FutureMakers reader Simon has written a great post on relative poverty and ways he is changing his life to reduce his impact on the environment; he kindly allowed us to share his post with you.

poverty is a strange concept for a lot us growing up in Australia these days. for the majority of us, we live in relative comfort. we have access to jobs to earn money, if we can’t work we have access to a (relatively) good welfare system. if we get sick, we have a (relatively) good health care system to get us better. we have access to clean water, electricity, & telephone / internet services.

so when we hear the word poverty mentioned, its pretty hard to imagine a life without all those luxuries and relate to the hardships that the majority of the world’s people are going through.

even harder is trying to fathom that almost 50% of the world’s population live on less than $2.50 a day.
and 80% live on less than $10 a day. 80%!!!

Read the whole article here.

Are you cutting down your carbon emissions? How are you doing it? If you want to be featured on the blog here, drop us a line with a story or a link to your Youtube video (it doesn’t have to be fancy, use your webcam!).

Also, if you’re on Twitter you can add us here: @wwf_australia and @earthhour. Tag your posts with #earthhour so we can see what you’re up to! You can also tag your Flickr photos with ‘earthhour’ or ‘WWF’ and they’ll show up here too.

Keen to take action on climate change, but worried about being tagged ‘carborexic’? Well there’s a few things you can do! For starters, check out the Climate Change Action page here. We’ve set up the page so you can email Senator Steve Fielding, Senator Nick Xenophon, Minister for Climate Change and Water Senator Penny Wong, Greg Hunt MP, Andrew Robb MP, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull in only a few minutes! Let our leaders know how you feel about international climate change.

Secondly, check out the list of ways you can lower your emissions here.

Lastly, tell your friends! Leading by example is one of the most effective ways to convince others. There’s plenty you can do without having to visit your family doctor!

Lihou Reef is one of Australia’s largest nature reserves, covering an area of 8,440 km2: that’s about three times the size of the Australian Capital Territory. The last bird expedition, 25 years ago, reported Little Terns breeding on its sandy islands. Little Terns are similar to Fairy Terns but normally found inshore. So much so, reports in the 1960s caused CSIRO scientists to say that “the nesting of the species some 400 miles east of the Queensland coast could be exceptional”. Little Terns were reported as early as 1922 on Willis Island, elsewhere in the Coral Sea. It was just by chance that this long-standing myth was laid to rest in 2006, with the discovery of Fairy Terns, not Little Terns, in an unprotected part of the Coral Sea just a few tens of miles outside Lihou Reef.

New Caledonian Fairy Terns are descended from the extremely rare New Zealand Fairy Tern and all three forms are genetically distinct and completely isolated. The New Caledonian Ornithological Society believes “drastic conservation measures are needed for the New Caledonian Fairy Tern”. Commenting on the discovery of birds at Lihou Reef, Nicolas Barré, said ” it would be great if a subpopulation can establish somewhere out of the “official” range.

Fairy Tern may be one of the most significant species in the Coral Sea but because of threats to it in New Caledonia, it is also an important flagship species for the Western Pacific. It may once have occurred throughout the Coral Sea. Perhaps it still does? If this internationally important discovery can be made in just a short trip, what else could there be to find?

A second expedition is planned for December 2009, with specific focus on gathering more information on this new bird for Australia. For more information or to support the expedition, contact Simon Mustoe (simonmustoe@ecology-solutions.com.au / +61405 220830).

Fairy Tern - BirdLife Species Factsheet: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3281&m=0

Carter, M. & Mustoe, S. (2007) Another Form of Fairy Tern Sterna nereis Breeding in Australian Territory. Australian Field Ornithology, 24, 167-79.

Spaggiari, J., Barre, N., Franceschi-Baudat, J. & Borsa, P. (2007). New Caledonian Seabirds. In Compendium of Marine Species of New Caledonia (eds C.E. Payri & B. Forges), pp. 415-28. IRD, Nouméa. <http://www.ird.nc/biodec/downloads/Compendium/Version%20v%E9rrouill%E9e/Spaggiari-Barre-Baudat-Bor-v.pdf>

Australia is fortunate to have a number of interesting animals and the tiger quoll, also known as the spotted-tailed quoll, is certainly one of them. The size of a cat, with sharp teeth and a spotty tail, these carnivores roam the forests of eastern Australia – but they are not as common as they once were. They are the largest marsupial carnivore living on the mainland but are now endangered due to habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes.

In May this year I was lucky enough to travel up to Werrikimbe National Park with Samantha Vine, Threatened Species Manager – east and Kat Miller, National Threatened Species Manager in search of the tiger quoll! We met up with quoll researchers in the hope we would get to meet one of these feisty critters. Our aim was to make a mini-documentary so we could let everyone know about these fantastic animals.

After a freezing night (estimated to be at least -10oC!) we were up and ready to start the tiger hunt and we weren’t disappointed. Check out the DVD to learn about the tiger quoll and our adventures.

Day 3 - Ancient Green Mariners and Missing Minkes

Given that we had such an amazing encounter with the Minke whales, we anchored at night in the shelter of Challenger bay. Challenger Bay is located at the southern tip of Ribbon Reef #10. The site is composed of a back reef slope with an outstanding diversity of corals and a sandy slope with patches of corals, which drops to approximately 35m. This bay is well renowned dive site given its stunning coral gardens and abundant fish life.

At 7.30am, John Rumney took us out on The White Knight a small little rib used predominately for shark research, for a morning snorkel. As we immersed ourselves in the water we were unexpectedly greeted by a school of thirty Bumphead parrot fish. It is the largest of the parrot fish family and can grow up to 1.3 metres in length and can live up to 40 years.

Unfortunately, these fish are in decline around the world- threatened by overexploitation and habitat degradation. They really are a quite a sight to behold with their large bulbous forehead and prominent teeth plates. Within their group, they slowly meander along, seemingly unperturbed by our presence. We are certainly lucky to come across such a group, and I can’t help but be reminded just how critical it is to establish the Coral Sea as a Marine Protected Area. The Coral Sea is a very important habitat for the intriguing Bumphead Parrot fish.

Once the snorkel is over and we had some breakfast inside our bellies we move back to the Lighthouse bommie to seek the minke whales again.

This time the trip is less fruitful; we have two whales pass but they just didn’t seem interested. Just a little reminder that nature is certainly not on tap - those rare close encounters you can never take for granted, you can certainly never request a replay.

Richard and Dean aren’t going to get the footage they want today; just one of the downsides of filming nature. Often you can spend many long hours waiting for that magical shot that in reality may only be a few seconds on film. Although, as in Richard’s own words, ‘when you get it - it is worth the wait’.

There is nothing like coming up close and personal with a Green Turtle. Along with the whale encounter, I have literally feel like I have waited all my life for this moment.

Since working on WWF’s Coral Sea campaign, I have not only learnt how important the Coral Sea is as a critical habitat for Green turtles, but just how endangered these gorgeous animals are and its tragic.

Globally populations have been estimated to have declined up to 61 per cent over the last three generations, based on a number of factors from overexploitation of their eggs and nesting adult females to incidental mortality in fisheries and habitat degradation.

And here I am, within an arm’s reach of an animal that had such character, happily going along on its way and living in harmony with its environment - you just can’t beat that kind of experience. There is no question in my mind, protecting the marine environment for future generations is essential and we must do it now before it’s too late.

With little whale activity we moved to the Pixie’s Pinnacle for another snorkel. Pixie’s pinnacle is a like huge cone shape pyramid that is coated with myriad corals both soft and hard, gorgonians, sea whips and sponges.

Snorkelling around this pinnacle was like sensory overload; like an underwater Grand Central Station, it was one hive of activity from schooling zebra fish, anemones with their clown fish popping in and out cleaner wrasse while underneath the overhangs and caves lay shrimps, lionfish and moray eels

John gave us the low down on the biology and behaviour of the minke whales based on the research accrued over the years as part of the Minke Whale Project. The presentation was accompanied with an informative DVD and once again I was struck by how little we really know about these majestic animals and my mind got ticking – what can we do to help further the research? We have to know more about what we need to do protect to their environment, and how best can we work to bring the underwater world into the hearts and mind of every individual.

Be sure to download the screensaver here - wwf.org.au/act/takeaction/screensaver.

Here is what Neil and Darren had to say on why the created the screensaver:

For years, screensavers have been telling us it’s safe to leave computers, monitors and projectors on when not in use. Earth Hour told us it isn’t.

So, we set about using our skills as a creative team in advertising to develop a reminder for people to keep up the good work all year round.

Working with the team from WWF we developed a fully functioning screensaver that adds a poignant twist to the classic aquarium saver.

We employed the services of some of the top names in the industry - Peter Shannon (Illustrator) and Bazar Studios to help us put it all together. And as ever, they exceeded our wildest expectations. Thanks, guys. You’re awesome.

What makes this idea so strong is that it puts the solution to global warming at the heart of the problem. Better still, our message will appear each and every time users forget to turn off their machine, but not if they don’t – making it the ultimate in targeted marketing.

A free copy of the screensaver is available at wwf.org.au/act/takeaction/screensaver. Please download a copy and encourage all your family, friends and colleagues to do the same.

Ideally we’d like to get one on every computer in Australia, better still the world. If we could, it would be like having an Earth Hour everyday. And that has to be a good thing for a living planet.

Neil and Darren
Clemenger Proximity Sydney

]]> http://futuremakers.com.au/the-screensaver-that%e2%80%99s-helping-to-save-the-planet/feed/ http://futuremakers.com.au/new-shark-species/ http://futuremakers.com.au/new-shark-species/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:51:57 +0000 Gilly Coral Sea http://futuremakers.com.au/new-shark-species/

Can you imagine what would happen if Australian scientists discovered a hundred new species of whales and dolphins in our seas? The wires would be buzzing with the news.

However, it’s not whales and dolphins that have been under the scrutiny of scientists of late, but more the ancient and mysterious predators of the ocean - sharks and their close relatives, rays.

This week, CSIRO scientists revealed that they have discovered more than one hundred new species of shark and ray in Australian waters. Many of these species are rare and elusive, or live in remote and isolated places like Australia’s Coral Sea – a world-renowned marine predator hotspot.

While CSIRO scientists in Hobart are busy adding to the fauna list of Australian sharks and rays, advancing the understanding of the top marine predators in our waters, fisheries managers in Brisbane are drawing up plans to issue licenses for the taking of hundreds of tons of sharks from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. As science furthers our knowledge of these key ocean predators, managers are planning more dedicated shark fisheries. It is like we are writing the fine print on the headstone while we drive them to extinction, and it is literally playing out before our eyes.

The state of nature reflects a government’s ability to manage responsibly for future generations. Fisheries are a classic example of a renewable natural resource that is difficult to manage responsibly. At worst, in the absence of management, there is serial depletion as the ‘tragedy of the commons’ takes hold, with the highest value species vanishing first, followed by the next most valuable and so on.

Even where management structures are in place, decision-making can often be characterised as being driven by delusional optimism, based not on precautionary science but on the need to appease industry stakeholders. The result is the same, with stocks dwindling and fishers switching to different products as high value species vanish.

Sharks provide early warnings of this type of effect. While their fins command a high price on the seafood market, their slow reproductive rates – more akin to whales and dolphins than fish – mean populations are slow to recover from fishing.

As a result, sharks are literally vanishing from our waters. While the CSIRO adds new species to the list, the sharks we already know about, like the hammerheads, thresher sharks and makos nudge closer to extinction. This is the inconvenient truth about sharks globally.

It is against this global backdrop, Queensland has proposed to start a dedicated shark fishery including in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, in an act, not dissimilar to allowing the deliberate hunting and removal of hundreds, if not thousands, of lions, leopards and cheetahs from the great natural parks of Africa.

The Queensland Government should abandon its plans for a dedicated shark fishery and instead concentrate on the much greater opportunities for revenue through tourism, and on its global responsibility to protect their dwindling populations. This would mean halting fishing on at-risk shark species such as hammerheads, and putting conservation measures first, such as protecting those maternity wards and nursery grounds where those sharks come to breed, the same grounds that would be targeted by fishers seeking baby sharks.

A more responsible approach would also mean capitalsing on the fact that a shark caught in the lens of a tourism diver is worth far more than the same shark caught in a hook or net, destined for a bowl of soup or a grocery store shelf, and investing in dive based tourism.

Out in the Coral Sea, divers pay thousands of dollars to catch a glimpse of a school of sharks in the wild. Compared to the tens of dollars per kilo retail price for sharks caught and landed on a commercial fishing – it is evident that it makes both economic and ecological sense to protect sharks.

Australian governments often lay the blame for shark declines on foreign fishing vessels, while turning a blind eye to the weak management of domestic shark fisheries and inadequate controls and data to ensure sustainability.

Many Australians would be surprised to learn that we now have the dubious honour of being in the top twenty-five shark-catching nations on the planet, with kilometres of gill-nets set along our coast every year to service the shark trade.

Let us celebrate the discovery of a hundred new Australian shark species, but as a nation that claims to be a world leader in marine conservation, let us say no to the taking of hundreds of tons of sharks from the Great Barrier Reef Park and other shark hotspots in Australian waters. It is simply not acceptable.

Dr Gilly Llewellyn
Oceans Program Leader

]]> http://futuremakers.com.au/new-shark-species/feed/ http://futuremakers.com.au/eye-to-eye-4/ http://futuremakers.com.au/eye-to-eye-4/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:04:29 +0000 Lydia Coral Sea http://futuremakers.com.au/eye-to-eye-encounter-pt-4/

(If you missed it, start from part 1)

Day 2 - Dancing Minkes and Tall Tales of The Sea

Waking up was slightly surreal, the engine was roaring, the boat was rocking – I couldn’t believe it we had been travelling all night – we were now 9 hours away from the mainland. We had arrived at a place called Light House – years of data collection from tourism boats and scientific research has shown that this is the hotspot for Minke whale activity. Expectations were running high – we were all to look out for a fin slicing the surface of the water or that signature blow as the whale exhales a lung full of air into the atmosphere.

11.00am and the doctor shouts Minke! The rope is deployed, I am literally bursting at the seams to jump into the water.

That’s it, I’m in, I move to the end of the rope and then out of the corner of my eye I see it – a minke whale! My heart skips a beat! This is something I have dreamed about since I was a little girl.

And it’s coming closer, I stop still in sheer amazement, this whale is about 6 metres long with at least 6 cookie cutter marks on its back - a sign that these whales are regular visitors of the Coral Sea.

It’s is not long before the whales seem to have called in their comrades to look at the strange spectacle of six humans hanging on a rope. At one point there is up to 10 whales coming at us from every which way – it utterly amazing. After each pass their confidence appears to build and the closer, more magical the encounters are.

I try my best to photograph their left and right flanks for photo-identification and to keep still so others can do the same.

My fingers are shriveled liked prunes from being in the water so long when I start to feel the pinch of the cold – just as I think about heading back in one of the most memorable encounters begins.

In the corner of my eye I see a large whale is powering along, moving using its tail to push its self through the water column and it’s making a bee line right for me! The whale approaches is a metre away - I look up to John Rumney who’s watching from the back of the boat. It’s like in a pantomime, he’s shouting,“it’s behind you!”. “I know,” I shout back, she is quite hard to miss.

Soon she is right beside me, presenting that wonderfully bright white underbelly and spinning on her tail – pirouetting like a ballerina – the trade mark of the one and only balletic Dwarf Minke Whale – Pavlova

To be honest I am so astounded, blown away that the thought of taking a photograph or filming the spectacle is the last thing on my mind, instead it will be forever engraved in my memory. After her little spin, Pavlova (still to be confirmed) exhibits a behaviour termed by Minke Whale biologists as motorboating. A rare behaviour where the ‘whale near horizontal, breaks the water surface and its snout and the upper part of its head is maintained just above the water surface while slowly moving forward.’ She then moves off, but as if unsatisfied with the last encounter she comes back again for another closer look – another belly presentation, another little motor around and off she goes.

I hear cheers from the back of the boat as those that have got out of the water earlier shout with amazement. Richard Fitzpatrick, captures the encounter on camera from aboard the vessel, my heart is pounding and I’m quite dumbfounded about what has just happened. You just can’t help but wonder what’s going on in a whale’s mind when it acts like that, how do they perceive you and what, if anything, was it trying to communicate?

Once again I am reminded just how little we know about the marine environment and its inhabitants, an underwater world of mysteries yet to be solved. Our scientific understanding is certainly growing and technologies to study it are advancing fast, but perhaps not fast enough to fully grasp the extent of how much we are impacting it.

Come evening time we are all exhausted from the days activities, we fill out the data sightings sheet, record all the whale behaviours we had seen and start to revel in each other’s stories and experiences from the marine realm. As always Richard Fitzpatrick keeps us gripped with all the stories of near death experiences he has had as well as fascinating facts about marine life that only someone that lives and breathes the ocean life can experience.

He told us about some of his unique shark encounters and gives us a sneak preview of some of the footage on sharks that he has put together for a new documentary soon to be aired in Australia in October.

9.00pm and I am out for the count – until another day.

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