Wildlife and conservation new, wild travel information and links for booking
COP15 ended with a hug biodiversity agreement, but will it succeed? Well that it is a hard question to answer, but I thought that 3 months after its signing, it would be worth returning to it and looking at what was promised!
In December Oregan republican officials approved regulations that would ban the sale of gasoline powered cars from 2035. This is fantastic news, but it appears that it is one step forwards and one back – Wyoming republicans are looking to ban the sale of all electric vehicles, in what lawmakers are calling an effort to preserve the states fossil fuel industry.
The UK likes to be seen as a country pulling its weight when it comes to the climate change battle. Unfortunately, they give the game away though when they subsidize fossil fuels by 20 billion more than they do renewables.
What is worse, is that 1/5 of the money for fossil fuels went to directly support new extraction and mining.
In the last 8 years, 60 billion has been spent supporting renewable energy generation, however 80 billion has gone on fossil fuels. Indeed 2020 was the first year when renewables got more money than fossil fuels, but each year since fossil fuels are back ahead.
The government claimed that this analysis was misleading as we would still need some fossil fuels as part of our move towards our net zero target – while this might explain why we need some fossil fuel investment, it does not explain why this little need is greater than the money we need to put into renewables – which must eventually supply all our energy needs.
Ocelots are often thought of as relatively exotic animal. Looking like a small leopard or Jaguar, this is not particularly surprising. Never-the-less, like their bigger cousin, the jaguar, they are a native cat of the USA.
Road deaths are a significant problem, as with a total population not thought to number more than 60-80, 8 were lost in under a year (2015-2016). Texas has created 27 wildlife crossings, with many in Ocelot areas, but clearly more are needed, along with driver education.
Perhaps more unhelpful, as Ocelots are largely nocturnal, they are usually crossing the road when hardest to see. Once relatively common in the southern USA, just 1% of its optimal habitat remains, and this is criss-crossed by road.
While few animals have been completely exterminated from north America in the last 300 years there are a few on the brink.
One such animal is the Jaguar.
The last known Jaguar roams the Rocky lands of Southern Arizona and is called Sombra. The last known female was shot 60 years ago this year. Conservationists are calling for Jaguars to be reintroduced into the Gila national forest, a 3 million acre wilderness in New Mexico, along with protection for millions more acres which Sombra currently roams.
Continue reading “Returning Jaguars to the USA”At the moment, there is a serious problem facing the world in global warming. The developed countries in the world are making moves to cut their emissions faster than the rest of the world.
While this is only right, given the historical emissions that developed countries have already released, carbon tariffs are still going to be necessary.
You might ask why?
Continue reading “If Europe wants to cut emissions faster, does this require a carbon tariff?”Estimates vary, but it is thought that 15-20 wolves are in the country. This is made up of 1 pack in Flanders, and another in Southern Wallonia as well as a newly settled pair (this pair is likely to become a pack if allowed to survive).
Across the border in France and Germany, numbers are far higher. As a result, should these wolves be left alone, the numbers are likely to grow and spread.
Experts can be very good at spotting signs and clues of their presence, these skills are important to track the wolves however, these skills can also become very useful in ecotourism.
Across the world many species have huge ranges – look at the leopard, found across Africa and much of Asia. It is not a surprise that these animals have a great deal of genetic variability.
However, until recently, far to much of the decisions about subspecies status went on the look of the animal.
Continue reading “Bringing back the Amur tiger to the western part of its range! (The Caspian tiger)”On-shore wind-turbines are far and away the cheapest (currently) and easiest form of renewable power to roll out. The UK is targeting net zero emissions by 2050 (as well as a 68% reduction on 1990 levels by 2030), so any rejection of the cheapest and one of the simplest means of power generation goes against all this. More urgent, the aim is to have a power grid that is 100% green by 2035 – just 12 years away.
The simple fact is, that farmers up and down the country can make good extra money by hosting turbines. Whether crops or grazing is the primary use of the land, wind turbines take up a tiny proportion of the land, and have no discernible effect on output.
Continue reading “Despite the promise to reverse their insane ban on on-shore wind turbines, there are fears that this what is going to happen”I wrote (rather poorly) back in October about fusion and its potential positives. In the middle of December, we had a breakthrough of incredible proportions.
For the first time, it took less energy to start fusion and sustain it, than was released in the reaction. This is obviously essential, as if it takes more energy to get the reaction to take place, than is generated you are using electricity not generating it.
