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Norway pension fund has disinvested from a British firm Jardines of destructive plans for the Tapanuli orangutan habitat

Tapanuli Orangutan

With an estimated historical habitat of this species 95% destroyed already, only leaving a small patch of rainforest with an estimated 800 Tapanuli orangutan, it would seem obvious that this small patch of rainforest should be protected, no matter what. however this opinion is not shared by everyone.

Having said this, thankfully, it is shared by an increasing number of organisations, and at current count, a total of 29 financiers have excluded Jardines and all subsidies from financing (according to the Financial Exclusions Tracker).

What is worse, is that the Martabe mining concession lies in a portion of the orangutan habitat called the Batang Toru forest, which has the largest orangutan population, and not only is this the area that has the highest chance of survival, but without this block of orangutan population, the future of the whole species is put at risk.

While this is a great move, one does wonder why it took 7 years to come to this decision. We have known about the Tapanuli Orangutan since 2017, and how precarious its survival is.

At the current time, there is an effort to expand the mine. While owners of the mine have said initially, this would just mean boreholes which do not disturb to too great a degree, recent studies have shown a correlation between this type of drilling and a reduction in Orangutan density, which proves these former assumptions to be incorrect.

It seems obvious that this area needs protecting, but perhaps for some people the earning potential is too great.

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Back to normal: moving forwards

For those who come to this site regularly, you may well have noticed a break in out blog contents – we have been concentrating on other parts of the website. Should you go looking, we have now built a series of animal databases – these are just the first few. Our aim is to link to as many species of wildlife as possible, and offer visitors the ability to book to go to places where a specific species lives. It is true, that some species are rarely seen – so if pangolin or beaked whale is the species you want to see, while we can help put you in the right place, we cannot guarantee a sighting.

On the other hand, with the incredible pressure on ecosystems around the world, without tourists visiting regularly, many of these ecosystems will be destroyed – and then the chance of seeing these species will be very low (and if this happens too often, the chance of seeing some of these species may drop to zero as they become extinct).

A depressing thought, but understand, we have the power to change things.

It is often not easy, to live alongside wildlife, particularly as a farmer. From minor irritants to crop damage or even livestock predation, there are many pitfalls. This website is finally reaching a point where we are aiming to help with this. Whatever the primary use of your land, we believe that there is enough interest to produce a second income from interested parties – and while this could range from enough to live on, to extra ‘pocket money’, we want to reach a point where destroying wildlife is a financial insanity. Help us!

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According to a new study the west Antarctic ice shelf will now melt (not a question of if but when)

West antarctic ice sheet from high up NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz CC by 2.0

So, if the melting of this ice sheet is now unaviodable what would its impacts be? Well this ice sheet has enough volume of water, to raise global water levels by 5m. While this might not sound like much, there are 16 countries around the world who would loose more than 10% of their area, and the country at the top – the Netherlands, would loose roughly 55% of its landmass. It is estimated that by 2030 5.4% of the worlds population or 460 million people will live in this zone that will cease to exist.

Unfortunately, there is little positive to write, as the author suggests that this is now inevitable. Drastic cutting now, is all that can stop this damage at 5m raise in sea levels. Without it, what are we going to see? 100m rise in sea levels? This would require us finding space for 1/3 or the human population, on the remaining land, as their land will disappear beneath the seas.

Why is this not considered a major disaster?

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What to do, when officials at the UN farming body have their findings censored? Is the UN working for more global warming?

A large, and growing proportion of worlds methane emissions comes from the meat industry around the world. Methane is a far more powerful, if shorter lived warming gas, with 84 times the warming potential over 20 years (and still 28 times the warming potential over a century.

Continue reading “What to do, when officials at the UN farming body have their findings censored? Is the UN working for more global warming?”
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Black and gold howler monkeys avoid power cables when they can in Paraguay.

Many species of primate within the Amazon rainforest has become quite content moving around in human areas, as they have sprung up fast across the region.

Yet, these cables are not surprisingly dangerous, carrying high voltage. As such, in some places an alarming number of them die as a result.

As these towns are built within the Amazon, we must make sure that it does not kill wildlife that wanders into town

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Javan rhinos: is the Indonesian government lying? misleading? or being straight with the world.

It appears that the counters of the Javan rhino, have continued to count animals which have not been seen for years. Given how much poaching has been going on, this seems much more than simply misleading.

 Unfortunately, this counting issue, takes the Javan rhino from a species which is recovering at an impressive rate, to a species which might disappear within a decade. In the latest count 3 rhino were included, which are known to have died back in 2019.

According to the official numbers, in 2011, when the cameras were installed there were 35 rhino, and that number has climbed steadily to a current number of roughly 72.

 

Continue reading
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25 American states sue the EPA to block new rules aimed at slowly phasing out combustion engine vehicles

There is still a great deal of reluctance to accept climate change amongst republicans (this is odd in a country with one of the highest education levels in the world). There is also a certain amount of those who have publicly accepted it, saying humans cannot do anything about it anyway (so why should we try).What is worse, is that a number of them must recognize that climate change is a threat to their state and the people who live there, but are campaigning against it because of the narrow interests of a car company which is based in their state. This video outlines it well

Continue reading “25 American states sue the EPA to block new rules aimed at slowly phasing out combustion engine vehicles”
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Another attempt to push road transport onto Hydrogen – good for the worlds move to net zero, or a ploy?

Another attempt is being made to move the world beyond EVs and onto hydrogen cars. Is this worthwhile? Who is trying to make this happen and why? Lets start by looking at the advantages and disadvantages of this technology. (I have named them electric and hydrogen cars, I know some hydrogen car makers will take issue with this, but an EV does not need a fuel to be pumped into the car, merely power)

 

Comparison subject

Electric car

Hydrogen car

Fuel

Electricty

Hydrogen

Fuel Cost

3p a mile charged at home, on the go varies but up to 15p

A full charge drives 300- over 400 in a modern electric car.

And where is most charging done? at home while you sleep

£10-15 per kg, 77 miles per kg.13p-19p. It has a capacity of 5.6kg (£56-£84 at those prices)

A full tank allows around 400 miles range

There are few refilling stations and even in the best parts of the world they are less common than chargers or petrol stations.

Fuel Carbon Cost

Carbon neutral up to UK grid 2021 of 265g per kwh (so around 85g per mile at top)

50-55kwh to make 1kg of hydrogen. So between zero and 14.575kg of carbon, or 189g per mile

So a hydrogen car is more expensive to fuel and worse for the environment. What is good?

It is true that a hydrogen car can refuel faster, taking 3-5 minutes, however, you have to stand by your car for this whole period. A tesla 3 can add 172 miles in 15 minutes.

According to a financial times article, the average motorway stop is for around 20 minutes. Now, it is generally suggested by highway codes and similar, to stop for 15 minutes every 2 hours. This means that while a hydrogen car can drive for longer in one go, the human inhabitants will need far more comfort breaks. A tesla 3 can be driving for 2.5 hours before needing that 15 minute break once again.

This is about the only advantage

Cost of vehicle: a Toyota Mirai starts at just under £50,000, while the tesla 3 starts at just under £40,000. Hydrogen cars also need more services.

So who benefits from a switch?

Toyota with its smooth-riding Mirai and Hyundai’s Nexo. Audi, Honda, BMW, and others have explored it as well, but generally the car is complex so who does well? Fossil fuel companies. If they cannot sell fossil fuels, perhaps they can simply split them for the hydrogen

Hydrogen is bad for the

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The little-known population of Greenland wolves

@meline.wildlife

Surrounded by 13 wild wolves in the Arctic 🐺

♬ Originalton – Meline.Ellwangerr

The Greenland wolf, is known from remains, to have lived in Greenland for at least 7600 years, though, given Caribou have been there for 8900 years, it is quite possible that they have been there for longer.

It is a small population of around 200 individuals, so encountering them is rare. This video to the right is an incredible encounter a photographer had, when she realized that she had been surrounded by them. As you can see, wolves do not generally consider humans as food.

We have not been as kind in the past, and between 1920 and 1932, 35 wolves were killed in the core wolf range, forcing the population to decline rapidly to extinction.

It should be noted, that there is only a small population in Greenland, and it is a huge landmass, so it is quite possible that the population is larger.

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