Get Involved September 25, 2010! Volunteer to Cleanup the World's Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds!

Ever felt an urge to clean up Earth's natrual water sourses but not quite sure how or when? Well, boy have I got news for you! On September 25th 2010, the EPA is sponsering the annual event called the International Costal Cleanup (ICC)! It is the largest volunteer effort to to clean up Earth's marine enviornment. This event spans over 100countries and cobers all of Earth's major water sources.

Last year about hald a million people participated in this epic event. Overall they removed 7.4 million lbs, about 10.2 debis items, of debris from 6000 costal, shoreline, and underwater sites. Of all the debris found, 60% of it was classified as disposable. Included in that was over 512, 517 disposable spoons, forks and knives were found. This is enough for over 100,000 people to enjoy a picnic together.

Some event that are close to us are the New York and Washington D.C. Urban Waters/ICC events. These events will feature some special speakers, cleanup actiities, and also give you good advice on how to help cleanup your neighbor hood.

Opinion: I think it's great that we have a sucessful international costal cleanup program. It is very important to the enviornment that these coast stay clean. Its also a great way to volunteer your time and also enjoy yourself at the same time. I'm very glad that this many people have taken action and care about the enviornment enough to take their time to help keep coastal areas clean.

Questions:

1) Why is it so important that we keep our coasts clean?

2) What have you done to help the enviornment?

3)If you had the opertunity would you participate in this event?

United States: Decrease in Bubonic Plague Cases May Be an Effect of Climate Change

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/health/

21glob.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis) is a bacterium that lives in the blood of some rodents. Each year, approximately ten to twenty Americans catch it. One to three of these people die. Today, most cases of plague are located at the meeting place of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado; also known as Four Corners. This is caused mostly in rodent-infested housing, where victims in most cases live.

Ferrets and prairie dogs are hosts to this bacterium, and when fleas infesting these animals travel closer to humans, it is passed off. Examples of this passing are when fleas transfer the disease to mice, squirrels, or rats, who somewhat interact with pets, that give it to humans.

Although global warming may seem harmful, and in no way beneficial, it could be helping us with this problem. It's possible that global warming is reducing the amount of bubonic plague in the US. Higher temperatures show less cases of plague, for multiple reasons. Warmer weather causes snow to melt, which leads to drier soil in rodent burrows. Fleas die when the soil becomes too dry.

Even with higher temperatures, it is still possible for new outbreaks of the disease, as closeness to infected animals increases. Despite this, antibiotics can be used to cure it when caught early enough.

Opinion: I think that we need to keep a very close eye on this disease, and the many factors to it. It is definitely good that global warming is helping the problem, but even that causes more issues on other topics. It is very necessary to wash hands often, especially after touching animals (even your pets!). Ridding of flea infested rodents in highly populated areas is also a good idea. I'm also confident that more research will be done on the disease, and antibiotics (and cures) will be improved. I for one hope that more will be done about bubonic plague, because I do not want to catch it!

Questions:

What else do you think can be done about bubonic plague to benefit humans?

Do you think that global warming is really helping to rid of the bacterium? Or is it just coincidence?

What other information do you know about the topic? Any other sites?

Turtles in Trouble















http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/41775

So far this group has talked exclusively about animals on the edge of extinction. And I will not be the one to stop that streak

The human race’s harmful ignorance is once again pointed out. According to a new analysis by Conservation International, more than a third of the world's 280 freshwater turtle species are threatened with extinction. CI’s recent analysis has pointed out that the recent drop in population for turtles is mainly because of people harvesting turtles and their eggs for food. Because turtles are believed to have medicinal curing properties, turtles are very beneficial, especially in China and Asia.

Dr Peter van Dijk, the director of CI’s Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Conservation Program, explains how such harvesting impacts long-lived turtle populations. “These are animals that take 15 to 20 years to reach maturity and then live for another 30 to 40 years, putting a clutch of eggs in the ground every year. They play the odds, hoping that in that 50 year lifetime, some of their hatchlings will somehow evade predators and go on to breed themselves. But if you take these animals out before they've reached 15 and can reproduce, it all ends there.”

Some of the reasons why the turtles residing in the rivers are losing population are because of damning for hydroelectricity and mining.

CI also went to into detail about the ten most endangered species, some of which have only four individuals in those species.

Even though half of the world’s wetlands are already lost and two-thirds of major rivers are dammed there is still a possibility to help these fascinating creatures.

Opinion: Even though these guys aren’t the most fascination or majestic animals, they still are apart of our ecosystem just as much as any other animal. It is absolutely ridiculous that there are so much of these turtles that basically the only ones of their species. We need to do our part to not just help turtles but to help all these other animals out.

What are some things you could talk to your community about to help turtles?

Why would turtles be so valuable for medicine?

What are some good turtle saving organizations and how are they effective?

How to Save the Wild Tiger

http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/41776

The number one rated animal in the world according to a poll performed by the channel Animal Planet, is on the brink of extinction. This animal is the tiger. Yes, the tiger is the number one rated animal in the world beating out the dog. Unfortuntley, this beautiful animal is beginning to dissapear at a high rate. Globally there is only 3,500 tigers left roughly and only 1,000 are females with the potential to breed. In the countries of Cambodia, China, Vietnam, and North Korea the entire tiger population is gone.Co-author of the Journals PLoS Biology, John Robinson, said, "The tiger is facing its last stand as a species...we are confident that the world community will come together to bring these iconic big cats back from the brink of extinction." Some of the causes are habitat loss, capture or killing by humans, and over hunting of their prey. Basically the main factor in the loss of the tigers is the humans need to use the tigers body parts for medicine. The 42 source site solution seems to be the only way to fix this horrible problem. The 42 source site are sites containing breeding populations and have the best chance to seed the tigers recovery of a large area for the future. These sites could be a perfect spot for a possible 70 percent of the tiger population across the globe. Many countries already have these sites in place and in the fall Russia is hosting what they are calling a "tiger summit" to promote these hopefully problem solving sites.

Opinion: I think the tiger is a beautiful animal and we should definitely preserve this animal. No animal deserve to go extinct because of humans. We should be able to find ways around using the tiger's body parts as medicine. We need to promote the sites all around the globe for the extinction to no longer happen.

Questions: What could you do to help the tiger extinction?

Why do we have to use the tiger body parts for medicine?

Do you have any other idea besides the sites for help for the tiger?

Penguin Population Declining

Most Penguin Populations Continue to Decline, Biologists Warn

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100906145115.htm

Studies show that the penguin population is decreasing.  Penguins are found exclusively in the southern hemisphere in South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and some Antarctic islands.  There are around fourteen different species, and all of them are decreasing in population.  The decrease is mainly caused by four things.  The first is climate change.  This causes a change in water temperature, melting ice,  and a less acceptable condition for the penguins to live in.  These things are important for their fish, homes, mating, nesting, and migrating.  Second, is overfishing. "As fishing efforts around the globe have multipled several fold over the last few decades, penguins are now competing with people for enough food" (ScienceDaily).  The more fish we have means the less fish they have.  Penguins mainly rely on small fish for food, so this is causing starvation for a handful of species.  Third, is the large number of oil spills in the world each year.  This is creating a harsh environment for the penguins.  Oil spills kill thousands of penguins each year.  Lastly, is the increased population of mammals in Australia and New Zealand.  This includes cats and foxes that often prey on penguins.  Many of these problems are caused by humans, and we are the ones who can fix them.  I sure don't want one of nature's cutest and silliest animals to go extinct!

Opinion: All of these problems are caused by us.  The only thing we must do is be careful and consider what will and could possibly happen to these beautiful birds.

Consider the following:
What could you do to help the penguins?
How do you think the penguins became so spread out among the southern hemisphere?
Do you think relocating all of the penguins in one specific area would help incline their population?