Divergence in killer whales

Two different types of killer whales Orcinus orca inhabit UK waters, according to an English-Dutch research team.

A study based on morphological aspects, isotopes and genetic analysis provided evidence for differences between two sympatric killer whale kinds (called ‘type 1’ and ‘type 2’).

‘Type 1’ is characterised by eye patch with parallel orientation, worn-out teeth at adult stage, 12 teeth in the lower jaw, and a catholic diet ranging from fish to seals.

‘Type 2’ has eye patch with angular orientation, 11 teeth in the lower jaw and less worn-out, greater body size with adult males almost two metres larger than the other adults, and a more specialised diet, probably focused on whales and dolphins.

"They seem to have occupied completely different ecological niches and have started to diverge morphologically " commented Andrew Foote, leader of the study. Will this divergence bring the killer whales to divide in different sub-species?

Silvia Bonizzoni

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Photo: Adult Type 1 (top) and Type 2 (down) mandibles, by Andrew Foote

Article:
Foote A.D., Newton J., Piertney S.B., Willerslev E., Gilbert M.T.P. 2009. Ecological, morphological and genetic divergence of sympatric North Atlantic killer whale populations. Molecular Ecology 18(24):5207-5217.

For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8440000/8440002.stm

Cetacean records in the northern Adriatic Sea

A study encompassing 20 years of cetacean sightings in northern Adriatic waters has just become available.

The study intends to complement existing knowledge and it is based on sightings made during visual survey conducted by Tethys in collaboration with CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences) as well as records collected opportunistically by a variety of observers, including biologists and pleasure boaters.

The only cetacean species observed between 1988 and 2007 was the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Encounter rates of bottlenosed dolphins in this part of the Adriatic are also reported, and were thought to be generally low as well as highly variable.

SB

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Bearzi G., Costa M., Politi E., Agazzi S., Pierantonio N., Tonini D., Bastianini M. 2009. Cetacean records and encounter rates in the northern Adriatic Sea during the years 1988-2007. Annales Ser. hist. nat. 19(2):145-150.

Manatees must choose between bad and less bad

Researchers observed that the Amazonian manatee Trichechus inunguis, an elusive and pacific marine herbivore who lives in the Amazonian River, mysteriously performs periodical movements from shallow to deep water areas. The reason was unknown, but a recent study found out that this migration is meant to avoid predator attacks during the low-water season.

These manatees live in quiet lakes formed within Amazonian river flood plains during the high-water season (May-June) then, during the low-water season (October-November), they start to migrate as the water level drops. The main reason could be that it’s too dangerous to remain in shallow water: animals can strand and be attacked by predators such as caimans, jaguars, and also humans.

This migration it’s not safe. During the journey, manatees have to pass through narrow channels where they are exposed to illegal hunters (their meat is appreciated). "Amazonian manatees migrate to a habitat that doesn't offer easy living conditions in order to flee from a habitat that becomes inhospitable" - commented Eduardo Moraes Arraut, first author of the study - "When you have two options that are not good, you choose the one that is less bad”.

Researchers warn that these gentle animals are in a greater danger than previously thought: they are vulnerable to hunters but also to climate change, as the flooding regime of Amazonian rivers is strongly related to large-scale climatic phenomena.

Silvia Bonizzoni

Photo credit: SeaPics.com

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To read the article:
Arraut E.M., Marmontel M., Mantovani J.E., Novo E.M.L.M., Macdonald D.W., Kenward R.E. 2009. The lesser of two evils: seasonal migrations of Amazonian manatees in the Western Amazon. Journal of Zoology: doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00655.x

For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8426000/8426287.stm

Sea Shepherd’s trimaran collision

On January 6th, the high-tech carbon fibre trimaran ‘Ady Gil’, belonging to the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, was destroyed after a collision with a Japanese vessel.

The Ady Gil was designed to run on low-emission renewable fuels and was built with peculiar materials to reduce the probability to be detected by the radars of whaling vessels. Its goal was to intercept and physically prevent ships from slaughtering whales, and at least reduce the illegal whaling occurring in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

After only one month from its official departure, however, the Ady Gil was crashed by the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2, the boat used by whalers to "protect" the Japanese fleet.

All six crew members of the Ady Gil were rescued, but there are no chances to save the trimaran.

Despite this catastrophic damage, the anti-whaling group is not giving up. As the Sea Shepherd’s captain, Paul Watson, said: "If they think that our remaining two ships will retreat from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the face of their extremism, they will be mistaken.”

Silvia Bonizzoni

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Photo by: AFP/GETTY

For more information:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6939571/Anti-whaling-ship-sinks-after-collision-with-Japanese-vessel.html
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-100105-4.html

Ancient toothed whale shows Charles Darwin was right

Mammalodon colliveri was a 3 m long animal who lived 25 million years ago. New research by Eric Fitzgerald, a paleobiologist from the Victoria Museum in Melbourne (Australia), revealed that this ancestor of a baleen whale still had teeth and it had not yet evolved the baleen plates.

According to Fitzgerald, it was a bottom-feeding mud-sucker that may have used its tongue and short snout to suck small prey from sand and mud on the seafloor.

Charles Darwin's, in his book ‘On the Origin of Species’, speculated that some of the earliest baleen whales may have been suction feeders and that their mud grubbing served as a precursor to the filter feeding of the modern mysticetes. This was back in 1859. And as usual, Darwin was perfectly right.

Silvia Bonizzoni

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Painting by Brian Choo (Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia)

For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8430402.stm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091222105055.htm

Fitzgerald E.M.G. 2010. The morphology and systematics of Mammalodon colliveri (Cetacea: Mysticeti), a toothed mysticete from the Oligocene of Australia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00572.x

ABSTRACT - Mammalodon colliveri is an unusual toothed archaic mysticete (Cetacea) from the Upper Oligocene Jan Juc Formation of south-east Australia. The morphology of the holotype skull and postcrania are described in detail. Superimposed on the generally plesiomorphic archaeocete-like morphology of Mammalodon are subtle mysticete synapomorphies. Derived features of Mammalodon include a short and bluntly rounded rostrum, reduced premaxillae, and anterodorsally directed orbits. Within Mysticeti, this suite of features is unique. The aberrant rostral morphology of Mammalodon suggests specialization for suction feeding. Janjucetus hunderi is placed in an expanded family Mammalodontidae. Phylogenetic analysis corroborates the monophyly of Basilosauridae, Neoceti, Odontoceti, and Mysticeti, and yields a novel hypothesis of toothed mysticete relationships: a basal clade of undescribed toothed mysticetes from South Carolina, a Llanocetidae + Mammalodontidae clade, and monophyletic Aetiocetidae are posited as successive sister taxa to edentulous baleen whales (Chaeomysticeti). Toothed archaic mysticetes clearly employed diverse prey capture strategies, with exaptations for filter feeding evolving sequentially in stem group Mysticeti. A stratigraphically calibrated phylogeny implies that the initial diversification of Mysticeti occurred during the Late Eocene.

Even small MPAs may be good for killer whales

"Protecting even small patches of water can provide conservation benefits, as long as we choose the spots wisely," said Erin Ashe, author of a recent publication on the behaviour of killer whales (in British Columbia and Washington State) and marine protected areas.

Ashe and colleagues suggested that even small protected areas, identified through feeding behaviour, can benefit highly mobile marine predators such as killer whales. They indicated this after mapping locations where killer whales were observed feeding, socializing and resting, and identifying a small area in which whales were almost three times as likely to be feeding as they were in the rest of the region.

Protecting this little area could be crucial for two reasons. First, Chinook salmon, the favourite prey of this cetacean population, has declined in the region. Second killer whales are more disturbed by boat traffic when engaged in feeding activities than when they are travelling. Researchers think that management strategies to protect feeding hotspots should give greater conservation benefits than a generic habitat protection.

SB

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Ashe E., Noren D.P., Williams R. 2009. Animal behaviour and protected areas: habitat conservation for an endangered killer whale population. Animal Conservation. DOI:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00321.x

For more information:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091216203438.htm

Sperm whales: final destination

Between December 10th and 11th seven sperm whales stranded and died - on the northern coast of the Gargano Peninsula (Apulia, Italy). They were all sub-adult males.

After several meetings the experts decided what to do with the dead animals, but in the meantime the carcasses are still on the beach. Each animal will be cut into parts. Carcasses will then be buried and covered with ground and lime. The decomposition process is expected to complete in one year. At the end of this period the skeletons will be recovered, treated and displayed in museums.

Numerous hypotheses were made regarding the causes of the stranding, from plastic ingestion to seismic surveys, seaquakes, etc. But the fact is: the reasons are still unknown and the experts are working hard to find out.

Silvia Bonizzoni

Mediterranean Sea: an example of the oceans' destiny?

A recent review describes how the Mediterranean Sea could offer an idea of the disastrous future of the oceans.

This review of more than 100 studies on the Mediterranean’s changing ecological dynamics, describes the convergence of climate change and human impacts in waters that had been stable since the time of Aristotle.

Rising temperatures, disrupted deep-water hydrology, overfishing, shrinked food-webs, mass die-offs, diseases and pollution are some of the threats that are affecting the Mediterranean Sea. Other sea areas on Earth may not escape from this sad degradation destiny. The future doesn’t look so nice...

SB

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Lejeusne C., Chevaldonné P., Pergent-Martini C., Boudouresque C.F., Pérez T. 2009. Climate change effects on a miniature ocean: the highly diverse, highly impacted Mediterranean Sea. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2009.10.009

Abstract:
Little doubt is left that climate change is underway, strongly affecting the Earth's biodiversity. Some of the greatest challenges ahead concern the marine realm, but it is unclear to what extent changes will affect marine ecosystems. The Mediterranean Sea could give us some of the answers. Data recovered from its shores and depths have shown that sea temperatures are steadily increasing, extreme climatic events and related disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent, faunas are shifting, and invasive species are spreading. This miniature ocean can serve as a giant mesocosm of the world's oceans, with various sources of disturbances interacting synergistically and therefore providing an insight into a major unknown: how resilient are marine ecosystems, and how will their current functioning be modified?

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For more information:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/mediterranean-degradation/

Mass stranding of sperm whales in southern Italy

An updated photo album as well as a low-resolution video of two agonising sperm whales can be viewed at:

http://www.istitutotethys.org/gargano/

Mass stranding of sperm whales

Between Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December a pod of seven sperm whales stranded on the coast of the Gargano Peninsula (Italy), in the Adriatic Sea.

The animals, including several males of 10+ m, are scattered along a stretch of about six km of beach. Five have already died.

Scientists from the Centro Studi Cetacei, the Natural History Museum of Milan, and the Italian universities of Bari, Padua, Pavia and Siena, among others, are on site and coordinate operations and scientific analyses.

Giovanni Bearzi and Silvia Bonizzoni, who live in Apulia not too far from the stranding area, went to have a look.

See what they found:

http://www.istitutotethys.org/gargano/

Mega-flood filled the Mediterranean in less than two years

Around 5.6 million years ago tectonic movements and a drop in sea level cut the Mediterranean out of the worlds' oceans. For 300 million years our sea dried up almost everywhere, in what is called the Messinian salinity crisis.

The water then returned: what started like a trickle, later became an event of biblical proportions which filled the Mediterranean in under two years. At peak times, the sea level rose by up to ten meters a day - the largest known flood in Earth's history.

Daniel Garcia-Castellanos of the Jaume Almera Institute of Earth Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues, who published their work on Nature, estimate the peak flow to have been around 1000 times higher than the present Amazon river at its highest rate.

Eleonora de Sabata
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For more information:
- Catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean after the Messinian salinity crisis
- Castellano's page

Lower frequency in blue whale songs

Blue whales are not singing as they were used to do. Their songs’ tonal frequency is decreasing every year by a few fractions of an hertz.

Global warming, noise pollution, changing population dynamics and new mating strategies are the possible reasons, but none of these hypotheses provide a full explanation and researchers have not yet found the real clue.

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McDonald M., Hildebrand J., Mesnick S. 2009. Worldwide decline in tonal frequencies of blue whale songs. Endangered Species Research 9:13-21.

Abstract:

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus songs can be divided into at least 10 types worldwide, each type retaining the same units and similar phrasing over decades, unlike humpback whale song which changes substantially from year to year. Historical acoustic recordings dating back as far as the 1960s were examined, measuring the tonal frequencies of 1000s of blue whale songs. Within a given year, individuals match the song frequency (related to ‘pitch’ in musical nomenclature) to within less than 3%. The best documented song type, that observed offshore of California, USA, now is sung at a frequency 31% lower than it was in the 1960s. Data available for 7 of the world’s 10 known song types show they are all shifting downward in frequency, though at different rates. Any behavioral, ecological, oceanographic or anthropogenic change hypothesis seeking to explain the observed shifts should account for the worldwide occurrence of a nearly linear downward shift in the tonal frequencies of blue whale song. Hypotheses examined consider sexual selection, increasing ocean noise, increasing whale body size post whaling, global warming, interference from other animal sounds and post whaling increases in abundance. None of the commonly suggested hypotheses were found to provide a full explanation; however, increasing population size post whaling provides an intriguing and testable hypothesis that recovery is altering the sexually selected tradeoff for singing males between song amplitude (the ability to be heard at a greater distance) and song frequency (the ability to produce songs of lower pitch).

Oceans for Pathi

Oceans for Pathi is a new nature film based on revolutionary techniques that allowed enjoying the secrets of the oceans as never before.

Thanks to remote-controlled mini helicopters and hydrodynamic cameras, the film reached the goal of ‘catching’ the ocean's most intimate events. For this purpose the crew worked in 50 different locations and filmed 80 marine species, from crabs to whales.

It took four years, 500 hours of footage and £45 million to be produced but the result must be amazing!

The film will be out for general release by the end of January 2010.

SB

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Photo by Barcroft Media: an example of how some whale footage was obtained.

More information in the DailyMail article

EU funded tens of millions to fish for depleted tuna

The European Union has given out €34.5 million, between 2000 and 2008, to subsidise the Mediterranean tuna fishing fleets despite warnings from scientists that overfishing is pushing the species close to extinction.

Joe Borg, the European Fishery Commissioner, revealed that €23 million was given to fund the construction of new boats, including ultra-modern purse seiners that are able to land 100 tonnes in one haul. A further €10.5 million was given to modernise existing vessels, increasing their ability to track down and catch the tuna. Only €1 million was used to decommission vessels, but mainly for small-scale, local boats.

Spain received more than half of the subsidy, with French and Italian fleets the next biggest beneficiaries. Cyprus, Malta and Greece were also given money.

Scientists from ICCAT (International Council for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) believe that the bluefin tuna stock was below 15 per cent of its pre-exploitation levels.

Read full article on the Times

Eleonora de Sabata

State of the Med: the UNEP 2009 report

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) and its Regional Activity Centres have released the first State of the Environment and Development report covering the Mediterranean region, which tackles key environmental issues, including climate change. The “State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean 2009″ was released during the 16th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, which took place from 3-5 November 2009, in Marrakech, Morocco.

The report is a pilot exercise, based on available sources of information and covers the 21 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It finds that climate change is already occurring in the region and forecasts that it will lead to, inter alia, a decline in rainfall, increased periods of droughts and rises in sea-level. The report also identifies the most vulnerable Mediterranean zones and states that climate change will also affect agriculture and fishing, the attractiveness of tourism, coastal zones and infrastructure, and public health.

Eleonora de Sabata

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The Report

Whale-ship collisions featured on Italian TV

On November 23rd, Tethys researcher Sabina Airoldi, director of the Cetacean Sanctuary Research project, took part in the TV programme Geo&Geo, aired on the Italian channel Rai Tre.

Sabina talked about whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the Pelagos Sanctuary, also discussing the problem of collisions between ships and large whales.

Following Sabina's participation in this popular TV programme, the website on whale collisions managed by Tethys had several hundreds of new visitors from all over Italy in the following days. It was an important opportunity to let the general public know about the cetacean conservation initiatives conducted by Tethys.

Elisa Remonato

A new FAO treaty to crack down on illegal fishing

Rome, Nov 23 2009 - A new FAO treaty to fight illegal fishing - finalised by 91 countries - is now open for signature by member states. The agreement will legally enter into force after 25 countries have ratified it.

Officially known as the Agreement of Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, the treaty specifies minimum standards for inspection.

Under the terms of the text, foreign vessels will have to request permission in advance to dock at specially designated ports and will have to provide information on their catch. Signatories will also commit to regularly inspect fishing vessels in their ports according to a set of international standards. Port States will be obliged to prohibit entry to illegal fishing vessels.

So far the situation is not good: a research by the Pew Environment Group shows that while some vessels known to engage in IUU fishing are penalised by port authorities, many are entirely unaffected or simply manage to escape penalties by moving out of the convention area where they were listed.

Environmental groups estimate that one-fifth of all fish landed are caught illegally.

Eleonora de Sabata

photo: FAO/G.Bizzarri

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For more information:
Pew Environment Group: Port State Performance
FAO press release: New treaty will leave ‘fish pirates’ without safe haven

Breathing Earth

How often is a child born?
How often does someone die?
How much CO2 are we producing?

http://www.breathingearth.net/

Tails for whales

Tails for Whales is an IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) project and a global campaign.

The idea is simple: take a photo of you with your hands shaping a whale tail, and add your photo to the ‘tails for whales’ community.

These photos will be used to create posters, TV ads and petitions to encourage governments everywhere to do all they can to stop whaling.

This project received support from many government members as well as some of the world’s most familiar faces... let’s join them!

SB

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For more information:
http://www.tailsforwhales.org/

The end of Japanese whaling?

A review of Japanese government spending could put an end to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Japan's new government is looking for ways to cut useless costs and, to reach this goal, the new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has established a spending review committee.

This committee has recently proposed massive cuts in subsidies to the Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation (OFCF), the largest financer of the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) which runs the so-called ‘whaling research programme’.

The committee recommended that the OFCF, which gives loans to the ICR, have all of its funding revoked, except monies needed for loans in 2010.

It seems that the whaling research program is not able to cover its costs, and without government subsidies it could be finally destined to an end.

The spending review committee will review funding of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Grant Aid programme during the week of November 24th.

SB

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Photo by: Australian Custom Service

For more information:
Article on Environment News Service web-site
Article on Greenpeace web-site

Underwater glider to monitor cetaceans

A new toll is being used by cetologists.

Traditional acoustic devices on the ocean surface typically are not able to record whale sounds emitted at lower depths, but this two-metre-long underwater glider is equipped with a recording device to collect acoustic data, particularly by deep divers such as the beaked whales (Ziphiidae).

Oceanographers started using underwater gliders more than a decade ago to study ocean conditions and parameters, but this is the first time that an acoustic glider has been deployed to record marine mammals.

For more information:
http://www.nature.com

SB

Photo by: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington

The queerness of nature

Since homosexuality doesn’t result in the perpetuation of the species the much reiterated argument states it as unnatural. But, if by ‘unnatural’ they mean ‘not occurring in nature’, then I’m afraid they have been seriously misinformed. The animal world is absolutely teeming with homosexual, bisexual and transgendered creatures! Indeed, more than 450 species from all major animal groups have been reported to engage in same-sex activities, and the literature is positively filled with scandalous anecdotes. I couldn’t help but wonder, does the full-blown existence of same-sex attraction in nature imply that homosexuality is ‘natural’, and if so, what is its evolutionary significance?

Maybe the queerest of all is the hippies’ ‘make love not war’ primate, the bonobo. These dudes have no sexual inhibitions whatsoever. Aside from casual hetero sex, there is a startling degree of homo- hanky-panky and other non-reproductive sexual goings-on in the bonobo community. For example, females frequently stimulate each others’ clitorises in an act called GG- rubbing (often reaching orgasm judging by their huge ‘grins’ and the uttering of squeals), and the males leisurely indulge in activities such as penis- fencing (rubbing erect penises together as if crossing swords), rump-rumping (scrotal rubbing), and old fashioned anal penetration, hand- jobs and blow-jobs.

Admittedly, most animals are bisexual, but some individuals appear to be exclusively gay, such as the two inseparable Central Park Zoo penguins Roy and Silo, who adamantly refuse female companionship. This, however, creates an evolutionary paradox; exclusive same-sex interaction does not result in procreation, so why does it exist?

Most scientists approach this paradox by trying to pinpoint straightforward biological causes for homosexuality, such as abnormal levels of sex hormones in those brain areas responsible for sexual behaviour. However, these theories share the homophobic attitude that animal, and by extension human, same-sex attraction is in some way an ‘aberrant’ phenomenon that requires an ‘explanation’. But as John Boswell has remarked; ‘What ‘causes’ homosexuality is an issue of importance only to societies which regard gay people as bizarre or anomalous’. In many indigenous cultures homosexuality is freely expressed and is often part of a boy’s puberty rites to gain masculine strength. Dr Bruce Bagemihl, author of Biological Exuberance, argues further that the existence of homosexuality is its function; it is ‘intrinsically valuable’ because it adds to the biological diversity of nature, and the more diverse a biological system, the more vital and stable it is.

By definition there is no unnaturalness in nature, so same-sex attraction must have some Darwinian ‘value’. Maybe we are so blinded by Victorian prejudices and religious hush-hush that we find it hard to accept the queerness of nature and as a result fail to see its true evolutionary significance, whatever it might be. As J.B.S Haldane said; ‘The world is not only queerer than we suppose, it is queerer than we can suppose’.

Christina Geijer

When overfishing is not only a 'fish problem'

Due to overfishing of sardines and anchovies off the coast of South Africa, the population of cape gannets has dwindled, but this is not the only problem that they are facing.

On the island of Malgas, one of the only six places where gannets breed, the great white pelicans are starving too, so they are changing their feeding behaviour.

Usually one gannet parent takes care of the chicks while the other is hunting out at sea. But the lack of prey is now forcing both parents to go hunting in the same time, leaving the little vulnerable offspring alone. Pelicans are taking advantage of this situation: they attack and eat any gannet chick left unprotected by its parents and small enough to be swallowed. As a result, entire gannet colonies are increasingly in danger.

SB

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For more information and to see the BBC video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk

Sperm whale and giant squid rare images

One of the most mysterious moments of a sperm whale life has been caught on camera.

The amazing pictures show an adult female sperm whale carrying the remains of a 9-m giant squid in her jaws. The female was swimming a few metres under the water surface together with a calf, and experts think that these pictures may confirm that adult sperm whales use pieces of their prey to teach offsprings how to catch their own.

The photos were taken by photographer Tony Wu near Ogasawara Islands, Japan.

See the photos at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

SB

The legacy of Cousteau

Jennifer Jacquet attempts to explain why an ocean hero seems to be falling into oblivion.

Read the article about Jacques Cousteau at:

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/a_man_on_the_edge/

Give water

The story of charity: water - The 2009 September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

An amazing and convincing video prompting people to give up something useless and do something useful.

Bed-time story on climate change

This video prompted some complaints. Justified? Ridicolous?
For more information:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk

A visit to the Garbage Vortex

One of the many footprints of human behaviour on this planet.

For more information:
CNN online

The Population Myth

People who claim that population growth is the big environmental issue are shifting the blame from the rich to the poor.

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/09/29/the-population-myth/

An nonconformist article by George Monbiot published in The Guardian. Worth reading it all.

No time? Then enjoy the short excerpt below:

While there’s a weak correlation between global warming and population growth, there’s a strong correlation between global warming and wealth. I’ve been taking a look at a few superyachts, as I’ll need somewhere to entertain Labour ministers in the style to which they’re accustomed. First I went through the plans for Royal Falcon Fleet’s RFF135, but when I discovered that it burns only 750 litres of fuel per hour I realised that it wasn’t going to impress Lord Mandelson. I might raise half an eyebrow in Brighton with the Overmarine Mangusta 105, which sucks up 850 l/hr. But the raft that’s really caught my eye is made by Wally Yachts in Monaco. The WallyPower 118 (which gives total wallies a sensation of power) consumes 3400 l/hr when travelling at 60 knots. That’s nearly one litre per second. Another way of putting it is 31 litres per kilometre.

Of course to make a real splash I’ll have to shell out on teak and mahogany fittings, carry a few jet skis and a mini-submarine, ferry my guests to the marina by private plane and helicopter, offer them bluefin tuna sushi and beluga caviar and drive the beast so fast that I mash up half the marine life of the Mediterranean. As the owner of one of these yachts I’ll do more damage to the biosphere in ten minutes than most Africans inflict in a lifetime. Now we’re burning, baby.

Act on CO2

Can small actions bring big results?

Apparently, they can -- as suggested by a recent article appeared on PNAS:

Thomas Dietz, Gerald T. Gardner, Jonathan Gilligan, Paul C. Stern and Michael P. Vandenbergh. 2009. Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce U.S. carbon emissions. PNAS 106(44):18452-18456.

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The following video conveys a consistent message:

http://tinyurl.com/ykvztfz