Published on November 20th, 2009
Bighead carp are one of two non-native species of Asian carp causing widespread concern among Great Lakes advocates. The other is silver carp.
Great Lakes advocates are calling it a “conservation emergency” now that non-native Asian carp have been detected within seven miles of Lake Michigan. They want an immediate closure of locks and gateways leading to the lake in a literally”last-ditch” attempt to keep the fish out.
The fear is that the giant fish will disrupt the valuable Great Lakes sport fishery by outcompeting species at the top of the Lake Michigan food web, consuming the forage fish the established species depend on — and like many of the other 180 non-native aquatic species already in the Great Lakes, causing general ecosystem disruption.
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Published on November 19th, 2009
Writing for GreenOptions I sometimes get contacted by PR firms wanting to promote projects. Sight unseen I usually shrug them off, I happen to only write about items that I have seen or used, and can feel good about endorsing. When MSNBC contacted me the other day with a preview of a new special on animal conservation, I figured it was probably more of the same stories I have seen over and over again. However, when I watched the preview it sucked me in. It is hosted by Jeff Corwin, a famous naturalist you have probably seen on TV. I can say wholeheartedly that this looks like something that I can feel good about endorsing.
Every 20 minutes a species will go extinct, 20,000 species this year, and this Sunday, November 22, 8PM Eastern MSNBC will be airing “100 Heartbeats” hosted by Jeff Corwin to fight back. You can watch the preview here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33490448#33490448
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Published on November 17th, 2009
If you’re looking for an easy gift idea that supports your ideals and is delicious while doing it, we recommend sending gift boxes from Grounds for Change to the coffee lovers on your list this year! Every single bean that they roast is Fair Trade Certified, Organic Certified, CarbonFree Certified and Shade Grown, which means the possibility of a real livelihood for coffee growers, a breath of fresh air for the planet, zero net carbon emissions from “crop to cup” and healthy forests for migratory songbirds. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on November 11th, 2009
One of the leading voices in the campaign to rescue Lake Erie from dying again is a persistent, thoughtful, dedicated water protector promoting awareness of the Lake’s benefits, supporting lighthouse restoration, fighting resurgent algae and proposed new pollution sources, and seeking funding to restore all of the Great Lakes. She’s an example of the citizen action that has a fighting chance of fending off multiple threats to the Lakes and renewing their beauty and productivity.
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Published on November 10th, 2009
This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
Are you hungry for solutions that will relieve you from the guilt and challenge of living a stylish yet environmentally conscious life? Then The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget by cable TV personality Josh Dorfman (aka, The Lazy Environmentalist) by Stewart Tabori & Chang is a must-read. Realizing that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Dorfman has written a terrific book with the overarching goal of helping us all make a positive impact on our world without having to compromise too much.
And contrary to what many people think, Dorfman explains how it can be affordable and easy to lead a greener life. In fact, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget provides readers with solutions that don’t require much effort or financial commitment, but yield significant green payback. He covers everything from ways to reduce/reuse/recycle and conserve energy and water, to less obvious practices like greening your transport, eco-remodeling and finding non-toxic cleaning supplies. The resources include everything from denim repair to ways to borrow stuff from your neighbors to which stores have the best deals on affordable eco-furnishings, sustainable beauty products and budget-friendly organic cotton baby goods.
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Published on November 2nd, 2009
Darby Nelson, a member of a Minnesota state panel that advises the Legislature on fish, game and wildlife habitat spending, is a classic conservationist.
Almost 40 years after the first Earth Day, the term environmentalist is in some disrepute. Once a badge of honor for public-spirited citizens seeking to protect and clean up air, land, water and fish and wildlife, the word is now often associated with special interest politics. Is it time somehow to restore the term to its original associations or to choose another, like conservationist?
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Published on October 30th, 2009
When I first read the news that NASA was going to start experimenting on monkeys with radiation to study the effects of deep space travel, my heart sunk. As an anthropologist who has studied non-human primates I have seen up close the emotions, the feelings, and the physical qualities we share with our evolutionary cousins. My mind went back to shooting chimps into space, not caring if they lived or died. To cruel (and now illegal) experiments of all kinds performed on our closest living relative.
Now NASA is planing to irradiate squirrel monkeys. Scientists are particularly interested in studying how the radiation impacts the monkeys’ central nervous systems and behaviors over time. Messing with the monkeys brains. Oh great!
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Published on October 30th, 2009
Pollution from industrial facilities like this one at East Harbor in Indiana up to the 1970s left a legacy of contamination still in need of cleanup from new Great Lakes restoration funding.
Giving President Obama a major victory, Congress on Thursday sent him a spending bill containing $475 million in new funding to help restore the Great Lakes. During his 2008 campaign, candidate Obama committed to a multi-year effort to combat Great Lakes invasive species, habitat loss, climate change impacts and threats to water quality. The Great Lakes contain almost one-fifth of the world’s available surface freshwater.
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Published on October 27th, 2009
New research out of Philadelphia suggests a link between women’s exposure to household insecticides (including roach and mosquito killers) and the autoimmune disorders rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Previous research has shown a link of agricultural pesticides to higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Autoimmune diseases are diseases where the immune system goes haywire and begins to attack the body. Farmers were shown to be a high risk group for this reason.
Women who reported applying insecticides had a higher risk of developing the two autoimmune disorders than women who reported no insecticide use, whether or not they had lived on a farm. Those who used the insecticide the most often and most frequently had double the risk.
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Published on October 25th, 2009
Ocean trash is one of the problems photographed by Christopher Swain on his 1,000-mile ocean advocacy and education journey.
As the Obama Administration’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force moves into its sixth public meeting on an interim report in Cleveland this week, one determined ocean advocate is continuing to make his way from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C, in part to dramatize his concern about the state of the seas.
Christopher Swain’s 1000-mile swim, which includes frequent stops along the way to educate students and to do sampling, was born out of a childhood connection to the sea growing up in Massachusetts. He says the journey will take about 200 days of swimming over two years — and will continue off-and-on through the winter.
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