The Thin End

It is easy enough for us to respond to 'save an animal' campaigns. We are rightly concerned about endangered species and animals being needlessly hunted and killed for gratification.   You can adopt a tiger for just £3 a month with the WWF.   You get a cuddly toy, regular updates and a certificate.  But it isn't just about saving a cuddly and muched loved animal species.  It is a vital part of building resilience in our ecosystems.  Save a Tiger is a successful campaign.  It sets an object, a time, and an imperative, to double the number of tigers by 2022.  The call to action is intense.  It appeals to our hearts as well as our minds and to the imperative to act.  There are now estimated to be 3, 900 wild tigers globally.  There are more tigers in captivity in the USA than there are in the wild.  But this isn't merely about the protection of a species. It is about saving our planet. The target to double the number of tigers was...

When you approach a plant or a tree, you would perhaps be surprised how much it senses your presence. This isn't surprising when you consider the intimate relationship between animal and plant life. The trees harness the sun's energy, and we scatter its seed.  When we take from our ecosystem, we must give something back. We could share our planet instead of assuming it was ours. Plundering our forests, laying waste with our concrete jungles, polluting our rivers and streams, making noise, a mountain of human detritus, like a scar on the landscape.  Imagine, while we are driven into lockdown by a virus we cannot see, imagine how the forest feels about us...now it takes a moment to breathe, and the silence allows the birds to fly free, imagine. There stood a tree in my childhood days And there grew grass under sunlight rays But where are these now so rare? Under the concrete lain so bare. My children will not know In the world in which they'll grow. They'll re...

Scientists are increasingly warning that prescription drugs can affect wildlife and ecosystems when they find their way into the environment. In a new Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry study, investigators found that the anxiety and depression drug Escitalopram—at concentrations similar to those measured in the environment—can inhibit fish foraging and eating behaviour. Interestingly, the team noted that the two sexes respond differently to the drug. Specifically, the inhibitory effect of the drug was more pronounced in males than in females. zebrafish “It is disturbing that psychoactive drugs affect vital life processes in aquatic wildlife,” said corresponding author Erik Baatrup, PhD, of Aarhus University, in Denmark. These psychoactive drugs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) have been found in natural waters around the world and have been found to inhibit fish feeding behaviour.  These researchers monitored the effect of escitalopram on zebrafish swim...

We are now losing orangutans at a rate of 25 a day as a result of unsustainable palm oil.  Rang-tan represents all of these orangutans whose home, the Indonesian rainforest, has been destroyed for palm oil plantations by big brands like Unilever, Nestle and Mondeléz (who make Cadbury's). The beauty of our planet Earth depends on life, just as life depends on the beauty of our planet.  We humans can appreciate its breathtaking beauty.  We stand in awe of its mountains and rivers; of its great lakes and its rainforests.   We share our photos on social media, as more of this world has become accessible to us. We have the power to destroy, and the power to protect and nurture it. Nature is our treasure.  Perhaps this is because it needs protecting from us.  We have become its biggest threat. Yet, we rarely take the political decisions necessary to protect it.  Utility always seems to prevail.  We need more food to feed a growing population. ...

As the first round of UN negotiations towards a historic UN Ocean Treaty draws to a close, Dr Sandra Schoettner of Greenpeace’s global ocean sanctuaries campaign has criticised the 'sluggish' response of key countries. Our oceans are our life support system.  The ocean ecosystem produces half the oxygen we breathe.  The oceans absorb carbon dioxide and play a vital role in containing global warming.  We need to protect our oceans.  This is why a new international treaty is needed. Turtle in Pacific Ocean courtesy of Greenpeace But not all countries are coming on board with the vigour required. Oceans belong to us all Greenpeace says oceans beyond national boundaries "belong to us all" and need urgent international protection. For the first time in history, this shared responsibility could be enshrined in law with a Global Ocean Treaty. Over the past two weeks of UN negotiations, many countries from Africa, Pacific and Caribbean islands, Latin Am...

Bad trade and bad products are killing our planet. We have said this before on The Thin End . There is no better example than that of palm oil. It is used ubiquitously in so many products, and its production is a major factor destroying rainforests and threatening precious species. Demand for palm oil is 'skyrocketing worldwide' . It is used in packaging and in so much of our snack foods, cookies, crackers, chocolate products, instant noodles, cereals, and doughnuts, and the list goes on. Bad for the planet So, why is this so bad for the planet? The oil is extracted from the fruit of the oil palms native to Africa. It is now grown primarily in Indonesia and Malaysia, but is also expanding across Central and West Africa and Latin America. Palm oil production is now one of the world's leading causes of rainforest destruction, and this is impacting adversely some of the world's most culturally and biologically diverse ecosystems. Irreplaceable wildlife spec...

Could the release of carbon from the soil be accelerating global warming and climate change?  The answer from the latest research published in Nature appears to be a resounding 'yes.'  Perhaps it is not surprising given that the soil acts as a significant store of global carbon.  It isn't merely locked in place. Organic processes release it into the atmosphere.  Carbon is a vital ingredient of our living planet and plays a major role in the balance of our ecosystem. All life on earth is 'made' of carbon and carbon circulates. Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide from respiration and combustion. It is absorbed by plants to make carbohydrates in photosynthesis using energy from the sun. Animals feed on the plants passing the carbon compounds along the food chain. Most of the carbon they consume is exhaled back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The animals and plants eventually die, and these dead organisms get eaten by decomposers (microbes a...