Do you know that seahorses are endangered? Seahorses can camouflage themselves to the colors of the coral reef. They use this skill along with their ability to hold onto the reef with their tales to hide from predators.

I learned about seahorses (Genus: Hippocampus) at theSeranganIsland, a beautiful island located in the south of Sanur area inBali. I learned that the male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant. When male and female seahorses mate, the female seahorse opens its pouch and gives the eggs to the male pouch. The female seahorses can release up to 1,500 eggs in the male pouch. When the eggs are hatched, we cannot see them because they are super tiny!

While on this trip, I was made a video documentary about seahorses and the coral reefs inBali. I adopted and freed some seahorses and planted corals at an offshore location 15 minutes from the beach. It was fun! I got to snorkel around, see some fish and admire the beauty of the ocean. The water was so nice and clear that I could see the entire underwater world. It’s so amazing!

I also learned that seahorses cannot be separated from the coral reefs or else the seahorses will die. So, we have to conserve the corals by planting them. I learned about how to plant the corals. One big tip I learned is that we should not throw anything that can pollute the sea, such as fish poison, chemical drugs, etc. because the chemicals can kill the seahorses as well the corals.

I will continue this activity again when the weather is fine.

What happens when common problems can be solved through creative out-of-the-box solutions? Umbrellas become high-end clothing. Sport shoes are turned into new sporting equipment. Eye glasses and soap are remanufactured to serve the health needs of third world countries. Through chemical separation, metals from batteries are reclaimed and resold. Ultimately, solutions can be found to the growing issue of waste disposal.

1. Umbrellas

Currently, there is no place in many communities to take old umbrellas. However, Himane, a New York City design studio, is taking old umbrellas of any kind, size or shape and turning them into high-end fashionable clothing and accessories. In fact, the one-of-a-kind fashion line starts at $50. Learn more at http://www.himane.com/.

2. Sports Shoes

Nike’s “Reuse a Shoe” initiatives have collected more than 25 million pairs of shoes. That is enough to create a chain of athletic shoes that goes all the way around the world more than five times. That is a lot of kicks kept out of the landfill. Learn more at http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/.

3. Eye Glasses

According to the World Health Organization, 284 million people worldwide suffer from poor vision simply because they do not have access to or cannot afford care. In some countries, a pair of glasses costs more than a month’s salary. Organizations like One Sight are working to solve these issues by taking old glasses in America and redistributing them to these impoverished communities. Learn more at http://www.onesight.org/.

4. Batteries

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that consumers buy approximately three billion batteries each year. According to Battery Solutions, batteries that are not recycled and end up in landfills can leak toxic compounds into our environment. Learn more about the complex chemical recycling process of batteries at: http://www.batteryrecycling.com/.

5. Bar Soap

Each year, more than two million impoverished children die from diarrheal illness around the world — the approximate population of San Antonio, Texas. “The issue is not the availability of soap. The issue is cost,” Derrek Kayongo, founder of the Global Soap Project, said. “[Many of these people] make $1 a day, and soap costs 25 cents. I’m not a good mathematician, but I’m telling you [if I were them] I’m not going to spend that 25 cents on a bar of soap.” Learn more at the http://www.globalsoap.org/.

There is no such thing as “throw away.” Instead of disappearing as we want them to, consumption and waste are going to continue offering challenges to humanity. Consequently, together we must rise to find solutions to these issues.

• Please contact Greening Forward at info@greeningforward.org and a recycling expert will help you recycle any of the above materials. 

Nyepi day is a special celebration in Bali (Indonesia) to start the Saka New Year (Hindu
calendar). It is the day of silence, fasting and meditation for Hindu people. This year, it occurred on
23rd of March.

I love Nyepi day because it is time for everyone to stay at home. It is quiet, calm and has no
pollution. Nobody is allowed to go anywhere on Nyepi day, but the day before, we will have an
Ogoh-ogoh parade.

Ogoh-ogoh is a big scary figurine, mostly in a shape of a large monster, that is used to ‘fight’
the evil spirit around us and inside us. It is made of newspapers, styrofoam, bamboo, and other
materials. We recycle things like newspapers and Styrofoam into something useful for

I went to the Fort Worth Zoo recently and talked with Joey the zookeeper in the Museum of Living Art (MOLA). The Fort Worth Zoo describes the MOLA as “spacious, humidity-controlled exhibits and state-of-the-art conservation tools, such as quarantine rooms and hibernaculuma that facilitate the breeding of rare, endangered and critically endangered animals. In response to the recent global amphibian crisis (32 percent of the world’s amphibians are facing extinction in the next five to 10 years), the Fort Worth Zoo prioritized housing, research and breeding amphibians in a building 

specifically designed to meet the animals’ needs. Some biologists liken the global amphibian crisis to the mass extinction of the dinosaur,” (http://www.fortworthzoo.org/conservation/museum-of-living-art/).

Joey the MOLA zookeeper mostly works with the saltwater crocodiles and his favorite — the komodo dragons. On this day, he had a Honduran milk snake that he told me about. This species of snake got its name because they are usually found in barns with cattle, so farmers thought they were after the cow’s milk. Joey said that milk snakes don’t really lik
e milk at all. Instead the snakes like barns because they are warm, provide ample nooks to hide in, and attract many mice — a milk snake’s favorite food.

I asked Joey about this big TV that is in the MOLA exhibit. He told me that in the hibernaculuma (nursery) there are little roving cameras placed in the lab where the incubators are, so that the visitors can see what is happening with the animals in real time.

Despite reasonable laws, many citizens have found burning trash a way to control waste disposal. However, there are some thoughtful considerations out there that these folks may be interested in hearing.

#1: It’s Unhealthy Burn barrels and debris fires burn at low temperatures (400-600 degrees Fahrenheit), with poor combustion, and with no pollution controls. As a result, open burning fires form toxins that we can breathe in. Today’s garbage contains many plastics and other synthetic materials. The smoke from burning this garbage contains toxic compounds, such as dioxin, furans, and other carcinogens. Another harmful pollutant emitted from the burning of trash is particulate matter. Particulate matter is very small particles of dust, soot and liquids suspended in air. If breathed in, particulate matter can travel deep into our lungs and aggravate lung diseases, such as asthma. This particulate matter can harm healthy lungs too.

#2: It’s Unnecessary Today, there is little need to open burn. There are many alternatives for those who choose not to open burn such as, taking advantage of roadside pick-up, drop off sites, and composting. Moreover reducing waste, reusing items, and using recycling facilities are other alternatives. In fact, recycling is the law in some states like Wisconsin. Here, items such as glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, and newspaper are required to be recycled. Perhaps Wisconsin is taking a lead that many other stats will soon follow.

#3: It’s Unsafe Playing with fire is dangerous, and unsafe. Open burning fires can easily get out of control, and when they do, they cause a lot of damage. According to the South Carolina Forestry Commission, on an annual basis, 35-45% of South Carolina wildfires are caused by planned debris burnings. Wildfires put the safety of firefighters, people and homes at risk. The Commission’s website says, “These fires cause damage to the forest resource as well as wildlife habitat, water quality, and air quality.” The website goes on to add, “Wildfires burn 20-30 homes in the state every year, and hundreds more are threatened each fire season. Because these situations are becoming more common in our state, it is important for citizens and firefighters alike to understand the nature of wildfire.” If your fire gets out of control and starts a wildfire, you could have to pay for the cost of putting it out! 

Today, we are learning about a challenge that faces the only turtle in the world that lives exclusively in brackish water:  the imperiled diamondback terrapin.  The challenge we are talking about isn’t habit loss or destruction, it’s not live predators, and it’s not boats!  We are going to talk about crab pots and the lethal trap they can be for diamondback terrapins.

A crab pot is a cage-like-box with an opening that crabs go into, but can’t get out of.  They can’t get out because the metal wires on the opening face inwards.  Crabbers throw crab pots into the water where they sit until they are checked about 24 hours later.  A buoy is attached to the top of the line so the crab pots can be found again (because it would be really hard to have to snorkel around to try to find them!).

The problem for the diamondback terrapins is that the openings on most of the crab pots are too big!  The large openings allow both female and male diamondback terrapins to pass through, and when high tide comes, they are trapped!  Diamondback terrapins are sexually dimorphic, which means the females are larger than the males.  So when females go into a crab pot to get food, the males follow them, and then they both get trapped and drown.

If the opening of the crab pots were just a little smaller, at least the large female diamondback terrapins that carry the eggs would not be able to pass through. This means that they could still lay their eggs and repopulate!  Of course, some males would still go into the crab pots and drown, but at least the eggs would be saved.

So you might ask, why doesn’t the manufacturer of crab pots just make the crab pot openings smaller?  The reason is probably because the crabbers are worried that a slightly smaller opening will prevent them from getting as many crabs;  however, this is not true, and there is another way to minimize the size of a crab pot opening in existing crab pots.  That solution is a Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD).  BRDs are plastic and rectangular, and can be attached to crab pot openings quickly and easily.  You can see one in the picture to the right.

BRDs do not change the amount of crabs you catch, and better yet, they save 73.2% of Diamondback Terrapins that could have gotten trapped in the pot.  How do we know this?  In 2003-2005, Dr. Joseph A. Butler and George L. Heinrich did a study about how BRDs on crab pots reduced how many diamondback terrapins were captured or killed.  Their paper was published in 2007.  Their results showed that BRDs help save diamondback terrapins but did not reduce the amount of crabs caught!

So now crabbers have a way to be heroes in the conservation world by using BRDs!  So where can crabbers get BRDs?  Well, if they are in Florida, recreational and commercial crabbers can get them for free from the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust (http://www.ftct.org) with the funding from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.  I got to go to a workshop they organized called “Management and Conservation of Diamondback Terrapins in Tampa Bay:  A Symposium for Environmental Professionals” a couple of months ago, and it was great learning a lot of this information!

One more thing!  Sadly, some crab pots get lost and turn into ghosts.  Not the type that you might see in a haunted house, but the type that is called a ghost pot, or ghost crab pot.  There are many different reasons this happens, like if the buoy breaks off or a strong storm moves it, but basically they are called ghost pots because they are no longer being checked.  Since they don’t get checked, the animals inside of them do not get released, and they eventually drown.  Diamondback terrapins are often one of these unfortunate animals.

I hope you have learned something new.  If you know a crabber that crabs in brackish water, please tell him or her about how they can help be conservation heroes of diamondback terrapins!

Resources:
Diamondback Terrapins of Tampa Bay: an Educator’s Guide developed by George L. Heinrich, Timothy J. Walsh and Dr. Joseph A. Butler
Florida Turtle Conservation Trust (http://www.ftct.org)

Photos:
Me with a diamondback terrapin
With a BRD
With Dr. Joseph A. Butler and George L. Heinrich

This blog post comes from Action For Nature’s newest youth blogger Patricia Goeyardi.

One beautiful morning at the mangrove forest near Sanur area (Bali – Indonesia), there were many birds, mangrove trees and one-claw crabs. Here at this nature park, there are many towers and wooden walking paths. You wouldn’t believe what you can see here. It’s completely amazing. Sadly, there is a lot of rubbish. People need to realize that they should only throw rubbish into the rubbish bins, because the mangrove forest is attached to the Sanur beach. This means that all of the rubbish that is not disposed of correctly goes to the sea, pollutes the water and will kill most of the animals there, especially the turtles that have a tendency to eat the plastic trash accidentally.

When you come to this park, it’s better to wear your sneakers because it will be just like a real trek. There are two wooden paths with different trails. One is a long trail that might take two hours to walk around and the other is a short trail that might take half-an-hour to finish. The view is beautiful, especially at three o’clock in the afternoon. This is the best time to take pictures, because its when various birds appear and the sun shines softly. On your walk, you can learn about plants and animals because there are explanations written on wooden boards at the’bale bengong’ (stopping areas). it’s really fun here. Don’t forget to bring your camera to capture the best moments with your family and friends.

I just came back from a few days out in the Berkeley-San Francisco area in California (which is nice as a New Englander… went from cold rain here to sunshine there, back to cold rain-snow-sleet mush here), and the trip, though brief, has reminded me of all the reasons I love the West Coast. The entire green economy there is absolutely flourishing, and I think my outside perspective that San Francisco takes a lot of things for granted, surprised a lot of people.

One of the most incredible things is that, in a small way, the green economy actually helps out the homeless population (which, in Berkeley and neighboring Oakland, is sadly extensive). In many places in the country – including CT! – there are “Bottle Bills” that make you pay a small deposit on bottles, cans, and other recycling (normally pretty small, around 5 or 10 cents). In California, while recycling is picked up on the curb regularly, it’s common practice for the homeless to pick up the cans and bottles early in the morning and take them to recycling centers to get the deposit money. This isn’t greenness-for-the-sake-of-greenness, but it’s nice that an environmental policy is helping solve economic issues, even if uninentionally.

The other thing that really struck me were all the bicycles. They struck me in particular when I was in a car going 5 miles per hour behind all the bicycles. It’s amazing how many bicyclists there are. And how slowly they go… but seriously, it’s really fantastic how much people were out in groups, travelling to places in a carbon-neutral way. I think it’s really incredible how much California – and especially San Francisco – has environmentalism embedded in its overall mindset.

And did I mention that Action for Nature is based out of SF? As is the California Academy of Sciences, the Marine Mammal Center, all of the UC Berkeley environmental institutes, departments and organizations (including the nation’s first really exceptional program in Environmental Law!), the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (… explains all the darn bicycles!), Save the Bay, Fair Trade USA, EarthJustice, the Tides Foundation, the Sustainable World Coalition, and many many others. (OK, that’s actually the whole Bay Area, but still.) WOW!

So what precisely is my point? I think there’s a couple things to note here: (1) if you’re in San Francisco, bless you, you have a lot of resources; (2) if you’re on the East Coast, maybe we can start to use the West Coast as an example of just how green our cities can look. What I’ve mentioned here is a small subset of the many things I noticed – electric cars, green roofs, etc. When I look at the green “Cities of the Future” that people are always modelling and discussing, they all seem reminiscent to me of the Bay Area… now all we need to do is make EVERYTHING like that! (Sounds easy…)

London, UK- Last December, the Indonesian Embassy in London held an international scientific meeting.
At this event Indonesian students had a great opportunity to network around environmental issues.  Many Indonesian students from undergraduate, masters, and even doctoral programs participated in this meeting. The interesting part of this meeting was, it attracted both students from Indonesia and Indonesian students who study abroad in Paris, Netherlands, London, Japan, Singapore, and others.

The theme and title of the meeting was: Sustaining Renewable Energy in Indonesia: Challenges and Opportunities in Multidisciplinary Perspectives. The objective was to discuss the energy crisis, which is a problem felt around the world. Indonesia in particular, has to cope with increasing energy demands from its people and industries. This year’s theme emphasized the viability and the adaptability of the existing and future renewable energy sources in Indonesia. There are many ideas and choices, but how many of those can to be implemented in Indonesia? This is what we discussed in the meeting.

There were many other sub-topics, such as:

• Energy: Environmental Degradation, Renewable Energy and Environmental Solutions, Environmental Economics
• Economic Sustainability: Environmental Challenges and Economic Growth; Sustainable Business Management and CSR
• Cultural Sustainability: Protecting, Preserving and Conserving (Socio-culture)

It was my pleasure to be invited to present my project about Eco-preneurship, Empowerment and Economic Sustainability.

I (Joe Kirkham) interviewed a friend of mine a couple days ago. His name is Bob Smith and he has been working with animal breeding and conservation for many years. I wanted to share some of the things he had to say about wildlife, especially his favorite – birds.

J:Where are some of the places you have worked or volunteered?

Bob Smith Fishing

B: I’ve worked at a lot of different zoos and wildlife parks including the Fort Worth Zoo, the Oklahoma City Zoo, the zoo in Lufkin, Texas and Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas. I also worked at the zoo in Nassau, Bahamas.  I have also been an active member of the Fort Worth Audubon Society as we as a volunteer for the River Legacy Park Science Center in Arlington, TX.

J: How long have you been involved with your favorite of all wildlife – birds?

B: Over 45 years, now. I started working with birds when I was about 15 years old. My nickname in school was “The Bird Man.” Over the years I have owned and trained a lot of birds including falcons.

J: Why do you like birds so much?

B: Birds are challenging to take care of and breed. When a mammal is born, for instance, it needs milk – pure and simple. Birds, on the other hand, have a variety of diets. Their diets differ depending on the species of bird. Plus, many have different breeding issues. For example, once we were trying to breed flamingos. Unless there is a huge flock, flamingos won’t breed very well, so some zoos use a trick to get them to breed more — they set up mirrors all around them. It works!

J: What are some of the different types of birds you have worked with?

B: I’ve worked with waterfowl, raptors, parrots, cranes, flamingos. Specific species I have worked with include peregrine falcons, harpy eagles and Africa crowned cranes.

J: Tell me about the falcon you currently have.

B: His name is Quapa. He is about four months old. He is a mix of white gyr falcon and peregrine falcon. Did you know that male falcons are smaller but faster than female falcons? They are considered raptors because they prey on other birds and mammals.

J: I know that the country is pretty hot right now. Since I live in Texas I know all about the drought in this area. How will this affect the different birds in Texas?

B: I’m worried about birds, especially those around the Texas coast. Several years ago when there were drought conditions, it was time for the local whooping cranes to migrate and we saw that a lot of the younger birds did not survive the winter because there was a lot of salinity in bays. This had a sort of domino-effect on the food chain for the cranes. More salinity in the water meant that blue crabs (a major food source for the whooping crane) did not multiply as much so there were less crabs for the cranes to eat. Plus, the acorns from acorn trees (another food source for the whooping crane) dried up and the trees died. In addition to this, the marshes (where the whooping cranes like to hang out in the winter) dried up, so there were less fresh water sources for the cranes to drink from.

J: Is there anything we can do to help birds during a drought?

B:Well, one thing you can do is make sure you have wild bird feed left out in feeders for the birds. Also, make sure that you put out hummingbird feeders. A drought means less flowers blooming which mean the hummingbirds have less food sources. So they need our help.

Hummingbird in New Mexico, photo by Joe K.

I thought that these tips from Bob were pretty good. We also make sure that we have clean water in the bird bath on a regular basis. I’ve noticed that some of the raccoons, squirrels and possums in our area are drinking it, too. This is a good thing to do when the summer is really hot, like it was in Texas this year. Thanks for your time and tips, Bob!