Blog update 2/23-2/28

This week focused on how AWF leverages capitalism for conservation

AWF is historically known for raising money for conservation. The organization thrives off donations and investors of conservation.

The African Wildlife Capital   is a mission-related investment company owned and operated by AWF. It engages in long-term investing for AWF conservation efforts.

People seek a return on their investments, but each investment must contain conservation logic/ priority conservation landscapes or specific wildlife populations.
investments:
* generate economic and social benefits to local communities
* reduce encroachment on wildlife
*generate income to sustain conservation efforts/operations/initiatives

target investments range from $250,000-$1.5 million US dollars

Bog Update 2/16- 2/22

http://www.awf.org/blog/magic-elephants

This week, the awf blog focused on the importance of elephantes and why people should care about their extinction
Elephants play a crucial role to their ecosystem
they're a keystone species
Whith out them the habitats around them would collapse

They're MAGICAL
They're called silent speakers and walkers
they communicate through low frequency sounds called "rumbling" in a wide range of sounds (10 octaves)
their feet are padded to prevent slipping and making a sound

Their trunks have over 40,000 muscles in them.
They can swim
they rescue helpless creatures
They even have death rituals
Their are even stories of elephantes retrieving poached bones and burying them.

Blog updates 2/9-2/15

The blog for the African Wildlife Foundation is easy to read because it is so interesting. The work that they do is very important and inspirational. The blog posts are relatively short, and are always accompanied by pictures, and a small blurb about the author.

This week, the most important blog post  was about the success of  Nasaruni Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization since its start in 2009. This organization has helped local women save their money and obtain loans. since 2009, the org. went from having 141 members with Ksh 22,600 (about US $250) in assets, to haveing more than 1,100 members today, with assets of Ksh 8.8 million (US $102,000). This organization has made such a positive impact on the community by allowing the women to be able to save their money, obtain loans to achieve their goals, and be able to pay for their children to go to school.

This week also focused a lot on Elephants... or as I like to say "elephantes" (in hopes to someday be bilingual I throw in Spanish when i can). Elephants as well as rhinos are wicked popular in regards to conservation efforts. The ivory trade is out of control, and the ban on Ivory has increased the already insanely high value for ivory being traded on the black market. The posts focused on how wonderful and beautiful elephants are, and how tragic poaching is. 

Problems-
Every animal serves a purpose in the ecosystem
The drastic poaching of Elephantes and rhinos is altering the ecosystems in Africa and Thailand. eventually these animals will be extinct

New Development-
China crushed 6.1 tons of ivory in public
tolerance for smuggled products has decreased significantly, especially for banned ivory

Weekly Blog update 2/2-2/8

http://www.awf.org/
Blog posts this week: 2

The first blog highlights the Conservation Management Training Program, and the new class of young professionals.
"The CMTP is a comprehensive two-year course that provides a unique opportunity for qualified individuals to obtain practical African conservation experience under the tutelage of AWF’s technical experts"
It also gives a personal background on the members in the training program.


The second post  is about the  revamp of a campaign against ivory from elephants. in the 1970's and 1980's they were successful and stopped the market trade of ivory. Their are several celebrities to endorse the cause, as well as the U.S. Government. There is also a link for the PSA announcements.


These blog posts is very non-corporate
they are short and very brief

Who cares/ why is this important?
people interested in wildlife conservation would want to read the post about the next generation of trainees devoted to wildlife conservation in Africa. The personal touch to the blog allows people to get to know the people working for awf.
People like myself, that are passionate about animals, especially elephants care about putting a stop to the poaching of elephants, and to do that, necessary steps need to be made to stop the trade of ivory.




http://blog.nwf.org/
Blog posts this week: 6
The National Wildlife Foundation is a large organization, so there are a lot of blog posts every week.
the posts aren't very long, and have a lot of hyperlinks to other pages, and always have a "Take Action" link

The first post is about how penguin chicks are tragically dying in the changing climate. it is very bleak, and depicts a very sad penguin chick. it is very brief, but a about a very real crisis.
"The changing climate means more rainstorms and abnormal heat waves, both of which have tragic consequences for young penguin chicks. The rains stick to their underdeveloped feathers, a clinging chill that causes the penguins to sicken and die."

The second post was much more formal, and seemed much like a press release addressing the drought in CAlifornia and the negative effects it has been having on the environment.. it quotes speaker of the house boehner  
"National Wildlife Federation understands the gravity of the situation here in California, but we are wary of solutions that put people and wildlife in a win-lose situation. What we need are solutions that will help people in need during this crisis, but do not rollback our bedrock environmental laws or harm the wildlife we have spent decades trying to protect."

it also talks about how people are blaming salmon for causing the problem, and that as the climate keeps changing and getting worse , the drought will get worse.

The third post is about the possibility of Congress & President Obama turning down the Keystone pipeline. it also warns of the negative effects on the environment the pipeline will have, but that the chances for the pipeline being shut down is good. 

 For the first time ever, the State Department acknowledges that in a carbon-constrained economy, the Keystone XL pipeline would exacerbate climate change.  I don’t know about you, but I’m rooting for President Obama to implement the Climate Plan he shared last June, and, guess what folks, that plan is moving the U.S. toward a carbon-constrained economy.

The fifth post is much different, it is in fact two fun and easy bird feeder projects for suet. it is nice to see a change from the previous posts about the crisis happening in wildlife conservation, and the action being taken against them.


Who cares/ why is this important?
this blog is very informative, and is a bit more corporate, but still manages to be light and fun. it is serious about crisis, but also has positive outlooks in terms of legislation and social movements for wildlife conservation.

Update on Google Alerts

Google alerts has proven to not be very helpful.. All of my google alerts are for the World Wildlife Fund, and almost all of the alerts aren't about any blog posts. I've decided to remove the alerts because they aren't helping .

Google Alerts

I have used Google alerts before for a class, and I am going to see if Google alerts for the blogs i am monitoring will work! I have plugged in the blog URL for each of the blogs, and I will see if it makes monitoring these blogs easier!

Quote of The Week

“I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man...”

-Mahatma Gandhi