Planetsave

For years and years, humans considered themselves the one and only makers of tools. Homo sapien literally means “wise man” because we were so intelligent that it was us humans, and us humans alone, who could even have the brain capacity to create a tool. It was considered the key feature of the genus Homo.

Well, that was until people actually decided to carefully look at other animal’s social behavior. It was not until the mid to late 1900’s that people realized “oops us humans are not the only ones to use tools.” Primatologists discovered chimpanzees creating tools for fishing termites out of their mounds, and stones for crushing nuts from their hard shell. Other researchers discovered that gorillas make beds from foliage, as well as sponges out of chewed up leaves.

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Before I get into this topic, please read my article on cancer dedicated to someone special to me, each view constitutes a larger donation to cancer research. http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/27/help-me-fight-cancer/

The “green movement” is gaining some steam in the general public, and hey I am all for it.  As long as it doesn’t become a fad that fades away into a footnote like slap bracelets and Crocks. The Apple iPhone is the hottest smart phone going today, and with over 65,000 applications in the iTunes App Store and counting, the usefulness of this pocket device goes up all the time. This can only mean that there will be green apps on the iPhone, and of course there will be some clunkers. With all these apps floating around there must be some gems as well. I’ll give some apps a try and tell you what I think, so you, my loyal reader, doesn’t have to.

(Part 2: Paid Apps, will be coming soon, so check back at PlanetSave.com)

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I remember the good old days, playing backyard baseball. Every now and then the perfect pitch would come, and, no matter how terribly I’d been hitting up to that point, I’d knock that ball out of the park. And the crowd would go wild…until everyone saw where that ball was headed. And with a crash it was realized: right through Mr. Saunders window. And then I had to fess up to old, grumpy Mr. Saunders that I, yes I, was the Great Bambino who had smashed his window. And he let me know darn well that I, yes I, had to pay to fix it. I, yes I, had to clean up my mess.

Cleaning up after ourselves is nothing new. And yet, if this be the case, why, then, do outsiders always have to ask companies and industries who affect the environment adversely, to clean up after themselves? Didn’t their mothers (and fathers) teach them that if they make a mess, it is their responsibility to return everything back to how they found it? Didn’t anyone tell them that the broken window won’t fix itself? Read the rest of this entry »

International companies such as McDonald’s are happy, and companies like Nike, Wal-Mart and Carrefour are asking for more.
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Swedish scientists have discovered that vast numbers of wild birds in the Baltic Sea area are dying of a strange paralytic disease caused by advanced thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in eggs, young, and adults.

In a new research paper the team, from Stockholm University, Sweden, report that levels of Thiamine, vital for the proper functioning of the nerves, were found to be deficient in the eggs, livers and brains of several local bird species, contributing to significant declines in many bird populations over the last few decades.

Hearteningly, it seems that paralysed individuals can be successfully remedied by thiamine treatment

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Tourists at a Chinese aquarium were witness to a dramatic and highly unusual rescue bid, after a beluga whale rescued a drowning diver by pushing her out of the water.

The diver, called Yan Yung, had been taking part in a breath-holding competition in a 6-metre deep pool when she was struck with painful cramps in her legs at the aquarium at Harbin Polar Land in the country’s north-east Heilongjiang province.

“Maybe I was too nervous, and my legs had sudden cramps,” explained Yung. “I never dive into the water so deep and so cold. I was so nervous then. When I was choking with water and plummeting to the bottom, a sudden force pushed me out of the water.”

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It is estimated that man has been in Oceania for up to 125,000 years. The land was there before man. And for a long time a balance has been found between man and nature. Perhaps that balance was achieved because man and nature were not separate entities, but one and the same. However, in the recent past, that balance has been disturbed by population and consumption. Man became an invader rather than an aboriginal. And with that, habit loss for other species has been a concern. And now life isn’t what it used to be in Oceania.

It is such an invasion, not just by humans, but species of both flora and fauna that threatens aboriginal life in Oceania. A new study, which was published in the international journal Conservation Biology expresses the need for governments to act quickly in order to halt the loss of biodiversity and the extinction of species.

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Cold-blooded animals have a lifespan which is exponentially related to the temperature of their environment, a new study finds.

That means that as temperatures increase due to global warming, cold-blooded animals around the world will begin dying younger. Given that the vast majority of animals on Earth are cold-blooded, including the likes of amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans and reptiles, global warming could have unexpected, profound impacts on the world’s ecosystems.
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Several years ago, orphaned baby Chhouk was found wandering alone in the forest without a foot.  The endangered Asian baby elephant apparently lost his left front foot due to injuries sustained from a poacher’s snare.

Rescued in a remote area of northeastern Cambodia, the injured elephant was transported by truck to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in what turned out to be a very difficult and treacherous 26-hour journey.  Besides being severely malnourished, his stump was badly infected and nearly 5 inches of infected tissue was removed.  Balance issues and severe strain made walking on three feet nearly impossible. Read the rest of this entry »

Cancer in wildlife caused by human pollution is on the rise, according ot Newsweek. Our impact on the environment is leading to health problems in wild animals, especially considering much of our trash contains carcinogens.  A report titled  “Wildlife Cancer: a Conservation Perspective” published in Nature Reviews Cancer found “mounting evidence of human’s contribution to carcinogenesis in wild-animal populations across the globe, thanks to man-made toxins dumped into wildlife’s natural habitats.” Read the rest of this entry »