Want to see how a species is doing, look on the road…

It seems that the battle for space continues to rage on as we encroach on the natural environment and nature responds in the guise of small creatures populating our urban sprawls. City foxes are now common phenomena but rather less so is the appearance of the pine marten close to Inverness on the outskirts of a retail park.

It seems that the elusive and nocturnal creature has found a comfortable lifestyle close to humans and indications are that their numbers are healthy. How do we know? Well, Highland Council countryside ranger John Orr says that "It sounds weird, but road kills are quite good indications of how species are doing. We are seeing things like fewer hedgehogs dead on roads which suggests their numbers are way down."

The growth of a predatory species like the pine marten could spell bad news for the already dwindling red-squirrel population (a key prey), no doubt already in distress after the sighting of the first grey squirrel in April. On the positive side you might just be able to catch a glimpse of one of these rare animals when you are next in Scotland.

Penguins and the Changing Climate

When you read about environmental matters you inevitably come across some terribly sad stories that reinforce the importance of what we are trying to achieve and at the same time put in perspective the difficult road ahead.

For some time we have cultivated a fascination for penguins, we all of course enjoyed the “March of the Emperor”, we saw them on “Planet Earth” and we’ve always struggled to comprehend their tough journey to adulthood. Their fight for existence just got worst.

Scientists working in Antarctica have noticed a sharp drop in the population of “Adelie” penguins. Their study points to rain as the likely culprit. You see as the temperatures in the Antarctic region have steadily increased, snow has been replaced by rain and the penguin’s young are not equipped to deal with it.
Adelie penguins are born with a thin covering of down and it takes 40 days for them to grow protective water-repellent feathers. With epic rains drenching their ancestral nesting grounds, their parents try to protect them. But when the adults leave to fish for food, or are killed by predators such as seals, the babies become soaked to the skin and die from hypothermia.

‘Everyone talks about the melting of the glaciers but having day after day of rain in Antarctica is a totally new phenomenon. As a result, penguins are literally freezing to death,’ said Jon Bowermaster, a New York-based explorer who has recently returned from Antarctica.

‘It is all very well talking theoretically about how the ice cap could disappear – but watching penguins walking among the skeletons of their young is the most powerful evidence of climate change I have seen.’

I suspect that as the climate gets more unstable we are probably going to be witness to many other disasters of a similar scale, maybe one day enough of these stories are printed for people to take action.

Solar Craze Hits Cloudy Towns

Although far from being the sun-soaked capital of Europe, Germany is now at the epicentre of a solar revolution. For a little while now the German government has realised the potential of solar energy and the advantages of turning every consumer into a producer. Germany boasts more than 50 per cent of the world's installed solar power capacity, thanks to special subsidies, known as feed-in tariffs that give households with solar panels a fixed income for 20 years from electricity sold to the national grid.

As ordinary citizens realise the potential to make great savings, the government inches closer to creating a country independent of fossil fuels. Experts predict that in the long term solar energy may provide up to 30 per cent of Germany's power needs for electricity and hot water, compared with less than 1 per cent today.

Many regional authorities have heavily backed this sector, for instance in Marburg (central Germany) history was made this month as it became the first city to require households to install solar equipment as part of any house construction or renovation. They face €1,000 fines if they refuse.

We Love Basking Sharks

Daa da, daa da, da da, da da, da da.... Yes, it is in fact a textual rendition of the infamous shark tune brought to us courtesy of “Jaws” and our semi-subconscious fear of the great creature. This fear is of course not totally irrational, sharks are notoriously well-designed killing machines who have evolved over time to become one of the most ruthless apex predators of the seas. That being said, shark attacks on humans are rare, in 2003 the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) reported “only” 55 confirmed cases of unprovoked shark attacks in the whole world. Whilst this is no consolation to those affected, it is nonetheless a rare occurrence.

These formidable creatures are unfortunately suffering due to a number of man-made factors: over fishing of their natural prey, pollution and the horrific but still widespread practice of “finning”.

There are various projects active all over the world to help preserve sharks, one to make the news recently is the “Seaquest Basking Shark project” dedicated, as the name suggests, to the Basking Shark, the world’s second largest fish. The project is being run by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) and SeaWatch, and shark spotting points will be set up at Gwennap Head and at Carn Gloose near Cape Cornwall in the UK.

If you live in the area then you should help. The CWT is appealing for volunteers to come forward who can log shark sightings. Last year, SeaWatch surveys recorded 656 basking sharks from Gwennap Head and six species of whale, dolphin and porpoise.

If you are worried about a “Jaws” situation then take a deep breath and relax, the basking shark is totally harmless to humans; they eat only plankton! Despite their particular diet, they can grow to 39ft in length and weigh up to 7 tonnes, making them the UK’s biggest wild visitor.

Drive very fast and save the world - WOW

We are very, very excited... You see the world of ecological living has always been seen as a little dull to some and I this is why... In a society where big houses, fast cars and loose living are the amoral ideals a great majority of red-blooded society aspires to, the very fact that these items are generally environmentally unfriendly is a little bit of a hit to the cool-factor of green living. Well there is change in the air.

Thanks to the tech-savvy work of a small American start-up company (Tesla Motors) and some financial backing by none other than Google, we “green people” can now enjoy the fast cars we might have always denied ourselves for environmental reasons.

Tesla has brought out a fantastically beautiful car with breathtaking performance to match. A 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds is showing those archaic oil-guzzlers that the future is clean and fast! For more information visit: www.teslamotors.com