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!! 

Predator Culls

Predator/prey relationships are a huge factor in the balance of an ecosystem, and, as with any relationship, when one party is destroyed, so is the balance and there are consequences. A cull is a mass killing of an animal, and unfortunately, predators are often culled mainly due to fear and not scientific reasoning.

Good ol' Wile E. Coyote. Funny, yes, but also true- not even a super genius stands a chance against humans. 

Coyotes
Coyotes are considered a pest in many parts of the United States. Even though their love of scavenging gives them a valuable role in the "janitorial" section of the ecosystem, many people classify them as bloodthirsty killers. And yes, they also will hunt other animals such as raccoon, skunks, foxes, rodents, and Canada geese (we have too many geese anyway, right?). They will also attack farm animals, which is where people start getting angry.  

Controlled by trapping, shooting, poisoning, and denning (killing pups), the government is trying to protect farm businesses from the destruction these "pests" cause (and yes, this has caused a stir). The problem with this approach is that coyote populations bounce back. When more are killed, they reproduce more- it's called compensatory reproduction. They will mate at an earlier age, and have larger litters of pups, therefore completely defeating the purpose of a cull. 

There is also the giant issue of coyote contests, where people go out and kill as many coyotes as they can in a race for the grand cash prize. In my opinion, it's unnecessary and cruel to just go out and slaughter these animals in a contest, but there is a large population of people that love these contests more than their pick-up truck (not that I'm picking on a certain collective of people). But I won't tell you what to think, read about it yourself.  Also, here is a great film called "Killing Coyote" that gives a good insight. 

Big Bad Wolf
All too often this phrase gives wolves a bad reputation. Unlike coyotes, wolf populations don't bounce back when they are under pressure. They crumble, like a big crumbly cookie. In fact, when wolves were extirpated from the Eastern United States, coyotes moved in to fill the empty niche. You see? Every action we have on our environment has some sort of consequence. Wolves have been reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park, but unfortunately I doubt they will ever regain their historic territory (the gray area) . 

Sharks
Did you think I would go through a blog without mentioning sharks? Ha! Well, sharks are one of the predators that fall victim to mass killings. The most recent tragedy was the government-funded shark cull of Western Australia, in an effort to make beaches safer. The plan was to kill as many sharks as they can by catching and shooting them in the head, or letting them die and rot on baited hooks, which would theoretically help bathers and surfers. But the funny thing is, when sharks are killed, more sharks step into their niche, or their place, which doesn't accomplish anything. Even funnier, of the almost 200 sharks killed, none of them were great whites, which was the targeted species. Thankfully, this cull has been called to an end, and you can read about it here and here 

How can you not love sharks? 

Predator control depends on public acceptance. Isn't it a whole lot easier for legislation on wolf control to pass than if someone proposed the mass killing of bunny rabbits? There needs to be economic, social, and especially biological justification for predator control, and only lethal methods should be used if nothing else works.

I bet they are all tweeting about palm oil, I can tell. Except the guy in the striped shirt, he's on reddit /r/gonewild.

If you are disturbed by anything you read about in this post, or any of my blog posts, please do something! Take a little action, go on Google, read about these topics, and spread awareness of these issues. A simple tweet can go a long way, folks, and tweeting about a conservation issue would do a lot more good than tweeting a picture of your lunch. 

As always, thanks for reading everyone! 

Consumer Responsibility

Be aware of what you buy! 
When you buy a company's products, you are supporting them and their practices. For example, when you buy a steaming bowl of shark fin soup (which I hope none of you would do), you are encouraging people to keep pulling sharks out from the ocean and slice off their fins. So, long story short, be aware of what you are buying and be a responsible consumer! 

Here are some easy labels to look for: 

Rainforest Alliance

Marine Stewardship Council






Here's a link to some other food labels, too! 

Shoutout to LUSH Cosmetics- proving one company can make a difference! Many of their products contribute to a charity pot, benefiting 600 charities! They also raise awareness for many issues, including the FinFree movement (they even had a petition during shark week!). 

Oh donuts, I always knew you were good

Another shoutout to Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme for sourcing their palm oil from sustainable sources! I've mentioned before that palm oil is a huge factor in deforestation, especially in lush, biologically important rain forests. If these mega-mouthwatering donut chains are pushing for more sustainability, hopefully other fast food restaurants will follow!! Here's an article on it. 

Thanks for reading everyone! 

A History Lesson

In honor of school resuming, I'd like to take a minute to talk about the men who led the American conservation movement. 

John Muir
Muir is most famous for his "Preservationist Ethic"=nature has intrinsic value. He is considered the "Father of the National Park System" because of his role in creating Yosemite, Sequoia, Mt. Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks. To protect these parks, he formed the Sierra Club. In 1903, he assisted Teddy Roosevelt in his conservation programs, many of which are still in effect today.  

Gifford Pinchot
Pinchot was the 1st US Forest Service chief, after studying forestry in France. As chief forester, he increased the number and size of national forests, and constructed proper managerial practices for them. He believed in the "Resource Conservation Ethic"=if you manage resources properly, they will be around for generations to come. His work earned him the reputation as "Father of American Conservation".

Aldo Leopold
Considered the "Father of Wildlife Management", Leopold aimed to utilize and conserve resources at the same time. He is known for the "Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic"=conservation based on succession, the fact that ecosystems change. Among his published works is the first Fish and Game Handbook used to catapult game management.

Theodore Roosevelt
Our 26th president was quite a force in wildlife conservation! He recognized ecosystems, he believed in conservation through wise use, and that science is the cornerstone of conservation (somethings I think we need to focus more on in today's wold). He made the National Park System, with the help of Mr. Muir and Mr. Pinchot, and because of what he did, the USA is considered one of the best models of wildlife management in the world! (In the future, I will post more about Teddy- right now I'm reading a book about him.) 

You know Theodore Roosevelt was awesome because he was played by Robin Williams (*tries not to cry......cries a lot*)

Well there ya have it folks, four of the founding fathers of wildlife conservation in the US of A. Keep a look out for upcoming posts about everything from tea brands to coyote contests, and, as always, thanks for reading!! 

Book Review: Jeff Corwin

Jeff Corwin is famous for his work in wildlife conservation, and I have been a fan of his since I was little. While it's hard to compare anyone to Steve Irwin, I would say Jeff Corwin is the American version of the late Crocodile Hunter, teaching audiences about animals from around the globe with his funny and educational TV shows ("The Jeff Corwin Experience" has over 13 million viewers in the US!) 

In this book, he narrates a series of tales about the world's most endangered species of animals. "100 Heartbeats" means that 100 or less of the animals of these species exist in the wild. And not only does this book talk about heartbeats, it also pulls on heartstrings- I found myself crying several times over the atrocities some of these animals face. But on the flip side, Mr. Corwin's outgoing and entertaining personality shines through, and kept me hungry for the story on each following page. Even for someone educated in animals and conservation like myself, this book was an eye-opener- it showed what is going on on the front lines of these issues. 

In short, I recommend this book to everyone. I absolutely loved it, and I think if more people read this piece, the general public would have a better appreciation for wildlife and those fighting to protect it. So do yourself a favor and buy it! 

For fun, here's a video of some of his shows' clips! Can you see why I adore this guy?

Here are a few links to some more of Mr. Corwin's projects:
TV Shows and Appearances
Another Book of His
Emerald Canopy Rainforest Research Association

With the summer ending, I look forward to posting more often, so keep checking back! And of course (you guessed it:) thank you for reading!