Plastic toys that contain bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, suspected hormone disruptors, have already been banned in some places. Eco-parents should consider wooden or organic cotton toys, especially with teething babies, since these potentially toxic chemicals are more likely to leach out when babies chew or suck on the toys. So ditch that "rubber" ducky...oh no!
Perennial Toys has some safer bath toy options if you want to check out their shop. They Perennial Toys creates toys and gifts that enhance a child's understanding of Earth's habitats. We focus on aquatic habitats and the endangered animals that depend on these sensitive environments. EachPerennial product also reflects our mission to manufacture and promote eco-friendly toys and gifts. Plus, a percentage of all purchases goes to wildlife conservation efforts.
The June sucker, which is known to live only in Utah Lake and its tributaries, has been listed as an endangered species since 1986, when biologists estimated there were fewer than 1,000 left.
When carp feed along the lake bottom, they rip out the weeds, which provide important hiding places for young June suckers. Without them, the suckers are easy pickings for hungry predators such as bass and walleye.
So people local to that area want to kill the Carp.
Some people even dream of converting them into biofuels.
"How cool would it be to be driving a car powered by carp?" said Cassie Mellon, a fish biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
I don't know if it will be cool or not, in fact I imagine it would smell worse than normal gasoline. Bleck!
Or you could catch them and eat them....if you want to poison yourself.
In 2006, state officials warned against eating too much carp from Utah Lake because of carcinogens. PCB levels in the fish exceeded Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Researchers are evaluating ways to remove the toxic PCBs from liquefied carp so the fish meet consumption guidelines.
Attractive feeders can become ecological traps, encouraging birds to settle in an area that cannot support them once supplemental feeding has stopped.
You know I never thought of it that way but it does make sense.
Some people have said bird feeders not only cause birds to flock, but also cats which would be a bad thing for the birds obviously. But research has shown the presence of feeders has been associated with lower levels of predation by domestic cats.
Another issue is the misconception of bird feeders always being helpful to the birds. You think you're doing a good thing feeding your fine feather friends, but studies show it can cause a decrease in healthy bird breeding. This is based on the act that birds are less likely to rear children next to a popular bird feeder and it also means they are eating more food which would be unnatural for baby birds.
Most of the results were not very fruitful however. Robb and Bearhop say that the wide variety of outcomes they discovered in their work point to a real need for more comprehensive research on the topic. This is mostly based on the need to study cases in urban and suburban yards which apparently doesn't go over too well with neighborhood associations. (Just guessing).
I suppose the best thing you can do would be to space your feeders out and make sure they are located close to a treeline. I'm not sure, but it's seed for thought. ha.
Couple topics on the horizon for Bring Me Up's environmental section. I want to incorporate the whole green theme for St. Patrick's Day but I also wanted to mention the current protest involving kangaroos.
The plan is a scaled-down version of a proposal last year to eradicate about half of the more than 6,000 kangaroos at two military sites in Canberra. Protesters have gathered to stop this, but it's not evident what will happen yet. The plan is to shoot the animals with darts and then euthanize them. The reasoning being that an excessive amount of kangaroos are said to be the reason for the extinction of rare lizards and insects in the area.
Now, I have been trying to figure out who started the "green talk." I mean, when and who and why? Suddenly everything is green. Green cars, green jobs, green architecture, green living...just the other day I heard a commercial about green mortgages! How did that happen and why green? Why can't it be yellow or orange? There is more to the environment than green, but I digress, I cannot find the answer. It's like the chicken and the egg I suppose.
Little things go a long way. I think the most important and the easiest way to be green...is to recycle. From one person to big companies, recycling can make HUGE impacts in our world. Just last month HP announced it is using recycled plastics gathered from water bottles, recycled inkjet cartridges, and other materials to create new ink cartridges made from 100% recyclable plastics. How awesome is that?
Despite the global outcry and a ban on whaling since 1986, Iceland, like Japan, continues to kill whales using cruel methods, claiming it must slaughter these majestic creatures in the name of science. But scientists have long agreed that there’s no need to kill whales in order to study them. Even worse, whale meat has been proven to contain dangerously high levels of mercury, even though it is sold in supermarkets, restaurants and even school cafeterias in Japan.
The U.N. Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) bans the international trade of all great whale species. Iceland was a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) when the ban on commercial whaling went into effect in 1986.
The return to commercial whaling is a flagrant disregard for international agreements to protect whales.
You can take action by sending a letter to members of the Icelandic Embassy telling them to call off their first commercial whale hunt in twenty years.
America's wolves were nearly eradicated in the 20th century. Now, after a remarkable recovery in parts of the country, wolves are once more threatened.
In the Northern Rockies, the federal government has put forth a proposal that could lead to the slaughter of hundreds of wolves in Idaho and Wyoming. Even Yellowstone wolves could be shot on site if they wander outside the park's boundaries!
In Alaska, state officials continue to allow airborne gunners to kill hundreds of wolves. Easy targets against the snow, hundreds of wolves have been shot from above or chased to exhaustion and then killed by aerial gunners who land and execute them at point-blank range.
In the Southwest, misinformation and anti-wolf sentiment runs high, with wolf recovery in Arizona and New Mexico limited to a defined area if the wolves set up territories elsewhere, they are captured and returned.
The lovely thing is gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are protected under the Endangered Species Act. But who is to say that an aerial gunner will know whether or not they are aiming at a gray wolf?
"In a filing submitted yesterday to the Montreal-based CEC, the group also alleges that Ottawa is allowing such high numbers of seals to be killed each year, including regular quota overruns, that it could deplete the population and cause "serious or irreversible damage to the northwest Atlantic ecosystem."
You know, sometimes I think people don't realize the actual cruelty involved in seal hunting. It is very upsetting. I don't care if they are animals, they are still live beings and they do not deserve to be tortured and killed. If you are interested in seeing the brutality, you can watch this video...it immediately turned my stomach.
"The 2006 Canadian seal hunt left more than 350,000 seals dead -- almost all of them were babies as young as 12 days."
You can sign petitions and boycott Canadian seafood. You can also wear "Seal Protection" gear. They have some very cute shirts to support the cause.
I've posted before about poachers having killed three rare lions inside their sanctuary at a national park. The killers left the pelts of the lions, taking their claws, bones and skulls.
Last month three wildlife rangers were killed by poachers in Tsavo (Kenya), Zakouma (Chad) and Virunga (Congo) national parks. Seven rangers patrolling the Tana River District were attacked by an unknown number of armed men. Gunfire erupted and the shoot out killed three of the rangers, seriously injuring another. Four of the poachers were killed as well.
It sends chills down my spine. Reading about the lions earlier this year was quite upsetting. Now we can added three dead rangers to the three dead lions; all because there are still people trespassing into national parks to illegally poach animals.
In February of 2007, the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT) launched in Kenya. Their mission: "Working Together to End the Illegal Trade in Wildlife." The United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and India are already members in the CAWT. The more countries who join, the better.
To read the press release please click here. (PDF)
Man, don't you just hate it when people have to go and mess up a good thing? I love sushi, not all of it, but a good bit of it. (Thanks to my brother and Ken and Kristina)
True World Foods, Inc. (TWF) is the premier sushi quality seafood distributor in the US. In 2006, TWF announced a new partnership with Kyokuyo Co. Ltd., a canned whale meat provider in Japan, to sell sushi in the US under the brand name "Polar Seas."
What is their problem? Why can't people just back off the whales!?
In all honesty I'm going to stop purchasing anything manufactured by TWF until they make sure they let their partners at the Kyokuyo Company they need to stop selling whale meat.
Having a day declared in the name of a good cause is a wonderful thing, because it allows institutions, committees, students and basically people everywhere to come together and show that they care about the same topic.
There are different things you can do to participate in this event. You can prepare an lesson for a local school about endangered species or if you can't do that, you can put something together to share with your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Here is a list of events happening around the country. See if there is one in your hometown.
Those of you involved with the "International Fund for Animal Welfare" should have received a bulletin regarding the killing of whales to study them. It's actually quite horrifying the way it happens.
The bulletin stated:
"Often, the first blast isn't enough to kill the poor whale. Whaling ships have been filmed hoisting live whales up the side of their huge industrial ships by the tail, leaving the whale's blow hole underwater. The helpless whale can only thrash against the side of the ship, desperate for air, until it slowly drowns."
That is just dispicable, I don't understand how people can be so cruel. Do they think the whales can't feel it? It is insane.
Anyway, you can do you part in helping these poor animals by taking action and writing a letter or promoting the Stop Whaling website. For more information please head on over to the IFAW site.
Alaska's brutal aerial gunning season is only two weeks away and the target are Alaska's wolves. I'm not going to say that I would enjoy a wolf particularly, but to make a sport of killing them...I would enjoy that far less. Like humans, animals and therefore wolves also have their own predators and life spans. There is no need to set out on a specific hunt to kill them. It would be no different than the Nazis setting out to kill someone with brown hair who liked swing music.
As a participant of the "Defenders of Wildlife" campaigns, I urge you to go to their website and join the people who are trying to stop this madness. Get involved, sign the petition and make a difference. You CAN help!
The root causes of the deaths of many arctic based animals is due to global warming. The effects are growing more rapidly over the years and measures need to be taken now to assure the rates slow down now.
I am part of a group called Defenders of Wildlife. 85,828 people have joined in supporting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal for increased polar bear protections. While I don't agree we should focus on just one animal, I do agree it will inevitably help all animals in arctic locations.
So, I ask readers to go to the Defenders of Wildlife website and submit your support as well, because we need is 100,000 people and we are so close. Every person matters, every submission counts.
I recently read that three rare lions were killed in India. I am sure that wild animals die all the time and it doesn't require a news story, but this story has me upset.
After poaching the lions, the killers left the pelts of the lions, taking their claws, bones and skulls. It apparently all happened right inside the wildlife park which is the first poaching inside the "protected" area.
