» Listings for April 2019

1. Chicago, please switch your lights off after 11pm in the migratory bird season

   Posted on 9:00pm Wednesday 24th Apr 2019

   Chicago is an amazing city, with an incredible shoreline but it’s not a happy place for many birds during the migration season. The problem in Chicago Every year, 6,000 birds die in one square mile area of downtown Chicago.   Why? Well, Chicago sits in the middle of one of the busiest areas for bird migration.   Twice a year, 5 million birds fly through this course twice a year.  They are exhausted by the time they reach Chicago. And that’s when they really hit a problem – literally. Up to ONE BILLION migratory birds die every year, colliding with skyscrapers.   Birds use the stars to point them in the right direction.  That means the problem is worse at night, when tall skyscrapers are lit up all night – that confuses and disorients the birds.  And they crash into the buildings. The solution in Chicago It's easy!  All it needs is for buildings to turn off their lights after 11pm during the migratory season. Chicago already “encourages” buildings to switch their lights off, but encouragement isn’t enough.  To save birds, the Lights Out policy needs to be mandatory. How you can help with this solution Care2.com have a petition telling Chicago city officials to require buildings to shut the lights off at night during bird migratory season.  (It’s hardly environmentally friendly to keep the lights on, anyway.) Sign the petition to get these lights switched off in Chicago.

    

2. Triple your impact for the Natural World on Earth Day with the Sierra Club

   Posted on 8:00am Monday 22nd Apr 2019

   Today is Earth Day – and today that means a chance to TREBLE your impact to protect this one planet we have. The Sierra Club are working to do the following (and I quote from their email): Keep our wild places wild by making the Roadless Rule permanent Protect endangered animals from extinction by protecting the Endangered Species Act from attacks by the Trump administration and Congress Ensure everyone has access to clean air and water by resisting attacks on the safeguards keeping toxic pollution out of vulnerable communities. Make a gift to support our work right now and it will go THREE TIMES as far towards helping the Sierra Club fight to protect our vulnerable communities, clean air and water, precious public lands and wildlife—in the courts, in Congress, and in the grassroots.    Rush your Earth Day gift before midnight and it will be TRIPLED by the Club’s generous donors up to $300,000.  The Club will also send you their Insulated Cooler Tote Bag, Free. The Sierra Club’s 3.5 million plus strong community have helped it achieve some incredible victories: They’ve got 119 cities to commit to 100% clean energy from San Diego to St Petersburg They’ve retired 287 dirty coal plants – this can only improve the health and wellbeing of everyone They’ve got anti-environmental officials such as Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt out of office. They’ve countered the Trump administration over and over again, helping to block oil and gas drilling on iconic lands and offshore, helping pass legislation to protect wild places, and continuing to shut down dirty coal-fired power plants and coal mines. They must keep fighting.  So please make a gift to support the Sierra Club as it fights to protect vulnerable communities, clean air and water, precious public lands and wildlife—in the courts, in Congress, and in the grassroots. DONATE TODAY 22 April 2019

    

3. Amur/Far Eastern Leopards on the rise

   Posted on 3:00pm Friday 19th Apr 2019

   Researchers doing some photo monitoring in the Vorontsov Land of the Leopard National Park have identified 91 adult leopards, as well as 22 cubs! As a rule, a qualitative increase is possible when the population has at least twice as many females as males. The high percentage of cubs too is good news.  The new trend amongst Far Eastern Leopards suggests stabilisation of this rare cat’s population.  They are also known as Amur Leopards. The Land of the Leopard National Park accounts for about 70% of the leopard’s natural habitat.  This was a key decision:  it means that the Far Eastern Leopard can now live safely on an area of almost 2,800 square kilometres.   To count the wild cats, national park employees went through nearly a million camera trap images.  About 10,000 of them had leopards on them! To complete the picture, experts from the Russian national park are eagerly waiting for the results that their Chinese colleagues are producing; they too have been monitoring photos. These data are vital now that the Land of the Leopard has become a “birth centre” for the spotted cats; many young leopards move to the Chinese borders to look out new territories.  Some return, but a certain number stay in China – and that means that the leopard population can grow! Far Eastern Leopards is an autonomous non-profit organisation. Far Eastern Leopards’ mission is “to protect and restore the Far Eastern Leopard population in its historical habitat in the Russian Far East. It supports the photo monitoring at Land of the Leopard and the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve.  About 360,000 hectares are being monitored in the national park.  400 automatic camera traps can be found in the national park, so it’s the largest camera trap network in Russia! Camera trap images enable scientists to do several things: to determine the size of the animal population to monitor changes in their life cycle to estimate their physical condition to determine their behavioural traits.  Find out about Far Eastern Leopards here – there’s lots of information on Far Eastern Leopards and also the organisation trying to protect and restore the species. Reasons for the very low numbers of these leopards are: Reduced feeding supply – the prey they live off have been dying out because of poaching and deforestation Habitat destruction and infrastructure development – forest fire risks have increased because of deforestation and mining;  roads make the areas more accessible to humans Poaching – leopard skin and body parts are used in oriental medicine

    

4. World Leaders, Protect Half our Planet - Please sign this petition

   Posted on 9:00am Thursday 4th Apr 2019

   There’s a new Petition on Avaaz which is called World Leaders, Protect Half our Planet. The petition is calling for world leaders to forge a new agreement such that at least 50% of our lands and oceans must be protected and restored.   A global study has just found that every insect on the planet is on track to be wiped out – causing life on Earth to collapse – and that includes humans.   The petition says: To world leaders: "We global citizens are deeply concerned by scientists warning that ecosystems critical to sustaining life on Earth could collapse in our lifetimes. We call on you to meet existing targets to protect biodiversity, forge a new agreement so that at least 50% of our lands and oceans are protected and restored, and ensure our planet is completely sustainably managed. This must take into consideration the needs of human development and have the active support of indigenous peoples. This long-term goal for nature can restore harmony with our home." Nature has never needed such a strong voice and scientists are offering a way to defend nature and people too – put half the planet under protection.  At the moment, France, Germany, Canada and other countries are about to hold talks to look at the idea before a global summit on extinction.  This is all happening at the time Sir David Attenborough’s programme Our Planet streams on Netflix, hoping for an audience in 190 countries.  It could be over ONE BILLION people watch it – that’s one in seven (give or take a few) on the planet.  The petition calls on these leaders to back protection for half the earth.  Sign here