Save Sharks in Sabah

In Malaysia, there is a state called Sabah. Sabah is the northern region of the island of Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world. The ocean (consisting of the South China Sea and Sulu Sea) surrounding Sabah is part of the infamous Coral Triangle. Problem is, the marine biodiversity of Sabah is highly threatened, with the number 1 species diminishing being sharks. Being a Malaysian myself, it’s worrying to know that our richest coral reef is at risk.

 

That’s where the Save Sharks in Sabah campaign comes into play.

It all started off with the “Sabah Shark Survey” in the beginning of 2011. This local diver survey collected data from all long term divers in Sabah. The data collected showed sharks were much more threatened that expected by everyone. The data collection was so successful with divers in Sabah that it went global at the beginning of April. “The Global Shark Survey” now has shark abundance data for over 250 sites worldwide and the information database is growing daily.

So what can we do to help?

1. ”LIKE” the Save Sharks in Sabah facebook page.

2. If you are a diver, please help complete the Global Shark Survey by recording how many hours you were underwater and how many sharks you saw.  Please include all hours where there were no sharks. The survey form can be found at this website: wildlife-conservation-sabah.webs.com

3. Reduce the consumption of Shark Fin Soup and increase protection of sharks.

ps. The Coral Triangle comprises the highest coral diversity worldwide; with 76% of the world’s coral species (798). It also presents the highest diversity of coral reef fishes in the world with 37% of the world’s coral reef fish species (6’000) and 56% of the coral reef fishes in the Indo-Pacific region (4’050).

Greenland Melts Away…

Did you know that Greenland is melting? Well, not the island; the island is being drowned though, by the rising sea levels…But, the ice sheets in Greenland and it’s glaciers, thats liquifying.

 

Picture by:Ville Miettinen from Helsinki, Finland

The black blob there is cryoconite. Now, that’s something new. Well, cryoconite is a powdery dust that is blown by the wind to deposit and accumulate on snow, ice caps and glaciers. Cryoconite may contain dust from far away continental deserts or farmland, particles from volcanic eruptions or power plant emissions, and soot. It was first described and named by Nils A. E. Nordenskiöld when he traveled on Greenland’s icecap in 1870. Solar radiation is absorbed by cryonite, heat is absorbed too due to the black soot. This then causes melting to occur in the layers of ice or snow beneath the dark cryoconite.

Snow falls on ice along with a dusting of cryoconite. As years pass, the snow hardens and traps the dust. When warm summers occur (as they have been in recent years), multiple layers of ice melt releasing extra amounts of trapped cryoconite (which is more concentrated, darker) over the surface.

 Carl Egede Bøggild is a native Greenlander and geophysicist who has spent the past 28 years studying the ice sheet. He says: “What we have is a vicious, constantly accelerating cycle.” “It’s like pulling a black curtain over the ice.”

The effect: A predicted sea-level contribution of about 5 centimetres (2 in) from melting in Greenland during the 21st century. Models also predicted that Greenland will become warm enough by 2100 to begin an almost complete melt during the next 1,000 years or more.

Read more:

1. New Melt Record for Greenland Ice Sheet: ‘Exceptional’ Season Stretched Up to 50 Days Longer Than Average

2. Giant Greenland glacier cracks, piece floats off.

3. Melt Zone

Earth Hour is Nearing!

On Earth Hour, lights are switched off. This year, Earth Hour asks people to commit to an action, big or small, that they will sustain for the future of our planet. Go beyond the hour. Make a commitment for the entire year.

Image credits: © Aric Bickel / DEQ

Though switching off the lights for an hour

“won’t make an enormous difference”

as quoted by Carter Roberts (head of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which sponsored Earth Hour),

it is a strong symbol of our, the people’s, concern for the future of planet Earth. This is the symbol that hopefully, will tell politicians worldwide that climate change and environmental issues matter to us. If the gravity of what Earth Hour stands for penetrates the government, we can look forward to the government placing climate change at the top of their political agenda, heyyy they have the means and resources to do so. Moreover, they wield the power to enforce existing laws and legislate new ones, laws that include environmental protection rules and guidelines. So, if the politicians take serious action, this will make an enormous difference.

To find out more about Earth Hour,

read this article: Earth Hour ’08: Did It Matter?

visit this site: WWF’s website

and this blog: JOURNEY TO THE STARS

When you’re ready to take the pledge  to switch off your lights during Earth Hour and beyond, sign up for it on the  Earth Hour website.

By the way…Earth Hour will be at 8:30 pm. Saturday 26 March 2011  ;)

Lake Warming

NASA researchers have determined that for the past 25 years, Earth’s largest lakes have warmed up due to climate change. Some lakes have warmed up by as much as as 4°F (2.2°C). In some cases that is seven times faster than the air temperatures which have risen over the same period.

It’s an important find, scientists say, because lake ecology can be extremely temperature-sensitive.

“A small change in temperature can have quite a dramatic effect,”

says study author Simon Hook, a geologist and remote sensing expert at NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Image credit: NASA-JPL

To get a realistic understanding of the effects of lake warming, look up these articles:

1. Unprecedented Warming in Lake Tanganyika and its impact on humanity.

2. 50 Arctic Lakes Show Dramatic Effects Of Climate Warming; ‘Bellwether’ Of What’s To Come Farther South, Say Queen’s Researchers

3. Lake Superior water warms faster than usual

4. Lake Baikal Warming ID’d by One Family Tradition

5. Climate Change Impact on Freshwater Wetlands, Lakes & Rivers

6. Global Warming Burning Lakes?

A Species Evolves

A Hudson river fish, the Atlantic Tomcod has developed a gene that makes them immune to PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) though PCBs kill most other fishes. PCBs have been banned in the 1980s (though they don’t simply degrade) after it was first introduced in the 1929 for industrial applications, namely as electrical insulators. We can now truly see the impact of pollutants on gene mutation and sometimes, eventually species evolution.

A mature Atlantic Tomcod.

Photograph from the National Geographic site, where it is courtesy of Mark Mattson, Normandeau Associates via Science/AAAS..

Isaac Wirgin, an environmental toxicologist at New York University’s School of Medicine, and the study’s lead investigator says :

“Normally you think of evolution occurring in thousands to millions of years. You’re talking about all this occurring in 20 to 50 generations maybe.”

Awesome, we’re  watching history in the making!!! Wonder what our species, homo sapiens will evolve to become someday…..and I bet we’ve been around for more than 50 generations!

 

But, while this may be good news for the tomcod, it may bode not so well for their predators, and even humans due to the food chain. Hence, conservation work is vital especially to rid natural habitats of pollutants as sometimes the new adaptations of affected organisms can pose a threat to a multitude of other wildlife species. Help conserve and preserve the habitats by donating, a dollar a person to WWF.

 “The tomcod survive but they still accumulate PCBs in their bodies and pass it on to whatever eats them,”

 says biologist Hahn who has been working over the last 16 years in the Acushnet River Estuary near New Bedford, Mass.

For more information, visit the National Geographic page.

THE BATTLE SHOULD END

Man destroys. Despite his might, nature fights back. The war between mankind and nature shall never end as long as man realise that without nature, he will never survive.

By donating to WWF, a dollar a person, YOU CAN GIVE EARTH A CHANCE TO LIVE AGAIN!

In many ways, the ecology has been ruined. The amazing flower you see is surviving in the cracks of a chopped tree. Beauty still thrives within the destruction. Let this, and animals presented by earth, survive. Support its fight.

WWF needs YOU to help them. Donate a dollar, it will go a long way.

 Join nature in its battle with mankind!

 Photographer; Brindha K. Taken in a Malaysian forest which is being developed for a housing project. Many old trees were chopped down and left as stumps. In the crevice of a stump, a plant begins to grow, surviving the deforestation. In this forest, wildboars, tapirs, monkeys, iguanas and monitor lizards, snakes, fishes, eagles roam frantically seeking survival.

Please acknowledge use of photographs to Brindha K.