Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems but their stocks are in serious trouble. More than one hundred million sharks are killed by fisheries every year. They are intentionally harvested for their fins, meat or liver oil, and they are incidentally caught as bycatch in fisheries targeting other species.

Sharks are highly migratory and regularly cross national boundaries. However, outside of Antarctica, there are no international limits on shark harvest. With increasing demand for shark fin soup, and little protection, sharks worldwide are at great risk.

Oceana is working in U.S. waters to protect and restore shark populations. Through our policy, science, legal and communications work, Oceana is pushing for true finning bans, species specific shark management and reduced shark bycatch, as well as decreasing the demand for shark products such as shark fin soup and cosmetic products containing squalene. The loss of sharks, many of which are top predators, will have devastating and unpredictable consequences for ocean ecosystems. Immediate action is needed to protect sharks.

Oceana is also working in other parts of the world to protect sharks. Check out what Oceana is doing in Europe and South America.

Source: Oceana.org

Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged labour without prompt medical intervention, usually a Caesarean section. The woman is left with chronic incontinence and, in most cases, a stillborn baby.

The smell of leaking urine or faeces, or both, is constant and humiliating, often driving loved ones away. Left untreated, fistula can lead to chronic medical problems, including ulcerations, kidney disease, and nerve damage in the legs.

A simple surgery can normally repair the injury, with success rates as high as 90 per cent for experienced surgeons. The average cost of fistula treatment and post-operative care is just US $300. Sadly, most women with the condition do not know that treatment is available, or they cannot afford it.

Like maternal mortality, fistula is almost entirely preventable. But at least 2 million women in Africa, Asia and the Arab region are living with the condition, and some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop each year. The persistence of fistula is a signal that health systems are failing to meet the needs of women.

Obstetric fistula occurs disproportionately among impoverished girls and women, especially those living far from medical services. Affecting the most powerless members of society, it touches on nearly every aspect of UNFPA's mandate, including reproductive health and rights, gender equality, poverty and adolescent reproductive health.

In 2003, UNFPA spearheaded the global Campaign to End Fistula, a collaborative initiative to prevent fistula and restore the health and dignity of those living with its consequences.

Fast Facts

• Fistula used to be present in the U.S. and Europe, but was largely eliminated in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century with improved obstetric care in general and the use of c-sections in particular to relieve obstructed labor.

• The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 2 million women have untreated fistula and that approximately 100,000 women develop fistula each year.  Fistula is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

• In Ethiopia, alone, there are an estimated 100,000 women suffering with untreated fistula, and another 9,000 women who develop fistula each year.

• Less than 6 in 10 women in developing countries give birth with any trained professional, such as a midwife or a doctor.  In Ethiopia, only 1 in 10 women have a trained attendant.  When complications arise, as they do in approximately 15% of all births, there is no one available to treat the woman, leading to disabling injuries like fistula, and even death.

• The root causes of fistula are grinding poverty and the low status of women and girls.  In Ethiopia, the poverty and malnutrition in children contributes to the condition of stunting, where the girl skeleton, and therefore pelvis as well, do not fully mature.  This stunted condition can contribute to obstructed labor, and therefore fistula.

• But, fistula is both preventable and treatable.  The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has treated over 30,000 women over 33 years.  Their cure rate is over 90%.  Fistula can be prevented if laboring women are provided with adequate emergency obstetric care when complications arise.

For more frequently asked questions

For fistula links

"A Walk to Beautiful" is a feature length film about Fistula.  It follows five women in Ethiopia who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries, particularly, obstetric fistula.  Shunned by their communities, these women append their lives in loneliness and shame. The film follows them on their journey to the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where their lives are transformed. The film weaves their stories into a portrait of grief and courage, compassion and triumph.  "A Walk to Beautiful" was named Best Feature Length Documentary of 2007 by the International Documentary Association.  The film was produced by Engel Entertainment in New York, and is 85 minutes long.

Director: Mary Olive Smith
Executive Producer: Steven Engel
Co-Director: Amy Bucher
Editor: Andrew Ford
Co-Producer: Allison Shigo

How to help:

Campaign to end fistula - www.endfistula.org

www.fistulafoundation.org

In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children.

Classified by the German Film Board as Outstanding:  Memory Books is unquestionably one of the best documentaries currently being released. Unlike many of the films so carelessly labeled 'important', this film actually deserves to be called just that: Important.

In front of the small brick house Dennis and Chrissi brush their teeth every evening in the dim glow of the oil lamp. The 10-year-old watches his little sister conscientiously as they get ready for bed. Since their mother died of AIDS two years ago they are both orphans, two of more than two million of their kind in Uganda. There are few countries in Africa that have more households run by orphaned children and, despite extensive efforts by the government to raise awareness, experts on the subject predict that nearly 35% of Uganda's population is infected with HIV. When the parents die, the children are forced to look after themselves.

A very special project has emerged in Uganda as a result: Memory Books, written by infected parents, mostly mothers, and their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Openly, honestly and compassionately, the books give the children a chance to prepare themselves for life on their own. Values and traditions are passed on in the form of stories, fairytales and songs and the family’s history is recorded with the children's favorite memories or their parent's wishes for the future.

The books not only capture immeasurably valuable memories, but also allow members of the family to process some gruesome realities and prepare for the future. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death. These books will likely be the most important guidelines that these orphans have to lead them through life.

Dennis is crouching next to Christine the nurse. His eyes are full of sadness and as he cries he explains that since his mother’s passing he has nobody to look after him. Every time I think of her I cry. He speaks very softly and with long pauses. Christine is holding his hand. We used to talk a lot with each other. When she got sick I used to give her her medicine. He tries to pull himself together, wiping the tears from his face. He and Chrissi leaf through their Memory Book on their laps. As we were writing it, Mama always said that the book would help us at some point. Now I know what she meant. It really does help us. It helps us remember all of the good things that she did for us. When I read to Chrissi from the book it’s as if she is talking to us.

Harriet is the mother of three children. She lives with the second wife of her husband and is already writing her third Memory Book. Christine, the nurse, found out four years ago that she herself was infected. Since then she has been teaching other mothers how to write in their Memory Books. Betty, for example, can neither read nor write. She dictates to her oldest son who is writing in the book for little Lucy, the youngest of five. The film guides you through her daily routine. They are individual destinies indicative of the problems in the heart of Africa but, more importantly, they suggest a remedy for the sadness.

Henning Mankell: These Memory Books, these little booklets with pasted in pictures and stories, written by people who hardly know the alphabet, could in many ways be one of the most important documents of our time..

Source: Memory Book

“If parents die or family members get separated while children are young, important memories fade away,” reads the Memory Book, a concept helping children cope with the effects of HIV and AIDS.

Source: ActionAid

Canada's commercial harp seal hunt started today with a quota of 280,000 seals,

only days after Russia decided to ban all hunting of harp seals under one year of age.

Baby seals are being killed on the ice in Canada as you read this - observers from The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) confirmed the first seal death just moments ago.

Observers from HSUS and IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) are in the air and on the ice, watching the hunt, recording abuses, and campaigning to end this cruelty once and for all.

You can help end the baby seal hunt. Thanks to a courageous Canadian Senator, there is now a bill in the Canadian Senate that would end this hunt permanently. This is the first time such legislation has been put forward in Canada. Sign the petition to support Senator Harb's bill to end the commercial seal hunt: http://go.care2.com/19752554

You can get real-time updates and on the ground reports from both of these fantastic organizations by following their posts on Twitter:

• Follow IFAW on Twitter with @action4ifaw. Their hash tag for this issue is: #stopthesealhunt.

• Follow HSUS on Twitter with @HumaneSociety. Their hash tag for this issue is: #sealhunt09.

Source: Care2

Is Global Warming A Hoax? The Real Story on Climate Change and the Non-Future of Human Civilization (opinion)

Friday, March 20, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) Is global warming a hoax? We've received a huge number of reader questions (and even complaints) about this issue. Many are convinced that global warming is just a hoax contrived by the government to grab power and destroy the economy. In my view, that explanation is half right.

Yes, in my opinion global warming and climate change is absolutely being used by Big Government to grab more power, restrict more freedoms and in many ways consolidate power at both the national and global levels. That much is clearly true. At the same time, however, climate change is really happening.

I see convincing evidence that the activities of humankind are, indeed, altering our atmosphere in ways that accelerate normal processes, essentially dominating the cycles and throwing them far out of balance. The recent findings on rising sea levels, for example, truly are cause for concern for long-term "big picture" thinkers. Good studies show sea levels rising at a rate approaching one centimeter per year (http://www.reuters.com/article/late...).

Last week, 2500 scientists gathered in Copenhagen to issue a stark warning about carbon emissions and "irreversible shifts in climate." (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...) And much like an environmental freedom fighter, NASA scientist James Hansen is now spearheading protests aimed at the "do nothing" governments that sit around and ignore the climate change problem while things continue to get worse.

It's important to remember that just because Big Government is exploiting this crisis to grab power doesn't mean the crisis is not real. What's happened here, in my view, is that power-hungry bureaucrats around the world have latched onto this very real development of climate change and found ways to exploit it to their own advantage.

As Hillary Clinton famously said recently, "Never waste a good crisis." And they sure aren't hesitating to leap on this climate change crisis as a way to restrict freedom and grab power.

Why Big Business wants you to believe global warming is a hoax

Do not be fooled into thinking that just because Big Government is grabbing power that CO2 emissions have no impact on the environment. Those who say global warming is a hoax are essentially declaring that mankind can pollute the atmosphere without consequence. This position serves the financial interests of the coal companies and coal-burning power plants, of course, who don't want to have to spend the money to clean up their emissions. It also happens to be the position of Big Business, which wants to pollute the planet without limitation.

The big chemical polluters in modern society are using well-known techniques of disinformation and distraction to try to convince people that polluting the air with CO2 emissions is harmless. This is the same position as the dental industry claiming mercury fillings are harmless, or Big Pharma claiming their pharmaceuticals have no impact on the water supply. Throughout the history of modern civilization, big corporate polluters have always claimed their chemicals are harmless and have no effect on the planet.

Meanwhile, our planet is dying. Biodiversity is plummeting. Species are being lost at an alarming rate. Deforestation is taking its toll. Dead zones are expanding across the oceans. Rainfall and drought patterns are shifting and leading to more "natural" disasters such as Australia's recent firestorm tragedy.

These are side effects of a global ecosystem out of balance, and it is humans who are disrupting this ecosystem more than any other single factor through runaway emissions of pollutants that affect the air, water and land.

Source: Environmental Defense Action Fund

President Barack Obama has made passing legislation to cap America's global warming pollution a top priority.

He is absolutely right to view this as an opportunity to not only address the most serious environmental issue of our time, but to rebuild America, put Americans back to work and free us from our dependence on foreign oil.

The first skirmish in the fight for global warming legislation this year is for Congress to pass budget language that bolsters the call for climate action this year.

Please send your members of Congress an email urging them to support President Obama's budget language.

If you are looking for a reason to contact Washington today to demand action to cap carbon and other greenhouse pollution, here are several:

$450 million: Amount spent on lobbying and political contributions by opponents of global warming action in 2008.

52: public spokespersons engaged by polluters and the ideological right to spread disinformation about global warming online and in the media.

2,340: Number of paid lobbyists working in Washington on climate change in 2008.

7 in 8: Proportion of climate lobbyists advocating against climate action.

$45 million: Amount spent on global warming denial advertising by the coal industry in 2008.

0: Number of retractions and/or corrections published by the Washington Post after running a column by George Will containing demonstrably false claims about global warming.

Just last week, scientists announced that we are experiencing the worst case scenario in terms of global warming's devastating effects.

And yet we are witnessing an unprecedented all-out campaign by polluters and ideologues to prevent meaningful action.

Please take action and tell your elected officials you support President Barack Obama's plan to pass strong legislation this year to cap America's global warming pollution.

In the coming weeks and months we will need your support and advocacy like never before.

We must pass landmark global warming legislation this year. Our economy needs new green jobs. Our planet needs a pollution reprieve. And you and your family need a future not powered by polluting fossil fuels.

Please demand action on capping carbon.

We can't win this without your help.

Yours sincerely,
Sam Parry
Director, Online Membership and Activism

TAKE ACTION

Do Bioplastics Deserve a Seat at Your Table?

Source: Greentips at Union of Concerned Scientists

Unlike typical plastics made from crude oil, “bioplastics” are often made from plant matter such as corn starch, potato starch, cane sugar, and soy protein. A potentially renewable alternative to petroleum-based plastics would have the long-term benefits of reducing global warming pollution and our dependence on fossil fuels, but do bioplastics fit the bill? As they become more ubiquitous—in the form of grocery bags and disposable plates, food containers, and cutlery—numerous concerns have been raised about their true value:
    •     Bioplastics are designed to be composted, not recycled. The plant-based material will actually contaminate the recycling process if not separated from conventional plastics such as soda bottles and milk jugs.

    •     Home composting may not be an option. Some bioplastics cannot be broken down by the bacteria in our backyards; polyethylene (PE) made from cane sugar is one example. Only bioplastics that are fully biodegradable will break down in a home compost pile, and it could still take up to two years for certain items (e.g., forks and spoons). The rest require the high heat and humidity of an industrial composting plant—of which there are only about 100 in the country, and not all collect waste.

    •     Plants grown for bioplastics have negative impacts of their own. Bioplastics are often produced from genetically modified food crops such as corn and soybeans, a practice that carries a high risk of contaminating our food supply. Also, corn and soybean producers typically apply large amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers that pollute our air and water. To compound matters, the growth of the bioplastics and biofuels industries (both of which currently rely on food crops as their raw material) increases the demand for crops and the impact of agriculture worldwide.

Environmental advocates are calling for bioplastic production based on renewable crops (such as native wild grasses) grown without chemicals. Bioplastics could also be developed from agricultural waste. Until then, what’s a consumer to do?

    •     Look for the “Compostable” logo. The Biodegradable Products Institute identifies products appropriate for municipal and commercial composting facilities. To find facilities in your state, see the Related Resources.

    •     Opt for reusable or recycled instead. When you can’t use metal cutlery or ceramic dishes, look for recycled, dishwasher-safe products that can be recycled once they’re no longer usable.

 

A recent AlterNet article revealed an alarming situation surrounding the popularity of 'ultra-soft' toilet paper. In order to obtain the soft, fluffy, quilted texture that has become preferable to many consumers, manufacturers use fiber from standing trees, rather than recycled material. The facts are quite disturbing: toilet paper is made from ancient forests, old growth forests, virgin forests, second growth forests, natural forests, high conservation value forests, temperate forests, tropical and sub-tropical forests and boreal forests.

The New York Times reports: "Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them… Although brands differ, 25 percent to 50 percent of the pulp used to make toilet paper in this country comes from tree farms in South America and the United States. The rest, environmental groups say, comes mostly from old, second-growth forests that serve as important absorbers of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas linked to global warming. In addition, some of the pulp comes from the last virgin North American forests… Greenpeace, the international conservation organization, contends that Kimberly Clark, the maker of two popular brands, Cottonelle and Scott, has gotten as much as 22 percent of its pulp from producers who cut trees in Canadian boreal forests where some trees are 200 years old."

Personally, I am quite happy to use recycled toilet paper, which I find to be perfectly soft and not at all objectionable. In fact, the recycled paper is so similar to regular paper that I don't understand why any toilet paper is still made of new fiber at all. There are vast stacks of post-consumer paper sitting in warehouses waiting to be recycled, due to the fact that the market for all recyclables has dropped dramatically since the economic downturn. It seems to me that a worthy government program would be to put resources towards turning all of that into useable paper, including toilet paper.

Sure, I've been in homes where they have the luxurious, soft, colored, fluffy toilet paper, and I'll readily admit that using it does make you feel like a member of wealthy society. But frankly, knowing what it requires to make the paper feel that way makes it clear to me that it simply isn't worth it.

In the 1990s, I was a part of an environmental campaign in New Zealand which succeeded in putting an end to government-sponsored logging of ancient, virgin Beech forests. At the time, New Zealanders already opposed the logging of native forests, but the logging company had hired a PR firm to lobby government on their behalf. Many regular New Zealanders didn't even know that the logging was going on, let alone the extent of the damage it was doing to the last remaining forests in a country that was once over 80% covered in forest.

What made this forest massacre even worse in my eyes, was that there wasn't even a market for the timber that came from these trees, which were often 400-600 years old. They weren't using it for furniture or building (not that I would have condoned that either, since these forests are so old they are known by British botanist David Bellamy as 'The Dinosaur Forests'.) No, these beautiful, ancient trees were being milled and sold as woodchips and sawdust, and frequently being turned into toilet paper for the overseas market.

I remember thinking at the time that this was completely obscene, and was such a striking offense against the magnificence of Nature, that created these majestic trees, who were not only a great joy to behold and walk amongst, but they also provided homes to such an extraordinary collection of remarkable creatures, many of whom are threatened or endangered due to the devastation of their habitat.

Destruction of virgin forests for any reason is a great crime against the planet. But to cut down these ancient trees to turn them into toilet paper…? It's really quite difficult to express just how obscene that is. I wonder how the manufacturers of these products defend such a harmful practice. I imagine they don't give it too much thought, as long as people are buying the fluffy TP. But they’ll certainly give it some thought if we stop buying it, and especially if people start voicing their complaints. 

I believe that this only goes on because the majority of people don’t know about it. If people knew that ancient trees were being turned into toilet paper, I hope that we would all reject it in favor of more sustainable options. I am sure that with the technology we have available to us today, we are quite capable of making soft toilet paper out of any one of a number of sustainable materials.

What we, as consumers, need to do, is to generate demand for ethically produced goods, by buying only recycled toilet paper and encouraging others to do the same. Greenpeace has a guide for ethical toilet paper options. If you feel incensed or passionate about this issue, then consider channeling your anger into a phone call, e-mail or letter to the companies that are carrying out this massacre of ancient trees. When business realizes that consumers are showing an increased degree of responsibility about their purchases, they will respond with products that are aligned with our values of sustainability.

As a good friend of mine remarked when he heard these facts: "If they can put a man on the moon, they can create soft toilet paper without cutting down trees."

Source: Care2.com

Source: BBC News - Science & Environment

Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are acidifying the oceans and threaten a mass extinction of sea life, a top ocean scientist warns.

Dr Carol Turley from Plymouth Marine Laboratory says it is impossible to know how marine life will cope, but she fears many species will not survive.

Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 emissions have already turned the sea about 30% more acidic, say researchers.

It is more acidic now than it has been for at least 500,000 years, they add.

The problem is set to worsen as emissions of the greenhouse gas increase through the 21st Century.

"I am very worried for ocean ecosystems which are currently productive and diverse," Carol Turely told BBC News.

"I believe we may be heading for a mass extinction, as the rate of change in the oceans hasn't been seen since the dinosaurs.

"It may have a major impact on food security. It really is imperative that we cut emissions of CO2."

Dr Turley is chairing a session on ocean acidification at the Copenhagen Climate Change Congress.

Testing times

The problem is most acute for creatures which make calcified shells.

Laboratory tests suggest starfish may be wiped out before the end of the century if current emissions trends continue.

Scientists fear mussels may not be able to cope, either. Oysters may be less vulnerable, and farmed oysters may fare better than wild oysters.

"One thing is certain," says Dr Turley. "Things will change. We just don't know yet exactly how they will change.

"It is not a very wise experiment to be making."

Professor Andy Watson, an ocean biologist from the University of East Anglia, believes climate change and overfishing may ruin the seas before acidification does.

He condemns increases in CO2 from human activities, but points out that ocean acidity also fluctuates naturally.

He also wonders if some creatures might adapt to the changes over time.

"(In) many of the experiments that are being done at the moment, sudden changes are made; the CO2 is quickly raised, for example, or the acidity is quickly raised.

"Of course, that's not really what will happen in the real world," he told BBC News.

"There will be instead a gradual ramping up of CO2 and acidity. And we don't know whether organisms will be able to adapt or how quickly they'll be able to adapt."

Professor Tony Knapp runs the BIOS institute in Bermuda, where some of the key measurements of acidity are taken.

He defends his conclusion that the recent increase in acidity has been caused by CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels.

"It took me a long time to determine that I was convinced... I'm a cynic at heart.

"But if you look at the data, and you're intimate with the data, there's really no other conclusion you could make".

Stormy waters

On the island of Ischia, in the Bay of Naples, Italy, scientists believe they have evidence that many creatures will fail to adapt to increased acidification.

The seawater around a part of the island has been more acidic for thousands of years thanks to volcanic CO2 vents that turn the seabed into a sort of jacuzzi.

If research here presents an accurate picture of future oceans, the prospects for shell-forming organisms are bleak.

Some of the creatures that appear to survive increased levels of acidity in short-term laboratory studies are not present here in the real world at the same levels of pH.

"We are very worried," says Dr Jason Hall-Spencer from Plymouth University, who researches the site with help from the Naples-based Benthic Ecology Laboratory at Stazione Zoologica.

"The changes here have clearly made life impossible for shell-forming creatures.

"When you start messing around with a complex ecosystem it is impossible to tell what will happen."

The Ischia site does not present a perfect experiment for future oceans because levels of acidity shift regularly as the currents change, whereas future oceanic pH levels will be more stable.

But the site does show clear winners and losers: the lush seagrass, hyper-fertilised by CO2, may be the tallest in the world.

The extra acidity will suit some creatures, but Dr Hall-Spencer argues that the diversity of the site is reduced and therefore it is likely that productivity of valuable species will diminish in future acidified oceans.

Ocean acidification is increasingly known as "the other CO2 problem".

It is a new branch of science and researchers were initially uncertain how seriously to take the threat.

"In 2004, I did a Google search for ocean acidification and got 17 hits," says Dr Turley.

"Now you get hundreds of thousands. There is much more evidence to show this will be a problem for the future - indeed it may even be a problem for now."

For many people it will strike a sobering note that humans appear to be changing the chemistry of the mighty oceans.

Facts ocean acidification: