YouthClimate.org

Endangered Species Listing Proposed for Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Arkisaeo — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:46:39 +0000

Image Source: Flickr. By: Ukanda.

The world’s most well-known sea turtle may soon be listed as an endangered species in US waters.

Loggerhead Sea Turtles are the only species part of the genus Caretta. They are the world’s largest hard-shelled turtles and can be found in oceans and seas around the world (except in the Arctic or Antarctic). Females will lay a decent number of eggs during their nesting period; however, after each breeding period, they go through a 2-3 year period of no egg-laying whatsoever.

These turtles are also victim of a number of threats, with the main one being fishing gear. This is also the main reason why they may become listed as endangered in US waters. NOAA and US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the listing of 7 loggerhead species yesterday. If the listing goes into effect, it will have a big impact on the fishing industry.

The listing could be in effect by next year, but for now it’s open to public commentary.

By Heidi Marshall

Social Day ESP Unpad Targetkan 100 Labu Darah

Chef Yangki — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:58:00 +0000

Berikut ini liputan Social Day 2010 dari tim humas Unpad.
Laporan oleh: Marlia

[Unpad. ac.id, 10/03] Untuk yang keempat kalinya Himpunan Mahasiswa Ekonomi Studi Pembangunan (ESP) FE Unpad menyelenggarakan kegiatan sosial. Kegiatan kali ini tidak hanya berlangsung di lingkungan kampus saja, tapi juga dilakukan di luar kampus. Kegiatan yang bertajuk Social Day 2010 ini diharapkan tidak hanya diikuti oleh mahasiswa Unpad saja, tapi oleh seluruh sivitas akademika Unpad dan masyarakat umum.

Salah seorang pendonor dalam kegiatan Social Day 2010 yang diselenggarakan ESP Unpad (Foto: Tedi Yusup)

Ketua Panitia Social Day 2010, Andjar Adhie Nugraha (ESP 2008) menjelaskan bahwa kegiatan ini terbagi menjadi dua penyelenggaraan. Kegiatan pertama adalah donor darah dan bone scan secara gratis pada hari Rabu (10/3) yang berlangsung di Hall C FE Unpad, Jln. Dipati Ukur No. 35 Bandung. Khusus untuk donor darah, kegiatan ini juga berlangsung di Tony Jack’s BIP, Jln. Merdeka Bandung. Kegiatan ini berlangsung mulai pukul 10.00-15.00 WIB.

“Kami dan PMI menargetkan minimal 100 labu darah kita kumpulkan hari ini di dua tempat tersebut. Untuk menarik pendonor, kami bekerja sama dengan Tony Jack’s menyediakan paket makanan dan minuman gratis untuk 50 orang pendonor pertama di dua tempat tersebut,” jelas Andjar.

Untuk itu, Andjar mengundang seluruh sivitas akademika Unpad dan masyarakat umum untuk berpartisipasi pada kegiatan tersebut. Bagi yang berminat untuk mendonorkan darahnya atau melakukan bone scan, dapat langsung mendaftar ke Hall C FE Unpad. “Untuk seluruh kegiatan Social Day 2010 ini, kami didukung penuh oleh CSR PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, Tony Jack’s, PMI dan Anlene,” tuturnya.

Di Unpad, acara ini juga diwarnai dengan hiburan kesenian, antara lain berupa penampilan akustik band dari Unpad, ITB dan Unpar serta bazaar makanan bertempat di Lapangan Parkir Selatan Unpad Jln. Dipati Ukur no. 35 Bandung.

Kegiatan berikutnya adalah aksi sosial bertempat di Desa Margamulya, Pangalengan Jawa Barat, yang direncanakan akan berlangsung pada 13-14 Maret 2010. Kegiatan ini meliputi live in di desa tersebut dan pembuatan saluran air bersih sepanjang 1 Km untuk masyarakat setempat.

“Di desa tersebut, para panitia akan menginap semalam, bergaul dengan penduduk setempat. Kami juga membuat berbagai acara untuk penduduk di sana, seperti malam keakraban, pengobatan gratis, permainan anak-anak dan pembagian sembako,” lanjutnya. (eh)*

http://www.unpad.ac.id/archives/22071

Kandank Ilmu Team

Elephant Calf Born Alive, Despite Predictions of Death

Arkisaeo — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:15:25 +0000

Image Source: Flickr. By: Brian.Gratwicke.

Life and death work in mysterious ways and one recent incident in Sydney’s Taronga Zoo is proof of that.

An Asian Elephant gave birth yesterday to a healthy, living, baby boy. Two days ago, you wouldn’t have known that. Two days ago, zookeepers and veterinarians both declared the elephant calf dead inside the womb. Apparently, the mother had gone through 6 days of labor, but nothing happened. Even the ultrasounds showed no possible chance of a successful birth.

Well, it would seem that once again, nature had everyone fooled (except the baby and his mother). Not only was the baby born alive early yesterday morning, but he has also taken his first steps. Some officials believe the calf was in a coma throughout the labor, which is why it may have appeared to be “dead”.

Gary Miller, elephant manager at the zoo, stated:

“When the keepers learned the calf had survived this morning, the looks of disbelief on our faces were quite a picture. We couldn’t believe that this could be true.”

It’s good to see that a potential tragedy had a good ending after all.

By Heidi Marshall

Lead image by SuperJew (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Indonesian Groups Reject APP’s Greenwash

The Understory : Understory.RAN.org — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:41:35 +0000

As Aida Greenbury, Director of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement at Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), took the podium today at the 12th Annual RISI pulp and paper conference to promote APP’s corporate responsibility and paper products, leading Indonesian NGO’s called on buyers and investors of APP to reject the company’s misinformation and stop purchasing or [...]

10/10 Global Work PARTY

Melanie Mullen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:36:02 +0000

350 Org is the organization behind last year’s October 24th Climate Action day that was “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history” says CNN.

This year we are going to attempt more concrete action on the ground. SO : the tenth day of the tenth month of 2010 will be Global Work Party ! Where we are urging our global community to take real tangible action to combat climate change. We hope communities will (re)cover their lives, their homes and their communities by putting up solar panels, insulating homes, erecting windmills, planting trees, painting bikepaths, launching or harvesting local gardens.

350 org and the climate change community will ensure the world experiences and sees this huge day of effort–and will use it to send a message to our leaders: “We’re working–what about you? If we can cover the roof of the school with solar panels, surely you can pass the legislation or sign the treaty that will spread our work everywhere, and confront the climate crisis in time.”

Aye, Sea Turtles: Malaysia’s Craving for Turtle Eggs Pushes Them Closer to Extinction

Arkisaeo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:23:28 +0000

Image Source: Flickr. By: TylerKaraszewski.

Do you have a taste for exotic food? Well, then you might be interested in knowing that the overconsumption of certain species may soon wipe them completely off the menu. In this case, I’m talking about Sea Turtles.

Sea Turtle eggs are viewed as a delicacy in Malaysia. Hundreds of thousands of them are consumed there every year. Unfortunately, this could mean the extinction of sea turtles—at least on Malaysia’s beaches. Why? Well, consider this: Sea Turtles lay eggs. Those hatchlings need to actually be able to hatch and make it out to sea if they’re going to have even a fighting chance of survival. Eating those eggs before the baby turtles can hatch eliminates all chances of that happening. The same could be said of any egg-laying creature—which, yes, includes chickens.

Their population is certainly on the decline and it shows. In the past, you could find thousands of turtles laying eggs on Malaysia’s shores. Now, they are extremely rare, thanks to coastal development and poaching. According to Dionysius S.K. Sharma, executive director of WWF-Malaysia:

“One of the contributing factors to the Leatherback Turtles’ disappearance from our shores is egg consumption.” … “We wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to our green and hawksbill turtles.”

A report created by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia estimated that 422,000 eggs were traded in Terengganu alone, in 2007. That’s over double the number of green turtle eggs actually laid in the state. Eggs had to be brought in from outside sources to meet the high consumer demand.

Conservation groups are making great efforts to have the Malaysian government place a nationwide ban on the consumption and commercial sale of turtle eggs. For information on the sea turtles and how you may be able to help, you can check out the Save Our Seas Foundation and Wild Asia’s Save Our Sea Turtles Campaign.

By Heidi Marshall

This Summer Filled with Solutions in Corvallis

abbieplouff — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:03:52 +0000

x-posted from Solutionaries

As communications director for Summer of Solutions, I’m featuring every program to paint a picture of the diversity of solutions young people are building across the country.

The Summer of Solutions is a summer program designed to empower youth to create self sustaining community based solutions to environment and social injustice, climate change and economic insolvency. We work to build an inclusive, local community that connects across the country that will propel us into holistic, renewable energy economy.

This post features the powerful work happening in Corvallis, OR, as related to me by Nathan Jones.

Oregon’s Summer of Solutions program is three years in the making. In the summer of 2008, Nathan and others led a summer program called the Northwest Institute for Community Enrichment. Throughout the summer, the NICE kept in touch with Summer of Solutions – Twin Cities, and at the end of the summer they decided to team up for summer 2009 to run their programs simultaneously on a national scale.

Since then, the NICE has turned into an organization that runs year-round, and the programs have been growing and expanding.

The Projects: This summer, the Summer of Solutions – Corvallis team will be continuing a listening project that has already started. While the team currently working on the listening project finishes it up, new program participants will begin a replica of the listening project in another neighborhood.

Teams of solutionaries will enter specific neighborhoods in Corvallis and conduct a listening project surrounding how solutions for energy efficiency. After the listening has been conducted, the people working on the listening project will provide specific follow-up and support to this neighborhood, at the same time that a new listening project is begun in a different neighborhood in Corvallis.

After this initial follow-up stage is completed, solutionaries will bring interested community leaders together in a forum. Nathan said he’s not quite sure what will come out of these forums, but that’s part of the point. Community members will form groups around their interests that will create community-based solutions for Corvallis.

NICE Projects: The NICE, as an organization, is positioned to become a regional hub for Grand Aspirations. The model, according to Nathan and his fellow NICE-ians and solutionaries, is a year-long model. Programs that he and his fellow Oregon-ites are moving forward with are designed to be year-long programs that Summer of Solutions participants can plug into.

One really exciting project in particular is the development of a permanent site for the Northwest regional Summer of Solutions. The idea is to get an old abandoned house, school, church, any sort of building, and then fix it up. The building would serve as a model for sustainable living, as well as a space to host people for conferences and gatherings.

The physical space for the NICE building will more likely be in Portland than in Corvallis, but some participants who are interested in this particular project would be able to plug in in various ways.

To apply:

As a Coordinator: Go here

As a Participant: Go here

For more information, contact Nathan Jones at nathan [@] thenice [.] org

Filed under: Act Locally, Efficiency, Summer of Solutions

Getting to work in 2010: Our new plans…

Bill McKibben — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:17:21 +0000

After a month-long retreat in the mountainous US state of Vermont, and following much reflection, listening and movement-storming with allies & organizers from around the world, we're excited to share our new plans for 2010 — and can't wait to learn what you think! Bill's letter below is about to go out to our entire list — make sure you're signed up for more exciting updates in 2010!

Dear Friends,

Well, no one said it was going to be easy.

Last year, thanks to many of you, we built up enormous momentum for climate solutions. The global day of rallies you pulled off on October 24th turned out to "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history," according to CNN, with 5200 actions in 181 countries.

And in Copenhagen that translated into 117 countries–most of the world's nations–supporting a tough 350 target.

But it didn't translate into political victory. The biggest polluters wouldn't go along. So we still have work to do.

In fact, our slogan for 2010 is "Get To Work." Get to work to start changing our communities, and get to work to make our leaders realize that they actually need to lead. We've sifted through thousands of your emails from all over the world, and come up with an action plan for this year that we think may break the logjam and get us moving. But only, of course, if we act together to make it happen.

The first date to mark on your calendar: October 10. Working with our friends at the 10:10 campaign, we're going to make the tenth day of the tenth month of the millennium's tenth year a real starting point for concrete action. We're calling it the 10/10 Global Work Party, and in every corner of the world we hope communities will put up solar panels, insulate homes, erect windmills, plant trees, paint bikepaths, launch or harvest local gardens. We'll make sure the world sees this huge day of effort–and we'll use it to send a simple message to our leaders: "We're working–what about you? If we can cover the roof of the school with solar panels, surely you can pass the legislation or sign the treaty that will spread our work everywhere, and confront the climate crisis in time." 10/10/10 will take a snapshot of a clean energy future — the world of 350 ppm — and show people why it's worth fighting for. It's not too early to sign up here: www.350.org/oct10

Every nation is not created equal in this climate crisis, of course. If we can't get the biggest polluters and the biggest economies to change, then we'll never win. So we're going to focus some particular attention on China, the United States, and India with a Great Power Race–college and university campuses will compete to see who can come up with the most, and the most creative, climate solutions. We hope friendly competition will help governments see that they have a lot to gain by diving into clean energy–and a lot to lose by missing this opportunity.

And we'll keep figuring out ways to apply political pressure where it counts–in the U.S. Senate, say, where we're joining a group of our best allies in backing the proposed Cap-and-Dividend approach that would stop letting big polluters pour carbon into the sky for free. In other parts of the world, we'll hold more of the climate leadership workshops that produced so many great leaders last year.

And as the next UN conference approaches in Mexico in December, we'll stage the largest piece of public art in the planet's history–a reminder that we have to bring passion to bear along with science and economics if we're going to move this process.

We know, from the calls and emails we've been getting, that people all over the world are ready to go to work. We think this plan can increase the odds of real action. We know that we have no choice. When, years down the road, the next generation asks what we did to save the planet, we want to be able to say: "We rolled up our sleeves and got to work." There's no guarantee we can beat the rich and powerful interests that we're up against–but thanks to you we've got enough momentum to have a real chance. Let's use it now.

Onwards,

Bill McKibben and the 350.org Team

P.S. We've learned that there's great power in pictures, and so we decided to make an audio slideshow that walks through our plan for 2010 and how we got here. Please watch it here, and share the piece with family & friends by spreading this link: www.350.org/audio-slideshow. Also, please forward this message far and wide–2010 needs to be a year of unprecedented growth for this movement.

P.P.S. We want to know what your reaction is to the plan for 2010–will you share your ideas and thoughts with the Global 350 Facebook Community by leaving a comment in the latest message? (www.facebook.com/350.org)

A letter from Bill McKibben and the 350.org Team

Emily — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:41:21 +0000

Dear friends,
Well, no one said it was going to be easy.
Last year, thanks to many of you, we built up enormous momentum for climate solutions. The global day of rallies you pulled off on October turned out to “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history,” according to CNN, with 5200 actions [...]

A letter from Bill McKibben and the 350.org Team

Emily — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:41:21 +0000