At least 100 species become extinct each day. We never know which one will be next.
But it’s not too late to help those that are in danger of extinction.

Joel Sartore is a photographer for National Geographic Magazine and he says,  “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity.  When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”

The book is available in the ecology.com store.

Courtesy rarethebook.com

Eastern Box Turtle

Founders Susan Tellem and Marshall Thompson are the force behind World Turtle Day. “World Turtle Day was started 12 years ago to increase respect and knowledge for the world’s oldest creatures. These gentle animals have been around for about 200 million years, yet they are rapidly disappearing as a result of the exotic food industry, habitat destruction and the cruel pet trade,” says Tellem. “We are seeing smaller turtles coming into the rescue meaning that older adults are disappearing from the wild, and the breeding stock is drastically reduced. It is a very sad time for turtles and tortoises of the world.” Tellem added that many sea turtles lost their lives in 2010 thanks to BP’s uncontrolled oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. “It’s a tragic example of putting profits before preserving our environment.

Gulf Coast Box Turtle

And turtles don’t just live in the sea, but in freshwater as well. There are only seven existing saltwater species, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), of which three are classified as Critically Endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and three as Endangered. Of the 263 species of freshwater and terrestrial turtles, 117 species are considered Threatened, 73 are either Endangered or Critically Endangered and one is Extinct.

Painted Turtles

But there is hope for the embattled reptiles. Many conservation groups including The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and WWF are working hard to protect the turtles. There are several areas of concern:

• Habitat loss and degradation
• Wildlife trade
• Collection of eggs and meat for consumption
• Incidental capture (bycatch)
• Climate change
• Pollution

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

American Tortoise Rescue’s mission is clear. “Our ultimate goal is to stop the illegal trade in turtles and tortoises around the world.  Our first priority here in the U.S. is to stop pet stores and reptile shows from selling illegal hatchling tortoises and turtles,” says Thompson. We also need to educate people who are unfamiliar with their proper care about the real risk of contracting salmonella from turtles. Schools and county fairs are no place for turtles. Wash your hands thoroughly every time you touch a turtle or its water, and do not bring live turtles into homes where children are under the age of 12.”

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

Here is a list of things anyone can do to help protect the remaining turtles and tortoises:

• Never buy a turtle or tortoise from a pet shop as it increases demand from the wild.
• Never remove turtles or tortoises from the wild unless they are sick or injured.
• If a tortoise is crossing a busy street, pick it up and send it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again.
• Write letters to legislators asking them to keep sensitive habitat preserved or closed to off road vehicles, and to prevent off shore drilling that can lead to more endangered sea turtle deaths.
• Report cruelty or illegal sales of turtles and tortoises to your local animal control shelter.
• Report the sale of any turtle or tortoise of any kind less than four inches.  This is illegal everywhere in the U.S.

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

And in Costa Rica, a favorite nesting grounds of the Olive Ridley turtles, a unique conservation effort is underway, where scientists at the Douglas Robinson Marine Turtle Research Center have partnered with the local people in a unique method of protecting the turtle eggs.

These adorable cubs, who haven’t been named yet, are currently being nurtured out of the public’s view until they’re a little older. Within a few months they will move into their specially designed cave enclosed in glass, with their mother, Nindiri, so zoo visitors can watch them grow up.

They just weigh 5 pounds each, but will grow to be up to 250 pound adults. The jaguar is the largest of the Western Hemisphere’s big cats.

While their population is still abundant in the wild, the Jaguar is listed as a “Near Threatened” species on the IUCN Red List. This means that the panther population is slowly declining, due to habitat loss and other factors, and should be protected to avoid further decline.

Zoo captive breeding programs, like the one that produced these jaguar cubs, are an important part of endangered species conservation efforts. Establishing captive populations, in zoos, insures species survival. Some captive breeding programs also reintroduce animals back into the wild.
 

Produced for the Chicago Nature Museum in Chicago, IL.

Take 6-year old Ethan Wolfe who lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his family, for example. He plays T-ball and soccer, hangs out with his friends and two younger sisters and does all the things kids his age do.

With one big difference. He has Big ideas and one has taken root and is helping a lot of people.

The Big Idea

One day, when his Dad was watching a video of people in Haiti who have to drink dirty water, Ethan said to his Dad, “We need to do something about that.”

So with help from Ethan and the Palmcroft Baptist Church congregation, Pastor Jeff (Dad) Wolfe organized the Dirty Water Campaign. “We put together a ‘Clean Water Fast,’” said Wolfe. “For four weeks, we encouraged people to drink nothing but clean water and take all of the money they would have used to buy coffee, tea, sodas and energy drinks, and put the money into their empty water bottle and bring it back to the church four weeks later.”

Since the start of the campaign on Easter Sunday, the campaign has raised more than $105,000. The money will be used to build over a dozen new wells and accompanying clean water projects in Haiti and Ethiopia in 2012 and 2013. Each well and system costs about $5,000.

Guess how much money Ethan raised himself?

$5,700. More than enough for a well.

Partnering with LiquidWater.com and Living Water International has made it possible to spread the word about the Dirty Water Campaign, so now thousands of people around the country are supporting an idea that started small but is growing bigger and bigger.

Start Your Own Dirty Water Campaign

Did you know that the World Health Organization reports that about 760 million people around the world don’t have clean water to drink?

Do you think you can go on a Clean Water Fast and raise money to help poor people get access to clean water? Perhaps you can create your own campaign at school. Here’s where you can check out what to do. And here are some charities that bring clean water to people who don’t have any.

Very carefully! Your spacecraft hurtles toward the planet at thousands of miles per hour, so you’ll have to hit the brakes in a hurry!

First, your capsule needs a heat shield. It protects the spacecraft inside from the heat and friction of entry into the atmosphere.

Friction slows you down over 90 percent, but not enough to land safely. Use a parachute to slow down even more. Still falling at over 100 miles per hour, you need the right system to land safely! Here are some options:

1. With a small- to mid-size rover, use a cushion of airbags along with retro rockets. Impact at 30 miles an hour and bounce to a stop!
2. With a large lander, use retro rockets and landing legs to touch down, going about six miles an hour.
3. Or, with a large, heavy rover, use a big jetpack to slow down to under two miles an hour. Then, gently lower it on cables to land on its wheels.

Any way you do it, you’ll need skill and hard work: there’s nothing easy about landing on Mars!

Video Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Location on the Earth

The earth is effectively a sphere, so how do we describe where a point is on its surface?

The most common way to locate points on the surface of the Earth is by standard, geographic coordinates called latitude and longitude. These coordinates values are measured in degrees, and represent angular distances calculated from the center of the Earth.

What is Latitude?

We can imagine the Earth as a sphere, with an axis around which it spins. The ends of the axis are the North and South Poles. The Equator is a line around the earth, an equal distance from both poles. The Equator is also the latitude line given the value of 0 degrees. This means it is the starting point for measuring latitude. Latitude values indicate the angular distance between the Equator and points north or south of it on the surface of the Earth.

A line connecting all the points with the same latitude value is called a line of latitude. This term is usually used to refer to the lines that represent values in whole degrees. All lines of latitude are parallel to the Equator, and they are sometimes also referred to as parallels. Parallels are equally spaced. There are 90 degrees of latitude going north from the Equator, and the North Pole is at 90 degrees N. There are 90 degrees to the south of the Equator, and the South Pole is at 90 degrees S. When the directional designators are omitted, northern latitudes are given positive values and southern latitudes are given negative values.

What is Longitude?

Lines of longitude, called meridians, run perpendicular to lines of latitude, and all pass through both poles. Each longitude line is part of a great circle. There is no obvious 0-degree point for longitude, as there is for latitude. Throughout history many different starting points have been used to measure longitude. By international agreement, the meridian line through Greenwich, England, is currently given the value of 0 degrees of longitude; this meridian is referred to as the Prime Meridian. Longitude values are indicate the angular distance between the Prime Meridian and points east or west of it on the surface of the Earth.

The Earth is divided equally into 360 degrees of longitude. There are 180 degrees of longitude to the east of the Prime Meridian; when the directional designator is omitted these longitudes are given positive values. There are also 180 degrees of longitude to the west of the Prime Meridian; when the directional designator is omitted these longitudes are given negative values. The 180-degree longitude line is opposite the Prime Meridian on the globe, and is the same going either east or west.
 

Commonly Used Terms

Equator — The line which encircles the Earth at an equal distance from the North and South Poles.

Geographic coordinates — Coordinate values given as latitude and longitude.

Great circle — A circle formed on the surface of a sphere by a plane that passes through the center of the sphere. The Equator, each meridian, and each other full circumference of the Earth forms a great circle. The arc of a great circle shows the shortest distance between points on the surface of the Earth.

Meridian — An imaginary arc on the Earth’s surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that associates all locations running along it with a given longitude. The position of a point on the meridian is given by its intersecting latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude at the intersection points.

Parallel — A circle or approximation of a circle on the surface of the Earth, parallel to the Equator and connecting points of equal latitude.

Prime Meridian — The meridian of longitude 0 degrees, used as the origin for the measurement of longitude. The meridian of Greenwich, England, is the internationally accepted prime meridian in most cases.
 
Information courtesy of the National Atlas
 

This nationwide outdoor play date is organized by the National Park Trust (NPT) in cooperation with a host of partners. “We want to encourage children across the country to explore their neighborhood parks and discover the history, nature and adventure right around the corner or just across town. The Summer season is the time to be outdoors and have fun,” said Grace Lee, executive director, NPT.

It’s Official

While this is the 2nd National Kids to Park Day, the U.S. Senate just joined the Governors of Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington and 246 Mayors in 45 States and Washington D.C. in officially declaring this Saturday, May 19, National Kids to Parks Day.

“National Kids to Parks Day is a great opportunity for parents to inspire active and healthy lifestyles, while building the next generation of American stewards to enjoy and protect our nation’s special places.”
~ Colorado Senator Mark Udall

Attendance to America’s National Parks and Forests has been in decline while kids spend more times on sedentary activities, based around screens. Reverse those trends by getting an active summer in gear with the first of many visits to a National Park.

Enjoy this video documenting the very first Kids to Parks Day in 2011.

Find a National Kids to Park Day Event

Find a National Park

In a humorous demonstration that includes audience participation, Joe Smith shows how to save millions of pounds of paper towels every year, using his simple Shake & Fold the paper towel method.

R. P. Joe Smith served as a District Attorney in Umatilla County and nearly won a race for Oregon Attorney General without taking a single contribution over $99.99. He is a former chair of the Oregon Democratic Party and is active with several local nonprofits.

Sky Waters, a 5th Grader, won the Grand Prize with his watercolor of a caribou, set against a blazing forest fire.

The 7th Annual Endangered Species Day is celebrated on May 18 and as a big part of the event, the latest winners of the 2012 Youth Art Contest were recently announced.

The contest provides young people with an opportunity to learn about endangered species and express their knowledge and support through artwork.

This year’s Grand Prize winner is 11-year old Sky Waters from Eagan, Minnesota. According to the local newspaper, the Star-Tribune, “it’s the latest in a string of awards and honors for the fifth-grader at Eagan’s Thomas Lake Elementary.

Sky placed third nationally in the 2012 International Aviation Art Contest for his painting, “Silent Flight.” The picture of a hot air balloon and glider is now in Switzerland, entered in the international round of competition. Adam Young, the musician behind pop band Owl City, posted that painting on his Facebook, writing “I LOVE THIS!”

One of Sky’s paintings hangs in Kevin Costner’s “Tatanka: Story of the Bison” center in South Dakota. He’s also won blue ribbons at the Minnesota State Fair and the Dakota County Fair.”

Sky will travel to Washington D.C. to receive his award. The contest is organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art/ University of New Orleans.

Following are the rest of the winners. You can see the semi-finalists’ art here.

First Place, Grades K-2, Jasmine C. Lee: Quino Checkerspot Butterfly

First Place, Grades 3-5, Timothy Erwin: SF Garter Snake and Bullfrog

First Place, Grades 6-8, Meilynn Shi: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

First Place (tie), Grades 8-10. Ella Chen: Polar Bear

First Place (tie), Grades 8-10, Pauline Chen: Ocelot