The year has just started, but already one month has already nearly passed. The rest of the year will be gone before we know it, and soon it will be December once again.
Despite how fast this year will go by, there are plenty of opportunities to make a difference. The UN has designated 2010 the Internatial Year of Biodiversity (IYOB), to celebrate all of life of earth, and the ways in which our lives are enriched by it.
In order to promote biodiversity and raise awareness of endangered species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is highlighting a species a day. There's a link to the Species of the Day to the right, so follow along and learn a bit more about some of the threats facing the biodiversity of our planet.
Click here to find a IYOB celebration near you.
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
21 January 2010
31 December 2007
Love 'em or Lose 'em
Being in love makes everything look different. Suddenly, doing the dishes, which used to be a chore, turns into an act of gratitude. A kiss becomes not just an exchange of physical pleasure, but a deep communication of affection and desire. A trip to the shopping mall is no longer an item on the to-do-list, but an opportunity to shower the loved one with gifts.
Loving is a great act of unselfishness, and sometimes unselfishness means sacrificing to make the loved one happy.
The world, right now, needs some love.
More specifically, the frogs, toads, and other amphibians of the world, need some love. They're desperate for love. In fact, if they don't get some love soon, they'll die. From agricultural pollutants, from invasive species, from poaching and hunting, from deadly disease, and climate change. Without some love, thousands of species of amphibians will be extinct, before my yet-to-be-born children ever have a chance to meet them, or get to know them.
In the past decade or so, over a hundred amphibians have become extinct. About 3000 more are in danger of disappearing. Amphibians are a vital link in ecosystems around the world, and as they disappear, those ecosystems will begin to crumble. And as they disappear, so will the medical cures that they hold. Cures that are the key to saving the lives of people we love.
All of this lack of love is not because amphibians are unlovable, or because people don't want to love them. It's just that sometimes we're not very good at knowing how to show our love. Sometimes we bring flowers, when a back rub would have been more appropriate. Sometimes we try to say the right words, when we should have just listened.
So how do you love a frog? 2008 has been designated the Year of the Frog (YOTF), and it's purpose is to show the amphibians of the world that they are loved, and to show people how to love them. The Amphibian Ark, a collaboration between conservation organizations, is leading the effort, and will be promoting frog conservation around the globe. Their plan is to work with zoos, botanical gardens, museums, universities, or anyone else that is able, to house the most endangered species, until the extinction crisis can be averted. The eventual goal, of course, is to return the species to the wild.
So. This year, 2008, love a frog. Get involved. Tell your friends. Volunteer. Live greener. Sign the petition. Learn more. Donate. Love.
Loving is a great act of unselfishness, and sometimes unselfishness means sacrificing to make the loved one happy.
The world, right now, needs some love.
More specifically, the frogs, toads, and other amphibians of the world, need some love. They're desperate for love. In fact, if they don't get some love soon, they'll die. From agricultural pollutants, from invasive species, from poaching and hunting, from deadly disease, and climate change. Without some love, thousands of species of amphibians will be extinct, before my yet-to-be-born children ever have a chance to meet them, or get to know them.
In the past decade or so, over a hundred amphibians have become extinct. About 3000 more are in danger of disappearing. Amphibians are a vital link in ecosystems around the world, and as they disappear, those ecosystems will begin to crumble. And as they disappear, so will the medical cures that they hold. Cures that are the key to saving the lives of people we love.
All of this lack of love is not because amphibians are unlovable, or because people don't want to love them. It's just that sometimes we're not very good at knowing how to show our love. Sometimes we bring flowers, when a back rub would have been more appropriate. Sometimes we try to say the right words, when we should have just listened.
So how do you love a frog? 2008 has been designated the Year of the Frog (YOTF), and it's purpose is to show the amphibians of the world that they are loved, and to show people how to love them. The Amphibian Ark, a collaboration between conservation organizations, is leading the effort, and will be promoting frog conservation around the globe. Their plan is to work with zoos, botanical gardens, museums, universities, or anyone else that is able, to house the most endangered species, until the extinction crisis can be averted. The eventual goal, of course, is to return the species to the wild.
So. This year, 2008, love a frog. Get involved. Tell your friends. Volunteer. Live greener. Sign the petition. Learn more. Donate. Love.
27 November 2007
An Absence of Amphibians
Old pond
and a frog-jump-in
water-sound
This famous haiku by the Japanese poet Bashô evokes images of an evening filled with the chorus of croaking frogs and splashes as they leap into an old pond. Unfortunately, unnoticed by the majority of the world's population, frogs around the world are falling silent. As various threats to their survival converge, like ants on a fallen bread crust, amphibian species in every nation are facing extinction. Threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species are stacking themselves up against amphibian populations. To top it all off, the deadly chytrid fungus, perhaps helped along by global warming, is devastating amphibians everywhere. Chytridiomycosis, the disease caused by the fungus, causes a problem in the functioning of the amphibian's pores, making it difficult for them to absorb water. Without the ability to rehydrate, they soon die from a lack of water.
Now, scientists around the world are working together in an effort to save the amphibians from impending doom. Amphibian Ark, a collaboration between several conservation organizations, is asking zoos and botanical gardens around the world to create a safe haven for a species of amphibian. These havens would only be temporary, until the disease crisis has been averted, and the animals can be safely returned to their natural habitats. If their efforts are unsuccessful, I don't want to imagine what will happen to the balance of the world's ecosystems as a whole class of animals is wiped out.
This issue is not something to be taken lightly. It's downright scary when you think of the implications of what could happen if all of the frogs, toads, and other amphibians disappeared. Frog Matters, a blog with the latest happenings from Amphibian Ark has a great post on things that anyone can do to help prevent a mass extinction.
Donate now to help prevent the next great extinction.
and a frog-jump-in
water-sound
This famous haiku by the Japanese poet Bashô evokes images of an evening filled with the chorus of croaking frogs and splashes as they leap into an old pond. Unfortunately, unnoticed by the majority of the world's population, frogs around the world are falling silent. As various threats to their survival converge, like ants on a fallen bread crust, amphibian species in every nation are facing extinction. Threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species are stacking themselves up against amphibian populations. To top it all off, the deadly chytrid fungus, perhaps helped along by global warming, is devastating amphibians everywhere. Chytridiomycosis, the disease caused by the fungus, causes a problem in the functioning of the amphibian's pores, making it difficult for them to absorb water. Without the ability to rehydrate, they soon die from a lack of water.
Now, scientists around the world are working together in an effort to save the amphibians from impending doom. Amphibian Ark, a collaboration between several conservation organizations, is asking zoos and botanical gardens around the world to create a safe haven for a species of amphibian. These havens would only be temporary, until the disease crisis has been averted, and the animals can be safely returned to their natural habitats. If their efforts are unsuccessful, I don't want to imagine what will happen to the balance of the world's ecosystems as a whole class of animals is wiped out.
This issue is not something to be taken lightly. It's downright scary when you think of the implications of what could happen if all of the frogs, toads, and other amphibians disappeared. Frog Matters, a blog with the latest happenings from Amphibian Ark has a great post on things that anyone can do to help prevent a mass extinction.
Donate now to help prevent the next great extinction.
17 February 2007
Species of the Week, Feb 18
Blue Poison Frog (Dendrobates azureus)
All frogs worldwide
The Blue Poison Frog is one of the most (in my opinion) beautiful frogs in the world. But that might just because I happen to like blue better than green, orange, red, yellow, or a bunch of other colours. It lives in the South American country of Suriname, on Vier Gebroeders Mountain, and nowhere else in the world. Well, nowhere else in the world except a lot of zoos', aquariums', and collectors' glass tanks. This is actually a good thing, since its abundance in captivity means that it is not at threat in the wild from poaching. It may be threatened in its tiny range, from time to time by fire.
More alarming is the worldwide outbreak of Chytridiomycosis, a fungus affecting at least 30% of the world's frog species, and contributing to a planet-wide decline and extinction of amphibians. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Botanical Gardens Conservation International have teamed up to create a global Amphibian Ark--a system of zoos and gardens that will house endangered species, while the fungal and other crises are dealt with.
In honour of frogs throughout the world, all posts this week will be frog-themed.
All frogs worldwide
The Blue Poison Frog is one of the most (in my opinion) beautiful frogs in the world. But that might just because I happen to like blue better than green, orange, red, yellow, or a bunch of other colours. It lives in the South American country of Suriname, on Vier Gebroeders Mountain, and nowhere else in the world. Well, nowhere else in the world except a lot of zoos', aquariums', and collectors' glass tanks. This is actually a good thing, since its abundance in captivity means that it is not at threat in the wild from poaching. It may be threatened in its tiny range, from time to time by fire.
More alarming is the worldwide outbreak of Chytridiomycosis, a fungus affecting at least 30% of the world's frog species, and contributing to a planet-wide decline and extinction of amphibians. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Botanical Gardens Conservation International have teamed up to create a global Amphibian Ark--a system of zoos and gardens that will house endangered species, while the fungal and other crises are dealt with.
In honour of frogs throughout the world, all posts this week will be frog-themed.
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