Focus on Arts and Ecology

Well there goes 2021. I think it’s safe to say we all thought this year would go very, very differently. But as the global headlines begin to sound more and more like the world’s most depressing record stuck on loop, the conservation world has been full of some wonderful reasons to hope.

Here’s the rundown of our favourites:

Melvin saves a species:

Melvin Smith is a hero - literally - and this year he received the award to prove it. Nicknamed “the Caribbean’s best botanist” he’s championed the last-ditch rescue of the pencil cedar tree. There were just 100 left and a single wildfire could have wiped them out completely.

Melvin wouldn’t let that happen. Using his extraordinary climbing skills, he’s climbed the Petit Piton mountain time after time to collect seeds from wild pencil cedars. He’s used these to rear 300 new trees - triple the original population. That achievement, quite rightly, earned him a 2021 Disney Conservation Hero award.

17,000 hectares secured for conservation

Driven by extreme poverty, the wildlife haven of Bangangai in South Sudan has been under immense pressure from poaching, hunting and slash-and-burn - causing untold damage to the region’s pangolins, golden cats and bongos.

So, it was a huge milestone when the area was regazetted as an official protected area, and FFI succeeded in creating an area that also works for local communities - supporting people’s livelihoods while safeguarding the wildlife they live by. The benefits of this move will be felt for generations.

World’s rarest rabbit spotted on Facebook

Meanwhile, in Sumatra, an extraordinary species was sighted: the Sumatran striped rabbit. A photo of this little-known animal, widely considered to be the world’s rarest rabbit, was posted on Facebook, where it was recognised by some keen-eyed conservationists.

Upon receiving a tip-off about the Facebook post, FFI and the Kerinci Seblat National Park authorities were able to track down the holder - a local farmer who had captured the rabbit opportunistically on the edge of the national park - and rescue the precious rabbit. The elusive creature was then safely looked after until it was ready for release.

The rabbit has now been successfully released back into a specially chosen site in the wild - a great team effort all round!

Half a million reasons to celebrate for saiga

Turn back time and the Eurasian steppe - stretching from Hungary to China - would be carpeted with uncountable numbers of saiga antelope. But after industrial levels of poaching, habitat obliteration and devastating disease outbreaks, they’re now largely confined to a single country - Kazakhstan.

Those fortunes are starting to change. Since just 2019 we’ve recorded half a million more of these other-worldly antelope in Kazakhstan, showing real signs of progress towards a stable future.

Elephants get good news in Guinea

Even by FFI’s standards, Guinea’s forests elephants are rare. Fewer than a staggeringly low 20 were believed to survive in the country, where FFI has been protecting them since 2009.

So, when a previously undocumented family of eight - including three calves - showed up this year there was genuine excitement that a species on the very brink of local extinction might be showing the first, tentative signs of recovery.

COP26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact

Of course, we can’t forget COP26, arguably one of the most important moments for nature this year. Nature was a key part of many of the discussions for the first time, and those in power seemed to more clearly understand the links between central issues like climate change and loss of biodiversity, something which could prove key in the future for tackling these problems.

However, the overall commitments in the Glasgow Climate Pact still remain far short of what is needed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees. Going forward, we need clear accountability for governments and well-defined monitoring processes. Crucially, we must make sure that these pledges turn into actions.

And on it goes…

As the year draws to a close, we are already looking forward to all the hard work that will be happening in 2022. We must keep up the momentum, whatever the next 12 months may bring - the crucial conservation work carried out by FFI will surely only prove more important as each day passes.

And - as always - we really couldn’t do what we do without your help, so thank you for being with us along the way. We are confident that with your support we can make a real difference to the future of this planet.

Nature isn’t giving up, and neither are we.

Our members are the bedrock of everything we do, and that's been the case since 1903. Please, join FFI today for $60 a year, and help us protect everything from tigers to turtles to trees. 

P.S. If you are already a member, thank you. Truly. You are the wind in our sails and the hope in our hearts. Your support throughout this last year has been utterly indispensable, and countless plants and animals are alive because of you.

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Not to mention tedious and not much fun. And that’s the good news.

By David Bromwich, DECEMBER 25, 2021

Climate change has destabilized the earth’s poles,” said a Washington Post headline on December 15, and it served as a reminder. The ice is breaking up. The waters are rising. The all-encompassing political question today is climate catastrophe. How can the nations and people of the world mobilize the social energy necessary to slow the process? This danger won’t be cut off by defunding, by fostering mindfulness and new sensitivities, or even by penalizing the jocular skepticism and quack science that tell us climate change is a hoax. The problem is with human nature: the way we are constituted—the most selfless as well as the greediest individuals.

Many of us know this; we feel it as a nagging reproach. We push away the anxiety, from bewilderment but also from a rational uncertainty regarding tactics. One entire political party denies or minimizes the threat. The other party addresses it somewhere near the top of an indifferent list, alongside worthy items like improved health care and free college.

How did we come to this place? For the past five centuries, Appropriative Man has sought to dominate nature. The tools discovered by science, which we find already in our hands, are valuable for aggrandizement, destruction, comfort, and self-care. We don’t intend to bury the tools, and even if the sacrifice were plausible, we don’t know how to perform it. We lack the strength to make ourselves weak.

That last sentence, italicized in the original, was written by Jonathan Schell a few months before he died. And the same thought came up more than once in our conversations. In moods of “optimism of the will,” Jonathan believed that nuclear weapons might be abolished one day and the human conquest of nature might eventually be curbed. Yet the science that yielded the world-destroying processes could never be rendered inaccessible.

No phrase is more sacred to secular activists than “human flourishing,” but the campaign against climate disruption will set boundaries on our flourishing. Such acts of collective self-denial have emerged in the past only as means to a political end—as when Cromwell proposed that members of Parliament resign their military command for the public good. Now the elimination of convenience and luxury will be part of the end itself. We can “thrive” and be “resilient”—two more favorite words—only in the changed conditions we must now impose on ourselves.

Schell believed that we face an almost insoluble puzzle about the limits of imagination. We project past regularities into the future and are unavoidably constrained by our habits of thought and action. It is hard to go beyond the local—hard, anyway, to stay out there for long. We are primed to notice only high-contrast disruptions of routine, or immediate threats to our well-being. Imagination on a planetary scale is difficult; for most people most of the time, it is close to impossible.

In his essay “Nature and Value,” which I quoted above, Schell offered a broad summary of our predicament. By the release of carbon in the atmosphere, the deposit of plastic on the ocean floor, the large-scale destruction of wildlife and its replacement by domestic animals for milk or meat, human existence has rerouted and overloaded nature:

The walls of separation that once divided the human artifice from nature have come down. History has flooded into evolution. And evolution has returned the favor and flooded history.

People who worry professionally about democracy, culture, domestic and foreign policy—the things that occupy a magazine like The Nation—are dealing with history before the flood. But now consider the Covid pandemic, in all its endless variety. We know that it originated in one of two ways, a laboratory accident or human encroachment on the natural environment. What should be the consequences of this knowledge?

How much easier to talk about the threat of China, the new enemy on the horizon! That is an old-world problem, familiar and sensational. Meanwhile, we may notice occasional floods and tornadoes; we may even pause a day or two over the mass-incineration fires in Australia and California; but we take them in as if they were epiphenomena—freak occurrences, no matter how overwhelming. So we absorb the events that signify a larger degradation, but they pass. And mostly these are tolerable changes. We don’t notice that there are fewer songbirds, fewer insects. And maybe the trees are dying (as sugar maples now are dying in Connecticut), but it happens gradually, and there are other trees around. If spring comes a few days later, what of it? There was no snow last winter, or very little, but how many of us pay much attention, and for how long?

The commitment required to avert climate catastrophe is going to be staggering, expensive, and, at the same time, tedious and ordinary. Putting in a heat-pump system is not like buying a new Peloton. And yet the change must come, to the exclusion of other expenditures, if we are going to maintain a shred of decent living half a century from now. If there were ever a cause that demanded single-minded attention, this is it.

One commonly hears it said, with a shade of regret by people over 50: “I won’t live to see the end of this.” Is it possible to shrug your shoulders morally? The nature of our lethargy is to look on the catastrophe as one more transient discomfort, amenable to political solutions like the other problems on the usual list. The truth is that this will cost a lot and it won’t be fun. It adds up to an obstruction our commercial culture can do nothing with.

This reformation will be full of drudgery and very little uplift. No wonder Barack Obama—who knew enough and knew better—avoided the subject for most of his presidency. No wonder Donald Trump took care to know no better but instead retained “the possession of being well deceived.” The task calls for clear scientific explanation accompanied by political persuasion­—in short, exactly the kind of leadership we haven’t yet seen.

David BromwichDavid Bromwich teaches literature at Yale University. His latest books are American Breakdown: The Trump Years and How They Befell Us (Verso Books), and How Words Make Things Happen (Oxford), both published in 2019.

(Sources: The Nation)

December 27, 2021 

It’s stating the obvious to point out that the grizzly bear is a formidable beast. Even your average wolf pack, more often than not, thinks twice before engaging one of these big, unruly “silvertips.” And, while in most parts of the continent the bulk of the grizzly’s fare is vegetative, it can be an effective predator on an occasional basis, capable even of bringing down moose and the odd bison.

But attacking large mammals is risky – for grizzlies as for any other carnivore. A few months ago a griz in the Canadian Rockies suffered the consequences of predatory ambition (or desperation) in the form of a defensive counterattack by a mountain goat.

Earlier this year, a hiker in British Columbia’s Yoho National Park came upon a grizzly carcass – a female, or sow, weighing only some 70 kilograms (154 pounds).

A subsequent necropsy revealed stab wounds at the bear’s armpits and throat which Parks Canada attributed to the dagger-like horns of a mountain goat, a band of which was seen in the general vicinity of the dead griz.

The location of those wounds, and the determination that they were received before the bear’s death, suggested a botched predation attempt.

This article by Ethan Shaw was first published by Earth Touch Network on 17 December 2021. Lead Image: Mountain goats have sharp horns which they use with deadly effectiveness when under threat.

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December 28, 2021 

Bloodthirsty British hunters have been killing reindeer on a pre-Christmas shooting trip to Iceland.

The £2,000 ‘Icelandic Safari’ was organised by Ian Farrington, a deer stalker from Devon.

He posted gruesome pictures online of slaughtered reindeer and boasted on a forum for hunters: ‘We have returned from another trip to Iceland with 100 per cent success – all hunters taking reindeer bulls on the first day of their hunt.’

Mr Farrington, 59, said that last month’s trip ‘brings our results to 12 hunts conducted, with all of the hunters taking their beast during day one’.

Pictures from a previous hunt last year showed the dead bodies of reindeer bulls with antlers slumped on the ground after being shot by British hunters.

Another picture showed at least three dead reindeer strapped to the back of a bloodstained all-terrain vehicle after a hunt on the rocky plains of Iceland’s Eastern Fjords.

Critics say reindeer hunting is cruel blood sport, but its supporters claim it is essential to keep their numbers down. The Icelandic government permits an annual cull of 1,800 reindeer.

Mr Farrington advertised prices for another three-day trip to Iceland next year. It will cost hunters £2,165 to kill a reindeer bull or £1,890 to kill a reindeer cow.

He is well-known in trophy-hunting circles, and has organised hunting all over the world through his firm Farrington Deer Services.

Its website advertises African safari hunts ‘for the ultimate in game variety and terrain’ as well as trips to Scandinavia, Italy, Japan and the US and Canada.

The British Government recently announced new legislation to ban hunters from bringing back trophies of their kills.

This is set to include reindeer trophies – much to Mr Farrington’s disdain.

On the Stalking Directory forum, he wrote: ‘The latest bill from our gracious.gov [government] is suggesting that the import of reindeer trophies will be banned – a concern if you wish to bring back trophies to the UK.’

Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: ‘Ian Farrington is quite literally making a killing by selling stomach-churning holidays where you can shoot reindeer for “sport”, a smug selfie, and a sick souvenir.

‘Reindeer are increasingly endangered. Scientists say hunting is one of the threats driving reindeer towards extinction.’

Approached by The Mail on Sunday, Mr Farrington said: ‘I would prefer not to discuss.’

This article by Michael Powell was first published by The Daily Mail on 20 December 2021. Lead Image: A hunter from the UK poses with the reindeer he killed at a hunt in Iceland last month.

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The controversial tech billionaire is under growing scrutiny in China as his satellites almost collided with the country's space station twice. 

By Heather Chen, 

MUSK AT THE TESLA PLANT IN EASTERN GERMANY. PHOTO: PATRICK PLEUL / AFP

You could call it an invasion of space—in outer space. Authorities in China have lashed out after satellites launched by Elon Musk’s Starlink programme nearly collided with the country’s space station twice this past year. 

In an official complaint filed with the UN’s space agency earlier this month, Beijing said that its space station was forced to take evasive action during the near misses, which took place in July and October this year.

The complaint added that Musk’s satellites “constituted dangers” to the safety of Chinese astronauts aboard the space station, which has been under construction since April and is due to be completed in 2022.

“As the [Starlink] satellite was continuously manoeuvring, the manoeuvre strategy was unknown and orbital errors were hard to be assessed, there was thus a collision risk between the Starlink-2305 satellite and the China Space Station,” the complaint read. 

Chinese officials also stated that all those party to the Outer Space Treaty, including the U.S., had to bear “international responsibility” for activities carried out by both government and non-governmental bodies in space. Starlink is operated by SpaceX and has already launched 1,900 satellites into orbit to serve its broadband internet network, receiving permission from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to do so.

Tech

This Is What Happens When Two Satellites Collide In Space

JORDAN PEARSON

10.9.19

With nearly 30,000 satellites and other objects orbiting our planet, space debris has become a major problem, with scientists urging governments to share data to reduce the risk of catastrophic space collisions. They also predict that there could be ten times as many artificial satellites in low-Earth orbit alone in just a few years due to launches by commercial companies. 

China itself contributed to the problem of space debris when it blew up one of its own satellites in 2007, resulting in a cloud of space junk. A chunk of a Chinese satellite also had a close encounter with the International Space Station in an incident in November.

Musk is already facing growing scrutiny in China, a key consumer market, as his electric car company Tesla faces criticism over the safety of its vehicles, namely issues with braking, and its attitude towards consumers. 

In April, a Tesla owner who was involved in another crash went viral after climbing on top of a car at a Shanghai show to protest the company’s safety standards and poor responsiveness to customer complaints. In May, a traffic policeman in the Chinese city of Taizhou was killed in a crash involving a Tesla car.

This latest controversy surrounding the billionaire has only angered Chinese citizens further. Musk’s name started trending among disgruntled Chinese citizens who slammed his “arrogance” and criticized his companies.

On the Sina Weibo Chinese microblogging website, users called Musk’s Starlink satellites “American space warfare weapons” and dismissed them as “space junk.” “What can we expect from another arrogant American billionaire? China was being too forgiving by reporting it as an accident, but the incident reads as blatant sabotage,” wrote another Weibo user who went by the name of Luo Kaiqi. 

On Musk’s official Weibo page, users reacted to old posts and chided him over the near-collision. “You’re lucky that Chinese astronauts think quickly,” one user wrote on a post. “Only shows the incompetency of your creations.”

Some users called for Musk to “apologise profusely.” “Tesla has been responsible for fatal car crashes in China. Don’t tell us that SpaceX will do the same,” one wrote. 

“Can you imagine what would have happened if your satellites had indeed crashed into the space station? China has long been in outer space before you, and we deserve an apology and assurance that it won’t happen again because there will be grave consequences,” another said in a comment that drew hundreds of likes. 

Speaking to the Financial Times on Dec. 29, Musk addressed claims that his satellites were taking up too much room in space and that he was “making the rules” for the emerging commercial space economy.

"Space is just extremely enormous, and satellites are very tiny," he said, refuting criticism that his SpaceX satellites were obstructive and damaging. "We've not blocked anyone from doing anything, nor do we expect to. A couple of thousand satellites is nothing. It's like, hey, here's a couple of thousand of cars on Earth, it's nothing."

Follow Heather Chen on Twitter. 

This story has been updated to include Elon Musk's response to recent criticism and additional context on China's role in creating space debris.

(Sources: Vice)

December 20, 2021 

Consecutive wet years have boosted breeding colonies of waterbirds in eastern Australia but not enough yet to increase total bird numbers, according to the latest edition of one of the world’s largest and longest nature surveys.

Researchers on the annual survey, now in its 39th year, flew 38,360km – or almost enough to circumnavigate the globe – to track the abundance in more than 2,000 wetlands of about 50 bird species, from Queensland down to Victoria.

Even though parts of inland Queensland registered record rains and many rivers have lately been in flood, rainfall has been patchy, with areas such as north-western Victoria still relatively dry. Years of severe drought as well as large-scale water diversions for irrigation have also taken their toll.

“The sort of core resource of birds that can breed when there’s a good flood is declining, so their capacity to bounce back is getting less and less,” said Richard Kingsford, director of the University of NSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science, who took part in his 36th consecutive survey.

The monitoring counted 95,306 birds, a drop from 2020 and the third lowest tally in the almost four decades of tracking. The researchers, though, did observe increases in breeding of birds such as the Australian white ibis and straw-necked ibis.

With more water around, it is also likely that birds range beyond the surveyed bands. Large flows are also making their way towards the Lake Eyre basin in central Australia, and more breeding will be triggered by that water, Kingsford said.

Waterbirds are important barometers of river health, with the abundance of various species indicating the availability of vegetation, invertebrates and fish. “[They] provide you with a story about what’s going on in the rivers,” he said.

When water flows into wetland systems, it improves water quality for human communities downstream but also supports native fish, frogs and river red gums “that all depend on these sort of floods coming down the system”, Kingsford said.

A NSW upper house review report released on Wednesday warned that a decade of reforms under the $13bn Murray-Darling Basin Plan could be undermined if the government proceeded with plans to licence more harvesting of water on flood plains.

Kingsford said water diversions for cotton, nuts and other crops had interrupted flows and made it harder to trigger natural bird breeding events. The Tallywalka wetlands in central NSW, for instance, remained dry when surveyed in October even though big rivers in the region were already high.

The survey provided some good news, showing the return of more magpie geese. Numbers were smashed by poisoning for rabbits in the past, and the loss of habitat.

The internationally important Macquarie Marshes also had moderate levels of water augmented by environmental flows supplied by the NSW and federal government. This water is supporting considerable numbers and diversity of waterbirds.

However, the researchers counted just 57 Australasian shovelers, compared with thousands in the early years of the survey.

Similarly, they observed just 105 freckled ducks, compared with more than 10,000 in previous good years. Researchers also counted 6,528 pink-eared ducks versus a dozen previous years when numbers were closer to 50,000, the report said.

“One of the real advantages with having these long-term datasets that are collected in the same way every year and have been for some time, is you do [track] natural floods and droughts ,” Kingsford said. “You can start to tease out what the human impact is on these river systems.”

This article by Peter Hannam was first published by The Guardian on 16 December 2021. Lead Image: The UNSW Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey tracked about 50 bird species from Queensland down to Victoria. Photograph: Richard Kingsford.

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