The Wilderness Society

There is a lot focus on reducing our carbon footprint. By cutting our power usage, walking rather than driving, etc we are releasing less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere thus reducing global warming. However there is the other side of the cycle that gets less attention. Trees reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by converting it into oxygen as well as storing it as a "carbon bank".

By logging our forests we are eliminating this side of the cycle. The Wilderness Society is a community-based environmental protection organisation. They work to safeguard our sources of clean water and air, to tackle devastating climate change, to create a safe future for life on Earth, and to give a better world to our children. The majority of our work is in Australia, with a strong focus on natural environments and the role they play in keeping our world safe.

Click here to hear the interview with Amelia Young, Acting Forest Campaigner from The Wilderness Society.

What can you do to help?

1. Visit http://www.wilderness.org.au/
   
2. Attend the Rally in Warburton, Sunday 23rd November, 2008, 11:45am at the rotunda Warburton Hwy., Warburton
   
3. Attend the Forests & Climate Change Action Forum, Thursday 27th November, 2008, 7pm at Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, 1 Gardenia Street, Blackburn
   
4. Email: john.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au and CC: gavin.jennings@parliament.vic.gov.au and john.lenders@parliament.vic.gov.au
   
5. Write to The Age, The Herald Sun and online publications about your opposition to logging old growth forests.
   
6. Visit the JOY 94.9 studios at Level 9/225 Bourke Street, Melbourne and pick up The Wilderness Society postcards that you can mail to PM Kevin Rudd and your State Member of Parliament
   
7. Become a volunteer of The Wilderness Society

Amelia Young can be contacted on (03) 9038 0888 or amelia.young@wilderness.org.au

The Power of a Good Poo

How do you know if the food you are putting in your mouth is right for your body? By seeing how it comes out the other end.

Click here to hear Helen Frost discuss what a good poo is and how to have one.

For more information you can email Helen Frost on naturezone@wn.com.au or visit www.powerfulnutritionforlife.com

Lord Howe Island Stick Insect

Lord Howe Island Stick Insects were once very common – their large size and unusual appearance prompted the name ‘land lobster’.

But these insects and 15 bird species were defenseless against rats that invaded their native island when the ship Mokambo ran aground in 1918.

In 2001 the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change surveyed the precipitous sea stack and found three insects living on a small group of Melaleucas on the side of a cliff.
With almost no soil and no water, the bushes were growing on top of the only known water soak, where a severe storm could have blown the entire world’s population off the cliff into the sea.

In February 2003 Lord Howe Island Rangers revisited Balls Pyramid and found 17 individuals. (A later survey estimated the total population there as no more than 40 individuals.)
Patrick Honan brought two adults back to Melbourne Zoo in February 2003 and the breeding program has been so wildly successful that there are now more than 700 insects and 15,000 eggs! The plan is to reintroduce them back to their natural habitat one they have eradicated the rats.

There was very little knowledge of the species: their age at breeding, their lifespan, the incubation period for their eggs, or their habits. Over the past five years, the Zoo’s invertebrate team has discovered many unusual features of this species:

· unlike other species, these stick insects move around actively and are very aware of their surroundings,
· young stick insects are green and feed openly on plants during daylight,
· the large, black adults hide in tree hollows during daylight and are active only at night,
· adults mate up to three times a night and form pairs, with the male sitting protectively over the female when at rest during the day,
· females of this species lay about 250 eggs during their lifetime, in batches of 9 or 10, and they bury the eggs underground, which is unusual for stick insects,
· eggs take between six and nine months to hatch,
· they live for up to 18 months, compared to a 12 to 14-month average for other stick insect species

Click here to here the interview with keeper Patrick Honan from Melbourne Zoo.

For more information about Melbourne Zoo see http://www.zoo.org.au/

Orang-Utans vs. Palm Oil

Palm oil costs the lives of about
50 orangutans every week and
its cultivation is a major cause of global warming.

Palm Oil Production could be doubled by using already felled land rather than taking more habitat down. However that will take political commitment and action (ie monitoring and protection of the forests and consequences for logging) at a central and local government level. And that becomes a much more complicated discussion!
Here are some quick facts about Palm Oil:

1. Palm oil is an edible plant oil derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree.


2. Palm Oil is in 1 in 10 supermarket products.


3. The Orang-utan is set to become extinct in the wild in less than a decade, this is predominantly due to habitat loss which is cased by Palm Oil production.


4. 70% of Palm Oils is used in food products.


5. Palm Oil is used to make some BioDiesels... so called Green fuels. Ironically the effect of the Palm oil explosion is set to do more harm to the environment through deforestation than the use of BioFuel will offset!


6. To fuel global demand for Palm Oil, Greenpeace estimates an area of pristine Rainforest, equivalent to 300 football fields, is destroyed every hour.


7. Deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, account for up to one-third of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions.


8. The World Health Organization (WHO) states there is convincing evidence that palmitic oil consumption contributes to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Research in the US and Europe support th e WHO report.
   

Click here to hear to full interview with Rebecca King from Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS)

For more information visit the following sites:

http://www.orangutans.com.au/

http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/

BOS are holding a Cocktail Party to raise funds. The event is on 10th November at Soulmama at the St Kilda Sea Baths (10-18 Jacka Blvd, St Kilda ). Includes fingerfood, beer, wine and soft drinks from 7-10pm. To purchase tickets call Sue: 0408 944 183 or purchase on line at http://www.orangutans.com.au/. No door sales.

Sustainable Housing

Sustainable Housing looks at utilising natural resources and energy to minimalise or eliminate the reliance on electricity, water, gas, etc from Utilities Companies.

Sustainable housing will:

• harvest rainwater


• treat sewerage


• generate its own power


• use resources and materials that are renewable and/or recyclable

The easiest way to become more sustainable is by installing a Solar Charge Grid Connect Solar Power System which will allow you to:

• create electricity from the sun


• reduce your power bill, or export power back into the grid where you receive credits from the power companies


• add value to your home


• create green, clean electricity minimising your carbon emissions


• educate others by leading by example

For more information on solar power you can visit http://www.solarcharge.com.au/

Click here to hear the full interview with Richard Potter who built a Sustainable House in Sandringham, Victoria, Aus. (pictured)

Welcome To All Natural

One thing I am passionate about is giving a voice to those who don't have one....that's right the animals. It is with great pleasure that I present to you a show devoted to animal and environmental conservation as well as ways to live in harmony with nature.

You can hear me on Melbourne's JOY 94.9 each Thursday Morning 9am till 12 noon AEST.

Here are some of my earlier interviews:

Terri Irwin

Spiders with Patrick Honan

The Coral Sea with Lydia Gibson (WWF)

Frogs with Raelene Hobbs

Tasmainian Devils with Tiffany Eastley

Orang Utan with Fleur Butcher

Elephants with Dan Maloney

Rothchild Giraffe with Curtis

Lady Tamara von Forslun, Wiccan High Priestess

Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo with Ditar Uka