Saving the rain forests

Coolearth is one of my favorite organizations.  They have figured out how to support the preservation of 100's of thousands of acres of rain forest all over the world by partnering with indigenous communities that live in and alongside these forests. The organization accepts donations to fund their activities.  To date over 660,000 acres are being preserved.  While this is a tremendous accomplishment, I believe that overall WE need to do much MUCH better.  The rate of deforestation and extinction of plant and animal life is unprecedented.  Massive action is needed to tip the scales and give animals and their habitats a chance.

To increase the likelihood of success, I have the idea of using the Product Launch Formula that a marketing strategy developed and taught by Jeff Walker.  Now the challenge is put something in place. 

While I'm busy figuring this out, take a few moments to check out Coolearth and save some rain forest.  https://www.coolearth.org/ 

Where have you been?

Where have I been for the past few years?  Alongside major life accomplishments like getting married, traveling the world, moving up the management ladder in my career, and giving birth to an amazing little boy, I spent a lot of time doubting that I could make a difference in this crazy world. I spent a lot of time thinking "Is anyone listening? Does anyone care?" and wondering whether anything I did was really enough to make even the smallest dent in the fortress of environmental destruction engulfing our 21st century existence that seems to magnify year after year.

But when you desire something from your soul, there's probably nothing that can fully conceal this forever.   By accident I recently uncovered a bit of this desire and felt again the inspiration to continue the journey.

In the final moments of the 24 Hour of Reality initiative  Vice President Al Gore called himself an optimist and he said that he believes in the saying that "things take longer to happen than you think they will and then they happen faster than you thought they ever could".

And this was exactly what I needed hear.  He also said something else. "Despair is just another form of denial." Despair and denial are beneath us all.

https://www.24hoursofreality.org/

https://www.24hoursofreality.org/

Revolutionize the way we raise awareness about conservation! Monetizing the Arctic??

No, I am not talking about oil exploration or deep water drilling.  What if there was a way to capture the beauty and exhibit the delicate nature of the Arctic ecosystem and to visually infuse this into every-day experiences.  The goal here would be to raise awareness and inspire people to care about the preservation of this ecosystem.  Rather than preaching to a choir about the need to do this and that…individuals would come to see for themselves the necessity for preserving this ecosystem.  The desire to do so would come from within them, rather than from others.  

This concept is being explored by Tim Richards who is the owner and founder of ReefCam.  Unlike many traditional environmental projects, Tim is looking to build an environmental business model that is self-sustaining and creates jobs.  

Here is how it would work.  Underwater video equipment is set up in some of the most beautiful and threatened coral reefs in the Caribbean that is positioned to stream live HD video feeds of the reefs.  These video feeds are sold to resorts and spas, and corporations, schools, restaurants, even hospitals. 

Tim acknowledges the paradox of monetizing something that he considers priceless, but it is not about exploitation of the reefs at all.  The mission is to show people how naturally beautiful and important coral reefs are to the health of our plant.  Being for profit means that there is a better opportunity to reach as many people as possible. By helping people to enjoy the reefs, Tim hopes it will inspire people to do what they can to care for it.

Maybe Tim can help us set up Arctic video feeds to show the world that we need to protect the Arctic too.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/12/can-monetizing-coral-reefs-save-them/?source=link_tw20121013ngnw-moneyreefs&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_tw20121013ngnw-moneyreefs&utm_campaign=Content

Wildlife SOS India Success Story

It is important to breakdown and evaluate success stories.  We have to know what we are doing…that is working, and then figure out how to do more of it! 

Success Story:

For hundreds of years a nomadic tribal community known as the Kalandar had used the practice of bear dancing for entertainment.  Wildlife SOS India has helped to end this cruel practice of keeping sloth bears in captivity where they are forced to “dance.”  For now approximately 10,000 sloth bears are left in the wild.  It was estimated that over 1,200 bears had been kept in captivity.  These bears are now being turned over to the Arga Bear Rescue Facility. 

How we accomplished this:

Step 1:  Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 – banned the possession of sloth bears

Step 2: Agra Bear Rescue Facility was establish to help the local governments implement the regulation.

Step 3: Wildlife SOS India engaged the Kalandar community – living with them in over 60 villages and building trust.  The communities exchanged bears for skill training (carpet weaving, driving, welding, grinding and packaging spices, sewing jewelry-making, gem cutting and polishing, running tea shops, and vending vegetables) – changing the lives of over 300 families.

Step 4: Forestwatch (Wildlife SOS’s anti-poaching unit) continues to work with government officials to track bear cub poachers.  Over 70 bear cubs have been rescued so far.

Step 5: The Agra Bear Rescue Facility now hosts on-going training programs, workshops, and lectures for the Kalandar community and serves as a research facility for veterinary procedures and management.

Way to go Wildlife SOS India!

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/11/wildlife-sos-india-ends-the-400-year-old-persecution-of-bears-a-conservation-success-story/

Russia's ban on polar bear hunting...U.S. planning to ban commercial trade of polar bears

I completely missed this in the news, when it happened....but since I missed it, maybe you did too!   According www.care2.com and the Russian Geographical Society's Research Program on the Polar Bear Inhabiting the Russian Arctic, Russia had completely banned polar bear hunting in 2011.  Way to go Russia. It gets better!  Apparently, appreciation for the polar bear goes all the way to the top.  It turns out that Vladimir Putin is an advocate for the preservation of endangered animals.  The picture below shows him assisting researchers by tagging a polar bear.

For now the ban has been partially lifted to allow for subsistence hunting for poor villagers in Chukotka located in the region across the Bering Strait from Alaska, but the focus and efforts taken by Russia to protect the polar bear are commendable. 

Now the U.S. is catching up with it's on stand on the ban of commercial trade of polar bears.  This shift if policy is slated to be announced at the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES) in March (Learn more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CITEShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CITES).  Doing this could move the polar bear from Appendix II to Appendix I.  This means that polar bears would move from a list of approximately 21,000 species that may be extinct to the list of 1,200 that are unquestionably threatened with extinction.  This designation could significantly help with efforts to protect the polar bear. 

http://www.care2.com/causes/russia-cancels-annual-polar-bear-hunt.html

http://int.rgo.ru/grants/research-program-on-the-polar-bear-inhabiting-the-russian-arctic/

This news is helps to address one of the four major threats to polar bears today -- Overharvesting. Perhaps this news also provides partial answers to questions 1 and 2 in the blog post below. Join the conversation.  Let's be part of the solution.

Our Future -- Let's Build a Vision

Sea ice has retreated to record levels. This is causing new stress for our polar bear friends.  Protecting the polar bear is going to require strategic and plausible plans that we can implement that will reduce green house gas emissions. (I realize that we are all inwardly saying...Ugh..we know, we know..) We will need to derive a strategy and a plan for sustaining a viable and healthy polar bear population. 

Can you envision this in your mind?  Can you imagine a world that honors and supports all life, such as the polar bear? What does this look like?   What type of community could we live in that would support this?  

While it is important to understand the challenges facing the  polar bear (See below), it is vital that we collectively identify a goal and align with a vision that both empowers us and aids us as we create the future.

Ed Oakley and Doug Krug in Enlightened Leadership outline a process where it is possible to derive new answers, insights and establish a compelling and empowering vision by simply asking the right questions.  The first question is

1. What is already working?

Sample Answer: How are we currently succeeding in changing how we as individuals/corporations/governments operate? What else?

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

2. What makes this work?

Sample Answer: Could we list public awareness campaigns?  Tax exemptions for green initiatives? Laws and regulations? What else?

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

3. What is the objective?

Sample Answer: Could this be preserving arctic habitat or enabling a growing and sustainable polar bear population?  What else?

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

4. What are the benefits of achieving this objective? 

Sample Answer: What are the benefits with respect to polar bears/ other creatures in living in the arctic/ humanity/ ourselves? What else?

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

5. What can we do to move closer to our objective?

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

~Please join the conversation.  Leave your thoughts as comments.

************************************************

Let's not dwell exclusively on the problems, let's put our energy into solutions -- SD

Major Threats to the Polar Bear:

Climate Change - Reduction in sea ice and food

Toxic Pollution - PBCs, industrial by-products, pesticides

Oil and Gas - Population, habitat destruction

Overharvesting - Oversight of legal hunting is needed

 http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/arctic/wildlife/polar_bear/threats/

************************************************

Polar Bears International Sustainability Alliance

A unique group of polar bear allies known as the PBI SustainabilityAlliance has been busy at work preparing to take on an incredible challenge.  This challenge is to be on the front-lines as shrinking sea ice creates situations where bears are hungry, injured, or landlocked.  The Alliance consists of zoo experts and biologists that are trained in rescue and rehabilitation for these animals. The aim of this group is to help the bears in the short term.

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/programs/pbi-sustainability-alliance

Here are a few things that the Alliance will be doing:

• Networking with authorities in the polar bear nations to let them know help is available
• Holding workshops and training sessions to help communities manage bear encounters
• Preparing guidelines for rescue and rehab efforts
• Gathering needed tools and equipment—from tranquilizer guns to transport cages
• Lining up potential homes for rescued cubs
• Assembling a boots-on-the-ground squad

The Sustainability Alliance is being supported by the Arctic Ambassador Centers located in North America and Europe and Australia.  The full list can be found here:  

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/programs/pbi-arctic-ambassador-centers/list#NorthAmerica

One of the Arctic Ambassador Centers is the San Diego Zoo. Several members of the PBI Sustainability Alliance are also from the San Diego Zoo.   Check out a recent clip --