Bald eagle soars off endangered list

After being on the verge of extinction in 1967, the American bald eagle has officially been taken off the endangered species list today.

“Today, I am proud to announce the eagle has returned,” Interior Secretary Kirk Kempthorne said while making the announcement at Jefferson Memorial.

According to the AP article “Bald Eagle comes off endangered list,” in 1963, there were only about 417 mating pairs of bald eagles in the contiguous 49 states.

The powerful and majestic-looking creature had been decimated by DDT, a pesticide that was used to control mosquitoes and other insects. DDT residue contaminated rivers and other waterways, contaminating the fish that bald eagles would later ingest which would then poison and inevitably cause their death.

It was also “hunted for its feathers, shot from airplanes, the subject of a 50-cent bounty in Alaska… and fed to hogs in some states,” according to another AP article-“U.S. bald eagle numbers make recovery.” Loss of habitat also contributed to the bald eagle’s near demise.

Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act in 1940 to prohibit the killing, selling or possessing of the regal bird. It was also listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1967. But what the experts identify as the first and most important step in the eagle's path to recovery began when in 1972, the use of DDT was banned in the United States.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), there is now an estimated high of 9,879 breeding pairs, 1,133 of which are found in Florida.

• To learn basic facts about the bald eagle (and even listen to some of the eagle's actual cries!), visit the American Eagle Foundation page.
• To listen to an interview clip of National Bald Eagle Coordinator Jody Millar's discussion of "How bald eagles became endangered," click here.

Instant messaging your way to a better planet

Everyone IM's nowadays, so why not contribute to helping the planet while you're at it?

Thanks to i'm, a new initiative from Windows Live Messenger, you actually can.

The way the program works is this: every time you use Windows instant messaging service, Microsoft will share a portion of the service's ad revenue to the cause of your choice. Among your options, the initiative to "help explore and protect the planet" by choosing the Sierra Club. You can also help increase awareness and join the fight against global warming by choosing StopGlobalWarming.org.

Of course, the environment is not the only one that needs our help, so you can also choose among other organizations dedicated to causes of great importance, among them the American Red Cross and UNICEF. And the great thing is, you don't have to feel like once you've chosen a cause you can't help out another that might interest you. Actually, if you like, you can switch back and forth between the causes dearest to your heart by making the appropriate selection whenever you begin a new conversation (I tried it out myself so I know it works!).

This is what you need to do:

1. Download the Windows Live Messenger instant messenger service.
   
2. Before initiating a conversation, choose the cause of your choice next to your Display Name.


3. Start your conversation. While you chat with your friends or family members, you'll be contributing to the issue that is of most importance to you. Every conversation counts!
   

For more details, visit the i'm page and start making a difference!

Online petition asks for Florida panther protection

Members of Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities, have set up an online petition with the purpose of saving the home of some of the world's last remaining Florida panthers.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, there are less than 100 Florida panthers left in the wild, many of which live at the Big Cypress Natural Preserve in the city of Ochopee in Southwest Florida.

However, the National Park Service is considering opening up a part of Big Cypress to off-road vehicles (ORV's), which would take away some of the Florida panther's already-insufficient territory and put undue stress on them and other endangered wildlife that already struggle for survival there.

According to Defenders of Wildlife, the area is indeed in the most sensitive habitat of the Bear Island Unit, an area in the northwest corner of Big Cypress frequented by the critically endangered Florida panther. By signing the petition, you would be telling the National Park Service that "the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida panthers and other endangered wildlife that live there need to be protected from damaging off-road vehicle use."

• You can sign the petition by clicking here. (Deadline is this Friday, June 15)

• You can also learn about other ways you can help the Florida panther by visiting the Defenders of Wildlife How You Can Help page.
  
• To learn more about the Florida panther, visit the Defenders of Wildlife Florida Panther Fact Sheet.

Dead whale shark found off Florida's coast

The picture shown, which was featured in today's edition of the Sun-Sentinel, is that of a 30-foot dead whale shark that was found two miles off Lantana beach today.

The finding of this creature, already in state of decomposition, near the Boca Inlet is considered as rare in Florida waters.

Researchers are considering studying the body in hopes of discovering the animal's cause of death, particularly because under Florida law, catching or possessing a whale shark is prohibited.

The whale shark is the largest of living fishes. But don't be fooled by its name, after all, the "whale shark" is not a whale at all. It's called a whale shark simply because it's a shark as large as a whale. The whale shark is also a gentle, slow-moving creature that is a favorite of snorkelers and scuba divers in many countries around the world.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) , also known as the World Conservation Union, lists the whale shark as a vulnerable species in what is known as th IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

According to the IUCN, whale shark populations have been depleted by harpoon fisheries in several countries. The species has also suffered from incidental capture by other fisheries and the fact that it is highly valued in international trade, which makes the whale shark vulnerable to exploitation.

The Sun-Sentinel's article Whale shark’s carcass found off Boca Inlet of little value, researchers say, talks about some experts' belief that foreign companies may be catching the large fish to harvest their fins so they can be used in soup and for decoration in Asia.

Multimillionaire buys South American land to preserve environment

Douglas Tompkins, the American multimillionaire who founded the Esprit clothing line, recently purchased more than half a million acres of Esteros del Ibera, a vast marshland in Argentina.
But his intent, he says, is not to exploit the land, but rather, to save it.

The Ibera Wetlands are located in the Corrientes province, on the northeast side of the South American country. They are comprised of a mix of swamps, lakes and lagoons, which makes them one of the most important water reservoirs in the continent. The area also hosts a large biodiversity, among them the pampas deer , the neotropical river otter and the black howler monkey or caraya (shown above).

Tompkins, a committed environmentalist, invests in purchasing areas of great ecological significance. According to an article from the Associated Press, he does so in order to protect these territories and the environment within them from the abuse of agribusiness and industrial development, with the idea that he will one day return them to the government as nature reserves.

With the acquisition of this land, Tompkins adds to the previously purchased territory in Chile, making him the owner of well over 1 million acres of land in South America, a combined area as large as the size of Belgium.

Apple recycles customers' old computers

When buying a new computer, many people have difficulty finding out how to properly dispose of their old equipment.

For that reason, Apple has made it easier for those who purchase its products to do so in an eco-friendly way through the Apple Recycling Program.

If you're about to purchase a Mac, don't forget to take advantage of this program, which allows you to get rid of your old computer and/or monitor for free, regardless of manufacturer.

When you purchase any Apple computer and/or Apple display from the online Apple Store or an Apple retail location, you can opt for the program during the checkout process. Apple will then email you instructions on how to package your old equipment as well as a FedEx shipping label so it can be shipped to a recycling center.

Apple will also accept your computer's peripherals, including printers, scanners, cables, mice, keyboards, computer speakers, floppy drives, optical media and external hard drives.

For more details, visit Apple's Recycling Program page.

Sharks on the decline, some species near extinction

( Note: In case the video doesn’t download properly, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-D4ntqtsB4 )

Many people experience the fear of being attacked and eventually killed by a shark while enjoying a day at the beach.

But, as The Washington Post article “Fish Story’s New Reality is that Man Bites Shark” explains, the truth is that in actuality, sharks kill an average of four people worldwide every year, while humans kill anywhere from 26 million to 73 million sharks annually.

“For most of human history, sharks have been seen as a threat to us. Only recently are we beginning to see we’re a threat to them,” said David Balton, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary for oceans and fisheries, in a recent interview, according to the article.

An international team of scientists came to this conclusion based on research that included the use of satellite tracking and DNA analysis. Among their findings, the fact that shark populations around the world have declined in great numbers during recent years.

For example, the article notes, in March, a team of Canadian and U.S. scientists calculated that "between 1970 and 2005, the number of scalloped hammerhead and tiger sharks may have declined by more than 97 percent along the East Coast, and that the population of bull, dusky and smooth hammerhead sharks dropped by more than 99 percent.”

The steep decline in shark population, according to the experts, is mostly due to shark hunting. This is because this predator’s fins are used to make what is called “shark-fin soup”, which is considered a delicacy in Asian countries and many other places around the world.

In this entry’s featured video, you will be able to see some of the atrocious methods that shark-hunters utilize to catch their prey. You can also observe a cruel practice called shark “finning”, which consists of slicing off a shark’s fins and tossing the animal back in the ocean to die.

If you’re interested in doing something to help with the efforts for shark conservation, you may consider actually adopting one of them. You can go to http://worldanimalfoundation.homestead.com/AdoptAShark.htmlvisit and adopt a shark from the World Animal Foundation.

You can also visit sharktrust.org, the Web site for Shark Trust, a marine charity established in the UK concerned with the plight of the shark on an international scale, and find out more about their adoption program. Of course, you may also contact any of the many other national and global organizations concerned with shark survival and do your part to help protect the sharks.

Treasure Coast builds eco-friendly children's museum

The Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast, currently under construction, will be the first green commercial building in Martin County.

The new museum, which is being built at IndianRiverSide Park in Jensen Beach, will feature water-conserving bathroom fixtures, insulated windows, showers for people who ride a bike to work, and "special windows and air-conditioning sensors that will reduce the building's energy use by 20 to 30 percent," according to the Palm Beach Post's article "Children's Museum also preserves the environment."

Environment conservation has been a priority for the museum since the very beginning. The article explains that when part of 40-year old building was demolished, workers recycled about 75 percent of the waste including drywall, studs, concrete, plastic piping, metal and steel.

The next step is the application to the United States Green Building Council so that the museum is officially recognized as a green building by obtaining LEED certification.

Human medications affecting Florida's sharks

Scientists recently discovered traces of human medications in the blood of some of Florida's sharks.

Various kinds of anti-depressants, cholesterol-lowering drugs and synthetic estrogens were among the prescription medications that were found in the bloodstream of young bull sharks from the Caloosahatchee River on Florida's southwest Coast.

According to the researchers, the substances made their way to the river due to the fact that it receives wastewater from several sewer plants. And although the water is treated and bacteria is removed, drugs are not, mainly because treatment systems are not designed to do so.

Scientists from the Mote Marine Laboratory, the private marine research laboratory responsible for the findings, believe that it is likely that the medications traveled to the river after being excreted by people taking them who then unknowingly flushed them down the toilet.

It is not known how the presence of human medications in the sharks' blood will affect them in the long run. Scientists are now tagging sharks with chemical-absorbing discs so they may be able to measure the amount of chemicals in their organism, as well as find out exactly what kind of effects these drugs will have on them over time.

Bush addresses climate change crisis, proposes global goals

This week, President Bush publicly discussed the issue of global warming and for the first time, proposed a global effort to do something about it.

In a conference held in Washington, Bush spoke about his proposal to combat global warming by negotiating with the world's biggest polluters (among them China and India), through a series of meetings to be held in the fall.

According to today's New York Times article "Bush Proposes Goal to Reduce Greenhouse Gas," his "global strategy" to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions includes the idea of each participating country establishing "mid-term national targets for reducing emissions over the next 10 to 20 years, while working together to set a longer-term goal."

This announcement comes as a surprise to many, particularly because the current administration had always been reluctant to join the international debate on climate change.

But his statements, many critics say, are not convincing enough. Although he seems to have a change of heart in regards to this issue, they say, he did not make any commitments or offer any details as to how the U.S. ( the world's biggest source of emissions that contribute to global warming) would go about achieving these goals. For this reason, White House environmental adviser Jim Connaughton described his plans as mere "aspirational goals."

President Bush is also criticized because he seems to be ignoring other international efforts addressing this issue, among them the Kyoto Protocol, a United Nations agreement that commits countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012 (and which the U.S. never ratified).

Others note the fact that his goal is to come up with the definitive strategy in 18 months. As The New York Times' editorial "Playing to the Crowd- Talk about Warming" points out, this would conveniently coincide with his departure as president, "suggesting his real goal is to leave the heavy lifting to his successor".