Photo: Ken Lund

The boat sped through the marshes, past a BP staging area of trailers and mobile homes set up on the water’s edge near a busy dock. Fishing boats with outstretched arms of nets sit idle, though I can’t tell if this is due to the spill. In the distance, column of thunderheads gathers, dark as crude.

Up until today, most of my hurricane-related volunteer work in Louisiana has centered on houses. I’ve gutted, restored, and rebuilt, but what good is that if those rebuilt neighborhoods are left exposed to future storms?

Louisiana loses a football field of wetland every 38 minutes, thanks in part to channels cut for oil drilling. These natural barriers have historically helped slow down the wave action churned by big storms that move through in late summer, but they’re disappearing fast.

It seems appropriate, then, to honor the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall at the Louisiana-Mississippi state line with a project like this. I’ve signed up to plant marsh grass along man-dredged terraces near Barataria Bay—the same marshes and islands that were once the staging ground and hiding place for a pirate named Jean Lafitte who eventually helped save the city of New Orleans from British takeover in the War of 1812. In fact, the town I’ve disembarked from is named Lafitte.

I’m with a group of six volunteers organized by the Barataria-Terrebone National Estuary Program. We spend the day with our elbows in the warm, soupy water, planting tufts of the grass in thick clay around the perimeters of these v-shaped terraces. In time, the grass will grow to cover the entire earthen terrace.

We can’t work quickly enough to keep pace with the improbably fast wetland disappearance, but I’m mostly satisfied to do something—anything—for this fragile coast that’s been beat to death by human interference. Looking at a map, it seems impossible our collective actions could do so much damage to so vast an area, and that makes me wonder if my four hours of planting will make a damn bit of difference.

As we head back to shore after we’re finished planting, I’m better able to pick out the man-made marsh terraces now that I know what to look for. And it occurs to me: if humanity has so easily exacted such great damage in such a haphazard way, we must certainly be capable of great change if we just get in our boats and get organized.

Community Connection:

Read Megan’s thoughts about Hurricane Katrina in her essay, “Notes on the 4th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” published in 2009 on The Travelers Notebook.

This article started as a project for myself. Depressed and aggravated about BP’s oil spill and mismanaged clean-up, I started researching ways to cut back on my own oil consumption.

It was a two-level action plan; I could atone for my petroleum indiscretions and Norman Bates some oil industry profits.

Although the negatives of the oil industry are outstanding–degredation of the ecosystem, global warming, oil spills and oil wars–there’s not a good guy, bad guy battle going on here.

Or is there?

There’s serious money grab happening in the oil industry. Sector profits continually increase and cyclical earning keeps oil companies and their lobbyists engaged in maintaining petroleum as a big part of everyone’s lives.

Consider this:

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “the petroleum refining industry is the largest industrial consumer of energy”. Basically, we need more oil so we can refine more oil.

Oil companies, and the politicians that are supported by them, aren’t necessarily looking to promote green energy with such interest in keeping oil lubricating the return of the other “green”.

Petroleum products don’t just include gasoline and crude oil. When petroleum is refined and its various chemical parts separated, petrochemicals make plastic, rubber, and a whole slew of materials that we ingest, wear, and use throughout the day.

Below, I’ve included obvious and not-so-obvious ways to cut back on oil and give less money to the oil industry.

(Statistics provided by the EIA.)

1.) Cut back on/regulate air conditioning and heat.

41% of household energy is consumed by space heating. 8% is from air conditioning use. Programmable thermostats are a great tool for regulating energy use.

2.) Weatherize your home.

Do a home energy audit to see where you’re losing energy. Insulation and natural shade will be key factors.

3.) Eat and buy local.

Support local farmers markets, restaurants that use local produce, and shops that sell locally made items.

4.) Calculate your carbon footprint.

5.) Try going vegetarian. Even for just Meatless Mondays.

In 2006, the United Nations summarized the meat industry as “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” Loads of sites offer vegetarian/vegan recipes and communities. My favorite, a print magazine and website, is Veg News.

6.) Don’t buy bottled water.

Try a Brita filter. Campaign like Jean Hill for no bottled water in your town.

7.) Cut back on plastic products.

Plastic bags and bottles obviously included. Plastic is made from petrochemicals, the main ingredient of which is oil.

8.) Recycle.

If you don’t have a recycling box, call your city’s public works department and they’ll bring you one.

9.) Buy mp3s and used CDs and LPs.

10.) Carpool.

11.) Roll down the car windows.

Turn off the a/c in your car and you’ll save on gas.

12.) Save your car radio and CD player for songs you really want to listen to.

Pull the plug on mediocre songs and unnecessary electronics.

13.) Keep your car in good condition and repair.

Get tire pressure checked, maintain regular oil changes, and replace parts as necessary.

14.) Take yourself off junk mail lists.

15.) Buy clothes at consignment shops instead of purchasing new clothes.

16.) Eat seasonally.

Food will travel less.

17.) Eat less package-heavy food.

18.) Combine trips in town.

Hit up the grocery store, bank, and gym all in one trip.

19.) Eat organic if you can’t eat local.

Pesticides are petrochemical poison.

20.) Avoid synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, and acrylic in clothes, curtains, carpets.

They’re full of petrochemicals and feel like crap anyways.

21.) Do soap research.

There are two types of detergents: soapy and soapless. Soapless detergents are made from oil products.

22.) Cut back on processed and canned food.

Food additives are another petrochemical.

23.) Avoid standard candles.

Wax is a raw petroleum product that also makes milk cartons and polishes. Buy natural soy or beeswax candles.

24.) If you have a garden, watch out that your fertilizer doesn’t contain petroleum chemicals.

25.) Switch to non-ethylene garbage bags.

26.) Research non-synthetic (i.e. non-petroleum product) natural rubber or natural fiber shoes.

27.) Consider adopting a non-refrigerator lifestyle.

5% of household energy is used by the refrigerator.

28.) Cut off lights.

29.) Put all appliances on a power strip.

Flip the switch when you leave the room. Plugged in appliances are a major energy drain. Lighting and other appliances account for 26% of household energy use.

30.) Limit hot water use.

Take fast showers and wash clothes and dishes in cold water. Water heating accounts for 20% of household energy use.

31.) Make sure your water heater is in good repair.

32.) Switch to compact florescent lightbulbs from incandescent bulbs.

33.) Take the bus.

34.) Take the train.

On my recent trip to NYC for TBEX, I took the train from Virginia instead of flying. It was cheaper and less stressful than dealing with long security lines.

35.) Make sure your house in well-ventilated.

36.) Switch to nonpetroleum cosmetics.

37.) Consider holistic medicine.

For yet another reason to switch to holistic medicine: most modern drugs contain petroleum based products.

38.) Avoid ammonia based products.

39.) Don’t chew gum.

Most bubble gum contains petroleum. I tell my voice students not to chew gum anyways since it causes jaw tension.

40.) Watch what you put on your body.

Read the ingredient lists in perfumes and lotions. Many contain petrochemicals.

41.) Tell cashiers you don’t want paper receipts.

42.) Watch your water footprint.

Did you know a cup of coffee requires 37 gallons of virtual water? I didn’t until I read Julie Schwietert’s water footprint article.

43.) Recycle your electronics.

Best Buy recycles your e-waste for you.

44.) Monitor you energy online.

Google’s PowerMeter lets you view your home’s energy consumption from anywhere online.

45.) Recycle without recycling.

Re-purpose items around the house without even putting them in the recycling bin. Real Simple and Ready Made magazines usually give great tips.

46.) Ride your bike.

47.) Walk everywhere you can.

48.) Buy in bulk.

49.) Don’t buy disposable anything.

Use washable cups, even at picnics. Try mesh coffee filters, cloth diapers, cloth napkins, and cloth towels instead of paper towels. Experiment with reusable feminine products like the Diva Cup.

50.) Watch out for brands that don’t deserve to call themselves “green”.

Community Connection

Know of more ways to use less oil? Have experience with above tips? Share below.

“You can’t call it sustainable when you cut down the mangrove,” Paul Sanchez-Navarro Russell is in the middle of a rant about hotel development. I’m sure he has no shortage of these as the director of an ecology conservation organization.

“There are solutions to the problems [Akumal faces] in resource destruction and bad management,” Paul continues. “But [these solutions] need to take precedence over the immediate economic interests of a few.”

Obvious, yes, though it’s this message that needs to be said and said loudly if Akumal has any hopes for reducing human impact and recovering what it’s lost so far.

Having worked in environmental policy for years now, it’s clear Paul is up for the challenge, if not inspired by it.

His Work

Six years ago, Paul stepped up as Director of Centro Ecologico Akumal (CEA), the ad hoc environmental authority in the Akumal region.

“I was really inspired by the challenges of strengthening the organization and to be able to work on so many issues focused in one area,” he explains.

But being able to work on so many issues is what accounts for Paul’s very hectic schedule.

“There is no typical day,” he laughs.

Last Wednesday, Paul took a sick sea turtle to the animal hospital before conducting a press conference and then dealing with an electrical failure that shut down the entire office.

When I met with him a week and a half ago, he was wired on Diet Cokes and stealing time away from rubbing elbows at an eco-fashion event in Tulum.

“This is sort of normal,” he insists.

Though he may not be able to predict his erratic day-to-day, Paul has very clear goals for Akumal:

- to establish a locally managed sea turtle refuge
- to protect the mangroves and ecoparks surrounding the tourism area
- to use sustainable water treatment technology to control water pollution

He also wants to continue to be able to see the stars at night, and, of course, for the lost coral reef to grow back.

At Matador, we would like to see all that as well.

The Organization

Founded in 1993, CEA is a non-profit organization dedicated to marine and coastal protection, sea turtle protection, and water quality in the Akumal region.

Roughly ten years later, the organization recruited Paul from their technical advisory committee. Previous to CEA, he served as the Biodiversity Policy Advisor for World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International as well as for both the WWF México Program and Pronatura.

Currently, the majority of his efforts concentrate on harmonizing Akumal’s growing tourism industry with CEA’s environmental conservation agenda.

“We want to demonstrate to everybody that you can have business without hurting nature. Right now, [Akumal's tourism industry] is not sustainable, but we’re working toward it.”

It’s not easy trying to convince everyone from government officials to independent fishing boat operators to look beyond the immediate financial gratification of current tourism practices and endeavor to establish something sustainable, but it’s all Akumal has.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Photo by Crazy Creatures

In the last three years, the region has lost almost 80% of Mesoamerican reef due to water pollution and the influx of tourists.

Fortunately, CEA’s presence is bringing about a positive change: beach front hotels have agreed to help facilitate the nesting of endangered sea turtles; the Mexican government has made it a federal offense to interfere with sea turtle ecology; and CEA is developing eco-certifications to encourage hotels to practice sustainable tourism.

How You Can Help

You can help CEA through financial donations, item donations, sea turtle adoptions, or by volunteering.

The organization accepts volunteers for each of their six programs throughout the year. Interested parties should visit the website for more information and volunteer applications.

“Remember that each action you take to improve how you use the Earth is important. There is no effort too small. Expect more from yourself than you do from others.”

Couldn’t have said it any better, Paul.

Community Connection

You can read more about Global Environmental Issues on Matador.

For other volunteering abroad opportunities and information, check out our Volunteering Abroad focus page.

And so, on January 9, 2010 we unplugged our fridge.

According to The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, refrigerators suck up an average of 1,383 kilowatt hours of energy each year.  This is a very wasteful use of energy, especially considering that many foods don’t require the level of refrigeration we’re led to believe they need.

Eggs are a classic example. Travel to most countries outside of North America and eggs are sold and stored at room temperature. Same goes for cheese. We now keep cheeses wrapped in waxed paper on the counter, and have been surprised at how much more flavorful they are when not kept cold.

Many fruits will keep for a week or more at room temperature, and vegetables will last for at least a few days if kept moist with water.

Milk however, will only keep for about 6 hours.  Seeing that the two of us manage to consume at least one gallon of milk every week, I think the footpath to the grocery store is about to get a lot more action.

European couchsurfers who come to stay with us never fail to comment on the Y2K stockpile mentality of our refrigerators. The “apartment-size” fridge (9-12 cubic feet) is the norm in Europe, compared to the 19-22 cubic foot norm in the US and Canada.

Cleaning out our fridge and moving its contents to the mudroom made me realize how much crap really was in there. Half-empty bottles of crusty sauces, soggy fruit, and hairy cheese confirmed my weakness for sales and subsequent habit of buying more than necessary. Just by downgrading to a smaller fridge could cut your energy use in half and if you’ are anything like me, probably slice a nice chunk off of your grocery bill too.

Most refrigerators are set to about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 degrees Celcius), but don’ t actually need to be so cold. By cranking the temperature up to 43 degrees your food will stay cool without over-expending your already very hard working refrigerator.

We’re managing to get by just fine without a refrigerator and while I’m slowly accepting that chilled white wine won’t be waiting for me after work this summer, I love the challenge of it. It is estimated that the average US home uses just shy of 1,000 kilowatts of electricity every month, and since we’ve ditched our fridge, we have watched our monthly consumption drop from 170 kWh to 90 kWh.

The challenge of living without refrigeration excites me, and a photo essay chronicling our “ditching the fridge” adventure can be found on Wandering Dona.

Community Connection:

To learn more about everyday ways to conserve energy and save money, be sure to read about Abbie Mood’s experience with the No Impact Week Challenge. Also, check out Matador’s focus page on Green Products for environmentally conscious product ideas!

1. The Epicocity team: The Teotônio rapids on the Madeira, have claimed many rafters, including many of Teddy Roosevelt’s team, who first took to the rapids in 1914.

2. Scoping the scene: Roosevelt wrote about the monster fish he found in the rapids. Today, giant white-fish are just one of the varieties of fish and mammals in the 300-mile stretch of river.

3. Extreme off-roading: Modern equipment helped make the expedition successful.

4. Gearing up: The team also had an advantage over previous expeditions because of badass paddlers like Trip Jennings and Andy Maser.

5. Fierce rapids: This is only the fourth team to ever attempt passage of the remote Rio Roosevelt, nearly inaccessible because of the location and gnarly whitewater.

6. No more fishing: The proposed dam will turn the whitewater into a reservoir. Because passage will be blocked, the native fish will become extinct and local fishing communities will deteriorate.

7. Giant white-fish: The team with a catch.

8. Calmer waters: The team only had to make one 4-hour portage, as opposed to Roosevelt’s team, which lost most of their team in frequent portages.

9. Not just the fish will die: The Amazon’s entire ecosystem will collapse if damning, forestation, and mining aren’t stopped.

10. Connect: You can find out more about the team’s adventures on their blog and twitter feed. The Epicocity Project is next headed to Laos.

So what can you do?

To take action, sign the campaign to protect the Amazon rivers.

Most importantly, be an informed citizen of the world. Know where your food and products come from and try to buy locally.

Community Connection

Do you know your water footprint? Here are some green product ideas for making more aware purchases.

It takes some major cajones and altruism to kayak one of the world’s most dangerous rapids for the sake of conservation efforts.

Not only did the Epicocity Project, led by Andy Maser and Trip Jennings, and a National Geographic team successfully navigate the Rio Roosevelt.

They blogged and tweeted live while doing so.

Seriously.

Situation DIRE! Biting flies covering every inch of us! Hot. Rain. Coffee supply low. Nearing insanity. Send cold beer ASAP! #riverbr 4:26 PM Dec 5th, 2009 from Twitter.com/Epicocity

The goal of the Epicocity Project’s Brazil Expedition was two-fold:

1)      Create a biodiversity inventory of the Rio Roosevelt, a 300 mile stretch of nearly inaccessible rapids filled with giant whitewater fish. A proposed 2012 damn will forever change the ecosystem of the area.

2)      Utilize social media live from the Amazon jungle via SPOT messenger tracking and satellite phones.

Is this the new wave of social media in conservation?

Via the team’s Rivers in Demand website, viewers were able to follow along the real-time SPOT messenger tracking map and read the EP’s Twitter feed.

Because the team experimented with this new SPOT technology and partnered with Under Solen Media, the team had the opportunity to raise awareness about the threat to rivers, fish species, and local fishing communities in an intimate, innovative way.

Why this matters

Folks at home can feel part of conservation efforts in real-time. Emotional disconnect doesn’t happen as readily when we know a conservation/relief project is happening in the present, when we can see latitude-longitude coordinates on a live map and follow tweets like the one below.

Just arrived at the monster fish basecamp. Fabio the angler already fishing for rumored 80 kilo catfish! http://bit.ly/669uAu #riverbr 9:37 AM Dec 5th, 2009 from Twitter.com/Epicocity

The team’s biodiversity inventory will be crucial to remembering the area’s biological history if the proposed dam is built in 2012 and the ecosystem is destroyed. Thankfully, the team’s use of social media has increased coverage of the threat and will hopefully trigger more outrage at the government of Brazil’s proposed degradation of the Rio Roosevelt.

Find out more about this and future projects at the Epicocity Blog and Rivers in Demand Site and follow the team’s Twitter feed and Facebook page.

Community Connection

Feel inspired? Find out more about volunteering abroad and giving back.

A front page article in The New York Times caught my eye last Friday:

“Lower Prices Aid In Conservation: Some See Silver Lining to Dip in Real Estate.”

Writer Leslie Kaufman explained:

“[There's] a green lining of sorts in a credit crisis that has depressed real estate prices, prompted foreclosures and derailed development projects across the nation.”

Plummeting real estate prices have made it possible for conservationists to buy land that was out of their reach just a year ago.

Kaufman continued:

“[P]urchases by conservationists and state and local governments assure that thousands of acres will be put aside in perpetuity for parks, watershed protection or simply preservation of open space.”

We reached out to four photographers who have documented some of the spaces described in Kaufman’s article and asked them to share their work with MatadorChange readers.

1.The Florida Everglades. Photo by Michael Pancier
Although the Florida Everglades comprise the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, this World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, and Wetland of International Importance is threatened by draining and development. Such activity has undermined the native plant and wildlife species, as well as the stability of this entire ecosystem. At risk species include manatees, the American crocodile and American alligator, and the Florida panther.

2.New Jersey Marshes. Photo by Mario Burger
If you ever take NJ Transit from New York City to Newark’s Liberty International Airport, you’ll ride through New Jersey’s marshlands. Though New Jersey’s nickname is the Garden State, its marshes have long been abused as dump sites. Many of the marshes are part of the state’s brownfield clean up program (local officials have their work cut out for them: the state has more than 10,000 brownfield sites), but conservationists argue that the state needs to expand its protected marsh program as well, as marshes are important breeding grounds for migratory birds.

3.Boise, Idaho. Photo by Pulok Pattanayak
Big city folks like myself think of places like Boise, Idaho as nothing but open land. As the Idaho Conservation League points out, though, even seemingly pristine places are threatened by all sorts of human activity. The Boise River, for instance, is currently at risk of pollution by a proposed open pit mine–the world’s largest.

4.Jamaica Bay, Queens, New York. Photo by Paul Grebanier
Yes, that’s the New York City skyline you see in the background. The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge currently consists of 9,155 acres and is home to more than 325 bird species. Who’d have thought salt marsh, upland field and woods, and fresh and brackish water ponds could all be found within New York City limits? The wildlife refuge is part of Gateway National Recreation Area, a park that offers biking, surfing, fishing, and camping.

Community Connection:

Why should we care that preservationists, environmental conservationists, and land trusts protect large tracts of land? Read Matador senior editor David Miller’s Notes on Finding a New Home River for a few thoughts on the subject.

Photo: CarbonNYC

Hanukkah doesn’t seem to pose the same kinds of environmental problems that Christmas does, what with the latter’s cut and artificial trees and excess waste in the form of wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows.

But that doesn’t mean that Hanukkah can’t be greener.

Though most menorahs lit at home feature candles, public menorahs often blaze with the glow of electric light.

Two Yeshiva University physics students wanted to “green” these public menorahs, so they invented a wind-powered menorah, which they tested out this evening to mark the first night of Hanukkah.

From the New York Times City Blog:

“Their menorah is four feet wide and four feet tall, made of plastic and spray-painted gold. The lights are nine compact fluorescent bulbs. A cable connects them to a car battery. Another cable connects the battery to a wind turbine with a two-foot propeller…. The propeller turns a generator that generates current to charge the batteries. They provide a constant current and voltage to the compact fluorescent bulbs, which give more light on less power than incandescent bulbs.”

As Mark Stauber, one of the student inventors, remarked:

“In the miracle of the menorah, they got back to the temple and there was only enough oil for one night, but they made it last eight days…. I see an analogy with the world’s fight for sustainable energy, to take that and make it last as long as we’re going to need it.”

Happy Hanukkah.

With the global water crisis, can you really buy bottled water in good faith? These facts that might make you think twice before buying bottled water.

Community Connection:

Read 40 Shocking Facts About Water to learn more about water use around the world.

Feature Photo: khym54

On December 19, 2008 Tim DeChristopher, a then 27-year-old University of Utah student, strolled calmly into a Salt Lake City Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office and into a room where the drilling rights of 149,000 acres of pristine public lands, including parcels located near Arches and Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah, were being auctioned off to the highest bidder.  

DeChristopher, wielding paddle number 70, won the leases on 13 parcels of land and drove up the prices for other parcels by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What separated DeChristopher from the other bidders in the room was that he had no intentions of actually paying for these leases.

He had shown up at the BLM office that morning to join others in protesting the sale and soon found himself in the auction room, wielding a paddle and attempting to block the sales in this highly contentious auction.

Announcement of the public land sale drew strong objections from many business owners, conservationists, archaeologists, the National Park Service, members of Congress, and even celebrities, including Robert Redford. Several environmental groups also filed lawsuits in an attempt to stop the sale, believing the land sale would threaten some of Utah’s most precious and scenic redrock desert.

Some of the parcels were adjacent to national parks and critics of the sale felt the views from America’s most cherished parks would soon be spoiled with oil rigs.

A few hours into the auction, oil and gas company bidders became suspicious of bidder 70 after he won the many of the controversial parcels surrounding Arches and Canyonlands National Park. DeChristopher was soon removed from the auction and questioned by federal agents.

On April 1, 2009, DeChristopher was served up a two-count felony indictment and now faces up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.

Shortly after the auction, DeChristopher quickly evolved into a folk hero.

DeChristopher does not regret his actions and says he will deal with the consequences. In an interview with the Mountain Gazette he stated:

“Anything else, whether it’s prison, or missing out on school, or whatever, is not nearly as big of a risk as just continuing on this path of destruction that we’re on right now. I didn’t know that it would be effective at the time, I just knew that there was a chance that I could protect the land. I knew that I could live with the consequences, but I couldn’t live with knowing that I saw a chance to make a difference and didn’t take it.”

DeChristopher’s actions worked.

On February 4, 2009, newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar revoked a majority of the sales, including most of the parcels that DeChristopher had won and thoroughly rebuked the previous administration’s hasty reviews of the contested sites.

Despite this, DeChristopher still broke the law and is being tried for violating the terms of a federal auction. He will plead that he interfered with the auction in an act of civil disobedience. His actions were in protest of the Bush administration’s oil and gas policies, which he felt were worsening climate change and threatening the health of everyone on Earth.

Follow DeChristopher’s battle at Bidder70.org.

What do you think of DeChristopher’s actions? Is he a folk hero or a criminal? Share your thoughts below.

Community Connection:

Find out what gas companies have done in other countries when 60 Minutes’ exposes Chevron’s environmental atrocity in the Amazon.

Ah, life’s simple pleasures. Photo: Kecko

While the rest of the world’s populations are flocking toward their nation’s metropolitan hotspots, a 2001 British census shows that Brits have been forgoing the fast-pace of the city for slower country living, a trend that has only gotten worse in recent years.

Not okay, says University College London research associate and author P.D. Smith in an article published in Wired UK magazine’s January issue.

Smith cites data revealing rural households emitting higher carbon dioxide than their urban counterparts due to larger residences, longer commutes, and multiple cars. Turns out, the regions with the largest carbon footprints in the UK are in the rural northeast, not the famed cities of London or Glasgow. London, interestingly enough, has the lowest per capita emissions. Who would have thought?

Smith argues that city living creates a low carbon economy and those who opt for country living should be taxed for the luxury.

“British people need to be cured of the insidious fantasy of leaving the city and owning a house in the country…. We tax cigarettes to reflect the harm they do to our health: we need to tax lifestyles that are damaging the health of the planet – and that means targeting people who choose to live in the countryside.”

Making exceptions for agricultural workers and those who are employed in rural areas, Smith wants to institute a “Rural Living Tax” for all other country residents, such as rich people with two houses.

But other than tax the pants off country dwellers, isn’t a better solution to aggressively promote greener living for all citizens?

Rather than punish people for choosing to live with cows and chickens, we should be encouraging the habitual acts that contribute to sustainability. The Earth is everyone’s responsibility and finding more reasons to tax certain demographics doesn’t exactly carry that message across.

Sound reasonable enough? Let those opinions fly free in the comments below.

Photo: ctenophore

Well, this is a depressing way to start your Thursday.

As if the news of glacial melt and polar bear deaths wasn’t enough to make you want to crawl into a hole until the environmental apocalypse has come and gone, here’s a stunner:

Scientists now believe that coral reef destruction is so accelerated that it’s impossible to save these living underwater ecosystems.

According to this article from the BBC, the only intervention believed viable at this point is to collect reef samples and freeze them for posterity. Should we get our act together on climate change and help restabilize the oceans’ temperatures, then, the reasoning goes, the cryogenized coral can be reintroduced to sea beds.

All the more reason why the world’s superpowers need to start walking the walk on climate change at next month’s Copenhagen summit.

Community Connection:

Members of the Matador community are active in coral reef protection and restoration. Check out the organizational profile of the Reef Doctor, an environmental conservation and activist group based in Madagascar that’s dedicated to conserving coral reefs through local education and community-based environmental projects.

Photo: Yafut

Greenpeace has some advice for you.

Recognizing that the most hard-core environmentalists want to make every aspect of their lives green, the environmental activism group published an “Eco-Sex Guide,” consisting of 10 tips for greater, “greener” sex.

If you’ve never thought about the carbon footprint of your sex life, check out some of their suggestions:

Turn off the lights. We all have to do our part to stop climate change; energy reduction and energy efficiency are an important part of changing our energy culture. If you want to see your partner, or what you are doing, have sex during the day.

Forget the fossil fuel based lubricants like petroleum jelly! Esso’s screwing the planet, but you don’t have to.

Soap up together in the shower or bath to save water and create passion for more than the environment. More than one billion people do not have access to clean water; it is a luxury…

If you want…paddles for something other than rowing, please, for God’’s sake, make sure they are made from sustainably harvested timber. Look for timber, paddles, whatever, certified by the only internationally recognised ecological forest certification organisation, the Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC.

If you’ve got advice for eco-friendly sex, share your tips below.

Community Connection:

Want to go green while you’re traveling? Check out our green guides to cities like Milan, Barcelona, and Washington, D.C..

Villa Sevilla (in feature photo) and Hacienda Los Laureles (in photo above) can teach hotels a lot about going green. Feature photo and photo above: Francisco Collazo

Maybe I don’t represent the traveler norm–that’s entirely possible–but my average hotel stay is no longer than two nights. I don’t need my sheets and towels changed at all during that time.

Hotels claim to save “thousands and thousands” of gallons of water through their pillow card sheet-towel change policy, and I’m willing to concede they probably have. But if hotels are really committed to going green(er), here are 10 tips I’d like to offer them based on some smart environmental strategies I’ve seen during my travels in the past year.

1. Replace disposable plastic coffee pods and bleached paper filters.

How about reusable mesh filters and small packages of coffee in recyclable paper envelopes? Or take a cue from Portland, Oregon’s Heathman Hotel, which offers a French press in each room. Any of these three options reduces waste and cuts costs… a management no-brainer, if you ask me.

2. Replace disposable cups with ceramic or glass.

While we’re talking about coffee, can we get rid of the disposable cups… especially Styrofoam, which contains toxins and takes hundreds of years to break down? Your guests can drink their coffee in the room or fill up their travel mugs (bonus points if you sell reusable travel mugs on-site).

3. Turn room wastebaskets into trash sorters.

Improve recycling and the use of your staff’s time by turning each room’s wastebaskets into a simple sorting system. The Doubletree in San Juan, Puerto Rico does this. Each wooden wastebasket has two plastic bins nestled inside: one for regular trash, one for paper and plastic recyclables. Employees don’t have to sort trash from recyclables, and guests get visual confirmation that the hotel is taking an extra step in reducing its negative environmental impact.

4. Get rid of toiletries in little plastic bottles.

Matador contributor Teresa Ponikvar confessed that she loves hotel shampoos, conditioners, and lotions that come in little plastic bottles. So do I (and I have a whole collection of them).

But getting rid of these little plastic bottles and replacing them with refillable pumps that adhere to the side of the shower are much more environmentally friendly and cost efficient. Villa Sevilla in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico uses refillable pumps, and proprietor Marina Lawson says:

“Those small sample bottles of shampoo and conditioner are not only expensive but they generate much waste. Instead, we purchased wall dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and hand soap. These are easily refilled and can be taken down to be cleaned. At the cost of $15 for each dispenser and about $0.06-$0.12 cents per ounce for the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and soap, this won hands down over the cost of $0.75-$0.95 cents per one ounce unit of plastic bottled product with our logo. For guests on a week-long vacation, we calculated that we’re preventing at least 14 small plastic bottles from going into our landfills. We’re also lowering our operational costs, and we can pass those savings on to guests.”

5. Replace plastic laundry bags with cloth bags.

By now, I hope you’re cluing into the fact that going green also reduces hotel operators’ costs. Switch out those plastic bags guests use for laundry service and replace them with cloth bags, which the guest leaves in the room at the end of his or her stay, just like all the other linens.

6. Switch to a key card system that activates lights and air conditioning.

Last year, while working on a couple of city guide assignments for Gayot Guides, I stayed at five boutique hotels in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Oaxaca, Mexico.

In each hotel, I noticed that my room key controlled the lights, making it impossible for me to be irresponsible and leave the lights on when I went out. When the guest enters the room, he or she inserts the hard plastic room key into a wall unit that allows the lights and air conditioning to be controlled. When the key is removed, the lights and utilities are disabled.

According to Sylvie Laitre of Mexico Boutique Hotels, there’s an obvious reason besides environmentalism to switch to the key card system: electric bills are cut by as much as 40% in hotels where key cards are used.

7. Green your roof.

Photo: pnwra

This step is a big one, no doubt… one that requires more planning, effort, upkeep, and up-front investment than the preceding tips. Yet it’s also one of the most visible ways to show your hotel’s commitment to the environment, and its long-term payoffs guarantee a respectable return on investment.

Among the benefits of green roofs: (1) longer lifespan of the roof; (2) cost savings on heating/cooling bills; (3) improves sound insulation; (4) improves aesthetics and–depending on design–creates attractive recreational/amenity space; (5) provides potential space for small-scale food production; and (6) contributes to decreasing overall temperature of urban spaces.

That roof you see in the photo above? That’s the green roof of Marriott’s Victoria, British Columbia property.

8. Build an on-site garden.

This is an especially smart step for hotels that also operate or host restaurants. On-site growing cuts sourcing costs and provides visual confirmation to guests that some of the food they’re enjoying is just about as local as it can get.

9. Implement a gray water recycling program.

Like the green roof and the garden, setting up a gray water recycling program is a step only the most committed hotels are likely to take, but Peter Kaiser, owner of Hacienda Los Laureles in Oaxaca, Mexico, offers persuasive evidence suggesting that the switch is worth the effort.

“We recycle approximately 90% of the water consumed per room (or 20.000.00 liters per day based on a full hotel)…, and recuperate 20,000.00 or more from our pool when cleaning,” Kaiser says. Not only does he feel better about the impact of his operations; he saves money, too.

Beyond gray water recycling, Kaiser also recommends installing energy-efficient light bulbs with a lifespan guarantee of one year or longer. In addition to being environmentally responsible, says Kaiser, “it saves me many complaints and work hours.”

Kaiser’s boutique hotel, which turns nine years old today, also has an excellent on-site restaurant, Los Cipreses, which composts egg shells, coffee grounds, fruits, and vegetables.

10. Encourage guests to enjoy environmentally friendly activities.

Provide bikes for loan or rental. Partner with local ecotourism companies to promote low impact activities that also expose guests to the local ecosystem. Include recommendations for local farmers’ markets and the like in your concierge’s list of recommended activities.

Community Connection:

Hoteliers: What other strategies do you recommend to your colleagues? Share your tips in the comments below and don’t be shy showing off the environmentally friendly steps you’ve taken to make your property greener!

Photo: 350.org

We’ve been keeping tabs on plastic bans around the world, and have come across two encouraging stories from different ends of the world this week.

First came the news that Mexico City has banned plastic bags. Our friends over at Wend Magazine reported that Mexico’s capital city has “banned businesses from distributing plastic bags that are not biodegradable. The ban affects all stores, production facilities and service providers.”

The policy is especially significant considering that Mexico City is one of the world’s most population dense metropolises. The plastic bag ban will prevent massive amounts of unnecessary waste from ending up in the country’s shrinking landfills.

On the other side of the world, the Herald Sun of Australia is reporting that a Melbourne primary school has banned students from bringing plastic water bottles to class. Instead, students are being told to bring reusable, environmentally friendly bottles from home, which can be refilled at fountains and taps in the school.

School principal David Foley indicated that the ban was part of a school-wide effort to improve its environmental consciousness and to decrease students’ collective carbon footprint.

What are policy trends related to plastic use where you live? Share the news from your area in the comments below!

Community Connection:

Why are plastic bottle bans important? Check out Eva Holland’s article “Bottled Water: Making a Big (Bad) Impact” for the answers.

Photo: mattman23

1. Over 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean, safe water.

Photo: ePi.Longo

2. Almost 4 million people die each year from water related diseases.

Photo: Julien Harneis

3. 43% of water related deaths are due to diarrhea.

4. 98% of water related deaths occur in the developing world.

5. Unsafe water is the biggest killer of children under five; around 90% of all diarrheal deaths are in this age group.

6. In Sub-Saharan Africa women spend on average 16 hours a week collecting water.

7. A typical individual in the United States uses 500 litres of water each day.

8. The recommended daily water requirement for sanitation, bathing, cooking and consumption is approximately 50 litres per person per day.

9. Over 1 billion people use less than 6 litres of water per day.

Photo: laihiu

10. A typical individual in Gambia uses just 4.5 litres of water a day.

11. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation has claimed more lives through disease than any war through guns.

12. The average toilet uses 8 litres of clean water in a single flush.

13. At any one time, more than half the world’s poor are ill due to inadequate sanitation, water or hygiene.

14. It takes over 11,000 litres of water to produce a pound of coffee.

15. Half the world’s schools do not have access to clean water, nor adequate sanitation.

16. It takes about 300 litres of water to make the paper for just one Sunday newspaper.

17. Agriculture is responsible for about 70% of the world’s water usage. Industry uses a further 22%.

18. 443 million school days are lost each year due to water related illness.

19. On average, women in Africa and Asia have to walk 3.7 miles to collect water.

Photo: rachelmolenda

20. The average dishwasher uses over 100 litres per cycle.

21. It takes up to 5000 litres of water to produce 1kg of rice.

22. 80% of all illness in the developing world comes from water born diseases.

Photo: Sacca

23. Drilling a fresh water well can cost anything from a few hundred dollars to over $40,000.

24. Over 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation.

25. 90% of wastewater in developing countries is discharged into rivers or streams without any treatment.

26. About 1.8 million child deaths a year are due to diarrhea.

Photo: Sacca

27. An 18 litre can of water weighs 20 kilos.

28. About half the world’s hospital beds are occupied by someone with a water related illness.

29. A five minute shower in an American household will use more water than a person living in a developing world slum will use in a whole day.

30. A third of the people without access to clean water live on less than a dollar a day. More than two thirds live on less than two dollars a day.

31. Water consumption in a US household is eight times that of an Indian household.

32. In India alone, water born diseases cost the economy 73 million working days per year.

33. In sub-Saharan Africa a child’s chance of dying from diarrhea is over 500 times greater than in Europe.

34. Approximately 2.5 billion people lack access to appropriate sanitation facilities.

35. About 1.2 billion people have absolutely no access to a sanitation facility.

36. In a typical year in Africa 5–10 times the number of people die from diarrhea than from war.

Photo: Julien Harneis

37. Simply washing hands can decrease the chance of diarrhea by around 35%.

38. Global sales of bottled water account for over $60-$80 billion each year.

39. A child dies of water born diseases about every 15 seconds (that’s about 12 children just since you started reading this article). By this time tomorrow, another 2,500 will be dead.

40. As little as one dollar can provide clean water for a child in the developing world for an entire year.

Community Connection:

Want to help? www.charitywater.org, thewaterproject.org, www.water.org, and www.onedollarwater.com are just three of the hundreds of charities trying to bring clean water to the developing world.

Want to know how much water you’re using? Calculate your water footprint.

Photo: greenforall.org

If you’re between the ages of 18 and 29 and you have an incredible, feasible idea for a clean energy project that can be put into practice, you might be interested in the Focus Roots Fellowships being offered by Focus the Nation, a national climate change awareness project.

Applicants must write a 1,000 word essay detailing the scope and nature of their proposed project, a 300 word introduction to a mentor who will provide expertise and support, and a projected budget for your project. This year’s fellowships are being offered in two categories–sport and art–and should focus on the use of sport or art to move the applicants’ communities away from coal energy toward cleaner energy.

Full details can be found here.

Community Connection:

Read up on “clean coal” in this article from the Matador archives.

Image courtesy of True Cost of Chevron

Big oil realizes it’s in big trouble.

The world’s big oil companies are in a tough position: they source and sell one of the most in-demand products in a world where consumers are increasingly sensitive to the environmental and human rights impacts of oil production and consumption.

Yet the Chevrons and Shells of the world are responding to market demand and making enormous profits, so there’s little incentive to stop oil drilling.

The oil companies and the consumer public share the responsibility for the consequences of oil dependence on human and physical environments, but big oil is directly on the hot seat. In order to draw attention away from the catastrophes caused by its activities, big oil has been rolling out new advertising and marketing strategies in an effort to change the public’s perception of oil companies AND to put the onus of environmental responsibility on consumers.

Chevron’s recent ad campaign, which revolves around the question, “Will you join us?”, features diverse people in television and print ads making firm, declarative commitments to reducing their own oil dependence:

“I will leave the car at home more.”

“I will finally get a programmable thermostat.”

“I will replace 3 light bulbs with CFLs.”

And so on.

But critics charge that Chevron’s empowering, “I can do it” campaign is little more than the company’s most recent–and boldest–attempt to greenwash its own activities.

In recent weeks, 11 organizations came together to launch the website, True Cost of Chevron. In addition to producing the “Alternative Annual Report,” the activist groups designed their own ad campaign.

Modeled after Chevron’s “Will you join us?” campaign, the True Cost of Chevron ads also feature individuals from around the world, making aspirational statements of an entirely different sort:

Burma:

Chevron has refused to acknowledge both the widespread human rights abuses caused by its Yadana project and the destructive effects that revenue from the project has had in Burma.

Canada:

In Canada, the toxic burden on communities near the tar sands is already enormous. In addition to direct human exposure, oil contamination in the local watershed has led to arsenic in moose meat – a dietary staple for First Nations peoples – up to 33 times acceptable levels. Drinking water has also been contaminated.

Ecuador:

While drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 to 1990, Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor.

Nigeria:

Chevron continues to employ and pay the notoriously brutal Nigerian military to provide it with security services.

Iraq:

In 2007, Chevron paid $30 million to settle charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had paid illegal kickbacks to the Hussein regime to win its Iraqi marketing contracts, after it was revealed that Hussein had established a worldwide network of oil companies and countries that secretly helped Iraq generate about $11 billion in illegal income from oil sales.

Kazakhstan:

The surrounding populations began to suffer greatly from an unprecedented variety of illnesses upon development of the [oil] fields, including respiratory illnesses, blood illnesses, cardiovascular illnesses, and high levels of stillborn babies, all of which medical specialists have determined to be directly related to the oil industry.

Amazon Watch, one of the organizations in the coalition behind True Cost of Chevron, tried to sell the ads to CBS, which rejected the offer. Within 24 hours, visitors to the True Cost of Chevron site had downloaded the ads and pasted them around San Francisco.

Community Connection:

Want to make sure your money is supporting truly green companies? Check out “10 Brands That Don’t Deserve to Declare Themselves Green” and “10 Tested and True Green Companies.”

All True Cost of Chevron ads courtesy of True Cost of Chevron.

Photo: oxfam international

If you don’t know Majora Carter, you will soon.

Carter, founder of the New York City-based Sustainable South Bronx, is a leader in the urban environmentalism movement. She’s a MacArthur Fellow and frequently appears on who’s who and “most influential” lists, widely admired for her ability to engage disparate interest groups to work together on a single cause.

Carter’s work, first as the founder and director of Sustainable South Bronx, and more recently as the president of the Majora Carter Group (a consulting outfit), as a policy advocate, and as a TV and radio show host, has raised urban awareness about environmental issues.

But her accomplishments notwithstanding, Carter’s vision of environmentalism may end up dividing more people than it unites.

In a recent interview with Newsweek, Carter was asked “How do you make green matter in the ghetto?”. She replied:

“If you’re speaking to someone whose first priority is survival, no one is going to give a crap about the polar bears—nor should they.”

The question was intended to invite conversation about environmentalism as an elitist movement, which has been confined, as the interviewer put it, “to the latte-sipping set.” True, as is the case with so many “movements.”

But the framing of the question and the response it elicited from Carter are troublesome because they imply that environmentalism forces a choice between polar bears and people, between latte-sippers and instant-coffee-from-corner-bodega drinkers.

I agree with Carter’s claim that the environmental movement has, to its detriment, overlooked urban communities and poor people. And I agree that the environmental movement needs to make its arguments and calls to action less theoretical and more tangible, relevant to people’s own daily lives.

But choosing between polar bears and people? It’s a false opposition, Majora. A true environmental movement can–and should–work on saving both.

Community Connection:

It’s true that cities could form the core of a dynamic environmental movement. Check out Six Reasons Why Cities Can Be Sustainable Places and join the conversation.

Feature photo by Oran Viriyincy. Photo above by Claire L. Evans

The average person in the US receives nearly 11 pieces of junk mail each week, or 560 pieces a year. This amounts to 4.5 million tons of junk mail yearly, of which 44% goes straight to the landfill unopened and unread.

Here are some more facts:

100 million trees are cut down each year to produce junk mail.

1 million trees offset 48,000,000 pounds of carbon emissions.

Eliminating junk mail in the US would offset 480,000 cars.

Conclusions

These numbers only reflect the amount of carbon emissions offset by the raw materials alone. They do not take into account all of the carbon emissions created in transporting the trees from the forest to the pulp mills, much less the emissions generated in manufacturing the paper. Nor do they take into account the carbon emissions created in distributing the junk mail via mail-trucks, planes, and cars nationwide.

It’s safe to say that were we to include those factors in our equation, the actual emissions created through junk mail would easily be in the millions of cars, perhaps in the tens of millions. Anyone want to work on that formula?

How to Stop Receiving Junk Mail

For a quick and easy guide to stop receiving junk mail, please visit the Native Forest Network.

Photo: striatic

Ten years ago, environmental themes were only seen on public television specials, explored in dry documentaries by male narrators with ponderous voices.

Today–who would’ve thought?– almost every network has at least one popular show built around ecology or environmentalism.

Here are some of the best we’ve seen:

Exiled:

Most Matador readers know that travel changes lives. Getting out of our home environments and seeing how other people live can make us more empathic, more grateful for our own opportunities, and more interested in taking responsibility for the global community. And the earlier this happens in our lives, the more permanent and profound such change is likely to be.

That’s the idea–sorta–behind Exiled, MTV’s reality show about spoiled American teens whose parents send them to other parts of the world for a reality check.

In their sprawling pre-fab American homes, the girls are preoccupied with hairspray, make-up, convertible cars, and very conspicuous consumption. But in Kenya, they learn how some rural homes are built of cow dung. In Mongolia, they learn how families live off the land. They get a taste of what it’s like to be subjected to the elements (nature, not the chemicals in the can of hairspray), and they experience the distinct differences between living in community and living for the individual.

While the changes they undergo may not be as meaningful or as long-lasting as the parents (or the viewer) may hope, one’s left with the impression that they might, at the very least, be more aware of people who don’t live with the kind of largess they’ve enjoyed for all of their young lives.

Though Exiled is no longer being aired, you can watch clips here.

EcoTrip:

Don’t roll your eyes when you learn that the Sundance Channel’s EcoTrip is hosted by David De Rothschild, a handsome 30 year old with a degree in natural medicine who just happens to be an heir of THE Rothschilds of England banking fame and fortune.

The guy has some brilliant ideas about how to make people more interested in environmental issues.

When he’s not busy hosting the show–a 30 minute exploration of the life cycle of common objects like napkins, light bulbs, a chocolate bar, bottled water, and cell phones– he’s trying out all sorts of DIY eco projects… like sailing a boat made entirely of recycled bottles from San Francisco to Sydney. Or reclaiming waste from the Pacific Garbage Patch (you know, that floating morass out in the middle of the ocean) and working with artists around the world to turn trash into public art.

There are just three more episodes of EcoTrip: May 17, 19, and 26. Check listing times here. You can also watch past episodes here. Here’s a clip from the chocolate episode:

Green Porno:

Yep. You read that right: Green Porno.

Another Sundance Channel series, Green Porno is part of the network’s “The Green”– a batch of eco/enviro shows intended to engage a new generation of audiences by playing on the good looks and quirky characteristics of show hosts while delivering solid information that can be understood by even the most science-naive viewer.

In Green Porno, Isabella Rossellini explores the sex lives of different animals, from small creatures like starfish to massive mammals, like whales. The show is funky, creative, and conceptual… a radical 21st century version of the Wild Kingdom shows I used to watch as a kid.

Green Porno may be gimmicky, but it’s also good. And hey, if it gets people interested in the environment, then I’m all for it:

Community Connection:

What are your favorite “green” shows? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Feature photo: The Sundance Channel

The Matador team is fired up by biking.

Not only is traveling on two wheels better for the environment than almost any other form of transportation, it’s an activity that creates almost instant communities, as the bike documentary, “VEER,” makes evident:

Matador has dozens of cycling articles in its archives. There’s advice about how to choose a bike and gear up for the road, as well as expert insight about which cities are friendliest to cyclers.

Here are some other favorites:

6 Reasons to Go By Bike

8 Steps for Successful Self-Supported Bicycle Tours

Cycling guides for destinations as distant as Montana and Vietnam’s Highway 1.

If you’re in the US, check out local meet-ups and other Bike Month events in these cities:

New York City

Philadelphia

Washington, D.C.

Minneapolis/St. Paul

San Francisco and Bay Area

Portland, OR

Photo: paulmannix Feature: Alex Pears

But the world’s largest turtle species is in trouble. Populations have declined 90% since 1980 due to pollution, run-ins with commercial fishing operations, poaching, and unchecked development along their favored nesting beaches.

On the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, a handful of people are working on an ingenious and effective project to get more leatherback hatchlings safely to sea.

Photo: mattkk

Photo: Todos Tortugueros

Leatherback mothers lay their eggs from October through March. The beaches north of Los Cabos, near the towns of Pescadero and Todos Santos, while as yet undeveloped, are too chilly through most of nesting season for the eggs to stay viable—only the early October nests have a chance.

That’s where Project Todos Tortugueros comes in.

In the course of her master’s degree research, biologist Elizabeth Gonzalez designed what is essentially a turtle greenhouse—a structure that raises the temperature of a chunk of the beach just enough for optimum leatherback nest incubation.

A Los Cabos-based turtle rescue group, ASUPMATOMA, donated the greenhouse to the small group of locals and expats who make up Todos Tortugueros.

Twice and sometimes three times a night during nesting season, members of the Todos Tortugueros team patrol the local beaches. As soon as a nest is found, trained volunteers move the eggs into the cozy greenhouse.

As the hatch date approaches, volunteers keep a close eye on the nests. The hatchlings are released on the beach to make their way to the sea, where they’ll confront both natural and man-made dangers. The females who survive to adulthood will return to these beaches to lay their own eggs.

In 2009 alone, more than 500 eggs—eight nests—have been protected. Hatch rates have been high, and local schoolchildren, fishermen, and community members are catching the Todos Tortugueros team’s enthusiasm for turtle conservation.

Photo: kretyen

But even as hundreds of baby turtles make their way out sea to the cheers of much of the community, three resort hotels and a luxury housing complex of over a hundred homes are either being constructed or are in the works along this stretch of coast. Building on the dunes is frowned upon, but the ban goes largely un-enforced.

Is the Todos Tortugueros project enough to keep the leatherback from extinction? Probably not on its own. But it just might be able to buy these incredible animals enough time, and enough fans, for us to do something about the other threats to their continued existence.

Want to volunteer? Adopt a hatchling? Visit the project? Check out the Todos Tortugueros website for contact information.

Community Connection:

Interested in saving turtles in other ecosystems? Check out the profile for Matador member organization, Caribbean Conservation Corporation. Founded 50 years ago, the organization has outposts in Costa Rica and Panama. Its website offers numerous resources for volunteers interested in lending a hand.

Photo: elisfanclub

Earlier today, Fran Golden, co-author of Frommer’s Alaska Cruises & Ports of Call and guest editor of USA Today’s Cruise Log Blog, reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has proposed “more controls on tourism in Antarctica.”

Concerned about travelers’ safety and environmental integrity in the remote and frigid, region, Secretary Clinton’s proposal included:

“…new requirements on the number of lifeboats on ships…,[m]andatory limits on the size of cruise ships sailing in Antarctica and the number of passengers [who] can be brought ashore…, [as well as] one guide for every 20 visitors ashore.”

Signatory members of the Antarctic Treaty and the Arctic Council received Secretary Clinton’s proposal positively, but it remains to be seen if the policies advocated by the US will be implemented, especially if Antarctic tour operators have their say.

Antarctica has no government and does not belong to any country, though it is a temporary home to researchers from all over the world. To date, many of the continent’s tourism policies have been agreed upon by the Treaty and Council nations, which have little, if any, authority to exercise enforcement.

What kinds of policies might benefit Antarctica, how should tourism policies for the continent be developed, and how might they be enforced? Share your ideas in the comments below.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Believe it or not, Matador has an Antarctica destination expert! rico nico, originally from San Francisco, California, worked in the dining room at McMurdo Station for five months. About the experience, he writes:

My experience at McMurdo was one my life’s highlights. I commonly describe it as “living on another planet.” Of the many oddities, a few of the most profound are: the absence of children, not seeing the stars or the moon (daylight 24/7), and the monochromatic landscape. Everything is white, grey, or blue. Seeing green and smelling the earth when I came home was incredible!

Another huge perk: included in your free/paid, trip to Antarctica is a return-when-you-wish trip to New Zealand (your departure point for the ice). I’ve been down there twice and am happy to make suggestions about traveling the islands–from how to buy a car to what trails to backpack.

Staples, the office supply store, takes spent ink cartridges and recycles or refills them.

Even the mechanic around the corner would recycle my old oil filters– if I had a car.

Photo: riot jane

But after doing some spring cleaning this weekend, I was left with a bag full of objects I didn’t just want to throw away.

Was it possible to recycle them?

I did some quick research online and found out that all my junk was about to become someone else’s recycled treasure.

Here are five items you might not know you can recycle, along with the information you’ll need to get them out of your home and into someone else’s hands:

1. Old Keys:

Photo: Bohman

In the past 10 years, I’ve lived in at least 11 different apartments in three different countries. And somehow, I still had at least one set of keys from almost all of them.

I was sure the keys were destined for the landfill, where they’d take years to break down, but a family in New York collects used keys and recycles the scrap metal, donating all proceeds to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Just package up your keys and put them in the mail. All the information you need can be found here. This is not a registered charity and the website seems not to have been updated in a couple months, but I’m willing to accept this trade-off to feel better about not throwing those keys away.

2. Foreign Coins:

Photo: lgoose

What do you do with old coins when you come home from your travels? Maybe you have a collection.

I do, too, but it’s grown way too large, with coins I’ll never spend spilling onto the bureau.

Three organizations in the UK accept foreign coins, even those currencies that are now obsolete. The widely recognized Oxfam is one of the organizations; you can find drop-off locations and shipment addresses here.

If you’d rather support another cause, the Royal National Institute of Blind People accepts coins for recycling, as does Marie Curie Cancer Care. Both are registered charities in the UK.

3. CDs, DVDs, and Hard Drives:

As a travel writer who meets frequently with PR and marketing reps around the world, I get lots of promotional material– often stored on CDs or DVDs. While I’d like to keep these, the tiny size of my NYC apartment makes doing so unrealistic.

Yet I really hate the idea of throwing these items in the trash and I don’t want to store all of them until NYC’s next electronics recycling day.

I was happy to package these up and ship them off to Back Thru the Future, which recycles CDs, DVDs, and even hard drives. According to the company, a single CD can take one million years to decompose. And in the manufacture of just 30 CDs, an outrageous amount of resources is used: 300 cubic feet of natural gas, 2 cups of crude oil and 24 gallons of water.

4. iPods:

Photo: jay-oh-why-see-e

I wish I didn’t have to recycle my old iPod, but I dropped it in the ocean during a trip to Colombia last summer.

Though it prefers working iPods, which are refurbished and given to kids in hospitals, Recycling for Charities will accept my worse-for-the-wear device. They also accept used cell phones and other electronics. Check their site for a full list.

5. Wire Clothes Hangers:

Don’t ask me how a household accumulates so many clothes hangers because I just don’t know. But I want to get rid of them without pitching them in the trash bin.

There are lots of ways to reuse wire hangers, but I’m not particularly crafty. I’ll take this site’s advice and drop them off at a cleaner’s service, where they can be reused.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Recycling is just one part of the “3 Rs” equation: reduce and reuse are the other ones. Check out Matador Goods to see how one company is turning used objects like rice sacks and magazines into handbags and jewelry.

Do you have some advice for uncommon recycling? Share them in the comments below.

If you’re like millions of other people around the world, you’re planning on turning out your lights for an hour.

Photo: makelessnoise

Tonight is the third year celebrating Earth Hour, a global climate change awareness project started in Sydney. More than two million homes and businesses turned off their lights for the first Earth Hour; last year, more than 50 million people around the world did the same.

This year, the organizers are aiming to have 1 billion people turn off their lights between 8:30 and 9:30 PM. Major landmarks, including New York City’s Empire State Building, will also turn off their lights.

Maybe the idea of turning off your lights for an hour leaves you wondering what you’ll do with this prime time part of Saturday night.

If that’s the case, here are 4 ideas about how you can spend your Saturday night–with the lights out.

1. Throw a candlelight cocktail party.

Invite some friends over for a last minute get-together (and encourage them to turn their lights off, too). Fire up the candles and dig out the old cocktail shaker. Need some cocktail recipes? Check this list of our refreshing world favorites and stock up before lights out.

2. Get out your guitar.

You’ve been meaning to strum some chords for a while, but you never seem to find time to get around to playing. Pull out the guitar–or whatever instrument you might play–and head to your apartment, house, or hostel stoop. Maybe you’ll meet some neighbors. Maybe they’ll even play along.

3. Go for an evening walk.

In some parts of the world, it’s still light outside at 8:30. But even if it’s not, why not take a walk? The weather’s mild in most places (except the Western US, where you may be without lights anyway due to massive spring snowstorms). You may even want to dust off that pocket astronomy guide and reacquaint yourself with the stars.

4. Share stories.

We spend so many of our days disconnected from one another–even from the people we live with. Take this hour to catch up… you never know where it may lead; you may just want to keep the lights out a little bit longer.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

While taking an hour out for the Earth is important, it’s not likely to make a big difference. You might want to use Earth Hour to think about other ways you can reduce your reliance upon power. Unplug unused appliances. Disconnect from the computer. Start learning more about the products you buy and the impact they have on the environment.

Photo: Randy Son of Robert

You’ve heard about carbon footprints.

Maybe you’ve even used an online calculator, like this one provided by the Nature Conservancy, to determine how your daily activities contribute to carbon emissions.

But have you heard of a “water footprint”?

It may just be the new buzzword in the eco-movement.

GOOD Magazine explains:

“As we become more and more aware that we may be using water at an unsustainable pace, the idea of water footprints—the amount of water an individual uses—is becoming more common.”

Yet, the magazine notes, calculating one’s water footprint may be even more challenging than calculating a carbon footprint, “since everything you eat and buy used some water to produce.”

Fortunately, GOOD put together a handy chart to help you get a sense of just how much water you’re using. The chart distinguishes between “direct use,” the actual water you use, and “virtual use,” the water used to make the objects you use but which you’re unlikely to see or be able to measure.

Today’s a great day to check out GOOD’s chart- it’s World Water Day.

Let me know if you’re as surprised as I was to learn that coffee requires 37 gallons of virtual water to produce that one cup you drink each morning? Or that tea requires 9 gallons of virtual water? (Yet one more reason why tea wins the smackdown against coffee!).

Community Connection:

Did you know that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years? Do you have ideas about how you can reduce your own water consumption? Check out this article from our archives and share your ideas in the comments.

Kingston Coal-Ash Spill, Tennessee

Last December 22, over one billion gallons of toxic slurry burst through a faulty retention wall of the Kingston Fossil Plant and sludged its way over 300 acres of rural land and into nearby tributaries of the Tennessee River.

As the largest fly ash spill in the history of the US, it might take months, or even years, to clean up the 6 feet deep gray goop. And while officials say that the elevated poisonous metal levels in the water and soil isn’t too dangerous, this does throw a bit of a wrench in the political support on clean coal.

Chevron-Texaco’s Pollution of the Amazon

Destroying the rain forests is a lot like jaywalking. Just because a lot of people do it, doesn’t make it right.

Well, actually it’s a lot worse than that. But that still didn’t stop Texaco from allegedly devastating 1,700 square miles of the Ecuadorian Amazon through deforestation and dumping carcinogenic waste products into the surrounding waters of their drilling fields for 20 years.

In the face of increased cancer and birth defect cases in the local population, Chevron, which took over Texaco in 2001, cites previous agreements with Ecuador’s federal government that absolved the company of any responsibility after a $40 million buy-off.

As of now, the epic 15-year court case filed against the corporation by the sick residents is finally awaiting a verdict.

Gorilla Massacres in the DR Congo

Photo by Philip Kromer

With poaching, the violence of the civil war, and the deforestation of their habitat for illicit coal production, the critically-endangered mountain gorillas of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park have been having a hard time of it lately (as well as the rangers—120 have been killed in the line of duty since 1994).

With only 700 mountain gorillas left in the world and 81 of which inhabit the reserve, even the loss of one individual is an immeasurable tragedy.

So when, in July of 2007, suspected charcoal traffickers sneaked into Virunga, shot four gorillas execution style, and left their bodies as a message about park officials’ new campaign against coal production, it was not without much hyperbole that some equated it to the obliteration of the entire population of England. When the rebels took control of the park later in the year, the gorillas’ fate became even more uncertain.

The good news? With international attention turned towards the perilous situation, the rebels and government have made a tentative truce over gorilla conservation and a recent population census claims 10 new additions have been born to the families.

Click here to see other animals on the verge of extinction.

1997 Southeast Asian Haze

Photos by Ke Wynn Lee

Unmonitored slash-and-burn deforestation and a delayed monsoon season caused rampant wildfires that raged October-November during 1997 in Indonesia. The oppressive smoke hung over most of Southeast Asia with the densest concentrations having 300-feet visibility and a pollution index equivalent to smoking 80 cigarettes, i.e., Keith Richards’ daily supply.

You can imagine the health toll on a population of around 6 million, but the impact on one of the world’s most biodiverse environments has been much greater, and in some ways incalculable. Five million acres of rainforest, 150,000 of which were protected, went up in smoke, and several species of have either gone extinct or were severely threatened—the insect index decreased 87% and numerous reports were made of villagers killing orangutans trying to escape fires and haze.

There’s also the of the ginormous release of greenhouse gases, which hasn’t helped our current clusterfuck with accelerated climate change.

Sydney Tar Ponds, Nova Scotia

Eighty years of steelmaking turned the eastern shore of Sydney Harbor, Nova Scotia into some hellish locale straight out of Dicken’s Hard Times. Commonly called the largest toxic dump site in North America, the dismantled steel mill, nearby hazardous waste ponds, and hundreds of miles of underground pipes contain 700,000 tons of chemicals, including arsenic, lead, kerosene, bezene, and a lot of other ‘enes’ that apparently drop you to your knees if you get too strong of a whiff.

In fact, no one is quite sure what industrial byproducts might have leaked into the soil over the century, but scientists note that puddles of rainwater turn florescent green and residents from the bordering community, which suffers from a high rate of respiratory illness, cancer, birth defects, and miscarriage, say an orange ooze leaches into their basements.

Shrinking of the Aral Sea

Photo by Gilad Rom

Lying between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth largest salt-water lake until the Soviet Union diverted the two main rivers for irrigation projects in the 1960s. Now at one-tenth its original size, the Aral Sea consists only of a large desert and three rapidly shrinking small lakes, the increased salinity of which has decimated most of the flora and fauna, including the fish that supplied a once booming fishing industry.

If this doesn’t sound terrible enough, what remains of the lakes has been seriously polluted by nearby weapons testing, industrial chemicals, and pesticides from those farms for which the Aral Sea’s water sources were stolen in the first place. The airborne salt and dust from the exposed seabed has created a major health hazard in the area as it tends to kill nearby crops and contaminate the drinking water and air of the local community.

And desertification has negatively impacted the regional climate, causing longer, colder winters and hotter, more arid summers.

Community Connection

Do you know of other environmental catastrophes that have gone underreported? Then share in the comment forum below.

Photo: Thomas Roche

Global warming.

Polar ice cap and glacial melt.

Habitat devastation.

The environmental problems our generation must confront are frightening.

But amid the daily chatter we hear about these three problems, another serious environmental challenge has been largely overlooked by mainstream media: desertification.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey,

The world’s great deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities.

Since the 1930s, however, desertification has been an increasingly worrisome problem around the world–even in the United States–as people who live in and around deserts overgraze, implement destructive farming practices, and change their habitation patterns, increasing erosion and decreasing the utility and stability of arid land.

Despite the documentation substantiating that desertification exists, scientists and environmental activists have had difficulty defining and quantifying the extent to which desertification is a problem… until recently.

As the video here indicates, desertification has become such a problem that its effects have become even more acute than damage to the physical environment: desertification is even sparking off human conflicts–and genocides. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon states desertification is directly responsible for the current crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

The implications of desertification indicate just how important it is to act to stem the problem of this particular environmental crisis. Check out the video below to learn more about how one group, the Village Reforestation Advancement Initiative, is working to halt desertification in Sudan:

5000 years ago, the first recorded landfill was built in the Cretan capital of Knossos. Garbage was buried in large pits and soil layered throughout. We’ve progressed since then.

With our creativity and technology, we’re now dealing with buried waste in an effort to make it safe for the environment. We’ve even found a way to harness the power from landfill gases released when organic materials decompose.

It’s just too much

Despite the efforts of scientists and experts, landfills remain a massive problem. Simply put, we create too much garbage. In our culture of disposable convenience, millions of us toss away items like plastic bags and take-away coffee cups every day.

Photo by wallofhair

Today’s gadgets are cheaply produced, which translates into products of degrading quality. It’s more cost-effective to replace these things than to repair them. Where does the old stuff end up? In our rubbish bins of course, which are conveniently carted away every Wednesday morning, out of our lives forever.

To illustrate how big this problem is, here are some of the world’s worst offenders:

1. Great Pacific Trash Gyre

The world’s largest landfill isn’t even a landfill at all. In the northern Pacific Ocean is an area roughly the size of Africa, stretching from Hawaii to Japan, which is swirling with our throwaways.

The Patch is really two separate entities– the Eastern and Western Garbage Patches– connected by a 6,000 mile current that is also full of trash. Four-fifths of all the refuse comes from land, and 90% of it is plastic.

Plastic breaks down into tiny particles that soak up toxins like a sponge and are then consumed by filter feeders. A host of other animals, including humans, are exposed to these poisons via the food chain. Additionally, sea birds and animals such as turtles inadvertently feed on things like lighters and bottle caps, clogging up their digestive systems.

The Hawaiian archipelago acts as a filter for trash spewed out from the Eastern Garbage Patch, with some beaches buried under five to 10 feet of refuse. Some are covered in “grains” of plastic that are near impossible to clean up.

2. Fresh Kills Landfill, New York

Closed in March 2001 and temporarily reopened after the 9/11 attacks to receive debris, at 2,200 acres Fresh Kills was formerly the largest landfill in the world.

During its most active period the site welcomed up to 20 barges, each carrying 650 tons of garbage, daily. At the time of closing, the landfill’s tallest peak was 25 meters higher than the Statue of Liberty.

Shutting the gates doesn’t make the trash go away. The mounds are being capped, soil laid on top, and a park is being built above the dump over the next 30 years. As a continuous chore, leachate– liquid produced by decomposing trash– must be monitored and dealt with, as does the landfill’s gas emissions.

Los Angeles photo by wallofhair

3. Puente Hills Landfill, Los Angeles

With Fresh Kills closed, the Puente Hills landfill in sunny California is now the largest active dump in North America. Up to 13,200 tons of refuse– the legal limit– is brought in by up to 1,600 trucks daily. The landfill rises up to a height of 150 meters and the site is almost 700 acres in size. (By comparison, Canada’s largest landfill is a paltry 240 acres.)

The use of this site is permitted through 2013,

at which time a new dump is planned to be opened at an abandoned goldmine in the Californian desert.

UK photo by Vertigogen

4. Collective landfills – United Kingdom

As a nation, the UK ranks at the top of the European Union as far as binning rubbish is concerned. From the most recent comparative figures between EU countries, UK residents sent to landfill an amount equal to what the bottom 18 countries combined did in the same time period. This is despite the UK’s population being half that of these countries’ put together.

A time for action

Yes, beautiful green spaces can be built over landfills and energy derived from their emissions to power cars, but these are just pretty band-aids on a large wound we’ve inflicted upon the Earth.

Continuing to bury our refuse is not a sustainable option. We must scale back our production of waste.

Community Connection

Looking for inspiration in how you can cut down on the amount of trash you produce? Check out these blogs:

A New York Family’s Efforts at Making Zero Net Impact to the Environment

BBC blogger Christine Jeavans says goodbye to plastic for one month

One man’s attempt to not throw anything away for a year

Pitch in. Do what you can. The planet can only take so much.

Feature photo by joiseyshowaa. Photo above by Tim Hussin

It’s all rendered a green blur as I fly down a zipline 150 feet above the ground. Just ahead hangs a two-story house in the trees where I’ll spend the next two days.

Walking into the tree house, I finger the smooth walls, made with local and sustainably-harvested teak. After washing my hands with piped in rainwater and organic soap, the waste water is flushed into a biodigestor, where it’s converted into fertilizer and given back to the cycle.

Bellavista founders Matt and Erica Hogan are setting new precedents for sustainable living as they forge a community here. “If you had told me this is what I’d be doing three years ago, I would have laughed,” Erica says, tiny dimples accentuating her smile.

Photo by Tim Hussin

The former newspaper editor and her husband came to Costa Rica in 2006 in search of a small piece of land for a surf shack or bungalow, but fell in love with 62 acres overlooking the Osa Peninsula, which has since spread to 350.

After spending just a short amount of time in the property’s almost eerie majesty, I find it hard to believe it was on the market as a timber harvest site.

Below the primary rainforest that stretches high into misty mountains, secondary growth now flourishes. Over 1,000 native trees have been planted by the community to help heal past wounds inflicted by industry. “Fifty years ago, this whole area was clear cut,” Matt says.

After writing up the concept for the Bellavista community, Matt showed it to his brothers, who work as conventional developers. “They said we were eco-Nazis and that it would never work, but that’s exactly what I expected to hear. Nobody’s ever done something like this before.”

Building regulations are demanding. All structures must be either arboreal or stilt built. All electricity currently used is harnessed from the sun, while a hydroelectric turbine will be installed alongside one of the two whitewater rivers flowing through the farm.

Photo by Tim Hussin

Rather than tearing through trees to construct roads, the lots are connected by footpaths and a sophisticated network of zip lines, dubbed the SkyTrail network. “I can’t complain about my commute to work anymore,” Matt says.

The response to Bellavista has been overwhelming. While their business plan estimated three to five years to sell out phase one, all 30 parcels were spoken for within eight months, and phase two is moving quickly.

People from all walks of life are moving to Bellavista, and everybody involved seems to have a role in the emerging society. In the future, a vegan chef will film a cooking show from his tree house as a retired couple lives out their golden years and young parents raise babies.

Living off the grid in the jungle is no easy feat, though, particularly while preserving creature comforts like Wi-Fi, electricity, and international cuisine. The tree house currently uses propane for cooking while the hydro grid awaits installation, and gasoline fuels vehicles when residents venture out for supplies.

“Nothing is insurmountable, but we have to be realistic,” admits Erica. “People expect everything on site, but it takes years to develop.

“We use organic soaps, but is shipping down soap from North America sustainable? I don’t think so, and we’re exploring local alternatives. Within five years, we hope to grow all of our food here, and when technology allows for it, we want to have a few communal electric cars that we charge with our hydro grid.”

Although each lot has plenty of privacy, a sense of community is central to the Bellavista philosophy. There’s already a communal kitchen and lounge; soon, a health and wellness center will float high in the canopy for yoga sessions and massage therapy.

The couple is also working with their alma mater, Western State College of Colorado, to establish on-site higher learning facilities where students will have hands-on experience in subjects ranging from canopy construction to biology to Spanish.

Photo by maveric2003.

Even with the ambitious plans already in motion, the untapped potential of Bellavista seems limitless. Matt envisions a bungee cord playground à la “Tomb Raider,” white water kayaking, rock climbing… the list goes on. “We have so many ideas,” Erica says. “We have no idea what this place is capable of.”

As the sunset reflects off the clouds we all feast on Erica’s savory veggie and chicken dish doused in a soy peanut sauce. I listen to giddy future residents gush over plans for their parcel until Matt invites me to the hammock lounge up the hill for an after-dinner drink, where we watch insects and discuss everything under the sun.

Finally, we take to the SkyTrail and zip to the tree house, Matt howling into the stars like Tarzan. I drift into sleep with the chorus of insects and surging water below.

Community Connection:

Have you ever visited a sustainable community, or attempted to develop one at home? Tell us your story in the comments!

A sleepy Asiatic lioness tries to take an afternoon snooze. Photo by Tambako.

We are witnessing the largest mass extinction since the end of the dinosaurs. That humanity is at fault is beyond question in serious scientific circles, and it is our duty to save what species we can, both for their sakes and ours.

Every animal that disappears from the earth is a tragedy with enormous repercussions, and to ignore the small and mundane for the cute and fascinating is to miss the point of conservation entirely.

Still, some animals are just downright interesting – what environmentalists call “charismatic megafauna” – and would be a shame to lose from an aesthetic point of view as well. Here are 11 of them:

1. Solenodon

The solenodon has the distinction of being one of the only venomous mammals on the planet (along with certain kinds of shrew and the equally bizarre platypus). Nocturnal and extremely secretive, the Cuban species was thought extinct until its rediscovery in 2003. The Hispaniolan solenodon was in the news recently after being finally captured on film.

2. Black, Javan, and Sumatran Rhinoceroses

Sumatran rhinos. Photo by W. Alan Baker

The Sumatran and Javan rhinos inhabit the rainforests of Southeast Asia, but probably not for much longer (populations are estimated at about 300 and 50, respectively). Both are confined to small, isolated pockets of forest and are frequent victims of poaching for Chinese medicine.

The black rhino is faring slightly better, with about 3,600 individuals left in parks across eastern and southern Africa.

3. Baiji and Vaquita

Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) aren’t doing very well on the whole, but the baiji and vaquita are the most critically endangered of all. The vaquita is a small porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California, and like so many marine species, fishing nets have reduced its population to barely sustainable levels.

The baiji is a river dolphin that inhabits the Yangtze, and due to pollution from China’s rapid industrialization, it’s been declared “functionally extinct” – there may be a few individuals left, but they’re so few and far between that there’s no coming back.

4. Wild Bactrian Camel

Photo by Silvain de Munck.

Bactrian — or two humped — camels, are used all over Asia as domestic beasts of burden, but in the wilds of the Gobi Desert they number fewer than 1,000. Though they live in areas completely inhospitable to humans, their survival is threatened by mining and the exploitation of oases.

5. Golden Toad

First discovered in Costa Rica in 1966, the last golden toad was seen just two decades later in 1989. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the golden toad as extinct, and while it’s possible there are still a few left, the chances are slim. The golden toad is now a poster child for the conservation movement, highlighting the plight of amphibians in particular.

6. Tasmanian Devil

Photo by Linksman JD.

After being hunted to near-extinction, devils were protected in 1941 and began to bounce back. In the past decade, however, a mysterious and contagious cancer has wiped out entire populations. Causing horrific facial tumors, the disease eventually leaves the animals unable to eat or drink.

The Tasmanian government and conservation agencies are taking steps to halt the spread of the disease, lest the devil go the way of the Tasmanian tiger (or thylacine).

7. Ivory-billed woodpecker

Once ranging throughout Cuba and the Southeastern US, the ivory-billed woodpecker was feared extinct for much of the 20th century. Recent sightings have raised hopes that there may still be populations of this fantastic bird in Arkansas and Louisiana, but they remain unconfirmed.

It has become something of a white whale for ornithologists, and a $50,000 reward stands for its rediscovery.

8. Przewalski’s Horse

Photo by Jeff Kubina.

There are plenty of untamed horses roaming the plains of North America and Australia, but they are the offspring of pack animals. Przewalski’s horse is the only true wild horse left, having never been domesticated. After becoming extinct in the wild in 1969, its captive populations from zoos around the world were cross-bred to increase genetic diversity.

Sixteen were released in Mongolia in 1992, and since then, their population has grown to about 250.

9. Kakapo

Photo by Brent Barrett

A flightless, nocturnal bird endemic to New Zealand, the Kakapo is the only parrot that exhibits either of these traits. Despite conservation efforts going back to 1891, only 90 birds remain (so few that every single one has been named). Extensive recovery plans were recently put in place, and its population has been steadily increasing.

10. Pink Galapagos Land Iguana

Only discovered in 1986, the pink iguana is still up for debate among scientists; it’s not clear whether it is distinct enough to be classified as a separate species. Regardless, it is highly endangered — pink iguanas only exist on one volcano in the Galapagos, and there are fewer than 100 left alive.

11. Asiatic Lion and Cheetah

We usually think of cheetahs and lions as African animals, but they once roamed most of Asia, too. Today, there are only about 300 Asiatic lions left, all in one small area of Gujarat. The Asiatic cheetah isn’t faring any better – there are fewer than 100 remaining, and only in Iran.

To learn more about these and other endangered species, check out the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

The disappearance of animal species is directly related to the disappearance of their habitats. To read about 10 disappearing natural wonders, click here. To learn more about Matador member organizations working to conserve endangered species, read about the Red Panda Project.

The Frutwangler Glacier, Tanzania. Photo by appenz

From the poles to the tropics, these ancient and monumental glaciers are going fast. Their disappearance will have drastic consequences for our planet.

Furtwangler Glacier, Tanzania

Photo by twocentsworth

The once impressive ice field atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak, will soon be a thing of the past. In the last 100 years, over 80% of the glacier has disappeared, and estimates put its swan song somewhere between 2010 and 2020.

If you ever want to lay eyes on the famed “snows of Kilimanjaro,” you’d better go now.

Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland

Photo above by Jo Simon

Covering an area of 120 square kilometers, this is the largest glacier in the Alps. Although it’s only retreated 2.6 kilometers since 1880, 30% of that reduction has occurred in the past 25 years, with an average pace of 50 meters per year.

The good news is that the Aletsch Glacier should still be around next century. The bad news has to do with moraines, large lakes of glacial meltwater trapped behind dams of ice. When the dams melt to the point of breaking, the released water can cause tremendous flooding, already a problem in the Alps.

Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

Photo above by jurek d

Count tourism among the victims of global warming. Of the 150 or so glaciers documented in Glacier National Park in the mid-1800s, fewer than 30 remain today. What’s more, climate models foretell that by the year 2030, they will vanish completely.

The region’s inherent beauty and geological importance are hard to diminish, but will Glacier National Park maintain the same draw if it has no glaciers to call its own?

Columbia Glacier, Alaska, USA

Photo by zrim

This massive tidewater glacier stretches for 50 kilometers from Alaska’s Chugach Mountains to Prince William Sound. Since 1980, it has retreated 15 kilometers, and scientists predict another 15 kilometers will be lost over the next decade and a half before equilibrium is reestablished.

As the glacier retracts, icebergs are discharged into Prince William Sound. While they are an impressive sight, these floating hazards threaten shipping lanes and may have played an indirect role in the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.

Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets

Photo above by giladr

Combined, the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica account for 99% of the planet’s glacial ice. Needless to say, what happens to these sheets affects the entire world, and news in recent years hasn’t been encouraging.

Both have dumped massive amounts of ice into the ocean, with the high-profile loss of Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002 attracting global attention and bringing the question of climate change to the forefront.

Photo above by tgraham

More ice in the oceans means rising sea levels, and with the current rates of melting, we can expect an increase of about 5 mm per year and as much as a meter total by the end of the century.

Already, low-lying Pacific Island nations like Tuvalu are feeling the effects, watching as their land is slowly consumed by the sea.

Qori Kalis Glacier, Peru

Qori Kalis is the main glacial outlet of Peru’s Quelccaya Ice Cap, the largest tropical body of ice in the world.

Having seen a reduction in area of 20% in just 30 years, the entire ice cap is now shrinking at alarming rates, and Qori Kalis is leading the retreat at 155 meters per year.

Given that millions in the region rely on water from the glacier for hydroelectricity, crop irrigation, and drinking water, it would be a serious disaster should Qori Kalis go the way of Chacaltaya, a glacier in neighboring Bolivia that’s expected to melt into oblivion in the next five years or so.

Gangotri Glacier, India

Photo above by huggy47

One of the largest glaciers in the mighty Himalayas, the Gangotri is being watched closely by climatologists.

As the primary source for the Ganges River, on which 500 million people in India and Bangladesh depend for freshwater, its continued existence is vital.

Unfortunately, increased global temperatures have spurred its rate of retreat to 30 meters per year in recent decades, and the ice fields of the Himalayas are among the fastest receding in the world.

Tasman Glacier, New Zealand

New Zealand, epic destination for the outdoor enthusiast, isn’t immune to glacial retreat.

The relatively low altitude (730 meters) of the Tasman Glacier, the country’s largest, means it’s been hit hard by global warming. Each year, Tasman loses 180 meters.

As of now, skiing the Tasman is still marketed as “the definitive New Zealand alpine adventure.” Will it be in a few decades? Many glaciologists think not.

Photo above by awiemuc

O’Higgins Glacier, Chile

The outlook in Patagonia is grim, with many scientists pointing to glaciers in this region as the fastest receding in the world.

Chile’s O’Higgins Glacier, located in Bernardo O’Higgins National Park and one of the primary bodies in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, is no exception, having lost 8 kilometers during the last 40 years.

Photo above by vtveen

Community Connection

Want to help save the glaciers? Here’s a good starting point.

For a from the ground perspective Chile’s shrinking glaciers, check out Matador managing editor Julie Schwietert-Collazo’s recent post, Global Warming Is Real.

Madeira, Portugal. World class surf break, before construction of a seawall. Photos courtesy of Will Henry

At any given spot along the coast, various factors–wind direction, swell, tide level, and underwater features–all determine how a wave will break.

But out of the almost infinite number of waves around the world, rarely do these factors combine in such a way as to produce a wave of true quality for surfing. And as with every other ecosystem, these factors exist in an easily-corrupted balance.

Photo by Will Henry.

Case Study: Jardim do Mar

In 2001, the existence of a beautiful wave, Jardim do Mar, a classic right point in Madeira, Portugal was threatened by a proposed government project to construct a marina.

American surfer Will Henry and friends knew that if if the marina were built, this special wave would be lost forever. In the process of organizing a fight against the project, they formed the Save the Waves Coalition .

Through a combination of alliances with local surfers, organizations, and politicians, their fight was successful. The new marina was moved to a different location.

However, out of the prolonged media campaign and protesting that ensued, the resulting “victory” would be something Henry later called bittersweet.

“One of our first big mistakes was taking a very American approach,” he says. “Making so much noise embarrassed some of the politicians, and any future hope of negotiating with the government was destroyed.”

After moving the marina, the government still came back later and hastily constructed a seawall [see photo below, left], severely limiting the days and conditions when the wave is ridable, and making it extremely dangerous to surf.

Since this first campaign, the coalition has learned “to avoid words like success and victory,” and to remember that a wave–even once saved–may always be threatened again.

Madeira, after seawall. Note limited wave.

The coalition documented the story of Jardim do Mar in their film Lost Jewel of the Atlantic. A few Madeira locals tried to prevent the film from being shown, threatening lawsuits and even bodily harm. It was eventually shown however, drawing sold-out crowds in the first two weekends.

La Herradura

Over the years, Save the Waves has learned to adapt. They now operate around the world, protecting waves on the coasts of almost every continent. Among their key missions are creating local “surfonomics”reports demonstrating the inherent economic value of an undisturbed surf spot for its local economy.

For example, four years ago in Lima, Peru, a developer wanted to build a marina to enhance the land value near a large housing development. This marina would have destroyed a classic wave called La Herradura.

Instead of protesting in person, Save the Waves wrote letters to the executives of the company, contending that a world-class wave may be more financially beneficial than a marina, citing how exceptional surf spots cause local real estate value to increase dramatically in the US.

The CEO eventually promised that the wave would never be harmed, however, as is usually the case, the wave is being threatened again.

Challenges

Save the Waves faces many challenges. One of the most sensitive is dealing with corrupt foreign governments. The projects which threaten waves are oftentimes born out of illegal back-room deals.

This makes the coalition’s challenge doubly difficult. For obvious reasons, politicians involved in the deals do not want to cooperate, nor do private companies wish to implicated.

Secondly, although the internet optimized communication, Save the Waves staff is spread thin. Projects are started only when local people and surfers who know about the organization reach out for help.

Finally, funding has been the coalition’s single biggest challenge. Regarding the minimal support they’ve received from most large surf companies, Henry’s frustration is evident: “Here we are, protecting the future of their market, and we’re barely surviving. We could be doing so much more.”

Photo by Will Henry.

The main reason for limited support is that most large surf apparel and accessories companies are publicly traded. Shareholders are the top priority and want to see their stock price go up, making it difficult for CEOs to donate money to non-profit organizations.

Even so, Henry is quick to thank the companies Save the Waves has received support from: Patagonia, Clif Bar, Newman’s Own, The Surfer’s Path, Quiksilver, Billabong, and Volcom.

Upcoming Documentary

Save the Waves is currently producing their third film, All Points South, a documentary about pulp mill pollution in Chile. The film demonstrates how consumption of products here in the US can causes environmental degradation in distant lands.

‘All Points South’ Trailer – a new documentary by Save the Waves Coalition from Philip Kao on Vimeo.

Along with battling the polluters themselves, it is important for Save the Waves to educate and influence the consumer market. All Points South features some of the world’s best surfers, and will be released summer 2009.

The people of Save the Waves are world citizens, committed to making a difference by protecting the environment and preserving waves (and healthy marine ecosystems) not just for surfers, but everyone.

Community Connection

Visit www.SaveTheWaves.org for more information and to see how you can help.

Since 2000, McCain has accepted nearly three times the donations from the coal industry as Obama and Biden combined ($51,850 for McCain versus $17,100 and $3,000 for Obama and Biden, respectively).

And yet even as Obama raises the progressive voice on a number of issues, he has proclaimed the virtues of “clean” coal as widely and vociferously as McCain.

During the campaign for the Democratic nomination, Obama enthusiastically boosted coal during stops in West Virginia and Kentucky. A mailer distributed ahead of the Kentucky primary read, “Barack Obama believes in clean Kentucky coal.”

In a speech given in my home state of West-By-God-Virginia, Obama pledged to create “up to 5 million new green jobs … including new clean coal jobs” if elected. And recently, Representative Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) opined that “Senator Obama truly is a friend of the coal industry.” (And Boucher ought to know – since 2000 he’s accepted $549,894 from big coal.

That the Democrats are in bed with the coal lobby will come as no surprise to anyone who attended the Democratic National Convention. The “clean” coal lobby sponsored events at the DNC and was widely advertised there. Obama even gave “clean” coal a shout-out during his acceptance speech.

And the recent bi-partisan economic bailout plan contains significant underwritten guarantees for “clean” coal money: about $2.5 billion in loan guarantees to provide for construction of so-called clean coal technologies.

Photo by BK59

Clean coal is a farce.

Trouble is, there’s no such thing as “clean” coal. It’s a marketing myth promoted by the big coal companies in order to rake in more public subsidies. Here’s why “clean coal” is a farce and should be opposed at every turn:

Coal, which makes up 50% of our energy use in the US today, is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country and on the planet, as well as one of the largest sources of air and water pollution worldwide. This makes coal the dirtiest form of energy on the planet.

Climate warrior and Nobel Laureate Al Gore sees the construction of new coal-fired power plants as the biggest threat to our climate, and has even called for civil disobedience “to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.”

But although Gore says that carbon capture on coal plants meets his definition of clean energy, most experts and even “clean” coal proponents in industry predict that wide-scale carbon sequestration is at least a decade away. In fact, not one single plant in the US today has carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. And there is not even one large-scale (300+ MW) coal plant with CCS anywhere in the world today.

Photo by Jen SFO-BCN

Coal plants are dirty and expensive.

The economic feasibility of coal plants is suspect – building new coal plants is expensive and getting more so every day: the estimated costs of building new coal-fired plants have increased nearly threefold since 2006 (from approximately $1250/kW to $3000-$3500/kW).

As energy columnist Joseph Romm points out, a recent study by the California Public Utility Commission “puts the cost of coal gasification with carbon capture and storage at a staggering 16.9 cents per kWh.”

Compare this with the current US average retail price of electricity of 9.5 cents per kWh. Romm surmises, “energy efficiency along with lots of low-carbon generation sources beat [coal with CCS] easily now or will very soon.”

Romm also points out that making even a modest dent in global CO2 emissions using CCS would “require a flow of CO2 into the ground equal to the current flow of oil out of the ground,” a staggering amount that, from an engineering point of view, doesn’t pass the laugh test.

When a new coal plant is proposed, it’s 8-12 years before it goes into operation. In comparison, it takes two years to build a massive wind farm, two-and-a-half years to build a large solar facility, and only a couple of weeks to put solar panels on home and business rooftops.

With all the talk about coal-fired power plants, it’s easy to forget where the coal comes from. The environmental and economic ruin that attend mountain top removal mining operations have plagued Appalachia for decades. One local non-profit, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, reports “Mountaintop removal mining is turning Eastern Kentucky into a despicable latrine….”

Hundreds of mountains have been leveled, leaving ecological devastation (links to lots of photos here), poverty and unemployment in their wake.

Photo by ojbyrne

Egregious Stupidity

There’s something egregiously stupid about destroying a multitude of renewable resources – i.e. food, fiber and fuels which can be obtained sustainably from a forest, not to mention the manifold beneficial effects of biodiversity, watershed health, microclimate regulation, erosion control, and natural CO2 sequestration forests offer – in order to extract a heavily polluting, rapidly exhausted, and non-renewable resource.

This desecration of God’s Creation is perennially justified by the argument that “coal mining creates jobs” and is “good for the economy.” However, Grist Magazine has reported that the number of jobs created in Kentucky by coal has dropped by 60 percent in the last 15 years.

As noted by the non-profit Appalachian Voices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics since the 1950’s the number of miners employed in West Virginia dropped from around 145,000 to just over 16,000 although during that time period coal production has greatly increased. Nationwide, coal jobs have dropped 80 percent in the past half-century, even as our coal production has increased.

Coal mining has been going on in Appalachia for a long time now. Yet Appalachia has long been and remains today one of the poorest, if not the poorest region in the nation. So it seems appropriate to ask, “Just when is coal mining going to start being good for the economies of places like West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky?”

With the bi-partisan support for so-called “clean” coal, no matter who moves into the White House next January, progressive environmental activists will have our work cut out for us if we are going to create a sustainable and clean-energy future based on wind, solar, renewables, increased efficiency, and – most importantly – demand reduction through economic re-localization.

Editor’s Note:

Be sure to read the author’s previous essays for BraveNewTraveler.com: The Crisis Of Too Much Energy and How Local Self-Reliance Will Overthrow The System.

In late September, Congress passed the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008. The new and extended tax credits associated with this bill have meant the go-ahead for solar plants such as the one being built by companies New Solar Ventures and Solar Torx in Deming, New Mexico and the Solana plant funded by Abengoa Solar and Arizona Public Service Company in Arizona which will be the largest solar plant in the world. Together, these two plants will be capable of producing over 580 megawatts of electricity.

Traditionally, most solar power plants have used PV technology to generate electricity, but these new projects will utilize new and more efficient ways of harnessing energy. Rather than simply capturing the sun’s rays through PV cells on a larger scale, companies such as Ausra are using solar thermal technology to create industrial amounts of electricity. Solar thermal plants use large mirrors to reflect and focus sunlight onto a central tower, where water is heated to boiling point. The resulting steam drives a massive turbine, creating electricity.

Photo by Valerie Everett

The three largest solar power plants in the world are currently being built in the Mojave Desert, and when operational in 2011, will be able to collectively produce over 1500 megawatts of electricity. While this amount is modest in comparison with fossil fuel power stations, plants like these are a vital step towards energy independence,

The AUSRA project not only looks set to be one of the largest solar plants in the world, but also one of the most cost-efficient. That gave two ‘green’ reasons for venture capitalists such as Vinod Khosla to invest in the project.

Khosla’s company has a history of investing in cutting edge research into renewable energy, but this is the largest investment made to a single project. Khosla’s $25 million investment in the plant shows a confidence that solar power is here to stay. The company claims it will be able to match the price of electricity generated from fossil fuels within 1 – 3 years. (Current solar plants produce energy which is roughly 3 times the price of electricity from oil or coal burning plants.)

A low energy price is not the only ambitious claim that the company has made. In an interview with VentureBeat in 2007, Khosla and Executive Vice-President of Ausra, John O’Donnell, boasted an ambitious plan that would enable their technology to produce enough electricity to provide power for the entire US.

Photo by afloresm

With the US Congress extending its tax credit program for solar power for another 8 years (and only 1 year for wind power), and more efficient solar thermal plants being built across the world, it looks like solar power may well be the light at the end of the energy-crisis tunnel.

Photo by Thinkpanama.

So how do you narrow down your options and choose the best volunteer diving program for you?

First and foremost, do your research. It is important to know what you want out of the volunteer experience (i.e. location, accommodations, number of weeks/months, etc.) so you can decide if an organization offers what you looking for.

Here are some of the top volunteering organizations around the world that host opportunities designed for divers and those who are looking to become divers.

As one of the world’s top ranked volunteering organizations, GVI offers experienced and non-experienced divers the opportunity to participate in crucial coral reef, fish, turtle and shark monitoring projects located in some of the most pristine diving locations.

You can spend 5 weeks to several months living in tropical locations, experiencing local culture, making new friends, and diving 8-10 times a week in places most of us only dream of seeing.

Who they are

Global Vision International (GVI) was formed in 1998 to provide support and services to international charities, non-profits and governmental agencies, through volunteering opportunities and direct funding. GVI is a non-political, non-religious organization, which through its alliance with over 150 project partners in over 30 countries, provides opportunities for volunteers to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education and community development.

To date, GVI has established 11 biological field stations in Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Patagonia, Seychelles, Kenya and South Africa to work with local and international partners on conservation research and education.

What they offer divers

GVI has several Marine Conservation Expeditions that are located in some of the most amazing diving destinations in the world. http://www.gvi.co.uk/volunteer-options/expeditions/marine. Volunteers with have guidance, support, and training from a highly professional and energetic staff who not only strive to make GVI an amazing organization, but who also strive to make your experience as a volunteer unforgettable.

With two locations in Mexico along the Caribbean coast, GVI offers both the opportunity to learn how to dive (if you are not already certified) earning an internationally recognized diving qualification and the chance to contribute towards crucial coral reef research. For new divers, you can gain certification through Rescue Diver on a 5 week expedition or up to Divemaster during a 10 week expedition in Pez Maya.

Diving in Mexico. Photo Courtesy of GVI

All divers are given the opportunity to gain a PADI Specialty Certification in Underwater photography, which takes place in the incredibly breathtaking cenotes of Tulum. At the end of the expedition divers will also have their PADI Specialty Certification in Coral Reef Research.

The Pez Maya base is located on a remote beach on the southern shores of the Yucatan Peninsula, and speaking from personal experience it offers the opportunity of a lifetime for both diving and volunteering.

If you are currently a certified diver you can test your skills and join either a 5 or 10 week expedition further south on the peninsula at Punta Gruesa and participate in coral and fish monitoring programs. Both of these expeditions focus on researching the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is the second largest barrier reef in the world.

GVI also offers a Marine Conservation program in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. GVI has been invited by the Seychelles government and local NGOs to assist their priority biological study and conservation programmers, including coral reef research, invertebrate surveys, whale shark migration observations, plankton sampling, turtle nesting research and water turtle surveys.

It may sound complicated, but on all GVI expeditions, volunteers are given complete training in scientific methods and continued lessons in species identification and conservation concepts.

GVI’s Marine Conservation programs allow you the chance to gain experience teaching English as a foreign language (by gaining a TEFL certification) to the local community, and to assist with the continued development of an environmental education and awareness program. With plenty of free time, you can explore ancient Mayan ruins, take a long-weekend in a neighboring country, and participate in local festivals.

To get a first-hand account of what past volunteers (myself included) have to say about GVI’s programs, check out some of their stories and video blogs such as this one:

Over the last 20 years, Frontier has established itself as a top-notch, highly professional non-profit volunteer organization. This is one of very few organizations that will provide volunteers the opportunity to gain professional level certifications in Tropical Habitat Conservation and Management, PADI dive training, and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) all in one trip. Dive the seas of the Mediterranean to the waters of Fiji and be part of a vital conservation effort.

Who they are

Frontier was established in 1989 as a non-profit conservation and development non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem integrity and building sustainable livelihoods for marginalized communities in the world’s poorest countries.

As one of the top-ranked and most accomplished volunteer organizations in the world Frontier’s commitment to conservation research, education and global awareness has helped to establish numerous marine parks, protected areas, and community-based organizations in more than 50 countries.

What they offer divers

Frontier has several projects located in Greece, Madagascar, Fiji, and Tanzania that are great for divers looking to contribute to conservation research. The Underwater Research Project in Greece runs weekly from May to September, and like all Frontier projects, the type of volunteer work you will be doing depends on the time of year you participate. This project involves diving and snorkeling in the local marine area – locating, marking and measuring the marine life under investigation.

Specific species being investigated vary from year to year but previous studies have included the Pinna (the largest mollusk in the world), local non-dangerous shark populations and sea horses. New projects are constantly being developed and new ideas are always welcome. The Underwater Research Project is ideal for those who may have specific ideas for research that they wish to pursue.

The Madagascar project is a great option for those who are looking to experience a variety of activities aside from diving. This trip is broken down into 3 phases: Day 1-15 involves teaching at a local village school which is extremely under-resourced. You will help to design and implement curriculum, correct work, and initiate extracurricular activities for the kids. Day 16-26 is a 10-day trek through the remote environment, sampling and surveying vegetation, small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.

Lastly, the Day 27-41 brings you Frontier’s marine camp, where non-divers will complete their PADI Open Water course. Already certified divers will participate in underwater surveys, collecting data about local species.

The Marine Research and Conservation Program in Fiji allows volunteers to gain a UCAS transferable, internationally recognized BTEC Advanced Diploma (10 weeks or longer) or Advanced Certificate (4 weeks or longer) in Tropical Habitat Conservation.

Tanzanian coast. Photo: Giorgio

Frontier-Fiji will train non-divers up to PADI Advanced Open Water at no additional cost, and current divers will have the opportunity to advance up to PADI Divemaster at discounted rates. You will learn the research skills needed to aid in underwater surveys, where you will see an extraordinary array of marine life including turtles, manta rays, dolphins, and hundreds of fish species.

Tanzania’s coast is home to some of the most spectacular diving in the world. The crystal clear waters host a wealth of marine habitats and wildlife, making this a perfect location to learn to scuba dive and explore this pristine and magical underwater world.

Volunteers chart extensive areas of undamaged coral, record healthy populations of fish, note turtle behavior, sight marine mammals, and learn to recognize a huge diversity of intertidal animals.

Please note that not every Frontier diving project offers the same things, such as dive training and food. So it is essential to research each project carefully to know what is and is not included, and during what time of the year each project is available. Also, Frontier has a more selective application process than some other organizations, so read up on the qualifications they are looking for and decide if Frontier is right for you.

Coral Cay Conservation allows divers to volunteer on marine conservation projects in the Philippines and Tobago. Both projects get the volunteer involved in crucial coral and fish monitoring, with opportunities to monitor turtles and other marine life.

Divers and non-divers can advance in their diving certifications up to Divemaster. CCC welcomes volunteers of at least 16 years of age, and allows opportunities to join as a staff researcher or specialist.

Who they are

Coral Cay are award winning specialists in coral reef and tropical forest conservation and have been organizing conservation projects since 1986. This organization has aided in the establishment of several marine protected areas, and was instrumental in having the Belize Barrier Reef declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

What they offer divers

Divers can join CCC projects as a volunteer, researcher or specialist for 4 to 20 weeks and work hands-on out in the field in the Philippines or Tobago on Marine Conservation projects.

CCC has worked in partnership with the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc (PRRCFI) and local communities to survey and safeguard reef and rainforest areas since 1995.

Project locations have included Palawan, Danjugan Island, Luzon and Negros. Currently, volunteers on the Philippines project are based at the Napantao Dive Resort, overlooking Sogod Bay. Here, divers will find some of the best diving in the Philippines, with plenty of coral, fish and macro-fauna (whale sharks) species.

Whale Shark. Photo by Noodlefish.

As a volunteer you will be participating in 8-10 survey dives each week, Monday-Friday. Weekends are reserved for “fun” dives and time to explore the area and take in the local culture.

CCC Tobago offers divers a great chance to survey a fragile reef ecosystem in the Caribbean Sea. After the 2005 mass bleaching event in the Caribbean, these fragile ecosystems are now under attack from a variety of coral diseases and anthropogenic impacts, all of which are threatening the very existence of coral reefs in Tobago.

It is essential to collect scientifically sound data on coastal habitats in order to develop effective management plans for the island’s marine resources. As a volunteer you’ll be diving on the Caribbean side of the island of Tobago, collecting data used in these monitoring studies. If you are there between March and August you can join in on Leatherback and Hawksbill turtle surveys, monitoring the number of nests laid on the beach right outside your door.

Both project locations allow for non-divers to gain their PADI Advanced Open Water certification one week prior to the official start of the project session. CCC also allows you to further your certifications depending on how long you decide to stay on as a volunteer.

For those divers who also have backgrounds in marine or conservation science, you can join CCC as a researcher or a specialist and help lead the expedition. This is a great opportunity to further your career experience in the conservation field.

Blue Ventures offers a unique opportunity to assist scientists in data collection in one of the most biodiverse areas of the world, Madagascar. Volunteers will dive sites that no one else has ever dived during “reconnaissance” dives, and will encounter an unbelievable variety of marine species, all while receiving a high level of professional dive and scientific training.

Who they are

Blue Ventures is a marine conservation organization dedicated to conservation, education and sustainable development in tropical coastal communities. In 2006 they were “Highly Commended” in the Best Volunteering Organization category by the Responsible Travel Tourism Awards. Blue Ventures has one main marine conservation project located in Madagascar and is open to qualified and non-qualified divers, with expeditions lasting 6 weeks.

What they offer divers

Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world. Off the coast divers will find the 4th largest coral reef in the world, the Grand Récif de Tuléar. Blue Ventures, in partnership with local and international scientists, conducts research throughout this amazing habitat to aid in national conservation and management efforts. One of the most unique aspects of a Blue Ventures expedition is that volunteers live and work directly alongside these scientists.

Seeing humpback whales, spinner dolphins, endangered marine turtles and over 500 species of tropical fish and corals is part of the daily dive routine during the project. Varying from shallow forereef channels to deeper sea-fan forests, the sites that are visited are nothing short of stunning. As an added bonus, when conducting “reconnaissance” dives, there is a very good chance that you will be the first person ever to dive at that site in this exceptionally remote part of the Indian Ocean.

Let’s Compare:

Remember, this is just a simple overview of the top volunteer organizations available to divers and there’s much more information for you to know. All of the organizations highlighted here have great websites and resources to answer all your questions, including testimonies from past volunteers, resource links, and contact information. Global Vision International also has a fantastic guide to choosing a volunteer organization.

Volunteering can have a positive impact on the environment, the people you meet, and most of all on your own life. Why not take an opportunity to dive the world and help the world at the same time?

What better way to get a feel for the local scene than to hop on the public transit system? For most budget travelers, public transport is the only way to get around.

Even though we may not speak the language of a foreign country, or even recognize the local alphabet, travelers quickly learn how to move about efficiently on public transport. Buses, trains, ferries and share taxis are not something travelers see as low-class or inconvenient or disgusting. They are necessities, cheap and simple ways to get from A to B.

Why then, when we return home, do most of us never entertain the idea of giving up our cars and using public transit?

With congested roads, global warming and ever-increasing gas prices, there’s no better time than now to reconsider your transportation options.

The Big Decision

Photo by smokingpermitted

A few years ago, my wife and I traveled around Europe for three months. When we returned home to Vancouver we were itching to travel again, so we decided to save up for a year and hit the road.

Selling our vehicle was a no-brainer, considering the high costs of gas, monthly payments and car insurance.

I’ve been driving for fifteen years and had always owned a car. How would I cope with the switch to public transit? Well, the short answer is: It was easy, and I’m glad I did.

Just Getting Around

Photo by Citizen L

After a tearful goodbye to my sweet ride, I got on the bus.

“This isn’t so bad, ” I thought. “It’s actually kind of nice.”

I felt no agitation from the heavy traffic, no anger towards the driver who just cut me off. I eyed the other passengers. They were normal people, my fellow residents on the way to work.

For many car owners, there’s a stigma about people who take public transportation, as if they’re a class below. I saved a lot of money by taking the bus, but I actually enjoyed it too. I shook the stigma of not owning a car.

Unexpected Benefits Of Public Transport

Photo by Matt Honan

After a few days of riding the bus I had a strange feeling. I felt like I belonged, that I was a part of my beautiful city. I felt more connected to Vancouver than I’d ever felt before.

I realized that while driving I was in my own little bubble and completely oblivious to the real world. It was a very pleasant surprise.

Photo by ngader

I was amazed by how little I missed driving; my daily forty minute commute to work turned into my free time to catch up on reading. It was amazing how fast the money piled up; in less than a year, my wife and I were able to save up to travel very comfortably for eight months in Europe and Asia.

We are now living in Melbourne, Australia and have opted not to buy a car. Some think we’re nuts to live in such a big city without wheels, but it’s a breeze with the comprehensive network of trains, trams and buses.

On those rare occasions when we do need a vehicle, we rent one. A compact car from Budget costs under $40 per day; even if you do rent a car a few times a month it‘s still much cheaper than owning or leasing one, not to mention hassle free. Car sharing is also an option.

Does Making the Switch Make Sense For You?

Photo by Burning Image

I’m not so naïve to think that going without a car is suitable for everyone. Of course, there are circumstances where owning a car is a necessity.

Maybe you live in the sticks, beyond the reaches of the public transit system. Maybe you have kids you need to ferry around to their different activities.

Even if you need a car, though, there are ways to cut down on your amount of driving. How about a combination of driving and public transit?

If you’re working in the city, take public transport and avoid idling in peak traffic and paying through the nose for parking.

Pros and Cons Of Public Transport

Is public transportation all that and a bag of chips? Of course not. Sometimes the train is late or, more annoyingly, it leaves early. Sometimes the bus can get quite crowded; sometimes a gang of foul-mouthed teenagers tests your tolerance for profanities.

Convenience is a factor for owning a car. But how much are you willing to pay for a little convenience? Or, a better question, what are the benefits to you and to the earth for a little inconvenience?

Sure, you have to plan more without a car. You have to check schedules and work around them. You have to walk more…but wait, is a little exercise and fresh air a pro or a con?

Photo by André Gustavo

Give It Some Thought!

There is no better time than now to pour some serious thought into this. You’re resourceful enough to travel around the world and make good use of foreign transit systems.

Why not use public transport at home?

Community Connection!

Are you fired up on sustainability? Check out Matador’s archive of inspiring stories about green innovation and people passionate about being part of the solution.

Feature Photo: Foraggio Fotographic

Feature photo by pingnews.com. Photo above by seanmcgrath.

Do you think tropical diseases only occur in developing countries? Think again.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says diseases are spreading to temperate regions thanks to global warming.

Warmer temperatures and greater moisture extend the geographic range and season for disease-vector organisms such as insects and rodents. Below are diseases that could have you feeling the sting of global warming.

Malaria

Malaria is spread by the Anopheles mosquito infected with the Plasmodium parasite. Warmer and wetter climates trigger increased mosquito abundance, biting rates, activity level, and accelerated incubation of their parasites. Winter temperatures must drop below 16ºC to prevent a malaria outbreak the following spring.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that warmer temperatures will put 65% of the world’s population at risk of infection—an increase of 20%. This news is especially frightening in light of increased resistance to the chloroquine treatment drugs. Malaria has already hit Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, and New York.

Photo by otisarchives2.

Dengue Fever

Dengue fever is spread by the Aedes mosquito infected with the Flavivirus virus. The geographic range of the mosquito is limited by freezing temperatures that kill larvae and eggs, thus limiting transmission to tropical and subtropical regions.

But studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture predict dengue’s encroachment upon temperate regions due to small increases in temperature.

The mosquito has spread as far north as Chicago and the Netherlands and to higher elevations of the Andes. With no vaccine, “breakbone” fever is considered the most serious mosquito-borne viral disease affecting humans.

Encephalitis

Encephalitis is an arthropod-borne disease present in many forms, including St. Louis, equine, La Crosse, and West Nile. New York experienced outbreaks of both West Nile Virus (WNV) and St. Louis encephalitis in 1999 during its driest and hottest spring and summer in a century.

Those weather patterns favorable to outbreaks—heat and drought followed by heavy downpours—will likely occur more often with global warming. Small stagnant pools of water that accompany drought are big enough to support breeding mosquitoes but not populations of the frogs that prey on them.

Photo by pingnews.com.

Bubonic Plague

Bubonic plague is spread by rodents and their fleas infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that global warming promotes outbreaks of “black death.”

A 1ºC increase in springtime temperatures is predicted to lead to more than a 50% increase in the prevalence of the bacterium.

A study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reports a 60% rise in plague cases in New Mexico following wetter than average winters and springs. Wetter conditions enhance food resources for rodents and promote flea survival and reproduction.

Cholera

Cholera is a waterborne disease present in drinking water and food contaminated with the bacterium, Vibrio cholerae. The WHO links the spread of cholera with increases in sea surface temperature, sea level rise, and El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

The U.S. EPA reports that algal blooms, which can be accompanied by cholera, become more frequent with warming temperatures. Cholera-harboring zooplankton also proliferates in warmer water temperatures.

Photo by otisarchives2.

What you can do

The IPCC warns that global warming will result in human mortality from infectious disease. Unlike the typical U.S. approach of emergency response to epidemics, a preventive approach would preclude unnecessary suffering, infection, and loss of life.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides information on prevention, vaccines, and epidemics. Below are things you can do to reduce your chance of infection.

Often policymakers do not take action on environmental issues unless it affects human health so maybe this will be their wake-up call to do something about global warming.<

Photo above by Cross-Cultural Solutions.

We’ve all heard about the importance of sustainable tourism, ecotourism, voluntourism and a multitude of other buzz worlds that help locals benefit from travelers. But as individuals, it can be difficult to believe we’ll ever be in a position to really make a difference.

However, we never know where tomorrow may take us. The stories and examples below show how one traveler can make a difference. There is no reason why we can’t–why you can’t–change the world. Read on.

Help

Ellin Yourgsen was enjoying her break in Thailand when the tsunami hit on December 27, 2004. She gave up the rest of her gap year travel plans to help out wherever she could.

From helping in the removal and burial of bodies to building temporary shelters; she was just one of tens of thousands of travellers who gave (and are still giving) anything they could to help those who needed them most.

www.tsunamivolunteer.net

Photo above by subcomandanta.

Educate

In Africa alone 6,000 people die of AIDS each day; that’s more than the combined total of deaths from war famine and natural disasters.

Volunteer on sex education projects and you’ll be helping to alleviate one of the biggest issues facing humanity in the 21st century. If this doesn’t appeal, simply give out as many condoms as you can afford (while keeping back a plentiful supply for yourself, of course).

www.worldvolunteerweb.org

Unite

What better way to link two different cultures than to get married. Jasmine Avissar, an Israeli Jew, and Osama Zaatar, a Muslim Palestinian, have truly bridged the gaps of a cultural and religious divide since meeting in Jerusalem in 2004.

Sadly, not everyone has welcomed the union between these two bitterly divided states, yet if one can start, could others follow?

http://projecthope.ps

Photo above by locket479.

Enjoy

Matt Harding loved travel so much he danced for his entire journey (well, kind of). His loosely termed ‘music video’ has shown the world to millions and opened people‘s eyes to the wonders of the world.

Whether this has had any benefit to the international community is questionable, but another person’s travel videos have never been so entertaining.

www.wherethehellismatt.com

Observe

When Charles Darwin stepped onto the Galapagos Islands in 1835, he was a young man part way through a world voyage. The species he saw on the islands and from future explorations led him to develop his ideas on natural selection and evolution.

Twenty-three years after his first voyage he published The Origin of the Species, a text that revolutionised our thinking on the world.

www.darwinfoundation.org

Share

The very basis of helping and volunteering relies on a person sharing something with another, whether that be time, a particular skill, material goods or something else.

Gary Myers, a trained doctor, left his home in Oklahoma to help victims of election violence in Kenya. He faced a daily barrage of extreme injuries-most caused by machetes-inflicted by those with opposing political views.

Many would have lost limbs and sometimes their lives, were it not for his extensive training.

www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Explore

Rosie Swale-Pope, who is 52 years old, is currently running across the UK in her last leg of a run that has crossed Europe, Asia and North America- she is expecting to reach the finish line in the middle of August 2008, having raised thousands for various international charities.

In 1983, at just 16 years old, Fyona Campbell set out to walk around the world. She crossed four continents- Europe, North America, Australia and Africa- and walked 32,000 km while raising over £120,000 ($230,000) for charity.

www.survival-international.org

Give

Shortly after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, David Savage was so moved by the state of Romania’s orphanages that he moved there to help: setting up a small team of volunteers and later building a school, community centre and holiday home to give these under privileged children, many whom are HIV positive, a brighter life.

He was awarded an MBE in 2003 and still continues his work in the small town of Cernavoda, south east Romania.

www.nightingaleschildrensproject.co.uk

Photo above by Island Spice.

Conserve

The destruction of the world’s rainforests- ‘the lungs of the world’- is one of the greatest threats to our natural world. 25% of western medicine is derived from rainforest plants and we can only guess what cures still lie hidden.

With 50,000,000 tribal people still estimated to live in the world’s rainforests, the need to preserve their world and way of life has never been more apparent.

www.yachana.edu.ec

Donate

Half the world- that’s three billion people – live on less than two dollars a day (of those about 1.5 – 2 billion live on less than one dollar a day).

One billion children (that’s half the world’s children) live in poverty and around 30,000 die each day because of that poverty. In comparison, the travel industry is expected to generate almost $7 trillion this year alone.

I’ll leave you to do the math…..

www.stopchildpoverty.org

Feature photo by ksbuehler. Photo above by TimS

1. Water pollution

According to the Worldwatch Institute, the water is not safe to drink in many areas of China.

Industrialization has polluted many lakes and streams, resulting in chemical pollution and increased algae blooms. Algae blooms also contribute to fish die off by chocking off the oxygen supply that aquatic life needs to survive.

2. Exacerbated dust storms

China is experiencing an increase in dust storms. Dust storms can spread as far as North America from China and these storms can become deadly when they pick up airborne toxins from factories. Lester R. Brown of the Earth Policy Institute cites over-plowing and overgrazing as contributing causes of the desertification process.

3. Coastline swamped by red tides

Untreated sewage is being dumped into surrounding estuaries, creating a surplus of red phytoplankton. Red tides are becoming a common ocurrence in China, killing off marine life and adversely affecting the surrounding coastal communities. Toxins from this algal growth make seafood unsafe to eat.

4. Thermal insulation rare in Chinese buildings

Because of poor (or no) usage of insulation, Chinese buildings require twice as much energy to heat or cool as those in similar climates in the US or Europe. The World Bank states that 95% of these buildings do not meet meet China’s own codes for energy efficiency.

According to Wang Tiehong, chief engineer of The Ministry of Construction, 30% of China’s total energy consumption is used for building infrastructure, such as new residential or shopping areas.

Photo by pdvos

5. All new buildings require China to build new power plants.

Chinese infrastructure is increasing at an astronomical rate of growth. China added 66 gigawatts of electricity to its power grid in 2005, according to the The New York Times. That’s about as much power as Great Britain generates in an entire year.

6. Heavy industry plants do not operate efficiently or control pollution as adequately as factories in other parts of the world.

On average Chinese steelmakers use one-fifth more energy per ton than the estimated international average. The World Bank says that cement manufacturers need 45% more power and ethylene producers need 70% more power than producers elsewhere.

Another study done by the World Bank in conjunction with the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, the national environmental Agency, concluded that 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths are a direct result of outdoor air pollution.

7. Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is triggering landslides.

With the degradation of the Yangtze River, entire ecosystems may are altered or destroyed. The Times Online reports that geologists have found banks are weakening as a result of water seeping out of the reservoir and the huge pressure changes that occurs during drawdowns of the dam.

A Chinese official noted that the reservoir shore had collapsed in 91 places, affecting a total area of 22 miles. Algal blooms are accumulating downstream from the Yangtze.

Photo by hleung

8. China’s emissions growth is 2-4 times greater than expected

The International Energy Agency predicted that China’s carbon emissions would not reach those of the United States until 2020.

The agency now states that China overtook the US in emissions growth in 2007. China is the world’s second-largest consumer of oil after the US, and uses more coal than the US, the European Union, and Japan combined.

9. Extinction of Yangtze river dolphin is confirmed.

After an extensive six week survey of the mammal’s habitat, scientists now believe that the 20 million year old Yangtze river dolphin is now extinct. The BBC News stated that the team of scientists thinks that unregulated fishing was the main reason for its extinction.

10. US firms are driving pollution in China.

According to Jane Spencer of the Wall Street Journal, US firms are helping to drive the current environmental degradation in China. By demanding lower prices on products, manufacturers are forced to reduce environmental safeguards in order to compete internationally.

As an example, she states that prices on fabrics and clothing imported from China to the US have fallen 25% since 1995.

What You Can Do/ Community Connection

Support local and international organizations promoting awareness of and remedies for the current industrial environmental degradation of China. Matador is affiliated with The Green Camel Bell, a non-profit located in Lanzhou, China, which focuses its efforts on environmental conservation, activism, youth development, and education. On an international level, Oxfam International works to fight poverty and injustice.

Feature photo by markgee6 Photo by leonardlow

1. Great Barrier Reef

Flourishing with more than 1,500 fish species and the endangered hawksbill turtle, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef ecosystem in the world. But the Blue Outback is fading to white due to coral bleaching. Increasing carbon dioxide and temperature levels are projected to render the reef functionally extinct by 2030.

Photo by warrenh

2. Amazon Rain Forest

Teeming with millions of species and one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, the Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. However, global warming and deforestation are reversing the forest’s role as a carbon sink, converting 30-60% of the rainforest into dry savannah. Projections show the forest could disappear completely by 2050.

3. Yangtze Region

Shrouded in the dense mist of the forests of the Yangtze region of China is the endangered giant panda. But downtown, a rapidly developing economy and commercial logging industry cause flooding and habitat destruction. Nearby, the Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam in history, is destroying the Yangtze River ecosystem.

4. The Everglades

The shrubby wetlands of the Everglades are the only place in the world to find the endangered Florida panther. But the Everglades cover only half the land area they used to. This “River of Grass” has been carved into a grid of canals and crops to feed and water the encroaching cities.

Photo by bobjagendorf

5. Cape Floral Region

Blooming with 6,200 endemic plant species, the Cape Floral Region of South Africa encompasses one of world’s six floral kingdoms. Global warming is projected to increase mean annual temperatures by 1.8 ºC by 2050 which is bad news for the 1,400 species that are critically endangered and sensitive to small changes in climate.

6. Congo Basin

Chopped into logs and tilled into agriculture, the Congo Basin rainforest is projected to disappear by 30% by 2030. As the human population grew over the past decades, the endangered mountain gorilla population dwindled to 700 individuals. As the world’s second largest tropical rainforest, the basin regulates climate and water flow.

7. Madagascar

Because Madagascar broke off from Gondwanaland 160 million years ago, its species evolved in isolation and occur nowhere else on earth. Deforestation, agriculture, and erosion may cause lemurs and chameleons to go extinct before the end of the century. The aye-aye, silky sifaka and Goodman’s mouse lemur are considered three of the most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered animals.

Photo by plizzba

8. Mt. Kilimanjaro Glacier

With its conspicuous snowy peak standing out over the surrounding savannah, Mount Kilimanjaro is topped with a glacier uniquely situated near the Equator. Persisting for over 10,000 years, the glacier suddenly retreated by 82% since 1912 due to global warming. At current rates, the glacier could melt completely by 2020.

Photo by tambako

9. The Phillipines

With only 7% of its original forest still standing, the Philippines is one of the world’s most biologically-rich yet most endangered areas. The remaining forests are disappearing at a rate of 1186 acres per day. Illegal logging is a $700 million per year business, resulting in erosion and flooding, as evidenced by the 2004 landslides.

10. The Himalayan Glaciers

The Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever at a rate of 33-49 feet per year due to global warming. Melting glaciers could flood India, China, and Nepal and destroy habitat for the endangered snow leopard. Unpredictable weather is creating dangerous conditions for climbers of Mt. Everest.

Photo by mckaysavage

All over the world, wildlife is being replaced by cars and rivers are being redesigned by dams and canals. Many natural wonders may fall victim to concrete jungles and flooded cities within 50 years.

If our generation does not act, the next generation may never see these treasures. Conservation efforts must engage local communities and governments as well as the global community.

To help, contribute to the local economy rather than a foreign-owned resort when traveling to sensitive areas.

Community Connection!

You can connect with hundreds of grassroots organizations on Matador!

A list of NGOs focusing on Environmental and Conservation issues can be found here.

To explore opportunities with organizations working to stop natural wonders from disappearing completely, visit Amazon Conservation Association, and Flor de La Amazonia in the Amazon Basin and ReefDoctor in Madagascar.

Feature photo by pingnews Photo by kenbondy

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists 1237 endangered species. The following ten species are key because of their roles in the ecosystem and and dangerously low numbers.

Mountain Gorilla

Photo by mrflip

Africa’s mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is the largest and most powerful primate, but is very peaceful and sociable,
despite their portrayal in movies such as King Kong and Tarzan.

Gorillas are our closest relative after chimpanzees with an almost 98 percent DNA match. The remaining 600 individuals face habitat loss through deforestation, poaching, circus use, effects of political unrest, and human diseases such as measles.

Florida Panther

Once prevalent throughout the southeastern U.S., the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is now restricted to south Florida. Cities and farms dump pollutants into waterways that feed the Everglades, an ecosystem that occurs nowhere else on earth. To boost numbers and prevent inbreeding among the remaining 50 individuals, humans bred the Florida panther with the Texas panther resulting in a genetically different hybrid.

Giant Panda

Photo by tanukigirl

China’s giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat is situated at the top of the Yangtze Basin, one of the world’s most critical regions for biodiversity conservation. Because of their notoriously low sex drives, captive pandas are shown pornographic videos to encourage mating. After more than a century of debate, recent DNA analysis concludes that the giant panda is more closely related to bears than to raccoons.

Beluga Sturgeon

The ancient beluga sturgeon (Huso huso), while persisting for over 200 million years, may not outlast current threats. Its caviar is one of the world’s three most expensive foods, selling for over $100 dollars per ounce and encouraging illegal trade and poaching.

Dams along the Volga River block migration from their breeding ground to the Caspian Sea. Historically, Belugas lived for 75 years, weighed more than 2 tons and grew to 28 feet in length. Now, the typical adult is younger than 18 years old and weighs only 77 pounds.

Blue Whale

Photo by scotts101

Antarctica’s blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest creature on earth. The largest terrestrial animal, the African elephant, could stand on the whale’s tongue. UV radiation through a hole in the ozone layer depletes its food source, zooplankton. The blue whale is the loudest animal on earth, using low-frequency rumbles to communicate across hundreds of miles of ocean. Click here to listen to its call.

Blue Poison Dart Frog

Photo by upton

The blue poison dart frog (Dendrobates azureus) is one of the most brilliantly colored animals on the planet. Humans harness the poison as a potential ingredient in painkillers and the indigenous Chocó peoples of Columbia dab it on blowgun darts for hunting. The tiny frogs inhabit South American rainforest, which is disappearing at a rate of four football fields per minute.

Southern Cassowary

The ancient southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) is a helmeted flightless bird in Australia’s Wet Tropics. As voracious fruit-eaters, they spread seeds, regenerating the rainforest in the face of deforestation. Even though the large birds weigh 130 pounds, they fall prey to non-native feral pigs, which were also responsible for the extinction of the dodo.

Loggerhead Turtle

The loggerhead turtle’s (Caretta caretta) habitat extends through many countries, requiring international cooperation and treaties. Despite requirements to install turtle excluder devices on fishing gear in some countries, turtles continue to die as bycatch in countries without such measures. Pacific loggerheads migrate over 7,500 miles from their nesting habitat in Japan to their foraging habitat off the coast of Mexico.

Polar Bear

Photo by Amanda Graham, 2006

The world’s largest terrestrial carnivore, Arctic polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are threatened by global warming. They must fast longer in the summer due to melting sea ice. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. As of May 14th 2008, the Polar Bear was listed on the ESA. The decision was crucial as 29.7 million acres of the Chukchi Sea, which supports polar bear populations, are set to be opened to oil and gas activities.

Elkhorn and Staghorn Coral

Elkhorn and staghorn coral (Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis) are the first species to be recognized as threatened by global warming. The new status provides leverage in future fights against threats to other habitats from global warming. Coral reefs provide habitat for thousands of species of fish.

What can be done?

Through pollution, habitat degradation / depletion, and worldwide environmental impact, humans are largely responsible for the extinction and endangerment of species. Thus it is humans who can help preserve animals and habitat by changing behaviors.

Ride your bike. Join your local Audubon chapter. Create backyard wildlife habitat. Write to your representatives. When corporate behavior cannot be changed by legislation, use your consumer power to boycott. The best approach to conserving wildlife is to conserve habitat. Keeping “common species common” prevents wildlife from becoming too rare and costly to restore.