Transition Island Blog

Sir David Attenborough is nearing the end of his sweeping natural history television career. He is fearful of what the future holds for the Earth and its inhabitants.

His ‘Life on Earth’ series has been seen by hundreds of millions of people over 30 years. He has long been highlighting in his programmes the damage that human beings are doing to the planet - every series ends with a comment on this.

“The plain, simple, overwhelming fact of the matter is that since I started making programs, there are three times as many people on the Earth,” he said.

getting worse

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One day, we may need toy models to remind us of what farm animals looked like.

It’s not just wild animals that are disappearing. Domesticated farm animals are also being lost according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

More than 20 per cent of the 7,600 breeds of farm animal and poultry breeds are at risk of extinction.

We’re losing around one breed a month.

The animals that developing countries rely on are fading away the fastest. Often these are the hardier breeds most suited to the poorer conditions that are being replaced by less suitable breeds from Europe and the US.

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Plastic waste dumped in the oceans could be a devastating long-term pollution threat to the food chain.

Studies suggest billions of microscopic plastic fragments drifting underwater are concentrating toxins like DDT.

Marine biologist at Plymouth University have investigated how plastic degrades in the water and how tiny marine organisms, such as barnacles and sand-hoppers, respond.

concentrated toxins 

Dr Richard Thompson said “We know that plastics in the marine environment will accumulate and concentrate toxic chemicals from the surrounding seawater and you can get concentrations several thousand times greater than in the surrounding water on the surface of the plastic.

“Now there’s the potential for those chemicals to be released to those marine organisms if they then eat the plastic.”

Research on stretches of shoreline has shown that, at the microscopic level, plastic pollution is far worse than feared.

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“TIGER, tiger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night…”      

William Blake’s oft-quoted poem ’The Tiger’ was published in 1789, when the tigers were mysterious and the population was uncounted.

In 1920s a hunt could still kill over 100 tigers a day. BUT NOW TIGERS ARE DISAPPEARING.

The world’s tiger population may have halved in the last 25 years. And at least one of the remaining five sub-species is in danger of becoming extinct, World Wildlife Fund conservation experts said recently. [more]

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Between   8pm-9pm on 29 March, millions of people around the world will take part in Earth Hour 2008

This is a WWF initiative asking people to turn their lights off for one hour.

It started with a question:
how could WWF inspire people to take action on climate change?

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Scientists investigating how quickly global warming could run out of control have now identified nine ‘tipping points’.

Each of these could tip the planet into an increasingly dangerous state that could last for many centuries.

A major international investigation by dozens of leading climate scientists has found that the “tipping points” for all nine could occur within the next 100 years.

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Three countries have come together for the first time, to try to save the mountain gorillas of central Africa.

Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have launched a project to improve their security.

One of the world’s most endangered species, they live at the point where the three countries meet.

There are only about 700 mountain gorillas still left in the world and they have been hit by the destruction of the forests - their natural habitat.

The 10-year conservation project, which was launched in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, is to focus on greater security and ways of discouraging local communities from destroying the region’s forests.

It aims to give them a share of the money made from gorilla-trekking permits.

The first four years of the project are being funded by the Dutch government at a cost of $6m.

More from the BBC.

The Gorilla Organization has been working  internationally for 10 years to save the world’s last remaining gorillas from extinction by supporting long-term education, economic development and conservation projects in the poor communities surrounding the gorilla habitat.

Can you help?