Planetsave

Donations for Animal Rights Increase Despite Economic Woes

Michael A. Weber — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:14:34 +0000

Contributions to animals welfare and rights organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals rose 11 percent in 2007 (the most recent figures available), even with the economic downturn that began that year. The farming industry-friendly Animal Agriculture Alliance attributes this rise in funding as playing a key role in the increase in campaigns and actions being taken against the livestock industry.

While some of the most prominent US based animal welfare organizations, such as PETA and the Humane Society, saw modest to negligible increases (11% and <1%, respectively), other groups saw huge increases in funding. The World Society for the Protection of Animals saw its donations nearly double between 2006 and 2007, and the brand new Animal Acres received almost five times as much money in 2007 as it had the prior year.

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Country Legend Merle Haggard Sues Green Advocacy Group

Alex Felsinger — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:00:17 +0000

Nashville legend Merle Haggard has sued environmental awareness group the Green Train for illegally using his name and forging his signature in an effort to collect donations. The group claims to have been founded by Haggard himself along with Bob Wolf.

Haggard says that Bob Wolf asked him for support on a non-profit project in 2007 and Haggard obliged with a $20,000 donation. However, the organization never attained nor attempted to gain non-profit status, said the director of Tennessee’s Divicision of Charitable Solicitiations and Gaming.

A quick look at the Green Train website through Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine, it’s clear that The Green Train has some explaining to do:

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Australia Denies Japan’s Request, Allows Sea Shepherd to Dock

Jeff Pecaro — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:40:53 +0000

Japan had requested a port closure from Australia that would ban Sea Shepherd from their ports, claiming that the anti-whaling group should be treated like pirates due to their aggressive tactics.

“The Steve Irwin will be permitted to dock at an Australian port,” said Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard. “There is insufficient reason to prevent the Steve Irwin from doing that.”

Japan has recently accused Sea Shepherd of ramming one of their ships, and later interfering with the search for a lost crew member. They had previously refused Sea Shepherd’s help in that search.

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$5 Million Ash Spill Lawsuit Seeks Class Action Status

Alex Felsinger — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:01:29 +0000

Lawyers representing owners of waterfront property impacted by the 1.1 billion gallon spill of fly ash from Tennessee’s Kingston Fossil Plant have filed a lawsuit requesting $5 million in damages in addition to class action status for all residents affected by the massive spill.

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Study Proves Light Pollution Can Kill Animals

Andrew Williams — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:03:49 +0000

A groundbreaking study has proved that man-made light sources can change natural light cycles, triggering abnormal animal behavior that often leads to injury and even death.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, confirms that polarized light pollution can cause confusion in creatures that rely on light ‘cues’ to navigate through their environment, with many animals also thrown off course by light reflecting from buildings.

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Hong Kong Ecological Footprint is Twice as Large as China’s

Andrew Williams — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:38:32 +0000

A startling new WWF study has revealed that people living in Hong Kong currently use twice as many resources as residents in China, more than double the sustainable level.

To feed the vibrant city’s massive demand for natural resources, and absorb the CO2 emitted, residents need an area of land and sea larger than 250 Hong Kong’s, an incredible seven-fold increase since 1965.

According to Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network, “Although small geographically, Hong Kong not only has significant resource demands, but it also has an over-proportional influence on the world.

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Conservationists Hopeful Extinct Butterfly Back in Britain

Marika Collins — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:56:52 +0000

British conservationists are ecstatic over what they hope is the return of the Large Tortoiseshell butterfly, thought to be extinct in Britain. The butterfly, once common, dwindled in numbers in the early twentieth century to the point where it disappeared entirely.

Some experts fear that sightings of the Large Tortoiseshell may in fact be of migrants from mainland Europe (where the butterfly is still common), or of escaped specimens from breeders. Conservationists, however, are hopeful that the butterfly is breeding again in England.

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New York City Rolls Out Comprehensive Air Quality Monitoring Program

Levi Novey — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:24:35 +0000

Thanks to a new program, New Yorkers will now have yet another way to compare the relative prestige of where they live within the city: air quality. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently initiated what will be the city’s most comprehensive air quality monitoring effort to date.

Rather than monitor air quality from the tops of buildings as the state’s Department of Environmental Quality has done for some time at 25 locations, the new “NYC Community Air Survey” program has placed 150 monitoring units at street level.

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Smugglers Make Big Bucks Selling Deer to Texas Resorts

Alex Felsinger — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:17:02 +0000

If you’ve ever been to Texas, you know there’s no shortage of deer. They’re everywhere. But apparently that’s not enough for the elite hunting resorts that artificially maintain a herd of white-tailed deer through breeding farms and stock auctions - they can’t keep up the demand for big bucks due to trophy hunting desires.

But the big deer are expensive and hard to come by from the 1,100 licensed deer breeders inside the state of Texas, thus spawning a massive illegal trade of large antlered bucks from farms in northern states like Michigan. The illegal trade is putting the health of the Texas deer population at risk, all because people feel the need to shoot bigger deer.

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New Macbook Pro Falls Short of Steve Jobs’ Green Promise

Alex Felsinger — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:22:52 +0000

In October, Steve Jobs issued this statement in response to Greenpeace’s call to stop using toxic PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants:

Last year we announced the unprecedented goal of eliminating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from Apple products by the end of 2008. I’m proud to report that all of Apple’s new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal.

As it turns out, Macworld came around and this promise has been broken. And Greenpeace is pissed.

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