New Ideas for a New Year!

In the world of wildlife conservation, a lot of news is depressing: this is going extinct, that habitat is being wiped out, ect. But this post puts all that aside for a moment to look at the bright side. Here's some cool ideas and new techniques that could really help wildlife in 2015: 

This upcoming year we really need to clean up the ocean, and on that subject, I'd like to introduce you to a new hero of mine. His name is Boyan Slat and he came up with an idea to clean up the ocean back in 2012. To make a long story short, there are humongous garbage patches floating in the middle of our oceans causing inexplicable damage to our environment. Slat has invented a clean-up system that will actually make money while cleaning up all the plastic floating around. Sounds pretty good to me!! His project has already raised more than $2,000,000, and is making some great progress, so check it out!  

Not exactly technology, but using one animal to help another is a concept we can certainly explore more in the upcoming year. For example, a population of rare little blue penguins in Australia is booming thanks to the protection of herding dogs: therainforestsite.com Imagine if we used dogs to help protect other vulnerable species from over-predation! 

Balloon releases pose a huge threat to wildlife, especially marine creatures. There are several alternatives, such as bubble-blowing, paper lanterns, and releasing butterflies. But for those people who are truly set on balloons, there is a more biodegradable brand called Bio-Doves. I'm not saying they're perfect, or that you should go out and buy a million, but are they better for the environment than traditional balloons, and the cool thing is they look like actual doves flying! Now there's no excuse for using regular balloons, and I'm looking at you Gibraltar.

Shark submarines? What? Yeah, Jacques Custeau's grandson, Fabien, made a submarine that looks like a great white shark to better study them. From this unique viewpoint, he got 170 hours of footage that will be extremely valuable for scientists to understand their behavior. Unfortunately, it will be aired on a TV series titled "Mind of a Demon". So he's doing a great thing trying to understand these creatures, but still defining them by their horrific Jaws-inspired reputation. Once again: SHARKS ARE NOT MONSTERS! As long as we stop promoting such gross stereotypes, technology like this could help us study all sorts of marine life and better educate the public on their importance. If you want to read more, here's Redbull's interview. 

Not the best picture, but notice the wind turbines that look like kites.
These actually exist, and if you're interested, click the "wind turbines" link below. 

Alternative energy is a hot subject right now, especially since we're sorta in an energy crisis. In 2015, my hope is for more use of biodiesel, wind turbines, and other effective energy-saving methods. The above picture is from the new Disney movie, Big Hero 6, and imagines what we could do with this type of technology in the future. If we save energy, we save resources, and therefore we save habitat and wildlife. So make one of your 2015 resolutions to save energy!  


Since this is my last post of the year, I wish all of my lovely readers a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Please remember to celebrate responsibly and be safe out there tonight. Thank you so so so much for reading my blog this year, and I hope you'll come back to see what I have in store for 2015!!