It is amazing that this should still be an issue. In this area folk are privileged to be able to watch whales as these gentle giants shelter in our waters. But the International Whaling Commission, meeting in Agadir, Morrocco, is voting on a proposal to legalize commercial whale hunting for the first time in a generation.
In the 1980s, protests led to the commercial whaling ban. It is hoped that when the International Whaling Commission votes in Morocco, the world will still say a big "NO!" to whaling.
After the global ban was first implemented on commercial whaling, the number of whales killed each year fell from 38 000 per year to just a couple of thousand. Hopefully humans will join together again to protect these gentle giants.
Showing posts with label enviro-nut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label enviro-nut. Show all posts
Friday, June 18, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
No more free-bees!
There is the joke that even the bees are on strike – they want shorter flowers and more honey.
Unfortunately, the Americans are finding their drastic losses of bees no joking matter. Over the past 30 years, over half of US honeybees have been lost in what is being termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Bees have been destroyed by pesticides, varroa mites and Nosema Disease. The US Department of Agriculture has identified 58 pesticides that are “highly toxic” to bees, including aldicarb, diazinon and malathion. Bee specialist, Maryann Frazier said pesticides had been shown to impair the learning abilities of honey bees and to suppress their immune systems.
The US has resorted to migrant-labourer bees - transporting one billion “guest worker” bees from Australia to pollinate American fields and orchards. One website calls this "junk food" for bees.
In Terrain magazine, Gina Covina writes that the survival of Earth’s bees depends on a change from industrial agriculture to biodiverse ecological farming.
The loss of bees may have an even greater impact than rising fuel prices on food production. One farmer, Robert Edwards, said he had to reduce his acreage of cucumbers by 50 per cent - not because of rising fuel prices, but because he was not sure he would be able to "rent" enough bees to pollinate his crop.
Commercial beekeeper, Steve Godlin, said his 5 000 colonies plummeted in the space of a year to 2 500. His bees forage from crops that are mostly treated with pesticides.
Dave Mendes, a commercial beekeeper with over 7 000 colonies conducted a research project following his bees from Florida to California. 18 hives started the journey but after only 10 months only four finished, and only one was strong enough to travel to California to pollinate almonds.
It seems that the work of the migrant-labourer bee or "rent" bee has only just begun. As natural habitat is destroyed and pesticide-intensive monocultures persist, the precious labour that humans took for granted from the busy bee will be over. No more free-bees!
Unfortunately, the Americans are finding their drastic losses of bees no joking matter. Over the past 30 years, over half of US honeybees have been lost in what is being termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Bees have been destroyed by pesticides, varroa mites and Nosema Disease. The US Department of Agriculture has identified 58 pesticides that are “highly toxic” to bees, including aldicarb, diazinon and malathion. Bee specialist, Maryann Frazier said pesticides had been shown to impair the learning abilities of honey bees and to suppress their immune systems.
The US has resorted to migrant-labourer bees - transporting one billion “guest worker” bees from Australia to pollinate American fields and orchards. One website calls this "junk food" for bees.
In Terrain magazine, Gina Covina writes that the survival of Earth’s bees depends on a change from industrial agriculture to biodiverse ecological farming.
The loss of bees may have an even greater impact than rising fuel prices on food production. One farmer, Robert Edwards, said he had to reduce his acreage of cucumbers by 50 per cent - not because of rising fuel prices, but because he was not sure he would be able to "rent" enough bees to pollinate his crop.
Commercial beekeeper, Steve Godlin, said his 5 000 colonies plummeted in the space of a year to 2 500. His bees forage from crops that are mostly treated with pesticides.
Dave Mendes, a commercial beekeeper with over 7 000 colonies conducted a research project following his bees from Florida to California. 18 hives started the journey but after only 10 months only four finished, and only one was strong enough to travel to California to pollinate almonds.
It seems that the work of the migrant-labourer bee or "rent" bee has only just begun. As natural habitat is destroyed and pesticide-intensive monocultures persist, the precious labour that humans took for granted from the busy bee will be over. No more free-bees!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
TO ALL BRITISH HEDGEHOG RESCUERS
This is to all those dedicated wildlife specialists in Britain who spend so much time, energy and resources on rescuing baby hedgehogs from drains.
The South African government needs your help in tracking down poachers flying in massive helicopters, armed with automatic weapons that hunt and kill huge rhino.
With your expertise in finding the smallest and most helpless of creatures, it should not be hard to find the rhino or the men who hunt them.
Somehow, they seem to be eluding our government. And before long, visitors to this country will also have to content themselves with going to zoos to see rats and weasels as our truly impressive wildlife is no longer free to roam protected reserves.
P.S. While you are in the neighbourhood, please tell Robert Mugabe that gifts of wild animals went out with the ark.
The South African government needs your help in tracking down poachers flying in massive helicopters, armed with automatic weapons that hunt and kill huge rhino.
With your expertise in finding the smallest and most helpless of creatures, it should not be hard to find the rhino or the men who hunt them.
Somehow, they seem to be eluding our government. And before long, visitors to this country will also have to content themselves with going to zoos to see rats and weasels as our truly impressive wildlife is no longer free to roam protected reserves.
P.S. While you are in the neighbourhood, please tell Robert Mugabe that gifts of wild animals went out with the ark.
On a more serious note...
3 rhino killed every week in SA
It is unbelievable that although the southern white rhino is listed as near threatened (17 000), and the black rhino critically endangered (4 000), three rhinos are killed every week in South Africa.
This is according to a report by the the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), TRAFFIC and WWF at a convention this year. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, 162 rhinos were killed illegally last year to make traditional medicines for the Asian market.
In 1970, South Africa had 65 000 black rhinos. This number has plummeted to only 7 000 white and 1 000 black rhinos. Yet this is 74 per cent of Africa's total number of rhinos. This year so far, 67 rhino have been shot for their horns in the Kruger Park and 37 in Kwa-Zulu Natal - exluding private reserves that advertise trophy hunting to overseas tourists.
Animal welfare organisations have called the Kruger National Park an animal "supermarket" after 10 of the 200 white rhinos sold at auction recently were also killed. They say the board should resign as they have "failed" to protect and conserve the country’s wild animals. Animal Rights Africa (ARA) called on the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs to put a moratorium on the sale of white rhino. They say national parks' rhinos belong to the people of South Africa.
The penalty for illegal rhino hunting in South Africa is R100 000 or 10 years imprisonment or both. It seems this is not enough to stop hunters who will wipe out an amazing species purely from greed.
It is unbelievable that although the southern white rhino is listed as near threatened (17 000), and the black rhino critically endangered (4 000), three rhinos are killed every week in South Africa.
This is according to a report by the the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), TRAFFIC and WWF at a convention this year. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, 162 rhinos were killed illegally last year to make traditional medicines for the Asian market.
In 1970, South Africa had 65 000 black rhinos. This number has plummeted to only 7 000 white and 1 000 black rhinos. Yet this is 74 per cent of Africa's total number of rhinos. This year so far, 67 rhino have been shot for their horns in the Kruger Park and 37 in Kwa-Zulu Natal - exluding private reserves that advertise trophy hunting to overseas tourists.
Animal welfare organisations have called the Kruger National Park an animal "supermarket" after 10 of the 200 white rhinos sold at auction recently were also killed. They say the board should resign as they have "failed" to protect and conserve the country’s wild animals. Animal Rights Africa (ARA) called on the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs to put a moratorium on the sale of white rhino. They say national parks' rhinos belong to the people of South Africa.
The penalty for illegal rhino hunting in South Africa is R100 000 or 10 years imprisonment or both. It seems this is not enough to stop hunters who will wipe out an amazing species purely from greed.
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