1. Art by Animals exhibit features artwork from gorillas, elephants and more. (Wired Science)
2. Study finds nature is missing from children’s books. (TreeHugger)
3. Asian carp: if you can’t beat ‘em, shoot ‘em. (The Columbus Dispatch)
4. Finally, fuel removal begins at the Costa Concordia cruise ship wreck. (Washington Post)
5. Urban farming goes vertical. (CleanTechnica)

The following is a guest post written by Jon Schwedler, communications manager for The Nature Conservancy’s Restoring America’s Forests program. For the past 14 years, Jon has worked on forest conservation efforts in Maryland, Virginia, Montana, New Mexico and California.

America’s forests are getting some love this Valentine’s Day.

This good news came in the form of two gifts wrapped in one announcement from the U.S. Forest Service last week. With 193 million acres, the Forest Service is the single biggest manager of forested lands in the U.S., which roughly translates to them overseeing about one in five of our country’s trees.

The first gift is that the Forest Service said it will be increasing the pace of forest restoration by 20% over the next three years. That means in 2014 they will look to restore 4.4 million acres — an area a little bit less than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon National Parks put together. Not bad, eh?

The second morsel was extra love shared with 14 states, in the form of new local investments in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). This relatively new program, created in 2009, brings together folks who used to be at loggerheads over the management of our forests — industry, environmentalists, recreationists, sportsmen — to improve the health of our forests for people, water and wildlife.

Pioneering conservationist John Muir once said he could ride a horse at full gallop through the widely spaced trees of his beloved Sierra Mountains. Today in many of those same places you couldn’t even crawl through the forest. Why?

Because 100 years’ worth of putting out all natural fires has allowed our forests to become “too fat” — they’re now choked with small diameter trees and overgrown brush.

Just as being overweight is bad for people’s health, this portly forest condition also makes our forests less healthy, and less able to provide the live-giving services we rely on. For example, America’s forests store and filter half of our nation’s water supply. They also provide jobs to more than a million wood products workers.

Fat forests also have a dangerous side — they fuel huge, dangerous, costly mega-fires that burn too hot and too fast, like the ones we last year in the Southwest.

So while not exactly a box of chocolates, the Forest Service’s announcement last week to increase the pace of forest restoration was a welcome gift. We are blushing green.

The map below shows the new full list of CFLRP projects, plus the three bonus projects (projects with involvement from The Nature Conservancy are in bold). Can you feel the love?

[Click to download a larger map]

[Top image: Mirror Lake in Yosemite Valley in California. Image source: Patrick Smith.]

Such amazing colors! Flickr user taylormcdowell captured this cheerful flower on camera and shared it through The Nature Conservancy’s Flickr group. Thanks!

See all of The Nature Conservancy’s featured daily nature images—submitted to the Conservancy’s Flickr group by people like you—at my.nature.org.

And get inspired to take your own great nature shots—check out our favorite nature photography features, including amazing slideshows and tips from the pros.

1. Quiet oceans make for calmer right whales. (Huffington Post Green)
2. Regular contact with nature is part of a balanced diet for kids. (BBC)
3. The world’s biggest conservation group (ahem) is making forays into urban areas. (Grist)
4. Toilet paper production destroys Indonesian rainforests. (Mongabay)
5. Woolly mammoth sighting or publicity hoax? (MSNBC)

1. The global ice melt from the past decade would flood the entire U.S.  (TreeHugger)
2. Wild salmon are not holding up a new study suggests.  (Green)
3. A newly discovered relative of the ‘corpse flower,’ smells like …  (National Geographic)
4. The Americas are on a collisions course with Eurasia, will create next supercontinent.  (NPR)
5. Do we finally know why zebras evolved their black and white stripes?  (BBC)

1. How’s this for wacky weather?  It snowed in Libya.  (Green)
2. Ratu, one of the last remaining Sumatran rhinos, is in her 11th month of pregnancy.  Only five more months to go!  (Mongabay)
3. Yesterday, one of the world’s most climate-conscious leaders was forced to resign in a coup d’état.  (Grist)
4. At least in California, green jobs weathered the recession much better than conventional jobs.  (GreenBiz)
5. What are the greenest cars on the market today?  (CleanTechnica)

1. The EPA warns beach sand may contain illness-inducing bacteria. (TreeHugger)
2. Two teenagers are helping Girl Scouts end deforestation. (Grist)
3. Will global warming ruin football in the southern US? (Climate Progress)
4. Electric bicycles take on San Francisco’s famous hills. (Green)
5. Teaching students about climate change proves to be tricky for teachers. (Dot Earth)

February 10: A Visit to a Bai, and a Lesson in Law Enforcement

Today I visited a bai, the traditional men’s meeting house in Palau. A bai is a long, spectacularly decorated wooden structure with a triangular roof that rests on beams and is built without nails, so that it can be disassembled. They are amazing. I’ve wanted visit one ever since I first visited Palau seven years ago, and it did not disappoint.

We visited the bai for Melekeok state, home to the high chief Reklai, the second highest ranking chief in Palau.  During my visit I learned about traditional Palauan decision-making processes as well as how laws here are enforced, which gave me some new insights into why it’s so difficult to protect the environment in many parts of the world.

Palau is comprised of 16 states, each with 10 chiefs and all of whom are ranked by clan status.  The highest-ranking chief from each state, the paramount chief, sits on the Council of Chiefs.  When chiefs gather to discuss problems of the village, they enter the bai and do not come out until they have reached consensus. If they cannot reach a decision, the four highest-ranking chiefs step outside the bai and sit on designated rocks, where they come to a decision.  This is then shared with the rest of the chiefs and the village.

Today’s focus was on enforcement of environmental laws, and so I heard about how offenders are dealt with. Village elders recounted specific stories, naming names along the way and describing various offenses, including fines and other penalties… usually for taking fish that wasn’t theirs to take.

When someone violates rules of the village, they come before the chiefs — but they don’t come alone.  They come with their families — mothers, uncles, sisters, etc., and the families plead their case. It is a great shame upon your family to bring them before the village elders.

And that peer pressure and shame have proven to be very effective in enforcing norms in Palau. Think about it: How would you feel if your father had to be humiliated in his community for something that you did — as well as share in the punishment?  Wouldn’t you think twice?

Palauans believe that environmental transgressions are social ones, too; they understand that, when someone takes or destroys a natural resource, it affects everyone, and the impacts can be long-lasting or even irreparable. How do you measure that? How do you exact a penalty that matches the crime? In Palau, there are monetary and material penalties (hefty fines or loss of equipment, including things such as boats).  Their fines match the crime. Not surprisingly, repeat offenders are rare.

Choosing proper penalties for environmental degradation is a perennial topic of conversation for marine conservationists all over the world. Such penalties are weak in many places and for many situations; judicial systems also often don’t enforce the laws already on the books. We see this at every level, from poacher to corporate polluter.

A big part of the problem is that most contemporary societies don’t really view most actions that hurt the environment as social acts. From driving a mile to the grocery store to polluting a waterway to not buying energy that’s renewable when you have the option, people see their habits as individual ones, not ones that add up and have a social cost. But most societies don’t have collective penalties for environmental transgressions, either. In Palau, the environment is everything, and the country’s social norms reflect that. It will probably take something drastic to make the rest of us realize that our resources really are limited and that we need to take greater measures to hold people accountable. Palau’s resort to social shaming in the service of the greater good might seem drastic to us; but it clearly works.

[Images: Two views of the Melekeok bai. Image credit: Stephanie Wear]

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February 8, 2012:  A Sea That Unites Us

Here on Palau, I am just back from our first day of a learning exchange between several communities spread across the Hawaiian Islands, the country of Palau, and the territory of American Samoa.  Today we went to Palau’s Capitol Building, which was modeled after the U.S. Capitol and was built as a symbol of Palau’s democracy. The neoclassic architecture, complete with a domed building, stands out in a landscape surrounded by forest and crystal clear blue waters.

We were welcomed at the Capitol by Palau’s Council of the Chiefs.  There are 16 high chiefs in Palau, and we heard from many of them about values they and we share in protecting the environment for people.  We brought gifts and shared in some amazing moments — like when our Hawaii delegation chanted oli’s (Hawaiian chants) to connect their ancestors to those of the Palauans, and to share their gratitude for the welcome extended by the high chiefs.

I got emotional at times like this, I must admit. Something really special happened in that room. It was powerful to be sitting among so many like-minded folks, in a formal government building while oli’s were exchanged by people using words of their ancestors. I won’t soon forget it.  We felt fortunate to hear from the chiefs as they shared their passion for protecting their region’s natural resources for the future.

The words of one chief continue to resonate with me. He said, “The sea does not divide us — it brings us all together, it unites us.” He spoke of the ocean’s waves, and how the same waves that reach the shores of Palau also make their way to American Samoa and Hawaii.  He’s right: the ocean connects all people to all places.  The theme of connection is sure to resonate throughout our week together, and what it means will be something I continue to discuss with my colleagues.

But it’s a theme that has yet to resonate with most people elsewhere. Even though people depend for their very lives on the sea, most still don’t understand that. We might understand how deeply we all need clean air or productive land, but the ocean as a symbol of global unity is basically invisible to the public — and that lack of visibility diminishes whether people think about the ocean as a place that needs protection and care.

Maybe we need to frame the importance of the ocean in terms of self-preservation. In protecting the oceans, we protect and care for ourselves. The planet’s “circulatory system” of ocean currents functions much like the arteries of the human body, nourishing and rejuvenating life at sea and on land. Oceans are absolutely vital to how the planet stays alive, and we should have a much better understanding of it than we do.

All of us struggle in conservation with how to make these connections real, meaningful and immediate to people who can’t see the underwater wonders of Palau or hear the passion of these exchange participants. How do we connect the sea to the most basic needs that we all have as humans — and in doing so, create an opportunity to preserve those resources for the future?  I have a feeling this week will give me a lot of opportunities to ponder this immense challenge.

[Image:  Stephanie Wear and her colleagues in Palau. Image source: Stephanie Wear]

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February 6, 2012:  Greetings from Palau!

I’ve just returned to one of my favorite places on the planet: Palau, a tiny country with less than 20,000 citizens in the middle of the Pacific Ocean — a tiny speck on the map. For what it lacks in size, Palau makes up for with some of the most stunning scenery both above and below the sea’s surface.

Stepping off the plane, I was greeted by the sweet smells of the tropics, salty humid air and darkness. Coming and going from Palau seems to always take place in the middle of the night, which means I’ve never managed to get an aerial view. In fact, I’ve only seen it from above in scenes from episodes of Survivor: Palau! Before that television show, most people had never heard of this wonderful country. Now it’s clear the secret is out. Each time I return, tourism has expanded — the tour boats are full — and the local people seem as happy as ever to share this long-kept secret.

It’s easy to see why Palau’s coral reefs have been named one of the seven underwater wonders of the world. The reefs are thriving; in fact, coral colonies can be seen growing on top of each other. This was not the case 14 years ago when, in 1998, Palau was hit by a global mass bleaching event. Within weeks, the vibrant, colorful, teeming-with-life reefs were barren, colorless and quiet.

Yet, those vibrant reefs are back and showing signs of incredible recovery. This is one of the most exciting and hopeful things a coral reef scientist can hear. Given the state of much of the globe’s coral reefs, it is easy to lose hope and hand down the death sentence for reefs — but there are reefs in Palau and around the world that just keep coming back, giving us real hope and a rationale to keep on working.

This week I am in Palau with a group of community members and Nature Conservancy staff from the Hawaiian Islands. Our Conservancy colleagues from Palau are hosting us, and together we are going on a journey of discovery to better understand what is happening in Palau, both on land and in the sea. We will be visiting villages, speaking with village elders and chiefs and learning about how Palau is managing its natural resources using traditional methods and laws. What we learn on this journey is sure to provide insight into how to best protect and ultimately save coral reefs from their threatened demise.

Follow us on our journey — if it is anything like Palau’s coral reefs, it will be colorful and inspiring.

[Image: Aerial view of Kmekumer, Rock Islands, Republic of Palau. Image source: Jez O'Hare]

1. Our oceans got some love in this 30-second Super Bowl ad. (Care2)
2. Puerto Rico adds non-native iguanas to their menus. (Washington Post)
3. The Olympics bring Britain their biggest urban park. (Guardian)
4. We heart TreeHugger’s new Valentine’s Day green gift guide. (TreeHugger)
5. A warming ocean actually boasts some coral reef growth. (Huffington Post)

1. States are requiring insurance companies to plan for climate change. (Grist)
2. Nissan is shipping it’s electric cars on a low-emission, solar-diesel ship. (Clean Technica)
3. A special powder will soon be able to turn your grass clippings into solar cells. (Future of Technology)
4. The worst spate of stranded dolphins in a decade on Cape Cod baffle scientists. (Guardian)
5. After 20 years, Russian drill nears 14-million-year-old Antarctic lake. (Wired)