Thursday, December 6, 2007

Saving Macaws

Macaws are one species of the birds’ kingdom. They are beautiful, have tender behavior, and are easy to get close to. But their intelligence is the first key that attracted me so much. “Macaws can be taught to speak English words or phrases, or any language for that matter,” Don Brightsmith said (2006, par. 10). They are all about at age 2-5 of children’s intelligence. They can imitate different sounds and perform some simple actions. In this research, I am going to just pick two kinds from the 17 species of macaws and talk about their profiles and their living environment.

“Macaws, middle or large shape birds, dwell in many areas and most species inhabit tropical, lowlands or nearby rivers” Dr. Rudolph (n.d., par. 1) said. According to National Geographic website (n.d., Macaws profile), the largest macaws will grow up to 34 inches and the smallest is only about 10, and a mature macaw will weigh less than 4 pounds. All macaws are covered with very bright feathers in different colors. For example, Great Green Macaws have a light green colored feathers on their bodies and sea blue color on their wings, and Blue-Gold Macaws sport a sky blue color and gold (yellow) on their stomach, and a white face. They are bred by humans as domestic animals in these decades, so we are used to seeing them at some specific places such as zoos, pets stores, some festivals and so on. Somehow, it is so conflicted that the scientists’ research reports that they are shrinking in numbers and numbers of species of macaws so fast. And then, they put them on the observation list because these colorful, cute and smart birds are endangered, and some of them have been approved as extinct species and some are less than 35 pairs (San Juan-La Selva Biological corridor, n.d. par. 5). The cause of three situations is that their home is disappearing at an unbelievable speed because of human destruction. Furthermore, there are several things that strike them and make them close to the edge of extinction. This puzzle is waiting for us to discover.

In an earlier era, our governments did not have a comprehensive law to protect all kinds of animals, which accounted for the illegal pet trading thriving. Especially, the wild macaws shrunk very quickly. But now I believe many governments usually only have the laws, which is similar to beating illegal pet trading but not really related to it. These laws are mostly under the National Medicine Center (NMC) or National Preventing Infection Department (NPID). Their main purpose was preventing illegal pet trading from causing uncontrollable infection. Especially, they all focus on virus spreading. Some other governments set it under the tax revenue. This would be more boldly and directly telling illegal pet traders to “pay tax or be illegal”. However, these laws were made in terms of humans, not in terms of animals or conservation. My ideal illegal pet trading laws should be directly beneath environmental conservation or animals’ protection departments and theirs laws, and then NMD or NPID should support them. It would be similar to Tax Revenue and National Security Departments, both related with Customs. The new laws would not only send these illegal traders into jail but also sentence them to serve social work for animals. If it was possible, government could hire some well-behaved traders as animal police to suppress the illegal pet trade, because they know their criminal activities manners; and an animals' educator after they get their freedom from jail. This should be done as was described by Dr. Charlie’s, claimed in Real Macaws, Nature (n.d., par. 2). Following this aspect, we should improve the situations of the three players, those of macaws, governments and illegal pet traders.

To satisfy our inner pet marketing needs, I would like to suggest a plan for breeding domestic macaws. In Taiwan, we have a saying, “the smaller on the quantity the higher the price”. On the other hand, if we could breed a certain quantity for our pet marketing and the price would be far less than the marketing price of illegal pet trading, and then no one will buy macaws from them. Besides, the breeding places must be in opened or semi-opened areas and the macaw’s semi-human-bred. The semi-human–bred involves men helping macaws to have next generations, but letting macaws raise their chicks. The main reason is macaws grow their babies, which can be becoming accustomed to wildlife and increasing their quantities in order to avoid extinction. Actually, in this plan, not only do we breed macaws as pets but we also breed them for the wild and match pet market demands.

That macaws are losing their habitats is for real. In my view, humans’ population has been in exponential growth since the industrial revolution. I assume that our resources will probably grow in the same way or more. Some resources can not be produced by us, so we need to get them from nature, such as trees. As a result of this, the deforestation is the first problem which directly threatens macaws. Of course, all governments have forest laws, but I have not seen any of them that have laws requiring compulsory growing of trees. Referring to our current situation, we should require the furniture, logging and other related wood companies to grow at least 10 trees for two years before they cut one tree. This opinion is based on economic loan and saving concept. It would be like when you get a loan from banks or any financial organizations, and you need to pay “interest” annually; but if you place money in them, what will happen? The answer will be positive. You could withdraw interest from them and you might gradually become richer and richer. Saving for the future; I called it in my mind.

I believe that many environmental specialists are becoming theorists. They always tell people the problems, but usually offer “Mission Impossible” resolutions. They go on talk shows, press conferences, news programs and newspapers to highly pitch speeches, but they lack practical executive experience. They usually say: ”environment has been threatened, and we should save it; we should cut fewer trees…, and find substitutes”. And then? How? What we need is a plan and seriously execute it.

We need really long term and executable resolutions. Altering these illegal pet traders as animals’ helpers can make animals, governments and traders all get benefits. Breeding wild macaws by our technology in opened or semi–opened areas for supplying pet marketing needs and for increasing the numbers of macaws helps them escape extinction. Saving for the future is depositing today for tomorrow’s use. These are executable projects, which are waiting for our governments to arrange and order. I expect that government can accelerate on the legislating and executing of new environment, animal trading and other laws, because we do not have enough time.

Reference

Brightsmith, D. (2006, November 06). Researcher Studying Declining Numbers Of Macaws. Retrieved November 6th 2007 from Lexis-Nexis

National Geographic. (n.d.). Macaws. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/macaws.html

Nature. (1997-2007). The Real Macaws, Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/realmacaw/endangered.html

Ney, C. (1999). Endangered Species: Blue and Gold Macaws. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://neyture.info/teachered/endanger/reports/birds/macaw/macaw.html

Parrot - Link (1998). Parrot Research Studies - Great-Green Macaws (Ara ambigua). Parrot – Research & Information. Retrieved November 6th 2007 from http://www.parrot-link.co.uk/macaws.htm

Rudolph, E. K. (n.d.). The Endangered Great Green Macaw Ara ambigua. Retrieved October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.drellenrudolph.com/costarica/macaws.html

San Juan-La Selva Biological corridor. (2001). The Great Green Macaw: en route to extinction. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.lapaverde.or.cr/lapa/index_eng_lapa.htm

Thaxton, B. (n.d.). Macaws on the Endangered Species List. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.exoticbird.com/endangered_macaws.htm

Wikipedia (October 19th, 2007). Macaws: Blue and Gold Macaws. wikipedia.org Retrieved October 23rd, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaw

Monday, December 3, 2007

We need new methods to save macaws

We need new methods to save macaws

In an earlier era, our governments did not have a comprehensive law to protect all kind of animals, which accounted for the illegal pet trading thriving. Especially, the wild macaws shrunk very quickly. But now I believe many governments usually only have the laws, which is similar to beating illegal pet trading but not really related to it. These laws are mostly under the National Medicine Center (NMD) or National Preventing Infection Department (NPID). Its main purpose was preventing illegal pet trading from causing uncontrollable infection. Especially, they all focus on virus spreading. Some other governments set it under the tax revenue. This would be more boldly and directly telling illegal pet traders to “pay tax or be illegal”. However, these laws were made in terms of humans, not in terms of animals or conservation. My ideal illegal pet trading laws should be directly beneath environmental conservation or animals’ protection departments and theirs laws, and then NMD or NPID support it. It would be similar to Tax Revenue and National Security Departments, both related with Customs. The new laws would not only send these illegal traders into jail but also sentence them to serve social work for animals. If it was possible, government could hire some well-behaved traders as animal police to suppress the illegal pet trade, because they know their criminal activities manners; and an animals' educator after they get their freedom from jail. The education part is the same as Dr. Charlie’s, claimed in Nature (Real Macaws, par. 2). Following this aspect, we should improve three wins’ situation, these of macaws, governments and illegal pet traders.

To satisfy our inner pet marketing needs, I would like to suggest a plan for breeding domestic macaws. In Taiwan, we have a saying, “the smaller on the quantity the higher the price”. On the other hand, if we could breed a certain quantity for our pet marketing and the price would be far less than the marketing price of illegal pet trading, and then no one will buy macaws from them. Besides, the breeding places must be in opened or semi-opened areas and semi-human-bred. The semi-human–bred is men helping macaws to have next generations, but letting macaws raise their chicks. The main reason is macaws grow their babies, which can be being accustomed to wildlife and increasing their quantities in order to avoid extinction. Actually, in this plan, not only do we breed macaws as pets but we also breed them for the wild and match pet market demands.

That macaws are losing their habitats is for real. In my view, humans’ population has been in exponential growth since the industrial revolution. I assume that our resources will probably grow in the same way or more. Some resources can not be produced by us, so we need to get them from nature, such as trees. As a result of this, the deforestation is the first problem which directly threatens macaws. Of course, all governments have forest laws, but I have not seen any of them that have laws requiring compulsory growing of trees. Referring to our current situation, we should require the furniture, logging and other related wood companies to grow at least 10 trees for two years before they cut one tree. This opinion is based on economic loan and saving concept. It would be like when you get a loan from banks or any financial organizations, and you need to pay “interest” annually; but if you place money in them, what will happen? The answer will be positive. You could withdraw interest from them and you might gradually become richer and richer. Saving for the future; I called it in my mind.

I believe that about many environmental specialists are becoming theorists. They always tell people the problems, but usually offer “Mission Impossible” resolutions. They go on talk shows, press conferences, news programs and newspapers to highly pitch speeches, but they lack practical executive experience. They usually say:”environment has been threatened, and we should save it; we should cut fewer trees…, and find substitutes”. And then? How? What we need is a plan and seriously execute it.

We need really long term and executable resolutions. Altering these illegal pet traders as animals’ helpers can make animals, governments and traders all get benefits. Breeding wild macaws by our technology in opened or semi–opened areas for supplying pet marketing needs and for increasing the numbers of macaws helps them escape extinction. Saving for the future is depositing today for tomorrow’s use. These are executable projects, which are waiting for our governments to arrange and order. I expect that government can accelerate on the legislating and executing of new environment, animal trading and other laws because we do not have enough time.

Reference

Brightsmith, D. (2006, November 06). Researcher Studying Declining Numbers Of Macaws. Retrieved November 6th 2007 from Lexis-Nexis

National Geographic. (n.d.). Macaws. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/macaws.html

Nature. (1997-2007). The Real Macaws, Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/realmacaws/ecotourism.html

Ney, C. (1999). Endangered Species: Blue and Gold Macaws. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://neyture.info/teachered/endanger/reports/birds/macaw/macaw.html

Parrot - Link (1998). Parrot Research Studies - Great-Green Macaws (Ara ambigua). Parrot – Research & Information. Retrieved November 6th 2007 from http://www.parrot-link.co.uk/macaws.htm

Rudolph, E. K. (n.d.). The Endangered Great Green Macaw Ara ambigua. Retrieved October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.drellenrudolph.com/costarica/macaws.html

San Juan-La Selva Biological corridor. (2001). The Great Green Macaw: en route to extinction. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.lapaverde.or.cr/lapa/index_eng_lapa.htm

Thaxton, B. (n.d.). Macaws on the Endangered Species List. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.exoticbird.com/endangered_macaws.htm

Wikipedia (October 19th, 2007). Macaws: Blue and Gold Macaws. wikipedia.org Retrieved October 23rd, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaw

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Is The Ignorance A Big Treat For Conservation?

The topic, “Uganda; Ignorance Is Big Threat to Conservation”, was so obviously to let readers to know his purpose. In the article, he mentioned his two main ideas; the land’s value is not decided by its price and financial system, and the governments failed to perform the role as a natural resources protector.

As long as mankind started to be aware that our environment has been destroyed by us, there have been a lot of presses, newspapers, magazines and TV programs have that argued and written essays on this issue. There were bunches of different fields of specialists that have been offering their own specialized advice to the whole world till today; however, it was too complicated what they said to us, to let everybody understand it. The author’s two main ideas not only enlighten me to have new concepts of conservation, but also let me strongly agree with them.

The land’s value is not decided by the price in the short term. It is hard to price a piece of land except for some of its natural resources such as useful minerals, high economic value of timbers and the skin of animals. For instance, 20 years ago, nobody cared about the fact of which countries owned the North Pole plain. The reason was not only its extremely cold weather but its also valuelessness. Within ten years, global warming has been making North Pole’s ice shrink and the land appeared, and each country sent their scientists to its ground and found out that it has petroleum in large quantity. Those countries claimed themselves to be owner of it. And these will probably exploit it in the future. We all know that North Pole has vast and giant ice. If we exploit it to get the petroleum, the temperature of the earth will accelerate in its rise. At the time, not only while the North Pole melt, but also Antarctica will. It will not be so hard to imagine how much the ocean level rises. Furthermore, the ocean ecology will also confront an unbalanced situation. Some species will be endangered, and others will be extinct. As a result, the resources are going to be consumed quickly or changed sooner.

To price a piece of land’s value in the long term— land’s value is not only according to its useful resources, but also must considers its renewal cycle and ecosystem. Renewal cycle is how fast the natural resources would become the same as its original situation after we take the resource away. The ecosystem shall always be in the balance whatever we get.

Our environment has getting being worse and worse day by day, because our government does not play a role as a protector well. A government has a lot of workers and scientists working for it. And it gathers much advice for its laws and strategies. People follow the laws and strategies. If a government lacks a long term prospect or neglects how important the natural resource is, or constantly gets the natural resources by force from somewhere and else or some other countries, the natural lives and mankind tragedies will happen over and over again. For example, World War I and II made many people, animals and plants die. Some other places are still under the radiation’s effect, so that grounds can not grow any plant and the animal’s genes are changed. Moreover, some countries has overexploited such that their animals and plants are extinct for good. And then we faced tremendous bug disasters. These are telling us how important it is for a government to perform its role as a watcher and do it well.

After the industrial revolution, human’s population had exponential growth and we needed the natural resources more and more. If there were not valuable resources on the land, we would even give it our eye, and then keep it as what it was. For the useful resources of land, we developed the land for manufacturing or for cities; and we grabbed them from somewhere off the land, which produce of them as products to fit our demands. On the other hand, pricing a land’s value is based on what we can get from it. We price them in the term of economy. Somehow, we forgot that we were a part of the food chain.
The food chain is processed as invisible and nature is above everything. We price the land’s value and overexploit it until the food chain runs out of its balanced situation, then we are going to endanger ourselves.

Reference
Africa News. (2007, March 15). Uganda;
Ignorance is Big Threat to Conservation. Retrieved October 29th 2007 from Lexis-Nexis

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Macaws

EAP2
Gin

Macaws

The Nature website, contributed by the PBS Media Company, focuses on our natural environment and wildlife. For instance, it includes animals, insects, plants and other species. Nature has been producing videos, sound tracks and encyclopedia books for 25 years. Furthermore, it started to do more topics that provided natural conservation education for this world. “Saving Macaws” is the one of the main projects of Nature. In its article, “The Real Macaws”, it has divided into three parts. The first one is Introduction. It stated their conception and mentioned that macaws are a seriously endangered species now. They started a program in Eco-Tourism to protect macaws. The second part, Endangered Tropical Jewel, roughly introduces macaws’ shape, size and weight, but details of their living environment and foods. It also tells the reader about that some species of macaws have become extinct. The final, "Packing For Conservation”, is mainly beaming on macaw’s habitat, which has been destroyed, and their conservation actions.

When I was child, I remember that I saw macaws many times somewhere in Taiwan. Maybe I saw them in zoos or in some shows. But I have never noticed that they were declining in numbers steeply. Through this class, I started to recall my memory while I was searching for some related topics; somehow, I was surprised that I had not seen them for about 10 years, except in zoos and in some documentary videos. I supposed that it might be longer than I thought. However, it is time to acquaint myself with them by my researched website – Nature. I am going to pick two kinds from the 17 species’ of macaws and talk about their profiles and their living environment.

Macaws, middle or large shape birds, dwell in many areas and most species inhabit tropical, lowlands or nearby rivers. The largest macaws will grow up to 34 inches and the smallest is only about 10. A mature macaw will weigh less than 4 pounds. All macaws are covered with very bright feathers in different colors. For example, Great Green Macaws have a light green color feather on its body and sea blue color on its wings, and Blue-Gold Macaws sport a sky blue color and gold (yellow) on their stomach, and a white face. They are all about at age 2-5 of children’s intelligence. They can perform some simple actions and imitate different sounds. Unfortunately, these colorful, cute and smart birds are endangered, and some of them have been approved as extinct species. These situations’ cause is that their home is disappearing at an unbelievable speed become of human destruction.

In the article, used as my reference, if mentioned that the macaws confront two main issues which are losing habitat and pet trading. In my view, humans’ population has been in exponential growth since industrial revolution. I assume that our resources will probably growth in the same way. Some resources can not be produced by us so we need to get them from nature. In addition, industrial pollution and global warming are reasons for macaws’s destruction. In an earlier era, our government did not have a complete law to protect animals, which accounted for the illegal pet trade was thriving and then macaws shrunk very quickly.

It is never too late for those endangered macaws to make them survive on the earth, but it is too late for the extinct one. I believe that we should build up and pass the animal conservation laws as fast as we can. Second, we can breed macaws by our technology to make them increase in number and teach them to get accustomed to the wild environment. Third, we have to stop overexploitation. Fourth, we must to try to downsize our population and natural resources needs. Finally, I would like to say we should not only educate our next generation but also new conservation thinking.


Reference

Nature. (1997-2007). The Real Macaws, Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/realmacaws/ecotourism.html

Rudolph, E. K. (n.d.). The Endangered Great Green Macaw Ara ambigua. Retrieved October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.drellenrudolph.com/costarica/macaws.html

San Juan-La Selva Biological corridor. (2001). The Great Green Macaw: en route to extinction. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.lapaverde.or.cr/lapa/index_eng_lapa.htm

Barry. (n.d.). Macaws on the Endangered Species List. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://www.exoticbird.com/endangered_macaws.html

Ney, C. (1999). Endangered Species: Blue and Gold Macaws. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://neyture.info/teachered/endanger/reports/birds/macaw/macaw.html

Wikipedia (October 19th, 2007). Macaws: Blue and Gold Macaws. wikipedia.org Retrieved October 23rd, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaw

National Geographic. (n.d.). Macaws. Retrieved on October 22nd, 2007, from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/macaws.html

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The cause of global warming

Gin Yuan Sheh
EAP2

The cause of global warming

It was hard to believe that global warming would make lots of creatures on the earth confront extermination and doom, after I read this essay. Shaoni Bhattacharya, a reporter of New Scientist, published her article “Global warming threatens millions of species” on its website. She was not the first one who noticed on this issue and told people how serious the problem is that is happening. She quoted some scientists’ research data. In her article, she mentioned the studies in the light, middle and serious models of climate changing affecting majority of species. And then, a percentage of species will start to move and find a better environment to live in, but some others will become extinct. Because of their living environments have been occupied by humans which for human dwelling, farming and other purposes. Not only could the article let me to know the problem that we are facing, but it also made me to generate my own thinking.

In the ecological view, humans are also a creature of the earth. Global warming causes a consistent effect not only affecting species but also endangering humans’ life; however, the global warming will not be the reason. The root cause, I believe, of global warming is just our environment pollution and overexploitation of natural resources. Of course, I have my own opinions in mind.

Humans have started to grab the natural resource a long time ago. We needed natural resources more and more such as natural gas, wood and minerals when our technology was improved. We logged trees for our furniture, books and houses, mined for silicon and steel and other minerals for cars, bridges and other purposes. We have overexploited too much. And then many of creatures lost their food and living area. These are the first reason to invasion other species live environment.

While we produce diverse products to satisfy humans' endless desires, we forget to repay back what we took and where we got it. We need trees, but we do not grow trees. We take food and house more than we need. We have made some area are desertification. We also leave much trash to pollute the ground and produce inferior air which includes heavy metal elements, sour and dioxide gases.

Global warming is just a result of what we have done on the earth. While all species are moving to seek a newer, better environment for living, some others are dying out; we forgot ourselves will be one of the victims in the future. Reducing human’s desires and stopping overexploitation and finding some new technology which will not pollute the environment is the way to solve the problem. Of course, if we can reduce our population, I believe it will also help our earth a lot.



Reference


Bhattacharya, S. (2004, January 07). Global warming threatens millions of species. NewScientist.com. Retrieved October 16, 2007 from http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4545&print=true