ENDANGERED SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Endangered Species Spotlight: Ozark Hellbender
What is it? The Ozark Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) is one of the world’s largest salamanders. It can reach lengths of nearly two feet long! Yet despite its size, the Hellbender is a sensitive salamander that can live only in clean, clear rivers of the Ozarks. One of the most distinct features of the Hellbender is the fleshy folds along its sides, which provide more surface area for it to breathe underwater. It absorbs oxygen through the frills under its side folds and needs high dissolved oxygen levels found in cold streams to survive. Where does it live? The Ozark Hellbender lives in a few counties in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, preferring the cold waters of the Current and … [Read More...]
Endangered species spotlight: ivory billed woodpecker
The endangered ivory-billed woodpecker holds a special place in my heart. It inhabited the same wetlands in which I spent a large amount of time as a child duck hunting with my father. The decline of this magnificent bird during the late 1800's and early 1900's is mostly attributed to the timber industry and its expansion after the Civil War. Before this time, the delta regions of the South were blanketed by millions of acres of bottom land forests. This area, called the Big Woods, is also known as the "Amazon of North America." Today, only small fragments of these forests remain leaving little space for the ivory-billed woodpecker to make its home. The woodpecker enjoys eating beetle larvae, which can be found in the trunks of … [Read More...]
GREEN LIVING
Top ten ideas to reverse climate change
After a bit of brainstorming, I have come up with a short list of interesting ways that we can turn around the trend of climate change. 1. Drive golf carts: if everyone drove solar-powered golf carts, the demand for fossil fuels would decline rapidly. Also, most golf carts have a maximum speed of about 20-25 mph. It would be very difficult to be in a hurry if everyone were driving golf carts. This would lead to a more leisurely and pleasant lifestyle as well as reduced carbon emissions. This may seem like an unrealistic goal, but several communities have already adopted this practice. 2. Walk barefoot: walking without shoes will make you reconsider how important and necessary concrete is. I was in Hawaii years ago talking … [Read More...]
Laissez les bon temps rouler
Rites of passage are one of the most important occurrences in children's lives. Often the most meaningful rites are those that involve a deep connection with the natural world. I had an arduous rite of passage one summer on the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas. Silly plastic toys I had just acquired my driver's license a few months before and was eager to strike out into the wild. My brother and I loaded up my GMC Jimmy with what I thought were adequate supplies and made our way to my friend Jeff's house to pick him up for the journey. We stopped at a sports store and bought an inflatable kayak. I had little experience with paddling and thus did not realize the uselessness of an inflatable kayak, but would soon … [Read More...]
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Endangered species, jaguars and lonely men
Myths are what make a place interesting. They give it color and a sense of magic. In my recent stay in Cabuya, Costa Rica, I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between myths and reality so I just accepted that they were one and the same. One of the myths I heard revolved around the largest cat in the Americas, the jaguar. The Big Cat Many of the locals in Cabuya told me that there was a jaguar that was six feet in length that roamed the dry forests of the area. This would be among the largest jaguars ever seen if their stories are true. My favorite story about a jaguar involves a strange man named "Tigre", meaning jaguar or big cat in English. Tigre lived by himself in a house close to the middle of … [Read More...]
Endangered sea turtles and machetes
Never in my wildest dreams as a child would I have imagined that I would be battling illegal gillnet fishermen in remote regions of Central America in my efforts to help save endangered sea turtles, but this is exactly what happened. I was helping out at an animal rescue sanctuary in the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica and the sanctuary owner had just started creating a much needed sea turtle rescue project on the other side of the peninsula where we had spotted eggs of the endangered leatherback sea turtle as well as the hawksbill turtle, which is also endangered. Illegal Gillnet Fishermen The stretch of beach where we found the eggs was quite remote with only a few houses in the entire ten-mile length of coastline. Due to … [Read More...]
GREEN FOOD
What about green food?
There is so much hype these days about diets, super foods, tonics, elixirs and other catchy things that will make us strong and vibrant, but do we really need to be geniuses or food science savvy to eat healthy food? After reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, this question came to the forefront of my thoughts. It can often be pretty difficult to distinguish what foods are really good for you and your family when you are browsing through the many aisles of your local grocery store. However, I use a simple rule to keep my food supply healthy: if you cannot easily recognize what the primary plant or animal source of the food is, it probably is not a good healthy choice. Take for instance, Cheetos. If you read the … [Read More...]
GREEN ORGANIZATIONS
Magic green leaves in Brazil and sustainable development
One of the many great places that I have had the good fortune of visiting is the Brazilian Nordeste (northeast). This dry, scrubby, beautiful land with poverty-stricken people offers a stark contrast to the lush rainforest of the Amazon and the rainy chunk of southern Brazil where wealth prospers and European descendants of German, Italian and Polish stock sometimes reminisce about how their lives would be if they had successfully separated from the rest of Brazil. Equator of Bust I was on a mission to make it as close to the equator as possible and sample the exotic fruits and females of the region. Yet to my surprise, a stale piece of aracaje (something like a Cajun hushpuppy with shrimp and spice inside) had other plans for my … [Read More...]
They killed sister Dorothy
http://youtu.be/sVaqqPURp1U What a powerful, visceral movie! I could not finish it, but my friend told me the end. Having spent a good deal of time myself in Brazil, I can relate deeply to the attitudes represented in this documentary. Both that of the ranchers, the workers and the PDS participants. There are several groups of actors in this movie. The ranch and sawmill workers that want to make a living cutting trees and tending to cattle that will become dinner on the plates of middle and upper class Brazilians. There are the ranch owners like "Taradao" ("Sleazy" in English) that care most about maximizing their profit at the expense of the trees and soil of the Amazon (the lungs of the world, second only in carbon … [Read More...]
GREEN ENERGY
What Is “Clean Energy?”
There is no silver bullet for providing a country as large and topographically diverse as the U.S. with a single source of sustainable, clean energy, but it is worth our future and checkbook to examine our potential sources of energy. It must be: available, reasonably priced and not detrimental to the ecosystems that sustain our planet. 1. Fresh water consuming power plants use water to cool the towers during energy production. Nuclear plants of this sort use eight times more water to cool than do their natural gas cousins. Nuclear plants produce fewer greenhouse emissions than coal plants, but use more fresh water. Coal plants contribute heavily to greenhouse emissions and degrade local/regional air quality. … [Read More...]
Google buys Oklahoma wind energy
Google Energy fuels its Oklahoma plant with energy from wind power in Oklahoma: http://www.rechargenews.com/energy/wind/article291445.ece Next Era is the largest generator of wind and solar energy in the country and it has the capacity to produce over 8,500 megawatts from green renewable sources. That is enough green energy to to power 2,465,000 homes on a regular basis (assuming a constant energy output). That is more than one-third of all homes in the San Francisco Bay area! Current estimates put the total percentage of renewable energy consumed in the U.S. at only ~seven percent. Energy from petroleum and coal add up to roughly 65 percent. This means that we need a nearly eightfold increase in renewable energy sources to … [Read More...]
GREEN PRODUCTS
Rain Barrels: water independence
Rain barrels are an excellent way to reuse rainwater that drains off your roof. You can apply it to your lawn, garden and any other place where gray water would be suitable. Water is a very hot topic these days and water wars in Congress are already happening. Installing rain barrels on your property is one way you can go "off the grid" for your water use. I conducted an interview with Jesse Froehlich here which gives and overview of a common rain barrel system for your home and its benefits. Jesse is currently constructing a rain barrel system for a customer in Sonoma County, California. http://youtu.be/AyHVKUlG-QY You can get in touch with Jesse about rain barrels at: RainCycleSonoma@gmail.com. … [Read More...]
A man with a green dream that works!!!
The following is a video by the CEO of Stonyfield Farms, Gary Hirshberg. This company has sustained double-digit annual growth in less than fruitful ecoomic times. Stonyfiled is a truly green company that produces a great, green product that we can all enjoy...yogurt!!! It is so refreshing to see a succesful business owner with such an expansive, closed loop view of our planet. If only we could have more politicians that thought like Gary! http://youtu.be/_OEZMVB2n4o Enjoy!!! … [Read More...]
Onenvironment Green Feed
- Endangered Species Spotlight: Ozark Hellbender October 26, 2012 admin