10/16/09

Help the Rainforests with Your Next Latte

This week, October 12-18, is World Rainforest Week. Recently, I learned about an organization that has practical solutions to helping the rainforests: the New York-based Rainforest Alliance, which helps to conserve rainforest biodiversity and the livelihoods of people who make their living from the rainforests by transforming land use practices, business practices, and consumer behavior.

So what does this mean for you? You can help the rainforests by being a savvy consumer and by “voting with your dollars” in the kitchen (buying agricultural products from Rainforest Alliance Certified Farms), your living room (buying furniture from Forest Stewardship Council Certified Forests), and by choosing eco-friendly travel options.

Here’s one example: Like most Americans (and people everywhere, for that matter), Susan and I drink A LOT of coffee, but we’re beginning to learn about the devastating toll that modern coffee-growing practices take on the environment.

According to the Rainforest Alliance:

For more than 150 years, coffee was widely grown under the leafy canopy of native rainforest trees. Agronomists in the 1970s began promoting a new farm system where the sheltering forest is cleared, and coffee bushes are packed in dense hedgerows and doused with agrochemicals. These monoculture farms produce more beans, but at a tremendous environmental cost. The traditional, agroforestry system is good wildlife habitat. The new monocultures have little habitat, accelerate soil erosion, and pollute streams.

Coffee Beans

Certified, forested coffee farms, on the other hand, can be bio-rich buffer zones for parks, protect watersheds, and serve as wildlife corridors. These “coffee forests” are also important sources of firewood, construction materials, medicinal plants, fruits, flowers, honey, and other goods. Many farms in the certification program protect native forest reserves and community water supplies.

This week, consider buying coffee with a Rainforest Alliance Certified seal on it. As reported in the Brisbane (Australia) Times, companies are now “keen to kiss the green frog.”

certified_seal

Won’t it be nice to know when you drink your cuppa Joe in the morning that the coffee was grown on farms “where forests are protected, rivers, soils and wildlife conserved; workers are treated with respect, paid decent wages, properly equipped, and given access to education and medical care,” and from a farm that provides shelter and food for FROGS, birds, and other animals.

I went to the supermarket today and instead of buying my usual brand, I bought a brand called Caribou Coffee, which had the Rainforest Alliance seal. I noticed another brand, too, with the seal. Newman’s Own coffee is Fair-Trade Certified, and certain types of Starbucks coffee are shade-grown (for example, Organic Shade Grown Mexican). It is more expensive, but it still costs less than the price of two lattes at Starbucks. Also, my rainforest-friendly coffee tastes better than my regular brand. I’ll drink to that!

Photographers also take note. The Rainforest Alliance is having a photo contest–the deadline is November 1, 2009. Categories are nature and landscapes, wildlife, conservation in action, and sustainable tourism. The first prize is an eco-trip for two to Costa Rica. Check it out!

Teachers: Here’s the education page with fun stuff for kids and lesson plans for teachers.

Coffee photo courtesy Rainforest Alliance website

10/13/09

Show Us Your Backyard!

Last week we did a post about turning your yard into a wildlife habitat. Because we received so many interesting comments, we thought we’d invite people to send in photos of their backyards. As we did for the photo contest, we’ll create a gallery of the backyard photos (see the photo contest gallery for example). Please send a jpeg (2 mb max).

We would also love to receive any tips you may have for creating a frog- or wildlife-friendly backyard. We’ll incorporate your tips (along with your name or whatever information you’d like to provide) into future posts.

As the weather gets colder, here’s a little armchair reading to get you dreaming about next year’s garden, or perhaps to get some ideas for last-minute fall planting. This book, Bringing Nature Home: Using Native Plants to Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas Tallamy, was suggested by a commenter, Miriam Goldberger:

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You might also want to check out Miriam’s site, Wildflower Farms. She offers native North American perennial wildflowers, native grasses, and wildflower seeds.

And for inspiration, I leave you with a lovely video by another commenter, Ernie McLaney. His backyard is a wildlife habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation, and he’s been involved in certifying all six campus locations of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC. As he says, “It’s a great project to help increase awareness of the natural world around us.”

While watching the video, I noticed lots of birdbaths. Providing water for birds is one simple thing that everyone can do.

Looking forward to seeing your backyards!

10/6/09

Turn Your Backyard into a Wildlife Habitat

It’s that time of year (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) when we’re raking up leaves, cleaning up our backyards, and preparing for winter. But as we prepare for the first frost, we’re spending more time inside than outside and our backyards may be a bit of a mess.

I read an interesting article in The Independent (UK) the other day, “Why Untidy Gardens Make the Best Habitat for Wildlife.” My in-laws live in England and “garden” more or less means the same as “backyard” to Americans, though most English yards have a flower border. British readers, please correct me if I’m wrong!

Anyway, the article points out that town and city gardens provide a vital refuge for birds, insects, and other animals, including amphibians. Small gardens are as good as large gardens, urban gardens as important as suburban ones, and non-native plants are not always harmful to birds and insects.

Both city and suburban backyards can provide what Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson called “bridges” between protected areas, providing refuges for wildlife. These bridges serve as a vital corridor, for example, for amphibians, migrating songbirds, and other animals.*

My backyard falls into the category of “untidy.” I have a lax attitude as to what I allow to grow in it, including a Norway maple, which no one in my family likes. They claim it’s taking over the tiny backyard, which is true. Yet the tree also draws lots of birds. I have vines growing up walls that provide places for birds to hide in, and I have two birdbaths. I don’t use pesticides or herbicides.

What I’ve noticed is that this time of year I get lots of animal visitors. I have a robin couple living in the yard (not common the rest of the year). An amazing bird that I can’t even find in the bird book stopped by the other day. Birds come this time of year to eat the grapes on my grape vine, swooping down almost the same week each year.

You don’t have to do much to make your backyard a wildlife habitat. Just don’t be too neat—don’t hurry to clear up everything when the garden stops flowering. Some of this “debris” is important for wildlife to hide in or to eat.

Of course, I realize that some animals are pests and steps have to be taken to keep them out. When we’re in New Hampshire, we need to use special bear-resistant garbage cans. Some parts of the country have real problems with deer.

But I think we should try to give a helping hand to those animals and insects that need these wildlife bridges–amphibians, birds, honey bees, and so on.

Here are some more tips for fall planting from the Independent article:

  • plant large shrubs—shrubs and trees produce more vegetation where wildlife can live and eat
  • allow at least some flowers to turn to seed and let the lawn grow tall.
  • create a pond for insects and frogs, or buy or make a toad abode
  • don’t illuminate your garden/backyard at night with bright lights. This will disturb many nocturnal creatures
  • create a compost heap—they are miniature nature reserves in themselves.

See also the National Wildlife Foundation‘s site about attracting wildlife and getting your yard recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

This time of year we gardeners get a bit depressed as winter approaches. What are we going to do with ourselves until the first seed catalogs arrive in the mail in late winter? This fall I am looking at ways I can make my backyard more amenable to wildlife. I just received my Gardeners Supply catalog that has all kinds of birdbaths, birdfeeders, birdhouses, and other products to create an animal-friendly garden/yard.

Please add your suggestions for ways to attract backyard wildlife.

courtesy of Loudoun (VA) Wildlife ConservatoryCreating a frog pond, courtesy of Loudoun (VA) Wildlife Conservatory

*I got this from Earthtalk: Expert Answers to Everyday Questions about the Environment (Plume, 2009), an excellent book, by the way.

10/3/09

Sting's Message in a Bottle: SOS for the Rainforest

We received a new video from the Prince’s Rainforests Project of Sting singing “Message in a Bottle,” his own personal SOS to the world about the destruction of the rainforests. The Prince’s Rainforest SOS Campaign is their final push to ensure that the call for emergency action to protect rainforests is heard by those who have the power to make change happen. It is particularly directed toward world leaders before the forthcoming global climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

While Sting and the frog are cute, his message is serious—and it is heartbreaking to see the trees cut down. Check out the Prince’s site to find out ways that you can become involved and spread the message!

09/30/09

Slow down: Toads Crossing!

Traveling with my family, we’ve come across some interesting animal crossing signs. In New Hampshire, we’ve seen moose crossing signs, in Florida, we’ve seen turtle crossing signs, and in South Africa, we’ve seen baboon crossing signs:

moose turtle images

If you live in England, however, you may see toad crossing signs at hundreds of different locations:

toad-crossing-sign

The Telegraph (UK) reports that from January through May, Britain’s toads will get increased protection from the Department for Transport with migratory toad crossing signs. Britain’s toads, especially the European Common Toad and the Natterjack toad, are under threat. Toads are considered a “biodiversity priority species.”

According to the Toad Crossing site, local volunteers are part of a national campaign called “Toads on Roads,” coordinated by the wildlife charity Froglife and supported by Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, a national network of volunteer groups concerned with amphibian and reptile conservation. Volunteers wear bright jackets and help toads across the UK’s roads, in an effort to help save the animal from further declines.

I’m sure Mr. Toad would approve. On the other hand, he was a pretty crazy driver!

09/26/09

Fanged Frogs in the Land of the Lost

No, the fanged frogs are not THE FROG PRINCESS meets TWILIGHT! They are recently discovered amphibians, found with many amazing other animals, in an untouched jungle in a crater of Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea. It does seem incredible that such a pristine place still exists on Earth.

The Guardian (UK) reports that in addition to a fanged frog, they discovered:

  • an additional 16 new frogs species
  • giant monitor lizards
  • a grunting fish that makes noises from its swim bladder
  • kangaroos that live in trees
  • a giant rat the size of a large cat that may turn out to be the largest rat in the world
  • the never-before seen Bosavi silky cuscus, a marsupial that has no fear of humans and sat on one of the scientist’s shoulders

The rainforest in Papua New Guinea is disappearing at the rate of 3.5% per year, so these discoveries remind us of how important it is to preserve these incredibly biodiverse habitats. In fact, soon after this news was reported, the World Wildlife Fund reported the discovery of another fanged frog (this one eats birds!) in the Mekong river delta in Southeast Asia. This MSNBC article has a picture of the fanged frog and a slideshow of the other animals.

Below you can see some of these remarkable animals in a video from the Guardian about the Papua New Guinea expedition, led by an international team of scientists, cavers, and filmmakers. On the BBC Natural History Unit site, you can meet the explorers, see a map of where the expedition traveled, read some wild stories about the expedition, and see some episodes online (if you’re in the UK).