When humans sound an alarm, you hear a siren. When Mother Nature sounds an alarm, it's a bit more stealth. And in her precious oceans, the alarm comes in the form of jellyfish - MILLIONS of them. And these babies are BIG - try over 6 feet in diameter, weighing up to 440 lbs! With fish populations depleting worldwide, jellyfish have fewer predators feeding on them, resulting in infestations resembling plot lines in horror films.
So, if this is Mother Earth's way of warning us about the future. I'm scared to think about what's next!
If this photo disturbs you, you're not alone. These dolphins are part of a mass dolphin "suicide" I read about in the UK's Guardian publication today. Some theories believe that the stranding and death of 25+ dolphins might be linked to the Royal Navy dropping charges on a submerged vessel as part of routine "exercises":
Many
experts believe an underwater disturbance may have led the dolphins to
panic and beach themselves. The coastguard and local people have
said there had been intense military activity in the area in the days
before the strandings.
The Royal Navy was doing live firing exercises involving a submarine in
the area at the time, and the Ministry of Defence said one of its
vessels had been using short-range sonar to scan the sea bed. But a
spokesman for the service said the trials were 12 miles off Falmouth.
"It is considered extremely unlikely that this operation could have
affected the mammals in any way.
Another theory is the juvenile dolphins could have been avoiding a killer whale which prompted the stranding. Either way, it really is upsetting to hear about stories like this, and since postmortem tests won't be available for weeks, I can only hope the results show that it was not man made.
Just wanted to thank all our wonderful TitanGreens fans again for helping us take home a People's Voice Webby award for Online Video for Public Service & Activism this week in New York City. The energy infused awards show hosted by Judah Friedlander of 30 Rock was a night to remember, and although I had a ton of nerves going up on stage to say our 5-word acceptance speech, I think I did my company proud. Long live Planet Earth!
That's me up there with my Planet Police partner Morgan Jones. And here I am again, below, with a new "green" friend I made at the after party. Good times...
Tonight (June 4th) is the official launch of the much awaited Planet Green channel by Discovery Communications. Over $50 million is being spent on new and original green programming which promises to be fun and informational minus the "preach". Kinda like what I do for Titan Greens!
Hope you check it out tonight and let me in on your feedback. I'll be on the lookout for my Adrian Grenier fix since Entourage still hasn't debuted for the summer. Either way, it's good to have the forces of Hollywood turn to green programming. So sit back with your organic popcorn and enjoy!
Meet Beauty, the bald eagle, who was found starving to death in an Alaskan landfill with a disfigured beak. Most of her upper beak had been shot off, and after being rescued and hand fed for two years, her caretakers were finally able to give her a prosthetic beak so she can tear food again! So, although man might have taketh away, man has giveth back. There are good people in the world...
To see the beak being attached, check out the story from CBS:
Out West, horses are running wild. Unfortunately, this is not good news. High food costs have prompted a number of recreational horse owners to abandon unwanted horses into open spaces, forcing animals to fend for themselves. According to the New York Times, this practice does not come with happy endings:
"What concerns me is a fate worse than slaughter," said
Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State
University and an authority on the handling of livestock such
as horses. "We've got people turning horses loose in fields,
dropping horses off in the night -- my worst nightmares are
coming true."
"They have no survival instinct in the wild, no clue as to
what's dangerous to eat, no knowledge of how to grub for food
under the snow," he said.
The New Scientist blog raises the question, if it's more humane to sell the animal for its meat than to allow it to starve in the wild. The idea of it leaves a sickening taste in my mouth. But, apparently, this is a practice that's not so uncommon.
This is a sad, lose-lose situation - to be faced with these choices means things must be pretty dire. And you can't completely hate the ones making these decisions because maybe they are just trying to survive too. Anyhow, there are ways to help, and checking out Sponsor A Horse, an organization that helps find care for abandoned horses is just one place you can start.
Friday, May 16th is Bike to Work Day! Sadly, I do not own a bike and will be taking the G to the E as always. However, if you do, you might want to join the thousands of others participating tomorrow by pedaling your way to the office. For organized Bike to Work events in your area, or for information on bike paths and maps, check out BikeToWorkWeek.org. Save gas, get exercise and don't forget a helmet!
Facing public pressure, the government decided yesterday to grant polar bears protection under the Endangered Species Act. This is a big win! Thanks to all of you who signed the petition. It's situations like these where activism really counts!
Have your voice heard! A
federal court has given Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne two more days to
decide if the polar bear will be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Already over 100,000 people have signed the petition to the Secretary,
asking him to protect polar bears and their Arctic habitat. Add your voice now!
I got these beautiful flowers and peace of mind for my mom on Mother's Day. I decided to make this year's gift good for the environment by buying organic flowers online from Organic Bouquet. They offer a limited selection of flowers compared to 1800Flowers, but no less beautiful. It's my first organic flower purchase, prices were comparable, and overall it was a shopping experience I'm sure I'll be doing again and again!
Saturday, May 10th, open your mind and see the world with new eyes by celebrating Pangea Day. Pangea Day is a 4-hour program of short film, live music and talks. The mission of the event is to unite the world. To put aside differences, conflict, religion and to share in a moment where we all try to understand each other - through the powerful medium of film. The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an
international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions
from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their
ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through
another person's eyes.You
can find the lineup of films, musicians, and speakers at www.pangeaday.org.
Many of these films will also highlight environmental issues and activism. Hope you find a Pangea Day event near you!
I can't believe we took
down the Hometown Baghdad online video beast! What a fight they put up on the voting polls - until the last two days, our biggest competitor had the lead by 4-5%! And
because of having great viewers like you to ring in your support in the final rounds, we found out yesterday that the little channel that could WINS A WEBBY!
You should have
seen me jumping up and down after a very stressful moment trying
to psyche myself up to check the Webby results! Oh
man! I was floating! (hence the big smile in the photo above)
This is truly good news for the green message
we're trying to get out to the world. Even more, this just shows what kick butt fans we have.You
guys ROCK!
Believe it or not, over 10,000 pieces of space litter orbits our planet everyday. To find out more about it and how it all breaks down, check out this great blog on Treehugger.
