Wildlfires affect animal and human health even if you don't live in the area

Posted on 10:00pm Thursday 6th Jul 2017

So you want to to be healthier, with a healthy diet, exercise, a good night's sleep and the physical and mental ability to live life to the full.

So how far have you thought about the air you breathe? Wildfires have been ferocious this year - Chile, Portugal, Spain, the US for starters - and they affect not only those living in the area but also further away. In the US west, Alaska and Canada, more than 9.8 MILLION acres burnt last year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center

The American Lung Association has information on how wildfires affect people's health thousands of miles away. It says in the US that climate change has caused higher spring and summer temperatures. The snow has melted erlier, causing soils to be drier for longer and lengthening the wildfire season and increasing drought. These hot, dry conditions can make fire more intense and also make it burn for longer.

Wildfires spread air pollution locally, but thousands of miles away. For people, they can cause breathing difficulties in even healthy individuals, but particularly in hildren, older adults, and people with lung diseases such as asthma and COPD, and heart problems. Although those in the immediate vicinity are of course affected first, fire and smoke spreads downwind. Click here for more info

The impact of wildfires on the animal kingdom and its habitat is horrific. Domestic pets, working animals and wildlife die in large numbers as they have no fast way out. Wildfires can spread at considerable speed.

Vigilence is essential to take care when it is particularly dry and hot.

Give a gift which helps many

Posted on 8:00am Thursday 22nd Jun 2017

I read this wonderful quote recently from somebody called Charley Willey, who worked out the following:

"Make one person happy each day and in 40 years, you will have made 14,600 human beings happy for a little time, at least."

That struck a chord with me, and of course as an animal lover, I came up with an alternate version:

"Make one animal happy each day and in 40 years, you will have made 14,600 aniamls happy for a little time, at least."

Of course, you can make your dog or cat happy every day and at the end of that time, that will just have been one animal over the length of time that you are blessed with them.

But then there are ways to reach out to help a vast number of animals.

Feed the birds in your garden or via a window feeder, and you feed many (or more than one, at any rate).
Grow wildlife friendly flowers in your garden with a simple packet of seeds, and you'll help butterflies and moths, bees and other insects.
Put a small wildlife pond in your garden or a bird bath and watch in enjoyment as animals come to drink or take a quick dip.
Plant a tree and you'll give hundreds of animals shade from the sun, shelter from the rain, and somewhere to rest and nest.
Sponsor an acre, and you'll help thousands of animals and many different species by providing them or protecting their habitat - the area where they live.
GIve a horse lover a virtual gift from a charity like the Brooke or Spana and you can help hundreds of horses, donkeys, mules and camels, all thirsty after working long hours in incredibly hot temperatures.
Add your name to a petition and improve the lot of animals in your country or abroad.

Every act helps and every act has the power to improve the lives of animals and people world wide. And every act has the potential to help not just one animal but millions of them.

Africa's largest marine conservation area is being created in the waters of Gabon

Posted on 9:00pm Monday 12th Jun 2017

There's news from the west coast of Africa.

The largest marine conservation area in the continent is being created - a network of 9 new national marine parks and 11 new aquatic reserves is going to extend across a massive 20,500 square miles in territorial waters and out into Gabon's economic zone. The area covers 26% will protect 26 percent of Gabon’s territorial seas.

The move will help protect fish stocks from over-fishing and also help the area cope better with changing climates and give the corals there a chance to recover.

The goal is to protect the waters for generations to come, and Ali Bongo Ondimba, who took over the presidency of the country after his father died in 2009, sees them the areas as precious as the rainforests which cover 90% of Gabon.

The Gabon waters have some of the world's largest stocks of Altantic tuna, so there is a danger of overfishing. The hope is that fish stocks will be revived and the breeding grounds of whales, dolphins and turtles will be protected by the move.

Thank you, Gabon, for caring about the future of our waters for generations to come, both people and marine life.

Medieval aqueduct fights drought in Karnataka, India

Posted on 10:00am Wednesday 7th Jun 2017

It's always exciting to hear about projects to bring water to everyone, especially given that so many areas of the world are experiencing droughts. I can't imagine anything worse that not having access to clean drinking water, for animals or people.

So I was very interested to hear about a project in India to revive a medieval way to fight the drought in the area of Karnataka.

The BBC have got a video on it, but essentially an enormous system of water channels connected by tunnels built by Medieval kings with pick axes and shovels sustained life in the settlements above. These tunnels were carved out well below ground and they were discovered five years ago by Professor V Govindankutty. A main well - known as a mother well - is dug in the place where there is enough water and taken to the place where you need it. Volunteers spent ages clearing the channels of debris and silt.

These techniques were developed in Ancient Persia, i.e. a very long time ago. With the ancient system begun again with about 50 wells in the area, they've all started having water. To date, none of them have dried up. Even in May, the area is still getting a good supply of water.

This is a very exciting discovery and I hope more places which experience tremendously dry spells will take a look at it.

Ocean conservation hits the spotlight

Posted on 5:40pm Tuesday 6th Jun 2017

This is an important week for all of us.

From 5th to 9th June in New York, the United Nations is holding its first ever high level meeting specifically to address ocean conservation. Key discussions will take place about targets to:

Reduce pollution and debris;
Protect marine eco-systems;
End overfishing and destructive fishing practices;
Minimise the effects of ocean acidification

It's about time.

There’s always a lot of talk about preserving the rainforests on our planet and very little about ocean conservation. This must mean marine conservationists feel they are banging their heads against a brick wall.

To make matters worse, many people are very disconnected to ocean life. A day at the seaside means ice-creams, sun tan lotion, swimming, trying to get all the sand out of your gear before you lug it back into your car again, lying lazily in the sun, going for a paddle, splashing about in the water, surfboarding in the sea, playing games and trying to top up your tan without ending up looking like the person a few metres away from you who is as red as a tomato.

We may fleetingly look out over the ocean so blue, and wonder what lies beyond; and equally feel quite powerless when we see this huge chunk of water drifting in and out before us. We may be indifferent to its state - what does it matter what state the ocean is in?

So long as the coastline is clear for us to swim in and paddle about in, that’s fair enough. We’ve got tuna sandwiches, the tuna having been bought from a kiosk or the supermarket, and we’re enjoying ourselves – never mind how it was caught or where it came from, or what the fish itself had eaten before it was caught. And in any case, what can we personally do to make a difference? We may feel that on our own, we’re all too powerless to make a difference.

However....

We do however want to be sure that when we go to the beach to enjoy the sea air and the sea itself, to meet friends, to spend family time together, we don’t want to find ourselves sitting in the middle of a rubbish dump.

We don’t want to spend ages looking for a spot on the beach that’s rubbish-free – forgetting what could be under the sand. We don’t want the food we put into our bodies to contain tiny bits of plastic that the fish we’re eating swallowed before we did.

We don’t want to sit next to other people’s wet-wipes they used in the bathroom which have ended up in our sewage systems, or discover we’ve put our picnic stuff on someone’s toothbrush, cigarette lighter or the cotton wool bud they used to clean out their ears before chucking it away.

Our wildlife and marine life need a healthy environment in which to thrive, not survive. We need a healthy, thriving marine life and ocean if we’re to thrive, as well. There are lots of good things happening around the world and I hope to bring news of more of them regularly.

The United Nations and governments around the world can have their own discussions but that’s not enough.

There are 7 billion of us on this planet. If 1,000 people in Mumbai in India can clear a beach of its rubbish bit by bit in 85 months, imagine what 10 of us could do on a small beach somewhere else.

The more of us who get stuck in, whether we act on our own, or join others who want to make a difference, the better.

One person taking one action and telling another about it can spiral a chain reaction and inspire others to do the same as well. There is a LOT going on and tons of local initiatives and events happening on the coastlines around the world which really are making a difference.

Ocean Info

Oceans cover over 70% of the earth’s surface.

Oceans provide about 99% of our planet’s living space

Oceans absorb just over 25% of the carbon dioxide we produce every year

Over 90% of the enhanced heating from the greenhouse effect & other human activities are absorbed by our oceans

Two thirds of the oceans are beyond national jurisdiction

Care for the ocean, and you care for you

You’ll probably have heard the phrase, “You can’t eat an elephant in one bite”. It’s essentially saying that the task of eating an elephant is so enormous that it’s only by breaking job down into small pieces that you can tackle it, piece by piece. Caring for our ocean and conserving it needs the same approach. We all need to break down caring for the ocean into lots of bits, so lots of people are doing their bits and helping out.

There are two key actions we can all take:

Help clear up the rubbish we made

Stop producing the rubbish in the first place