*This is a space for civil and mutually respectful conversation*
"Most people who own cats are animal people.
They don’t want to have this impact on wildlife"
70% of US cat owners now keep their cats inside, up from 35% in the late 1990s
May 23, 2023 — Indoor cats live longer ... Free-roaming pet cats have an average lifespan of three years, while indoor cats live 12–18 years.
Feline residents of Walldorf, Germany, can’t go outside when certain birds are breeding:
From now until August 31 “the free roaming of cats is to be prevented by their owners in the area covered by this decree.”newyorker
Dk images library
" Should the British adopt the American way and ditch free roaming? It may already be happening "
Dk images library
Wildlife
Guardian uk
Is it time to end cats’ right to roam?
Pet cats kill songbirds by the million, as well as rodents and other wildlife. But how much of a threat do they really pose, and should they be kept indoors? Expert opinion is divided
There is an elaborate bird rescue mission under way in the town of Walldorf. As one of the last homes of the ground-nesting crested lark in Germany, the local district is eager to protect their three remaining breeding pairs. Consequently, they have ordered residents to lock their cats indoors over the summer for the next three years, or face hefty fines: €500 (£420) if a cat is caught outside; €50,000 if it takes an endangered lark. www.google.com/...
Other dangers to birds in the wild:
The UK’s largest bird charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), is not particularly concerned about the impact of cats on the British mainland. Instead it focuses on what it says is driving UK bird declines: global warming, intensive agriculture and expanding towns and cities leading to habitat and food loss.
"Although Baker sees no evidence that cats are responsible for UK bird declines, he agrees that there is a problem worth discussing"
Iceland
In April, Akureyri—the largest municipality in the country's north, with a population of 19,000 people and some 2,000 to 3,000 cats—decided to ban their feline residents from night roaming outside. Neighboring Húsavík banned cats several years ago from going outdoors day and night.Jun 13, 2022
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Dk images library
News Links:
Children put a 22-year-old cat in a plastic bag and dumped her in a wheelie bin, her rescuers have said.www.bbc.com/...
Thankfully, Frankie the cat was fished out of the bin in Wymondham, Norfolk, and taken to Feline Care Cat Rescue on Saturday, where founder Molly Farrar put out an appeal on social media.
Her owners were quickly found and Frankie is now happily back home.
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Rescue : Meet The Newly Adopted Faces Of The Week amp.cheezburger.com/...
First Southern Hemisphere Direct Air Capture Plant Planned
- Octavia, Cella to build plant in Kenya’s Rift Valley
- Direct air capture removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
population:
One in six people worldwide affected by infertility, WHO reports
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The 2023 Audubon Photography Awards
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Synthetic human embryos created in groundbreaking advance
Exclusive: Breakthrough could aid research into genetic disorders but raises serious ethical and legal issues
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A former Google exec warned about the dangers of AI saying it is 'beyond an emergency' and 'bigger than climate change'
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Animals
Rescue Showcases Adoptable Cats Like Cars at ‘Catvana’ with Models Like the ‘Mini Pooper’ coleandmarmalade.com/...
Native American tribes struggle to fund environmental research Play
Tribal governments manage significant wildlife habitats across the U.S. but don't get the same tax revenue as states for conservation
Scientists advocate for integration of biogeography and behavioral ecology to rapidly respond to biodiversity loss
University of Oklahoma
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The steps that could help address biodiversity loss could also help fix the climate crisis
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New study findings about the surprising intelligence of other animals reignite this debate. Recently, two German philosophers, Professor Leonard Dung and Ph.D. candidate Albert Newen, published a paper questioning whether we are coming at the issue from the right angle, or even asking the right question at all.
In their article, the authors say we should stop approaching animal consciousness as a "do they/don't they?" question. Rather, they suggest we should measure nonhuman consciousness on a spectrum alongside human consciousness.
phys.org/…
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Britons urged not to buy exotic pets ‘on a whim’ amid welfare concerns
British Veterinary Association calls for tougher rules as vets report many pets do not have their basic needs met
Endangered right whale washes ashore in Virginia Beach
www.wavy.com/…
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A rare bird and bumblebee fight for survival in Maine
The state wants to add the Saltmarsh sparrow and Ashton's cuckoo to its endangered list, and designate four other birds, a bat and a beetle as threatened.
www.centralmaine.com/…
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Australia’s Rarest Bird of Prey Is Facing Extinction
scitechdaily.com/…
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Undercover video shows city dumping recyclable trash carts: "We take them to the dump" says Denver worker
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What Really Happens to the Clothes You Donate
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from Nature.org:
"The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average carbon footprint is closer to 4 tons."
About 20% of greenhouse gases in the US come from homes amp.cnn.com/…
HELP SAVE THE PLANET AND OURSELVES:
*Turn out the lights when- not in use/use less*
- Turn down the heat or AC
- vent out at night if cooler
- Avoid creating nighttime light pollution
- Don’t waste water
- use recycled paper toilet paper or bamboo products
- Avoid burning wood (or other things), as wood fires are both pollutant and carcinogenic
- Don't use pesticides
- Limit your use of cars and planes (if possible)
- Don't use gas powered vehicles
- Take out grass and put in a garden or pond (or xeriscape )
- Mow, blow, and whack with electric or by hand
- Plant for the animals (bees, birds etc)
- Plant trees
- Don't micro manage yards, go wilder
- Try to use solar
- Take a bus, trolley or train
- Encourage your city/town to use electric buses
- Use energy efficient products or products that work on clean fuels
- Reduce dependence on non-biodegradable items
- Walk, bike or carpool
- Reuse items- give to Goodwill or Craig's list rather than dumping
- Cut down or cease eating meat
- Use reusable carry bags for grocerie; second choice, paper bags; not plastic
- Compost
- Save the bees
- Be informed
- Write your representative, sign petitions
- Elect pro-environment candidates and demand action
- Support the Green New Deal
- Get involved
- March
- Blog about the environment
- Control population
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Earth Matters
with Meteor Blades
Earth Matters with Meteor Blades
Jim Skea, the new head of the UN's IPCC, said it's not helpful to imply that a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius is an existential threat to humanity.
He calls for a balanced approach to the climate change debate*
new head of the UN's IPCC, said it's not helpful to imply that a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius is an existential threat to humanity. He calls for a balanced approach to the climate change debate.
Skea warned against laying too much value on the international community's current nominal target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared the pre-industrial era.
"We should not despair and fall into a state of shock" if global temperatures were to increase by this amount, he said." If you constantly communicate the message that we are all doomed to extinction, then that paralyzes people and prevents them from taking the necessary steps to get a grip on climate change," he said.
https://amp.dw.com/en/climate-change-do-not-overstate-15-degrees-threat/a-66386523
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Climate change:
No climate crisis agreement at G20 environment meeting phys.org/...
Environment ministers from G20 nations failed to agree on peaking global emissions by 2025 and other crucial issues to address the global climate crisis at their meeting in India on Friday
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The 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai, an underwater volcano near Tonga, in the South Pacific Typically, volcanic eruptions unleash sulfur-based aerosols, which block sunlight, cooling the planet, but the Hunga Tonga produced only a small amount of aerosols. At the same time, it vaporized a large volume of seawater. That water vapor, a heat-trapping gas, could raise global temperatures by 0.06 degrees F (more than 0.03 degrees C) over the next several years, according to a recent study.
Trolling is a form of cyberaggression:
It involves the sending of malicious, abusive or derogatory messages by one user (a 'troll') to another user online, with the intention of upsetting or harassing them, or damaging their reputation. nationalonlinesafety.com
nationalonlinesafety.com
(Please do not Troll this post with anti-animal sentiments or you will be reported to the Daily Kos moderators)
-Thank you)
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