Endangered species are at our mercy. And according to recent research, essentially every purchase we make, particularly in the food and fiber industries—“green” or not—is killing off the world’s most magnificent creatures.

“The cup of joe that helped you get through the morning, the must-have chair purchased at that trendy furniture store and the palm oil that’s key to a favorite family recipe all have elements ripped from the habitat of a threatened or endangered animal somewhere in the world,” reports the Washington Post.

The Post points to new research published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, which shows that habitats around the world are in jeopardy because of commerce and climate change happening as a result of increased industry. More than 15,000 industries and products consumed in 187 countries are endangering animals including the world’s large cats, monkeys, and elephants.

Shrinking habitats are largely to blame—land taken away from animals to produce consumer goods or support the industries vital to our consumptive habits have put more than 6,500 species in danger of extinction. But disease and lack of food are taking tolls as well as invasive species, warming oceans, and toxic air, water, and food supplies.

The researchers looked at global supply-chain databases and their imprint on corresponding habitats of endangered species (listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and BirdLife International), areas the researchers out of Japan and Norway call threatened biodiversity hot spots.

“Biodiversity hot spots is a well studied topic, and it is known that the last reserves of biodiversity are harbored in a small number of places,” lead researcher Daniel Moran of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology told the Post. “Economic pressure, even at the margin and in small increments, exerts pressure at these places. Almost any human pressure at the places, unless very well managed, will have a big impact on species there.”

“Logging in Brazil to create products that wind up in the United States, for example, cuts down trees used by red-face spider monkeys. Fishery trade and gold mined and bound for Japan affects mangroves off Papua New Guinea that are home to diverse plant species and an endangered sea cow,” reports the Post. “A hydroelectric dam that traps water to irrigate agriculture, including trees that produce palm oil exported to other parts of Europe and the United States, threatens the Iberian lynx.”

While more than 180 countries were identified as contributing to the problem, the issue is mostly driven by U.S. and European consumer product demands, which not only affect land animals, insects, and flora, but also marine ecosystems as well.

The study also notes wildlife habitats are being condensed—animals forced to share habitats in unprecedented ways because of the impact of industry.

“For threats driven by U.S. consumption, the 5 percent most intensively affected land area covers 23.6 percent of its total impact on species,” the study noted, “and at sea the 5 percent most intensively impacted marine area affects 60.7 percent of threatened species habitats.”

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on Organic Authority

Climate Change Threats to East Antarctica Worse than Previously Thought
Saving the Endangered Piping Plover Depends on a Remote Bahamas Island
The Monarch Butterfly May Soon Be on the Endangered Species List

The post Humanity’s Dishonorable Legacy: Killing Off Endangered Species appeared first on EcoSalon.

In a move that will ensure protection from cruel lab experiments and some captive situations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given chimpanzees endangered species status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The rule went into effect earlier this week.

The U.S. was the only developed nation not to have rules in place to protect chimpanzees, and many were still being used as laboratory test animals “subjected to painful procedures and denied the most basic semblance of a normal life,” reports The Dodo. “Now, many, if not all of these animals will be sent into retirement at sanctuaries.”

The move protects both wild and captive chimpanzees—captive chimpanzees had formerly been listed only as threatened. “The decision responds to growing threats to the species and aligns the chimpanzee’s status with existing legal requirements,” the Fish and Wildlife Service explained on its website. Under the ruling, it is illegal to harm, harass, kill, or cause injury to any animal on the Endangered Species List.

Chimpanzees are found in more than 20 African countries, and according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, “Threats to the chimpanzee, including habitat loss, poaching, and disease, have intensified and expanded since wild populations were listed as endangered in 1990.”

The Service also points to expanding human population and the competition for natural resources that growth places on chimpanzees in the wild.

Under the endangered status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will require permits for a number of activities relating to chimpanzees, including importing and exporting the animals in and out of the U.S. Permits will only be issued for scientific purposes that benefit the animals, such as assistance with breeding, habitat restoration, or research on the animals in the wild.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

The Monarch Butterfly May Soon Be on the Endangered Species List

Breeding Endangered Species: Should We be Giving Pandas Viagra?

Endangered Species in for Big Year at Golden Gate National Park

Chimpanzee image via Shutterstock

The post U.S. Finally Pardons Chimpanzees From Cruel Lab Experiments appeared first on EcoSalon.

#LoboWeek, March 23 – 29, will harness the power of social media to educate the public about threats to the survival of the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, the most genetically distinct gray wolf subspecies in North America.

Advocating for wolves’ rights to live as they should—wild, free and protected in their native habitats—is no small task. As executive director for the nonprofit Wolf Conservation Center (WCC), Maggie Howell leads wolf-conservation advocacy initiatives to help people understand wolves and the complex, controversial and highly politicized issues that threaten them, both at the WCC’s 26-acre facility in South Salem, N.Y., and on tour throughout the Northeast.

“We advocate for wolves’ rights because they cannot speak for themselves,” Howell says. “It’s a toxic environment out there when it comes to wolves.”

Though she loves all wolves, Howell admits to being a bit obsessed with the lobo, or Mexican gray wolf, a beautiful, intelligent sub-species that is critically endangered. WCC, the preeminent facility in the eastern United States for captive breeding of critically endangered wolf species, is home to about 13 lobos, the smallest, southernmost and most genetically distinct subspecies of the North American gray wolf—and among the rarest mammals in North America.

Lobos lived in mountains, forests and valleys from central Mexico up through Utah from prehistoric times until the last century, when extreme predator removal efforts, sanctioned by the U.S. government from the late 1800s through the mid 1900s, resulted in extermination of the species from its wild ancestral landscapes in the United States. Under the Endangered Species Act, reintroduction efforts in the past decade have established a small population of 109 (latest count as of January 2015) lobos, descendants of the last remaining Mexican gray wolves who were captive bred and then released into their native territories.

Unfortunately, when 11 captive-reared lobos were released into the wild on March 29, 1998, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the species “experimental non-essential,” an unfortunate loophole that allows extra leniency for “management.” Howell explains that lobos are allowed to roam only in small areas of public land, which are also used by the livestock industry as inexpensive, subsidized grazing land. The “experimental non-essential” designation and accompanying special section 10(j) regulation allows USFWS to remove or even kill any wolf that kills a cow or sheep.

“What this really means is that industry and recreation can trump recovery.” Howell says. “Basically, they’re saying that is that if any or all of these (reintroduced) wolves die for any reason, that’s OK. It’s not a disaster because their genetics are represented in captivity.”

Of course, reality’s not that simple. Experts are concerned that lobos are adapting to captivity, which is already resulting in smaller litters, less successful breeding and decreased pup survival.

The WCC and a coalition of conservation groups are suing USFWS for failing to implement a valid recovery plan for the lobo. “It’s crucial that the species be allowed to survive in the wild,” Howell says. “The Service has repeatedly acknowledged that the current reintroduction program will not recover lobos, and yet it continues to stall on developing and implementing a recovery plan that will ensure the survival of these iconic and imperiled wolves.”

The more pressure the U.S. Fish and Wildlife feels about changing the designation, the better. Howell’s brilliant “I AM ESSENTIAL” campaign has hit a sweet spot in the wolf advocate community and increased awareness of the lobo’s plight among many different stakeholders, and WWC has designated March 23 through March 29 #LoboWeek. Culminating in the 17^th anniversary of the lobo’s return to the wild on March 29, 1998, #LoboWeek is an opportunity for wildlife organizations, zoos, advocacy groups, businesses and individuals to talk about lobo recovery on social media and traditional media outlets. “#LoboWeek is about harnessing the power of social media to broaden our reach to and create a national movement,” Howell says.

Howell understands that the wolves’ plight is symptomatic of a controlling culture that doesn’t revere the wild world. “We’re living in a time when people really have to start asking, ‘What kind of world do we want to live in?’” Howell says. “Do we want to have some sort of unknown, some sort of mystery, some sort of true wilderness remaining on our planet? I hope that most people would say ‘yes!’—and I believe that we have an ethical obligation to say yes. I want to inspire more people start thinking about what they what they want to see in the future.”

Learn more at Wolf Conservation Center.

Zoe Helene is a media correspondent and advocate for women, wildlife and wilderness. She works with leading activists, scientists and organizations across the globe to save species such as the critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin and the Mexican gray wolf.

Related on EcoSalon

Saving the Endangered Piping Plover Depends on a Remote Bahamas Island

Highly Endangered Whooping Crane at Risk Because of a Newly Approved Toxic Herbicide

The Monarch Butterfly May Soon Be on the Endangered Species List

Photo by Nagel Photography

The post The Mexican Gray Wolf Needs You: Speak Up for the Essential Lobo appeared first on EcoSalon.

If you happen to have a run-in with a monarch butterfly in the near future, consider yourself lucky. They’re about to be listed as endangered species.

The Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity, Xerces Society and renowned monarch scientist Dr. Lincoln Brower have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend Endangered Species Act protection for the monarch butterfly. The agency will now review the status of the monarchs, a process that takes about one year.

Monarch butterfly populations have declined by a staggering 90 percent in the last 20 years, a drop that the groups say is beyond significant. “Our petition is a scientific and legal blueprint for creating the protection that the monarch so direly needs, and we are gratified that the agency has now taken this vital first step in a timely fashion,” George Kimbrell, Senior Attorney for Center for Food Safety said in a statement. “We will continue to do everything we can to ensure monarchs are protected.”

Experts agree that the monarch butterfly is experiencing such a decline due largely in part to the planting of genetically modified crops. Most genetically modified crops being planted in the Midwest, where most of the monarchs are born, are resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup, the glyphosate-based herbicide that kills off milkweed, the monarch caterpillar’s only food.

“The population has declined from a recorded high of approximately 1 billion butterflies in the mid-1990s to only 35 million butterflies last winter, the lowest number ever recorded,” the Center for Food Safety said in a statement. “The overall population shows a steep and statistically significant decline of 90 percent over 20 years. In addition to herbicide use with genetically engineered crops, monarchs are also threatened by global climate change, drought and heat waves, other pesticides, urban sprawl and logging on their Mexican wintering grounds.”

And the groups note that rising global temperatures could make the monarch’s homes, both winters in Mexico and summers in the U.S., unsuitable to sustain the species in the very near future.

According to the CFS, monarchs need “a very large population size to be resilient to threats from severe weather events and predation.” A whopping 50 percent of monarchs winter population in Mexico can be eaten by birds and mammals in just one winter. And extreme weather conditions can also be devastating: “a single winter storm in 2002 killed an estimated 500 million monarchs — 14 times the size of the entire current population,” CFS explained.

“We are extremely pleased that the federal agency in charge of protecting our nation’s wildlife has recognized the dire situation of the monarch,” said Sarina Jepsen, the Xerces Society’s endangered species director. “Protection as a threatened species will enable extensive monarch habitat recovery on both public and private lands.”

Monarchs, like bees, are important pollinators vital to the health of our food chain. Honeybee populations are also currently being threatened by similar environmental hazards.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

Is Curbing Global Warming a Patriotic Duty?

Whitebark Pine Trees May Depend on ‘Assisted Migration’ for Survival Against Climate Change

Obama Pursues ‘Politically Binding’ International Global Climate Change Agreement

Image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The post The Monarch Butterfly May Soon Be on the Endangered Species List appeared first on EcoSalon.

 Thousands of species are in critical danger of becoming a part of this animal planet’s history—swaying into extinction without another option—and thousands more are heading in the other direction, towards nearly unstoppable levels of overpopulation.

A dystopian future-earth is often portrayed as a barren wasteland in movies. It’s a planet void of life except for the layers of urban decay–the dark slums where the only creatures left are humans, a rat or two, and of course, cockroaches. But it’s the humans, primarily, who are left, gluttonous and exhausting all resources without a shred of guilt.

And while we are certainly seeing massive die-offs—the World Wildlife Fund estimates a loss of between 0.01 and 0.1 percent of all species every year—the flip side is just as grim. Populations of lionfish, kangaroos, zebra mussels and our beloved dogs and cats, are escalating out of control, and paint a different picture of life on earth in the not-so-distant future.

Credit climate change, the use of chemicals, and disasters like Fukushima for throwing the animal planet’s populations out of whack. It’s no longer unusual to hear of situations like these, reported by Collective Evolution:

5th May 2012 – 50,000 Fish found dead in a pond in Shenzhen in China.
5th May 2012 – Mass Bird death discovered in waste water in Finland.
4th May 2012 – 2 TONNES of dead Fish found in a River in Jinzhou China.
4th May 2012 – Mass Fish kill found in Muttar River causing panic in India.
3rd May 2012 – Dead Fish are washing up on shore of Lake Houston in America.
2nd May 2012 – Large number of fish found dead in River in China.
2nd May 2012 – Many dead Fish washing up dead in Village causing panic in Turkey.
30th April 2012 – Hundreds of Bull RedFish found dead in Alabama.
28th April 2012 – 1200 Pelicans found dead in Peru.
27th April 2012 – Mass Fish kill on Lake Elsinore in California.
26th April 2012 – Mysterious Death of possibly thousands of Storks in Thailand.
25th April 2012 – 11,000 dead Fish found in River in Kettering, America.
25th April 2012 – 28,000 dead Fish found in River in Strongsville, America.
25th April 2012 – Porpoises dying in alarming numbers, causing concerns of a local “ecological catastrophe” in China.
25th April 2012 – 4 Dolphins wash ashore dead at Bandra Bandstand in India.
22nd April 2012 – Thousands more Fish wash ashore dead in Pakistan.
19th April 2012 – Thousands of Fish, also Cows and Dogs killed in Pakistan.
17th April 2012 – Thousands of fish (30 species) dead in a creek in Tennessee.
17th April 2012 – Thousands of fish continue to turn up dead in the Zandvlei Estuary in South Africa.
17th April 2012 – Several thousand Fish found dead in River in India.
17th April 2012 – Thousands of Dead Fish found floating in Pond in India.
13th April 2012 – Mass Bees falling dead in Canyon Country California.
13th April 2012 – Hundreds of dead Fish litter Ocean Floor in Durban South Africa.
11th April 2012 – 300 more Dolphins found dead on beaches in Peru.
11th April 2012 – 14,000 Fish dead in Creek in Missouri.
9th April 2012 – Thousands of fish found dead in Lake in India.
9th April 2012 – 3 Whales wash up dead in India.

The Western Black Rhinoceros, which was recently declared officially extinct in the wild, is a massive loss to the planet’s diversity. To lose such an ancient, giant creature from our catalog of species illustrates the fragility of our changing ecosystems. But while the rhino has disappeared, the even bigger African elephant is becoming a nuisance in South Africa, according to Salon. Even though elephant poaching–which is still a major issue on the continent—continues to decimate elephant populations, South Africa is seeing too many elephants, thanks to successful breeding and reintroduction programs. It’s becoming such a problem that rangers in the area have resorted to birth control in order to mitigate the issue.

Head north from South Africa and you’ll find threatened gorilla populations in the Congo. Over in Borneo, orangutans are also struggling to keep their canopy homes as clear-cutting for the palm oil industry is an ongoing threat. But in India, langur monkey populations are soaring out of control. With no real predators in the urban environments, monkeys in cities like Delhi have become quite crafty at scoring food (and often lots of sugar), and are quickly becoming a health and safety threat. A deputy mayor in Delhi died in 2007 after falling from his terrace during an attack by a monkey. Tens of thousands of monkeys are trapped each year in Delhi alone, but it’s barely a dent in the situation, according to officials.

Jellyfish are now so abundant in the oceans that there’s major cause for concern. Without any real predators and hefty appetites, they could take out vulnerable marine species for good. They’re also a threat to power plants and difficult to kill off. “One reason jellyfish blooms are so disastrous is that they’re almost impossible to get rid of. In fact, cutting some species open actually creates exponentially more of them. When the cells of one species, named the Benjamin Button jellyfish, are released through post-mortem decomposition, they somehow find each other again and form a whole new polyp,” reports Quartz. Freaky, eh? And let’s not forget just how deadly they can be to humans. The box jellyfish is considered to be the deadliest creature on the planet.

Our future-earth scenario may indeed be void of pandas, polar bears, rhinos and blue whales, but it won’t be lifeless. While the human population is also on a dangerous rise towards a self-inflicted extinction, we also seem to be breeding species that excel at consuming our food supply and then some.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

The Black Rhinoceros: My Time with an Extinct Animal
Breeding Endangered Species: Should We be Giving Pandas Viagra?
Banned: Costa Rica Says Keeping Zoo Animals is not a ‘Natural Experience’

Image: Ray Morris1

The post Crazy Animal Planet: Overpopulation Vs. Extinction appeared first on EcoSalon.

African officials have declared the Western Black Rhinoceros extinct. It’s a loss of devastating proportion, cementing–if there was ever any doubt–just how poorly humans are managing the environment and jeopardizing the future of creatures who have been here much longer than us.

Throughout history, species come and go. One day (soon?), humans will also go the way of the dinosaur, the saber-toothed tiger, the black rhinoceros. But now, as we are quite consciously participating in our existence and our evolution, we have the ability to prevent the loss of species. Or, at least, that’s how it seems. Could we have done more to preserve a creature as awe inspiring as the rhino?

Nearly two decades ago, I spent time with two baby black rhinoceroses. It changed my perception of captivity and nature.

In the summer of 1996 I took a job working at the Pittsburgh Zoo. I was managing the children’s zoo staff. About 80 high school kids held posts in the goat, deer and kangaroo yards as well as several animal-themed rides and slides. It was hard work. We swept up a lot of animal poop and made sure kids didn’t hurl themselves off of the rides in a way that would ruin their day.

During my lunch breaks, I’d stroll the zoo grounds marveling at the many creatures. I had spent a lot of time at the zoo growing up. Chuckles the porpoise was an old friend. The llamas and I went way back. The elephants seemed to know me, too. I loved everything about the zoo (except for most of the humans). The smells didn’t bother me. The poop was endearing. I didn’t mind the hours or working on holidays. After all, I got to spend time with some of the most adorable, ferocious and unique creatures on the planet. I’d get to give lions giant bones on Sundays. I still have a tiger whisker and an ostrich feather that would have otherwise been swept up into the trash.

After a time, I applied for an internship, in hopes of one day becoming a zookeeper myself. Maybe I’d wind up like Jane Goodall out in some conservation effort deep in a jungle. Even though I was a vegetarian, the sad, captive nature of the zoo hadn’t quite dawned on me yet. All I saw was the natural curiosity of the many species. I believed the hype that zoos were special places helping to successfully breed endangered species. It’s not like they were purely for entertainment, right?  They served a function: to educate the community about the animal kingdom. In fact, it was the many summers I spent strolling through the zoo with my family that I credit for turning me towards vegetarianism in the first place. How could I eat someone who had a face, regardless of what species it was?

Both my boyfriend and I received internship offers in the big cat and rhino department. We couldn’t have been more thrilled. We were going to work face to face with lions, tigers and two baby black rhinos soon to arrive to replace the white rhinos heading to China. (Those rhinos were killed, sadly.)

The absurd nature of zoo life hit us quickly. The very first day our internship began, we were present for the euthanizing of a Siberian tiger riddled with cancer. She was a longtime resident who had even given birth there. Animals don’t get cancer in nature. Not like that, anyway.

But my main focus would be helping with the baby rhinos—a boy and a girl. If my memory serves me, their names were Jomo and Misha. One of them had been rejected by their mother, which is a common occurrence, particularly in zoo settings. They were both young—but by no means less than gigantic. As adults, black rhinos can weigh 3,000 pounds or more. These “babies” were tipping the 1,000-pound mark before their first birthday.

Baby mammals require milk. Most of my time was spent cooking up a concoction supposed to resemble rhino milk. It was a mix of cow milk, water, sugar and vitamins, heated up so it would be nice and warm. It gave the babies massive rhino diarrhea, which I’d spend most of the rest of my time cleaning up. Rivers of green sludge filled their tiny indoor quarters, which were about the size of my living room now. Sometimes I feel penned up in my own house. I can’t imagine what I’d feel like if all the space I had amounted to the size of a closet.

Once all the rhino poop was cleaned up, we had another task: coaxing the animals into their exhibit area. These were babies. Babies scared of venturing a few feet outdoors even though it was a much bigger area than their pens. We’d climb up onto the fake anthill in the exhibit and do our best to encourage them to come outside. They’d step slowly, squeaking and squealing like babies. It was adorable and sad. These beautiful, motherless creatures were nothing more than giant horned puppies taken from their mothers too soon.

Now, the only black rhinos on the planet exist in captivity. Their once massive sprawl of land has been replaced by cement and metal enclosures. The natural vegetation that made up their diets is now just piles of crunchy hay, day after day. Or, in the case of orphaned newborns, a milk soup that comes nowhere close to the real thing.

One of my most memorable experiences with the rhinos was on Christmas morning. It’s the only day of the year the zoo is closed to guests. The quiet is eerie and refreshing. We cooked up the giant bottles of faux rhino milk and brought them down to the cages where the babies squealed in anticipation for food that was only going to make them sick. The black rhinoceros has a prehensile lip—kind of like a very small elephant trunk. It can pull in food, and on this occasion, the baby girl pulled my hand into her mouth and began to suck with the pressure of an industrial vice grip. If my hand was crushed beyond repair, I wouldn’t have been surprised. She mistook me for her bottle, for her mother, and as she realized I offered no sustenance, she gently released my hand and rooted in search of the bottle.

Working face to face with some of the planet’s most magnificent species pushed me towards avoiding zoos and captive animal situations for good. And now, as one of our most beloved wild animals exists only in zoos, it brings up a whole host of questions: Should we support captivity? Aren’t these animals vastly different than those who’ve never seen a cage? Should we try breeding programs and encourage efforts to attempt reintroduction to the wild? Or should we simply accept that from now on, they live only in captivity?

How strange it is that we can wander into a zoo and see an animal who was once a representative for his wild cousins now a representative for extinction, for time passed, and a future Earth that is surely going to be a much different place.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

Breeding Endangered Species: Should We be Giving Pandas Viagra?

Banned: Costa Rica Says Keeping Zoo Animals is not a ‘Natural Experience’

Movie Review: ‘Blackfish’—SeaWorld’s Six-Ton Killer Secret

Images: 25kim (top), Jill Ettinger

The post The Black Rhinoceros: My Time with an Extinct Animal appeared first on EcoSalon.

The endangered butterfly has become an ideal  insect for scientists measuring the damage of climate change

A new study published in Ecological Entomology shows some species of butterflies adapt much better than others to warming temperatures, especially in mountain landscapes.

Which are most at risk? It appears butterfly species which emerge later in the year or fly higher in the different elevations of a mountain range in central Spain have evolved to reproduce in a shorter window of time, and as a result, may fare worse than those that emerge over a longer period of time.

“We’re already expecting localized extinctions of about one third of butterfly species, so we need to understand how climate change will affect those that survive,” says Javier G. Illan, with the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University.

Illan’s group of researchers working at Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid studied flight patterns of 32 butterfly species for five years at different elevations in a Mediterranean mountain range. They noted the delays in flight dates that occurred as a result of elevation change.

Butterflies are ultra sensitive to climate change and therefore good models for understanding the broader scope of ecological effects linked to insects in terms of pollination and herbivory. In fact, their flight dates are said to be good indicators of future responses to climate change .

Meanwhile, the Brown Argus has defied the odds. The rare British butterfly with orange and white spots near its wingtips is thriving rather than disappearing as a result of extreme temperatures as predicted.

As reported by Scientific American, the insects are on the move and expanding their range northwards some 40 miles, according to the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. This means they are no longer solely dependent upon a single plant species, the Rockrose, which grows on south-facing slopes and absorbs the warmth the butterfly’s caterpillars require.

The Rockrose plant’s choice is cool weather, hosting caterpillars on the underside of leaves on south-facing hillsides, but balmier summer conditions has prompted the butterfly to warm up to new plants such as the Dove’s Foot Cranesbill.

This ability to adapt and expand north shows promise for some species. But according to ecologists, large range retractions in the south cannot be counterbalanced by the expansions in the north. In fact, About ten percent of all of Europe’s butterflies face extinction due to climate change, along with loss of grassland habitat from intensive farming and abandonment of traditional farming in Europe, forest fires and the expansion of tourism.

The same culprits threaten 14% of dragonflies and 11% of saprophytic beetles, according to the European Red List report for the European commission. Among the species listed as critically endangered – the striking Madeiran large white butterfly not spotted on the island of Madeira in twenty years; and the Macedonian Grayling which has suffered habitat loss due to quarrying.

Recently, Richard Pearson, a scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, cited the Red List in a New York Times Opinion page, warning us that a mass extinction is afoot. Some 20,000 species of animals and plants around the globe are deemed high risks and such a rapid loss of so many has only occurred five times in the past 540 million years. Around 65 million years ago, the last mass extinction wiped out the dinosaurs.

Writing about the pending loss of life on the planet, Pearson, who is the author of Driven to Extinction: The Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity, suggested “this should keep us awake at night.”

He also urged us to invest in ecosystem services considered public goods. “We need to put a realistic value on nature, and we need effective environmental legislation that protects entire ecosystems.”

The post Some Butterflies Doomed, Others Thrive, with Climate Change appeared first on EcoSalon.

I love fish. Poached salmon. Bouillabaisse. Absolutely sublime sushi. How can I say no to seafood? And why would I?

Sylvia Earle, an awe-inspiring scientist and oceanographer who has studied the ocean for over 50 years, helped change my perspective in her most recent book, The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One. She covers a lot of ocean ground, but one particular bit stuck in my craw with regard to over-fishing.

“Ninety percent of many fish common [in the past half century] are now gone, consumed by eager diners unaware that in their lifetime they might witness the disappearance of some of their favorite wild-caught fare, from tuna and swordfish to lobsters and crabs.”

Slow Food in San Francisco has instituted Meatless Mondays. I began to wonder what we could do for fish. I thought of Fishless Fridays, but that suggests we’re eating fish all the other days of the week. Fish Friday comes to mind, but I believe that’s a Catholic tradition. Maybe it could be more like one day a month, a celebratory day called First Fish Friday, the only day of the month we allow ourselves a special treat from the sea.

It may seem extreme. But what’s more extreme? Reducing personal intake of an endangered food source, or gobbling it down as fast as you can while you watch it disappear? As Earle quoted John C. Sawhill: “In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.”

Image: Nicola Zingarelli

The post Be at One with the Ocean: Contemplations on Eating Fish and Fishless Fridays appeared first on EcoSalon.

As millions of gallons of sticky black crude continue to gush out of a pipe in the Gulf of Mexico, we’re hearing a lot about how adorable animals like sea turtles, otters and dolphins are going to be affected. But while we love the cute animals, we don’t want to overlook the so-called redheaded step-children of the animal realm, either. They need just as much help as the fluffy furry ones, if not more because, according to a recent study, ugly animals are more likely to go extinct.

Manatees

There’s a reason that manatees are called sea cows – they sort of resemble what the remains of a drowned cow might look like after a week or so. These bloated, bulbous animals may not be beauty queens, but they definitely deserve our attention and protection. Scientists don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when manatees start swimming through the oil, but they’re going to find out all too soon; a group of seven animals was spotted swimming along the coast of Destin, Florida.

Marsh Rice Rat

Few animals are more reviled than rats, even though these animals are technically incredibly similar to the ones we think are so dang cute (think fuzzy bunnies). The semi-aquatic Marsh Rice Rat resembles its landlubber cousins with its grayish-brown fur and long naked tail, but its need to dive underwater to forage for food like plants, snails and subterranean fungus will put it at risk as the oil seeps into the marshes of Gulf states like Louisiana.

Gulf Sturgeon

The gulf sturgeon, a bizarre-looking relic of the dinosaur age, ended up on the Endangered Species list back in 1991 when its populations were nearly annihilated in the wild by centuries of demand for its meat and caviar. During the warmer months, Gulf Sturgeon spend their time in coastal rivers from Louisiana to Florida, but come cooler weather they’ll be back in the Gulf of Mexico, where they’re likely to face a battle for survival in the aftermath of the oil spill.

American Alligator

It’s got a spiky back, a powerful tail that could knock you to the ground in an instant and what seems like a sinister grin. But as imposing as the American Alligator may be to us, this animal is defenseless against the negative changes that are starting to occur in the marshes and wetlands that it calls home in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama.

Shrimp

Shrimping is big business in the Gulf of Mexico – or at least, it was. The fishing industry has been effectively shut down for obvious reasons, and even when the fisherman are allowed to start trawling again, consumers might not bite. While the oil may not have had a catastrophic effect on creepy-crawlies like shrimp that live along the sea floor on its own, BP’s toxic dispersants are actually spreading the contamination deeper into the water.

Oysters

Because each of these bumpy mollusks breathe 50 to 100 gallons of water a day, “the oyster is to Louisiana’s estuaries what the fabled canary was to coal mine safety,” according to NOLA.com. So water that has been contaminated both by oil and by toxic dispersants will be deadly to the intertidal oyster reefs that grow along and just inside the coast of Louisiana.  Ironically, the American Petroleum Institute once produced a video with a segment called “Lifeline to Oysters,” attempting to convince skeptical Gulf fishermen that oysters and offshore drilling get along just fine.

Smalltooth Sawfish

The critically endangered Smalltooth Sawfish has already seen its habitat shrink from a large portion of the Atlantic Ocean to a small area near the lower peninsula of Florida. But when the Loop Currrent, a strong flow of warm water in the Gulf, brings oil to the Florida Keys, this rare fish could be wiped out altogether.

Plankton

They’re literally at the bottom of the food chain in the sea, but that doesn’t mean that curious-looking zooplankton aren’t important – they serve as sustenance for small animals like snails, shrimp and jellyfish, including some endangered species.  These drifting organisms are just as much at risk from the oil spill as the larger animals whose suffering we can actually witness.

Images:Andrea Westmoreland, Wikimedia Commons (manatee, marsh rice rat, sturgeon, alligators, shrimp, oysters, smalltooth sawfish, plankton)

The post The 8 Ugliest Animals Threatened by the Oil Spill appeared first on EcoSalon.

The privacy watchdogs have been barking hard this season. In case you’ve been off-the-grid, here’s the controversy from the world of social media that preceded one perhaps even larger about DNA research…

This week, Facebook automatically gave its users’ personal information to sites like Yelp and Pandora. Now, you and your FB friends can see each others’ bitchiest restaurant reviews, and worst, one-hit-wonder indulgences whether or not you ever intended to reveal these to one another.

Last month, Google raised privacy concerns when it automatically revealed its email users’ closest contacts to the Gmail public, through the launch of its Google Buzz product. Google Buzz was supposed to have taken over Digg, Twitter, and everything else social media by now but hasn’t, quite partly due to public backlash.

Now, imagine it’s not your social map, preferred menu or your pop cultural sensibilities being scrutinized and seen by the public. This time, it’s your actual hereditary material! We’re talking public, deoxyribonucleic acid blues.

One Native American tribe, the Havasupai, sued and won their legal battle against researchers from the University of Arizona who were using their DNA to run tests for things the tribe never authorized.

According to several legal news sites, the Havasupai initially donated DNA samples agreeing to a project that was supposed to focus on their tribe’s high incidence of diabetes. But the samples kept getting tested. Other matters, besides diabetes vulnerability, became a question subject to the scientists’ inquiries including the tribe’s supposed geographical origins, and their collective mental health.

The environmental implications regarding how a specimen gets used are as staggering as the ethical and legal ones.

Fishing rigs in Japan, for example, may state and are authorized to fish for whales in order to study whale population changes and marine health, or to hunt whales within a quota. But they sometimes sell the whales they “accidentally” catch, or catch for “scientific study,” as whale meat on the black market.

Should they be allowed to re-sell the grand creatures they kill for food if the intent was scientific study? Isn’t it wasting them, not to eat them if they’ve already been hunted?

Or does a scientific and accidental allowance create a black market and culinary demand, as well as disrespect for endangered species?

Finally, if you gave your DNA up for one study, why not the other?

Use the links and resources below to get informed, and talk to us about how much intent matters when it comes to science and knowledge gains for the greater public. Comment below or holler on Twitter @ecosalon.

Basic Reading:

– “The geneticist responsible for the research has said that she had obtained permission for wider-ranging genetic studies. Acknowledging a desire to ‘remedy…wrong that was done,” the university’s Board of Regents agreed to pay $700,000 to 41 of the tribe’s members, return the blood samples and provide other forms of assistance to the [tribe]. Legal experts said [the settlement] was significant because it implied that the rights of research subjects can be violated when they are not fully informed about how their DNA might be used.” – Indian Tribe Wins Fight to Limit Research of Its DNA, a New York Times news feature

– A Discover magazine blog post asking what will happen to DNA samples that were gathered before the idea of consent was formalized in regards to DNA research, now that this case was won.

– “The vast majority of the world’s countries are against the killing of endangered animals in but Japan issues itself a “scientific whaling” permit using a loophole in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) bylaws to continue commercial whaling. Every year since the moratorium they escalate the “takes” or kills in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary to include more and more protected and endangered animals.” – A HuffingtonPost blog entry by Louie Psihoyos

Further Resources:

A privacy-focused blog that takes a strong side with the Havasupai tribe

Researchers’ perspectives on the matter of consent and DNA samples, via Swiss DNA Bank

Clashes between environmentalists and the whaling industry continue in New Zealand, a news feature at the New Zealand Herald

Image: micahb37

This is the latest installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and trends by EcoSalon writer and columnist Lora Kolodny.

The post EcoMeme: Is Your DNA a Public Concern? appeared first on EcoSalon.