We Are All Related

Global warming isn’t opinion. It’s a scientific reality. And the science tells us that human activity has made enormous impacts to our planet that affect our well-being and even our survival as a species.

The world’s leading science journals report that glaciers are melting ten times faster than previously thought, that atmospheric greenhouse gases have reached levels not seen for millions of years, and that species are vanishing as a result of climate change. They also report of extreme weather events, long-term droughts, and rising sea levels.

Fortunately, the science also tells us how we can begin to make significant repairs to try and reverse those impacts, but only through immediate action. By spreading the word and sharing this with others, our collective power will force governments, corporations, and politicians everywhere to pay attention.

What is Global Warming?
The Earth as an ecosystem is changing, attributable in great part to the effects of globalization and man. More carbon dioxide is now in the atmosphere than has been in the past 650,000 years. This carbon stays in the atmosphere, acts like a warm blanket, and holds in the heat — hence the name ‘global warming.’

The reason we exist on this planet is because the earth naturally traps just enough heat in the atmosphere to keep the temperature within a very narrow range - this creates the conditions that give us breathable air, clean water, and the weather we depend on to survive. Human beings have begun to tip that balance. We've overloaded the atmosphere with heat-trapping gasses from our cars and factories and power plants. If we don't start fixing the problem now, we’re in for devastating changes to our environment. We will experience extreme temperatures, rises in sea levels, and storms of unimaginable destructive fury. Recently, alarming events that are consistent with scientific predictions about the effects of climate change have become more and more commonplace.

Environmental Destruction
The massive ice sheets in the Arctic are melting at alarming rates. This is causing the oceans to rise. That’s how big these ice sheets are! Most of the world’s population lives on or near the coasts. Rising ocean levels, an estimated six feet over the next 100 years or sooner, will cause massive devastation and economic catastrophe to population centers worldwide.

The United States, with only four percent of the world’s population, is responsible for 22% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. A rapid transition to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources will combat global warming, protect human health, create new jobs, protect habitat and wildlife, and ensure a secure, affordable energy future.

Health Risks
Malaria. Dengue Fever. Encephalitis. These names are not usually heard in emergency rooms and doctors’s offices in the United States. But if we don’st act to curb global warming, they will be. As temperatures rise, disease-carrying mosquitoes and rodents spread, infecting people in their wake. Doctors at the Harvard Medical School have linked recent U.S. outbreaks of dengue (‘breakbone’s) fever, malaria, hantavirus and other diseases directly to climate change.

Catastrophic Weather
Super powerful hurricanes, fueled by warmer ocean temperatures are the “smoking gun” of global warming. Since 1970, the number of category 4 and 5 events has jumped sharply. Hurricane Katrina, in September 2005 almost became a category 6 event. Human activities are adding an alarming amount of pollution to the earth’s atmosphere causing catastrophic shifts in weather patterns. These shifts are causing severe heat, floods and worse.

I have traveled twice (so far!) with good friends to the Center for Orangutan & Chimpanzee Conservation, Inc., a not-for-profit organization in Wauchula, Florida. I have included a link to their website in the left hand column (at the bottom). We drummed and played our native american flutes for these wonderful creatures. One of the chimps knows about 40 words in American sign language... when one of the workers there asked her if she heard anything, she answered "I hear birds" (bird is the only word she knows that equates to music). We were very honored to be allowed to visit with and commune with the chimpanzees and orangutans (my personal favorite).

We were told that in 3-5 years there will no longer be gorillas in the wild at all... in 10 years there will be no great apes in the wild anywhere in the world. We are at a fork in the road as a species. The decisions we make now will determine whether human kind has a future. As people in power throughout the world scream for war, it is our duty to ensure that our voices are heard and heard clearly and often. Mahatma Gandhi told us, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world. Strength does not come from physical capacity; it comes from an indomitable will."

Ask yourself the only question that counts... have you done all you can do to leave the world a better place? We must become warriors for humanity, for the animal kingdom and for the Earth. We must conquer greed and illness and violence. We must replace them with peace and love, justice and equality. A healthy community will come through our children and our children's children, as they observe us being good stewards of the Planet and good relations to the other life forms around us. As we set a good example through selflessness and service to others, the baser passions will fall away.

Think on these facts for a sec... The Bush administration has given the Navy the green light to use Low Frequency (LFA) Active Sonar technology despite outcry by people all over the world. This sonar is SO incredibly loud that it deafens and even kills marine mammals. If the piercing sound doesn't kill them, they become deaf, disoriented and end up beaching themselves in large numbers. This technology will further endanger species already on the endangered species list.

Tropical rainforests contain 80 per cent of the world's species of land vegetation and acount for much of the global oxygen supply. In one square mile of Amazon rainforest, there are more species of birds than exist in all of North America. Two thirds of Central America's rainforests have been cleared primarily to raise cattle whose stringy, cheap meat is exported to profit the U.S. food industry. When it enters the United States, the beef is not labeled with its country of origin, so there is no way to trace it to its sources.

Amount of waste produced by the 1,600 dairies in California's Central Valley: more than the entire human population of Texas. Total number of water quality inspectors in Clafiornia's entire Central Valley: 4.

An ecosystem is the network of the interactions between every organisim that makes up the natural environment. A habitat is the set of physical and environmental conditions that allow an organisim to live most comfortably. These factors include climate, amount of rainfall and amount sunlight. Biomes are a group of ecosystems that share some type of plant life as well as climate.

A community is a biological living component of an ecosystem. A niche is an organisim's role in an ecosystem. These roles are:

decomposers - they break down organic materials so they can be used again by the ecosystem.
consumers - eat other organisims.
producers - make their own food. This will almost always be the plant life of the ecosystem.

"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator."

What are you going to give to the next seven generations. Do you have a beautiful gift to pass on? I think so... We are all asking ourselves what do we do next, and where are we. Our ending time has come, and we are now asking for the best possible way to go back and restructure, reset and put things back on track that give strength to us. So we have a huge task the next five to ten years. We are going to have to come together. This pathway has to be open, so that we can make another 500-year calendar to bring in sacredness. Look at the elements. Look at the environment. Look at the clouds, the mountains, the plants, your people, and the grandchildren that are unborn yet. We want to make an entrance, a pathway, a blessing way. We have experienced negativity. There is social illness; there is great pain and suffering. Those kinds of illnesses we do not need to take into this new pathway. If we do, we only become sicker. We can put everything forward that is sacred. You and I have to do it. Our children's generations that are coming are waiting for this gift... So we are going to have to hold hands and go in one direction. All of us have to communicate, sing one song, say one prayer, and walk the next decade together with one voice, for our survival and the survival of future generations.

Leon Secatero, Canoncito Navajo Spiritual Elder

O'siyo! (Cherokee for hello)
This website is an effort of mine close to my heart. Please check back often to see what has been added! In case you were curious... I am a middle-aged female with a Native American and Celtic heritage - both of which I honor. I raised in North Carolina and currently live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Even though I will sometimes focus on the wonderful wildlife and needs of the Florida area of our beautiful Country, all of the information on this website is useful to know wherever you find ourself! Please E-mail me with your comments once you look around and don't forget to visit the attached weblinks! To me, the most beautiful thing in the world is the world itself.

Walk in Balance, Marsha Anisoquili (Many Ponies) Raymond

WHAT TO DO IF YOU SPOT A PANTHER
Panthers do not like coming in contact with humans. It goes against all their natural instincts, but sometimes by mistake their roaming behavior brings about contact with people. As human activities intrude deeper into natural Florida panther habitat, these interspecies encounters become more likely. If you see a Florida panther, whether it is on your property or in the wild, stay calm. No Florida panther has ever attacked a human. More than likely, it will run away. Keep children and pets inside or in your vehicle. If for any reason the panther doesn't run away, show no fear. Make lots of noise. And don't turn your back on it. (Back away from the animal.)

Report your sighting, especially if the animal appears to be a threat to anyone or seems to be sick or injured. Call the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission at (904) 488-3831.

Perhaps the most famous, elusive, and imperiled resident of the Everglades is the Florida panther, a big, tawny cat that is a subspecies of mountain lion. No more than 30 to 50 are believed to remain in the wild!

Current Suggested Action! - Can endangered species survive the Bush administration? A sneaky little rider on the Bush budget would have a huge impact on imperiled plants and animals by granting the Interior secretary sole discretion over which species get protection. Tell your representative the rider's got to go. Action by Sierra Club

Remember... When you live on a round planet, there’s no choosing sides.

Pure water is essential for all life on Earth. The Earth is 70% water, as are our bodies. We can last for about 2-3 weeks without food, but we would be dead within 3 days without water. What we do to our water, we do to ourselves.

Humans are increasingly putting this essential resource in serious danger. We poison our ground and surface water. We burn fossil fuels that cause acid rain and global warming. We dam our rivers, interrupting water flow and destroying delicate ecosystems downstream. We clear vegetation and pave massive land areas, decreasing the groundwater level and increasing flooding and soil erosion. On top of all this, those with access to the most water are wasting vast amounts of it.

Each of us can play an important role in conserving and protecting our local water supply.

Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. Many lives are cluttered not only with unnecessary possessions but also with meaningless activities. Cluttered lives are out-of-harmony lives and require simplification. Wants and needs can become the same in a human life and, when this is accomplished, there will be a sense of harmony between inner and outer well-being. Such harmony is needful not only in the individual life but in the collective life too.

The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.

- Henry David Thoreau

Let's talk about Chimps a minute...
At the turn of the century, Chimpanzees numbered in the hundreds of thousands and inhabited 25 equatorial African countries. Today, only an estimated 200,000 Chimpanzees remain scattered in increasingly fragmented populations. Habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade have contributed to the rapid decline of this species. Infants, captured after their mothers are killed, are sold as pets, for entertainment, and for biomedical research. Many infants die in the process, as do group members who try to save them, while others soon perish from shock, malnutrition, and injuries sustained during capture. Chimpanzees are our closest living non-human relative with genetic (DNA) difference of just over 1%. This similarity leads to others. While relations between neighboring communities are sometimes hostile, enduring bonds develop between family members. They express emotions similar to ours, such as joy, sadness, fear, despair, and love. Chimpanzees kiss, embrace, groom each other, and use tools and weapons. They are capable of rational thought, simple problem solving, planning for the future, communicating with abstract symbols, and understanding the needs of others.

State Biologists Investigating Rash of Black Bear Killings
The Associated Press

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST, Fla. (AP) - Wildlife biologists are investigating a rash of illegal black bear killings that may be a result of the rising number of conflicts between the protected species and humans, officials said. The state has had six new bear killings since last fall, including four in central Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. With more than 100 illegal bear killings in the past 24 years, the average has been about four a year. Biologists found the carcass of a black bear last month near a rural Marion County road. It apparently had been shot with a high-powered rifle and moved to make it appear that it was killed in a road accident, wildlife officials said.

Such cases could be due to more reported cases of human interaction with "nuisance" bears, wildlife officials said. "I think it's logical considering the number of human-bear conflicts we have - there's going to be more opportunity for this to happen," Fish and Wildlife bear coordinator Thomas Eason said. Central Florida had a record-high 988 bear nuisance complaints last year. The previous high was 775 complaints in 2000. The commission reported earlier this year that a record number of black bears - at least 120 - were killed by motor vehicles on Florida roads in 2002.

Officials said other cases include the disappearance of a black bear from the Ocala National Forest, its collar cut off; a 450-bear missing from a wildlife study area in Hernando County, its radio collar found cut about 100 yards from a hunter's tree stand; a dead bear with its paws cut off west of Wekiwa Springs State Park near the Orange-Lake county line; and two bears found shot in Gulf and Calhoun counties. Bear parts are used for food, medicine and luxury items in other parts of the world, but Florida officials say that is highly unlikely here. Though they are known to eat most anything, they usually try to avoid people, biologists said.

Killing a bear is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. As many as 12,000 black bears once roamed the state. But only 3,000 are estimated today in six main populations and two smaller groups around the state. The largest number of bears is in the Ocala forest. A study estimates that 425 bears live there.