I have been blessed in my life to have had some pretty extraordinary animal encounters. One of my favorites was being with the manatees in Crystal River, Florida two years ago.
Photo: Patrick M. Rose
Manatees are amazing creatures, gentle, curious, and misunderstood. I went kayaking with a local biologist/specialist who called them (one of my favorite terms) “Charismatic Megafauna”–I want a t-shirt that says that. They are large animals with whom people fall in love that can inspire conservation efforts for all species. I hope you are inspired.
Manatees are, for such huge creatures, quite fragile. They cannot withstand even slight changes in body temperature and have to huddle around warm water springs (and you often see them near run-off waterways at power plants where the waste water is warm). A detriment to their curious nature and slow movement is that they are too often struck by boats and boat propellers–of the manatees I saw in nature as well as in rehabilitation facilities, none were without scars caused by boat strikes. The plight of the manatee is very real and very serious–people want to play with them and they end up harassing them–swimming around them, trying to catch them, disturbing rest and feeding patterns, grabbing on and riding them, regularly separating mothers and calves, and driving them away from the warm waters they need to survive–which can quite literally mean driving them to their deaths. You’d be amazed at how clueless tourists in snorkel excursion boats can be, splashing into the water, flailing, trying to get close enough to touch a manatee despite laws and guidelines that prohibit it (for the animal’s safety and survival).
One of my favorite organizations is the Save the Manatee Club in Florida. It was started by Jimmy Buffet who was angered by the treatment of these gentle giants (I know–”gentle giant” is a hackneyed phrase, but so very apt…especially when one swims right past you, less than a foot away, like a silent gliding Volkswagen in the murky green water).
Some of the most recent study results found by the Save the Manatee Club are alarming, and I hope will inspire your support and advocacy. “Manatees remain at great risk, especially from boat strikes, which are the largest known cause of manatee deaths and the biggest threat to their long-term survival. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that a record-breaking 97 manatees were killed by watercraft in 2009 — another 12 from other human-related causes, which is a total of 109 manatees killed as a result of human activity (34% where cause of death could be determined). Last year was the worst ever for manatees, with records broken for the total number of deaths, 429, statewide, and the number killed by boats. In 2010, 171 dead manatees were documented in Florida waters through January 30th, with at least 128 of those deaths caused by cold stress.”
Think about a fun Valentine or Easter gift this year: Adopt-a-Manatee, and support this fragile (threatened and nearly back onto on the “endangered” species list) and beautiful animal.
The United Nations Environment Programme has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. With up to 150 species lost to extinction EVERY DAY, you simply can’t be idle. You’ve probably already changed plenty of your habits to help the planet…I know there’s more I can be doing.
When we make a choice to make a change, results can be huge (as in the video below).
I have to say, I’m kind of driven up a wall by Twitter. As soon as I say that I’m sure I’ll be a Twittering fool in the blink of an eye, but thus far it has seemed to me like all the parts of Facebook that I don’t like. I truly don’t care what my friends or followers or followees had for breakfast or thought of the outfit Lady Gaga wore on the red carpet.
There are, however, some amazing things that have come of the Twitter Revolution. Last year, for World Malaria Day, Ashton Kutcherand CNN were in a furious race to see who could first get a million followers on the social networking site. Ashton won, and to celebrate his victory over the media giant network, he vowed to send 10,000 mosquito nets, via Malaria No More, to Africa to fight the disease. Those nets were sent and have now all been distributed, with plenty of others. Ashton’s Twitter posting became the world’s most re-tweeted message on World Malaria Day, and resulted in many others making direct donations, so that the total number of “Twitter Nets” was 89,724! Other high-profile Tweeters got involved: Oprah, Anderson Cooper, Sean Diddy Combs, and Ryan Seacrest, among others.
Who, in your network of friends, is willing to join you in making a difference in the world?
In 2009, my Mother-in-Law had a heart attack. She is healthier today than she was that day, and has made great changes in her lifestyle (she was already pretty darned healthy). I wear red today in honor of Katie, who I honor every day, and to remind myself and everyone with whom I come in contact that positive choices today make a difference not only in your own tomorrow, but the tomorrows for all of us who love you as well.
For the past quarter century, Earth Island Institute has supporting people and organizations that create solutions to protect our planet.
The serve as an incubator and support system for new projects and initiatives that preserve ecosystems, energy, biodiversity, etc. They also publish a quarterly magazine, Earth Island Journal to inspire and kick start dreams and good intentions into action. “New Leaders” Youth in action, are celebrated, and the grassroots thrust of supporting folks like you, in the trenches, trying to make headway against our issues, is a refreshing antidote to large philanthropic machines that occasionally lose sight of the trees for the forest (and shareholders, boards of directors, public relations efforts, etc.)
From the website: “By sharing resources, Earth Island’s network of grassroots leaders benefit from the synergistic exchange of experience and ideas, making its members more effective together than they could ever be apart. We currently serve as the fiscal sponsor for more than 40 groups, including Baikal Watch, Energy Action, Ethical Traveler, Fiji Organic Project, International Marine Mammal Project, Reef Protection International, Sacred Land Film Project, and Women’s Earth Alliance, among others. Successful Earth Island Institute alumni projects include International Rivers, Rainforest Action Network, and Bluewater Network.
The overall organization, as well as its project members, are all so worthy of your support and involvement–just as your cause or project is worthy of theirs. Reach out to make a connection–none of us has to do this alone.
The most rewarding lives are all about building bridges, or even better, forging webs of relationships with many people. Each life we touch adds so much to our own, and when you volunteer and reach out beyond your own comfort zone, you end up affecting and bettering the lives of people you never knew you could reach. We can never be satisfied with isolation. It is easy, when life is at its most difficult, to retreat. It is even instinctual to hide from conflict and worry–but that is EXACTLY the time to reach out, break out of your own cruel mind, and be of service to someone else. I promise it is good for what ails you, and will make you truly grateful for the very fact that you can have a positive influence.
Building bridges is what the U.S.-Africa Children’s Fellowship is all about. Working to enhance education for children in the United States and in Africa, the charitable organization forges sister school relationships between New York and Zimbabwe and Tanzania. More than 50,000 African children are supported at 75 schools in Zimbabwe and 26 schools in Tanzania. In the New York City area, involvement includes 45 primary schools, 8 middle schools, and 18 high schools. Students study and research the other culture, communicate via modern pen-pal methods (email, including swapping photos and video), and the American kids collect materials to ship to Africa in support of their “siblings.” They are eager for your donations of both financial support and school support items: school books, reference books, classroom supplies (pencils, paper, rulers, staplers, graph paper, protractors, etc), art supplies, toiletries, first aid supplies, sports equipment, tools, toys, laboratory equipment, lanterns, fencing supplies, and electronics. The list of needs is compiled by the headmasters and headmistresses of the schools (instead of some outside organization deciding what “they” need).
Our friend Laura has just begun doing amazing volunteer work with the local animal shelter, Strays and Others. She is spending a great deal of time with the too many cats and kittens who are staying in a shelter home, waiting to be adopted into their forever homes (and discovering which of these wonderful felines will find their own ideal home at Laura’s condo).
All the recent cat action sends my brain, even more than usual, to dogs (a natural place for my thoughts). I was fascinated to learn that among adoptable rescue dogs, black colored dogs are passed over in disproportionate numbers for lighter colored dogs. Black dogs, particularly black Labradors and Labrador mixes, are euthanized at much higher numbers than others as they prove un-adoptable. There doesn’t seem to be a rational explanation (especially if you’ve ever known a Black Lab, Doberman, Black Standard Poodle, Portuguese Water Dog, Newfoundland, Rottweiler, etc.)…the best guess for this oddness is that on websites and flyers posted at local coffee houses, black dogs just don’t photograph well. They turn into blobs in tiny thumbnail photos, and since there are far too many animals to scan past on any adoption website, people just scroll past the ones that don’t jump out. Isn’t that bizarre?
The website Black Pearl Dogs (Black Dog Syndrome) documents the plight of black dogs, and encourages us all to consider rescuing any animal that can be a part of our loving families. “Shelters and rescues have different policies in regards to euthanasia: no kill to high kill. Some black dogs will die of natural causes within the system because they will wait a lifetime to be noticed. Many won’t even get a week.”
I grew up with the world’s greatest dog, Ebony, a Doberman/Labrador mix who was rescued from a shelter (kids had beaten her with a baseball bat). She was my everything, entirely jet black with just a tiny white patch on her neck (and as she got older, her muzzle whitened up). It is entirely beyond my comprehension that anyone would pass by Ebony or any other stunning black dog.
Thinking of adopting a dog, cat, horse, rabbit, hamster, snake, any domesticated animal? Visit a shelter, rescue a loving animal. Research the topic into the ground BEFORE you get a pet from a pet store–puppy mills are abhorrent operations and MUST be driven out of business–the pet stores are what keeps them operating.
I don’t do emoticons or text-speech…but…OMG!, how much do I love them?!?
WE, THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF THIRTEEN INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.
The grandmothers are from Nepal, Montana, Alaska, Mexico, Brazil, New Mexico, Tibet, Brazil, 2 from South Dakota, Oregon, Arizona, and Gabon Africa. Their commitment to Earth Medicine is inspiring, and, at the very least, healing…but more likely absolutely transformational. They aren’t just chanting in the woods, these women at the pinnacle of power have gone to the Vatican to coach the Pope on the appropriate revocation of edicts regarding indigenous peoples. They support and fund children’s villages, nun’s projects, political prisoner programs, endangered species protection, drug abuse programs, artisan cooperatives, and more.
We ignore this widom at our own peril and loss. No kidding.
We were just talking about climbing Mt Kilimanjaro at my house last night–a dream plan that is still on my list of things to do. It’s no wonder, then, that this project makes me jealous, but also inspired.
A group of young celebrities, including Emile Hirsch, Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Gore, Alexandra Cousteau, Lupe Fiasco, Kenna, and more, climbed Kili early in January to raise funds and awareness for safe drinking water programs around the world. The website for Summit on the Summit has about a zillion bells and whistles, but allowed us to follow along with each day’s progress up to the 19,340-foot top of the mountain. Video and blog posts recorded the upward progress, and numerous interactive portals gave information about the global water crisis. The climb is over, but the site is still active, and a great way to dig into a deeper knowledge about saving lives with clean water.
Over one billion people do not have daily access to clean, safe drinking water, and without water, not other aspect of life can be optimal (and survival itself cannot last long).
A documentary film of the climb comes out March 14, broadcast on MTV. Until then, explore the site, donate some dollars to clean water, and, perhaps most importantly, think of creative ways to use the major undertakings in your life to support the things you care about. Running a 5K race? Even if it isn’t a charitable event, you can still ask friends to sponsor you with a dollar amount for each kilometer, then donate it to your charity of choice. Losing weight? What if family and friends sponsor your health goals AND your charity by donating an amount for every pound you drop? Wouldn’t it be inspiring if you used the opportunity to make a difference in your own world to also make a difference for everyone?
