Sharkwater: a shark lover, a battle.

Rob Stewart has been a shark lover since the very first years of his life. In 2007, he made a documentary film to report the dangerous situation in which the sharks are. 
In the film he interviews some people who think it's right to hunt sharks and kill them because they are "man-eaters", a danger to people. Well, this is the result of ignorance surrounding these incredible creatures, which rarely attack men and never do it to eat them, but simply because it can happen that they confuse them with seals or because they are annoyed by electronic equipment. Sharks tend to be afraid of human beings, even our heartbeat can scare them. 
In collaboration with Sea Shepherd, he went to the places that have the largest presence of sharks in the world to show the corruption and exploitation surrounding even the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. 
Sharks have gone from predator to prey because of the demand of their meat and especially of their fins, with which a prized soup is made (even if shark fins have no taste). 
I could see that Sharkwater is a beautiful, well made documentary film and I strongly advise you to watch it! 

"An eye-opening film...visually stunning...this movie will change the way you see our oceans."
- Bonnie Laufer, Tribute Magazine 

Tiger: the largest cat.

The tiger is the largest cat in the world. 
Because of hunting and persecutions its population has decreased very rapidly: in 1930, in Asia, there were 100.000 tigers, in 1940 (only 10 years after) they were 40.000 and in 1970 their number was only 5.000 and 2 years later they were less than 2.000. 
The measures against the poachers and the establishment of protected parks has led, since 1979, to a gradual recovery of the tigers, that today have reached approximately 6.400 specimens. 

However, it was calculated that today there are more tigers in zoos and circuses than in nature. 
The habitat of the tigers varies depending on the subspecies, from the Syberian coniferous forests to the mangrove swamps of Sundarban, to the arid scrublands in northwest India. 
The surviving species of tiger today are: the Bengal tiger (4.500 specimens), the Syberian tiger (450 specimens), the Chinese tiger (30-80 specimens), the tiger of Sumatra (400-600 specimens) and the Indochinese tiger (1.000-1.750 specimens). 

The Javan tiger has been driven to extinction (in the first years of the 19th century). The same thing happened to the Bali tiger (extinct in the 40s) and to the Caspian tiger (extinct in the 70s). 
The tiger meat is used in Malaysia as a remedy against the irritations to the spleen and stomach while, in other Asian areas, it is believed that eating some parts of the tiger gives courage and heals some diseases. In Taiwan there's a kind of "wine" produced with tiger bones. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

About sustainability... ORGANIC FARMING.

The common definition of organic farming is "farming without chemicals". 
As a matter of fact, all living or dead things are made up of chemical compounds. Therefore, organic farming does use chemicals, though naturally derived, in plant protection, fertilizing and livestock husbandry. 
It is a system which tries to avoid the routine use of chemicals and to exploit natural renewable resources. 

The principles of organic farming are: 
- work with natural systems rather than trying to dominate them;
- to encourage and enhance biological cycles within the farming system involving microorganisms, soil flora and fauna, plants and animals;
- to maintain and increase the long term fertility of soils: 
- to use, as far as possible, renewable resources;
- to give all livestock conditions of life that allow them to perform all aspects of their innate behaviour; 
- to avoid all forms of pollutions;
- to maintain the generic diversity of the agricultural system. 

It is the duty of humanity to fix the mess we've made and everyone have to do it in its own sector, beginning with agriculture. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost... Honshu wolf.

The Honshu wolf (or Japanese wolf) was the smallest wolf existing in the world, as it was only 84 cm long (not counting the tail) and 39 cm tall. 

In the Japanese Islands it was called "the howling God" and it was respected but also widely feared, so much so that in the country houses people hung talismans outside to protect themselves from those beasts. 

At the end of the 19th century, Japan knew an unprecedented process of industrialization and this led to the felling of many forests where the small wolf lived. 

Furthermore, an always more ruthless hunt to this animal began, with a bounty of 10 YEN by the government for each specimen. 

Tremendous rabies outbreaks finally decimated them. 

The last specimen was killed in 1905 (same fate befell its "cousin", the Hokkaido wolf). 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Things we lost... Caribbean monk seal.

The Caribbean monk seal was a peaceful seal, very similar to its Mediterranean "cousin". It lived in big colonies among Cuba, the Netherlands Antilles and Jamaica. 
In 1494, Christopher Columbus saw them for the first time and he immediately ordered to kill eight of them to feed the ship's crew. 
Since then, the population of Caribbean seals had a meltdown; for centuries, the crews of European ships en route between Europe and the New World have been hunting them for their meat and their fur. 
It definitively became extinct during the 50s of 1900. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Sea Shepherd's Vortex project and Raw for the Oceans.

In 2014 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has launched a new project, called Vortex, in collaboration with Pharrell Williams and its eco-material company Bionic Yarn and with the Dutch denim brand G-Star Raw. 
This project consists of cleaning the Oceans of plastic debris and transform it into fashion. 

The great difference between this project and the ones carried out by other eco-friendly companies is that it will close the loop of waste by recycling the products at the end of their life cycle and manufacture new ones from them. 

In August the first material result of this project came out: "Raw for the Oceans". It is a G-Star Raw collection of garments made with Bionic Yarn and curated by Pharrell Williams. 

"I love the ocean. It's always been an inspiration to me. How it works, its depth, what it emotes, its relations to the moon, its cycles and the inhabitants of the ocean. You can never know enough. There is so much down there and in there; it's a huge inspiration to me."

-Pharrell Williams 

"Plastic is choking our Oceans and precious marine wildlife at an unprecedented rate. Straws, single-use bags, six-pack rings, drink lids and more are ensnaring marine animals or blocking their digestive systems, killing these magnificent creatures. It's time humanity takes responsibility for our actions and cleans up the mess we've made. We hope this is the first of many meaningful collaborations to come."

-Captain Paul Watson 

Happy life, happy human beings, happy oceans.