Home/Posts Tagged ‘park’
Posts Tagged ‘park’
Nature, Pollution, Weird Stuff, May 28th, 2012,
I first heard about the Salton Sea via a couple of documentaries focusing on pollution and economic collapse. One, VBS TV’s ‘TOXIC Imperial Valley’ shows the Salton Sea and surrounding area as a polluted wasteland populated by a few rugged individualists, stragglers and diehards. The millions of fish in the Salton Sea are dying off and the once playground for California’s rich and famous is now some kind of post-apocalypse Mad Max landscape dotted with abandoned tourist traps as well as a derelict military base. Honestly, it’s just the kind of thing that gets my imagination running. But are things…
Tags: California, fish, park, Pollution, salton sea
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 23rd, 2012,
A rainbow coalition of indigenous groups and social/political activists recently hit the streets of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, in protest of large-scale mining projects approved by the country’s president Rafael Correa. Correa praised the Chinese mining project, claiming they will bring 50,000 jobs and billions in revenue. Though Correa is popular in Ecuador, the project is facing opposition. Ecuador has already suffered a massive oil spill in the Amazon region, and some 50% of the country is already covered by mining and oil extraction projects. So Ecuadorans are understandably wary of more major mining operations. See the following video…
Tags: Correa, Ecuador, indigenous, mining, oil, park, potash, protest, video, Yorkshire
Conservation, Aug 22nd, 2011,
So far this year poachers have killed 265 rhinos in South Africa, quickly approaching last year’s record 333 killings. To put this number in perspective, only 13 rhinos were poached in 2007. The cause for this carnage is the skyrocketing trade in rhino horn, due to the false belief that it cures cancer, headaches and fever. This unscientific notion is widespread in China, as well as in some communities in South East Asia, where increased affluence is fueling the illegal rhino horn market. Poachers use sophisticated military equipment and helicopters to enter wildlife reserves, like Kruger National Park in South…
Tags: horn, Kruger, park, poachers, rhinos, South Africa, TCM
Green living, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 23rd, 2010,
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my travels on the continent it’s this: Europeans love bubbly water. I’m not sure why, as it tickles the nose and tastes weird. Plus you can’t chug it if you’re really hot and thirsty or you might commit the unforgivable faux pas of belching loudly in a Parisian park. It just so happens that in an attempt to discourage bottled water consumption, the Jardin de Reuilly in Paris has installed a fountain dispensing free chilled carbonated water. In case you didn’t know, the bottled water industry in many developed countries is basically a…
Tags: bottled, bubbly, fountain, France, Jardin de Reuilly, Paris, park, plastic, sparkling, water
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 30th, 2010,
‘The Performance’ is a disturbing, but important film about animal abuse in China’s zoos, circuses and animal parks. In conjunction with a new report by Hong Kong-based Animals Asia, ‘The Performance’ exposes the cruel treatment of animals such as black bears, big cats, monkeys and elephants for the entertainment of live audiences, who are unaware of the suffering they are supporting. The film is part of an effort to get animal welfare legislation laws – of which there are none in China – drafted and passed. Beaten throughout its life, declawed, de-toothed and kept in unsanitary conditions – this is…
Tags: abuse, animals, Asia, bears, China, Chinese, circuses, cruelty, documentary, film, monkey, park, The Performance, zoos
Conservation, Aug 20th, 2010,
Plans to reopen an abandoned goldmine and build a processing plant in Scotland’s Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park have been rejected. Opposition from conservationists, countryside groups and the park’s own director of planning has won out against Scotgold Resources argument for jobs and economic gain. The convener of Scotland’s National Park authority acknowledged that there are compelling arguments on both sides of the issue, but concluded that issues of conservation outweighed the potential economic benefits of the mine. From a BBC News report: Our main concern lay with the design, scale and visual impact of the waste management…
Tags: Cononish, gold, goldmine, Loch, Lomond, mine, national, park, plans, Scotland, Scottish
Conservation, Aug 12th, 2010,
All that glitters isn’t… well, you know. Some of it is babbling brooks and lush rolling hills adorned with blossoming heather; or sparkling lakes populated by picturesque islands of greenery. Can’t you just hear the bagpipes’ mournful drone? Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park is located on the boundary between the Scottish Highlands and the lowlands of Central Scotland. It contains the UK’s largest lake – Loch Lomond – which in turn contains the largest freshwater island in the British Isles. Increasing international demand for gold is placing some of this national treasure at risk from an Australian-owned mining…
Tags: Cononish, gold, Loch Lomond, mine, national, park, plans, Scotgold, Scotland, Scottish
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 19th, 2010,
The last female rhino at Krugersdorp Nature Reserve in South Africa was killed by poachers on Wednesday. The poachers are suspected to have entered the game reserve – near South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg – by helicopter, where they then shot the white rhino cow with tranquilizers before cutting off her horn with a chainsaw. This latest killing marks the 136th rhino in South Africa that has been murdered for its horn this year – already more than last year’s total of 129, suggesting that the number of killings this year will double. The sophistication of the operation leaves conservationists…
Tags: Africa, animal, Asia, calf, CITES, Krugersdorp, park, poachers, poaching, Reserve, rhino, South, white
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Jun 2nd, 2010,
Marek Kohn is a British science writer who has written about topics including evolution and drug use. In his latest book, Turned Out Nice: How the British Isles will Change as the World Heats Up, Kohn takes on the topic of climate change and how Britain and Ireland might turn out after a century of global warming. A review in the Independent summarizes Kohn’s vision of London 2100′s: His account of London is sobering. The best guess is that the metropolis will become as much of a meteorological as a cultural hotspot, with summer temperatures regularly in the 40s. Parks…
Tags: 2100, book, Britain, climate, Climate change, future, global warming, hot, Independent, Kohn, london, Marek, park, science, Turned Out Nice
Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 4th, 2010,
It’s not a holiday advertisement for a rugged getaway, but rather a somewhat desperate move by the Florida state government to control what they see as a threat to their state’s fragile eco-system. I guess hunting pythons is sexier than a moratorium on the construction of new McMansions in the Everglades – and less controversial. Half of the state of Florida’s famed subtropical wetlands have been turned into farmland or urban areas according to a 1999 geological survey by the US government. Furthermore, only half of that half is a protected national park. Still, invasive species are leaving their mark…
Tags: Everglades, Florida, hunt, hunting, invasive, national, park, python, pythons, species, US
