Back in 2007, some 2,000 UN scientists produced a massive 4-volume report of an assessment of Earth’s climate. In this dossier they came up with a projection that as global temperature rises, species will start falling. They called this projection the “Highway to Extinction”.
This must have been lost from the daily parlance of governments, organizations and individuals because neither you nor I have ever seen a ‘layman friendly’ version of this grand assessment report. But that has not stopped the Earth’s climate from changing. So even as a small, but growing number of pundits take the matter of climate change and it’s effect on biodiversity to the public, species are still being lost.
Let’s go back before 2007. Way back to 2004 and the journal Nature said that most species will not survive climate change. The had that story on the cover of their January 2004 issue. The extract from this particular story says, in part:
New analyses suggest that 15–37% of a sample of 1,103 land plants and animals would eventually become extinct as a result of climate changes expected by 2050.
Given that climate change was responsible, in part, to the loss of the woolly mammoths and mastodons some 10,500 years ago, there is no doubt that climate change will claim a large number of species again. The difference is that the current climate change is being accelerated – and made more severe – by human activities. In short, despite the direct extinction from human activities such as hunting and habitat loss, we – the plague of the earth – have acquired a new way of killing off species indirectly: accelerating climate change.
It is clear that climate change will leave the planet in abject ecological poverty. But not many people are talking about this – and fewer still are doing anything about it. It is upon everyone of us to take action. To do those things that we have been told will reduce the severity of climate change – however remote the chance that these actions will actually work – and to take the matter to our leaders and public.
Remember, an ecologically poor planet is not good for humanity – if we are to be human-centric (as usual). Generally, an ecologically poor planet is bad for itself.
It’s that time of the year again. Blog Action Day is happening on 15 October 2009. This year, it’s about the ‘big one’: Climate Change. I will take part in this global conversation about the most urgent matter for humanity. Will you?
If you have not heard about Blog Action Day you should go over to this site and read all about it. Essentially they will tell you that;
Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices
Since this year, the focus is on climate change, you will also read that;
Climate change affects us all and it threatens more than the environment. It threatens to cause famine, flooding, war, and millions of refugees.
Let this video explain to you a bit further:
To me, there is an even more pressing effect of climate change that has been lost in the debate – loss of biodiversity. Clearly, climate change is not only about flooding, famine and the like. And when we talk about biodiversity loss we are not only thinking about the polar bear.
In Kenya for instance, we have seen the Mara River at it’s lowest, and the drought that has brought thousands of cattle into wildlife refuges (only for them to die) and threaten the very existence of our beautiful wildlife. That to me is a pressing issue. Therefore I agree with the organisers of the Blog Action Day when they say that;
Given the urgency of the issue of climate change and the upcoming international climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December, we think the blogosphere has the unique opportunity to mobilize millions of people around expressing support for finding a sustainable solution to the climate crisis.
I will weigh in with a post, or two, about climate change and biodiversity. What will you do?
One of the most respected personalities on natural world and conservation TV, Sir David Attenborough, finally spoke about a subject most consider taboo: human overpopulation. Sir Attenborough said growth in human numbers was “frightening” according to a report appearing on BBC News on Monday 13 April 2009.
The good Sir, who said this when he became the patron of the Optimum Population Trust, a UK group that has been campaigning for the voluntary reduction of human population in Britain by not less than 0.25% a year since 1991, is likely to get a lot of flak for saying this. But then again, isn’t it true that human overpopulation is threatening not only all other life but human life itself?
The overcrowded Kibera Slums in Nairobi.
Some anti-overpopulation campaigners are much more candid than the veteran presenter, perhaps even offensive to the antagonists. Dan Gainor writing on the Business and Media Institutes site – back in 2007 – quoted Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and famous for militant intervention to stop whalers, saying that mankind is “acting like a virus” and is harming Mother Earth.
It is easy to see humanity as a virus considering how they are spreading into lands once only occupied by wild plant and animal life. It is also easy to see that this ‘virus’ is rapidly (as opposed to slowly) killing the planet we, and millions of other species, call home. Think accelerated global warming, deforestation, drying up of inland water bodies, the list is endless.
The question of population growth is touchy for various reasons, the most peddled being that human population control is an infringement on human rights. John Finney discussing the population issue in his essay titled Population: The elephant in the room on BBC’s Green Room, acknowledges that discussing population is indeed a taboo among conservationists saying;
Some activists insist acting to influence population growth infringes on human rights; they maintain that it is best to leave the problem alone.
Now, the solution to human population is straight forward, but not ’simple’, neither can it be considered short-term in terms of implementation period. It will take a long time to reduce human population. But we have to start now.
Population reduction should be done in a humane way. Many experts have recommended some workable approaches. The ones I support are those that centre on the education of especially women in developing coutries about the availability of choice of family size.
Given the complex nature of family set-ups and cultures in these developing nations, the men need also be educated about the importance of small families. Tell them the truth, don’t tell them what you want them to hear. Because we should all be knowing by now that there is no other way out of the current ecological and resource crisis other than fewer people on Planet Earth.
John Finney, while reminding us that we are already beyond Earth’s carrying capacity – and we are headed for imminent human population collapse – adds;
Our chance to avert such an outcome depends on our ability to address our numbers before nature reduces them for us. There’s no other way out.
Are you ready to play your part in saving the planet?
Something interesting happened last week. On Sunday 29 March 2009, CBS News aired a documentary on 60 Minutes showing how lions were dying in the Masai Mara ecosystem due to Furadan poisoning. Almost immediately after that the American manufacturer of the potent agricultural pesticide, FMC, issued a press release declaring that they had withdrawn it from Kenya and other African countries. They even called the WildlifeDirect chairman, Dr Richard Leakey to tell him of their action.
Furadan as it is sold in Kenya
WildlifeDirect has been running a campaign against the sale of Furadan in Kenya through the Stop Wildlife Poisoning blog because of its rampant abuse by herders and farmers to poison wildlife. Kenyan authorities have largely ignored this campaign. FMC, and Juanco – the products importers in Kenya – have not been very responsive either.
A lion goes through the stages of paralysis after consuming a carcase laced with Furadan in Masai Mara, Kenya
Furadan is a highly effective agricultural pesticide but a very nasty poison for mammals and birds. It has been responsible for the death of large numbers of birds in the USA where its granular form is banned (it also comes in flowable or liquid form). In Kenya, it has been used to kill birds thought to be crop pests and for human food! It is also being used to kill lions, hyenas and other predators that are, or are percieved to be, preying on livestock.
The question is, did FMC ban exportation of this lethal poison because they are suddenly pious or they are just playing PR? My hypothesis is that FMC, having realized that Furadan has suddenly been identified as a poison of choice for herders, and this happened in popular American media, FMC took the obvious route: damage control. They don’t want to look bad. Why did they have to wait until the 60 Minutes for them to do something about this major problem in Africa? It is hard to believe that they did not know about the problem. If that is so, then they need to fire their entire PR team.
This is just an hypothesis and should not be read to mean that I dont support their action. If it works, then it will indeed have a phenomenal positive effect on lion population in Kenya and elsewhere.
I say if it works for this reason: when I updated my followers on Twitter on this turn of events, recycleme replied ‘what about the surrounding countries? Is it likely to get into Kenya from the countries still using it?’. I got worried.
We hope that FMC are serious about their pronouncement and they will follow it through. That they will also seal the loopholes spotted by recycleme and others.
The Ruaha is, arguably, one of the largest and most beautiful wildlife parks in Africa. Its wildlife is spectacular and it is only natural that a small group of individuals would come together to give a hand in its conservation. Thus was born the Friends of Ruaha Society.
Founded in 1994 to assist in anti-poaching campaigns, this tiny society has only four employees/officials based in Iringa, southern Tanzania. These four operate conservation education in 24 schools spread all around the expansive Ruaha Park. Their main focus is conservation education through schools.
Recently, they started blogging at WildlifeDirect.org and though young, their blog is becoming quite interesting.
Just the other day, they posted a video explaining what they do and how they do it. As they say in this particular post, ‘A video is worth at least a thousand words…enjoy!!’
I just thought I should share this picture from Planet Ark (Reuters) of Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wangari Maathai’s recent social event with US talk show host, Oprah Winfrey in South Africa.
Wangari and Oprah after planting a tree
Oprah and Wangari were at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Heley-on-Klip outside of Johannesburg on 25 November 2008 to attend a leadership conference termed “Be the Change”. It is quite encouraging that Wangari never forgets to plant a tree whenever she goes. I think she must have planted one when she went to Oslow to receive the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.I know she did the moment she landed on Kenyan soil back then.
If she ever reads my previous post, maybe she’ll start lobbying the Kenyan government to table and pass a “one tree per child/family” bill in parliament (especially now that she is no longer a member of this wretched parliament). Perhaps she asked Oprah to spend some of her billions to do some conservation work. Who knows?
