Save the Frogs!

Save the Frogs:

Due to the increasing deforestation of the Amazon, several species have become at risk of extinction. One of these species is the blue poison dart frog. These frogs are only found in very few areas of Southern Suriname, South America. The species is labeled “vulnerable” on the World Conservation Union’s red list of threatened species

Keepers at the Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire Oaks are ambitiously recreating an environment that will stimulate the frogs to breed at the aquarium with the help of heaters and water spray devices to replicate the rainy season. The hope in all of this is to increase the pattern of breeding among the blue dart frogs and raise the numbers of the species from endangered.  

The aquarium has in possession two male and two female dart frogs. Adam Mitchell of the Blue Planet Aquarium describes the mating ritual as “In the breeding season the male sits on a rock and calls to females, who fight over him. Afterwards, the victorious female begins the courtship ritual by gently stroking his snout and dorsal surface with her forelegs.”
He added: “When the female lays the eggs, the male fertilizes them and it’s then left up to him to look after them until they hatch into tadpoles.”

The distinctive name of the blue poison dart frog derives from native tribe’s practice of using the toxin on the frog’s skin to lace their darts and arrows with the poison. Scientists confirm that the toxicity of the frog comes from the accumulation of the poisonous insects that they feed on.

Brazil's First Female President: Feminist and Pro -Development???

Dilma Rousseff, newly elected president of Brazil as of last week. She is already taking a stand for the woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani who was convicted of adultery in Iran and sentenced to death by stoning in 2006. Rousseff stated that it would be a “barbaric” act to execute a woman for adultery.  Brazilian officials offered to take the woman into Brazil as a citizen if Iran would spare her life. The offer was rejected. Brazil was trying to use the friendly ties with Iran to influence the case in the convicted woman’s favor.

As for the environment, it doesn’t look like the newly elected female president will take action for the environment including deforestation and carbon reducing emissions. “Rousseff had privately resisted Brazil's decision to present voluntary carbon reduction targets at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen last December.”

Arguably, Rousseff had to win the votes of the 20% of green party voters that supported Ms.Silva for environmental reasons. Silva was a third party in the race to president placing much promise in saving the Amazon from deforestation and carbon reducing industry. Carlos Minc, Ms Silva successor as environment minister, was sent to try and save Rousseff’s face by saying. “I’m not saying Dilma is a card-carrying environmentalist,” Mr Minc told Estado de São Paulo, a newspaper. “She’s pro-development, but pro-development with environmental sensitivity.” He has been authorized by Rousseff to promise a variety of green-friendly policies, including lower taxes on equipment for solar- and wind-power generation and a review of a proposed amnesty for illegal logging.

Only time will tell for the decisions regarding the Amazon from this first time woman president who is so passionate for women’s rights and is pro-development.

S.O.S.: Amazon is in a Drought

S.O.S.: The Amazon is in a Drought

By~Nichole Rose

Brazil’s rivers have hit an all time low, leaving 38 already impoverished communities at the mercy of emergency aid. This is approximately 62,000 people. Thousands of boats are stranded on dry river beds. The drop in water level has exposed banks of sand and rock, preventing the river from being navigable. The communities depend heavily on the river to transportation and fishing. The fish are dying due to the shallower, warmer water.

The Rio Negro River, a large black water river that runs through the Amazon dropped on Sunday to 45 feet. The Brazilian Geological Service states this is the lowest it has been since record keeping began on the river in 1902.  Last year, the area received a widespread flood that raised the level to the Rio Negro River to a record high of 98 feet.

"I've worked in the region about 30 years and never seen anything like the last few years. This has everything to do with climate change." said Rosival Dias, a coordinator with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation environmental group who has visited affected areas.

The Brazilian Government announced that they are giving $13.5 million for emergency aid along with 600 tons of food that must be carried by plane.

All 33 Chilean Miners Rescued Without a Hitch ~Nichole Rose

It was like clockwork on October 12th and 13th for the rescuers at the head of the Chilean mine where 33 men were trapped since August 5, 2010. The process of rescuing these men one by one continued into the night till the last miner was rescued at 2200. Taking precautions by greasing the wheels between descents of the Fenix 2 capsule for the smooth assent of another miner, the rescuers are victorious and miners are grateful. The process was smooth and went without a hitch.

The Fenix 2 is on display today in the nation's capitol, Santiago at the opening of a public exhibit outside the presidential palace.

Reports that the miners were terrified and requested to leave the mine the day it collapsed are being investigated. Some of the men heard loud cracking and creaking sounds that signaled the miners to evacuate three hours before the collapse. Permission was denied to the miners for evacuation by their owners and managers of San Esteban Mining Company. These allegations are being looked into and the miners are being questioned one by one.

The miners have banded together for a silent vow so that they may write a book together and share the profits equally among the 33 of them. So hope is futile for interviews regarding the first two weeks of the collapse in the mine. All will be disclosed in the future proposed book.

Chilean Miners See The Light Today! ~Nichole Rose

After months of darkness and half a mile into the Earth, Chilean miners will finally be rescued today.  A capsule will be lowered into the shaft and rescue the men one by one.  Each trip could take between eleven to sixty minutes. The rescuers have run four test runs to make sure the capsule and the drilled pathway is smooth and safe.

The relatives of the miners have made a tent city heartily named Camp Hope. The relatives are very excited to see their loved ones rise from the Earth. They are waiting with homemade food and champagne. Also 1400 journalists have flooded into the area to broadcast the rescue from the first miner to surface to the last miner to emerge. The rescuers say that to rescue all the men will take about 48 hours. CNN is expected to cover the rescue throughout the night.

The Chilean president, Sebastian Pinera, arrived on site of the mine today as well. He has made the rescue his number one priority, sparing no expense or technological innovation. This has increased his popularity considerably.

What is interesting is the miners are not debating on who would be first to go up the shaft but who shall be the last.   The Chilean miners have already reached the record of being trapped underground for the longest period of time but the importance is in the last individual to emerge to hold the actual record.

Vampire bats Wreak Havoc on Awajun and Wampis Community ~Nichole Rose

Local health officials have reported that vampire bats in the region of the northern Amazon region have bitten over 3,500 people. The bats have killed 20 people with a recent child that makes the 5^th child to die from the rabies infected bats. The ages of the children that have died are between 5 and 10 years old. Rabies is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain and is fatal, especially in children.

Peru’s health ministry has sent emergency units to the area to vaccinate the people of the Awajun and Wampis tribes. So far they have immunized 900 people but some are hesitant to take the vaccine and have refused to receive it. Many fear that the death toll will rise because of the cost of obtaining the vaccine and the difficult means of getting it to the tribes.

Vampire bats usually feed on livestock and other mammals by night but since the rainforest is undergoing utter destruction of habitat, the people are more susceptible to being bit by these bats.

Chilean Miners Update: The Rescue Pod Arrives! ~Nichole Rose

Chilean miners update:

San Jose, Chile~ The 33 miners of Chile that have been trapped in a mine since August 5 are receiving many luxury items to aid in the comfort of their situation. They have not only received cots that were sent down disassembled to be re assembled by the men trapped, but they have also received water to drink and shower through tubes that pump 100 liters of water a day to them.

The cage arrived at the mine head to rescue the men from the mine shaft that is half a mile deep into the Earth. The steel case is named Phoenix from the Greek mythological bird that rose from the ashes. Once a rescue shaft is drilled large enough for the steel cage to be lowered into the mine shaft, it will pull the men up one by one. Rescuers estimate that it will take between 20 and 30 minutes to pull up each miner. The case is equipped with communication devices and oxygen that will last for 90 minutes. The case also opens from the bottom for safe entrance for the miners and for emergency precaution that if the case gets stuck, the miner can wedge his way back down to the other miners safely.

The trapped miners have families that are camping at the mine head for support of their loved ones, clapped when the cage arrived. Many of them even got a chance to stand in the cage and see for themselves the roominess of it and how it will operate for the rescue. Mining Minister, Laurence Golborne says that they are ahead of schedule for the rescue and plans to start pulling miners up as early as first week of November. As of Saturday, the first of three holes has been drilled to 1,458 feet deep. Progress in underway.  

Shark fin Soup Obsession ~Nichole Rose

The Environmental Justice Institute of Brazil is suing seafood exporter, Siglo do Brasil Comercio, for illegally killing nearly 300,000 sharks which has created massive damage to the marine ecosystem. The issue at hand is that most of these sharks were just thrown back into the ocean with their fins cut off. It is illegal to separate fins from the sharks in Brazil but Asian diners are obsessed with their shark fin soup which places enormous value on the fins of sharks. The backlash is that the damaged sharks are then just thrown back into the ocean to die. The Asians only value the fin for the popular Asian Soup. This craze is most popular among the Asian middle class which encourages companies like Siglo do Brasil to hunt sharks strictly for their fin and waste the rest of the animal.

This only shows a fraction of the sharks that are illegally killed off the northeast coast of Brazil. This illegal fishing is causing irreparable harm to the ocean’s ecosystem because sharks are at the top of the food chain. Upon raiding the premises of the seafood exporter, the enforcement agency of Brazil’s environmental ministry found separated fins from sharks but the seafood company denies where they came from and has no documentation to prove where they got them. The Associated Press tried to reach the Brazilian company but the calls went unanswered.

The Environmental Justice group is suing for the sum of $790 million dollars for the sale of the 290,000 sharks that were de- finned and lost their lives to the Asian soup craze.

Amazon unlivable?... On the contrary... ~Nichole Rose

A long time belief that the Amazon Rainforest was too inhabitable for any civilization to live there has evidence to point to the contrary. Archeologists have found a huge swath of forest that signals a very large and advanced civilization thrived in this unruly tangled jungle that is full of mosquitoes. The long held belief is that small, primitive Stone Age tribes may have lived in this unforgivable environment as hunter and gatherers but no society larger than that….until now.

To the contrary, though…. American archeologists have found evidence that signals that upward around 20 million people inhabited the area. Man made Indian mounds that have been excavated unearthed a very rich soil that was made fertile by the ancestors of the land from hundreds of years ago. These mounds are called terra preta made from charcoal, human waste, and other organic ingredients in the soil that plummet 3 feet deep and over 100 acres wide. To top that, they have also found huge orchards of fruit trees, moats, canals, and causeways that lean toward a complex civilization that inhabited the area around 800 AD. They hypothesize that these early people diverted rivers and moved soil for their orchards. The findings of excavation work performed by Anna C. Roosevelt also shown house foundations, pottery, and such advance network of agriculture that it must have been at least 100,000 people that lived in just this one area of the forest. This soil was so rich in nutrients that it was compared to the mysterious Hopewell Nation of Iowa.

Even though the jungle life was harsh with poisonous snakes and mosquitoes, the land was full of potential. All the people had to do was transform the landscape to feed the number of people and protect the village from predators and it appears that is exactly what they did.

Chilean Rescuers... To the rescue of Sanity ~Nichole Rose

Thirty three Chilean miners in Northern Chile have been trapped in a mine that stretches 2,230 feet into the Earth since August 5^th.  The obstacles that they must overcome in the long weeks before they can be rescued will be harrowing. Not only do they have to endure complete darkness but with 33 people in one small area, they must also combat sickness through fungal or bacterial infections. They do, however, have a small 3.19 inch hole that connects them to the surface of the Earth which is helping the miners with supply of food, water, nutrients and vitamins. Granted this supply line is very small but the miners are fortunate to have it.

What is still more worrisome than the physical health of the miner’s is their psychological well being. Battling darkness for days, weeks on end takes its toll on the mind. Sensory deprivation is a condition that could cause irritability, depression and hostility which could lead to injuring one if not more of the other miners. When there is no access to emergency care, this is a valid concern.

The miners are working in shifts to man the supply line around the clock. In the upcoming weeks, they will need to be removing rock and dirt from the supply line as rescuers drill a bigger a rescue shaft. This grueling job will be taxing on the miners that have weak bodies and minds. The miners are just as much responsible for their own rescue as it is for those above ground rescuing them.

One way that rescuers are helping the trapped miners is through a fiber optic projector that illuminates a 50 inch picture on the cave wall that they may enjoy movies and football games. They have supplied them also with an Ipod to listen to music which is periodically sent up the supply line for recharging. Some of the families have even recorded performances for their trapped loved one that they may view to keep their spirits up and know their family is waiting for their return.

Every effort is being made to ensure the spirits are being kept up for the miners. One request from the miners is red wine so that they may celebrate Chile’s Independence Day coming up on September 18.

Suriname Rainforest threatened by Gold Rush ~Nichole Rose

Fewer than a dozen men, barefoot with survival on their minds, blast away at the Earth for three days in Suriname Rainforest in pursuit of gold. They have used tools such as high pressure power hoses and earth movers to decimate the land and destroy vital habitat in this swathe of rainforest. The miners of Nieuw Koffiekamp state that they need work and this is the only option left for them. They plan to spend a week ripping through the soil and filtering it through toxic mercury to find the gold. When asked about the damage that they have caused, a most defensive Juergen Plein shouts, "But survival comes first." When they fail or succeed to find any gold, they will move on to a new swath of rainforest to dig for more.



Small scale mining operations are growing along the northeastern border of South America due to record gold prices on the market. The drive comes from the previous year where 16.5 metric tons of gold was produced, hitting a record high. The effects of this mining are due to the protocol used when mining for it. Not only are these miners uplifting trees but also poisoning the waters with mercury. Most alarming is the make shift jungle towns being erected, fully equipped with shops, churches and prostitutes. What they leave is destruction and mayhem in the jungle while in fervent need to find gold. World Wildlife Fund representative, Dominiek Plouvier says, “In their wake is a wasteland.” He explains that “all the top soil has been removed, it’s finished.”



Most intriguing is that many of the miners are illegal immigrants from Brazil that are fleeing the law in some form and fashion. Suriname is known as a country that is rich in resource simultaneously as being the country with the weakest enforcement of law. Even the Vice President Robert Ameerali said he would seek to reduce the use of mercury even though it is outright illegal already. Making laws and policies regarding better technology or training for miners will go unheard because there is no enforcement behind it. The Suriname rainforest is in danger and an easy target on what the scientific world sees as a vital and irreplaceable biome.