Archive for the ‘Animals & Insects’ Category

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Climate Change and the Plot to Rid the World of Females!

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012


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Sexism at it’s finest? Is Climate Change actually a diabolic plot to rid the world of females? This could definitely be a great dinner conversation starter with the kids in your life. Let them know that for a tuatara (sometimes called a living fossil by scientists because their closest relatives roamed the planet with the dinosaurs) climate change and the future survival of the female tuatara and therefore the entire species, is actually a very REAL concern!

Photo Credit: Carolyn Monastra

According to the San Diego Zoo, “In the wild, tuataras breed in March, and females lay soft-shelled eggs in nesting burrows eight months later. The eggs incubate for 13 to 16 months before hatching. Like some other reptiles, such as alligators the temperature of the nest where it incubated as an egg determines a tuatara’s gender. It has been found that a difference of just one degree centigrade (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) can change the young in a clutch of eggs from all females to all males!”

Scientists are studying the turtara and other reptiles whose sex can be predetermined by temperature. According to Raymond Huey, a

Credit: Shutterstock

biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle: “Relative to the past, tuatara now have few places to hide, if anything their genetic inertia is now elevated. Moreover, they face a rate of temperature change that is unprecedented over the last 50 million years.”

The world’s population of “wild” tuatara is effectively trapped on about 30 small islands in New Zealand’s north, having been wiped out elsewhere by predators. As climate change causes temperatures on these islands to rise, the tuatara has no chance of adapting by fleeing to cooler climes, as it did in the past, researchers tell us. “Since the mid 1990s, people have been talking about the vulnerability of reptiles to climate change because they have temperature-dependent sex determination. But no one has been able to model it in this type of complexity before,” says research leader Nicola Mitchell of the University of Western Australia in Perth who is one of the scientists that has been studying the plight of the tuatara.

Special thanks to our friend Carolyn Monastra for bringing the tuatara to our attention. Many of you may know Carolyn Monastra and her Witness Tree Project. Climate Mama has been following Carolyn’s adventures around the world as she documents and photographs climate change. Check out Carolyn’s latest blog post where she shares more about her recent visit to New Zealand, and in particular concern for some of New Zealand’s mightiest glaciers, which are now retreating at an accelerated pace.

Do let us know what the kids in your life have to say about the climate change and the plot to rid the world of turtaras; grand plan or just another possible sad consequence of unchecked climate change?

Yours,

Climate Mama

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Posted in Animals & Insects, Lifestyle & Fun, Nature | 2 Comments »

5 Warm Weather Ideas for Getting Back to Nature With the Kids in Your Life

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

Rachel Carson Silent Spring, 1962

Photo credit: Shutterstock

As parents, we need to be the guides, the pied pipers and the role models extraordinaire when it comes to showing kids why they should be outside exploring nature rather than in the basement, on x-box live, with their friends. While our children may know and learn much more than we do about the threats our planet faces, like global warming, their direct contact with nature is much less then was that of their parents, when they were kids. As we live more “urban” lives today, and as technology plays a bigger part in our more limited free time, our “hands on relationship with nature” and that of our children’s, has been reduced.

Richard Louv, in his book, The Last Child in The Woods, uses the example of visits to the national park system and how they have dropped significantly since the late 1980s’s as one example of our growing disconnect with nature. He ties this with a 2006 study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago who show that an overwhelming percentage of the drop in attendance at our national parks (more than 90%!) is due to the increased time Americans spend plugged into electronics. Other reasons included: shorter vacation time, shortage of family time, the shrinking American “road trip,” a decline in park budgets and services, and increased entrance fees.

So UNPLUG AND UNPLUG your kids, and get outside! Here are our TOP 5 warm weather favorite outdoor activities you can do with the children in your life. Remember, you don’t need to travel to some exotic place to do these things; all of our top 5’s can be experienced in your own backyard or in a local park!

1. Native Nature Scavenger Hunt: where ever you live, something is “native” to that area. Many of the native animal and plant species that use to thrive in a given area, may be hiding “in plain site” or in fact becoming extinct. Manicured lawns in the suburbs and gentrified city parks often use what “looks” pretty, but may not be native to that region. Take out a book at the local library on local plants and animals and explore your yard or park with the kids in our life and find and identify 5 species native to your area!

2. After the Rain: Get out after a rainstorm and run barefoot in the puddles with the kids in your life. Let the mud squish between your toes and experience nature up close. After a rainstorm is also a great time to look for earthworms, which “surface” after it rains. Catch a few and examine them closely before you return them to the garden.

3. Chase a lightning bug (or firefly): If you live in the northeast, the spring is a magical time to view lightning bugs. These creatures love warm moist conditions, and appear in large numbers in the springtime when the conditions are ripe. Stay up late, and as the sun goes down, chase down some of these creatures with the kids in your life. If you have a local pond or marshy area near some trees or shrubs, this is “prime” firefly territory. Catch a few in a jar and watch them closely, but remember to let them out when you are done!

4. Bug Hunting: Find a tree stump or fallen tree, a big rock, or rotting piece of wood, grab the kids in your life and slowly pick it up! Watch them (and the bugs underneath) scurry with delight. Find out what lives “under a rock!”

5. Bird Rise: Get up before the sunrise, or better yet, sleep outside, and as the sun comes up, listen to nature as it wakes up with the sun. Not only do “roosters crow” but many birds start chirping as the sun rises, not just in the country, but in the middle of the city too. See if you can get a “bird” book, and identify 5 local bird species.

What are your favorite ways to “get back to nature?” This post was inspired by the amazing women of The Green Phone Booth, who are hosting this month’s Green Mom’s Carnival on “inspiring ideas for getting back to nature with kids!”

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Posted in Animals & Insects, Climate Mama News, Green Moms Carnival, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle & Fun, Nature | 6 Comments »

Climate Change Education, Oscars & Ball Gowns, Dolphins & Tim DeChristopher: It’s a wRAP

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Credit: Vogue.com

Did you watch the Oscars this year; Anne Hathaway and James Franco helping or hurting the show? Even if you didn’t watch, you probably heard that the “big winner” was the movie, The King’s Speech. You may also have heard that Collin Firth, the “King” won this year’s Best Actor award. What you might not know though, is that Collin’s wife, Livia, also deserved an award for the best and most “sustainably” dressed. According to EcoRazzi, Livia wore a gown by Gary Harvey that was fashioned from pieces of 11 reclaimed dresses, FROM THE PERIOD of the Kings Speech. Only in London perhaps, could you find all those special dresses! Power to Livia for showing us that the idea of reclaiming and reusing can be fashionable, creative and amazing!

NPR and other News agencies has been reporting over the past few weeks on the unprecedented number of dead dolphins washing up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, half of which – over 35 – have been babies. The babies would have been conceived just before the oil spill last April; dolphins have a 10-11 month gestation period. Somehow, just as all the oil that spilled into the Gulf has sunk from our view, so too has the uproar and the inquiry about where all that oil is and what damage it has done. Scientists are still waiting for autopsy reports to confirm what has caused these deaths, but we wouldn’t be surprised if somehow it’s related to either the oil dispersants and/or the oil itself. What do you think?

Have you been following the story of Tim DeChristopher? In case you haven’t, here’s a quick overview. Mr. DeChristopher was found guilty t on two felony charges for disrupting a government auction on land and oil leases on Utah wilderness sites. These land lease auctions were pushed through in the final days of the Bush administration. According to DeChristopher supporters, the leases were then later overturned by the Obama administration because the government at the time, “had failed to complete the analysis required by federal law for the protection of cultural and natural resources.” Mr. DeChristopher didn’t have the money to pay for the leases, yet knowingly bid on them to stop the exploitation of lands and drilling for oil. He now faces a jail sentence of up to 10 years. You might may want to discuss this with the kids in your life under the broad heading of “non-violent” protest and “how far” we should go for our beliefs. Our friends at the The Huffington Post ask if Mr. DeChristopher deserve a medal, or a jail sentence? Thoughts….

In the News this week we look at an opinion piece in the Washington Post, along the lines of Mr. DeChristopher’s protests, but from a more individual perspective. In Climate Mama News, we share with you the Top Ten ways to save money and energy at the same time! Our new featured Campaign this month is EARTH HOUR. Check out our homepage and the Earth Hour site for more information; be part of the action on March 26th and beyond.

Cheers, and with something to think about….

Yours,

Climate Mama

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Posted in Animals & Insects, Art, Fashion, Entertainment, Disasters, Take a Stand: Action & Advocacy, Weekly Climate Mama wRAP | No Comments »

International Polar Bear Day, Climate Change America vs Canada – It’s a wRAP, February 25, 2011

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Sunday, February 27th is International Polar Bear Day!

Photo credit: Norbert Rosing

According to the National Wildlife Federation, about 25,000 polar bears remain in the wild today, with that number dwindling because of pollution, poaching and in large part global warming. In 2008, the US declared polar bears “endangered” due to climate change, as the polar bear’s habitat changes as summer Arctic ice disappears. There is no plan for helping the species survive, rather a recognition of the facts contributing to its precarious existence. Talk to your kids this weekend about the polar bear. A majestic creature, the polar can live over 40 years in captivity and around 25 years in the wild. The polar bear has become the “poster child” for the consequences of human caused global warming and the recent and accelerating changes in the Arctic that are threatening the polar bears habitat are important to discuss and understand.

Photo credit: A. Jennis

As reported in Scientific American at this week’s gathering of scientists for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, scientists expressed “bafflement as to why the global research consensus on human-induced climate change remains contentious in the US.” Well funded campaigns that sow doubt as well as media disinformation, and the current political and cultural context all seem to drive this “dissing” of the facts. As a Canadian and American, I’m not sure if a recent survey by two Canadian organizations, the Public Policy Forum and Sustainable Prosperity are suppose to make me feel bad, good, sad or happy, or maybe just cry. The survey found that 80 per cent of Canadians polled said they believe there is solid evidence of global warming, compared to only 58 per cent of Americans. Around the world, the percentage of people that recognize global warming as a real, human caused concern, is more similar to that of Canadians, rather than Americans. Yet as one of the greatest producers of greenhouse gases in the world, American need to listen to the facts, not media and lobbyist spin.

In Climate Mama News this week we featured a “guest post” from Kitty Holman who shows us 5 ways our children’s schools can be more environmentally friendly. In our Video Peek of the Week our friend Peter Sinclair brings us a fun video you can share with the kids in your life that helps explain the difference between “weather and climate.” As the Rodale Plastic Free Challenge winds down, we’d love to hear from you on things you learned, or want to share. For us, the challenge was eye opening, as we realized how pervasive plastics have become in our lives and how hard it will be to wean ourselves off of them.

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Posted in Animals & Insects, Plastics & Plastic Free, Science, Weekly Climate Mama wRAP | No Comments »

Mass Species Extinction!!! Bells are Ringing – In the News

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

2011 NYT’s Front Page Story – “For Many Species no Escape as Temperature Rises,”…boring right? ….last week’s news. This week as the US eastern seaboard digs out, yet again, from a massive snowstorm, last week’s news that many scientists predict we are on track to loose between 20-50% of all species in the next 100 years, is quickly forgotten.

We are told that a person born in a developed country, today, has a life expectancy of 100 years. So, while humans may not be facing emanate extinction, 1 out of 2 plant and animal species may no longer be here at the end of that person’s life. Mass Extinction, News Flash! Once again, as we rush to get our kids off to school, ourselves to the office, and dinner on the table, these alarm bells are falling on deaf ears. Or we hear them and then tuck it away somewhere, as it is just too “big” to get our arms around.

Any Raffi fans out there? Maybe your children still listen to his songs, “Baby Beluga”, “Banana Phone?” A recent article by Raffi reminds us that climate change is THE crisis, the greatest threat on earth, the cumulative that has no partial remedy. As Raffi so eloquently states, “the young have the strongest moral claim on climate action. It’s their future on the line. And they may hold the key to inspiring an emotional tipping point for critical mass.” If they can’t galvanize us and inspire us, than what is it going to take? Give the kids in your life a hug today, tell them you care, and you will do what it takes to make the future brighter for them.

Looking for some inspired action, a start to a new family campaign? Follow our adventures, as we take the Rodale “Plastic Free Challenge” in early February, better yet, Join us! Stay tuned for updates!

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Posted in Animals & Insects, In The News, Take a Stand: Action & Advocacy | 1 Comment »

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Welcome to Climate Mama

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You are a mother, a father, a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt, a teacher or a child at heart. When you hear the Native American saying, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”, it makes you stop for a moment and think. You love nature, travel, adventure and believing in a world that is special and unique. Climate change and global warming are words that alarm you, that often seem too big to get your arms around. You care about what’s happening to the world and notice small changes in your own life that seem to point in the direction of a threatened environment. But you wonder if these changes are real, and if they are you can’t imagine what you can do to help change what is happening.

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Climate Mamas and Papas

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Climate Change so often seems too big to get our hands around. We wonder where we can start and how we can actually make a difference. Each one of us has a different path that we will follow. Some of us cut a wider swath than others, but each of us has a role to play. We would like to introduce you to some amazing individuals, Climate Mamas and Papas who are making a difference, who are, through their daily lives, affecting the lives of all of us. They inspire us, empower us, and challenge us to reach for the stars, to strive to do the best we can to help change the crash course we are currently on with our environment. Lets meet some of these amazing people and find out what inspires them. Meet our featured Climate Mama, Desiree Di Mauro today!

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The Climate Reality Project is one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to mobilizing action around climate change. With a global movement that is more than 2 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Leaders, Climate Reality is "spreading the truth and unleashing the cultural momentum to solve the climate crisis."

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