The summit will go on for four days and representatives from the few countries where tigers still roam free plan to accept the help of the World Bank in setting up a $330 million fund to help bring tigers back from the brink of extinction where they have been forced mainly by the effects of poaching and environment degradation. The initiative will focus mainly on stopping poaching and protecting specific known tiger breeding and living territories.

Countries where tigers still live freely include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam, with 65 percent of those tigers in India.

Original Source: ABC News

Go around your house and identify all the paper and other disposable products that could be transitioned to reusable ones. Next, acquire the products you need to replace the disposables. Then, make a commitment to use up your supply of disposables (so as not to waste what you’ve already got!) and do not buy anymore. There are tons of ways to cut out paper products. Once you start, you’ll find more and more disposable items to switch out for reusable ones. Here are some simple suggestions:

Buy some cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, enough for your whole household and guests. You can embroider, paint or even just use a permanent marker to label a few napkins and handkerchiefs for each person.

Do you use paper towels in the kitchen? Do you have old t-shirts or mis-matched socks lying around? Use these and other cloth rags instead of paper towels for nasty spills.

Do you drink coffee, tea or water at work? Do you use a reusable mug or cup? This one is super easy. Just replace the disposable for the reusable. And, if you buy your drinks at a cafe, take your reusable container with you – most places even offer a discount if you do!

The same goes with using plates, bowls and silverware at work or school or really anywhere out of the house. Buy a set of reusable eating utensils and take them with you. There are many fun options for lunch boxes nowadays!

As the plastic enters the water, it begins to degrade.  Salt, water, currents, and mainly sunlight break down the rubbish into tiny particles, most of which are too small to be seen.  These particles are similar in size, shape, color and texture to the phytoplankton upon which so many oceanic species rely.  In some areas, the concentration of plastic is seven times that of phytoplankton.  Fish and other marine animals eat these plastic particles mistaking them for phytoplankton.  The plastic is then transfered on to every other animal along the food chain, including humans.

Aside from these near microscopic pieces of plastic, there are also other items in the Garbage Patch.  Confetti-like pieces of plastic, more visible to the naked eye, are also eaten by fish, and larger pieces are consumed by birds.  Below is a startling image of a dead Albatross chick, fed plastic by its parents who mistook the items for fish.

The items are clearly visible.  Bottle caps, a marker and perhaps some bag clips.  These are the items we use and throw away every day.  You can help stop the pollution of our ecosystem by stopping the use of disposable plastics.  For more information on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, please visit GarbagePatch.org.

Prop 23 is ‘backed by oil giants’ (surprise, surprise) arguing that it will hurt the economy (fear mongering) when in fact much money has been invested in California’s ‘Green Tech’ sector, especially over the past 4 years since the GWSA was passed.  Jobs and businesses in that sector have already begun to grow in anticipation of the GWSA and are projected to continue to do so as the law rolls into effect over the next decade.  Taking the lead from other nations, like China, and serving as a leader for other states across the country, California needs to move forward with the GWSA and vote NO on Prop 23.

Prop 23 not only threatens the Californian way of life in the environmental sense (we love our beaches!), but in the economic sense as well.  California has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, and with that comes prosperity.  Stopping the GWSA stops that prosperity.  Even conservatives are urging voters to choose NO on Prop 23 because it continues our dependence on foreign oil and threatens national security.

The GWSA is not calling for drastic measures.  One of the requirements is to get carbon dioxide emissions levels down to 1990 standards by 2020 (I like to think of it as getting my state back to the way it was when I was a kid by the time my kids are my age now, that’s not so bad).  These things can be done and they need to be started now.  Please help by voting NO on Prop 23.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 2nd.  Wherever you live, if you are eligible, make sure you are registered to vote, and then do so.  Take Action!

Having no natural predators, the foxes are not timid and I captured the above shot from no more than six feet away.  While the foxes are at the top of the food chain now, it wasn’t always so.  They became endangered from the encroachment of Golden Eagles onto the islands after Bald Eagles had vanished due to the effects of DDT making it impossible for them to bring their eggs to hatching.  Bald Eagles prey on fish while Golden Eagles hunt on land.  The foxes were a prime target and on Santa Cruz Island their population fell from 2,000 in 1994 to less than 135 in 2000.  Conservation efforts have brought the foxes back to sustainable levels.  Golden Eagles were trapped and released back into the wild on the mainland, Bald Eagles were reintroduced onto the islands, and the foxes were captured and breed before being released back into the wild.  Now, anyone visiting the more ‘high-traffic’ area of the islands is almost sure to catch a glimpse of a fox if not much more than that.

These little guys are so cute and we were especially lucky to be out at Santa Cruz during pupping season – we saw on two occasions a mama and her three babies.  If that isn’t a good enough reason to fight extinction, I don’t know what is.  While the Channel Islands are a protected environment and the parks service and other organizations do a great job of keeping them intact by limiting visitors and usage, I recommend everyone take a trip out there, especially those of us who live so close by.  It’s just a few hours from the heart of Los Angeles and feels worlds away.  A few other highlights from our trip are included below: [click thumbnails for larger image]

Hiking between the coast and interior of the island.

Looking out towards Anacapa Island in the distance.

A little snake hiding in a rusty box out by an old oil well.

Kayaking through sea caves – breathtaking!

And, I almost forgot to mention all the other animals we saw: Harbor Seals, Sea Lions, Garibaldi (California’s state fish!), Brown Pelicans, Cormorants, and more!  Including, Common Dolphins…

On the boat trip out to the island, we came upon an enormous pod of Common Dolphins, some 3,000 animals!  They jumped all along side and behind our boat and could be seen all along the horizon.  It was truly awesome and I caught a few quick shots of them with my camera.  Here’s the video – it’s short, but sweet:

Common Dolphins – Channel Islands from 6thExtinctionDoc on Vimeo.

While plastic water bottles are recyclable, most don’t end up being recycled, and even when they are recycled, it takes a lot of energy to do so.  Plastic water bottles end up in our waterways and drain out to our oceans where they sit for years, finally breaking apart into tiny pieces that are eaten by fish, birds and other animals mistaking them for food.  Then, if these fish survive long enough to be caught and sent to market, we end up eating the chemicals contained in that plastic with our dinner filet.  And, plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water they hold which then transfer into our bodies when we drink that water.  Yuck!

Thankfully, the marketing of reusable water bottles has made consumers more and more aware of the dangers of plastic water bottles and the benefits of reusable water bottles.  At this point, we all know that BPA, even if we don’t know what it stands for (Bisphenol A, by the way) is harmful to us.  This toxic chemical found in most plastic bottles (and not just bottles of water, think: bottles of soda and juice, food packages, TV dinner trays) is linked to obesity, cancer and reproductive and neurological damage.  Even with this knowledge, many people still prefer bottled water to tap water.

Do these people know that most bottled water comes from a tap?  And in many cases tap water is no worse for your health than bottled water, some bottled water is not even filtered.

With the availability of water purifiers, health concerns, while valid, should not be major deterrents to drinking tap water – you can get a simple pitcher style purifier for under $20!  Even New York City, a gigantic (and some might think dirty) metropolis is promoting the use of tap over bottled water.  The city is very lucky in that it’s water is so pure it doesn’t even need to be filtered – indeed, their campaign even touts the use of tap water as the secret ingredient in their famous bagels and pizza!  But for those of us who are not so lucky (you can check out the water quality in your area here), including me here in the Los Angeles area, water filters are the way to go. Yes, they need to be maintained (replacing the actual filter cartridge) and yes, they have a higher initial cost than a $1 bottle of water from the grocery story, but I don’t find them any less convenient and in the long run, they certainly are cheaper – especially if you drink a lot of water, which you should since it’s good for you anyway!

So, if you want to help yourself and the environment, drink tap water!

Basically, the hypothesis claims that overhunting of mammoths by humans caused an overgrowth of dark, dense trees as the mammoths, who were now found less and less on the increasingly diminishing open plains, usually kept the tree growth to a minimum. The effect of too many trees meant that more solar radiation was absorbed and in turn, temperatures rose.

This cause and effect cycle happened over just 850 years. That’s nothing on a geological time scale, and it points to how we as modern humans, with far greater capacity for damage, have the ability to affect our environment over an even shorter time period.

Washing clothes in cold water can save a lot of energy as can watching how much water you heat when you make a cup of tea.

We might think that cold water doesn’t get our clothes clean enough, but it actually works just as well for most items, especially with environmentally friendly detergents designed to work in cold water.

And, when it comes to heating water when we need it, make sure you only heat what you really need. We often get the urge for a cup of tea and put on a whole pot of water to boil. The energy used to heat the excess water is energy wasted. And energy wasted is pollution created needlessly.

Enteric fermentation, the process that takes place in the guts of ruminant animals like cows, is the third highest contributor to methane green house gas emissions.  So much methane is produced in the stomachs of cows, especially corn fed cows, that their flatulence and belching actually pollutes the air and reduces the ozone layer.

Yeah, it was news to me too.  I heard about it here, from a Seattle Times article about environmentally friendly  diets.  The idea is that eating less meat, and cheese and non-local foods, can actually greatly reduce your carbon footprint.  All farting and burping aside, meat is a environmental no-no.  From raising cattle on corn, which sterilizes the land as it’s grown and costs a lot to ship, to manure-filled feed lots reeking havoc on their surroundings, not to mention the energy involved in transporting, packing and shipping the meat, beef is bad, as is pork, chicken and many other animal products.

So, what can you do?  Well, forgo meat altogether or make sure to buy local, sustainable and organic food – grass-fed beef and free-range chicken, it’s not the best solution, but it’s better than fast food burgers and nuggets.  In a culture where BBQs are an expected part of summer, we can’t expect for everyone to go veg overnight.  But, we can make small changes, and those add up.  Grill up some veggies or take some time to source meat that is healthier for the environment and healthier for our bodies.