Protect Belize’s Endangered Jaguars

 

Petition Link – https://forcechange.com/515318/protect-belizes-endangered-jaguars/

 

Target: Senator Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment and Sustainable Development, Belize

Goal: End deforestation to protect the endangered jaguars of Belize’s jungles.

The endangered jaguars of Belize are rapidly disappearing from the jungles. Unchecked deforestation destroys their habitats and food source. Something must be done before these majestic creatures perish forever.

Over 25,000 acres of forest have been lost in Belize over the past decade. The government has done little to intervene in the ravage of this forest land, causing sanctuaries and conservation groups to struggle to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the jaguar species. One group is attempting to fundraise 600,000 dollars, a tremendous cost.

These groups cannot work alone and should not face the costly burden on their own. Sign the petition to demand the government take action to end deforestation and protect the jaguar from extinction.

 

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Senator Hulse,

The majestic jaguar is disappearing from your jungles. Over 25,000 acres of their habitat have been destroyed in only ten years, eliminating their homes and food source.

Conservation groups are working to protect the species, but they should not face this battle and its tremendous costs alone. I demand you join them and help protect the jaguar from extinction.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

 

 

Latest news from the Center for Biological Diversity.

 

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

 

Chambered Nautilus Wins Endangered Species Act Protection

The chambered nautilus is an exceptionally beautiful shellfish — and its beauty is one of its biggest problems. The species’ numbers have been plummeting globally as nautiluses are harvested for sale as tourist trinkets. Over the past 16 years, about 1.7 million nautilus-shell products were imported into the United States.

But last week saw great news for these ancient ocean animals. In response to a Center for Biological Diversity petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service awarded them Endangered Species Act protection. Unfortunately the agency didn’t take steps toward curbing nautilus-shell imports.

“Endangered Species Act protection will help,” said Miyoko Sakashita, our Oceans program director. “But if we don’t get rules to rein in this booming commercial trade, it’ll continue to be a major threat to survival of these shellfish.”

Learn more in our press release.

 

800-year-old Trees on the Chopping Block: Take Action

Alaska’s Tongass National Forest contains some of the largest tracts of temperate old-growth rainforest left in the world. It’s stunningly beautiful, it helps mitigate climate change — and it’s the newest target in Trump’s war against public lands.

The administration is proposing exempting or weakening protections given to the Tongass by what’s known as the “roadless rule” — a policy that’s protected much of our remaining wild, road-free public forests from damaging logging and roadbuilding. If the proposed changes go through, the Tongass would be logged and bulldozed to build roads. This would harm habitat for bear, moose and salmon and set a dangerous precedent that could lead to road construction in our other last wild forests.

Tell the U.S. Forest Service to keep roadless areas in the Tongass protected.

 

Another Wolf Killed in Washington State

Washington state continues to wipe out its wolves. On Friday a sharpshooter shot the adult female of the Old Profanity Territory pack, just weeks after killing one of the pack’s 5-month-old pups.

Washington has 1.1 million cattle and 122 wolves. Yet in the past six years, the state has killed 21 wolves — 17 of them for the same livestock owner.

“Washington’s execution of wolves has reached new depths of senselessness,” said the Center’s Amaroq Weiss.

Please give now to our Wolf Defense Fund so we can put an end to this kind of slaughter.

 

Supreme Court Nixes Attack on Grand Canyon Uranium Ban

Grand news for the Grand Canyon: The Supreme Court just rejected an industry challenge to the 20-year ban on new uranium mining in and around the canyon.

The Havasupai Tribe and a coalition of conservation groups, including the Center, campaigned to win the ban — and we’ve been defending it for years.

“These spectacular public lands deserve permanent protection from dangerous uranium mining,” said the Center’s Taylor McKinnon. Get more from Fronteras.

 

Trump Administration: 2100 Will Be 7 Degrees Warmer

President Trump denies the reality of climate change and dismisses the desperate need for action — but his policy analysts know better.

Buried in a 500-page document about Trump’s weakening of fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, there lies a prediction by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration scientists that by century’s end, we’ll see a 7-degree Fahrenheit temperature rise if the world takes no meaningful action to curb carbon pollution. That number has actually been used as a justification for doing nothing, essentially saying the planet’s fate is sealed.

But such a temperature rise would bring catastrophe: millions of people displaced by rising seas, superstorms, and massive species extinctions. Most world leaders have agreed to try to keep warming to less than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Read details in The Washington Post.

 

Wild & Weird: Something to Crow About

For more than 2 million years, the native forests of the islands of Guam and Rota were home to several thousand Mariana crows, a species found nowhere else on Earth. But over the past 60 years, the crows have disappeared from Guam and rapidly declined on Rota. Now only about 175 are left.

But a recent project brings hope for these beautiful birds: Using eggs collected from the wild, researchers have raised several Mariana crows past the period of highest mortality and released them. And because females generally lay another set of eggs when a nest fails, the project could double the number of broods in a year.

Check out footage of the first captive-reared Mariana crows foraging in the wild on Facebook or YouTube

 

The following programme; ‘Drowning In Plastic’; was made by, and shown on the BBC in the UK a few nights ago.

As with all BBC environmental productions; it was brilliant, and is a true insight into the plastic problems which cover the globe at this current time.

The video is in English, but for non English speakers; the footage alone just shown what a dire situation the world is in.

Here is the progamme – a ‘must watch’ wherever you live – the pictures say it all::

 

 

 

California Has Officially Banned Deadly Driftnets in Commercial Fishing

Posted by Carly Day | October 2, 2018

Image Credit: Mercy For Animals

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a new bill — SB 1017 — which will see the use of driftnets in the state phased out over the next four years.

The bill was authored by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) with 15 co-authors, and passed almost unanimously in the state senate and assembly. To assist fishermen who need to transition away from using driftnets, the law includes a transition program with incentives for those who choose to give up their previous permit.

“This hard-won victory was a long time coming,” said Senator Allen. “Finally we have found a way to phase out the use of these deadly and destructive nets without harming the commercial fishing industry in the process. I’m very pleased that we now can look forward to a time not far in the future when magnificent marine creatures will no longer be injured and killed by these nets.”

Drift nets are used in commercial fishing and are hugely destructive to marine life. Large driftnets may be over one mile in length and sink down into the sea for hundreds of feet. For every swordfish caught using driftnets, it is estimated that seven marine animals are trapped, injured or killed in the nets. Because these nets catch fish and marine mammals indiscriminately, air-breathing animals are often caught in the nets and drown — including turtles, dolphins, and sea lions.

In April this year, a group of advocacy organizations, including Turtle Island Restoration Network, Mercy For Animals, SeaLegacy and Sharkwater, released devastating footage from investigations into the use of these death nets — capturing shocking video of a huge array of marine life trapped and suffering. Undercover investigators filmed sharks and stingrays trapped in the nets, gasping for life as they were hacked apart or beaten with baseball bats, and dolphins, sea lions and seabirds trapped and killed.

Driftnet use has already been discontinued in all other U.S. states — as well as many countries worldwide — making California the last state to come into line with the rest of the nation.

“This is amazing news and goes to show that by working collaboratively and strategically, we can make a difference,” said Paul Nicklen, co-founder and expedition lead for SeaLegacy. “This legislation is long overdue and we are encouraged by Governor Brown’s action on the issue. Documenting what happens in the driftnets in the waters off the coast of California was one of the most devastating things I have witnessed in my career. The fact that there is now real progress toward an end to this barbaric practice is what motivates me every day.”

This year we’ve seen heartbreaking images of dead sea turtles and birds, their bellies bloated with plastic.

Scientists estimate that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans each year. And it won’t stop until the corporations who make the plastic products and packaging are forced to pay for their mess.

The European Parliament will soon vote on new rules to cut back on single-use plastics in Europe. 69 MEPs on the Environment Committee will vote on October 10, and that’s where we’ve got to beat the plastics lobby to win. 

Tell the European Parliament Environment Committee to vote for people and planet, and ensure that corporations pay for their mess.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of incredible SumOfUs members like you told the European Commission to finally get tough on plastics. And they listened. The EU proposal is far from perfect, but with some improvements it could drastically reduce the consumption of single-use plastics, and make life a little better for all.

MEPs on the Environment Committee need to ensure that any changes they make before October 10 are legitimate improvements to the rules, and not compromises for corporations. One key part of the proposed EU rules that they should strengthen, for example, is called “extended producer responsibility”. It means that corporations have to pay for their plastic waste, instead of leaving the cleanup for everyone else to deal with. The risk now, Mark, is that pro-plastics MEPs will try to weaken the rules, especially the part about making the corporations pay.

On the other hand, people with mobility-related impairments or neurological conditions rely on plastic straws because of their flexible and temperature-resilient qualities, so it’s only right that MEPs take extra care on legislating for plastic straws.

Together, we can convince the EU to take game-changing action against plastic waste and make the world more accessible.

Will you sign the single-use plastics petition to MEPs on the Environment Committee?

Hundreds of thousands of you signed and shared our EU plastics petition last year, tweeted at Commissioners and chipped in to fund huge billboards in Brussels calling on the European Commission to tackle the plastics crisis. We also exposed some of the world’s biggest brands for their throwaway plastic problem, forcing them to commit to voluntary action plans so we’d get off their backs.

But right now this is where we need to focus — and you can bet it’s where the plastics lobby is focussed too.

 

 Sign the Petition 

 

Thanks for all that you do,
Eoin, Anna and the team at SumOfUs