SIERRA CLUB — PROTECT THE PANGOLINS — PLANET EARTH UNDERWATER group

PLANET EARTH UNDERWATER has over 1,000 members and over 41,000 photos and videos.

All PLANET EARTH groups supports:

Sierra Club* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) * American Bird Conservancy

PANGOLINS:

Not many people know about pangolins, even as they disappear from the Earth at a rate of 100,000 per year. They could go extinct before we realize they exist.

Nations vote to ban international pangolin trade!
New policy will cover every species of pangolin. 183 nations gathered in South Africa and voted to ban commercial trade in all eight pangolin species. By moving pangolins up to Appendix I, the species has the highest level of global endangered species protections.

A year ago, the Fish & Wildlife Service was considering how to respond to the pangolin poaching crisis. A major international meeting was coming up, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the issue was expected to come up. Back then, the United States could have lost the opportunity, as the Fish & Wildlife Service indicated that it was still undecided on whether or not to elevate the pangolin’s status.

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BarryFacklerbodiverbluewavechrisedpdiverDigidiverdave

SIERRA CLUB — PLASTIC POLLUTION — LIGHTNING STRIKES — PLANET EARTH OUR HOME group

All PLANET EARTH groups supports:

Sierra Club* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) * American Bird Conservancy

PLANET EARTH OUR HOME is our flagship group with over 12,000 members and over 864,000 photos and videos.

More and more people are confronting the ways that plastic, a product of fossil fuels, cause harm. From municipal bans on various kinds of single use plastics, to restaurants switching to paper straws, to stores encouraging customers to bring their own bags, the era of single-use plastics in our everyday lives is one that needs to be relegated to the past — and quickly.

Stop Corporate Green-Washing On Plastic!

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John Horstman (itchydogimages, SINOBUG)alpenglowtravelersDiegojack–MARCO POLO–

NEW ZEALAND — TASMAN SEA – ECOSYSTEMS — ANDREAS KAY PHOTOGRAPHY — PLANET EARTH MACRO WORLD group

All PLANET EARTH groups supports:

Sierra Club* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) * American Bird Conservancy

PLANET EARTH MACRO WORLD has over 1,600 members and over 97,000 photos and videos.

Right now, the New Zealand bottom trawling fleet is setting out for yet another season of destruction. Each year, out of sight, the NZ fishing fleet go on the hunt for orange roughy using one of the most destructive forms of fishing ever devised. They have to be stopped, and one of the first things we need to do is make people aware of what’s really going on out there.

New Zealand trawl fleet to continue destruction of deep-sea ecosystems 
in South Pacific on the high seas.

New Zealand and Australia to adopt a deeply flawed regulation that will allow continued degradation and destruction of biologically rich and diverse ecosystems in the deep-sea from the Louisville Ridge in the western central South Pacific all the way across to the Tasman Sea.

We’ve stopped environmental crimes in the past and held companies to account. Together in our thousands, we’re forcing change and seeing results.

More and more people are saying ‘no’ to trashing the oceans, forests and climate – and standing up to protect our air, land and water from pollution.

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John Horstman (itchydogimages, SINOBUG)deta kEcuador Megadiversoorb1806Hugo von Schreck

BIRD OF THE WEEK — KING EIDER — PLANET EARTH BIRD WORLD group

All PLANET EARTH groups supports:

Sierra Club* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) * American Bird Conservancy

PLANET EARTH BIRD WORLD has over 1,600 members and over 126,000 photos and videos.

BIRD OF THE WEEK

King Eider

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Somateria spectabilis
POPULATION: 4.5 million
TREND: Decreasing
HABITAT: Nests near freshwater lakes and ponds; winters along rocky coasts and on open ocean.

The King Eider’s species name spectabilis is Latin for “remarkable display,” referring to the drake, or adult male, in its breeding plumage. During that time, the drake is unmistakable, with powder-blue head and neck, light green cheek, orange-yellow frontal lobe outlined in black, and a red bill.

The female eider sits tightly on her eggs and sometimes can be approached very closely. Females are so faithful to their nests that they sometimes go a week or more without feeding, and thus may lose significant amounts of weight while incubating.

 

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DansPhotoArtHawkeye2011DiegojacklittlebiddleS C photos

SIERRA CLUB — PACIFIC COAST’S WILD EDGE — PLANET EARTH MACRO WORLD group

All PLANET EARTH groups supports:

Sierra Club* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) * American Bird Conservancy

PLANET EARTH MACRO WORLD has over 1,600 members and over 97,000 photos and videos. 

Gray whales have one of the longest migrations of any mammal, traveling each year from calving lagoons along Mexico’s Baja Peninsula up to feeding grounds in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. Similarly impressive migrations along the Pacific Coast are made by other whale species, as well as elephant seals, sea lions, sharks, tuna, and the millions of birds that traverse the Pacific Flyway.

The promise of large open spaces drew the emerging photographer to North America, where he discovered that even large areas of protected wilderness like Yellowstone National Park aren’t safe from fragmentation. For example, the artificial boundaries of large parks don’t necessarily take the migrations and dispersal of wildlife into account. Schulz argues that parks can become prisons rather than preserves, especially as climate change causes ecological boundaries to shift. Schulz is a proponent of wildlife corridors, which he believes can correct the fragmentation caused by human-designated wilderness areas by acting as land or water bridges that allow wildlife to move between parks and ecosystems.

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John Horstman (itchydogimages, SINOBUG)deta kIn Memoriam: Ecuador Megadiversoorb1806Hugo von Schrk