"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, 1901-1978
However, gardens have an important top play in providing havens for wildlife – in giving them food and shelter.
The more wildlife friendly we can make our gardens, the better a chance wildlife will have.
There’s plenty we can all do to help, such as making a feeding station for hedgehogs – we’ve put a hedgehog hotel in our garden. You can build a small pond for amphibians, or create a log pile for insects. Pretty much all the flowers in our garden are wildlife friendly and it gives us huge pleasure to watch the wildlife enjoying them.
It’s easy to do.
And the good news is that PTES have put a kit together to help you make your garden more wildlife friendly!
All you need to do is to donate £5 and you can receive your special Wildlife Friendly Garden Kit, with everything you need to turn your garden into a wildlife haven.
Kits include:
garden wildlife guide on the importance of your garden to wildlife and the species you’re likely to see.
garden wildlife planner of monthly wildlife friendly activities all year round.
garden wildlife poster with 12 top tips to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.
PTES supporter booklet introducing PTES and their vital conservation work.
They have noticed that polar bears are showing up in odd places. An exhausted polar bear was seen recently in a village on Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula – and that’s 600 kilometers plus from its home range.
Their Senior Director of Conservation, Geoff York, thinks this could be that the bear hitched a ride on an ice floe and drifted south, as the ice broke up earlier in the Bering and Chukchi seas this spring.
Unusual and fast ice loss this year has displaced polar bears form their preferred hunting areas. Seals give birth to their pups in spring In snow lairs or on the sea ice surface. This makes the polar bear’s dinner more abundant and accessible than at any other time of the year.
However the Russian polar bear was far from this area.
It was decided to air-lift him back north, to Chukotka in the Russian Arctic.
But there have been other unusual occurrences in the region over several months. Some have been far from the sea. This could be because of unstable ice cover.
Sustained early sea ice is bad news for polar bears
Polar Bears International know from other regions that sustained early sea ice break up doesn’t do polar bears any good.
Fewer hunting opportunities
Decreased body condition
Impacts on reproduction which aren’t good
Negative impacts on survival, especially the old and young
If there’s less sea ice in the Arctic, it gets more difficult for polar bears to make a living from the frozen ocean. Of course people living on the Arctic rely on stable ice to get around on, and to gather food. We all need a frozen Arctic ecosystem to regulate our climate. So we ALL need the Arctic to be in good health.
Polar Bears International works in 3 ways:
Education and outreach. As more polar bears appear onshore, the charity works to help keep polar bears and people safe, with outreach on best practices for avoiding human-polar bear conflict. These include getting rid of things such as open garbage dumps and installing bear-proof ones.
Research – the charity is studying the effectiveness of using surveillance radar to detect approaching polar bears. This means alerts can be given before a bear enters town. PBI help with research on the best deterrants – and that includes putting together a history of polar bear attacks, and their causes to help avoid future conflicts.
Climate Action. PBI is one working to solve the climate crisis, sharing their knowledge of polar bears and coming up with solutions. This includes the Climate Alliance training program for zoo staff members, outreach to motivate citizen involvement, and advocacy to policy makers on the urgent need to act.
The petition is calling for world leaders to forge a new agreement such that at least 50% of our lands and oceans must be protected and restored.
A global study has just found that every insect on the planet is on track to be wiped out – causing life on Earth to collapse – and that includes humans.
The petition says:
To world leaders:
"We global citizens are deeply concerned by scientists warning that ecosystems critical to sustaining life on Earth could collapse in our lifetimes. We call on you to meet existing targets to protect biodiversity, forge a new agreement so that at least 50% of our lands and oceans are protected and restored, and ensure our planet is completely sustainably managed. This must take into consideration the needs of human development and have the active support of indigenous peoples. This long-term goal for nature can restore harmony with our home."
Nature has never needed such a strong voice and scientists are offering a way to defend nature and people too – put half the planet under protection. At the moment, France, Germany, Canada and other countries are about to hold talks to look at the idea before a global summit on extinction.
This is all happening at the time Sir David Attenborough’s programme Our Planet streams on Netflix, hoping for an audience in 190 countries. It could be over ONE BILLION people watch it – that’s one in seven (give or take a few) on the planet.
The petition calls on these leaders to back protection for half the earth.
There’s news from Wilmar International. They are important, because the Singapore based company supplies 40% of the world’s palm oil.
They say (which is different to actually doing) that they will commit to map its suppliers’ entire landbank by the end of 2019.
Wilmar is going to use satellite monitoring to check for deforestation. If they catch companies cutting virgin forest for plantations, those companies will immediately be suspended from doing business with Wilmar.
Greenpeace say they will be watching this development carefully and its activists have been busy in the last few months. If Wilmar does what it says, it means that by 2019 it will be almost impossible for its suppliers to get away with forest destruction.
The problem with palm oil is that it’s cheap – so used in a major way in cosmetics, toiletries and food products.
Huge areas of rainforest have been destroyed to allow for palm oil plantations.
Wildlife species have been badly hit, most notably the orangutan.
Wilmar’s decision comes about because people are showing a backlash against companies that use unsustainable and unverified palm oil.
We must all watch this development and see what Wilmar International actually does. As I said at the start, making these plans is different to actually carrying them out and DOING them. But it’s a start and could be a useful benchmark with which to see what progress they make by the end of 2019.
Make a Difference NOW to Rainforest Conservation
An Indonesian oil palm plantation is up for sale and the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) has a golden opportunity to buy this land and restore the lush forest that once stood there. They need to raise £870,000 by February 2019 to do this and help save the habitat for orangutans. As I write, over £512,000 has been donated already. Find out more and donate here.
Lots of people are giving £5 or £10 or whatever they can to this appeal. What matters is that lots of us take action and give something to make a difference and get this land to protect it for wildlife. I donated for my aunt’s birthday present as she adores orangutans. Every £1 or $1 helps. Donate here
There’s a very great danger to rainforests and consequently to all our wellbeing. We all need rainforests in good conditions in order for every one of us to survive and thrive and be well.
Rainforest Rescue report that business groups and politicians want to meet to discuss worldwide demand for energy and raw materials. These groups want to boost economic growth with a new “bioeconomy”.
The idea is that vast amounts of land will produce wood and other agricultural goods.
Burning our forests in power plants and setting up huge industrial plantations to grow biomass for supposedly renewable energy and bioplastics is anything but clean or green.
These plants threaten natural ecosystems, the global climate, human health and human rights. One example is the Brazilian “Biofuture Platform”. This is a Brazilian initiative supported by 20 countries.
Personally, I think far too many business leaders and politicians around the world have lost touch with nature to such an extent that they think it’s now a “nice to have” thing, or something which isn’t relevant to them and doesn’t apply to them. Their arrogance is breathtaking.
Look after the earth and the earth will look after us.
I don't think we are looking after the earth and she is rapidly coming to a point where will she cannot look after us because she isn’t in good health herself. And that’s our fault.
