News Review: News with TL;DR Summaries

With so much going on in the world of wildlife conservation, I'd like to mention some current event articles. I've read through them, and included a "Too Long; Didn't Read" or "TL;DR" summary in case you don't want to take the time to view the entire article. Why? Because, in the words of my younger brother, I'm nice like that. 

 There Are Now Just Six Northern White Rhinos Left
TL;DR The Northern White Rhinoceros is a subspecies of the White Rhinoceros, and their population numbered over 2,000 in 1960. Because of poaching and habitat loss, only 15 remained in 1980. Now, the last breeding male has passed away, leaving only 6 and a bleak future.    

Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches New Maximum
TL;DR Sea ice around Antarctica has reached a new record, which means more ice! But don't get too excited, the ice gained in the Antarctic is only 1/3 of the ice lost in the Arctic. Basically, climate change is affecting different places in different ways. 

Ebola and Bushmeat
TL;DR The Ebola outbreak is throwing the world into a panic (your furniture is more dangerous, though-  read this article I mentioned previously). Bushmeat, or wild animals harvested illegally for consumption, has always been bad news for wildlife, but it can also be a way to spread the disease. Just another reason to end the bushmeat trade.  

United Nations Looks At Illegal Wildlife Trafficking
TL;DR $20 billion a year is what the wildlife trafficking criminal trade is worth internationally. At the United Nations General Assembly, world leaders discuss the affect this trade has on humans, such as endangering the stability of local economies and loss of natural resources.  

Predatory Fish are Plummeting
TL;DR Yeah, no sh*t Sherlock! - is my reaction. We've known about the plight of large fish for a while, 55% decrease in the past 40 years! In my opinion, it's because humans are greedy and want to eat all the big fish, but have no concern for the ocean's health. Now we're really starting to see the effects on the rest of the ecosystem, like how smaller fish are having a grand ol' time overpopulating.

Well, sorry if the news was depressing, but that's what's going on right now! Of course I encourage you all to read more, and I'll try to help keep you up to date! Thanks for reading! 

Celebrity Efforts

Some celebrities have taken up charities to raise money and awareness for issues such as women's rights and poverty. But who's out there helping wildlife? Well, I did a little research to find out for myself. 

Tusk Trust

"Tusk currently supports 52 field projects in 17 African countries that not only work to protect wildlife, but also help to alleviate poverty through sustainable development and education amongst rural communities who live alongside the wildlife."

Prince William

Prince Harry

Wildlife Warriors Worldwide

Our mission is "To be the most effective wildlife conservation organisation in the world through the delivery of outstanding outcome-based programs and projects, inclusive of humanity."

Terri and Bindi Irwin

Johnny Knoxville

Jesse McCartney

Justin Timberlake

Chris Knights

Tiger Time

"We fund key tiger projects in Russia, India and Thailand supporting vital anti-poaching patrols, undercover investigations, educational programmes and monitoring activities central to the survival of the tiger in the wild."

Sir Paul McCartney 

Jemery Irons 

Ricky Gervais

Stephen Fry

Slash

The Wildlife Conservation Society

"We currently manage about 500 conservation projects in more than 60 countries; and educate millions of visitors at our five living institutions in New York City on important issues affecting our planet. Our parks include: the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, and the Queens Zoo."

Bono

World Wildlife Fund

"Having invested well over US$1 billion in more than 12,000 conservation initiatives since 1985 alone, WWF is continually working to bring a balance between our demands on our world, and the variety of life that lives alongside us."

Metallica 

Christian Bale

David Attenborough

Leona Lewis

Gisele Bundchen

Oceana

"The largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Our offices in North America, South America and Europe work together on a limited number of strategic, directed campaigns to achieve measurable outcomes that will help return our oceans to former levels of abundance."

Seth MacFarlane

Liam Hemsworth

Hillary and Bill Clinton

Antonio Banderas

                                            Tommy Hilfiger 

Shark Savers

"Founded in 2007 by divers with a shared passion, our mission is to save the world’s dwindling shark and manta populations. Today, more than 25,000 members from 99 nations share that passion."

Yao Ming

*The lists of celebrities I have here for each organization is not complete, I limited myself to 5-per-cause for my own sanity. For more comprehensive lists, click this link: 

More Celebrities and their Causes

I encourage you to check out some of these organizations, they have all made great strides to help wildlife! It's very encouraging to see that there are people out there who care, and of course, you can help by spreading the word and donating! As always, folks, thanks for reading! 

What's Scary?

What is scary in today's world? Finding out the producer of "Once Upon A Time" wants to kill off every Frozen character this season? Taylor Swift finding a stable boyfriend so she doesn't have any more angst-y songs? Dropping your iPhone into a sewer and losing your prized selfies? The zombie apocalypse anyone watching "The Walking Dead" thinks is inevitable?

My favorite zombie, from Hocus Pocus.

What's really scary, I think, is the condition of our planet. I'm talking CLIMATE CHANGE, people. It is real, and it is real bad. Scientists have long agreed that the planet can tolerate a rise in temperature of 2 degrees. On our current path, looking at trends in CO2 emissions, we will have caused almost a 5 degree increase by 2100. Not. Good. 
  

(I got this chart from vox.com, where I also found some very interesting articles: 
Threats to Americans , How America is Already Affected by Climate Change, and Why America will Fail on Climate Change . I certainly recommend reading, or at least breezing, through them.)

So what does an increase in global temperatures mean? 

• More extreme weather, such as tornadoes, droughts, floods, wild fires, dust storms, and hurricanes. 
• The impact of extreme weather and warmer temperatures on crops, livestock, and fisheries will cause food shortages. 
• One-fourth of the Earth's species may be endangered by 2050, and extinctions will destroy whole ecosystems. Remaining species must drastically adapt. Will ours be able to?
• Glaciers will continue to melt , causing sea levels to rise, and many people will be without fresh water, displaced from their homes, or without power.   
• Ocean acidification will release even more CO2, speeding up global warming. Oh, and not to mention, massacring all sea life. 
• Warmer temperatures and dust storms will help spread diseases, such as malaria. 
• There may be wars over natural resources. 
• The next ice age may be sooner than later. 

Are you scared yet? 

Another scary side of this is that no one is paying attention. The graphic below shows the most popular topics on Twitter and Facebook for 2014. To see that people are so infatuated with television and music makes me scared to see what it will take to get them to care about the planet. 

It's also scary to think about your reaction as you read this. I may know you, I may not. You may think I'm a senseless hippie. You may not find my Hocus Pocus picture funny. But that doesn't matter. It's not about me, it's about all of us. And the question is: do you care? Do you care that our resources are being compromised? Do you care about all the extinctions that are happening/will happen? Do you care that there will be extreme and dangerous weather patterns? I want my children and my grandchildren to grow up in a safe world, don't you?

Just concentrate on caring about the environment as much as this guy is concentrating on his throwing.
(I really just wanted an excuse to put this picture up.) 

So how do we make this less scary? Do something. And by that, I mean try to be more "green". Reduce the amount of electricity you use. Don't be wasteful with commodities. Use less water. Recycle. Here's a list of 50 Great Suggestions- definitely read it!! All you need to do is think about what you're doing, what you are wasting, and even a small change helps! Please, please, don't let this cry fall on deaf ears. 

Long story short: stop scaring me, and start caring about your Earth. 

Just so you know, polar bears can swim, but they need the ice to hunt, and they've become an effective poster child for global warming. Check out Polar Bears International! 

Bonus links I found for kids, or those of us who think like one:
Climate Change for Kids
Saving Energy For Kids


Thank you all so much for reading another one of my posts; I hope you find them informative, and at least a little bit entertaining! 

Creature Feature: Gone Batty

Happy October everyone! In honor of Halloween coming up, this post is all about bats!

Why are Bats Cool? 
Two words: FLYING. MAMMALS. Bats are the only mammal capable of true flight. And no, I'm not counting those flying squirrels, because that's gliding (impostors!). Not only can bats fly, they also are capable of echolocation. By emitting a sound, and hearing what those sound waves bounce off of, a bat can determine the size and location of objects in their path, and even how fast they are flying! Sounds crazy right?

Remember this guy from Ferngully? Man I miss Robin Williams....

There are nearly 1,000 bat species worldwide, and they can be found everywhere except polar regions and extreme desserts. With such a wide range, it's no wonder they are so popular in movies and TV shows. Most famously, of course, is Batman.

I laughed harder at this than I care to admit

Why are Bats in Trouble?
Nine bat species in the USA are listed as Threatened or Endangered. The biggest problem for bats is White Nose Syndrome, and I know I've mentioned this before in an earlier post. Populations have declined an estimated 80% since the disease erupted in 2007, and, not to be Captain Obvious, but that's an alarming rate (notice the bold typeface). Research is still ongoing, but the current belief if that this white fungus infects the muzzle and nose of hibernating bats, causing them to wake up itching. When they wake up, they burn precious energy stored as fat, and once they do go back to hibernating, the remaining fat is not enough to get them through the season. Their reproductive biology doesn't help- most bats only give birth to one pup at a time, which is the slowest reproduction rate for a mammal of their size.

Poor Count won't have many bats left to count with (anyone else remember the "Batty Bat" song?)  

Why Should We Care? 
Bats make up one quarter of all mammal species on Earth! And although there is a lot of press about vampire bats drinking blood from other animals, most bats eat other things like nectar and fruit. More importantly though, are the bats that eat insects. In fact, 70% of bats consume insects, which is great for pest control!! One little brown bat can devour 1000 mosquitoes in just 1 hour! Are you looking for a new favorite animal? Cause anything that eats that many mosquitoes is pretty high on my list. Not only is that awesome for people like me who get eaten alive, it's great for our economy. Insect control provided by bats is estimated to value between 4 and 50 BILLION dollars to our country's agriculture. Besides eating insects, they spread seeds and pollen, help to fertilize soil with their guano, and are useful in medical research (i.e. vampire bats' anticoagulant comically named Draculin). 

Daaaawww look at the baby bats!!!! They're so cute!!!

What Can I Do to Help Bats? 
Get involved! I've said it before, you don't have to go out and do something gigantic to help animals, even a small action can help! Tweet about how cool bats are (use #savethebats), read up on White Nose Syndrome, or give your friend an Adopted Bat because that does a lot more than a thoughtless gift card. You can get a bat box and invite bats to your own backyard, or contact your local parks about setting some up! 

Here are some really useful links: 
Organization for Bat Conservation
Wildlife Defenders
Adopt a Bat 
Set Up a Bat House
Plant a Bat-Friendly Garden

He is toad-ally screwed! Ha! Get it? Ok, ok, stop throwing tomatoes, I'm ending the post now...

Thanks for reading guys!!