News – Page 15 – See Animals Wild

January 17, 2023January 9, 2023

Easyjet has switched its green aviation focus from electric planes to hydrogen (though it is not giving up on battery planes)

Easyjet has switched its green aviation plans from electric to hydrogen. The aim is now to be flying a 200 person plane by 2035 on hydrogen. Previously, they were working with wright electric on a battery electric plane by 2030.

Currently, aviation emits roughly 2.5% of carbon emissions, and when taking into account non carbon effects, it accounts for roughly 3.5% of human global warming effects.

They have hastened to add, that this does not mean that they are giving up on battery electric, but that they wish to have multiple options. It is also recognized, that at least in the short-term, that while battery electric might be able to replace 80% of easyjets flight paths, the rest are to far for battery electric, unless power density takes a bigger leap forwards than currently expected.

In the meantime, inefficient aircraft are gradually being replaced. Of course this is good both for the environment and the company, as an inefficient plane uses more fuel to fly.

January 17, 2023January 9, 2023

Hertz has found that electric cars cost 50-60% less money to maintain

With huge savings on electric car maintenance, Hertz has just put in a similar size order (to that for tesla) to GM. This will bring their worldwide number up to over quarter of a million electric cars to rent.

Could hertz become an electric car rental only

It is true that Hertz owns 550,000 electric vehicles around the world, so this move will bring them closer to about 50% of their cars.

January 16, 2023January 9, 2023

Biden expected to sign into law new big cat ownership rules, which will curb or end private ownership

It is thought that there is currently about 10,000 big cats in private ownership, often in poor conditions and of no conservation benefit. While as much as 5000 are tigers (more than the 3900 estimated to remain in the wild across all subspecies, and some estimates put the number of tigers as high as 8000) there are also lions jaguars and leopards amongst other species.

This is not the right way to treat an animal like a tiger.

Importantly, however well-meaning the owners are, the very existence of this pet trade means that any big cat within easy reach of humans becomes a target. This week the bill: big cat public safety act, passed through the house of representatives. Currently 30 states allow tiger ownership, and a license is just $30. Also, as breeders in the USA have generally mixed up all the subspecies, these tigers do not create a back-stop for the wild population, as these hybrid tigers are unlikely to still have the genetic ability to cope in the extreme heat/cold/desert/flooded area that they used to call home.

January 15, 2023January 9, 2023

Rare good news from USA. Manchin tried to attach energy bill to appropriations legislation: failed

In the USA, much to the frustration of many politicians, it is possible to attach legislation to another bill, even when there is nothing that links the two. In this case Jo Minchin’s legislation would have deregulated and changed permitting reforms for fossil fuel projects, and were supposed to be attached to a must pass defence bill. This ability to attach irrelevant legislation must be ended.

In other words, had he been allowed to do it, the bill would have had to be passed, as the defence part was required.

January 14, 2023January 9, 2023

Chimpanzees and gorillas search each other out – “friends with benefits”

Recent studies have shown that it his highly beneficial to both species when these cross species friendships are made. Indeed, it is not merely a question of chance encounters, instead each species will actively search out the other.

Benefits include protection from predators, increased social skills and finding fruiting trees.

While chimpanzees and gorillas can occasionally be seen feeding together, and captive animals can often have close relationships, recent research suggests that at least in some forests this is a common behaviour, and both species recognize its benefits

January 13, 2023January 9, 2023

The worlds 3 most destructive industries are fossil fuels, farming and fisheries, yet all three are protected by (and subsidized) by governments

Unfortunately these 3 activities appear to be most responsible for collapse or incredible pressure on ecosystems across the globe.

Both fossil fuel extraction and farming have required huge areas to be deforested

January 12, 2023January 9, 2023

Wildcats could potentially reintroduced into England for the first time in hundreds of years

Wildcats have been restricted to parts of Scotland for hundreds of years, despite once being found throughout the UK. Indeed, it is a problem where a significant number of people now refer to it as the Scottish wildcat, something that is only temporary, and should not be the case for ever.

Although looking sweet, British wild cats are impressive hunters, and can on occasion take deer

January 11, 2023January 9, 2023

Bringing the Kiwi back to Wellington wilds

The Kiwi is an interesting bird. As with many birds that developed on islands without mammals, they cannot fly.

As you can see, not really looking like a bird anymore, it is incapable of flight

In the case of new Zealand, the problem is simple. Those migrating to the island, brought with them rabbits. The rabbits escaped, and without any predators increased to silly levels. In order to control the rabbit population, stoats and similar predators were introduced, but these found the Kiwi a far easier meal.

In this instance, 11 birds have been introduced to the wilds near Wellington, for the first time in 100 years. These are the first of 250 birds that will arrive to settle in this area. Being the capital of new Zealand, it is impressive to have any surviving wildlife nearby. Yet Wellington prides itself on this work, and this is not its only move in the direction of rewilding.

It is thought that before humans arrived, as many as 12 million Kiwis roamed free in the country. Currently just 68,000 remain, however this number is growing slowly but surely. The arrival of Kiwi in this area, has required the countries biggest intensive Stoat trapping network as well as buy-in from a disparate array of land users.

January 10, 2023January 9, 2023

How do we save the worlds remaining wildlife? Animals like Orangutan need huge areas to survive and thrive

One proposal, is named as half earth. The idea is to set aside half of the land on earth as a human-free nature reserve in order to preserve biodiversity, proposed by Eo Wilson.

It is asad fact, that were humans to disappear from the planet tomorrow, Orangutans would probably recover pretty quickly. Photo credit Carine06

January 9, 2023January 9, 2023

Is the conservative party in the UK (and perhaps similar parties around the world) supporting of climate change doubt and climate change denial

The mountain of evidence which shows that climate change is real is enormous. The temperature has increased, and all of the evidence points towards carbon emissions being the reason.