I Am Joining The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Have you ever heard of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC)? I hadn't, until last year. It's pretty much what you would expect from the title. People join together to cleanup shores around lakes and rivers and the oceans, all across Canada, for a few weeks in September. After reading about it, I thought it would be a great thing to participate in. It would be good for me and my family, good for my community, and especially good for the environment in this wonderful and beautiful, coastal city I live in, called Vancouver. I thought, wouldn't this be a great lesson to teach my children? It would help me to teach them about giving back to mother nature, the way that she gives to us everyday. I always tell them about how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place, with mountains and the ocean and so much to do outdoors. But isn't it also great to teach them how to take care of this place and not to take it for granted?

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 I was really stoked to do it last year, but then life stepped in and changed my plans. Not to make excuses, really it was just that a bunch of other things came up. Two birthday parties and an Aunt that wanted to see the kids on the particular day we signed up for. It ended up being a crazy day of driving all over and visiting and kiddie party madness, but it was a great day. I was really bummed that we didn't get to do the cleanup though, especially because I was telling everyone that we were doing it and I was asking friends if they wanted to participate too. So I made a promise to myself that we would do it next year.

And next year is here. I just signed up today. I am going to do it right this year. I was even contemplating being a site coordinator and taking on a whole area to organize by myself. But I decided to be realistic and just participate this year and see what it's like. If it's something I think I can handle on my own, then maybe I can be a coordinator next year.

Doing this kind of thing is important to me. I took an Environmental Studies program in college and it was really eye opening. I learned so many things in those two years. One thing that really shook me up was seeing a picture of a lake that was turned into a dumping ground for electronics. People would come there to find parts to sell, or scrounge for copper or other metals in the stuff that was dumped there. It was so filled with junk that it didn't even look like a lake anymore, it looked like a garbage dump, but it was just filled with electronics. I was looking on the internet to see if I could find that same picture (which I'm sure is really old, I saw it at school, about nine years ago), and I couldn't. But I did find some other horrible pictures. Like this...

The Citarum River in Indonesia

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And this...

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I really don't want the beautiful place, that my family and I call home, to end up like these places. So I am doing my part to help. If you feel inspired too, and you live in Canada and want to join, click here to find a cleanup site in your area. If you don't live in Canada, but want to help out where you live, here are some other shoreline cleanup programs:

• International Coastal Cleanup
• California Coastal Cleanup
• Clean up Australia!
• Project Aware
• The Daily Ocean

This list is from the Other Resources page on the GCSC website, which has tons of useful info if you want to know more.


"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - M. Gandhi

Tony The Tiger Update

Last month I did a post on Tony, a Siberian/Bengal tiger held in captivity at a Louisiana truck stop. Tony's story is sad, he's been locked in a cage with no place to run or swim, and he's been breathing in toxic truck exhaust fumes and hearing loud diesel engine noise for ten years. He's been on display as roadside attraction, to draw people to his owner's Tiger Truck Stop store and restaurant.  Many people have been fighting for years to have Tony moved to the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida, but his owner, Michael Sandlin, refuses to give him up. He even claims on his website that "unscrupulous "activists" from out of state are trying to steal Tony away from the only home he has known. Their real intention is to put him on display themselves, far away from the people that hand raised him." Just because the place that Tony has been living in for the past ten years is his home, doesn't mean that he belongs there. Tony could have a much better home at the Big Cat Rescue. He would have lots of room to run and play and swim and would have a much better quality of life.

Some good news regarding Tony has just come to light. Yesterday the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) filed a law suit against the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) for giving Michael Sandlin the permit to exhibit Tony. They have also started two petitions to have Sanlin's permit, to keep Tony, revoked. One is through the ALDF but is for US citizens only and the other is through Change.org and can be signed by anyone. Please sign one or, if you live in the US, both petitions and help free Tony from his horrible life of exploitation and abuse. Click here for the ALDF petition, and here for the Change.org petition. If we all stand together and fight for him, maybe we can help Tony have a better life.

For more information about Tony visit the Free Tony Tiger website and the Animal Legal Defense Fund website.

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Anne The Circus Elephant Gets A New Home

I love stories with a happy ending. 59 year old Anne, the last British circus elephant, has been released to a better home. Her story was a harrowing tale. One with horrible beatings by a circus worker. She was kicked and hit and beaten with a pitchfork and other implements. Luckily it was caught on film by Animal Defenders International (ADI) who secretly filmed the abuse from January 21st to February 15th of this year.

After the video footage was released to the public, the Romanian worker was fired from the Bobby Roberts Super Circus, but that did not stop the a huge and justified public outcry. Anne's owners, Bobby and Moira Roberts, then decided to do the right thing and finally let Anne be moved to a more suitable home. 

Activists had been fighting for years to have her moved, because over half a century of working for a circus and being kept in a small metal compound or in tiny transport containers, have left her muscles weak and her body riddled with arthritis. She is an elderly elephant that deserves to retire.

Finally, she has her much deserved retirement. On Sunday, April 3rd Anne was moved to the 900 acre Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire. Right now she has a 13 acre enclosure, that will later have central heating, a wading area and swimming pool, and proper fencing built for her and other rescued elephants.

Here are some pictures of her happy and playing in her new enclosure.

Longleat staff say she is settling in and seems to be adjusting well. Watch this video of Anne in her new home.

It makes me so happy to see justice brought to this poor animal. She deserves to live in the right kind of environment, where she can be cared for properly and just be an elephant. Now she doesn't have to work the rest of her life away. To find out more info about Anne's plight see the Daily Mail's stories here and here. And visit Longleat's website for further updates.

Also, here is some other good news, which was brought about by this story. Britain is planning to ban the use of wild animals in circuses. See the full story here.

Help Free Tony The Tiger

Tony the tiger is a Siberian/Bengal tiger held in captivity, for ten years, by a cruel owner and showed on display at Louisiana truck stop. This is such a sad story. People have been fighting for years to have this tiger moved to the Big Cat Rescue, a big cat sanctuary, in Tampa, Florida. The owner has also fought hard, to keep his tiger living in horrible conditions and to keep making money off of him. The tiger's main living area is an outdoor concrete cage, visible to the public and people driving by on the freeway, where he is breathing in toxic car fumes and surrounded by loud traffic noise. He has no room to run or swim and leads a stressful, unhappy life. The poor creature is being exploited by it's owner, Michael Sandlin, as a roadside attraction for people to come and shop at his truck stop. It's sickening the way this beautiful animal is being treated, like as if he is a commodity to be capitalized on and not a living creature that needs to be protected and cared for properly. Tigers need space and freedom to roam. It is cruel and abusive to keep this magnificent animal locked up in a small cage. Watch this video by Big Cat Rescue. For more information visit Free Tony the Tiger.

On Dec. 14, 2010 Michael Sandlin's yearly permit to keep Tony was yet again approved by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. But the fight is not over. To find ways to help, click here.

To do my part I am going to send a letter to Avaaz to ask for their help in petitioning the American government to free Tony. They are an organization that gets millions of people all over the world, to sign petitions for important causes. Let's hope we can get their help on this one too.

*Correction I have just sent this letter to Avaaz:

"To whom it may concern,

I am writing on behalf of Tony, a Siberian/Bengal tiger, held in captivity at a truck stop in Louisiana for the past 10 years. His living conditions are deplorable and he is inhumanely being exploited by his owner as an exhibit to make money. He is on public display, in a small concrete cage, beside a freeway where he breathes in toxic truck exhaust and hears loud traffic noise 24/7. He needs your help to raise awareness and have a petition made to fight for him. The Big Cat Rescue in Tampa Florida has offered to take him and provide him with a good home where he can run and live in proper living conditions and be treated with the respect he deserves. But his owner refuses to do the right thing. For more information about his plight visit http://freetonythetiger.wordpress.com/tonys-story/ . Also I have just posted on my blog about this and have said that I am going to ask for your help in this matter http://enviromommy.blogspot.com/ . I have signed many of your petitions and I believe that you are the one organization that can really help Tony, because thus far nothing anyone else has done has worked. This needs a global campaign. Please help."

Let's hope it works!

Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice - Amazing Video Footage

 Wow this is so fascinating and beautiful! Polar Bears filmed by super high tech spy cameras. Check out these videos from the BBC movie, Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice, by filmmaker John Downer. 

For more info about the movie and how it was filmed check out John Downer's website.

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