Gaia Archives

Bundanoon bans bottled water

July 11, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

The Australian town of Bundanoon has raised the bar of ecological wisdom by voting to ban bottled water. Why? A tremendous amount of resources goes into bottled water; there’s the extraction, the packaging and then the transport. In many cases there’s the litter afterwards too.

In many countries the health quality standards of tap water are stricter than bottled water ones. For example, in the UK the quality of water form the tap is held to a higher standard than from the bottle. The reason is simple; problems with the mains supply are a horror to fix, effect thousands of people and are best detected and prevented early. Bottled water is easier to deal with.

Bundanoon is a small town with less than 2,500 in population but perhaps this is the starting moving in a more popular trend.

Sheep in Scotland are being shrunk by global warming

July 5, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Soay sheep have lived on the island of Hirta on the western coast of Scotland for a millennium. As a breed of cheep they’re smaller than the average sheep however research from the Imperial College in London suggests they’re getting smaller.

Very often natural selection favours larger sheep. The odds of the survival go up as the body size increases as the extra reserves of fat allow the sheep to survive through the winter.

In Hirta, however, climate change has been making winters shorter and milder. This is allowing generation after generation of sheep to spend more time grazing and less time dependant on the fat reserves.

In the past only the larger lambs would survive; having reached the size necessary to survive the winter. These days even the smaller lambs will survive the winter.

France faces fine for hamster neglect

June 30, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

The European Commission is taking steps to fine the French Government after a failure to protect the great hamster of Alsace. Only around 250 of the hamsters are believed to be left in the world.

Great Hamster of Alsace – NZ Herald
Great Hamster of Alsace – NZ Herald

If the French Government is found guilty then they may be fined as much as €17,000,000 (which is about €68,000 for each hamster).

The Commission had warned the French on a number of occasions that they were not taking sufficient steps to protect the hamsters’ natural environment. Now under the directives for the preservation of wildlife they’re pulling the French Government into Court.

Previously the French had attempted to protect the hamster by encouraging farmers to grow what or lucerne for the hamsters habitat. Efforts to protect the hamsters failed and the population dropped from 500 to 250 in just a matter of years.

Sea turtles invade Bournemouth beach with IFAW warnings

May 11, 2009 by Andrew 1 Comment

The International Fund for Animal Welfare today swarmed Bournemouth beach with 200 cardboard hawkbill turtles.

Cardboard hawkbill turtles invade Bournemouth beach

The arrival of the turtles is a publicity stunt co-ordinated by the IFAW and agency Rapp designed to raise awareness of the dangers that souvenir hunters are having on wildlife.

Each of the cardboard turtles has a message written under it explaining the dangers of poachers and the efforts of the IFAW to fight them. “Turning the turtle over is the first thing that hunters do”, reads one hard-hitting message.

Extinction Sucks: Indian Rhinos

May 10, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

In this week’s Extinction Sucks Aleisha Caruso and Ashleigh Young go all out to try and aid the endangered Indian Rhino. The pair travel to Nepal, the only other place in the world where you can find Indian Rhinos, to investigate the poaching situation.

There are less than 410 Indian Rhinos left in Nepal. A good place to find them is in the Chitwan National Park – a park divided into the buffer zone where locals are allowed to stray and the core zone which is only open to controlled tourism.

Guides from WWF Nepal explain how locals near the buffer zone can hope to earn around 5000 or 6000 rupees a month but by poaching rhinos they might make 6000 rupees a day. The temptation is clear. Sound like a lot of money? That’s about AU $70 or, as Ashleigh explains, about the price of a pair of shoes.

Extinction Sucks: Sea Turtles

May 3, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

There have been sea turtles on Earth for over 100 million years. In this week’s Extinction Sucks Aleisha Caruso and Ashleigh Young spring in to action to try and ensure we have sea turtles for many years to come.

There are seven species of sea turtles and all of them are under the threat of extinction. Problems range from turtle eggs being eaten by pigs, turtles choking on plastic bags mistaken for jellyfish and ghost nets.

Ghost nets are fishing nets either lost or abandoned which trap the sea turtle, keeping them below the surface until they suffer a horrible and slow death.

Extinction Sucks: Tasmanian Devils

April 26, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Some scientists believe that the wild Tasmanian Devil cannot be saved. One high risk strategy may be to let the wild devils die out which would provide a chance to re-populate the island with disease free devils currently in captivity.

The Tasmanian Devil suffers from an unique extinction threat. The population is being wiped out by a contagious cancer – one that’s spread by biting.

Earth Day recycling tip: Get paid for recycling your old mobile

April 22, 2009 by Andrew 1 Comment

Happy Earth Day. Earth Day is an event designed to raise awareness of the myriad of ecological dangers our planet, our home, currently faces. If you wish to join this American charity then you can do so online.

You don’t need to be in America in order to help promote Earth Day or save the planet. Here’s a tip for United Kingdom residents.

You can turn your old phone into cash and in doing so help recycle it in an environmentally friendly way.

Extinction Sucks: Asiatic Black Bears

April 17, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

This week’s Extinction Sucks episode from WWF’s pioneering web video features Ashleigh Young and Aleisha Caruso raising awareness of the plight of Asiatic Black Bears.

In parts of South East Asia these bears are milked for their bile. The bear bile is believed to be a cure for fever. It is found in everything from tea to toothpaste. Despite how wide spread the practice has been and still seems to be – there’s no proven benefit.

Critically rare Amur leopard killed by poachers

April 16, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Rather sadly, WWF UK are reporting that Russian police in Primorsky discovered the skin of an Amur leopard in the back of car. The Amur leopard is one of the rarest animals in the world.

It is believed than less than 20 adult Amur leopards exist in the world today. Between them they may have as few as 5 cubs. The leopards are already extinct in China and Korea.

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