Number 85 - To see a tree asmiling.

Hi Danon. Is it just the two of us?

I think so sumac, but there are many clickers who don't post - after all I'm not all that interesting. However, you do post good articles and people read them but don't post. Keep it up. The National save a tree number is still growing. So, people are still clicking.

Good clicking all you non-posters, Thanks for saving another tree today.

Thanks for all the great clicks all Wildclickers...............

Ditto all the above.

Tigers could be extinct in 12 years if unprotected

By IRINA TITOVA, Associated Press
2 hrs 24 mins ago

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching, global wildlife experts told a "tiger summit" Sunday.
The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, a dramatic plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.
James Leape, director general of the World Wildlife Fund, told the meeting in St. Petersburg that if the proper protective measures aren't taken, tigers may disappear by 2022, the next Chinese calendar year of the tiger.
Their habitat is being destroyed by forest cutting and construction, and they are a valuable trophy for poachers who want their skins and body parts prized in Chinese traditional medicine.
The summit approved a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 backed by governments of the 13 countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.
The Global Tiger Recovery Program estimates the countries will need about $350 million in outside funding in the first five years of the 12-year plan. The summit will be seeking donor commitments to help governments finance conservation measures.
"For most people tigers are one of the wonders of the world," Leape told The Associated Press. "In the end, the tigers are the inspiration and the flagship for much broader efforts to conserve forests and grasslands."
The program aims to protect tiger habitats, eradicate poaching, smuggling, and illegal trade of tigers and their parts, and also create incentives for local communities to engage them in helping protect the big cats.
The summit, which runs through Wednesday, is hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has used encounters with tigers and other wild animals to bolster his image. It's driven by the Global Tiger Initiative which was launched two years ago by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
Leape said that along with a stronger action against poaching, it's necessary to set up specialized reserves for tigers and restore and conserve forests outside them to let tigers expand.
"And you have to find a way to make it work for the local communities so that they would be partners in tigers conservation and

Oye...Sunday football and my Niners haven't scored a point...very unusual when playing at home...

Weathers been rough...cold, rainy, snow, sleet, hail...dang brrr!

sue, haven't received a notification of posting from this thread. sigh

Reading though.

Dan, hope all is well in NE Texas. Stay warm y'll.

sue, said weather in your neck of the woods is pretty rough also.

Hope all the wildclickers health, safety, and good traveling.

November 21, 2010

Tigers Need Conservation, Not Conversation

By STEVEN GALSTER

BANGKOK — Over the past decade, poachers have halved Asia’s population of tigers and are zeroing in now on the remaining, scattered 3,200. And what is the global conservation community doing to help? Doing what it does best: calling a meeting.

Conservation is turning into conversation. The International Tiger Forum being held in St. Petersburg is a case in point. Hundreds of participants from more than a dozen countries are gathered there for the seventh meeting in two years to discuss the plight of the critically endangered tiger. The well-intentioned event will result in a “St. Petersburg Declaration” to save the tiger, and a pitch to donors for a lot of money. Meanwhile, poachers and traffickers will continue to kill and smuggle more tigers.

The conversation needs to close. Any meeting that spends another minute or dollar in the name of tiger conservation should focus on expanding front-line wildlife protection, strengthening laws against wildlife crooks and enforcing the global ban on commercial tiger trading.

The St. Petersburg meeting, to be fair, does present an opportunity. Hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, with support from World Bank President Robert Zoellick, the forum is expected to finalize a “Global Tiger Recovery Program” with the goal of doubling the population of wild tigers by 2022.

But the program has problems: The $350-million-dollar price tag is unlikely to attract sufficient investment before the wild tiger population is further decimated. And even if someone does pick up the tab, the plan is doomed because it ignores important historical lessons that live on in Russia and Thailand.

In the early 1990s, in Russia’s Far East, a small group of people (including me) launched “Inspection Tiger,” an anti-poaching brigade. The Siberian tiger was being hammered as traffickers slipped carcasses of big cats, bears and other commercially sought animals under the recently lifted Iron Curtain to China and other countries.

We formed a coalition of small nongovernmental organizations to help local authorities put the squeeze on syndicates by spo

I've been having a hard time copying the end of articles, so people will have to use their imaginations. I also forgot to click yesterday so hope there were others to pull up the slack.

Weather here has been moderate and we're expecting some rain for Thanksgiving and Friday. Then a blast of Canadian air will come down.

sumac, I did in fact click an extra few times yesterday - so - there ya go. Thanks for staying in there and saving at least a tree each day.

Stradee, glad to see ya. Welcome your input at least on days that count. We have saved another tree today - and one yesterday - and the day before and the day before. ETC.............

It counts.

Dan, i've been so busy and really rely on a2k notifications that i've not received for a few weeks now.

Preparing for the holiday, my fav of the year, shopping n' cooking' n new recipes to try out. Received a new magazine from a program on PBS called "Cook's Country" and am checking out variation recipes for roasted carrots! Fennel, almonds, rosemary, parsnips, Shallots with lemon lime...and how to bake to crisp without burning the hell outta the carrots. Simple and easy, ya just cover the pan with tin foil for half of the cook time...and why didn't i think of that!!!

After years of trying to figure out mom's bread pudding recipe, i found it!!! Was sitting in her recipe box (given to me after mom passed) and i cannot wait to try all the stuff my grandmother and mom prepared that mom actually wrote on recipe cards! Thanks mom!!

Garlic mashed potatoes to die for...and manicotti filling rolled in cooked lasagne noodles. Cooking the old fashioned way again and luvin' every minute.

Hope you all have a good, safe Thanksgiving day.

Dan, Sierra trees smilin' with all the new Fall weather we've been having. Storm hit a few days ago...snow, rain...and by Thanksgiving we should see sunny skies till the weekend when the weather happens all over again.

So happy the droughts over!!!

Thanks Stradee --- I have in my limited memory the most delicious and best tasting pie in the world. It was my g-great grandmothers's recipe. I make it each year and gets a lot of WOW's..............

Thanks for staying with us............

sumac, great article.............

Thank you.

Together we have - all Wildclickers - saved several Rain Forest trees today...........

Thanks to all.............

Hi Stradee, glad the trees were smiling - I bet they are cold now. Looks like you have some really shivery weather.

It's been close to 80 here for the past couple of days and close to 70 at night. However, the forecast is for freezing temps after that for a couple of nights and much cooler days......... Really funny weather these days.

Wow, summer temps for NE Texas!

Yep, weathers freezing...have all the water spouts wrapped...and Tahoes gotten over 80 feet of new snow at higher elevations...ski resorts opening for Thanksgiving! The storm was huge!

Sunshine today for a few hours, and tomorrow and Thursday we get another weather break...but for the weekend they're be more rain and snow. Tomorrow last minute shopping for dinner, then baking pies. Luv the season.

Gonna fight the crowds Black Friday (for the very first time in my life) but figure a new vacuum's worth the hassle. Have a few wonderful little grandkids to shop for also...plus

Better wear a flack jacket Stradee.......... But, if you get what you want and/or need ittle be worth it. (just made up a word - hehe)

On the news today it looks like the rain has moved in already....... and still cold. Keep the head covered and the neck warm when you go out.

Take care and thanks for helping to make a tree smile.

Stradee, I did a Black Friday once at 3 am at Walmarts (after scouting out the locations of the items I wanted) and got everything. Go to the big expensive items first. It can be done and it wasn't particularly stressful.

All clicked for today, which is a lovely day with average 62 degree temps after a record breaker yesterday of 77. Friday will be an all day rain event. Hurray!

Bit warmer today, but still cold outside.

Thatta be 80 inches of snow...and yep...beautiful first day ski opener.

Well, decided not to do the Black Friday thingy...found a vacuum cleaner today for the right price. Happy shopper Stradee is

Have a marvelous Thanksgiving, stay warm, and enjoy the day.

Dan, after seeing what the stores were like today, decided nuh uh...can wait till after Christmas sales begin.

Pie baking aroma innundating the house

ovember 24, 2010

Bless the Orange Sweet Potato

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

As we all prepare to gain a few pounds over Thanksgiving, I promise not to be a buzz kill wagging my finger about starva ... well, never mind. You see, this is that rarest of birds: a happy column about hunger.

And our hero, appropriate for this season, is a high-tech and heroic version of the vitamin-packed, orange-fleshed sweet potato. Along with a few other newly designed foods, it may help save hundreds of thousands of children’s lives each year.

If there’s any justice in the world, statues may eventually be erected of this noble root, the Mother Teresa of the dinner plate. But, first, the back story. We think of starvation as a shortage of calories, but researchers are finding that the biggest reason people die of malnutrition is simply lack of micronutrients.

Without enough zinc, children die of diarrhea. Without enough iron, children are anemic and women die in childbirth. Without enough vitamin A, small children often go blind or die. More than one-third of African preschoolers lack vitamin A, and hundreds of thousands die as a result. (Americans get enough vitamin A because of a more varied diet and fortified foods.)

Unicef and other aid organizations like Helen Keller International have been working frantically to distribute vitamin A capsules and iron and zinc supplements in poor countries, or to fortify foods with minerals and vitamins. But it’s a long, hard slog. A vitamin A capsule costs only a couple of cents, but delivering the capsules to remote villages can cost as much as $1 each.

So a decade ago scientists began experimenting with a different approach: What if they tinkered with crops so that they naturally contained iron, zinc or vitamin A?

And that’s where our hero, the sweet potato, comes in.

Orange sweet potatoes on our Thanksgiving tables are full of beta carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A. But our sweet potatoes don’t grow well in Africa. Africans eat an estimated seven million tons of sweet potatoes a year, but theirs are white ones that lack vitamin A.

So scientists cross-bred sweet potatoes until they came up with vitamin A-rich orange varieties that grow well in Africa. Hard-bitten health specialists go weak-kneed over them.

More than 170,000 Ugandan and Mozambiquan families are now growing these sweet potatoes. And the sweet potato is just the first of a number of crops that have been bred or engineered to address micronutrient deficiencies. This mix of agriculture and nutrition is called biofortification, and it’s one of the hot words in the global poverty lexicon.

Also in the works are rice and wheat packed with zinc, pearl millet and beans with iron, bright orange corn and golden cassava that give people vitamin A. These crops are all in various stages of testing by HarvestPlus, a nonprofit based in Washington. The alliance is financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, aid agencies from Canada, Britain and the United States, and the aim is to produce cheap seeds in the public domain.

“Biofortification is slow, but it has a huge impact in the end,” said Howarth Bouis, director of HarvestPlus. One of the questions, though, is this: Will rural Africans want to eat orange sweet potatoes? Iron and zinc don’t change the color or taste of foods, but foods that produce vitamin A are often an unearthly orange.

While the crops backed by HarvestPlus are all conventionally bred, other crops have been genetically engineered. The best known is “golden rice”: scientists plucked genes from daffodils and corn to come up with rice that produces vitamin A. Gerard Barry of the International Rice Research Institute said it is now in trials and, if widely accepted around the world, could be a huge step in reducing child deaths and blindness.

“It has to be a game-changer,” Dr. Barry said of biofortification. I met him at a conference in Washington on biofortification this month; also in attendance were scientists working on genetically engineered (and bright orange) bananas that provide vitamin A and on canola oil salad dressing that naturally brims with omega-3 fish oil.

There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical. No battle against poverty goes smoothly, or as planned. And the European left’s sad hostility to scientific tinkering with crops may slow acceptance of biofortification. If that hostility gains ground, it will be harder to save children from blindness and death.

But, so far, the science is promising. It may turn out that one of the best ways to save children’s lives, or to save women in childbirth, doesn’t involve doctors but rather high-tech seeds.

Children have been dying for lack of vitamin A, iron and zinc for thousands of generations. These new seeds may finally help end the scourge of starvation in this century, on our watch. And that’s a special reason to give thanks.

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