Losing our Rainforest

Did you know that more than half of Earth’s rainforests have already been forever lost because of our demand for wood and land?
Forests that once grew on 14%of our Earth's surface now cover only about 6%. If our current deforestation rates continue, these amazing habitats could be completely wiped out within the next hundred years or so.

The reasons for this destruction are mainly economic. Wealthy nations control the demand for tropical timber, and not as wealthy governments sometimes grant logging concessions at a small fraction of the land’s true value. Sustainable logging and harvesting, instead of clear-cutting, are amongst the strategies that could be enforced to stop rainforest loss.

The main threats to our forests are:

-Logging interests cut down trees for timber to be used in flooring, furniture, and other things
-Power-plants and other industries cut down and burn trees in order to generate electricity
-The paper industry pulps large amounts of rainforest trees
-The cattle industry uses slash-and-burn techniques to clear land for grazing
-Agricultural interests clear away forests to be used as cropland
-Mining operations destroy forests to build roads and create mines
-Governments clear-cut forests to make room for service and roads
-Hydroelectric projects flood many hectares of rainforest

The ways we can reverse all of this are:

-Sustainable-logging programs that selectively cull trees, rather than clear-cut them. This would save millions of hectares of rainforest every year
-Campaigns to educate people about the destruction caused by rainforest timber and encourage buying sustainable rainforest products, which could lower the demand and slow deforestation
-Encouraging people who live close to rainforests to harvest its bounty (nuts, fruits, medicines) instead of clear-cutting it for farmland

10 Tips to reduce your Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly through your daily activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). These greenhouse gases are directly linked to climate change, and it is our moral obligation to protect our climate for future generations. The following are some basic step and ideas to promote ‘green’ living within your lives, and will hopefully help some of you to realise the full impact of your actions on an environmental level:

1. Turn down the temperature on your water heater - this is the easiest and most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions
2. Turn down central heating - even a 1-2 degree change will make a huge difference
3. Fill your dish washer and washing machine with a full load - this will save you water, electricity, and washing powder
4. Sign up to a green energy supplier, who will supply electricity from renewable sources (e.g. wind and hydroelectric power) - this will reduce your carbon footprint contribution from electricity to zero
5. Recycle your grey water – can be used to water the garden and in the toilet
6. Upgrade to more energy efficient appliances – washers, fridges, boilers etc...
7. Use public transport or walk/cycle as much as reasonably possible
8. Recycle
9. Promote Greener products through your purchasing patterns – i.e. buy local products to reduce transport emissions, products with less baggage and stay away from wasteful products like bottled water.
10. Try to reduce the number of flights you take – flights are one of the biggest factors on our carbon footprints today.

These are only a few simple steps to reducing your impact on our environment. To find more and calculate your own carbon footprint check out http://wwf.org.au/footprint/calculator/

Sea Shepherd: Crusader or Pirate?

The NHK reports that the Japanese Coast Guard has today obtained an arrest warrant in Tokyo against Canadian Paul Watson, 59, for allegedly instructing members of his group, Sea Shepherd, to obstruct Japan's whaling mission and causing injury to Japanese crew. The Japanese government also seek an international arrest warrant, and Watson's arrest through Interpol.

Sea Shepherd is a non-government environmental organization, operating out of the United States. The group engages in conventional protests as well as controversial direct actions to protect marine wildlife. The Sea Shepherd has crusaded against commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting, and whaling, but its actions have not always been legal, or even free of controversy.

Controversial incidents include scuttling and disabling commercial whaling vessels at harbour, ramming other vessels, throwing glass bottles of butyric acid on the decks of vessels at sea, boarding of whaling vessels while at sea, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. As of 2009, Paul Watson has said that the organization has sunk ten whaling ships while also destroying millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. He considers the actions to be against "criminal operations".

Most recently, this whaling season saw the arrest of Peter Bethune who seized while illegal boarding a Japanese whaler. He was indicted on April 2 for trespassing, injuring a person, carrying a weapon, vandalism and obstructing commercial activities and could face up to 15 years jail time.

So, do the ends justify the means? Tell us what you think and coment bellow!
You can also follow Sea Shepard on twitter at http://twitter.com/seashepherd

Nestlé Killer

On October 30th, 2009 Australia's 'Truefood Guide' was released. The aim of this guide was to empower Australian's to select healthy food choices that were free of genetically engineered ingredients.

The guide reveals over 1000 of Australia's leading food and beverage brands for the amount of genetically engineered ingredients and rates them according to their safety.

The GE-Free Chefs Charter was also created where more than 180 chefs signed in order to create more publicity and awareness of the GE-Free campaign. Many said that we did not know the long term side effects on our bodies and the environment, and were trying to prevent genetically engineered products from entering our supermarkets.
Since the release of the Truefood Guide, leading Aussie brands such as Nestlé, Schweppes and Fosters have committed to the GE-Free policy.

Although Nestlé took part in transforming the food industry to GE-Free products, Nestlé is continuing to use palm tree oil in many of their bestselling chocolates.

So why is this so terrible?

Indonesia’s rainforests are being destroyed as an increase in demand of palm tree oil sweeps the globe. This in turn is driving Indonesia’s Orang-utan’s to the brink of extinction. The Greenpeace website reveals that every 12 seconds, an area of a forest in Indonesia the size of a football field is being cut down.

According to the Centre for Orang-utan Protection, at least 1,500 orang-utans died in 2006 as a result of deliberate attacks by plantation workers and loss of habitat due to the expansion of oil palm plantations.

Greenpeace has also launched an advertisement, check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8TZqQrp9zc

What is being done?

Over 200,000 people have contacted the CEO of Nestlé since Greenpeace’s global campaign which started on March 17th but this is still not enough for Nestlé to stop buying palm tree oil from the Indonesian rainforests.

If you would like to let the CEO of Nestlé know that this is inappropriate behaviour for such a prestigious company, visit this link to make a difference - www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/deforestation/take-action/kitkat

Gudgeon Project

The Southern purple spotted gudgeon is a small fish that was considered extinct since the 1970's. This Murray-Darling fish used to be found all the way up into Northern Victoria, but as a result of interactions with non-native species (mainly Eastern gambusia and Redfin perch), and changes in water levels with river regulation, the species was wiped out. Or so we thought.

A slow-moving ambush predator, it feeds on small fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates, as well as worms and tadpoles. It is found in slow moving or still waters of creeks, rivers, wetlands and billabongs, and prefers slower flowing, deeper habitats.

Recently, a small number of gudgeons were rediscovered in the Cardross Lakes (an irrigation drainage basin system) near Mildura in Northern Victoria. So a number of organizations have combined forces to fight to save the fish in this system, which was drying up because of changes in irrigation practices.

Two days ago, captive-bred gudgeons were released into the Paiwalla wetland. Alberton Primary School students, who have been involved in the project by undertaking their own breeding program, were on-hand to assist with the release of the fish at Paiwalla wetland, located upstream of Murray Bridge.
The ultimate aim of the project is to recolonise areas in the river Murray channel and wetlands once water levels increase.

The Wetland Habitats Trust together with the SA MDBNRM Board will undertake continued monitoring of Paiwalla to maintain favourable conditions for the released fish.
This fish now has a real chance of long term survival as a result of this captive breeding program and the donation of 30 megalitres of water for the Paiwalla wetland.

The project has been a partnership involving the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board, Native Fish Australia, the Paiwalla Wetland Habitats Trust, the Department of Environment and Heritage, the Department for Water Land and Biodiversity Conservation and Healthy River Australia.
Healthy Rivers Australia wants to help secure water for at least the next five years for the Southern Purple Spotted Gudgeon. If you would like to help by donating water of give a financial contribution, contact Healthy Rivers Australia on 08 8211 6017
or email them at info@healthyrivers.org.au

A Tragedy of Commons!

This is not a Shakespearian play, but a theoretical economic issue of intergeneration equality. In general terms the tragedy of the commons refers to an economic and environmental outcome where our finite resources will be completely used or irreversibly damaged by our unlimited and unrestrained ‘wants’.

The development of this idea comes from the ‘fundamental economic problem’ which is a basic assumption about human nature and our earth's resources. The problem states that our ‘wants’, as humans, are limitless but our resources to fulfil these wants are limited which forces us to consider the opportunity cost of every action we undertake and what we forgo in order to satisfy these wants.

To understand this problem it is easier to examine real life issue and examples of possible tragedies that we or future generations may face:
· Depletion of Energy Resources
· Deforestation
· Overfishing and water pollution
· Air pollution and global warming
· Overpopulation

These problems, in the past, have been looked at in an exclusively short-term perspective and only recently have economists and politicians really begun to understand the full impact of our actions on future generations. This is the idea of ‘intergenerational equality’, a notion that our actions now should not impede the living standards of the next generations.

In order for achieve this level of equality between generations, we as a global society need to look at becoming more self-sustained and efficient in our use of resources. This is not only a goal for our governments on a global scale, but should be a goal achievable on an individual level as well. Minimising our personal impact on the environment is the first step in avoiding this tragedy of the commons.



Let us know what you do to minimise your environmental impact by commenting bellow!