Originally published on InspiredEconomist.com The world’s oceans are vast, floating dumps for plastic pollution. Without a serious plan for cleaning up the world’s oceans, this situation is dire and becoming worse every day. With a goal of retrieving and recycling 400,000 flip flops a year from the coast of Kenya, one small start-up in Nairobi
Remember the difference between weather and climate? We know what happens when the weather changes—it’s obvious. Climate is another story. Read on. When it rains, you put on a raincoat or take your umbrella when you go out. It snows: time for high boots, a heavier coat, scarf, and warm gloves. And sunny days, well,
Just another day in the life of a squirrel. Video published on May 5, 2013. Forest images by National Geographic. In HD 1080 Dolby surround 5.1. Distributed by flixxy.
Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat exposes a worldwide crisis in mega-farming. (Graphic from Sunday Times review by coauthor.) The authors, Philip Lymbery and Isabel Oakeshott, believe that the increasingly globalized food production industry threatens the quality of what we eat, our health, and the very land we live on. They say people now
While most of the northern US was hit with a polar vortex and record cold earlier this month, Australia and New Zealand were hit with a polar opposite record heat wave (see what I did there?). How hot was it? Australian newspaper, the Star, started off its article with the words “Bats are dropping from
Thoracosaurus neocesariensis, a fossil crocodile that lived 65 million to 100 million years ago, when the oceans were higher, in the ancient warm, carbon-dioxide-rich mangrove swamps of present-day southern New Jersey. Crocodiles have been chasing fish for a very, very long time–since the Late Cretaceous, in fact–says paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara of Philadelphia’s Drexel University. The
A new study paints a dire picture of the coming decades, showing that more than half of the common species of plant found across the planet and one third of common animal species could see a dramatic population decline if something is not done to halt global warming soon. “While there has been much research
All of the sudden people said, “Wait a minute, this is not how we have to live.” …Call us Peace, We’re about peace… Paul Watson on a wide screen is sweet looking, kind of like a baby as a young man, thinner with dark curly hair framing his doe-eyed face as he stands in life-threatening
America is blessed with a great diversity of natural and cultural wonders: some of the most amazing archeological, historical, and ecological treasures on Earth. These places are too special for us to allow them to be destroyed by mining, drilling or clear-cutting. They are national treasures for current and future generations to share They should
http://youtu.be/YTRSc1WMT04 Here’s one more beautiful and animal-related quick post for the day. It’s another beautiful environmental music film (EMF) from Kristen Farquhar. “Voices of the Earth,” as you’ll see, is all about the many beautiful creatures of the Earth that are threatened or have been killed off by humans. This is a really beautiful
This post brought to you by Triad Retail Media. All opinions are 100% mine. I don’t have a pet, but I have in the past and I care greatly about animals. (Have you noticed?) It’s amazing how much technology has changed in recent years and what kind of possibilities there are now — much
Yeah, the really good news is that U.S. residents are eating less meat! (Note: that’s the #1 priority for tackling climate change.) But the bad news, which trumps this good news, is that meat consumption worldwide is increasing. Here’s more from sister site Eat Drink Better: In the past 3 years, there has been
“We have really sophisticated meteorological models for predicting climate change,” says ecologist Mark Urban, the lead author of a study that looks at whether the current climate models properly understand species competition and movement and, therefore, the impact the future climate will have on animals. “But in real life, animals move around, they compete, they
The rise and fall of climate change over the past 65 million years has had a continuing effect on the fauna of the North American continent, according to a new study which identified six distinct waves of mammals, known as “evolutionary fauna.” “Although we’ve always known in a general way that mammals respond to climatic
A goat, a rabbit, six dogs, and 35 domestic and exotic cats have been retrieved from a rural breeder’s home in North Carolina, thanks in part to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). “The cats include domestic breeds and Savannah cats, which is a hybrid produced by breeding domestic cats to wild African
Bob Barker is still saving animals around the world. He recently donated $230,000 to help relocate a family of chimpanzees to Chimp Haven, a chimpanzee rescue center.
Due to climate change causing Arctic sea ice to rapidly melt, polar bears are becoming stuck on land and having to resort to cannibalism for food and survival.
On November 18, 2011, the U.S. Congress lifted the five-year-old ban on slaughtering horses, backed by President Obama (who signed it into law), which prohibited horse slaughtering within U.S. borders. Now, it looks like horses will be heading back to the slaughterhouse. Missouri farmers, as well as some state political leaders, say that lifting the
Grizzly bears and the many people working to protect them received great news recently: Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave its long-awaited ruling on whether the Yellowstone grizzly bear should lose federal Endangered Species Act protection (ESA). Thankfully, the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, agreeing that
1. Activists occupied KFC on two continents last week. More from the Dogwood Alliance: “Colonel Sanders and various woodland creatures made appearances at over 150 KFC restaurants across the country and various locations in Europe to deliver a message, ‘Stop destroying Southern forests for your throwaway packaging.’ The iconic KFC bucket and other KFC
Some top activism stories from the past week or so that I haven’t been able to get to but deserve a big share: Two Finland animal activists who were being prosecuted for undercover investigations of factory farms have been found not guilty on almost all charges. Good news! A climate justice youth caravan of approximately 200
Elephants are beautiful, thoughtful creatures — people love them. I imagine this is why they are in so many ads and movies. However, some of the people and companies that own elephants are not elephant lovers. In fact, some are downright cruel towards the sensitive creatures. Chick-fil-A is currently running an ad with an elephant
The Permian-Triassic extinction event is mostly known for the devastating impact it had on the ocean ecosystems, wiping out up to 96% of all marine species. However land-based animals took a pounding too, and new research shows that it took some 8 million years for the terrestrial ecosystems to fully recover. Researchers from Brown University
The National Conference to End Factory Farming starts tomorrow! One of our writers, Kate Follot, will be attending and reporting back for us. In the meantime, though, the organizers there have shared this guest post with us — 5 ways to end factory farming, with quotes from some of the conference speakers. Here’s the list:
Animal rights and environmental activists are increasingly being targeted by governments as terrorists (or “eco-terrorists”) as award-winning independent journalist and author Will Potter repeatedly shows. One of his recent posts on his site Green is the New Red was on animal activists in Finland being prosecuted for undercovering filming of factory farms. The story:
This is a super cool story and an beautiful video (love the filming and the song) that someone from Vimeo recently shared with me. You have to check it out.
First, the story:
Dolphins — do you know anybody who doesn’t like them? So cute, so amazing and funny — that’s what they are. What’s more — they’re absolutely intelligent and talented! Can I say that they’re just fabulous animals?
Have any of you swum with dolphins? Can you describe this feeling for those who haven’t had so much fortune to do that (yet)? I hope I will try one day!
Check out these top activism stories of the past day or so:
WWF recently released a new short film, Astonish Me, that is quite beautiful and awe-inspiring. Highly recommend watching:
Scientists on an expedition backed by WWF-Brazil to one of the last unexplored areas in the Brazilian Mid-west have discovered a new species of monkey.
Would you think that turtles may want to chase a man in motorized chair? But it does!
Other than the terrific piece new Planetsave writer and activist Kate Follot just wrote, here are some top activism stories of the past few days. They cover topics related to transportation, the tar sands, climate change, animals, nature, food, and more. Check them out:
We’ve several cute and awe-inspiring animal videos for you this week, as always, but we’ve also got a handful of interesting and disturbing videos about animal cruelty and endangered species that I think everyone should watch. Check these videos out and the stories underneath them all.
OK, this video of a baby chimp feeding a tiger cub is too cute. Check it out and hear the cute story of how this care-taking came about…
Here are some of the top animal stories and videos of the week (videos first). Enjoy! These first three are totally funny & cute…
Below are some top green activism and animal activism stories of the week (3 of the stories include or are about the 3 videos above). For more activism news, check out our own Activism stories here on Planetsave.
Here are some top animal stories of the week (other than what we’ve covered already). Feel free to drop more stories or videos in the comments below if you have them.
Lions, these wonderful big cats — I think there isn’t anybody who has ever avoided their charm — could be extinct in just 15 years. Even though they are dangerous, they are lovable, too. But, unfortunately, there’s some really bad news: their numbers have been shrinking tremendously over the last 50 years! While, in 1960, there were a healthy 450,000 lions in wild, in 2010, were only 20,000! If that trend continued, lions would become extinct in just just over 10 years.
Top animal videos and stories of the week, in no particular order:
You would never think that a bird could attack a much bigger animal, especially a tiger! But it does happen! Smaller animals can attack bigger ones as well. Size isn’t always what’s most important.
Holy Cow! Or holy wombat, perhaps. The fossils of a wombat the size of a rhinocerous have been unearthed in Australia.
It’s been a little while since I last wrote about Happy Feet, the second penguin in history known to have swum from Antarctica to New Zealand. So, here are a number of updates about the emperor penguin from the last week or so.
TreeHugger had an extremely disturbing piece on mass penguin deaths occurring year after year off the coast of Argentina recently. Every year, hundreds or thousands of penguins wash up on the shores of Argentina covered in oil. Most of the time, no one seems to have a clue as to how they got covered in oil. The only guesses people venture (often biologists) is that there was an oil spill somewhere.
But where? And why every single year?
No, this is not the same penguin that we’ve been writing about that accidentally swam from Antarctica to New Zealand. This is another touching penguin story.
The penguin below, Jay, is in New Zealand as well. He has been in rehab (no, not for drugs — for an injured left foot) at New Friends of Bushy Beach. New Friends of Bushy Beach specializes in sick and injured penguins and received the penguin on May 14.
A StumbleUpon friend of mine recently shared a TREMENDOUS article on whales and whale music with me. To put the effect in the simplest and most straightforward terms I can, it has forever transformed my view of whales and it has had a considerable impact on me, in general. I will share the intro with you here, but beyond this intro, the piece delves into a theory as to why they sing proposed by musician, professor, and author David Rothenberg, as well as the research and lives of David and Daniel Opitz, “a deep-sea diver and full-time self-financed filmmaker who made the acclaimed and award-winning film The Humpback Code.”
I’m ashamed to say that I hadn’t heard about this excellent animal liberation film, Bold Native, until a friend shared it with me on StumbleUpon. Haven’t heard of Bold Native either? Here’s an intro from the website (and above is a trailer)…
An emperor penguin took a wrong turn and ended up swimming 2,000 miles from Antarctica to New Zealand. This is the first time in 40 years such a penguin has traveled to New Zealand.
