Articles in the Animals Category

Teen Green Tees By Target
Posted in Animals, Earth, Energy, Fashion, Global warming, Green, Land, Ocean, Plants on 22 October 2008

gogreentshirt

Target has come up with an ultra cool collection of tees that will have teenagers wear their eco beliefs on their shirts. 100 per cent organic, the shirts come at an affordable $10 a piece.

So why organic cotton? Well, to start with it takes only one-third of a pound of chemicals to yield cotton for one shirt. In other words, this type provides clothes to almost half the world without the use of any harmful substances like pesticides, herbicides, insecticides etc etc.And the bonus on that is the feature prints or wording on tees which help further the cause- ideas of Earth, peace, nature and wildlife, basically all things green.

Read the full story »

Synthetic Eel Electrocytes to Power Medical Implants and Electric Devices
Posted in Animals, Cells on 13 October 2008

The efficiency of an electric eel in producing electricity is commendable. This defense mechanism has now become the basis for generation of power. Scientists from Yale University have prepared an artificial model of eel’s electricity producing cells using their blue-prints. This shows the possibility of availability of a bio-battery in the future to power tiny electric devices. Read the full story »

Enjoy Sushi With An Eco-Conscience
Posted in Animals on 11 October 2008

sustainable-sushi

For those of you dying of guilt each time you pop up your fave sushi, fear no more. Time has come to eat your fish a little more responsibly. Montery Bay Aquarium and the Blue Ocean Institute along with Environmental Defense Fund have come up with a cool and helpful sushi card that you an carry in your wallet with your sustainable seafood card. This card will be available from 22nd October and will carry information on the shushi to be avoided.

Yep, there are three guides being released and that indeed will be some treat for all you sushi lovers out there. But hey there are a few common favourites that are mentioned in the to-be-avoided list like bluefin tuna and yellow fin tuna. By the way, farmed shrip, freshwater eel and farmed salmon are also to be kept away from. Good news is, wild salmon and shrimp have got the green signal.

Read the full story »

Netherlands Finds Good Use For Chicken Manure
Posted in Agriculture, Animals, Eco-Friendly, Electricity, Gas, Land, Power on 4 October 2008

This might be the largest biomass power plant in the world that runs only and only on chicken manure. Netherlands has come up with an innovative eco-friendly method which is expected to provide renewable electricity to somewhere around 90,000 households.

With a capacity of 36.5 megawatts, the biomass plant will generate more than 270 million kWh of electricity per year. Insiders reveal that the plant is a good way to get rid of the chicken manure, which if spread over the farm land would release a massive amount of CO2 as well as methane.
In other words, the plant is more than just ‘carbon neutral’. It will use up approximately 440,000 tons of chicken manure, which is one third of the total chicken manure produced in Netherlands every year. Indeed a good way to get rid of pollution by excess of different kinds of animal manure, a problem faced by many agrarian economies.
Via enn

Imagine Ice Cream Made From Human Breast Milk
Posted in Animals, Companies on 24 September 2008

Ice Cream
PETA’s demand for replacing cow milk by human breast milk just went a step further. The animal loving organisation sent a letter to the management of famous ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s urging them to do a big favour to cows and customers by switching to breast milk.
The inspiration to bring breast milk to your plate came to PETA from the Swiss Storchen Restaurant. Apparently, the owner of the restaurant, Hans Lochen, has come up with a menu made from human breast milk. He has developed some recipes out of experimenting with his wife’s breast milk. Lochen was extremely excited about bringing a new milk revolution when the authorities intervened and disapproved his plan. The restaurateur had placed ads for human donors.
This is just the beginning of yet another PETA battle. Experts find the practice unethical because if breast milk is used instead of cow milk, mothers might start putting profit before the needs of their babies.

Hmmm….quite an interesting POV…will it be us, the humans over animals or the other way around?
Via treehugger

PETA’s failed designs on Armani
Posted in Animals, Designer, Fashion, concept on 21 September 2008


World famous designer Girogio Armani is wading in troubled waters with PETA by going back on his word. Last summer he promised the animal right organisation that he will not use fur in any of his collections. But now, he has gone ahead with a fall line which is full of fur coats for babies, floral-printed fur coats, fur-hemmed skirts and fur-trimmed jackets. Quite naturally, PETA is perturbed and will not stop at anything to teach him a lesson.
PETA prez Dan Mathews expressed the hurt his organisation felt. It is believed that other top noth designers like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger also took the anti-fur oath and never once broke their word.
So in retaliation Pamela Anderson will lead a protest to urge all celebs to boycott Armani and thus, teach him a lesson.
Via ecorazzi

Be there for the bee
Posted in Agriculture, Animals, Eco-friendly products, Plants, Pollution on 21 September 2008


Italy has been a busy bee trying to save the bees on their land. News is that the government has banned several pesticides that are believed to have caused the deaths of millions of honeybees. Neonicotinoid pesticides like clothianidin and imidacloprid are used in sunflowers and sweet corn but not anymore. These chemicals attack the nervous system of insects and can also get to the pollen and nectar, thereby damaging beneficial insects like bees.
Italy is not the only nation to be taking such stringent steps. Germany and Slovenia had introduced a similar ban early this year while France had done its bit way back in 1999. Clothianidin and imidacloprid are produced by the famous German company Bayer CropScience that has made profits to the range of 800 million in 2007. And now the German Coalition are after Bayer to stop marketing harmful pesticides after thousands of hives were lost due to poisoning.
Via enn

Congo Government Pulls Troops out to Protect Endangered Mountain Gorillas
Posted in Animals, Environment, Plants on 5 September 2008

Gorillas

This is one of the best news coming out of Congo and the bloody war that has plagued the nation and its borders now for long. Africa is a continent of amazing natural resources and some very special animals which are rare and amazing. It is only stupid for the nations of the continent to engage in never ending, meaningless conflicts when the whole of Africa has greater demons to deal with- Poverty, disease and ignorance. In a positive move in all this, Congo’s government chose to withdraw more than 1,000 troops from an area in eastern Congo near Virunga National Park.

There are only about 700 mountain gorillas left in the wild, and Virunga National Park is thought to provide homes to around 72. The threat to their survival is ever-present as ten mountain gorillas were killed last year. While the rebels still take shelter in these forests, it is a giant step by the government in an attempt to demilitarize the land and protect some of the most magnificent animals of the African jungles. The rebel group, led by Nkunda, still roams these lands and its time they took a step from their side to help save the rare species.

The Congo government receives plenty of slack for lot of stuff and rightfully so, but in this case credit must go to them for thinking of the larger cause. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the park will be demilitarized very soon so that the park staff can get back to protecting and studying the rare Mountain Gorillas.

Via Ecoworldly

Putin Tames the Tiger: Saves TV Crew with his Perfect Shot
Posted in Animals, Environment on 1 September 2008

Tiger

We have celebrities across the world shooting animals for fun and often getting themselves in all kinds of mess for hunting animals. But Vladimir Putin is a real wise man and irrespective of what much of the West thinks about him, he comes off as a very charming and multi-talented bloke. He is one politician who has seriously impressed many across the planet with his ways over the years. He can get down and do most stuff but even for Putin you would say it is tough to tag and place a collar on a Tiger… Or so you would think.

Putin put on a cameo and embarked on a visit to the Far East, home of the rare Ussuri tiger. He participated in a hunt to track down an escaped 5-year-old female tigress after it had freed itself from a restraint. But the Tiger managed to surprise the Television crew who were playing in its home turf now and was charging to take them down. But Putin would have none of that and just like an Olympic marksman shooting for the gold he shot a perfect shot and tranquilized the Tiger.

It is not often that politicians shoot for a good cause and it is not often that it ends up pretty. But in this case Putin just went on to tag the Tiger and placed a tracking device on it. The Ussuri Tiger’s are endangered and it seems Putin just saved one of them and also a TV crew from getting severely injured. All in a day’s work for Vladimir! So, why was he not at the Beijing Games shooting for gold? I suggest you enroll for London 2012 Mr. Putin… Job Well Done.

Via Ecorazzi

Turtles Breathe A Sigh Of Relief With New Fishing Tech
Posted in Animals, Earth, Environment, Green, Ocean, concept on 26 August 2008

A turtle

WWF has found that a new fish technology is proving to save turtles while not affecting fish catches. Simply changing from the conventional J hook to circular hooks has been helpful in releasing turtles accidentally hooked. Moises Mug from WWF said that using circular hooks is the right choice as it does not even hamper the economy of artisanal fisheries.

Reports suggest that the alternate fishing method has brought about a significant trend in bycatch reduction, where marine turtle bycatch has been reduced by 89 per cent per thousand hooks. It was quite a relief to find that ninety-ive per cent of turtles caught while fishing were recovered alive and the fishing ability of the circle hook was as good as the J-shaped.
Indeed a strong example to show how conservation and industry can work hand in hand for a better and greener life.
Via enn