A Day to Celebrate the Earth

Over forty years ago, an iconic photograph of the earth was taken from 28,000 miles in space by the crew of Apollo 17. The photo, known as “the Blue Marble”, depicts the earth as a blue and white sphere set against the inky blackness of space – and it is a haunting image of our fragile existence. As we approach Earth Day 2013, perhaps this is a good time to reflect on this photograph and consider how we are doing.

When it comes to our planet, it seems that all we hear is doom and gloom. We endlessly debate global climate change and argue about whether it is the result of natural processes or human activities. In the tropics, wild populations of everything from monarch butterflies to African rhinos are declining precipitously while polar bears struggle to survive in an ice-free arctic. In South Georgia, water consumption is the concern as we watch the once beautiful Radium Springs spend much of the year as a dry creek bed.

But not all of the news is bad, if you know where to look. In our own community, for example, we are fortunate to have two institutions that have a positive impact on people’s attitudes about our planet. Chehaw Park and the Flint RiverQuarium have remarkably similar missions. Chehaw is about “inspiring people to connect with nature and encouraging conservation action through positive recreational and educational experiences”. The RiverQuarium‘s mission is to “promote conservation through aquatic exhibits and educational, entertaining experiences”. The community embraces these missions and supports our activities as we reach out to thousands of young people from all over the South Georgia. Both Chehaw and FRQ host summer camps, overnight programs, and the visits of thousands of school children.

Chehaw works closely with the Dougherty County School System, hosting the annual Science Olympiad for all students in the 3rd – 5th grades and supporting Turner Elementary School as a Partner in Excellence. Our junior zookeeper program engages teenagers, teaching them various aspects of zoo animal management and immersing them in wildlife education programming. At the college level, Chehaw recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Albany State University to formalize the many biology and natural resource programs that have been conducted in recent years. We regularly host ASU students for lab classes, field research projects, and internships. Drafting students at Albany Technical College are learning about the natural world by working on plans for a new North American animal section in the zoo, and Georgia Southwestern has initiated a new class, Biology 4760: Zoo Animal Care & Maintenance. This unique program is allowing Biology students to learn about careers in zoo management.

According to NationalGeographic.com, Earth Day is now celebrated by a billion people in 180 nations around the world. Albany can celebrate Earth Day at Chehaw on Saturday, April 27^th as we host a nationwide, Association of Zoos and Aquariums event known as the Party for the Planet™. On that same day, The Flint RiverQuarium (along with Darton State College) will engage the community with a 5K run and music festival. Both Chehaw and FRQ have many bright, dedicated young people who will be out that day actively engaged in supporting our missions. When viewed in this youth-oriented light, the future does not seem all that grim. Perhaps that is where our hope lies, as we heed the Native American proverb: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. 

This post appeared as a Guest Editorial in the April 19th, 2013 Albany Herald.  On Saturday, April 20th, someone calling him/herself Rightasrain posted the following comment:

Come on and admit that you are one of the "greenie goonies" and you believe in man-made global warming. Exactly what are your "missions"? The Native American proverb is all wrong, man does not "borrow the earth from our children"; oh, it's good spin for you earth day worshippers (which by the way, worshipping earth (Earth Day, Mother Earth, etc) all have roots in pagan worship. So, all you faker earth day pagans go for it. Man will never destroy the earth, there are more polar bears now than 25 years ago, throughout its history earth has always had cycles of warming and cooling. But, go ahead...drink your greenaid.

All I can say is - WOW!

Elephants on the Verge

Elephants are in the news lately, both in North America – where some zoos are building new, multimillion dollar facilities while other zoos are getting out of the elephant business altogether – and in Africa, where they are on the road to extinction.

In the past decade, a dozen zoos have halted their elephant programs, citing cold weather conditions or limited space. In Canada, the Toronto Zoo is sending its three adult elephants to California after the Toronto City Council overruled zoo staff and sided with animal activists. Other zoos are expanding their elephant facilities. The Pittsburgh Zoo built a 700-acre refuge; the Oregon Zoo announced plans to build a sprawling off-site reserve; and the 225-acre National Elephant Center in Florida is expected to receive its first residents in a few months. This facility, underwritten by member zoos of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, will “provide short-term and long-term care for North American elephants in support of the accredited zoo population and for the welfare of elephants in need”. 

The elephants at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., also have a new home. The old Elephant House has been renovated to include more space for the giant animals to play, rest and even take showers. The renamed Elephant Community Center, which opened last month, is the final piece of the redesigned Elephant Trails exhibition. It is designed to hold as many as 10 elephants, zoo officials said. The new space has several hands-on activities for humans, including a machine that compares elephant sounds and human voices. You can also make a pledge to save the elephants, a conservation message zoo officials everywhere hope visitors will take away from their exhibitions.

The headline out of St. Louis is “St. Louis Zoo continues to breed elephants despite protests”. The impending arrival of an Asian elephant calf at the St. Louis Zoo is cause for both celebration and concern. Celebration, keepers say, because a new elephant helps build a safety net for a species threatened by extinction. And concern because of a deadly herpes virus that has killed about 25 percent of the Asian elephants born in North American zoos in the past three decades. Animal rights activists say the St. Louis Zoo is irresponsible to breed elephants knowing the virus is present in the herd. In Defense of Animals, a California-based organization, is calling for the zoo to halt its breeding program. Steve Feldman of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits North American zoos, says the answer is to find a cure, not to stop breeding. “You develop the science and the research and you prepare yourself to treat any illnesses,” Feldman said. “That’s how science advances.”

But to what end? The truth, according to some, is that captive breeding programs cannot save elephants in the wild. That would demand dramatic change from the people who slaughter elephants for tusks and meat. A world without wild elephants, everyone agrees, is a very real possibility. According to a new study published in the journal PLOS and reported at FrenchTribune.com, African forest elephants are about to reach extinction, primarily due to increased poaching for their ivory tusks. Their population has declined about 62% in just the last decade. Wildlife Conservation Society conservationists say effective measures must be taken all over the world where elephants occur. Ivory smuggling routes and the final destination in the Far East have to be in the main agenda to protect the species from extinction.

So all this begs the question, are zoos on the right track? Those that can afford it, are building mega-spaces. Those that lack sufficient resources, or that are located in inhospitable climates, are either pooling resources or getting out of the business altogether. The business of keeping elephants is changing rapidly, but is it going to be enough? Whatever we do may be less than ideal for these challenging creatures, but we must do something. Perhaps it is enough to keep setting higher and higher standards, heeding the advice of author and animal advocate Temple Grandin who says “what we really need to do to protect animals is set high standards. People can live up to high standards, but they can’t live up to perfection”.