Spreading some Ellie love on World Elephant Day

 

World Elephant Day is annually celebrated on the 12 of August. This special day commemorates our fascinatingly majestic creatures, the world’s largest terrestrial animal. This day is specifically celebrated by animal lovers to raise awareness so that elephants are respected and protected, thereby ensuring their future survival. This day helps to spread awareness to stop the ivory trade and to protect their habitat. Elephants are highly intelligent, charismatic, social, and empathetic and have an essential role in their ecosystems. But given the harsh reality faced by many elephants and many threats (including poaching and habitat loss) to their existence and habitat, it is so vitally important to raise awareness of their plight in order to conserve these majestic animals.

 

More than 65 wildlife organisations around the world spread an important message with regards to this important species and their conservation.

 

Whichever way you decide to help raise awareness, you will make an invaluable contribution. So please, spread the Ellie love and celebrate this important environmental day.

Importance of Oceans

The Oceans are the life blood of our Earth. Oceans cover over two-thirds of our blue planet. Oceans play a crucial role in our lives. Everybody depends on the oceans because it is one of the biggest resource for life on earth. Here is a look at the importance of oceans and why it is vital to protect and conserve such a valuable resource:

·        Oceans play an important part in the health and survival of all life. The ocean plays a life-giving role for not only people but also for the environment as it supports a multitude of life forms

·         The ocean connects people across the Earth, no matter where we live.

·       The oceans are essential to food security as it daily feed people. They are a significant source of
nutrition.



·         Oceans play a vital role in the climate system. It powers our climate as it regulate our climate.

·         Oceans produce at least half of all our Earth’s oxygen supply

·         It is the source of our freshwater

·         It offers a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines

·        Aesthetically it is home to a myriad of wildlife and provides us with spectacularly beautiful landscapes and provides immeasurable inspiration

·         It provides an array of recreational enjoyment opportunities

·         It also provides mineral and energy resources

·         It shapes the Earth’s characteristics

We depend on the ocean for our wellbeing. Oceans are the heartbeat of the planet, without oceans, life would definitely cease to exist. A healthy ocean definitely means a healthy planet. It is therefore important to conserve the diversity of oceanic life. Sustaining the ocean is undeniably important and we must do our utmost best to conserve and protect this vitally precious natural resource.

 Every time I slip into the ocean, it's like going home – Sylvia Earle.

Source:

http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/

Why do we celebrate and raise awareness on World Oceans Day?

 

It is imperative that we protect our oceanic habitat. Water is a limited resource on our earth. Our oceans are in peril. There are several reasons why we should full immerse ourselves in the aquatic life and to celebrate this important day, such as:

·       To remind everyone of the major part the Ocean has in everyday life. They are the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe.

·       To inform the public on the impact of the human actions on the Ocean and make them aware of the alarming declines of oceanic life.

·       To mobilise and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the World Ocean. To celebrate together the beauty, the wealth and the promise of the Ocean.

·       To keep this beautiful ecosystem safe.

·       It is a reminder that we must do better in protecting this irreplaceable resource.

·       To deeply committed to ocean conservation.

·       To learn more about plastic pollution in the ocean and how each person can do their bit to curb it.

So please celebrate and appreciate our blue planet!

Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/

Celebrating World Oceans Day

Oceans are the heartbeat of the planet. Oceans generate most of the oxygen we breathe, it feed us, and regulate our climate.
 

We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do - Sylvia Earle.

World Oceans Day is a very special day that is annually celebrated on the 8^th of June. It is a day on which all people, who care for the oceans and its vitally important species, appreciate and the ocean’s intrinsic value.

 

 

This day provides the perfect opportunity to learn a bit more about our oceans. It is a day of raising awareness amongst the global community about the importance of oceans and its inhabitants, the challenges that our marine life daily face, learn about why it imperative that it should be infinitely conserved and protected, and to evoke a sense of taking positive environmental action. It helps to think about what our impact is on the ocean and to inspire other people to think and act sustainably so that we can have healthy oceans and curb further detrimental destruction. It is of utmost importance that people know and understand what their relationship to the ocean is, and will be in the future to safeguard vulnerable oceanic communities and places.

 

Source: Ishareimage

 

If you think the ocean isn't important, imagine Earth without it. No ocean, no life support system - Sylvia Earle.

The theme for this year is Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet in an effort to stop plastic pollution. Oceans are under threat. Unsustainable human activities, global pollution, overconsumption of fish species, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing, unsustainable aquaculture practices, habitat destruction, alien species, ocean acidification have contributed to a shockingly dwindling of the population of many marine species and in the process has put a huge strain on the oceans. Also, climate change is currently posing a huge challenge for the health and productivity of the oceans.

 

It is of vital importance that sustainable practices are followed to meet our needs without compromising those of future generations. The future of our blue planet is in our hands. Show your support and strive to protect our oceans and deeply commit yourself to ocean conservation to protect it from further human destruction by being ocean advocates. Do everything in your power to save this vital ecosystem. Together it is possible to make a significant difference. Be a voice for our Oceans. Be an ocean steward. The oceans will truly thank you if you do!

 

 

Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that - Sylvia Earle.

Celebrating World Environmental Day

Celebrating World Environmental Day 2015 



Source: www.worldenvironmentalday.com

 World Environmental Day is annually celebrated on the 5^th of June. This is an important environmental day to deepen global awareness of the need to care for, preserve, and enhance Mother Nature. This day is about raising awareness of environmental issues and to evoke positive environmental action amongst all people. It provides the perfect opportunity for all people to do something positive for the environment and to realise that each of us has a responsibility to protect to it from further destruction. It is important that people become environmental agents of change.

"Take care of the earth and she will take care of you."
- Author Unknown

This programme was started by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to bring about the biggest global call and mobilisation for action. Each year it is celebrated with a unique theme. The 2015 theme for World Environment Day is Sustainable consumption and production. The slogan for the theme is "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care."



Source: UNEP

 "We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."

- Thomas Fuller

It involves how the wellbeing of humanity, the environment, and economies ultimately depend on the responsible management of the planet’s natural resources. Unfortunately, people are consuming far more natural resources than what the planet can sustainably provide. It is no surprise then that many of the Earth’s ecosystems are nearing critical levels of depletion and even irreversible change. This is mainly as a result of high population growth and economic development.

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."

- Mohandas K. Gandhi

A shocking fact is that by 2050, with a rising population expected to reach 9.6 billion and if current consumption and production patterns remain the same, we will need three planets to sustain our way of life. To ensure a healthy future, it is imperative that all people live within planetary boundaries. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon states that “Every little step toward improving the environment can help. Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common purpose, we can make a tremendous difference”.

Human prosperity need not cost the earth. Living sustainably is about doing more and better with less. It is about knowing that rising rates of natural resource use and the environmental impacts that occur are not a necessary by-product of economic growth (UNEP).

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

- Native American Proverb

So, please keep your world clean and green. Earth is the only liveable planet, help save it for future generations, and abide by environmental laws. The need for change is pressing. The time to act is now! Remember, Every Day should be World Environment Day.

 

 

 "When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves."
- David Orr

References:

http://www.unep.org/wed/theme/sustainable-consumpion.asp#sthash.pMRiBPbG.dpuf

http://www.unep.org/wed/about.asp

http://www.world-environmentday.com/2015/05/world-environment-day-posters.html

Below is the official World Environmental Day video. It is definitely thought-provoking. Please take positive environmental action:

Here is an interesting song about World Environmental Day and the effect that humans have on the Earth:

 

Environmental Change

Defining Environmental Change

 

Source: Geo Connexion

Environmental change can be gradual occurrences (e.g. movement of tectonic plates) or events that takes suddenly and frequently place and are catastrophic (earthquakes and tsunamis). Human-induced environmental change, such as habitat loss, climate change, acid deposition, and burning fossil fuels occur. Many people see environmental change as discrete, but environmental change is continuous and takes place every day, albeit at a small, intangible way. All systems and species (humans and non-humans) of earth are interconnected and interdependent, and influence each other in a complex way through human-induced change or natural change. Human activities influence the earth and its ecosystems. When something change in one system, it inevitably lead to a chain reaction in another. Environmental change doesn’t take place in isolation, it takes place, either gradually or fast.

  

Environmental changes affect all of us and has already begun and changing weather patterns will prevail. The difference is how one will respond to it by either trying to protect the environment or to accelerate such change by continuing with an anthropocentric approach. Whether people give a priority to the protection of the environment and to change their environmental behaviour to counteract environmental change and their overall habits, is based upon individual values and an individualistic environmental worldview.

One thing is certain, environmental change adaptation is increasingly seen as both a necessary and urgent.

 

Is environmental change always damaging and destructive in nature?

We live in an absolute breathtakingly beautiful world with an abundance of natural landscapes, ecosystems, and species. Unfortunately human beings are destroying our natural home by daily making the wrong environmental choices and by living unsustainably.
 

Environmental change is twofold. Natural environmental change can take place through different timescales, including long-term and gradual occurrences (e.g. changing geographical phenomena such as movement of tectonic plates and mountain building) and events that takes suddenly and frequently place and are catastrophic by nature (volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis).

 

Today environmental change is a hot discussion topic. Environmental change is such a vast, complex concept. Peoples’ perspectives with regards to environmental change and its impact vary greatly. To some it can be seen as an obstacle and challenge and influences one’s overall thinking about environmental change and believe that any earthshattering change in the environment will have a significantly negative effect on species. However, in contrast some people also view it in a positive light with an abundance of creating new opportunities.

 

The general perception is that environmental change is always destructive and damaging as evident by the numerous media coverage (videos, articles, and photos) on the topic and people are just being made highly aware of overall increasing environmental changes and its accompanying changes and what this could mean to them recently through media and greater knowledge. However, it isn’t as simple and environmental change can’t be solely classified as damaging. It is widely accepted that climate is always changing, albeit at a slow and gradual (natural progressive changes) or fast (human-induced changes) pace which is either caused by natural events or manmade activities (rapidly accelerating the change).

 

The earth and climate has always evolved and takes naturally and gradually place for example, slow movement of the continents (plate tectonics). All of the environments on Earth change over time. Certain geological and climatic forces have shaped the Earth’s environment over the last millions of years. We have had ice ages and warmer periods. Natural systems are extremely adaptable and resilient to these changes are caused by variations in Earth's climate.  



Source: PA Times

Humans have always had a significant impact on the environment. Because people are emitting CO₂ at an astonishing fast rate, so too has environmental change taken rapidly place at an astonishingly unprecedented rate. An aftermath of making the wrong environmental choices is the occurrence of environmental change on a large scale. Many times people perceive environmental change as infinitely devastating which causes detrimental damage to, i.e. human beings and animals living in the vicinity but also on a global, wider scale. People view present-day global environmental change as an indirect impact of climate change. The current rise in temperature is significantly higher than previously because there is a higher level of greenhouse gas emissions which leads to higher atmospheric CO₂.

 

One of the greatest strengths human beings possess is our fantastic ability to adapt. But, due to the rapid acceleration of technological and environmental changes, a rapidly escalating population (exceeding the carrying capacity), we won’t have enough time to adapt to the sudden changing conditions and will not be resilient enough to cope with it. The natural environment doesn’t have enough time to replenish and restore itself.   

 

The composition of the Earth’s landscapes and its essential life support systems are dramatically altered by human interference and the climate system is also changed on a global scale. It has detrimental implications for humans and other life on earth. These changes modify the ecological relationships between living things and influences the overall value and quality of ecosystems.

 

Species are affected by environmental change, so much so that it could lead to their extinction. Even though species are acceptably adaptable, they are still vulnerable when there is a sudden change in the environment. Their survival depends on their manner in which they are able to adapt and tolerate environmental disturbance, if they are able to evolve concurrently with these changes, and to reproduce satisfactorily. Slow changes give these species time to adapt to these changes.

 

Large-scale human-induced environmental stresses (which are hazards for humans and other living organisms), lead to environmental change, such as habitat loss, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, acid deposition, burning fossil fuels, conversion or clearing of forests, irrigation, loss of biodiversity and destruction of ecological habitat, mining, manufacturing and consuming chemical products, changes in hydrological systems and the supplies of freshwater, stresses on food-producing systems, urbanization, altering temperature (low and high), changes in global precipitation, gases (e.g. ozone, CO₂, methane, oxides of nitrogen), land degradation, fuel wood crisis, and water variation (drought and flooding). Human behaviour (and our resource consumption) is negatively influencing the atmosphere, oceans and landscapes.

Source: ICJ Project

The most vulnerable people to changing environmental determinants live in developing countries where subsistence agriculture is the main source of their livelihood and poverty prevails. Many parts of the world are low-lying and would have to relocate to higher areas as a result of the rise in sea levels.

 

As previously stated environmental change has always occur on the Earth’s surface. But, environmental change can be damaging and destructive as a result of human beings’ behaviour and interference, but it can also be part of a naturally occurring process taking slowly place over a long period of time.

Environmental-related Terminology

Source: 2nd Green Revolution

Here are a few concepts that are important in the Geography discipline.

Accessibility

The ease with which one place can be reached from another. It can be measured in terms of distance, time, or cost. Access to certain places may be made less easy by non-physical barriers such as social class or ethnicity.

Building density

Concentration (amount) of buildings in a given geographic area. A measure of the amount of floor space available for occupation in a development expressed in the area of land on which it is built. The number of habitations per hectare, number of square meters per hectare, plot ratio are other terms.

City

A large urban settlement with a dense population that is usually a centre of government and administration, culture, social networking and economic enterprise.

Capital

There are two types of capital. Physical capital (all useful assets e.g. money and machinery) and human capital (people’s knowledge, skills and energies), used to produce goods and services. The amount of money belonging to a country, factory or a person.

Co-variation

The study of two or more geographic distributions which vary over the same area, such as unemployment and crime.

Culture

A bundle of attributes of shared behaviour or belief. These may include virtually anything about the way people live.

Distance

The extent of space between two objects or places; it can be measured absolutely, in terms of kilometres, or in terms of other units, such as time or cost to cross.

Diffusion

The spatio-temporal process concerned with the movement of objects from one area to another through time.

Education

The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. The theory and practice of teaching.

Environment

All external conditions and factors, living and non-living (chemicals and energy), that affect any living organism or other specified systems. Physical, biological, social, cultural conditions affecting people’s lives and the growth of plants and animals.

Facilities

A place, amenity, or piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose. Anything useful or serviceable.

Functions

The function of a settlement describes all the main activities that occur in it. These can be grouped into a number of headings, such as residential, recreational, retail, government, entertainment and industrial.

Geography

Geography refers to the Greek words geo and graphein, meaning earth writing. Geography is about studying and understanding the deliberate and unintentional changes caused by humans transforming the earth’s surface. It comprises the dynamic interaction and real-world relationship and movement between natural (the earth and its living organisms) and non-natural phenomena (societies, human activities, cultural features), and space relative to a spatial dimension.

GIS

The use of computer systems to organise, store, analyse, and map information. It merges information in a computer database with spatial coordinates on a digital map.

Globalisation

The organisation of any activity treating the entire globe as one place. It is a complex of related economic, cultural, and political processes that have served to increase the interconnectedness of social life in the contemporary world.

Governance

A term used to indicate the shift away from direct government control of the economy and society via hierarchical bureaucracies (government) towards more indirect control via diverse non-governmental organisations.

Health

State of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Hierarchy of settlements and services

A ranking of settlements or shopping centres according to their population size or the number of services they provide. Settlements can be described as being part of the urban hierarchy. Where they stand on the hierarchy depends on a number of factors, the main ones being population, the number of services a settlement has and its sphere of influence. Settlements ordered by their size: hamlets, villages, towns, cities, conurbations.

IDP

Integrated Development Planning is an approach to planning that involves the entire municipality and its citizens in finding the best solutions to achieve good long-term development.

Infrastructure

Fixed assets in place, such as buildings, dams, and roads. It also includes, factories, schools, railways, networks, landing strips, communication networks, power lines, as well as the human-made assets of a certain city, region or country.

Justice

The quality of being fair and reasonable.

Landscape

All the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. The scenery. What the land looks like.

Linkages

Contacts and flows of materials and information between interdependent economic agents.

Mobility

The ability to move between different activity sites.

Neighbourhood

An urban district, in a strict sense defined as one in which there is an identifiable subculture to which the majority of residents conform.

Opportunities

A time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.

Place

A unique and special location in space where the regular activities of human beings occur and which may furnish the basis of our sense of identity as human beings, as well as of our sense of community.

Planning

Attempting to carry out a programme of work, such as building a new town or protecting historic buildings, by following an agreed set of guidelines, design or plan.

Quality of life

The state of social wellbeing of an individual or group, either perceived or as identified by observable indicators. An idea which is difficult to define because it means different things to different people. Things which make for a good quality of life might include high income, good health, good housing, basic home amenities, pleasant surroundings, recreational open space, good local shops, a secure job, etc..

Region

A territory that exhibits a certain uniformity. A two dimensional space on the surface of the Earth. It is a definable space that can be demarcated and mapped.

Resources

Anything obtained from the environment to meet human needs and wants. It can also be applied to other species.

Services

Services are things such as retailers (shops), professionals (doctors, lawyers etc), entertainment, government functions and leisure. The theory goes that the larger a settlement is, and therefore the higher it is on the urban hierarchy, the more services and functions it will have.

Scale

A quantitative statement of the relative sizes of an object on a map and in reality.

Spatial analysis

Any form of analysis using geographical data.

Spatial location

The location of a phenomenon is the place or point on the Earth’ surface where this phenomenon is situated or occurs. It can either be absolute (latitude and longitude) or relative.

Spatial pattern

Everything that has a location in geographic space inevitably creates or contributes to a

spatial pattern.

Urban

In, relating to, or characteristic of a town or city. The built-up, non-rural area in a region.

Zoning

Restricting or prescribing the use to which parcels of land may be put. Regulating how various parcels of land can be used.

Devastatingly powerful earthquake hit Nepal

On Saturday, the 25^th of April, Nepal was hit by a powerful earthquake. Approximately 3,617 people have died in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and more than 6,500 people have been left seriously injured.

Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, has been hit the hardest. It is an area which is one of the most seismically hazardous regions in the world. An earthquake's power increases by 10 times with each increase in the number of its scale. As many as 900 of the 1000 homes of Laprak and Barpak, situated near the epicentre, were destroyed.

The quake resulted in an avalanche on Mount Everest and at least 18 people have died. 200 climbers have been rescued. Hundreds of people were trapped under the rubble.  

According to officials, the number of causalities can possibly still rise, especially in the more remote, mountainous area in the western part of Nepal. Nepal wasn’t the only place that was hit. Many people in China as well as India have also been reportedly killed.

On Sunday people feared aftershocks that could possibly hit overnight and slept in parks and on streets for fear of being crushed indoors.

For more information and photos, please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/world/asia/nepal-earthquake-katmandu.html?_r=0

http://www.wsj.com/articles/nepal-earthquake-rescuers-hunt-for-survivors-as-death-toll-rises-1430032637

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/25/nepal-earthquake-things-to-know/26367507/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32475030

Celebrating World Penguin Day on the 25th of April

Happy World Penguin Day!




Please celebrate World Penguin Day with me and I'll give you some of this cuteness as a reward! Thank you

Penguins are not just adorably cute creatures, they are also uniquely remarkable. World Penguin Day is annually celebrated on the 25^th of April as the annual northward migration of these spectacular species is on or around April the 25^th. Penguins are flightless, aquatic birds living most in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctic as well as South Africa, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, the Falkland Islands and the Galapagos Islands. There are approximately 17 - 20 different penguin species.

Range of All Penguin Species

 

World Penguin Day is celebrated to learn more about these fascinating species and to fully appreciate such a beautifully intriguing species. This day is about raising important awareness about penguins’ habits, their habitats, and their journey to survival and to just celebrate these popularly iconic and charismatic birds. It is also about getting people to do their bit to conserve these majestically monochromatic species.  




(Source: Daily Mail UK)

They have adapted exceptionally to life in the water and live in some of the harshest environments on earth and can survive and thrive in inhospitable Antarctica, where temperatures are as low as -50C. Penguins’ wings have evolved into flippers. Penguins also form an integral part of the ecosystem of Antarctica and changes in their populations, have detrimental consequences for other sections of the food chain. It is vital that we protect the oceans around Antarctica as penguins spend about 75% of their whole lives at sea. Unfortunately many of the penguins are threatened, so much so that 60 % of the 18 penguin species are listed as threatened by the IUCN.

 

(Source: Penguins World)

 

Please show your support and celebrate these incredibly beautiful species! Please see more information with regards to Penguins, World Penguin Day and the efforts that are done to protect this valuable species at:

http://antarcticocean.org/2014/04/14-wonderful-facts-about-penguins-that-will-amaze-you/

http://blog.arkive.org/2013/04/world-penguin-day/

http://www.asoc.org/advocacy/antarctic-wildlife-conservation/penguins/1189

 

Favourite Penguin Jokes

Here are a few of the best Penguin jokes:

·         Q: Why don’t Penguins like rock music? A: They only like sole.

·         Q: How do Penguins drink their cola? A: On the rocks.

·         Q: What’s a penguin’s favourite relative? A: Aunt Arctica

·         Q: How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together

·         Q: Where do penguins go swimming? A: At the South Pool!

Source: Happy Feet Movie

·         Q: What do Penguins like to eat? A: Brrrrrrrritos.

·         Q: Who is a Penguin´s favourite pop star? A: Seal.

·         Q: Where do penguins keep their money? A: In a snow bank!

·         Q: Were do penguins get money from? A: A fishbank.

·         Q: What kind of fish do Penguins catch at night? A: Starfish.

·         Q: Why don´t Penguins like rock music? A: They only like sole.

·         Q: What do you call a happy penguin? A: a Pen-Grin!

·         Q: What did one Emperor Penguin say to the other? A: Nothing, he just gave him the cold 
                shoulder.