Flight of the Flamingo

When I was younger, I loved to visit my grandparents in California, not because of the ocean or Disneyland but because they would always take me to the San Jose Zoo. Even though there are plenty of zoos where I live, but none of them have flamingos outside. They covered their area with various shades of pink and white and seemed like the most content birds around. Unfortunately, the numbers of flamingos might soon be rapidly depleting in the world, specifically Kenya.

Recently Charles Hanley reported on MSNBC news about the loss of over 970,000 flamingos in Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya. The reason for this fall of population is due to the shrinking of the lake. The reason for the shrinking lake has left researchers puzzled, but many have felt it’s connected to the environmental and industrial changes nearby. According to Hanley, there have been many changes around the lake including deforestation, global warming and industrial run-off into the lake causing it to dry up and shrink in size. Even though, these changes would affect many lake ecosystems, Lake Nakuru is especially fragile being shallow with an average depth of 8 meters. These changes have indirectly affected the flamingos of Lake Nakuru who major survival sources are connected to the lake. With the shrinking of the lake, the flamingo’s major food supply of blue-green algae has diminished. The pollution has also affected the flamingos directly by causing health concerns for them, which was revealed to Charles Hanley by Lake Nakuru National Park deputy Paul Opiyo.

But to the people of Nakuru, the flamingos do more than just provide beauty: they are a major component in the area’s economy. The flamingos are the most famous inhabitants of Lake Nakuru, because of this they are main attractions for tourists. The flamingos are also major components of the Lake Nakuru food web. With their population depletion, the other organisms will be affected, further discouraging tourists to visits.

Something needs to be done to save Lake Nakuru. The economy of Nakuru and the lives of thousands of flamingos depend on it. If the flamingos continue to disappear, some of the only flamingos seen by future generations would be the plastic ones in people yards.

 

Sources:

“Flamingo Paradise Shrinks along lake” by Charles Hanley http://www.msnbc.com/id/15731235

Kenya Wildlife Service: Nakuru National Park http://www.kws.org/nakuru.html

Photo credit:

Wikpedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lake_Nakuru_flamingos.jpg

 

Bush vs. Kyoto

For my entire life, one of the major ongoing concerns is global warming. Today it seems more relevant with new approaches to limiting carbon emissions into the atmosphere with creating hybrid vehicles and vehicles that are more efficient. Countries around the world are trying to control global warming using different techniques. The United States of America is trying the technique of the honor system, which is different from a majority of the countries part of the United Nations. The world as whole tried to have a uniform plan to control global warming through the Kyoto Protocol, which called for participating countries to lower their carbon emissions by 5.2%. However, the United States didn’t agree with this plan and decided to battle global warming in their own way. The technique of the honor system is used in the method of volunteerism, emphasized by the Bush Administration since 2002. John Heilprin of MSNBC news reported about this volunteerism on October 6, 2006 and raised the question of whether or not the statistics connected to this method are true and whether this method is effective or not.

The Bush administration claims that this method has lowered carbon emissions by 4 percent, or 300 million tons a year. Eventhough that sounds great it might not entirely be true. Paul McArdle, the man who manages the Energy Department’s volunteer reporting system, says that the “cutbacks” that companies claim aren’t always a direct decrease in carbon emissions. McArdle says that companies can claim cutbacks through using vehicles that are more efficient and planting trees, when really they have increased carbon emissions. Something about that just doesn’t sound right. On paper, this method seems to be working. The 300 million tons of lower carbon emissions sounds like a giant step in controlling global warming, and it would be if that reflected on the overall cutbacks made by companies.

Contrary to the Bush Administration’s method, the Kyoto protocol seems like it would be more effective. With its requirements of all signed countries to lower carbon emissions by 5%. As of 2006, 166 countries have signed the protocol and agreed to follow the principles originally established by the committee in 1997. With 166 countries involved the method set forth by the protocol is covering a greater amount of land and according to Wikipedia, it now controls over 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To increase it’s effectiveness, one of the principles of the protocol makes sure each country does it’s part by enforcing consequences for those that don’t ; any country that doesn’t meet the 5% decrease has to further lower it’s emission by 30% for the next year.

If I were going to decide on a method to control global warming, I would go with the Kyoto Protocol.

Sources:

U.S. goes own way on global warming strategy by: John Heilprin http://www.msnbc.msn.com/15108916

Kyoto Protocol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

Photo credit:en.wikipedia.org