The Portal to Boomeranger World

Mountain Gorillas and Polar Bears Endangered: Human Energy Needs to Blame

OK, you say, now I'm supposed to feel guilty about polar bears AND gorillas?

What has that to do with me? Nothing directly...if you are in the developed West, you didn't pull the trigger that brutally murdered--some execution style--10 of a family of 12 Mountain Gorillas in Virunga National Park in Central Africa last summer. Moms and dads, teens and kids--leaving the babies to starve to death. A warning to all to back off from investigating illegalities in the park.  http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/virunga/jenkins-text.

You are not part of the $30, 000,000 illegal trade in charcoal that is decimating this most stunning national park--a park that for its environmental and ecological diversity and sheer beauty many scientists and environmentalists call the jewel of THE PLANET.

You are not one of the many 1,000s of families that have been displaced due to the wars in Rwanda. Due to the decades-old (several century-old) conflicts between The Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, all that border the park. You are not a Tutsi or a Hutu. You are not desperate for the life-giving charcoal that will heat the water to cook your mealie meal to feed your hungry kids.

Nor are you purposely running your car on oil, wearing oil based clothing, heating, cooling with oil, drinking water out of oil-based bottles, walking on oil-based carpeting, sitting on oil-based furniture, bringing home food packaged in oil-based wrappings and bags, right?   That's just all there is to choose from, right?

You are not directly responsible for the carbon emissions that are melting the ice floes at the North Pole and shrinking the ice pack that normally sits about 50 miles off the northern coast of Canada to more than 200 miles? SO...you are not responsible for the loss of PLANKTON that is locked up in the ice and feeds all the subspecies that feed the Polar bears and larger polar creatures, are you?

Humans have an insatiable NEED for energy--whether it is charcoal the production of which is descimating the old growth hardwood trees in Virunga Park: No trees=no habitat. No habitat=no gorillas.Or whether it is oil to power our "modern" comfortable life.

And yes, I do believe we are all responsible--not in a guilty way--guilt paralyzes and causes us to turn away. But in a way that is a Global Wide Call to Action and on our own selfish behalf. We are selfish creatures--well, really we have a basic driving inner force to LIVE. Each of us has this need, this drive--all creatures do. But now we must realize that unless we are selfish together and take selfish action together for our own benefit, we will all go the way of the dodo. And our beautiful Blue Marble will be a smoking empty desert hulk.

DO the Change you want to BE. SOmeone out there invent a little portable and cheap solar cooker that can be GIVEN to all the displaced families around Virunga Park. And SURELY we are not that lazy, worthless or stupid to not be able to invent cheap and easy wind turbines and solar or human powered and CHEAP means to power our needs.

I recently received a sampler from the Sundance Channel about a new environmental program called "big ideas for  a Small Planet." As I view that sampler, I' ll share with you.

So think about what you can do today--one action taken in millions can really change things.

Why Polar Bears Matter: Facts and Fallacies

I received a comment on my May 14th post about polar bears and their threatened status. I want to reply to that comment, which I invite you all to read. This is an important discussion and I want to take the writer seriously, rather than just dismissing these comments. The writer basically said worrying about polar bear extinction was a commie plot to undermine capitalism. Why worry when the total population had increased over the past 30 years?

That last comment may be true. I don't know what the total population was 30 years ago and to what degree it has increased. The current population stands at about 20,000-25,000 bears. Look at the  www.WorldWildlifeFederation.org site  for their most recent polar bear population numbers. But what is worrying is not the increase in the bear population, but the dramatric DECREASE in the bear's habitat. Sea ice is melting and at an increasing rate. Now is the melting sea ice a non-governmental Marxist plot to undermine capiatalism? I think not.

Polar bears and ice go together. Bears need ice for fishing, feeding and breeding. And the ice is melting. On 12/12/07 NASA climate scientist Jay Zwal suggested that as soon as 2012 summer sea ice could be completely melted. Other reputable scientists suggest that by mid-century all the ice summer and winter might be gone.

Such a climatological event not only affects the bear population--making it more difficult for bears to feed well and gain the fat they need to breed and nourish young--but also creates more and more dark water surfaces. These huge areas of open water absorb heat from the sun rather than reflecting it back as do the frozen polar seas. Open water becomes like a huge heat sink and contributes to more warming.

In addition to the issues of potential bear population collapse or even extinction, and overall warming of the climate, there is just the sheer fact that the loss of ice and polar bears is an unbearable thought. They are so beautiful. So beautiful. How can we stand to live in a world in which we deliberately destroy its beauty?

Placing polar bears on the threatened species list does give Congress some ability to make treaties with other countries and enact laws and regulations that work to protect bear habitat--ice.

 

Potential Bear Extinction a Predictor of Our Own?

I have been dreaming about bears for more than 30 years. When I began these dreams, I never had any particular affinity for bears. My favorite animal had always been the otter. I love their silliness, sleekness and lovely velvety eyes and cutsie pie pug noses. So when my first bear dream happened, I was puzzled to say the least. Subsequently, I have had three more at important junctures in my life. The last one was several years ago, when I dreamed that a huge fierce grizzly and I were merging. I awoke feeling wonderful.

Over these years of bear dreams, I have read copiously about bears--all kinds of them. I have lots of books about bears. I have pictures of bears. Little statues of bears. Bears have become a feature in my life.

In native American lore, bears symbolized the inner self.  A return, a meditation and a bringing forth of inner knowledge. In Celtic lore, bears stood for the fierce mother. So I guess you can see both of those strains of thought in my writing.

The prospect of polar bear extinction is unpardonable. Not only are they beautiful and powerful, but they are part of our world self knowledge. More so than any other animal except chimps and gorillas, bears appear human like. We can see our playfullness, our fierceness, work-ethic, our intelligence and protectiveness, our love of sweetness and our laziness, reflected in bear behavior. Are we witnessing our future extinction reflected in the precarious situation of polar bears?

I refuse to accept that we are that stupid.

Clearly the head of the Dept of Interior believes we are. But I believe we can change our ways.

I am signing off now. I have to prepare for a meeting with other school parents tomorrow morning to deal with the discovery of asbestos in my daughter's school.

There are five fierce mothers meeting tomorrow morning.  Watch out for Bear Energy.

Endangered Polar Bears: Is The Wolf at the Door? Or Is It Vanishing? And What About Those Polar Bears?

Is there a connection between our vanishing wild life and our nose diving economy?

Lots of people feel that the wolf is at their doors.

Many pending retirees are postponing their retirement dates, because they're worried about their futures. The linkages between oil culture, world wide food shortages, plunging markets, rising gas prices and dwindling wildlife are clearly drawn.

You have federal officials doubting that THE FACT of global warming is a product of our oil based culture. It is melting the ice caps and threatening the survival of polar bears.

Yesterday the Dept of the Interior declared polar bears an endangered species.

And at the same time the Secretary of the Department of the Interior said "now don't link that to carbon emissions in the atmosphere!" How blind is that!?!

And then you have the following situation described by the National Wildlife Federation:

The situation: Wolves, grizzly bears, moose and other animals are wandering out of protected areas onto grazing ranges where they present a threat to the livestock. Ranchers have purchased grazing privileges in these areas, so the federal government is obligated to protect the ranchers’ livestock. To do so, they often must kill the wild animals who wander into these territories.

The opportunity: Ranchers in the Dunoir region of Wyoming have agreed to vacate their 35,000-acre grazing allotment in the Shoshone National Forest, near Yellowstone. The federal government will permanently retire this vital habitat so imperiled wildlife can roam free here.

The need: National Wildlife Federation must raise $150,000 to compensate the ranchers so they can secure grazing privileges elsewhere.

The great news: You can protect imperiled wildlife in the Dunoir region - and across the nation - for only about $4 an acre through our Adopt-a-Wildlife-Acre program. It’s like having your own wildlife preserve!

It must be abundantly clear that what we have been doing economically is NOT working and that we now must change and do something radically different with our individual lives and our society.

This is an urgent moment to reFIRE nationally and individually.

Vision:  AS you look inside and jot your notes of what you like and what pleases you and what interests you, words may come into your mind. Pictures may come into your mind.

Or you may be drawn to an object that seems to have meaning for you. Just describe those in your notes and pop them in your dream folder. 

You may be the one to have a vision of how to turn back carbon emissions and get the polar cap frozen again and save the polar bears. There are only about 35,000 bears left and all may be extinct by mid-century.

Nome, Alaska's huge electric tower was felled recently and people reduced their electrical usage enormously. Many in Nome started doing what I remember us doing when I was a child--hanging out their wash. Does anyone else remember the smell and feel of fresh crisp sun-dried sheets?

So when you think of endangered polar bears gone in our lifetimes--think what can I do today to reduce my carbon footprint?

And rather than firing up the clothes dryer! reFire your creativity.

Let's have polar bears and wolves in our national backyard and not have the wolf at our doors!