News & Politics - Weather, Nature and Environmental News #4 ~ Mother Nature's Dirty Work - Page 2

**sunnykerr** · 01-28-2014, 07:58 PM

We had the same temperatures here today as well.

But no schools were closed, as far as I know.

**GardenSirens** · 01-28-2014, 09:39 PM

The biggest thing here was that the University of Michigan (one of the best colleges in america) was closed. The last time they closed was September 11th, 2001. Before that it was 1978. Crazy ass cold.

**sunnykerr** · 01-29-2014, 07:20 PM

It's not THAT cold to me. We get -40 during the winter sometimes.

Again, not saying it was pleasant weather, but to the point of closing down schools? Don't they have heating?

Anyway, meanwhile, I have come across some (relative) good news:

Quote:

Chinese ivory smuggler gets record Kenyan fine

A court in Kenya has fined a Chinese man a record 20m shillings (£140,000; $230,000) for smuggling ivory, under tough new anti-poaching laws.

Tang Yong Jian was caught last week with an elephant ivory tusk weighing 3.4kg (7.5 pounds) in a suitcase, at Nairobi's international airport.

If he is unable to pay the fine, he will spend seven years in prison.

Kenya banned trade in ivory in 1989, but there has been a rise in the illegal practice in recent years.

There is a huge demand for ivory in Asia for use in ornaments, while conservationists suspect that most of the poached rhino horn is destined for traditional medicine markets in South East Asia, where it is believed to contain powerful healing properties, despite there being no scientific proof of this.

In Kenya, a kilogramme of ivory fetches between 12,000 and 18,000 shillings, experts say.

'Slap on the wrist'

Tang Yong Jian was arrested while in transit from Mozambique to China via Nairobi.

He is the first person to be sentenced under the new laws, which came into force in December.

The killing of endangered animals now carries penalties of life imprisonment, as well as fines of up to 20m shillings.

Previously the most serious wildlife crimes carried a maximum fine of 40,000 shillings and a possible jail term of up to 10 years.

A spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, which manages the country's national parks, welcomed the verdict.

"It's a landmark ruling that sets a precedent for those involved in smuggling," Paul Udoto told the AFP news agency.

He said that poachers had previously been punished with "a slap on the wrist", which had been demoralising for park rangers.

A series of other measures have been introduced in recent months to stop the illegal practice, including electronic tracking devices for rhinos and elephants.

Wildlife campaigners have also launched a website to name and shame poachers.

At least 22,000 elephants were killed illegally in Africa in 2012, according to latest figures.

I must say, if the trade in ivory is very lucrative, there obviously will be more poachers.

I expect this was was little more than a middle-man in the transaction.

It's like drug trafficking: You rarely catch the big kahuna.

So that big kahuna is bound to find someone else to bring back tusks from the African continent.

They need to get better at stopping them before they poach.

**canflam** · 01-30-2014, 04:46 PM

That is very cold. Well hopefully Punxsutawney Phil won't see his shadow this weekend & we''ll get an early spring.

**GardenSirens** · 01-30-2014, 06:05 PM

I read 20 million shillings as 20 million lashings at first and am like "DAMN THAT'S GONNA HURT" lol. My bad

**sunnykerr** · 01-30-2014, 07:26 PM

At least the poaching is taken seriously after the fact.

I still think getting ahead of the problem will be key to coming up with a solution.

quaist · 01-31-2014, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canflam (View Post)

That is very cold. Well hopefully Punxsutawney Phil won't see his shadow this weekend & we''ll get an early spring.

Punxsutawney Phil? I suppose that's some kind of legend?

**canflam** · 01-31-2014, 03:28 PM

Well, it's a national holiday in the U.S. at least that dates back to 1886. Punxsutawney is the name of the city that in America they have the groundhog predict the weather in. If Phil sees his shadow on each year on February 2nd then he predicts 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow on that day which is apparently the only day he comes out then his prediction is an early spring. Groundhog Day is not a national holiday in Canada, but many Canadians celebrate it. They have a popular festival in Wiarton, Ontario featuring a groundhog named Wiarton Willie. Groundhog Day also gets lots of coverage on the Weather channel in the U.S.

an idea lives on. · 01-31-2014, 07:24 PM

Loved this uplifting bit of news to come out of Alabama during their winter storm which most were not prepared for:

Brain Surgeon Walks 6 Miles Through Storm To Save Patient

Brain Surgeon Walks 6 Miles Through Storm To Save Patient : The Two-Way : NPR

**GardenSirens** · 02-01-2014, 12:18 AM

We're, Michigan, about to get slammed with even more snow and cold weather. I'm so f'n sick of this, lol. It was cute at first and now it's just annoying. Spring cannot come fast enough!

**sunnykerr** · 02-01-2014, 11:05 AM

Well, fortunately, warm weather is bringing relief to the southern U.S..

And, indeed, these dramatic conditions have revealed plenty of wonderful acts of humanity. Thank you, an idea lives on, for bringing just such an example of how people have gone beyond the call of duty to show kindness in these trying times.

Meanwhile, dramatic news out of Indonesia:

Quote:

Indonesia volcano unleashes clouds of gas, killing at least 14

MOUNT SINABUNG, Indonesia -- A rumbling volcano in western Indonesia on Saturday unleashed fresh clouds of searing gas that killed at least 14 people and injured three, only a day after villagers who fled earlier eruptions returned home thinking it was safe, officials said.

The dead included four high school students on a school trip to see the volcano and a local journalist, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. He said that the government on Friday allowed nearly 14,000 people living outside a five-kilometre danger zone to return home after the volcano's activity decreased.

Mount Sinabung's morning eruption was followed by a more powerful blast that sent lava and pyroclastic flows down southern slopes up to 4.5 kilometres away, Nugroho said. Television footage showed villages, farms and trees around the 2,600-metre-high volcano covered in thick grey ash.

Authorities were still preventing more than 16,000 villagers living along the path of hot clouds from going back to their homes, but many of them insisted on checking their houses and farms after more than four months of being crammed into temporary shelters. Authorities raised the alert status for Sinabung to the highest level in November.

"The death toll is likely to rise as many people are reported still missing and the darkness hampered our rescue efforts," said Lt. Col. Asep Sukarna, who led the rescue operation.

The number of evacuees rose to more than 30,000. Many wore masks to protect against the soot and sulfur-choked air. Food, emergency tents and medicine were sent to the area.

The latest eruptions came just a week after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited displaced villagers and pledged to relocate them to new plots with permanent housing.

The volcano's last major eruption in August 2010 killed two people and forced 30,000 others to flee. It caught many scientists off guard because it had been quiet for four centuries.

Mount Sinabung is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has sporadically erupted since September.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Can you imagine, returning home after months of being evacuated, only to be killed by an eruption?

This is so tragic.

The death toll is already exponentially higher than the 2010 eruption, and it's likely to rise.

**sunnykerr** · 02-05-2014, 07:35 PM

Quote:

SeaWorld is thwarting orca sanctuary resolution, activists say

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Animal rights activists say SeaWorld is thwarting their efforts to put to shareholders a resolution to create a coastal sanctuary for retired orcas.

PETA said on Monday that SeaWorld is invoking a Securities and Exchange Commission rule to prevent its shareholders from learning about the proposal.

PETA owns a small number of SeaWorld shares.

Under PETA's proposal, SeaWorld would develop coastal sanctuaries where the company's orcas could retire.

PETA says SeaWorld is trying to exclude the PETA proposal by sending out proxy materials on April 17, just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of when SeaWorld went public.

A company is allowed to exclude a shareholder-initiated proposal if the shareholder has held stock for less than a year.

In a statement, SeaWorld says it doesn't comment on shareholder proposals.

Obviously, whatever PETA has to say in these circumstances can't be taken at face value.

They have a vested interest in this matter.

But, of course, so does SeaWorld, which has had a decades-long policy of hushing up any and all troubling incidents with the orcas it warehouses and "employs."

I am not one to say if PETA's proposal is ultimately the best thing to do here, but the captivity of orcas, from its infancy, been a highly problematic practice and something has to be done.

**GardenSirens** · 02-05-2014, 08:05 PM

I'm strongly against Sea World, not just because I have an irrational fear of whales; but the way they treat animals is horrendous. Having a tapered off piece of water for them to "retire" isn't enough. These creatures were meant to be free in the wild.

**sunnykerr** · 02-06-2014, 06:40 PM

See, in theory, I would agree with you.

Wild animals belong in the wild and should be freed.

The problem with releasing orcas that have been captured by SeaWorld and the like, as far as I can see anyway, is that orca society is intrinsically familial.

And, just as slave owners used to split up families, so did the people who captured orcas.

So the orcas that remain in captivity don't even speak the same "language." And who knows where their families are.

So we'd be releasing profoundly social animals into a big world where they'd be alone.

That's one problem.

The other problem is not unrelated.

Because, basically, captivity has enforced prolongued isolation on these creatures. It's traumatized them, psychologically and emotionally.

And much as I believe they deserve to be set free, there's an element in which it would be like releasing dangerous sociopaths into society.

It's still not right to hold them captive. In fact, captivity is worsening my concerns about releasing them, if that makes any sense.

I just think that they need to be released, but it has to be done cautiously.

baelfire24 · 02-07-2014, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Australia to dump dredged sand in Great Barrier Reef Park

(CNN) -- The Australian federal government has approved a plan to dump 3 million cubic meters of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Park. The dredged material will come from the proposed expansion of the coal port at Abbot Point, south of Townsville on the Queensland coast.
Final approval came from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and is subject to "strict conditions." The proposal, while controversial and opposed by environmental groups including Greenpeace, had already been approved by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt last month.
Tony Abbott's government has come under fire for a raft of environmental decisions lately, including an election pledge to rescind expansion of Tasmania's World Heritage-listed forest reserve which has united environmental campaigners and the forestry industry, who see the plan as unworkable and damaging in the long term.
The reef is the largest living structure on the planet, and is a hugely diverse ecosystem stretching 2,300 kilometers along the Queensland coast. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is 345,000 square kilometers in size and home to thousands of species of coral, fish, molluscs, jellyfish, sharks and whales.
A statement released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said the proposal was in line with directives to limit development of ports on the coast to existing facilities.
"As a deepwater port that has been in operation for nearly 30 years, Abbot Point is better placed than other ports along the Great Barrier Reef coastline to undertake expansion as the capital and maintenance dredging required will be significantly less than what would be required in other areas," said Dr Russell Reichelt, Authority Chairman.
"It's important to note the seafloor of the approved disposal area consists of sand, silt and clay and does not contain coral reefs or seagrass beds."
The Authority's General Manager for Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainable Use, Bruce Elliot echoes the statement, saying that the environmental safeguards -- 47 in total -- insisted upon by the Authority would protect the reef and seagrasses, along with the social and heritage uses of the marine park.
"By granting this permit application with rigorous safeguards, we believe we are able to provide certainty to both the community and the proponent while seeking to ensure transparent and best practice environmental management of the project," he said.

The plan has attracted widespread criticism and WWF Australia spokesman Richard Leck said the approval from the marine park authority marked a "sad day for the reef and anyone who cares about its future."

The Great Barrier Reef was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981 and environmental group Greenpeace warned that the move to allow dumping in the park may lead to that organization listing the site as "in danger" this year.
"This go-ahead for dumping is one more body blow for the Reef which further threatens marine life, its World Heritage status and Australia's tourism and fishing industries," Greenpeace Reef Campaigner Louise Matthiesson said on the group's website.
"Green lighting the reef's destruction makes a mockery of the Authority's charter which obliges it to protect the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the World Heritage Area."

Can't believe they are doing this to the great barrier reef.


Fan Forum > Archived General Discussion > News & Politics > Weather, Nature and Environmental News #4 ~ Mother Nature's Dirty Work