News & Politics - Nature and Environmental News #1

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-08-2010, 08:19 AM

I know we have a science and technology thread ... but I think it'd be good to have one more focused on nature and environmental concerns as a whole, and then have the seperate one for the science and technology side too.

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-08-2010, 08:27 AM

Local and World Good News and Events

Quote:

HILTON HEAD ISLAND —

Beaufort County sea turtle lovers say nesting is nearing record levels this year, leading them to hope efforts to protect the threatened animals are paying off.

On Hilton Head Island, 163 nests have been spotted so far. There were 180 in 2009. In 1999, 218 nests were discovered, the most in any season since counting began in 1985.

“It’s still really early in the season,” said Amy Tressler, manager of the Hilton Head Island Sea Turtle Project. “We’re very, very optimistic about what’s going on this year.” Fripp Island and Hunting Island State Park report increases over last year, too. Statewide numbers are strong as well, said DuBose Griffin with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Mitch Helms, a ranger at Hunting Island, said 79 nests have been found there so far this year, one fewer than in all of 2009 and 19 more than in 2008.

“Most turtles only nest two to five years, so we think it kind of goes in cycles,” he said. “We’re happy about what we’re seeing here.” Fripp Island sea turtle program coordinator Janie Lackman said 16 nests have been discovered there, more than usual for this point in the year.

“We’re not as large of a beach, so we don’t see as many,” she said. “But we’re a couple ahead of last year.” The surge on Hilton Head, which has the most sea turtles nest in Beaufort County, might be the result of the turtle project, which started in 1985 to help the threatened animal.

“We hope this is an indication that our early conservation efforts are really paying off,” Tressler said. “It’s all about education and getting people on board.” Connie Pratt, Hilton Head code enforcement officer, handles much of the education. She travels the beaches about once a week, monitoring beachfront lights. It’s illegal to shine artificial lights on the beach because they disorient the sea turtles and often halt nesting behavior. Most people voluntarily comply with the law after being reminded, Pratt said.

She warns 200 to 300 visitors a year.

“We’ve worked closely with the rental companies to provide information for check-in packets, and we have a lot of residents that are self-proclaimed turtle activists who will call and let me know about violations,” she said.

“But after we ask most people, they’re happy to follow the law.” This year, the project is using genetics to determine how many female sea turtles nest on the island. That number is crucial to predicting how many hatchlings will eventually emerge from nests.

Survival is tough for loggerhead sea turtles.

Typically, sea turtles on Hilton Head each lay 480 to 720 eggs in the summer. Of those, only seven hatchlings per nesting turtle will survive beyond three days. And only one survivor per nesting turtle might live to 25, the age at which most turtles begin reproducing.

Throw in the dangers from other predators, human interference and natural conditions and it’s easy to understand why the sea turtle has been threatened since 1978.

Sea turtles that survive those dangers, however, can live as long as 100 years.

They never fail to thrill those who see them.

“We’ve seen a lot of them out there on the water,” said Marissa McCardle, owner of the Schooner Welcome charter sailboat on Hilton Head. “And we typically see them pretty steadily throughout the summer season.

“They’re beautiful animals.”

**Callace** · 07-09-2010, 01:59 PM

TFTNT

I love the thread idea. So much environment issues are on the news, we will probably have good use of this thread

strawberrypie · 07-10-2010, 07:07 PM

Great

Subscribing to the thread right now

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-11-2010, 01:44 PM

Did you guys see the gist of that article?

On Hilton Head Island, 163 nests have been spotted so far. There were 180 in 2009. In 1999, 218 nests were discovered, the most in any season since counting began in 1985.

Such good news to me. I know it's just one main location, but still, that looks like a great trend.

strawberrypie · 07-11-2010, 04:17 PM

Sorry, I was excited about the thread

. Sounds like good news!

I don't know if this qualifies as news, but I was fascinated by it. It's footage of a harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) trying to stop two cameramen from reaching her nest.

The harpy eagle (or águila harpia in Spanish, as I know it

) is very very rare to see, and also an endangered species. The natives in South America called it "the chief eagle". Personally I had never seen footage of it before.

Quote:

Monkey-eating eagle divebombs BBC filmmaker as he fits nest-cam
Cameraman swooped by 9kg bird with 13cm claws in quest for footage of world's most powerful eagle in Venezuelan rainforest

Click here

The bird is huge. It's a little like watching a horror movie

**sunnykerr** · 07-12-2010, 04:37 PM

Thanks for the thread, Kar!

13 cm claws is amazing. That's practically six inches!

And is it just me or are the amount of sea turtle nest actually decreasing in numbers?

On Hilton Head Island, 163 nests have been spotted so far. There were 180 in 2009. In 1999, 218 nests were discovered, the most in any season since counting began in 1985.

That's 218 in 1999; 180 in ten years later and 163 ten years after that.

That's a drop, no?

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-13-2010, 05:50 PM

Sunny I think they meant it as a recent increase. I know that overall it's been dropping, but I think they meant that in the past few years the numbers were lower and this year they are higher again.

That's what I assumed it meant.

**sunnykerr** · 07-14-2010, 06:23 PM

That would make much more sense, yes.

Thanks for the clarification, Kar!

**sunnykerr** · 07-16-2010, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Comparative photos of Mount Everest 'confirm ice loss'

Photos taken by a mountaineer on Everest from the same spot where similar pictures were taken in 1921 have revealed an "alarming" ice loss.

The Asia Society (AS) arranged for the pictures to be taken in exactly the same place where British climber George Mallory took photos in 1921.

"The photographs reveal a startling truth: the ice of the Himalaya is disappearing," an AS statement said.

"They reveal an alarming loss in ice mass over an 89-year period."

Shrunken and withered

The photos taken by Mallory from the north face of Everest reveal a powerful, white, S-shaped sweep of ice.

Images taken from the same spot in 2010 by mountaineer David Breashears show that the main Rongbuk Glacier is shrunken and withered.

"Returning to the exact same vantage points, Breashears has meticulously recreated their shots, pixel for pixel," the AS statement said.

"The photographs illustrate the severity of the loss of ice mass among the glaciers surrounding Mount Everest."

The AS says that the findings are "vitally important" because the Himalaya is home to the world's largest sub-polar ice reserves.

"The melt waters of these high altitude glaciers supply crucial seasonal flows to the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which hundreds of millions of people downstream depend on for their livelihoods," the statement said.

"If the present rate of melting continues, many of these glaciers will be severely diminished by the middle of this century."

Mr Breashears retraced the steps of the 1921 British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition Team, using photos taken then by surveyor and photographer Maj Edward Wheeler and amateur photographer George Mallory, who later died attempting to reach the Everest summit in 1924.

"The melt rate in this region of central and eastern Himalaya is extreme and is devastating," Mr Breashears told an AS meeting in New York on Wednesday.

He has not only followed in the footsteps of Mallory but also those of Italian photographer Vittorio Sella, whose work spanned the 19th and 20th Centuries.

The result is a then-and-now series of photographs from Tibet, Nepal and near K2 in Pakistan - all of which show glaciers in retreat.

"If this isn't evidence of the glaciers in serious decline, I don't know what is," Mr Breashears told the AFP news agency.

The issue of melting glaciers in the Himalaya is controversial following a recent claim in a UN report by an Indian glaciologist - who later said that he had been misquoted - that they could all disappear by 2035.

BBC News - Comparative photos of Mount Everest 'confirm ice loss'

I wonder if this is just normal or if it means something serious...

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-17-2010, 02:19 PM

I really don't know. I love that they have used comparitive photos, but in nature things are ALWAYS changing. And it's a part of the cycle, you know? But in this case, I have no idea if the amount of ice is really supposed to change or not.

**Callace** · 07-17-2010, 02:37 PM

I think it is scary. I would like to know if the photos are taken at the same time of year (I cant find anything about it, but nearly assume it must be) but aside from that, there seems to be a substansial loss of ice. It would need more pictures during time to know for sure, but.

If the Himalaya ice cap were to melt, it would be a true disaster, that is at least for sure.

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-17-2010, 02:40 PM

They used similar photos like this on a lake to show the devastating water level drops over centuries ... somewhere in the western us

**Callace** · 07-17-2010, 02:41 PM

they did? which lake?

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-17-2010, 02:55 PM

I can't remember ....


Fan Forum > General Discussion > News & Politics > Nature and Environmental News #1