Competition Success

Back in December I blogged that I had been shortlisted in the Galapagos Conservation Trust's International Photographic Competition. I was thrilled to find out that one of my entries won a spot in the 2011 Calender (July). Thanks very much if you voted for me! You can see all the winning pictures on the website.



My winning photo: Sanderling

You can order the calendar online by visiting the GCT's website. All profits from the sale of these items will go towards conservation in Galapagos

Wise Old Bird

I was lucky enough to meet some of these beautiful creatures in a recent visit to Longleat Forest. I have a bit of thing about Owls at the moment, may be I'll take some time to post some pictures of my recent owl-themed arts and crafts at some point!

New Web Site!!!!

I now have a website!! http://ktlindsayphotography.smugmug.com. This is my portfolio and a place to put specific projects I have worked on, there are password protected galleries for the commissions I get (and it also has an online store!)

This photo is in honour of my new website and is called "Breathe".

National Darwin Day

It's National Darwin Day so I feel I must post seeing how I've just been to the Galapagos. There are some nice things on the web I've noticed. Firstly I'm very impressed with Darwin on Twitter, and there are some nice articles on the BBC website, including this one with pieces of footage from the Galapagos. Of course the Galapagos feature prominently, touted that it was Darwin's observations of the Giant Tortoises and Finches here that influenced his theory of evolution. National Geographic however have published an interesting article saying that really it was his experiences in Argentina and a trove of fossils which gave him his initial musings. One of my photos is even being used to illustrate a story. Amongst all this news coverage however there are articles warning of the threat of tourism on this beautiful archipelago. Whilst it is still the best preserved in the World, if the tourism it is attracting continues the uniqueness of the Galapagos and its species will be lost forever.

I now feel a pang of guilt. I was one of those tourists, having been my dream for years to visit the Islands. My experience of tourism in the Galapagos was generally very positive. The guides were very clear as to how we should act - pulling people back if they strayed from the paths or too near the animals, making sure that only one or two boats visited an Island at any one point. It certainly didn't seem very touristy. Many of the Islands remain uninhabited, no shops, no cash points, no restaurants. We were hosed down every time we returned to the boat to ensure we didn't carry anything between the Islands and given talks on preservation and the impact of people, how measures were in place to ensure they were protected. Eco-education was the aim of this trip. But the figures are there: a four-fold increase in visitors in the last 20 years, and most worryingly an increase from 112 recorded alien species in 1900 to over 1,300 today. The aircraft cabins are sprayed before landing on Baltra but evidently some insects are getting through and causing havoc.

Shutting off the Islands to tourists could cause serious economic problems for Ecuador, but now it seems that a new balance must be found to ensure that the Galapagos remain as they should. I shamefully feel so lucky to have visited such an amazing place and understand first hand why it should be cared for.

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Photographs
1. Hood Mockingbird
2. Cactus Finch
3. A tourist boat in the Galapagos

Phone a Glacier?

Today a unique piece of art was unveiled by Katie Paterson which invites views to phone a glacier - in Iceland - to listen to it's "death throes", live via a submerged microphone. Callers can hear the splashes, creaks and groans as great masses of melting ice sheer off and crash into the water.

The melting glacier, Vatnajokull, is Europe’s largest glacier.

A house made of sticks

I made a dead wood stick pile in the garden at the weekend to entice friendly creepy crawlies. I think the sticks may be too small (just taken from some dead branches from part of a tree I hacked down), it's certainly not big enough to house a hedgehog, but hopefully some hoverflies, beetles and the odd bumble bee will move in to eat the bad insects.

More on Wildlife Gardening

Sundance

My own attempt at a eco-woman shot. I think this is my best picture yet and it's done really well on Flickr. It's made Flickr's Explore but I don't understand why it's not higher up with the amount of comments and favorites it's had - but who knows what the secret formulae is to get to that top position. Anyways I'm very happy with it, and it felt very nice and free taking it too!!

Five ways to save the world

At the moment the media is dominated by the catastrophe that is global warming. Documentaries are aired on TV every week and the Saturday night films have taken on an apocalyptic edge. It has become the no. 1 issue in the press and is front page news most weekends. Slowly but surely the fear of global warming is creeping into the consciousness of every single person in this country and the public are getting real. Driving has become the new smoking; energy saving light bulbs are the in accessory. Even though I’ve always been aware of this phenomena, knew it was a really big deal, even I have been taken a back at the rate that this issue has escalated so quickly in the public domain of late. And rightly so. It is serious. It is something we are going to witness in our life times, and it will be scary. However, despite the media coverage, the political turnings, the increased awareness, can we really rely on the human population to act quickly and strongly enough to reduce the effects of global warming on this planet?

Last night BB2 aired a documentary entitled Five Ways to Save the World in which five scientists said "no" to the above question and proposed five radical ideas that could save the world from global warming. As incredible and mind blowing as some of these ideas may seem these scientists are not cranks – they exist as some of the most revered and respected scientists of our time. Their solutions fall into two categories 1. to reduce the effect of the sun’s rays, and 2. to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

First up in team “Block Sun” we have Professor Roger Angel from Arizona, the designer of the world's largest telescope. He proposes to put a giant glass sunshade in space which will deflect a small percentage of the sun's rays back into space. Giving the planet some sunglasses so to speak. Alongside him we have the winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry for discovering the causes of the hole in the ozone layer; Dutch Professor Paul Crutzen. Crutzen suggests that we duplicate the effects of volcanic eruptions and create a man-made sulphur screen around the earth by firing hundreds of rockets loaded with tons of sulphur into the stratosphere. Potentially causing some acid rain and more holes in the ozone layer, but never the less effective in reducing temperatures. Also in the “Block Sun” corner we have a rather more environmentally friendly solution. British atmospheric physicist Professor John Latham and engineer Stephen Salter have designed a fleet of remote-controlled yachts. Which would would pump fine particles of sea water into the clouds, increasing the thickness and “shinyness” of the clouds thus reflecting the sun's rays.

Meanwhile, in the “Reduce CO2” team we have Sydney engineer Professor Ian Jones who proposes to feed the plankton that live in the sea with tons of fertiliser. This will make the plankton grow and absorb carbon dioxide from the air. And on a similar note we have New York-based Professor Klaus Lackner who has designed a machine to capture carbon dioxide. His plan is to locate them across the globe where they would suck in carbon dioxide, turning it into a powder. The plan is to then bury the carbon dioxide deep under the ocean in disused oil or gas fields.

Realistic roadmaps or fanciful flights - these ideas are being considered by scientists and governments worldwide who fear that the human race will never be able to unify to reduce carbon dioxide or do enough in the way of renewable energy. I'll continue doing my bit and I'm sure millions of other people will too, but is it getting to the stage where we have to ask ourselves; are we too deep in a post-environmental society to be able to tackel this in an enironmental way? At what point should we accept science as the only realistic solution we have left?

Nature's revenge

Permission to travel please

One thing that being part of the Flickr community has made me want to do is see more of the world. As I browse through the photos I mentally note down the beautiful places I wish to see with my own eyes, or the communities of people I want to try and understand. I have always loved travelling and I have been to some wonderful countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Malaysia, Egypt...), more than most perhaps, but they are just a few grains of sand in the Ecultural melting pot that is Planet earth. I do truely believe that it is a serious disadvantage not to be able to travel the world - experience worlds far removed and alien to our own. We make the cities and the streets that we traverse everyday our world; there is so much more to see, to understand, to shake up our micro perspectives. So many parts of the world are becoming inaccessible to us, places my Grandfather still tells me stories of - how I would love to float on the dead sea, see the wailing wall in Jerusulum, The Al Kadhimain Mosque in Bahgdad, Libya's deserts and Leptis Magna. It's likely that they will just remain stories. It's frustrating as I particularly like travelling in Muslim countries and communities, but now I have to think twice - even Egypt and Turkey come with a great big warning sign slapped across them. God I get so bored of the English. True there are some fantastic places to visit in the UK, places which give you an "experience" but it is just not the culture shock and mind altering thump that I crave. In the UK I go on holiday, the rest of the world I travel.

And of course there is the pollution issue. Sustainable travel is difficult. There are so many places I would give anything to see, anything other than my footprint (or carbon print) on that place.
I'm not quite convinced by Mr Blairs comments today defending long haul holidays. Of course I agree that foremost the big companies need to make travel more energy efficient, however this is not happening fast enough, Tony hasn't convinced me that there is enough being done for me not to feel guilty when I hop on a plane. I always carbon offset, but this isn't going to stop global warming and has had strong criticism from various environmental groups pointing out the difference between fossil carbon and biological carbon: "Telling people to plant trees is like telling them to drink more water to keep down rising sea levels.". However, I am sure that most of the hard core Greenies have travelled to far flung places and yet still preach of the evils of travel, would they if they hadn't fulfilled their ambitions to go somewhere different I wonder? It's a very complicated issue it seems, you can't push a Green agenda that tells people they can't have a good time and learn more, but you can't have a good time if there is no world left to have it in. I simply don't feel that I have seen enough of this planet, I itch to go to South America, India, Nepal, Japan . . . different cultures, different sounds, different tastes. I want to be in the photos that I see...So the idea flickering in and out of my head at the moment is to travel somewhere (boo) but to put back something into the place I travel to (yay!) - wildlife conservation trips for example (Go to Brazil and document the trees, or my favorite - go to South Africa and rehabilitate baby lions!), so become involved, not just another tourist. But is this just salving my conscience rather than solving a problem? I think my next journey will take a bit of planning.

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Links

The carbon shop: planting new problems
Treehugger.com

Baby you can drive my car...

I don't have a car. I can't drive. It is unlikely that I will ever have a car. I don't want one.



This is not to say I didn't once attempt to learn to drive. When I was 17 I had a go. Well more precisely I had a lot of lessons and failed my test. I hated driving, it was stressful. But I think my distaste was just my inner conscience telling me I'm not the type of girl who should be behind the wheel.

A few years on and with a greater environmental consciousness I remain unlicensed because firstly; I think there are too many cars on the roads, and secondly; I like the environment better with less cars. I don't want to be a hypocrit.

When I tell people I don't want to drive or own a car I'm generally met with a short bout of silence then one of three reactions:

1. Pity: "Oh my your poor thing, how can you possibly participate in modern life, let me offer you a lift." Quietly they are assuming there is something wrong with me: I'm either too poor to have a car, I have some kind of mental condition that stops me from driving, or shock horror, I've been banned for drink driving - best not to ask.

2. Fear: "Watch out for that one, she's a lentil chomping freak, bathes in recycled dishwater and is ready to chain herself to the local petrol station in protest of all fume emitting vehicles." The fearful folk react as if I've just announced I'm a local Taliban rep, not a non-driver.

3. Guilt: "Really, wow, that's so good of you. You know I keep meaning to give up my car, but little Jimmy has football practice on Tuesdays and it's a bit of a bus ride away, and I just don't know how I'd do the supermarket shop without it, it's just not practical you see." Addiction.

I don't ask for any of these reactions, not driving is just a personal choice I have made. I have no desire to force my opinions on others and I don't get a self-riotous glow from saying I don't own a car. I'm not churlish, if someone is going my way I'll accept a lift, and if at some point in my life I need to develop the skill to drive I will; but I still would rather not own a car. I like the environment with less fumes, I think people should drive less, but that's their choice and the government's responsibility to address.
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Recently I was told, "don't you think it's a bit selfish of you not to drive?"

I'm still trying to work that one out.

Above us only sky

I was wondering around Oxford yesterday and took this optical illusion type picture of Blackwell Publishers. I also took another one of one of the buildings in the science park area, my friends prefer that one but I beg to differ and prefer this.


With its bright blue skies and fluffy clouds you could easily mistake Oxford as a place of clear crisp air. However, just as the Human's Oxford lies in paradox to the scholar's fairy tale city (see previous post), the brightness of the skies here mask an unnerving reality. Oxford is officially the most "weezy" city in the UK, with its city centre inhabitants inhaling an equivilent of 61 cigerettes a day in traffic fumes (nitrogen oxide). In comparisson Marylebone Road, considered London's most polluted area, would only force the equivielnt of 30 ciggies into your lungs. The government's target for Nitrogen Oxide levels is equivalent to smoking 12 ciggarettes a day. 12 cigerettes a day! My mother would kill me! Makes you think doesn't it.


References
Brown, P. (2004) "Taking the Oxford Air Adds up to 60-a-day Habbit" The Guardian (August 24th, 2004).
Available: http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,1846007,00.html

In the Jungle

There are some things that a picture just can not do justice to. The enormousity and depths of the rainforst is one of these things. Pictures just can not capture the sounds, the smells and visual sensations of the jungle, it is one of those things that one could term sublime, awe inspiring.

Its always been one of my dreams to go to a rainforst. Earlier this year I was lucky enough to spend 4 days in the heart of the Taman Negara rainforest on mainland Malaysia. Scientists believe that the Taman Negara is the world's oldest rainforst, untouched by the glaciers from ice age, staying the same for almost 130 million years (in comparission the Amazon is said to be 10 million years old). Because of this it exists as one of most diverse habitations in the world with more than 350 species of birds, 14000 species of plants, and 210 species of mammals, and new ones being discovered all the time.

Despite this Malaysia's deforestation rate is accelerating faster than that of any other tropical country in the world, according to data from the United Nations. Analysis of figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that Malaysia's annual deforestation rate jumped almost 86 percent between the 1990-2000 period and 2000-2005. In total, Malaysia lost an average of 140,200 hectares — 0.65 percent of its forest area — per year since 2000. Declining forest cover in Malaysia results primarily from urbanization, agricultural fires, and forest conversion for oil-palm plantations and other forms of agriculture. What's more, to meet Kyoto protocol commitments, governments are trying to palm off (excuse the pun) biomass as fuels (biofuel) as a solution to climate change. Biofuels are mostly carbon neutral, and switching from fossil fuels to biodiesel is promoted as a solution to climate change. Rainforests will be threatened by increased demand for agricultural products to be raised on once forested lands, and by use of forest biomass as a fuel. An unregulated rush to biofuels will lead to more natural rainforest loss and fragmentation, increased pressures upon endangered primary forests, and more monoculture, herbicide laden and genetically modified tree plantations.

The governments of Europe and America need to acknowledge the ways in which they contribute to deforestation and stop them. Firstly There will be no chance to stop impoverishment of people and the destruction of nature in these nations without a solution to the debt crisis. The five countries with the largest rainforest areas are also among the world's most heavily indebted countries, and pressure to cut and clear the rainforests to finance debt repayment has intensified. The conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund often force heavily indebted countries to sell their natural resources far in excess of sustainable exploitation. The Debt Burden is a symptom of the global economic system which enables overdeveloped countries to exploit poor countries and consume the world's resources at an unsustainable rate. Any lasting solution to the problem of tropical deforestation requires an end to the present suicidal overconsumption and obsession with economic growth in the West.

I was sat on the other side of the Tamen Negara looking at this wonderful expanse of rainforest. My guide told me that all of the land on that side of the river had been bought by a palm oil company. Within 5 years there would be no rainforest there at all.

Useful References
http://news.mongabay.com/

Elephants

Elephant, Malaysia.

I thought I'd blog this photo first as it is one of the ones that has rated highly on "interestingness" on Flickr. I took this photo in Malaysia when I visited an elephant sanctuary. The sanctuary was about 3 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. Its purpose is to take in elephants that have been rescued from captivity or removed from the rainforest where they were casuing lots of damage to the local plantations and were in threat of being shot by the farmers. Whilst the sanctuary looked after the elephants and aimed to re-release them into the wild (often in Thailand where they had more rainforest to wonder around in), they had to make money. Of course they did this from tourism. This involved tourists paying to come and feed the elephants, ride the elephants and have a bath with the elephants. Elephants were chained to the floor or a keeper to keep them from roaming. It was amazing being able to get so close to these magnificent creatures - they are like big breathing wrinkly rocks, but I couldn't help but feel uneasy by their chains. This photo was taken whilst a baby elephant was lying down being washed by his keeper.