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1. Petition to help African wildlife and people from the African Wildlife Foundation

   Posted on 11:00am Sunday 12th Apr 2020

   Please, please take a look at this petition!  The African Wildlife Foundation sent an email to say that the social distancing we are all doing has consequences for lions, elephants and other species in Africa’s 8,400 protected areas. What has happened with the breakout of COVID-19 and social distancing? Well, tourism has plummeted.  As a result, so has the revenue the safari industry receives.  The industry budgets revenue to dedicate to wildlife protection and protected areas management. Wildlife and the people who protect it – rangers and community members who are employed in tourism and related businesses – will pay the price of this decline. Please, please sign this petition and show support for Africa’s critical areas.  They are home to endangered species and they also drive economies that support wildlife. By signing this petition, the African Wildlife Foundation says that you are on the side of: Africa’s already threatened species who rely on protected areas for safe habitat The health of some of the most biodiverse habitats in the world, which are found in protected areas Local people who rely on sustainable nature tourism for a living Please sign this petition today. and give African wildlife a voice Visit the African Wildlife Foundation's website here  to find out more about the work they are doing and how you can help

2. Please see this video from Gravitas - how nature is reclaiming its spaces due to the Coronavirus

   Posted on 2:00pm Friday 10th Apr 2020

   Sometimes you see something on the internet or on television that really hits you hard and makes a point extremely well. I saw this video, this afternoon, and I wanted to share it with you.  Please share it with everyone you can. The ultimate message is that we SHARE this planet.  It demonstrates how dominant the human race has become - and how selfish.   I am not going to tell you anymore about it - please just watch it for yourself.   Here it is: Thank you, Gravitas. Please vow to make a difference today.  Find out how to reduce your impact on the earth's resources here.

3. Road verges - a silver lining? says Plantlife

   Posted on 5:00pm Thursday 9th Apr 2020

   If I’m driving along in my car, I always find the wildlife flowers on our verges to be very uplifting to see. And whilst I’ve been having my daily one walk during the lockdown because of the coronavirus, I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the wild flowers which are about. Please give Plantlife your support with their Road Verge Campaign Plantlife is a charity that works nationally and internationally to raise the profile of our wild flowers, plants and our fungi.  They support our wildlife and they are vital.  Their colour and character give us cheer and brighten up our day and journeys. It’s really important to protect our wild flowers, our plants and our fungi.  And our roadsides have been much quieter of late, as lockdown is observed.  The drone of many councils’ mowers have also fall silent as councils may have reduced grass cutting down to the minimum required to maintain visibility and make sure our roads are safe. Plantlife hope that reduced cutting frequencies may help verge wildflowers to grow, flower and set seed.  Flowers such as the white campion, betony, greater knapweed and harebell, the chance to grow, flower and set seed.  The good news is that a more wildlife-friendly management regime will help tackle climate change. Over 300 local authorities have now declared a climate emergency.   Reducing their cutting regimes, as recommended in Plantlife’s management guidelines, will also help councils bring down carbon emissions.  Hopefully it won’t be long before we can all get outside and enjoy the wild flowers along our roadside.  Meantime, please visit Plantlife’s website to see how you can support their “Support the road verge campaign.”

    

4. Tell These Big US Banks That Arctic Drilling Is Bad Business!

   Posted on 5:00pm Wednesday 26th Feb 2020

   The Sierra Club (a grassroots environmental organisation in the US) has announced that there’s big, exciting news from a bank! JPMorgan Chase have announced at its annual Investor Day that: It will not finance oil and gas extraction in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge It will not continue financing many coal-related enterprises, including thermal coal mines and coal-fired power plants across the world. The bank is by far the leading US investor in fossil fuels, and environmentalists and indigenous peoples have put pressure on the bank for years trying to move away from projects which threaten the climate. They promised to stop investing in and providing services to companies which derive “the majority of their revenues from the extraction of coal” by 2024, and not to provide financing to offshore and onshore oil and gas extraction in the Arctic Goldman Sachs also made a similar commitment not to financial oil drilling in the Arctic two months ago. Now, it’s vital that we put the pressure on other big banks to follow suit.  I wonder... Could their executives and shareholders live with themselves if there was an accident drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic which they had agreed to finance?  It only takes ONE spill to do unrepairable damage.  As the Sierra Club say, “Clean air, safe drinking water, wildlife and wild places are under attack-and once they're gone, they're gone for good.”  © istockphoto.com Mario Hoppmann Tell These Big US Banks That Arctic Drilling Is Bad Business! The Sierra Club say that banks worldwide are refusing to fund Arctic drilling.  Some US banks are dragging their feet.  But Goldman Sachs have done it;  they were the trail-finders who have ruled out financing Arctic oil and gas drilling, thermal coal mines and coal-fired power projects around the world.  Thank you, everyone at Goldman Sachs. Sierra Club Big banks don’t want to fall behind on industry trends.   The Sierra Club is asking us all to focus our efforts on the other US funders which, they say, are notorious for propping up dirty fuels:  Wells Fargo, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. The Sierra Club are asking everyone to: Send a message to the CEOs of the other major US banks, telling them that bankrolling Arctic drilling isn’t just bad business -- it’s a threat to Indigenous human rights and to the climate. Add your name here and you can send a message too, if you want to add power to it. Let’s all fight for wildlife and indigenous peoples and drill hard and deep for change in the right direction.  Let’s put pressure on.

5. One Minute Action : Help save the animals in the rainforests of Madagascar

   Posted on 1:00pm Sunday 16th Feb 2020

    

   The rainforests in Madgascar and the animals living there needs our help. The rainforests there are affected by two things:  climate change – and deforestation on a large scale. The thing is, that these rainforests are home to wildlife that isn’t found anywhere else on earth. It’s got 101 different lemur species, for example.  Losing Madagascar’s rainforests would lead to an enormous and irreversible loss of biodiversity. But it doesn’t have to be that way.   The key is for those in power to do something now to prevent the destruction f their homeland forever. Sign the petition to urge officials in Madagascar to impose strict protections to save their rainforest.