Rare Hawai‘i: It wasn’t meant to be a barnyard

70 million years of evolution. Thousands of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. Introduced pigs, goats, deer and sheep roaming freely over public lands. More than 265 extinctions and counting.

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Problem Overview

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

A Look at What We're Losing

Pigs

Feral Pigs and the Death of Hawaii's Native Birds

Native Hawaiians Speak Out

Deer

Goats

Sheep

Scientific Reference List

Don Chapman describes being in a Hawaiian rainforest

Edward O. Wilson on Biodiversity

Report about invasive species in Hawaii available online From The Hawaii State Legislative Reference Bureau (pdf file)

Research by the Secretariat for Conservation Biology: Environmental Valuation and the Hawaiian Economy takes a look at the financial and social costs of losing native Hawai`i.

Terrific link: USGS's Hawaii and the Pacific Islands page. Scroll down a few pages and look for Feral Pigs, followed by Feral Goats and so on.

Link to Nature out of place, Chapter 1 (pdf file)

Controlling Feral Animals (see how they do it Down Under)

Other Environmental Issues

Speak Out!

POLITICAL NON-UNGULATE ISSUES (webmaster's forum)

 

Rare Hawaii - Other environmental issues
 
Global Warming
At the Conservation Council for Hawaii annual meeting on October 7, 2006, National Wildlife Federation president Larry Schweiger gave a talk about global warming. He cited recent information about the rate of melting of the polar ice caps, which is much faster than could have been predicted just two years ago. Mr. Schweiger asked those of us working on other environmental issues to devote some time to global warming as well. This makes sense, because if the planet crashes, everything we are working to protect will be severely stressed if not utterly destroyed. This is a consideration that hasn't sunk in at the White House, where the doctrine is that saving the planet could harm the economy.
Perhaps you haven't thought about pH since high school chemistry class, but right now is an excellent time to think about it again. The oceans have been buffering the effects of global warming, and absorbing huge amounts of atmospheric pollutants in the process. The consequences for life on Earth are being felt now, and will be devastating if we don't take action. The skeletons and shells of marine organisms are already dissolving.
Time magazine has some good recent coverage of global warming.

Exxon is funding dubious organizations that say global warming isn't real. Britain's foremost scientific academy, the Royal Society, has asked Exxon to stop funding pseudoscience: reported at stopglobalwarming.org. When someone makes a statement that flies in the face of the evidence, it's a good idea to find out who they are and what motivates them.

It would be an excellent idea for petroleum companies to (voluntarily or not) use some of the record profits they've received through extracting and selling Earth's oil and gas to research, produce, and finance climate solutions, such as emissions reduction and air capture of carbon dioxide. Another article on air capture here.
Timeline on oil, global warming, and awareness from the Energy Bulletin.
Climatecrisis.net will hook you up to more info on global warming and what you can do.
 
Coming Soon: Vertebrate Pests in Hawaii
 
 

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