The Wilderness Society Update

Amelia Young from The Wilderness Society came into the JOY studios to give an update on happenings over the last two months.

The update includes:

• The success of the Warburton Rally


• How logging affects our Water Storage Areas


• The East Gippsland Forest Campaign


• Brown Mountain


• Successful Action on the steps of Parliament


• Long-footed potoroo – endangered species


• Old-growth forests are our richest and safest carbon banks – but only if we don’t log them


• International work – Their campaign delegation has just returned from Posnan, Poland, latest round of climate talks


• A chat with Gavan McFadzean, The Wilderness Society’s Victorian Campaigns Manager who has just returned from the climate negotiations in Posnan.


• TWS Christmas Gifts online
  

Click here to listen to the interview.

For more information, please visit http://www.wilderness.org.au/

Kevin Rudd announces Australia's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target

Kevin Rudd's announcement of just 5% Carbon Emissions Reduction Target seems to have shocked everyone as too low considering the scientific community is looking for a 40% reduction.

Green's leader Bob Brown described the 5 per cent target as "a global embarrassment". The Greens are calling for a 40 per cent reduction by 2020 to save the planet from a climate catastrophe, what we are being offered is in effect surrender to climate change and in breach of Rudd’s election promises.

Rudd argues it is more ambitious than European goals and will allow Australia to pursue deeper cuts if a global climate change agreement is struck.

The Australian Industry Group warned meeting the 2020 targets would "not be easy", while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said business and the community would be hit with high costs of industry restructuring.

Click here to listen to what John Hepburn from Greenpeace's Climate & Energy Campaign feels about the target.

For more information please visit http://www.climatesummit.org.au/ and http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

John Assaraf - What is a Vision Board?

John Assaraf is an international best-selling author, speaker as well as an entrepreneur. As a teenager plagued by low self-esteem, John risked the potentially fatal consequences of a turbulent lifestyle—a lifestyle which could have easily led either to jail or to the morgue. In his quest to overcome his challenges and fulfill his desire to live a purposeful and meaningful life, he discovered a unique passion for brain research and quantum physics as it related to achieving success in business and in life.

His expertise in helping organizations and individuals achieve success has landed him on Larry King Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, ABC, CBS and NBC television worldwide. In addition, John recently made his cameo appearance in the new hit movie The Secret, which can be viewed at www.onecoach.com/secret.
In the last 20 years, he has built four multi-million dollar companies including growing RE/MAX of Indiana to over 1500 sales associates, who collectively generate over $5 billion a year in sales and are paid over $120 million in com¬missions yearly.

With Bamboo, a recent start-up that raised $25 million in financing, John developed the marketing strategy and sales team that generated over $30 million in revenues within12 months. Bamboo then merged with Ipix and went on to become the world’s leading provider of imaging infrastructure for the Internet, including managing the scaled imaging infrastructure for companies such as eBay.

John is now putting his experience and knowledge to use as the Founder of OneCoach, a company committed to helping entrepreneurs and professionals grow their small business revenues so they can achieve financial freedom and live extraordinary lives. (http://www.onecoach.com/).

His personal passions are his family, spirituality, exercise, cooking, travel, and helping entrepreneurs understand how to incorporate the psychological and strategic sides of building a successful business and life.

John is well known for his Vision Board (see picture below) story.

Click here to listen to it during the interview.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.johnassaraf.com/

http://www.onecoach.com/

http://www.thevisionboardkit.com/

The Cairns Birdwing Butterfly

The Cairns Birdwing Butterfly is Australia's largest butterfly.

The wingspan of the female can measure 180mm. The smaller male butterfly has green wings with black markings, while the female has black wings with yellow and white markings. The abdomen of both the male and the female is yellow and the thorax is red.

The caterpillar or ‘larva’, is black and features short spines along the upper surface of the thorax and abdomen. The spines are red or pink in the intermediate sections. The head of the larva has a white mark. A full-grown caterpillar may have a purple tinge in its colouring and can grow to a length of 90mm.The pupa or ‘chrysalis’, is typically grey-yellow or golden.

The Cairns Birdwing Butterfly is one of 14 subspecies of Birdwing. Birdwing Butterflies are found in north-east Australia, the Moluccas Islands, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. New Guinea is home to the largest known butterfly on Earth, the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Troides alexandrae) whose wingspan can reach 280 mm.

After mating the female Cairns Birdwing seeks a suitable plant on which to lay her eggs. Hatching may occur within 5 -10 days, depending on the temperature. As the caterpillar grows it passes through a series of moults in which the outer skin or ‘cuticula’, is shed. Before commencing the final moult (usually the fifth) the caterpillar uses saliva to form a silk pad on the underside of a branch, and a 'girdle' that supports its head as it hangs below the branch. The lower portion of the abdomen is fixed to the silk pad by a network of tiny hooks called the 'cremaster'. The final moult commences the pupal stage.The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis approximately one month after pupation has commenced, although this period is quite variable.The adult Cairns Birdwing Butterfly lives for 4-5 weeks, during which mating may occur. The coupling of the male and female can last for up to 36 hours.
Habitat and distribution.

The destruction of tropical rain forest has led to a decline in the population of the Cairns Birdwing Butterfly and it is now a protected species.

Click here to listen to the interview with Norman Dowsett of Melbourne Zoo about ht eBirdwing Butterfly as well as how to attract more butterflies to your garden.

For more information, please visit http://www.zoo.org.au/

The Cassowary

The Cassowary is a beautiful, large, flightless bird which is found in PNG and far northern Queensland. Cassowaries feed on the fruits of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus probably play an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree Ryparosa were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%).

However there are many factors contributing to their decline:

· Hand feeding of Cassowaries poses a big threat to their survival. Contact with humans encourages Cassowaries to take most unsuitable food from picnic tables.
· In suburban areas the birds are more susceptible to vehicles
· Dogs - chase the birds away from potential food sources in suburban areas.
· Feral pigs are a huge problem. They probably destroy nests and eggs; but their worst effect is as competitors for food, which could be catastrophic for the Cassowaries during lean times. Pigs also contaminate water sources.

Click here to listen to the interview with Melbourne Zoo's Angelo Foresio.

For further information, please visit http://www.zoo.org.au/

Tuna is becoming endangered

Tuna is one of the world’s most popular fish found in many a restaurant, sushi roll and even cat bowl but there is a growing threat of extinction to Tuna.

Most people probably don't realise that Tuna is on the verge of extinction in many parts of the world. Huge growth in demand has been disastrous for the fish (it's beginning to disappear from sushi plates world over).

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), meeting in
Marrakech, Morocco, for the past week, brushed aside its own review’s description of its
management of the bluefin fishery as “an international disgrace” to endorse a total allowable catch (TAC) of 22,000 tonnes for next year.

ICCAT’s own scientists had recommended a TAC ranging 8,500 to 15,000 tonnes per year, warning there were real risks of the fishery collapsing otherwise. The scientists also urged a seasonal closure during the fragile spawning months of May and June, while today’s outcome allows industrial fishing in practice up to 20 June.

Click here to listen to the interview with WWF Oceans Program Leader, Gilly Lwellyn.

For more information, please visit http://www.panda.org/

Happiness with Marci Shimoff

Marci Shimoff is the author of the new instant runaway bestseller, Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out, which offers a revolutionary approach to experiencing deep and lasting happiness. It has immediately soared to #1 on many national bestseller lists including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com, and has debuted at #2 on The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Fedex/Kinkos selected Happy for No Reason as their featured book for April, May and June of 2008. In addition, she’s featured in the international film and book sensation, The Secret

Marci is also the woman's face of the biggest self-help book phenomenon in history, Chicken Soup for the Soul. Her six bestselling titles in the series, including Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, have met with stunning success, selling more than 13 million copies worldwide in 33 languages and have been on the New York Times bestseller list for a total of 108 weeks.

Marci is one of the best selling female nonfiction authors of all time. A celebrated transformational leader and one of the nation's leading experts on happiness, success, and the law of attraction, Marci has inspired millions of people around the world, sharing her breakthrough methods for personal fulfillment and professional success. President and co-founder of the Esteem Group, she delivers keynote addresses and seminars on self-esteem, self-empowerment, and peak performance to corporations, professional and non-profit organizations, and women's associations. She has been a top-rated trainer for numerous Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, GM, Sears, Kaiser Permanente, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Click here to listen to the interview.

For more information, please visit: http://www.marcishimoff.com/ and http://www.marcishimoff.com/

Genetically Engineered Food

To meet the increasing food needs of a growing world population, science has discovered the technique of genetically modifying plants and crops to enhance crop yield and create superior and stronger varieties of crops and fruits.

The main method is to genetically modify the DNA structure of the crop or plant. These genetically-modified plants are used as medicines and vaccines, foods and food ingredients, feeds, and fibres.

Controversies surrounding GM foods and crops commonly focus on human and environmental safety, labeling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction, and environmental conservation.

Click here to listen to the interview with Michelle Sheather of Greenpeace.

For more information, please visit http://www.greenpeace.org.au/

Sick ‘Murray the Cod’ seeks emergency life support from Labor’s Bronwyn Pike

Wilderness Society conservationists rushed a sick ‘Murray the Cod’ to the office of several inner city Labor M.P’s including Melbourne’s Bronwyn Pike, Northcote’s Fiona Richardson and Albert Parks’ Martin Foly.

Dressed as Doctors and Nurses and travelling by Ambulance, they sought emergency life support for ‘Murray’ - in the form of new Red Gum National Parks.

Watch the short, one and half minute video they made - it's very funny, and has a catchy soundtrack.



With the health of the Murray in crisis and up to 75% of Red Gums stressed, dead or dying, urgent action is clearly needed to ensure the on-going survival of the river, it’s iconic wildlife and it’s wetlands.Precious Red Gum forests and wetlands are currently being degraded by unsustainable logging, cattle grazing and lack of flooding. If this is allowed to continue, the health of the already stressed Murray will deteriorate rapidly, especially in the face of climate change.The Brumby government must fulfill it’s 2006 election promise to create new Red Gum National Parks if recommended by VEAC, the Victorian Environment Assessment Council. With VEAC wisely recommending over 100,000 hectares of new National Parks along the Murray and it’s tributaries, improved environmental water flows and Indigenous Co-management, It is clearly now time for Labor to act

Click here to listen to the live cross to Adam Barralet's All Natural.

JZ Knight explains where God is and how to download your future

JZ Knight is the chaneller of Ramtha, a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago. On February 7, 1977 Ramtha, The Enlightened One, appeared to her and her husband and since then she has been sharing his wisdom. JZ has established the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, authored her autobiography, "A State of Mind" and appeared in documentaries such as "The Secret" and "What the BLEEP Do We Know".

The four cornerstones of Ramtha's philosophy are:
1. The statement 'You are God'
2. The directive to make known the unknown
3. The concept that consciousness and energy create the nature of reality
4. The challenge to conquer yourself

Click here to listen to the interview where JZ Knight describes her first interactions with Ramtha, where God exists and how to download your future.

The official website is http://www.ramtha.com/

For information about JZ Knight and Ramtha can be found below:

Please see Ramtha short video clips here on the right column:
http://ramtha.com/default.asp

About Ramtha, JZ & Channeling:
http://ramtha.com/html/pdf/introduction.pdf

JZ predicts USA's Presidential Election CORRECTLY 13 months earlier:http://www.ramtha.com/newsletter/Vol4/Issue9/JZondaveRoss.html

The Philippine Crocodile

The Philippine Crocodile is the most threatened crocodile in the wild. In the Philippines, it is strictly prohibited to kill a crocodile, but its status is critically endangered from exploitation and unsustainable fishing methods such as dynamite fishing.

Chris Banks (Melbourne Zoo) was responsible for setting up a recovery program in the Philippines for these animals and still works very closely with the Philippines. He's heavily involved in conservation and took the time to share his story.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Find out more about the Melbourne Zoo at http://www.zoo.org.au/

Tamarins

Tamarin habitats range from southern Central America (Costa Rica) through to middle South America (Amazon basin and north Bolivia, however not in the mountainous parts).The various species of tamarins differ considerably according to their appearance, ranging from nearly all black through mixtures of black, brown and white. Many species typically have moustache-like facial hairs.

Their numbers are deteriorating mainly due to destruction of their habitat and the illegal pet trade.

Click here, to listen to my interview with Melbourne Zoo Keeper, Noel Harcourt.

For more information on the great work that Melbourne Zoo do, please visit http://www.zoo.org.au/

Saving The Red Gums along The Murray

Along the Murray and its tributaries are the world’s largest stands of river red gum. This merging of forests and wetlands is one of the most unique and highly threatened landscapes in Australia.

The independent Victorian Environment Assessment Council was asked by the Victorian government 3 years ago to make recommendations on how to protect the remaining river red gum ecosystems along the Murray.

VEAC has now recommended over 100,000 hectares of New National Parks, improved environmental water flows and the historic first for Victoria of Indigenous Co-management for places like Barmah Forest.
The recommendations also include and end to cattle grazing on public land, reduction of logging by 70% and a reduction in areas available for duck-hunting.
Locals and tourists alike will still be able to camp, fish, four wheel drive etc. Campfires will also be allowed – except during high fire danger period.
Premier Brumby has only a few months left to officially respond to the recommendations – we’re expecting he will do so before Christmas.

Click here to listen to the interview with Jess Abraham, Victorian Community Campaigner for the Wilderness Society.

After listening to the interview, please contact Victorian Premier Brumby:
By mail:
Office of the Premier
1 Treasury Place
Melbourne
Australia 3000

By telephone and fax:
Ph (61 3) 9651 5000
Fax (61 3) 9651 5054

Please note to receive a formal response all queries need to be made in writing.

By email:
premier@dpc.vic.gov.au

For more information, visit http://www.saveredgums.org/

BADGAR - Caring for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife

Every day, hundreds of native animals in Victoria are sick, injured or orphaned.
Wallabies, Kangaroos, Possums, Birds, Reptiles... the rare and the not so rare.

BADGAR is Victoria's 24 hour volunteer wildlife rescue service and believes that every animal deserves the right to have a second chance at life. Their crew of rescuers and rehabilitation teams work 24 hours a day, attending to wildlife. BADGAR is developing a state wide BADGAR accredited wildlife rescue training system and we aim to be at the forefront of the wildlife rescue system in our state.

Click here to listen to the interview with Donna from BADGAR.

If you ever need to contact BADGAR phone 1300 BADGAR or visit http://www.wildlifeshelter.org.au/

The Violent Killing of Pilot Whales in the Faroe Islands

Below is a statement from Greenpeace's international office regarding the hunting of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands:

"Greenpeace works within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to strengthen of the IWC's ban on commercial whaling. Unfortunately, the hunting of pilot whales is not yet regulated by the IWC. While Greenpeace doesn't have a specific campaign on pilot whales, we have for many years prioritised our campaign against large-scale Japanese whaling on the high seas. Greenpeace works on all levels to ensure that the IWC will in the future will protect all whales – including small whales, dolphins and porpoises and pilot whales."

Also below is a statement from the Humane Society about the Faroe Islands whale hunt and a contact for the Danish Prime Minister.

Q. Is it true that Denmark hunts pilot whales?

Yes, but the killings occur in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province of Denmark. Many people have seen the graphic pictures portraying the annual drive hunt of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands.

During these hunts, pods of pilot whales are driven ashore and then brutally killed. About 950 pilot whales are killed every year during the killing season which generally takes place in the summer.

Pilot whale hunting is a part of the cultural heritage of the Faroe Islands and the locals have long depended on the pilot whale meat from these hunts as a source of sustenance. Because of this, most public attempts in the past by groups concerned with the welfare of the animals have only inflamed the situation and pushed the hunt numbers up. However, in recent years, the numbers of pilot whales killed have been in decline.

HSI works closely with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) who is involved with this issue on a subversive level. Since the pilot whale hunt is conducted mostly for local subsistence reasons, WDCS works to discourage the hunt by showing the problems with eating pilot whale meat.

Scientific studies have shown that dolphin meat is seriously contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, and other toxins. Pilot whales, being dolphins, are highly contaminated and when pregnant women and young children eat the meat, it can lead to learning disabilities and other health problems.

If you would like to take action against the hunt, you can write to the Faroese government and explain your concerns about the hunt and why you think they should stop it. For example, you could tell them that the hunts are no longer necessary to provide food for islanders and that new studies show that whale and dolphin meat contains toxins that are unsafe to consume.

Also, pilot whales are forced to endure sever physical and psychological suffering as they are brutally killed while members of their social groups bear witness. Additionally, the hunts tarnish the Faroe Islands' international image and discourage tourists from visiting.

Faroese Government Contact information:

Prime Minister's Office
Løgmansskrivstovan
Tinganes
P.O.Box 64
FO- 110 Tórshavn
Tel: +298 351010
Fax: +298 351015
E-mail: info@tinganes.fo

To find out more information, please visit:
www.earthfirst.com
and
www.animalcampaigns.com

The Pygmy Hippopotamus

The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) is a large mammal native to the forests and swamps of western Africa.

The evolution of the pygmy hippopotamus is most often studied in the context of its larger cousin. Both species were long believed to be most closely related to the family Suidae (pigs and hogs) or Tayassuidae (peccaries), but research within the last 10 years has determined that pygmy hippos and hippos are most closely related to cetaceans (whales and dolphins).The pygmy hippopotamus displays many terrestrial adaptations, but like its larger cousin, it is semi-aquatic and relies on proximity to water to keep its skin moisturized and its body temperature cool. Behaviours such as mating and giving birth may occur in water or on land. The pygmy hippo is herbivorous, feeding on whatever ferns, broad-leaved plants, grasses and fruits it finds in the forests.

A rare nocturnal forest creature, the pygmy hippopotamus is a difficult animal to study in the wild. Pygmy hippos were unknown outside of West Africa until the 19th century. Introduced to zoos in the early 20th century, they breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens. The survival of the species in captivity is more assured than in the wild: the World Conservation Union estimates that there are fewer than 3,000 pygmy hippos remaining in the wild. Pygmy hippos are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, as forests are logged and converted to farm land, and are also vulnerable to poaching, hunting, natural predators and war.

The breeding success is Australia is imperative as pygmy hippos from other countries can not be brought to Australia due to the risks of Foot and Mouth disease. Thus, it is a great cause for celebration when, at Taronga Zoo, a youngster named ‘Monifa'(pictured), meaning ‘I am lucky' in Nigerian weighed just 3.8 kilograms when it was born in the early hours of October 15 to first-time mother, ‘Petre' and father ‘Timmy'. However after a difficult breach birth, the Zoo's dedicated keepers made the decision to intervene and hand-raise the precious female calf.

Click here to hear me chat with Renae Zammit, one of the keepers who literally moved into the Zoo to care for Monifa in alternate 24 hour shifts, sleeping at the Taronga Wildlife Hospital in order to feed and tend to the youngster's every need.

For more information, please visit www.taronga.org.au

Siamang Gibbons, Orang utans & Palm Oil

The Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) is a tailless, arboreal, black furred gibbon native to the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra. The largest of the lesser apes, the Siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 23 kg.

The Siamang is distinctive for two reasons. The first is that two fingers on each hand are fused together. The second is the large "gular sac" (found in both male and female of the species), which is a throat pouch that can be inflated to the size of its head, allowing the Siamang to make loud resonating calls or songs. Male and female couples will often call in duet.

While the illegal pet trade takes a toll on wild populations, the principal threat to the Siamang is habitat loss in both Malaysia and Sumatra. Palm oil production is clearing large swathes of forest, reducing the habitat of the Siamang, along with that of other species such as the Orang utan and Sumatran Tiger.

Click here to listen to my interview with Fleur Butcher of Melbourne Zoo about the Siamang Gibbon and the distruction of their habitat.

For more information on Melbourne Zoo, please vist http://www.zoo.org.au/

The Snow Leopard

Snow leopards are smaller than the other big cats but like them, exhibit a range of sizes, generally weighing between 27 and 54kg (60–120 lb). Body length ranges from 74–130cm (39–51 in) with a tail of nearly the same length.
Snow leopards have long thick fur, the base colour of which varies from smokey grey to yellowish tan, with whitish underparts. They have dark grey to black open rosettes on their body with small spots of the same colour on their heads and larger spots on their legs and tail.

The total wild population of the snow leopard is estimated at between 4,000 and 7,500 individuals (see below). Their decline is due destruction of their habitat and locals killing them for their pelts that fetch very large prices in the illegal trade. In 1972 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, (IUCN) placed the snow leopard on its Red List of Threatened Species as "Endangered," the same classification given the panda and the tiger.

There are also 600-700 snow leopards in zoos around the world.

(Range Country/Habitat Area(sq. km.)/EstimatedPopulation)
Afghanistan/50,000/100-200
Bhutan/15,000/100-200
China/1,100,000/2,000-5,000
India/75,000/200-600
Kazakhstan/50,000/180-200
Kyrgyz Republic/105,000/150-500
Mongolia/101,000/500-1000
Nepal/30,000/300-500
Pakistan/80,000/200-420
Tajikistan/100,000/180-220
Uzbekistan/10,000/20-50

Click here to listen to the interview with Melbourne Zoo Keeper, Arthur Blackham

To find and more and support Melbourne Zoo, please vist http://www.zoo.org.au/

All Natural helps a Guiness Book of Records Attempt

Does a female Spotted Hyena really have a 17cm clitoris? Is a dog wagging it's tail always a good sign? Is the world going to end in 2012? All these questions are answered in Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki's new book Science is Golden.

One of Australia's best known scientists is attempting to break the World Record for the most radio interviews done by an individual in one day while raising funds for CanTeen.

Click here as Adam Barralet helps Dr. Karl in his World Record attempt.

Friends Of The Earth

Friends of the Earth (FoE) Australia is a federation of independent local groups working for a socially equitable and environmentally sustainable future.

Local and Global Environmental justice, positive solutions, anti nuclear, indigenous land and rights, climate justice, trade justice, global action!
FoE Australia was founded in 1974 at a meeting on French Island in Westernport Bay, Victoria, which was then the site for a proposed nuclear reactor. Over the last 32 years, FoE has evolved into a diverse and vibrant network of groups that are working at the local, regional, national and international level.

Click here to listen to a 3 minute explanation from Damien Lawson (Climate Justice Coordinator) about the Friends of the Earth and how you can support the organisation.

For further information. please visit http://www.foe.org.au/