Green Daily

Sad but true: there are lots of endangered animals out there. Climate change, deforestation and habitat destruction are all powerful forces working against wild populations of, well, most wild animals.

So you know it has to be pretty bad when the World Wildlife Fund singles out a species for particular attention. This week the conservation organization called for urgent action to save the tigers. In addition to surviving the three challenges above, these regal striped beasts have been brought to their collective knees by poaching and "parts trafficking".

Yep. A whole species brought down by the Tiger Penis Trade.

Yes, what I'm asking is if it's okay to eat a baby animal if it had a good, albeit short life?

Proponents of pasture-raised "rose veal" say that their veal is fundamentally different from the nightmarish image of animals kept in pens so small they are unable to move, and pumped full of antibiotics to stave off rampant infection, a.k.a. "white veal."

For years chefs have been complaining about the bland taste of pen-raised white veal, which are kept in crates so small they can't turn or lie down, and fed a diet of artificial milk. The main appeal, if you could get past the cruelty issue, was tenderness: you can cut it with the side of a fork. Rose veal has a more developed flavor because of a mixed diet of milk and grains, and the milk often actually comes from its mother. This kinder veal is growing in popularity with foodies, especially those who espouse whole animal, sustainable practices.

Many of our friends at PETA, and other animal-rights organizations, believe that we shouldn't be eating meat or drinking milk in the first place, but if you are, it's unspeakably cruel to take animals away from the mother at such a young age. Generally they make little or no distinction between pink and white veal.

Photojournalist Chris Jordan's latest stunning/sobering project, called "Midway, Message from the Gyre," is a series of photos of dead birds, stuffed full of plastic trash.

No, it's not some kind of post-modern statement about man's relationship with nature and consumption, although it does deliver a pretty strong message on that topic.

The Midway Journey is a project Jordan undertook with four other media artists to document the effect of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on the birds of the Midway Atoll in the Pacific, 2,000 miles away from the nearest continent.

Some people put away money for a rainy day. Other people bank a different kind of green to save for the future. They collect seeds!

Seed banks are a way to preserve seeds and plants (despite the name, many seed banks collect plants and grow the seeds, too) in the event of a disaster, like a war or some kind of climate catastrophe. The idea is to protect biodiversity, as well as food sources, so that we don't accidentally completely wipe out a really useful plant by over-harvesting it, or destroying the habitat where it grows.

The Millennium Seed Bank, which is associated with 250-year-old Kew Gardens, announced last week that they have samples of 10 percent of the world's seeds in their vault. Their goal is to collect 25 percent of the world's seeds by 2020!

It was hard, but I've given up Chilean Seabass. It's probably the world's most delicious fish, and consequently it's been overfished practically to the point of extinction. No eating seafood on the red list!

At least I still have my tuna sashimi, right?

Sadly, no. Bluefin tuna, a.k.a. the amazingly tasty dark pink flesh you get at fine sushi restaurants, is one of the most badass looking fish in the sea. However, scary looking as they are, these bad boys are just as vulnerable to mankind's excess as the rest of the animal kingdom. And now they're on the red list, too.

Shark conservation is an urgent issue. Last month during "Shark Week" I mentioned the efforts of the Ocean Conservancy and the Monterey Bay Aquarium to support the Shark Conservation Act of 2009.

Oceana is another organization working hard to save sharks. They're also supporting the legislation and working with "Mad Men's" January Jones, one of the faces of a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of protecting and restoring the shark populations.

January's catch phrase is "We should be afraid for sharks, not of them." To prove her point, she and Oceana made a PSA of her swimming with sharks.

This October the Monterey Bay Aquarium is celebrating their silver anniversary. For 25 years the aquarium, located on historic Cannery Row, has been a leader in conservation, education and environmental stewardship.

Since it opened in 1984, the aquarium has brought the life of the ocean to an adoring public. In the very first year they broke attendance records for U.S. aquariums, with almost two and a half million visitors. And for good reasons! It's always a thrill to wander through the aquarium in awe of the nearly three-story tall sea kelp forest and the ethereal jelly fish exhibit.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is renowned for several of their on-going programs and special exhibits, including:

Maybe it's because they look so much like dogs (wolves and dogs do share DNA), but the idea of hunting wolves seems particularly barbarous. Remember how upset everyone was when we found out that Sarah Palin had people hunting them out of helicopters?

Once a fixture in the Rockies, gray wolves were hunted almost to extinction in parts of the West, and eliminated entirely from Yellowstone National Park. Protection from the Endangered Species Act helped their numbers climb back up. But then Bush administration took them off the endangered species list. That means the wolf hunt is back on in Montana and Idaho.

What is it with Republicans hating wolves?

Every year on the third Saturday of September, all the best people have the same social engagement: Get together and clean up the beaches around the world. The event is the International Coastal Cleanup, and this year that date is September 19th. Make a note on your calendar!

The annual International Coastal Cleanup is the largest volunteer day of its kind. The Ocean Conservancy leads this event, with several sponsoring partners including Coca-Cola and Bank of America.

Last year 400,000 volunteers in 100 countries and 42 US states collected more than 6.8 million pounds of trash. This year they hope to see more volunteers in even more locations.

Remember earlier this year when baby elephant Mosha got a prosthetic leg thanks to Friends of the Asian Elephants, in Thailand? Well, those kind folks have provided another elephant, 48 year old Motola, with an artificial leg, to replace the one that she lost to a land mine 10 years ago.

Motola has been "practicing" with a temporary limb for three years, in order to get the muscles and tendons ready for her permanent leg. Even though she was a bit tentative putting weight on her new limb, she seemed pretty happy, spraying dirt to express her excitement.

Elephants used to be the primary form of transportation in Thailand, but they've been replaced by cars and trucks. Today one of the few roles left for elephants is providing rides to tourists, but that's still a rough life.

The island nation of Madagascar is a refuge for several species of endangered animals. An amazing 5% of the world's biodiversity can be found on the world's fourth largest island, located in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa.

International funding and support for conservation programs have helped preserve many of these unique species, including the iconic lemur. But this year the political climate became so volatile that Madagascar was suspended from the African Union, and a great deal of international conservation support was forced to withdraw.

Now that those pesky eco-watchdogs are out of the way, 60 Second Extinction Countdown at Scientific American reports that poachers are having a field day with the natural resources of Madagascar, harvesting timber and -- this really awful -- selling endangered lemurs to restaurants as a luxury food delicacy.

Rumbling trucks may be cock-blocking city frogs! In ponds across Australia, it seems that frogs can't "attract the ladies" because of loud noise from nearby highways, according to a new report by Melbourne University ecologist Kirsten Parris.

Parris has been studying the lives of frogs in urban Australia since 2000. During this time period, the number of frogs has declined. She hypothesizes that male frogs, who attract a mate by having the most appealing "croak", are having a hard time being heard over the sound of city traffic. The result? Fewer mates, and fewer offspring.

Why do we care? Because animals having sex is fascinating! Have you seen Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno on the Sundance Channel? Besides being artistically clever, totally hilarious and starring the divine Ms. Rossellini, the 60 second clips are riveting because they're about s-e-x.

You may have noticed palm oil in the news recently.

Confectionery giant Cadbury bowed to pressure in New Zealand -- including a boycott of their products at the Auckland Zoo -- and reverted to the recipe of their Dairy Milk bar that contains cocoa butter instead of palm oil. Last week LUSH Cosmetics announced that they will no longer use palm oil because of environmental concerns.

Why all the hubbub? For those of you unfamiliar with The Palm Oil Problem, let me share the basics.

Shark Week 2009, one of the Discovery Channel's most popular annual features, is wrapping up. Those of us who grew up during "The Jaws Years" will probably always view these muscular creatures with a healthy dose of fear, but these days sharks also have a healthy and active fan club.

Several organizations, like Ocean Conservancy and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, hope to capitalize on the cultural phenomenon of Shark Week and draw attention to the plight of sharks around the world.

Every year millions of sharks are killed by "shark finning" -- fishermen slice off their fins and throw the bleeding carcases back into the sea, where the helpless, maimed sharks bleed to death, starve, drown or are eaten by other fish. The majority of the fins are used in shark fin soup, a delicacy in Asian cultures.

(Photo by intrepidtraveler.com)

Ever since I was a little kid, zoos have fascinated me. My brother and I would beg our dad to take us to the Franklin Park Zoo practically every weekend. As a grown up, I love to spend an afternoon at the San Francisco Zoo, photographing gorillas and giraffes. And whenever I travel, zoos are high on my list of attractions to visit, so I'm totally the target market for a travel guide called "America's Best Zoos"!

The publisher was nice enough to send me a review copy of the book, written by Allen W. Nyhuis and Jon Wassner. This afternoon I meant to flip through it, and instead spent an hour creating a new must-see list of zoo exhibits, like the Range of the Jaguar at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Florida, and the Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo.

Since the book is organized by geographic region, I basically mapped out a cross-country zoo visiting wishlist. Set up like a traditional travel guide, each entry includes with logistical information like address, admission fees and hours, and highlights the "don't miss it" exhibits at each location.