Who has been naughty and who has been nice on Santa's List?

With the population reaching seven billion earlier this year Santa has his work cut out for him determining who had been naughty and who had been nice. I am good friends with Santa (click here to listen to our chat a couple of year's ago on Christmas Eve in iTunes) so he has asked me to help. Each week he has asked me to compile a list of who has been naughty and who has been nice and it would be helpful if you could check it for us twice. Of course I am sure Santa will double check it to see if they really deserve a gift on Christmas.

The Naughty List

1) The Pemberton Poacher - Although Santa knows who it is, the Pemberton Wildlife Association is still looking for and have offered a $1,000 reward for the killer of a 317kg grizzly bear who was found shot to death, with body parts missing, in the Pemberton Meadows area near the turnoff to the Hurley Forest Service Road on 17th November. If you have any information you can contact the B.C. Conservation Officer Service on 1-877-952-7277.

2) Lakshmi N. Mittal of Steel industry giant Arcellor-Mittal, Dr. Hans Engel of chemicals industry leader BASF, Dr. Marius Kloppers of mining giant BHP Billiton, Charles G. Koch of the US energy industry’s Koch and Brian Dames of South Africa’s electric utility Eskom – these five individuals are leaders of giant multinational companies who, along with others, literally spend “the equivalent of the GDP of entire nations to block progress on climate legislation and ensure that fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies continue to give unfair advantage to dirty energy, above the safe, clean renewable energy future the public demands.” as according to Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo and a new report.

3) Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of EDF - The French utility company has been fined €1.5 million for hacking into the computer networks of Greenpeace. Pascal Durieux, EDF's head of nuclear production security in 2006, was handed a three-year sentence with two years suspended and a €10,000 fine (about $13,000) for commissioning the spying.

The Nice List

1) Clement Kwok, The Chief Executive of the Peninsula Hotel Group - The luxurious hotel chain with nine hotels in Asia has taken shark fin soup off all their menus in a bid to help save the depleting numbers of sharks in our oceans. 73 million sharks are currently killed each year for shark fin soup.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent

2) Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent - who at a recent talk at the Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom on the CSU campus shared his belief that sustainability is currently the world's greatest issue and that corporate partnerships to promote sustainability, such as Coca-Cola's new deal with Coca Cola need to become the norm.

3) Japanese tuna boat captain Kazuhiro Yamazaki - has designed new fishing gear, called the ‘Yamazaki Double-Weight Branchline,’ which causes hooks to sink deeper into the water, out of site of hungry birds. The new invention reduced seabird bycatch by up to 90% without reducing fishing catches. The invention won the World Wildlife Fund’s 2011 International Smart Gear Competition.

4) Zhang Junming, Guan Jianhong, Li Shiheibu and the other members of a group a "panda seeking" team - they spent five days surveying panda habitat in the mountains of southwest China's Sichuan province, looking for traces of the endangered animals. "This place is known as 'China's Bermuda Triangle,' as several people were reported missing here in the 1960s and 1970s," said Zhou Longlin, deputy chief of the reserve's administration. Although they saw no pandas, they found evidence via droppings and foot prints and concluded 33 pandas reside in the area.

How to get on the Nice List

Join WWF's Living Planet Community at http://community.wwf.ca. It's a great way to get a whole bunch of green living tips and get a true measurement on your reduction green house gas emissions. Feel free to join my group Adam Barralet's Bloody Good Things To Do once you've open your account. I'll put in a good word for you with Santa.

Polar Bear update

The plight of Polar Bears and their link to climate change has become common knowledge in recent years. It's an exciting time as people and organisations create various ways to support these beautiful animals. Here are some of the latest updates:

Tracking Polar Bears
You can now follow five female polar bears who have been radio collared in northern Canada. By tracking the movements of polar bears, we can all learn more about how they use their natural habitat and how they are adapting to the changes in sea ice due to the effects of climate change. The five are all females and are accompanied by at least one cub each. The tracker site gives each bear's stats, exactly where they were last located, a map of where they have travelled and the distances they have covered. The page also includes regular updates about the bears on the left. To follow Aurora, Nanukic, Neige, Nita and the wanderer Callista (she gets around) simply go to http://polarbears.wwf.ca/.

7-Eleven Stores join Coca Cola in protecting Polar Bear's Arctic home
In an earlier post (click here) I discussed Coca Cola changing their cans from red to white for the holiday season as well as making donations to the WWF. 7-Eleven is now running a campaign through out there 6,400 stores around the USA. The campaign involves downloading a iPhone app (see www.ArcticHome.com/7-Eleven) where you can challenge friends to snowball fights. You earn point this way, as well as visiting 7-Eleven stores, and go in the running to win an iPad and a trip for two to the Arctic.

The app helps raise funds for WWF's efforts by directing users to www.ArcticHome.com, where they can enter package codes from specially-marked Coca-Cola products to trigger an individual $1 donation. Coca-Cola will match all donations made with a package code by March 15, 2012, up to a total of $1 million.

New IUCN study still predicts decline in polar bear numbers
Although a lot is being done to increase awareness and raise funds a new report from the IUCN predicts a dramatic reduction in polar bear habitats in the next 10-50 years. The IUCN Red List has polar bears listed as vulnerable, as are many other animals around the world, but the polar bear is the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act because it is threatened due to global warming. "Climate change will be one of the major drivers of species extinctions in the 21st century," says Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. In order to save the polar bears we must reduce out reliance on fossil fuels as well as campaign for leaders to make strong decisions on reducing emissions (just like Australia has just done - click here to see WWF Australia update). Other factors include toxic contaminants, shipping, recreational viewing and oil and gas exploration. For further information visit the Polar Bears International site at http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/news/iucn-study-predicts-dramatic-decline-polar-bear-populations

Resources for educating children
If you work with children, Polar Bear International has some great resources to help you educate them about polar bears. You can find posters, videos, quizzes, PowerPoint presentations and more. To see the great selection visit http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/education/educational-tools-and-materials

Coca Cola to change cans from red to white

In the coming weeks Coca Cola will be changing it's iconic red cans to white. Coke is producing 1.4 billion white cans to raise awareness for the plight of polar bears. The soft drink company will also be donating $2million over the next five years to help the WWF in their work. They will also match all donation made at www.icoke.ca and advertise a SMS system where consumers can donate.

For more information check out the following blog: http://blog.wwf.ca/blog/2011/10/25/polar-bears-inspire-coca-cola-to-turn-red-cans-white-for-wwf/