Conservationists in the Ngorongoro Crater, a Tanzanian National Park, are searching for a compromise with the area’s native Maasai tribes, whose survival and longstanding traditions depend on killing lions.

The park’s protected lions are crossing Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) borders and killing Maasai livestock during dry seasons. The Maasai orchestrate “revenge killings” in retaliation. Ceremonial group lion hunts are also a Maasai rite of passage.

But, “the resulting death rate threatens two of the four prides in the NCA,” writes Cheryl Lyn Dybas in the July issue of The Scientist:

Maasai graze their livestock in open pastures during the day, when one to three herdsmen—who are often very young—protect the cattle against lions. Cattle losses to lions  could be reduced if adults rather than children served as guards. Another solution: replacing wooden barriers with chain-link fencing in village corrals.

Source: The Scientist, Maasai Association 

Image by Frederic.Salein, licensed under Creative Commons.

A grassroots uprising against the environmentally-disastrous Hawaii Superferry has triumphed—for now. In March, The Nation reported that a coalition of Native Hawaiians, locals of Japanese and Filipino descent, and white settlers joined forces to protest the Superferry’s maiden voyage from Honolulu to Kaui, culminating in a standoff between the mammoth vessel and dozens of surfers and swimmers reminiscent of Tiananmen Square.

The inter-island ferry had plummeted in popularity when locals realized its full toll: it used 12,000 gallons of fuel per round trip; it raced through the habitats of humpback whales, dolphins, and sea turtles; it had the potential to transport invasive species; and, it brought cars to islands already crowded with motorists. Republican Governor Linda Lingle ignored demands for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) from environmentalists as well as the state Supreme Court, resulting in the dramatic protest.

Now the Hawaiian State Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the Superferry has no legal authority to continue its operations in the state. But, don’t count Lingle out. She continues to battle on behalf of the project as well as her own political ambitions. Like the dark lord Sauron in Lord of the Rings, she’s not fading away any time soon.

Image by Ed Yourdon, licensed under Creative Commons

Source: The Nation

An unprecedented agreement has emerged between California's Tejon Ranch Company and five environmental organizations, reports Gary Langham for Living Bird, a publication of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  The largest privately held contiguous property in the state, Tejon hosts an abundance of bird species, including the California Condor and Spotted Owl, as well as rare pristine examples of various native grasslands, oak woodlands, and coniferous forest.  This landmark agreement culminates a two-year process involving Audubon California, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Endangered Habitats League, and the Planning and Conservation League.  Critics of the deal cite the fact that it allows the Tejon Ranch Company to develop the remaining ten percent, which includes Condor habitat.  However, supporters believe it will grant conservation groups unparalleled access to and influence over this prized landscape.    

 Sources: Living Bird, Audubon California, Sierra Club

 Image by crawfish head, licensed under Creative Commons

David Suzuki truly has a passion. His lifelong dedication to the environment spans across his many endeavors; most notably, he is a broadcaster, a scientist, an activist, and an author of 43 books. A Passion for This Earth (David Suzuki Foundation and Greystone Books, 2008), however, is not Suzuki’s book at all, but the product of his remarkable ability to inspire people to think critically, personally, and practically about our environment. A collection of essays from writers, scientists, and activists, the book presents an extensive selection of voices about a common passion: the earth and our role in its capacity to flourish.

Edited by Michelle Benjamin, A Passion for This Earth boasts a foreword by Bill McKibben, environmentalist and acclaimed author of several books including The End of Nature and Deep Economy. The essays range from the urgent call for action of Doug Moss’ “Save the Environment—Take Back the Media” to the anecdotal nature of David Helvarg’s “Saved by the Sea”:

As a young kid, I’d looked up at the stars and gotten pissed off, thinking I’d been born a generation too soon to explore other worlds. But that week in Key West I got hold of a mask and snorkel and got into the water and saw live rocks, and vibrant colors, sea cucumbers and a queen conch, a sea turtle and a small hammerhead gliding through a coral canyon amid shoaling fish and realized there was this whole other alien world right beyond the seawall. Sadly, in the blink of an eye that’s been my life, the Keys reef has gone from 90 percent live coral cover to less than 10 percent, devastated by pollution, physical impacts from boats, anchors and people and global warming.

A Passion for This Earth is a satisfying fusion of appreciation for nature and political activism that stems from the natural diversity of our earth, of the problems that face it and the people who choose to tackle the issues.