit.ly/gysigD

Image courtesy of  http://bit.ly/fPrLAp

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“1st oil rig since BP disaster gets go ahead”

March 1, 2011 at 6:31 pm (Environmental crisis, reptiles, Saving endangered animals + plants, saving oceans/waterways)
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The first new offshore oil rig since the BP oil spill was given the go ahead this week with promises of safety. but endangered sea turtles are still at risk.
That’s why I spoke up  for sea turtle rescue at an oil and gas hearing in Houston that was packed with oil industry and government officials. They seemed to listen. Now they need to hear from all of  you, too,  before the March 31 deadline. Click here to take action, and read more below.


Sea turtles need rescue from oil and gas operations!
At the Texas hearing, an oil company consultant said that he loved the sea turtles as much as I do. If that’s true, then the oil companies have a lot of work to do. The loss of endangered sea turtles that we saw during the BP oil spill must never occur again. With the Kemp’s ridley nesting season just around the corner, now is the time to make things right.

Take Action by March 31, 2011
Right now we have a chance to secure new oil and gas regulations by writing to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. This is the agency that approves new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and is conducting an environmental review of the 2012 – 2017 oil and gas leasing program and accepting comments by March 31, 2011.

At the very least, oil spill response must include immediate on-water rescue of sea turtles, independent wildlife observers and rescue teams on cleanup vessels. Controlled burns and chemical dispersants must be banned in sea turtle habitat. Sea turtle swimways free of oil and gas rigs must be established. Help us get the message across by taking these steps now:

1. Click here to send a message calling for sea turtle protections in oil and gas leases.
2. Support STRP’s ongoing campaign to protect sea turtles from oil and gas with a gift of any amount you can.

Learn more: Read about our latest actions to protect sea turtles from oil and gas operations.

Sincerely yours,

Carole Allen
Gulf Office Director

At left: Carole Allen testifies on behalf of sea turtles at an oil and gas hearing held in Houston, Texas. (Houston Chronicle photo)


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