This all began because one third of our bee species are now threatened with extinction. This is because we have drastically reduced the amount of food (flowers) and safe nesting sites in our landscapes. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is about all of us, from farmers to local authorities, to schools, gardeners and businesses, coming together to try to create an Ireland where pollinators can survive and thrive.

Without the pollination service freely provided by our bees and hoverflies, it would be increasingly difficult and expensive for farmers to produce some crops at current scales, and could result in a loss of consumer choice for Irish grown products. The beauty of the Irish landscape would also be affected without pollinators to maintain the diversity of our wild plants and support healthy ecosystems.

To give this some context, the annual value of pollinators for human food crops has been estimated at €153 billion world-wide and at least €53 million in the Republic of Ireland.

The real economic value of pollinators to the Irish economy is likely to be greater than currently estimated. Current evaluations don’t take into account the value of pollinators to forage crops (clovers), in pest control (e.g.,the role of hoverflies in protecting winter wheat crops), or their value to private gardeners and communities who grow a wide range of pollinator-dependent fruits and vegetables.

Maintaining biodiversity in the farm system future-proofs how the land can be used for generations to come. It is important to accept that if wild pollinator species were to be lost from the Irish landscape, they could not be replaced, regardless of monetary input.

So unless you want to live in a Blackmirror episode go out there and make your garden grow, and write to your recently elected local councilor to tell them you love the bees and want to see a pollinator patch in your park.
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This Plan was initiated by Úna FitzPatrick (National Biodiversity Data Centre) and Jane Stout (Trinity College Dublin), and then developed by a fifteen member All-Ireland steering group. For more info check out their website pollinators.ie

This is a quick post about a documentary called Cowspiracy which outlines the environmental impact animal agriculture has on our planet. The main aim of the film is to demonstrate the cost of production in the meat industry and how unsustainable the process has become considering the significant growth in global population over the last century.

Cowspiracy is one of those must see documentaries which makes a convincing argument as to why we all need to reduce our meat consumption. A new cut version, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, is also available on Netflix. Leaning towards a utopian society of veganism the film also highlights problems with fishing in the 21st century.

Here are 15 hard hitting facts from the documentary.

1) Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation. 
2) Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
3) Methane has a global warming potential 86 times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame.
4) Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.
5) Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.
6) 1/3 of the planet is desertified, with livestock as the leading driver.
7) 3/4 of the world’s fisheries are exploited or depleted.
8) We could see fishless oceans by 2048.
9) Scientists estimate as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals are killed every year by fishing vessels.
10) Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction.
11) 1,100 Land activists have been killed in Brazil in the past 20 years.
12) Ten thousand years ago, 99% of zoomass was wild animals. Today, humans and the animals that we raise as food make up 98% of the zoomass.
13) 80% of antibiotic sold in the US are for livestock.
14) We are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people.
15) 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, and the animals are eaten by western countries.

All the facts outlined in the film are available from it's website http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
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I came across this interesting organisation while listening to a podcast recently and thought I'd share, it's a bit Jurassic Park with some ethical questions, especially when considering the future of science, in particular the future of DNA development. That said it almost seems like the task this group has taken on is the responsibility of mankind. 

This article is pulled from the groups webpage (with some slight editing) : www.frozenark.org


The earth is now suffering the greatest loss of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Over the next thirty years it is predicted that more than 1,000 species of mammals, a quarter of the world's total, and a similar proportion of birds, amphibians and marine animals (both invertebrates and vertebrates) will go extinct. Thousands of invertebrate species have already disappeared after the destruction of their habitats.

Despite efforts to preserve their environments, at least 30% of all land, fresh-water and marine animals will go extinct within the next fifty years. Growth in human populations has led to habitat destruction caused by the need for agricultural land, by over-fishing, by pollution, and by the acidification of the oceans. These changes are well documented by the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and by meetings at The Royal Society.

The Frozen Ark Project was set up in 1996 as a response to this crisis, a modern version of Noah's Ark, designed to save thousands of creatures from extinction

Its objective is simple - to save samples of frozen cells containing DNA from endangered animals before they go extinct. Almost every single cell in an animal carries a complete blueprint of the animal stored in its DNA. Unless we save this information now it will be lost forever.

Currently the Frozen Ark database hold details of 28604 frozen DNA samples. Of these 7083 are from species listed in the IUCN Red List of endangered animals.


If they are frozen under the right conditions, many cells can be revived and regrown. Recent developments in molecular biology suggest that in the not-distant future animals could be recreated from these cells.

The frozen samples can also help currently endangered animals that have not yet gone extinct, to stay healthy by increasing genetic variation within their populations.

The Frozen Ark has now established a consortium of twenty-two major zoos, aquaria, museums and research institutions in eight countries around the world.


 

The Dodo is a symbol of greed, destruction, and mankind’s impact on the environment. Hunted into extinction in the 17th century modern man tuts at the recklessness of our pioneering forefathers. I wonder if 27th century man will still see the Dodo as a symbol of extinction, or if by then the flightless bird will even be mentioned alongside the endless loss of species, landscape, culture, ethnic groups, cities, towns, large geographical regions, and countless more micro environments on the brink of annihilation. I wonder will 27th century man look back and tut at our recklessness.  Global warming is happening and we have to start acting responsibly. We have to take individual responsibility until our entire culture adopts a better waste management lifestyle. We need to move towards sourcing renewable energies, incorporating higher carbon taxes, and imposing  trade tariffs on global offenders.

This is a slide show from Bloomberg that highlights how significant the issue is and it is an interactive way at looking at the problem, check it out

http://www.bloombergview.com/interactives/climate-change-in-perspective/

How do you imagine the future? Flying cars, robots, cloud city, 4D TVs, skyscrapers, a technological nirvana where the sun shines and mankind has reached a level of utopia we've never even dreamed of.....but what if we're heading the opposite direction.

This video from TED Ed is something everyone needs to watch. It's time we begin thinking about our future and perhaps we need to start taking individual responsibility in order to drive change. The world needs some lighthouse customers to lead the way, early adopters of new products and eco friendly technologies in order to change the way we choose to live.