Species are going extinct at an alarming rate - approximately one every 20 minutes. And global warming is a big part of the problem. It’s changing the climate and ecosystems, forcing species to move, adapt - or die out.

Today I’d like to share a special opportunity to help protect species by taking action with Conservation International. CI’s projects are closely aligned with Environmental Defense Fund’s own work fighting global warming and protecting our planet.

Read on to see how CI is saving species from extinction, and learn how you can help.

Sincerely,

Sam Parry

Dear  People,

Ensuring the survival of all species is a cornerstone of Conservation International’s work. But it’s no small task.

Every 20 minutes, another species on our planet is pushed to extinction.

In that same time, more than 1,200 acres of forest are destroyed, releasing climate change-causing pollution into the atmosphere. That means fewer acres of habitat and more CO2 in the air, which further threatens species’ survival by altering the climate and ecosystems on which they rely.

It’s a catastrophe on a global scale - perhaps the Earth’s next major extinction event - but it’s solvable. And you can be a part of the solution. Sign CI’s petition to save forests and stop the clock on species extinction.

By signing the petition, you are telling government leaders to incorporate forest protection into their national policies on climate change - for the good of our species, our climate, and ourselves.

Take a moment right now and sign our petition to government leaders and help stop the clock on species extinction.

Your signature will bring us one step closer to protecting life on earth, and will help ensure that rare and threatened species survive. Please sign the petition today.

Sincerely,

Beth Wallace
Conservation International

Monkey © CI/Photo by John Martin
Children © CI/Photo by Critano Nogueira

Written by Darci Palmquist
Published on December 8th, 2009 in Animals, Asia Pacific, Climate Change, Cool Green Morning, Copenhagen, Forests, Green Living, Policy, Sustainable Livelihoods, United States

Copenhagen, EPA, Copenhagen, EPA… sound like a broken record? Don’t worry, we’ve got more news than just those two biggies for you today: palm oil and orangutans, the green movement and a few photos from COP 15 thrown in for good measure. Enjoy your daily dose of Cool Green Morning!

1. Yesterday’s ruling by the EPA that greenhouse gas emissions are dangerous to people – a decision that empowers the agency to regulate emissions — has everyone a-buzz. Could this be the push that gets the U.S. into the game at Copenhagen?
2. And more buzz: a report issued by Lord Nicholas Stern and the UN Environment Programme last week says there is hope for Copenhagen to succeed — at least, there’s a “50-50″ chance of avoiding change of more than 2 degrees Celsius.
3. Check out what you’ve been missing at Copenhagen with this slideshow of photos from day one of COP 15 from Treehugger.
4. And now for some non-Copenhagen news… what’s the link between Indonesia’s 40 richest men and the decline of orangutans in that country? Palm oil. The growing demand globally for palm oil is bringing wealth to a few and major habitat loss to orangutans.
5. We’re big fans of doing all we can to green our livelihoods here at Cool Green Morning, so this piece telling people to stop going green raised some ire. What do you think — is going green just a “distraction” as the author says, or does it help create some kind of change?

WOW! Is there anything else to say about this stunning photo of Elakala Waterfall in West Virginia by ForestWander Nature Photography? You tell us — what do you think of our “Nature Photo of the Week”?

And that’s a problem in a warming world.

Billions of people get their fresh water from mountain glacier meltwater flows. The trouble is the planet’s glaciers are receding at alarming rates.

Nowhere is this threat more acute than in China and India where huge populations rely on meltwater from rapidly thinning Himalayan glaciers.

Environmental Defense Fund is partnering with the Asia Society to highlight this threat in a full-page ad in tomorrow’s New York Times.

The ad is timed to coincide with President Obama’s trip to Asia, during which he is scheduled to meet with China’s President Hu Jintoa to discuss climate change, among other topics.

You can be one of the first to see the ad, which displays dramatic photos showing the extent of snow cap loss in the Himalayas:

Here are some sobering facts about climate and water to inspire you to take action:

7: Number of great rivers in Asia fed by meltwater from Himalayan glaciers (Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He).

2 billion: Number of people, mostly in India and China, who rely on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water.

2035: Date by which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and India’s Energy and Resources Institute predict that much of the Himalayas could be glacier free.

66%: Amount by which the July-September flows would be reduced in the Ganga River if we lose the Himalayan glaciers.

37%: Amount of India’s irrigated land is located in the Ganga region.

1 and 2: Respective rank of China and India as the world’s producers of wheat and rice, food staples for all of humanity.

You can help by emailing your Senators and urging them to support a climate bill.

Sources for the climate and water facts:

• http://assets.panda.org/downloads/glacierspaper.pdf
• http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081111/main5.htm
• http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/05/himalayas.glacier.conflict/index.html
• http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/global-warming-melting-glaciers-shrinking-harvests.php

Here is one area we tend to ignore as we progress into an “advanced” civilization.  I do use the word advanced with reserve my friends, as I believe that our ‘advancement’ is in reality a backward stepping as we resolve to ignore the damaging effects.  Thus our Moral Development is what comes to mind today.

These thoughts come to mind as I sat watching an documentary history of the development of Sci-Fi as we know it today.  The writers of past had some very interesting ideas of the future, technologies that may be a part of that future, and our links to other civilizations.  I found it amazing how accurate many of them have been.  In fact it was noted that perhaps many of our developments in technology may have even come about as a result of the ideas shared by those writers.  Those that wrote Star Trek and Star Wars and the like, foresaw technologies that we today use in our everyday lives without much thought.

What, though, do we think of when we come with an idea and proceed with producing it.  Do we consider the consequences?  Or can we?  Is it possible at that time to know what consequences there will be.  For example when you learn of just how many plastic bottles alone are thrown into our landfills each day…..it is staggering and unimaginable.   Difficult to believe even after seeing it with our own eyes.  Only after we have succumbed to the conveniences it adds to our everyday lives do we then notice it’s impact.  Or do we?  Even if we do, it is so very difficult to just stop.

Well one thing that came into thinking while watching this is an overwhelming fact.  OUR MORAL DEVELOPMENT HAS NOT KEPT UP WITH OUR INVENTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY…..Think about that satement for a minute, repeat a few times, let it sink in.  Our Moral development has not kept up with our inventions of technology.

WOW!  that is rather profound, wouldn’t you say?…And then think about this…..Our technological developments are more than anything else, applied toward WAR.  H.G. Wells wrote of so much of this in his books when he talked about HUMAN EXTINCTION—-It was not taken seriously–his novels of WARNING….And as much as he foresaw WAR as the device for human extinction, he may have perhaps missed the self destructive powers that technology itself would have, even without war.  A more suttle (although it’s not) path than war, perhaps not quite so bold as war, perhaps a little more un-noticed.

Our self destruction, brought on by making our lives better, more convenient, more advanced…has left us so dependant we are unable to get back to BASICS, (which by the way, make life much better) without all this stuff that is SELF DESTRUCTION.  Because simple is better, that is without new Psychological Syndromes such as “information overload”, for one.  So new you may not have even heard of it yet.  We humans are so much an instant gratification group that we gradually allow ourselves to become little stressed out robots that have seemingly lost our purpose or grasp on the concept of what LIFE is all about, or what LIFE is period.  I am in no way saying that we do not need to be productive, but that we may need to re-think our productivity.  Is it positive?  Productive Positivity

Help me define productive positivity.  Think along the lines of what makes it positive.

Is it safe, environmentally, psychologically, physically, etc.?

Is it balanced enough to allow resources to renew and do no harm….?

What activities constitutes positivity, and what does not?  (i.e.  manufacturing, inventions,      developments, work force, Land use, etc.)

I know this may all seem completely ridiculous to even bother thinking about since we have so little control over so much of our lives (ooh!  did I really just say that),  but I believe we have to start somewhere at some time.  It is after all the thought process that generally leads to action, eh!…

Yes as most all life on Earth does, we ADAPT…..and we do it so well.  That is why so much goes un-noticed for so long (Perhaps you are familiar with the Frog and the boiling water). That is why we have so many different cultures all over the world with so many different ways of living in each of those cultures.  We are and can be most anything, and can live most any way.

Have we lost so much control that we can no longer CHOOSE to live in a way that is not harmful to Earth, Ourselves and Others?  This is one statement I disagree with so  much it hurts…….I truly believe that consciously we do have the ability, the power, the desire, and the need to begin choosing a more BALANCED way of living on Earth.                  PRODUCTIVE POSITIVITY