10 replies to this topic

[Steve Williams]

I'm giving a presentation next month at LAUPS and want to give them a list of organizations that they can help with their money, personal involvement or images.  Which environmental organizations do you folks think are doing a great job and could use our support?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[gina]

I think Wild Aid is one of the best conservation organizations as they are attempting to "stop the buying so the killing stops, too," and they do a lot of (great) work in China, ground zero for anti-conservation.

 

I'm also a fan of Sea Shepherd because sometimes you can't just wait around and hope others stop their killing.

 

Nature Conservancy and Ocean Conservancy (not related) work world-wide to preserve species and their habitat, while Defenders of Wildlife works primarily in the US and North America.

 

If you want to stick more to organizations that are more directly connected with diving, then there's Shark Savers.

 

Of course there are a million more organizations, but these are all large enough to make a difference, while still being well-regarded.

 

-Gina

[Steve Williams]

Hi Gina,

I have my own list  of folks I support. I was hoping to get others opinions like yours.  Thank you.

 

Cheers,

Steve

[vetdiver]

Steve -

 

I'm so hoping we can come up for your talk!!!  Those mid-week drives to LA are harsh, though.  Please let us know how long you'll be in So Cal - maybe you could be persuaded to give a repeat presentation in Lembeh?

 

Now, to answer your question with a local respnse.  My eye has been on the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) in Laguna Beach.  I visited the veterinarian there recently, and I wound up staying and helping out for hours - poor Andy maybe got a bit more than he was expecting going behind the scenes with me...  The PMMC has been inundated this spring with malnourished pups (mainly sea lions, but they had a pen with recuperating baby elephant seals, as well), and they have very few paid employees - many workers are passionate volunteers.  Some of the animals need round-the-clock care, and they are doing everything on a shoestring budget.   I've donated money, and going forward, I'll be donating professional time as well. 

 

I really hope to see you this month!    Allison

[Steve Williams]

Hi Allison,

I'm looking forward to showing you and Andy what I have.  I think I figured something out.  Only going to be in LA for the night. I'll bring it to Lembeh to show if you'd like or we can commiserate on it if we ever get out of the water.  

 

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center sounds like a great organization to help.  A lot of people forget that we were down to maybe fewer than 30 elephant seals in the entire northern pacific and they were all isolated on Guadaloupe Island.  A good recovery story there.  The scary part is the size of the gene pool. It gives me hope though for the rest of the threatened animals every time I think about them. I hope we don't see a repeat of the 97 98 El Nino loses.

 

Cheers,

Steve 

[Drew]

Gina

While I also support Wild Aid, I don't think any country is free to cast aspersions with any semblance of a clear conscious, especially the US.  So please let's refrain from claims as such, as it really doesn't do much good, especially since it is the choice of the people of various regions to heed the science or not.

 

I think Wild Aid is one of the best conservation organizations as they are attempting to "stop the buying so the killing stops, too," and they do a lot of (great) work in China, ground zero for anti-conservation.

 

 

Steve

The big organizations like WWF, TNC, CI etc all do wonderful work in South East Asia to protect and promote conservation, in areas of poor education, even poorer and overpopulated areas like Indonesia and Philippines.  There are of course even localized projects which do very specific work like Sea Sanctuaries or the Misool Shark and Manta Sanctuary (which is supported by WildAid/Shark Savers) in specific areas.  Others like Manta Trust work on a more global scale and are species specific.

I will add that I know the people behind these projects so I am a little biased.  But I also put my money (and other ways of support) where my mouth is.

Good luck.

[Steve Williams]

Thanks Drew,

Great input.  I found and old article from the Mother Jones site that's an interesting read but its from 2006 and doesn't mention any of the Shark or Manta organizations.  I'll keep looking.  

 

Steve

[DamonA]

Sea Shepard and The Blackfish, like that they take action and don't just lobby gov's.

[DamonA]

This is a video worth watching and a group worth supporting- debunks a lot of myths about dams being green, also the way in which bio-diversity is quantified and undervalued by vested interest...Engineers, corporations and Governments are not ecologically minded, which is a very important part of making a decision whether to develop an idea. The long term damage caused to an area by any development needs to be scrutinised to the utmost, based on all facts available.

 

Any time Environmental concerns are over looked, people should get loud, active and angry at those trying it on.

 

This Video is about 2 particular dams, one on the Amazon and one on the Tigress rivers, which have exactly the same issues and both are going ahead in spite of good scientific reasons not too. What happens to theses rivers will set presidencies for lots of other plans in the future- most of them with terrible consequences for Cultural heritage issues, natural habitat and bio-diversity.

 

http://damocracy.org/

Edited by DamonA, 24 April 2013 - 10:01 PM.

[Steve Williams]

Thanks for the info on Blackfish, I wasn't familiar with them.

 

Cheers,

Steve

[DamonA]

Link- http://www.theblackfish.org/join/