Who will save the RHINOS?

There are very few places in the world where rhino is today present : the Javan and the Sumatran in Asia which, as the WWF says, are "Critically Endangered" (a subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011) and the Indian rhino, whose status was changed from "Endangered" to "Vulnerable", but it's still poached for its horn. In Africa there are twho rhino species : the White one and the Black one. The Southern white rhinos are classified as "Near Threatened" while the Northern white rhino is believed to be extinct in the wild and few of them live in a sanctuary in Kenya; black rhinos have doubled during the past two decades but their number (2,480) is very low compared to the 100,000 that existed in the early 20th century. 

Rhinos are threatened for many reasons : 

- Poaching : in 2013, more than 1000 rhinos were killed only in South Africa and considering their already low number, this is a huge amount. It's hard to stop the action of the poachers as they serve the interests of an enormous illegal trade and the people who lead it simply substitute a poacher when another one is caught, they have no scruples. There are anti poaching programs, whose participants are trained hard to fight against this pressing issue, but unfortunately this is not enough. 

- Habitat loss : the territories where the rhinos live are often "invaded" by multinationals to convert the areas in plantations or by populations who have nowhere else to go and settle in the rhinos habitats. 

- Reduced genetic diversity : this is the case of the Javan rhino, whose very small population may make it hard for the species to remain viable. 

- Natural disasters : the area where the Javan rhinos live is subject to a danger of tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. 

- Disease : in recent years, four Javan rhinos have died from disease. 

Send me your opinion about this to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com. 

Why we should all be VEGETARIANS.

As you know, I am vegetarian. 
Italy has the highest rate of vegetarians in the EU: 10% of the population, 6 million people. 
In Germany the rate is 9%, 10% in Sweden, 4.5% in the Netherlands. 

In my opinion, we shoud all be vegetarians because of many reasons: 
- I think it's cruel and inhuman killing other animals to eat them, basically just on a whim and, furthermore, the way of killing the animals in the slaughterhouses is horrible.
- There are environmental reasons: over 15.000 liters of water are needed to produce a kilogramme of red meat and we all know that water is becoming more precious day by day; one third of the world's crops are used to feed the farm animals and, obviously, meat has a lower yield in terms of quantity compared to the vegetables. And we complain about World Hunger...
- There are also health reasons: it is shown that meat contains substances which are harmful and eating them increases the risk of suffering from health problems, diseases and tumors. 

What do you think about vegetarianism? Please, let me know by sending me an email to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com! 

What do you think about...OVERPOPULATION?

Hi guys! 

Following the success of the other times, I ask you again your opinion, this time about...OVERPOPULATION! 

Tell me what you think about it by sending me an email to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com. 

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: a war for the oceans.

A little bit of history... 
In 1977, Captain Paul Watson founded the Earth Force Society, after separating from Greenpeace. 
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was formally incorporated in the United States in 1981. 
Both organizations, at the beginning, had a mandate to protect marine mammals and their main goal was shutting down illegal whaling and sealing operations. Later, Sea Shepherd expanded its mission to all marine wildlife. 
In 1978, with the help of Cleveland Amory of the Fund for Animals, SSCS bought its first ship, which was named Sea Shepherd. Its first mission was to interfere with the annual killing of baby harp seals in Eastern Canada. During that year, Sea Shepherd also hunted down and rammed the pirate whaler "Sierra" ending its infamous career. 
Since then, Sea Shepherd has embarked on over 200 voyages covering many of the world's oceans and defending and saving defenseless marine life all along the way. 

The mission of SSCS 
The aim of Sea Shepherd is to stop the destruction of the natural habitat and the massacre of the wild species in the world's oceans. 
They use direct actions to investigate, document and act to show the world what happens in the oceans. 
Sea Shepherd's campaigns are guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature. 
They collaborate with all the international agencies for the law enforcement . 
Sea Shepherd adheres to the principles of non-violence during all of its operations and adopted a rule against violence in the protection of the oceans. 
They work to obtain cooperation agreements amongst nations to protect the species and the habitats on the basis of the SSCS Mandate. 

Campaigns
During over 30 years of activity, SSCS carried on many campaigns: 
- dolphins (Grindstop and Taiji) 
- Galapagos 
- Whales (Leviathan, Migaloo, Musashi, Waltzing Matilda, No Compromise, Ferociuos Isles, Divine Wind) 
- Sharks 
- Seals 
- Red tuna 

http://www.seashepherd.org/

The slaughter of the giants of the ocean.

Whaling had a great development during the XVI century in the Atlantic ocean and from the XIX century in the Pacific ocean. The Basques were the first commercial whalers, while the most numerous were the Americans. 
The whale is caught with an harpoon, thrown from the whaling ship. In the XIX century the main whale product was the blubber, but the whole animal was used. In modern times, the main product is it meat. 
At the end of the XIX century whaling underwent a profound crisis because of the birth of the oil industry and because of the American civil war. 
Today, whaling is forbidden in most of the world, but in many countries whale hunters keep hunting these cetaceans. 

In 1946 the IWC (International Whaling Commission) was created to promote a coordinated development of the whaling industry and regulate it. At the beginning it encouraged the hunt and so, during the first 30 years of the IWC, 2 million whales were killed. In more recent times, it has started promoting the protection for the cetaceans, even though 39 member countries are still conducive to hunting. 
In 1986 came into force the ban of whaling, but since then Japan, Norway, Iceland, Russia, Korea and local whale hunters from other countries went on with their activity, killing 21.760 whales. 
In 1994, the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was created. Notwithstanding this, Japan keeps killing minke whales there. 

Norway and Japan are brazenly defying world opinion by going on with the hunt and even increasing it. 
Japan is taking advantage of a loophole of the IWC, which allows the hunt in any number of specimens for the purpose of scientific research. So, Japan named its activity "scientific research". Obviously, no new knowledge has been gained. 
Blue whale and fin whale are considered "endangered species" by WWF. 

Whaling must be stopped. There is no justification for such a barbarity. 
You can help things change by spreading the word and helping the organizations that deal with the protection of these wonderful creatures, like Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, WWF and IWPO. 
Please, don't let it remain an unheeded cry. 

What do you think about it? Send me an email to thenorternlightsdiary@gmail.com. 

Bees do so much for us...let's do something for them.

Bees play a vital role in our world: they are pollinators and this means that the survival of many plant species depends on them (and, in the lower part, on bumblebees). 
In Einstein's opinion, if bees were to become extinct, man would only have four years left to live. 

Here are plant species that depend on the work of the bees: apricot tree, chestnut tree, cherry tree, almond tree, apple tree, pear tree, peach tree, plum tree, persimmon tree, kiwi tree, raspberry, cabbage, blueberry, garlic, asparagus, chard, carrot, broccoli, cucumber, melon, leek, onion, celery, pumpkin, zucchini, eggplant, pepper, radish. 

We are endangering bees by using chemicals contained in pesticides, the neonicotinoids, which kill them. Each year in the world 3.8 billion kilos of pesticides are used. 
It is imperative for us to safeguard them and to do it we have to ban neonicotinoids from agriculture. 
Please, sign the petition of Greenpeace to save the bees : http://sos-bees.org/#petition/?GPI_action. 

The snow leopard: let's not lose it.

The snow leopard is a beautiful feline which lives in central Asia between 1500 and 6000 metres above the sea level in a dry and rocky habitat. 
Its usual preys are wild sheeps and goats, but as the preys are scarce in the Asian mountains, it also eats deers, young yaks, wild donkeys and wild cattle. 
Today, it is estimated that the snow leopard population is of 4080-6590 specimens. 

The snow leopard is considered and endangered species by WWF. 
In the past, it was heavily hunted for its fur but today it is threatened mainly because of the disappearance of its habitat, as it's being "conquered" by the herders with their flocks. They are often killed by the drovers because, as the food is scarce, it happens that they attack the flocks. 
Furthermore, they are also killed because their bones are used in the Traditional Chinese Medicine instead of the tigers' ones. 

WWF and other organizations, like International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT) and Traffic (the international network which deals with the monitoring of wild fauna and flora) are launching an appeal to the countries where the snow leopard is present to get and immediate improvement in the controls and in the management efforts of the species to end the threat that hangs over it. 

You can...
...help these organizations and publicize this situation with as many people as possible, creating an increasing media pressure. 

What do you think about this? Write me to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com! 

SHARK-EATERS: the killers are us.

In spite of everything you can think about sharks and their reputation as ruthless killers, it's not man to be at risk of extinction because of them, it's not man to be a prey: sharks are. 

Sharks are threatened because of four main reasons:

- In Asia there is an increasing demand for shark fins, which are served in an expensive soup; the shark is caught and its fin is cut, then the animal is thrown back into the water: that's a death sentence.

- It often happens that sharks remain trapped in fishing nets set for other fish: this is called bycatch. 

- Some species of sharks are seriously endangered because of the popularity of their meat in many parts of the world. 

- The increasing development, pollution and over-fishing are causing a great loss of marine habitats which are very important to shark populations. 

Furthermore, sharks can't breed as fast as other fish, so it's even easier the reduction of their numbers because of overfishing. 

So, what can we do? 

First of all, buy only sustainable fish and seafood (look for MSC certification). 
Second, let people know! Spread the word, make sure that this doesn't remain in silence. 
Third, support the organizations and institutes which are at the forefront to defend the sharks, like WWF, Seashepherd, Oceana, Sharks.org and others. 

If you want to, send me your opinions about this to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com. 

"We're not giving up. Let's save the Arctic!" Thank you!

Many thanks to those of you who sent me emails with their opinions on the "Arctic problem"! 
Here are some sentences that I think are very meaningful: 

"It's unbelievable how the great powers of the world close their eyes in front of all this [...]. In spite of everything, we're not giving up! Let's save the Arctic!" 
(Francesca, Italy) 

"We're destroying everything. The Arctic is one of our last chances (maybe the biggest one) to try to turn the tide. I think that if we lost this battle...we could have lost the war."
(Michel, Canada) 

"If we were able to save the Antarctic, more than 20 years ago, we can do it again and save the Arctic."
(Ebba, Sweden) 

Keep sending me emails with your opinions and suggestions to thenorthernlightsdiary@gmail.com!