For so long, all the climate change news was bad. It mostly still is. But at least now there is a drip-drip-drip of good news too. We need every drip we can get. Continue reading
Author: mike shanahan
Human wellbeing threatened by ‘unprecedented’ rate of biodiversity loss
[Reposting my story for ChinaDialogue]
Nature’s vital contribution to human wellbeing is deteriorating worldwide at an unprecedented and accelerating rate, with grave impacts likely, according to a major report approved by more than 130 of the world’s governments. Continue reading
This ancient biomaterial making a 21st-century comeback could change millions of lives
Peeling away the bark to prepare barkcloth. Credit: Joyce Nanjobe Kawooya /Wikimedia Commons
Women in Uganda sewing barkcloth pieces together. Credit: Barktex
Across the tropics, people worked out long ago how to transform fig tree bark into comfortable cloth—the practice could even predate weaving. In Uganda, such barkcloth has served as a symbol of protest, a form of money, and the exclusive raiment of kings and queens. It has been suppressed by religion, colonialism, and war, yet the tradition has persisted. And now barkcloth has found a new life as a source of local pride, as well as in international markets for home furnishings, high fashion, and even aerospace materials. It is creating jobs, and is entirely sustainable. Continue reading
How poop could counter calls to resume commercial whaling
This post was first published by Scientific American in August. As such, it refers in the future tense to a meeting that took place back in September. You will find an update — and some good news — at the end of the story.
Before whales dive into the darkness of the deep ocean they often come to the surface and release a huge plume of faecal matter—which can be the colour of over-steeped green tea or a bright orange sunset. When Joe Roman, a conservation biologist at the University of Vermont, saw one of these spectacular dumps in the mid-1990s, he got to wondering: “Is it ecologically important? Or is it a fart in a hurricane?” Continue reading
Cocaine of the sea, ‘epic failure’ and how following the money can limit illegal wildlife trade
Two vaquitas. Only ten more remain.
It has been called the ‘cocaine of the sea’ — the dried swim bladder of the totoaba fish, when smuggled from Mexico to China, sells for US$40-60,000 per kilo thanks to its supposed medicinal qualities. While the fish is critically endangered as a result, the situation of another animal that gets caught in totoaba nets is even more dire. The illicit trade has driven the world’s smallest marine mammal — a kind of porpoise called a vaquita — to almost certain extinction. At the last count, only 12 remained alive. Continue reading
‘Evidence failure’ blights fight against illegal wildlife trade
The nearly magical properties of fig trees
Living bridges made of fig tree roots in Cherrapunji, India
