Photo Credit: Topyti
Perhaps a silver lining can be found in the political tensions between the United States and Cuba. Due to travel and research restrictions, a fragile and ancient ecosystem has been preserved. An underwater landscape has remained intact and many native species, extinct in all other areas, exist and flourish in their natural and historical state. American scientists and travelers have been denied access to this wide-ranging coral reef system, which is one of the largest in its hemisphere. Hundreds of islands, bordered by small beaches and extensive stands of red mangrove, lay off of central Cuba’s southern coast. This area was first named Los Jardines de la Reina (“The Queen’s Gardens”) by Chirstopher Columbus, and five centuries later it still remains relatively untouched or altered. There are no towns, roads, or any permanent human habitation on any island. Read more…
Our current climate crisis is without borders. All nations, developed and developing, are in the same boat when dealing with the possible effects. Most leaders around the world have come to the realization that both ground work and international legislation are necessary to preserve our environment for the future. Things are no different in Jamaica. Read more…
Photo Credit: Anssi Koskinen
How could something so vast (now twice the size of Texas) and so detrimental to our ocean (no water sampled within it’s spatial extent is free of trash) remain so mysterious and under the radar for so long? One would think that with satellites, planes, and boats circling our Earth 24/7 and this new push towards environmental awareness people everywhere would know about or at least have seen photos of this ever growing garbage patch floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I mean, it was only discovered 12 years ago! Read more…
Photo Credit: Jeff Kubina
Palau, an island nation located some 500 miles east of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean, is one of the world’s youngest and smallest sovereign states. With about 200 small islands, and 16 states, Palau’s rich culture and tradition make the location a sought after destination for visitors. However, there are certain visitors that the government is concerned about losing, such as their neighborhood sharks. So, in order to protect their sharp-toothed friends, they have recently created the world’s first shark sanctuary that will protect the declining fish in their waters from commercial fishing.
Due to the Asian delicacy, shark-fin soup, sharks are constantly being threatened and are coming close to the entering the list of extinction. In order to save the species from their demise, Palau has turned it territorial waters (230,000 square miles) – an area the size of France, into a shark-hunting free zone. With an estimated 130 rare shark and stingray species that live in or pass through its waters, Palau has taken huge strides in shark protection. Read more…
photo credit: Carl Chapman
In 2007 the US Fish and Wildlife Service made the decision to remove the “threatened” label from the Yellowstone Population of Grizzly Bears. The Yellowstone Grizzlies had been designated as “threatened” in 1975 which granted them “special protections” as part of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The USFWS removed the Grizzlies from the list in 2007 after the population numbers “increased from an estimated population of 136 to 312 when they were listed as threatened in 1975, to more than 500 bears today.” But just recently, Judge Donald Molloy of the Montana District Court ruled that the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision would leave the bears under-protected. Judge Molloy ruled that the existing regulatory plans were inadequate and that they “depend on guidelines, monitoring, and promises or good intentions for future actions (which are) unenforceable and non-binding on state and federal agencies.” Read more…
Photo Credit: Ibrahim Lujaz
Global warming comes with a big price for everyone on this planet. The most recently effected: vacationers.
Visiting the sun-kissed paradise of the Maldives is not only a special treat that may not be possible in the future (since 80% of its 1,200 islands are no more than 1 meter above sea level) but a new environmental tax on tourists is making the trip a bit more costly. The threat of rising water levels could force the country’s 360,000 citizens to evacuate, which explains why it was the first country to sign the Kyoto Protocol, that set targets for cuts in industrialized countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.
The Maldives are a sought after vacation destination, with many luxury hotels and resorts, over a quarter of their $850 million economy is brought in by tourists. Averaging about 700,000 tourists each year (double that of the native population), the green tax of $3 a day per visitor will bring in $6.3 million annually. This money will be used for President Mohammed Nasheed’s plan to make the Maldives the world’s first carbon-neutral nation within a decade Read more…
Photo Credit: Dalliedee
What is the role of man in balancing, controlling, and restoring the natural world? This is a question that is fiercely debated and difficult to answer. In Idaho, a state that possesses a vast amount of wilderness and species, this question is one of the most prominent topics in assessing environmental issues.
Wolves were once an important predator that roamed Idaho’s forests. However, due to their impact on farmer’s livestock, they were completely eradicated from Idaho. In 1995, the wolf was reintroduced and under federal protection, the population has increased dramatically. The rapid growth of wolves in Idaho has led to ecological changes such as a decrease in deer and elk populations. Now, for the first time ever, there will be a hunting season for wolves in Idaho in an effort to control the population and restore ecological balance in Idaho’s forests. The hunting of wolves in Idaho is heavily supported by farmers, hunters, and Idaho’s Fish and Game department. It is opposed by most environmental groups and many Idaho citizens. Read more…
Photo Credit: Indy Kethdy
From the disruption of Bush’s detrimental logging plans in Oregon to the newly stated U.S. Forest Management goal of ‘restoration and conservation’, the Obama administration is jumping through hoops to protect our National Forests. And by no means is this effort coming too soon with constant development threatening forests and wilderness areas across our country. “It is time for a change in the way we view and manage America’s forestlands with an eye towards the future”, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at his first major policy address. ”This will require a new approach that engages the American people and stakeholders in conserving and restoring both our National Forests and privately owned forests. It is essential that we reconnect Americans across the nation with the natural resources and landscapes that sustain us”. (Side note: I’m writing this post on my phone as I “road trip” to Lake Powell for some good old shore-side camping) Read more…
Copyright Paul Welch
Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely good news, but what you may not know and most certainly don’t hear is that the overall abundance in the 1930′s was only 10% of what it was in the 1800′s. So what was it like 500 hundred years ago before any major human impact? This is the idea of ‘Shifting Baselines’, a term that was coined in 1995. When we lose track of the original condition we are subject to a ‘shifting baseline’ or reference point in which to compare the present. In the case of the Columbia River salmon, the 1930′s would be the shifting baseline. Read more…
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