Great efforts are going into helping prevent further wildlife deaths with some U.S petitions. Fishermens and their families are now facing further hardships as the fish they rely on are dying in their hundreds of thousands and soon they will be told they cannot fish at all.

Join Care2 in helping gain numbers to bring about increased awareness of the growing environmental hazards from the oil spill. You too can help by signing this and using your voice to speak out for those wounded and diasbled animals and birds that cant.

Something must be done about this. Use this link to see more images: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

Does anyone know of any good links, charities, petitions, Anything that we can join here in the UK to make a difference to the horror that’s STILL taking place off the coast of Mexico?

Please get in touch if you do.

A huge development has been made in the preservation and saving of huge areas of forest in Canadas northern wilderness.

Greenpeace Canada and 9 environmental groups that have been protesting 21 forestry companies for decades, have agreed to stand down and call a truce for a commitment to suspend logging.
This unique truce has been named the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) and was reached on 18th May, in Toronto by the environmental groups and forestry companies in a bid to halt logging and road building right away on over 71 million acres of forest.

This is the very first time that the forestry industry has agreed to put any form of limit on future logging and this is an immense stop in the right direction to prevent more roads from being made and trees being destroyed.

Scientists and Greenpeace Canada spokes people believe that the soil and trees in the Canadian coniferous forest can store up to 20 billion tonnes of carbon and are critical to the survival of the endangered woodland caribou. Protection of the inhabitant woodland Caribou is essential as the population has reduced to 36,000 and defending this important resource is a vital part of fighting climate change.

The three year agreement is due to begin imminently and under the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, FPAC members commit to the highest environmental standards of forest management and conservation, while environmental organizations commit to global recognition and support for FPAC members efforts.

Oil was pouring into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day causing great concern for the coast of Louisiana and the inhabitant wildlife. Turtles, sea birds and fish are all at risk of being endangered due to the oil spill, along with the suffering of the local fishermen, oystermenand shrimpers. As well as threatening everyone and everything in Louisiana the spill could spread as far as Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

It has been called a disaster of herculean proportions and the coastguard estimates have the leak reaching 11 million gallons spilled in two months, matching that of the Exxon Valdez tanker oil spill in 1999. And the worrying numbers continue with only 1/4 of  local wildlife surviving the Exxon Valdez disaster. Increased efforts are going into developments and operations to contain the oil spill and over 4,000 volunteers are working the beaches to clean up and save the wildlife effected by this disaster.

After the disastrous effects of hurricane Katrina, the local fishermen and oystermen were just recovering from the loss of their boats, homes, oyster beds and livelihoods to now face the prospect that it is going to happen again.

Help is at hand for those greatly effected by this disaster as the NRDC (Natural Resources Defence Council) who provide legal, policy, and technical assistance to these communities in the present and in the long term have brought about the GCF (Gulf Coast Fund).  The GCF is taking direct action to address the BP oil spill and will be working with community leaders and helping to raise funds for the communities. For all information on the GCF go to www.gulfcoastfund.org

The housing project application is said to be for 450 student flats and 378 homes and is to sit alongside the heathlands in Poole. A protest has been lodged to the Poole Borough Council and they along with other Dorset councils have committed to safeguard the heaths from any residential development within 400 metres, under a planning framework.

The RSPB have fears that this huge development will do a lot of damage to the unique wildlife that live on the heath. It is going to cause a huge disturbance and put immense pressure on the heathlands and the inhabitants it supports like the Dartford Warblers and the rare sand lizards. Not only is it going to have an enormous effect on the heathlands and wildlife, this development is only going to add to the already traffic congested Wallisdown Road. 

Talbot heath is not only a protected site, has countless statutory designations being named a UK site of special scientific interest, European special protection area and special area of conservation it is also a wetland site of international importance under the RAMSAR convention.

The RSPB are standing alongside the local residents, Natural England and Dorset Wildlife Trust who are all against these housing plans.

A 60 mile long iceberg, known as B9B, has smashed into the Mertz Glacier tongue in Antarctica. The Mertz Glacier is a 100-mile long tongue of ice which the B9B iceberg broke away from in 1987.

Over a period of nearly 8 weeks, the B9B iceberg approached the glacier and with tide and current slowly hammered into the tongue of ice.

On the 26th February, the Mertz Glacier tongue  broke off creating a new iceberg measuring 50 miles by 25 miles. This iceberg could now disrupt weather patterns for years to come.

Both icebergs are now floating 90 miles off the northern coast in the Antarctic Continental Shelf and combined, they are weighing in at over 1000 billion tons. The Mertz Tongue Iceberg contains a year’s supply of fresh water for 1/5 of the world’s population and could potentially block the ‘bottom water’ which powers the oceans circulation system. ‘Bottom water’ is the lowest layer of ocean, cold-salt water and Antarctica produces bottom water for the South Pacific, Southern Indian Ocean, South Atlantic and portions of the North Atlantic.

Changes in these waters and currents could influence weather patterns around the world and would make Britain colder as we would not have the mild sea temperatures brought in by the Atlantic drift.

With such a mass floating in the ocean it could also reduce the amount of oxygen in the oceans jeopardising marine wildlife. Emperor penguins, bird life and seals could be under threat.

Experts say that ‘iceberg calving’- which occurs when these icebergs break off, does happen from time to time and that this occurrance is by no means a record large iceberg. 

The icebergs are expected to head west along the Antarctic coastline.

Small plastic pellets, known as nurdles are still to be found floating on the water.  Birds interpret these as fish eggs, eat them, putting themselves in danger as obviously they are potentially fatal.

If you would like to help prevent this, come along and join the Great Dorset Beach Clean on Sunday, April 18th at 1.30pm at Kimmeridge Bay.

A variety of tasks are planned for this winter including; clearing trees and plants that are taking over the nature reserves. 

Families are welcome, but most of the activities are suited to those over 16.  Tasks can be customised to suit adults of all ages and abilities.

If you are interested, please call Leisure Services on 01202 265265.

This small British mammal can be distinguished by its big black eyes and bushy tail.  It is almost entirely nocturnal, so spotting one is a real treat.

Due to the decline in woodland habitats throughout the country, the dormouse has been under threat of extinction.  But Backwell Environment Trust, a local voluntary group have now provided the Dormouse with a well-deserved and long overdue habitat.

Jubilee Stone Wood, was purchased by the group with the sole intention of turning it into a nature reserve.  Once these mammals were spotted, 30 dormice boxes were provided to offer secure shelter and a place to breed and raise their young.

Backwell Environment Trust was set up by the locals when they realised that Jubilee Stone was up for sale, with painstaking commitment they have turned it into a beautiful nature reserve and are now enjoying the return of many different types of wildlife.

Now, with the support of the RSPB the ‘roughs’ i.e. less cultivated areas, are now back to being a haven for wildlife. In Britain alone, there are more than 140,000 hectares of rough and out-of-bounds areas on golf courses, this is indisputability a huge area to abuse.

Now European Union laws prevent the use of damaging pesticides and encourage the green-keepers to use environmentally-friendly chemicals instead. As a result many courses are now enjoying an increase in wildlife. Crane Valley in Dorset for example, works with Natural England to ensure it remains a natural habitat for wildlife and is now benefitting from the presence of two sets of nesting buzzards. Another club, the prestigious Remedy Oak, also in Dorset, has recently reported an upturn in the quantity and variety of birds on its courses.

Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said ‘Golf, is a good walk spoiled’? – well, maybe not so any more…