Trying to Make a difference

Let’s all help out

After my last post I decided that I should put forth a donation, because honestly the situations are bad, and WildAid seems to be the only organization coming up with ideas that are worth a second look. If I ever hear the words “tiger farm” again I fear for the person who uttered them, because that is the epitome of what you could call…a bad idea. For every person that speaks such madness, there is a person that tries to make a true difference, who doesn’t stand to benefit from his sacrifice. I would like to be that person. I want to be the person that, in his own way makes a difference no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time. I do understand that I am one person, but the fact is they need all the help they can get and one times a thousand is a huge difference, so I am in my own way making a difference by being a part of the bigger picture. You all could be a part of the difference too. I’m not asking you all to do anything drastic. I don’t want you to sell your bodies or empty your bank accounts. There are many ways to make a difference.

The simple things

I would like to challenge you all to make a difference in your own little way as I plan to do. One way to make a huge difference is by simply spreading the word. You have friends, I have friends, and I have a blog trying to reach out to more people than I normally could. This feat could be accomplished by simply making a Facebook status that alludes to WildAid; a website, a statement, anything to get more people interested. The more people whose interest we can grab the more opposition against the trade that is slowly tearing apart ecosystems worldwide. That is our goal, well my goal at least, and I would hope some of yours by now too. You can pass this information by word of mouth. Mention it to your friends, family, and peers. If everyone told five people about WildAid’s cause, their support would grow exponentially. This is especially important for followers of this blog, because I don’t know about you, but I had never seen a WildAid ad until I began to personally look into the organization.

Other ways to help

It is of course possible for you all to do as I plan to do and make donations to the organization. They have plenty of options to make it easy and affordable for almost everyone. The only stipulation is that the donation can be no less than $10. If you could skip a movie, or a little fast food every once in a while you could make a donation a month. They have options to where you can have $10 deducted straight from your paycheck into their fund, and straight into the field, making you a constant contributor to their cause. They also except aid in the form of specific skill such as creative services such as video editing and flash design; assets such as photographs or film footage to be used in WildAid PSAs; media space and equipment are also welcome and appreciated. So for those of you with creative, or technological talents there’s an opportunity for you to assist them in your own specific way. For a full list of in-kind needs you can contact donate@wildaid.org.

Why should you donate?

Besides the hundreds of animals dying each year that desperately need our aid to survive all donations are tax deductable to the “fullest extent of the law.” Your donations are processed and sent straight to the field. WildAid practices transparent accounting that allows you to see where all their money ends up, as it should be. They allow you to donate in memory of loved ones or events to recognize the important things in your life while you make a difference elsewhere. To find a complete list of ways you can donate please visit http://www.wildaid.org/index.asp?CID=6. That link will take you straight to their donation page where you can find all the information necessary to make a contribution if you see fit as I do.

Tiger "Assistance"

What’s really going on with tigers?

I’ve recently found more disturbing news on the tiger situation, and honestly I’m seething with anger simply reading about the new atrocities being thought of by capitalists claiming to be trying to “save the tigers.” I believe this is new but It could just be
my first time hearing about it, but apparently there has been talk of establishing tiger farms. Yes…tigers would be bred and raised and then “culled” for their body parts.

Culled – to collect, gather, or pluck.

Yes…tigers are now akin to chickens, pigs, and cows… I am completely outraged. Their plan is not to stop killing the tigers…but to build establishments where the sole purpose is to grow and kill tigers, saying that it will “reduce the pressure on wild tigers from poaching,” says Terry Anderson the executive director of Property and Environment Research Center, a non-governmental organization that looks at market based approaches to conservation. Basically, they want to make money…which is obviously the problem we’re having now.

I guess this is what capital conservationist call good living, I mean their going to be slaughtered anyway right?

This idea was brought up by, who else but, owners of China’s tiger breeding centers that have remained open as tourists attractions since China banned the trade of tiger parts in 1993.

Anderson states that,”there are ways to capitalize on the value of these animals and conserve them.” Why must these animals hold monetary value? Why can’t they be left alone? Why must humans always make money even if it come to butchering an innocent animal for its skin and genitalia alone? Breeding centers have been pushing for the legalization of tiger farms, but thank goodness there is some right minded man at the top of the ladder, Keshav Varma, who believes that this is honestly just not worth it. He states "too great a gamble for the world to take. We cannot know for sure if tiger farming will work. And if it does not work the downside risks are just too high-- irreversible harm." He’s right, we can’t be sure that just because we have a market for tigers that the poaching will stop. It could increase poaching and the theft of tigers from the wild to produce more product to be sold. My hat is off you sir. Please keep fighting the good fight. If you’d like to know more about the tiger trade and farming operations please visit http://www.endtigertrade.org . It has a plethora of information about this latest development and the illegal tiger trade in general.

What’s really being done to save the tigers?

Now that I’m beyond all the farfetched plans to supposedly save the tigers, let’s get to some actual initiative. Jackie Chan is the current spokes person for WildAid and the tigers, the equal to Yao Ming and his sharks.

Jackie Chan is a bit more talkative that Ming, and even though he’s a bit pressed on his English skills he gets his point across. The idea to use Jackie Chan seems like genius to me seeing as he is one of the most popular movie and kung fu icons to ever hit the big screen, and is known internationally. So although we know his English isn’t as pristine as it could be he’s a face we all know, love, and through much practice understand.

Just thought I’d add one more video, just because it’s so cool.

Other than these videos, and trust me there are plenty of videos to go around, there has already been a ban on illicit tiger products in China that I mentioned earlier that has dramatically reduced the pressure on wild tiger populations in the area. WildAid has also joined a coalition of 35 environmental, zoo and animal protection groups and created a four minute video to persuade China to continue to support the fight for tigers by not lifting the ban on the trade of tiger product. WildAid’s president Steve Trent believes that it is pertinent that this ban stay active stating,” If China lifts its ban, it will make it open season on tigers in the wild..... By keeping the ban, China will demonstrate its continued commitment and global leadership for tiger conservation." Even though there are still poachers preying on tigers in the wild, keeping this ban is a major step in being able to prosecute those caught breaking the law and trading illegal tiger products. The higher risk could be a great way to dissuade many poachers out of the business.

Poor Tigers

The Problem

Tigers are being hunted to extinction, and not enough people really seem to care. The range of all tigers is now only 7% of what it used to be, and in the past decade the area known to be occupied by tigers has dropped 41%. They’ve completely disappeared from Western Asia, and now roam in isolated pockets on the continent, leaving their range fragmented. The largest population of tiger, the Bengal tiger, is suspected to have dropped 60% in the past decade leaving less than 2000 Bengal tigers in total, and some subspecies of tiger have already gone extinct. As I’ve said they are forecasted to be completely extinct in 12 years give or take, meaning that there is a possibility some of us will have children that don’t even know what a tiger is, unless they include them in a history book titled “What we did to ruin the Planet” or we all have children next year. But then again, who would write that book? It would be longer than the bible and a new edition would have to be released once every six months, because we’re just that bad, so you all better get busy…really busy.

Why are the tigers being killed?

My answer…because humans are horrible creatures. The real answer is a combination of over hunting caused by the unlawful buying and selling of animal goods that is causing all of the tigers to be killed. Poachers are hunting tigers to extinction to skin them for rugs, and sell them to the highest bidder reaching to up around sixty five thousand dollars! Another rather odd commodity is male tigers being killed for poachers to harvest their; brace yourself….penises. Yes, that’s right, some demented people over in China feel that they should consume tiger penises in some form or another. Soups, energy bars, smoothies, all sorts of things. They believe that it’s a natural aphrodisiac, the last thing one of the most populated countries in the world needs. So while they make love on their new tiger skin rugs, the tigers population is steadily declining.

Tigers are also being threatened by the original vice we humans took to cope to with sharing a planet with other living, breathing things, to destruction of the world’s rainforests. As the forests grow smaller the tigers and their prey have less space to roam, less room to live. This destroys both their safety of shelter, and their food source at once, leaving them completely helpless, not a good position to one of the world’s top predators.

So who is to blame?

That’s a wonderful question! A little bit of everyone to be honest…you, me, your mothers, fathers, and the like. That of course is a part of my not being a part of the solution philosophy but honestly anyone that buys and sells illegal animal products is to blame. It is also possible many of us live in places that are responsible for the obliteration of the world’s rainforests, the US being an especially active participant in that practice.

Top Culprits

I’m sure this will be a surprise to the majority of you but behind China, the US is a huge advocate (not as a country of course but select individuals) of the illegal wildlife trade as stated by Peter Knights.

“Right now in stores and homes all across the United States, people are doing things, which are causing these places to be destroyed, animals to be destroyed. I mean the United States is probably the second largest importer of wildlife after China and in many cases we have things like turtle eggs for example. We do have things like rhino horn occasionally, and tiger pelts often find their way into the homes of those that can afford it.”

So our country is far from innocent, with our rich risking to import the illegal pelts to furnish the floors in front of their fireplaces. Between the US, buying for glamour, and Chinese buying for the prospect of gaining increased vitality the poachers have enough demand to supply for years to come. The only problem is there are not enough tigers left to endure this slaughter and in this case a will does not equal a way.

Dying to eat shark fins.

Changes

Alright guys, so it’s time I made some changes to the format of my blogs. Why? You ask. Because it’s hard keeping my mind focused long enough to produce some sort of quality literary production of the length that I’m aiming for. I am telling you all this, because basically…I need to know if you like it, rather you approve, or should it be scrapped. Personally I think this will make it easier for everyone to follow my rants, those of the future obviously. But, now that that’s all out of the way I’m sure you’re all interested in some sharks…well at least I hope so because that’s what I’m talking about.

What’s going on with the sharks?

I’m glad you all asked! Because I was ready to tell you, but before I do, let me ask you what is shark fin soup worth to you? That was completely rhetorical of course because if your answer is anything that isn’t akin to “nothing” then you honestly shouldn’t be here. I ask this because some peoples answer is their lives. Yes, that is correct eating shark fin soup now a days can be hazardous to your health, and the worst part of it all is that some people don’t care. It has been recently unearthed that shark fins must be prepared in a cocktail of hazardous chemicals before consumption. Among this roster of delightfully deadly concoctions are industrial grade hydrogen peroxide and ammonia, two things that I’m sure say “Do Not Eat” on the bottles, but then again you shouldn’t eat the shark fins either. To add insult to injury if the shark fins aren’t poisoned, they’re not real! Turns out that shark fins are tasteless. Yes a whole species of animal is being threatened for their tasteless cartilage, and because of this shark fin vendors and restaurant owners sometimes include fake shark fins made of fish glue in their soup. Makes me wonder why they don’t sell all fake shark fins and at least save a few animals.

According to the WildAid article this bleaching process is necessary for the shark fins to be sold and made into shark fin soup. There is a video including an interview of those who do the actual bleaching but it isn’t in English so I think I’ll pass on showing you all that, but here’s the dialog involved between the reporter and a shark fin factory worker.

“Reporter: Aren't these shark fins poisonous?
Worker: There's no other way. It's for the riches anyway.
It's non of our business.
The riches most likely take drugs anyway. There's no other way.
Reporter: Does your boss know these are poisoned?
Worker: Everybody know

s.”

If threats of death aren’t enough to quell your voracious shark fin appetites then I don’t know what else there is. The wealthy of Asian countries have always been an adventurous bunch though, eating things like blowfish because they KNOW they could die, it makes eating…exciting I suppose. I’ll stick to my more non-toxic food though.

What is being done about it?

Well that’s the million dollar question isn’t it? There is plenty being done about it on a national level, but it is a difficult situation to end. It depends on the reaction of the people to media the actual passing of legislation, and the willingness of those who purchase the fins to, well, stop purchasing them. Currently WildAid is focusing on putting a damper on demand, so that suppliers will have no need to restock. If this works, when the fins are no longer selling the sharks will have an actual chance at life. They have enlisted China born NBA star, Yao Ming, to attempt to reach out to the Asian countries, primarily China, one of the top shark fin consuming countries world-wide.

You see that? By Ming simply pushing away his cup o’ soup he completed decimated the shark fin trade. If everyone sees this commercial everything will be alright! I wish it were that easy, but along with the awareness campaigns via video WildAid is also utilizing guerilla marketing in the subways of china.

This is my favorite; it’s a shark being shot, and what is that at the center of the shattered glass? That’s right a coin. If you spend one cent on the illegal wildlife trade you might as well have killed the animal yourself. If you’re not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.

Poor Sharks

Where should I begin? The sharks…are dying! Okay, there, it’s all out in the open now. Whew, that feels better. Now…the question is what are we going to do about it? “Nothing” you say? “Because they eat people,” you add? Well, I’m not here to go into detail about how us humans are encroaching upon their marine territory, trying to claim their rightful habitat as our own. Nor will I mention the fact that we jump into the water flailing and wallowing around like seals, their natural prey. How dare they get confused by these willing intruders that have appeared in their rightful home resembling their dinner. In reality the “Jaws” hype of killer sharks is completely unwarranted, considering that being killed by a shark is far less likely than being struck by lightning or being killed by a pet dog in your neighborhood, with less than one person being killed by a shark per year, and most attacks being non-fatal exploratory bites. So do they really deserve this? :

I don’t think so, and neither does WildAid. That is why they began the “Say no to Shark Fin Soup” campaign to protect the sharks from who else but us, mankind. We’ve hunted these animals to near extinction, the great white shark being especially close to termination with less than 3500 great whites left in the wild. Studies suggest that tigers are more numerous than great whites at this time, due to the public stigma against these oh so “dangerous” creatures.

Some people are already on board with this campaign, Hawaii being the first state to put a legal ban on shark fin. This makes them the global leader of shark conservation.

Global - pertaining to the whole world; worldwide; universal

That’s right…the US’s fourth smallest state is the WORLDWIDE leader of the conservation of an animal that resides all over the planet. They’re ranked higher than countries all over the globe; a fact that they know all too well. “Globally shark catches are unregulated and unsustainable. The shark fin trade is completely unregulated worldwide. This is a first step in giving sharks a future,” says Stefanie Brendl of Shark Alliance. Sharks have been around for around 400 million years, and are their future is being threatened by a race to which they outdate by over 100 thousand years. A whole species is being destroyed, all for a tasteless piece of flesh.

WildAid is putting its best foot forward to abolish the shark fin trade. They are constantly fishing for international cooperation for this cause, looking to sign treaties and international agreements for shark protection. They’re putting forward money to assist marine reserves that are protecting specific species of sharks. They have elevated the international profile and highlighted the importance of globally conserving sharks as a whole since the year 2000. They have achieved finning legislation in the European union, international protection for two shark species, and a significant decrease in shark fin consumption in Asian Countries. They are currently focusing on Central and South America, that’s right in our backyard, which are major sources of shark finning. They are also continuing their primary attack against the consumer base of this vile industry to reduce demand for said product, but will it work?

With less than 3500 great whites left in the wild, and other species facing a 99% decline, it’s now or never. WildAid is doing all that they can, but they can not do it alone. The sharks are fighting for their lives and its time that we fight too. We must fight back before we lose a vital part of our surroundings. Sharks are key players in the marine ecosystem, and the destruction of their population can, and will eventually, end in complete and utter disaster.

What is WildAid up to?

I’m back again, this time to bring you all pertinent information about the WildAid offensive. WildAid has taken the responsibility of protecting hundreds of animal species, and their influence is now being felt around the globe. I am going to present to you all their two largest campaigns that also happen require the most aid, so that you all may decide if you should support their causes. I, personally, think that we should all put some effort into protecting the world around us. If you feel the same I will also inform you all how you can make a difference for WildAid, the animals, yourself, and everyone else that inhabit this planet that doesn’t understand just how important this all is. Shark and tiger species are both critically endangered and face extinction relatively soon, if this isn’t a call for action I don’t know what is. These animals deserve a chance at life, they deserve to be protected, and we can make that happen, but will we?

The sharks of oceans nationwide are facing extinction due to the illegal wildlife trade, great whites especially. Their numbers have dwindled greatly over the last decade. Great white sharks date back 407 million years and now their numbers have possibly dwindled below 90% of their population in the past, but truly accurate numbers are very difficult to come by, but it is speculated that less than four thousand remain on the planet. The main causes of sharks becoming endangered are unregulated trade, and excessive hunting, by humans of course. Due to the public reputation of sharks though, it’s hard to get sympathy from many people, due to the fact that they believe a shark is but a killing machine that lives to feed upon human flesh. For this campaign to work it is necessary for this stigma against sharks to disappear. Until it does, people won’t feel the sharks are “worth” saving, because we get to decide that kind of thing.

Tigers on the other hand are loved by people all around the world myself included. As I told you all they’re part of the reason I chose this non profit from the beginning. Maybe they’re loved too much (voted world’s favorite animal in a poll conducted by Animal Planet) if there is such a thing. Maybe they’re too pretty or something, I’m not sure, but whatever it is it is getting many of them killed. Tiger species are in a lot of danger, threatened to go extinct within 12 years according to WWF or the World Wildlife Fund if things are allowed to continue on the path that they currently follow, with tiger populations dropping by 95% in the past few decades. Tiger populations face nearly the same issues as sharks including unregulated and illicit trade, excessive hunting, and also a loss of habitat. All this information bothers me really, due to my affinity for this amazing animal, but if some people feel that it is better used for food or furniture by all means, who am I to complain? No one, but I’m going to complain anyway and hopefully build a legion of fellow complainers to help me out.

It baffles me how one of the world’s most hated animals and the world’s most loved animal share the same fate, but the sad fact is that they do, and we’re the cause. Other humans, people just like us, are gallivanting around the world deciding if an animal deserves to breathe another day based on how they can make money using what makes the animals unique. The things that make this planet beautiful are all being destroyed, simply to put cash in someone’s pocket. These species need our help, and as much of it that we are able, and willing to give. That’s the broad scope of things, and the worst part is there are other people, who are once again, just like us that fuel this horrible industry by spending money to buy these ill gotten goods. They eat them and use their skin to furnish their homes, not worried about the repercussions of destroying a whole species of animal one fin or skin at a time. So as WildAid says, “When the buying stops, the killing can too.”

The National Geographic PT. 2

Hello all I’m back again, and as I stated last week this blog will not be about WildAid. Sad, I know seeing as we were just starting to get somewhere; the ice had been broken and it was time for some real deal exploration and expounding. Speaking of expounding, this blog might be somewhat shorter than the rest for the simple fact that I believe that I may have expounded a little too much in my last blog about The National Geographic, or I don’t completely understand the assignment of which I am trying to complete. I believe it is the latter, but no matter, let’s begin.

The National Geographic is a great magazine, and I believe you all should check one out next time you’re at a Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, any store of the like if you’re into that sort of thing. It provides its readers with a great experience, but its audience is very specific. Now, that my endorsement is over, in my last blog I mentioned about what I thought the audience of this magazine might want. I think that I was pretty spot on, but I do believe that there’s a possibility that I may have missed a point or two; okay just one. Along with wanting to be taken on a journey with their reading experience, I failed to mention that the readers want to be educated. They want to learn about the things that they can’t walk around and see. A lot of the smaller articles are about things that most people would know very little about, and they are just used so introduce some interesting facts that you might want to research on your own time a little later. I believe that the smaller articles are something like teasers so you can pick and choose where you educate yourself, while the featured article include almost everything you would ever need to know about a subject while showing you pictures.

I have noticed that the paragraph lengths do not change very much between featured articles and non-featured articles, but the length of the article varies greatly (from one to two paragraphs to 26 whole pages). This goes to show that they expound to the same degree but over a much more narrow scope, so no matter rather you read a smaller article or a full length one you are being both interested, educated, and taken to a place to expand the horizons of your thoughts.

Into the Fray! Programs

Sadly I think I may have to end my “Into the Fray!” series a wee bit earlier than expected, and focus on some of these programs that I’ve been reading about. There is a very expansive amount of information residing in the “Programs” section of the website and I believe that it deserves more of my attention than I had, at first, planned to allot it. I will still try to explain some of the other sections to the best of my ability on such short notice (I’m trying to stay on somewhat of a timeline), but then I’m going to spend a lot of time simply discussing a few of the programs that WildAid is hosting, considering that that is the meat of the imperative information on the site. Also, I can inform you all, now, that I am required to upload a post about the magazine I am reading (The National Geographic) at some point next month, so there is a good chance that that will replace me post on WildAid next week. The WildAid post will continue promptly after that post has been taken care of, now on to the topic at hand. I will go ahead and list the other sections of the site and give you all a little information about them, and you can deliberate upon rather you believe you should pay more attention to them or not (my view is probably about to get a little more focused in the near future).

Beyond the “Program” section there resides the Awareness Campaigns, News & Events, Take Action, Store, Donate, and Contact areas of the site. Store, Donate, and Contact are pretty self explanatory; Spend your money, give your money, or request their time…it’s that simple. The Take Action area is actually pretty interesting/ useful but it doesn’t take very much time to explain. It lists opportunities for jobs, internships, tells you how exactly to help, has a recruit-a-friend area, tells you how to be more aware of illegal wildlife trade, and lists how to make yourself useful to cause(on second thought I may come back to this, it’s starting to look more promising). News & Events allows you to see what’s been going on in the WildAid community. Anything that WildAid has been reported in, wildlife updates, and there’s a newsletter archive but it hasn’t been updated recently (in the last two months). Interested in the recent events? This is where you go. Finally on to the programs…

The “Programs” basically lists every area, animal, and country that WildAid is currently involved with. Those are: China, India, The Galapagos, Indonesia, Canada, Sharks and Tigers, basically any place that they own an office plus their vested interest in sharks (almost everything on the main page is about shark fin soup). This area contains the most detailed information you could find. It has, under the umbrella of each program, definitions and descriptions of said program, campaigns for the program, and separate contact information for each program. This is the area that I would imagine pulls in the most followers. It lets you know what they’re doing. I honestly need to do more research, because the amount of links that lead from this one main page tab seems almost endless. On the amount of time I gave myself to research it all I was simply overwhelmed, but I will most definitely conquer this section. By the next time I blog about WildAid I will have a specific purpose with hard facts, and every reason in the world that you should support them. Seeing as I am overwhelmed by all the activity I can’t expect you all to be completely riled up to jump into the fray when you don’t understand exactly what the fray is, and are completely unaware of the size of the war. To make it easier we’ll just fight one battle at a time.

Into the Fray! About WildAid

Blogs are hard work. There’s research and all kind of things involved, but…someone has to do it, and I guess right now that person is me. I am bringing to you today the first of a four to five blog series titled “Into the Fray” that will be detailing the results of my descent into the vast array of knowledge that is contained on WildAid.org. I will give you a brief description of everything contained within its folds(all the important stuff anyway) and at some point I will make a decision upon which one I think matters most to me and badger you all about it incessantly until around December the 7^th.

Today I’ll start with the “About Us” section of the site. This is the tab filled with all of the pertinent information about the site. It leads to eight tabs, only six of which I think are major but if you really care about who the founders and team members are then by all means check them out. I believe the two most important of these tabs are “The Illegal Wildlife Trade” and “Endangered & Trafficked Species Guide”, but I’ll talk about those last. This is the place where you’ll find your history on this organization. If you wished to write a report, or contact someone this area would do you well. You can check up on the financial comings and goings in their “Annual Reports & Financials section” and check to see if they’ve done anything noteworthy in their “Achievements” section. This is also where you’ll find their complete mission statement. Now back to The Illegal Wildlife Trade and the Endangered & Trafficked Species Guide.

Illegal Wildlife Trade outlines exactly what Illegal trade is to the amount of money it makes, and explains how illegal trade affects both animals and humans. It states:

“Estimated at $6-20 billion a year by Interpol, the illegal wildlife trade has drastically reduced numerous wildlife populations and currently has some teetering on the brink of extinction. The impact on human communities looks to be equally drastic in the long-term, as local resources required for sustenance hunting and tourism activities are depleted at an unsustainable rate, and as animal viruses including Ebola, SARS and possibly HIV may jump to human carriers during the poaching and transporting of wildlife. Despite the gravity of these threats, many countries lack the resources to defend their parks and wildlife against rampant poaching, while poachers often have few options to earn a living legally. Illegal wildlife products are still openly traded in many places, with buyers often unaware of the law or of the devastation they are financing. We can change this in our lifetimes.”

This makes us all aware of the fact that supporting their cause to save the animals could quite possibly save human health and livelihood, and I believe this is another great reason to support this organization. Like providing water WildAid assists in sustaining legal trade revenue that will improve the quality of life of areas on the brink of poverty.

The Endangered &Trafficked Species guide is by far my favorite. It houses a full lists of endangered species, including what part of their being their hunted for, and their endangered status. Although this section is somewhat depressing it is a very useful tool for those who are actually worried about the well being of these animals, and it shows how dire the situation around the world is. I believe that this section should be the most visited part of “About US.” I believe it is worth taking a look at every couple of weeks to a month just to keep up to date on what illegal trade is doing to our world. This section alone should be able to spur some into action when they see what happens to these poor animals.

Follow Me

Hey all! I’m back once again to provide you with information to make the world a better place! No, but really, yes, the verdict is in, and WildAid has been chosen. Now that my decision is final I thought I’d come here to lay a little groundwork, upon which you can use to…as the title says…follow me. I’ll be talking about a lot of things and it won’t do me any good if no one can find anything I’m talking about to at least make sure I’m telling the truth. I will also take this time to actually tell you all, more specifically, what WildAid is, things like: When, What, How, Where, and Why it is. Yes…5 W’s and an H. So let’s begin, shall we?

According to WildAid they are, and I quote, “a non-profit 501(c )3 organization headquartered in San Francisco with representation in China, India, Galapagos, London and Canada” whose mission is to “reduce consumer demand for endangered wildlife products and to encourage responsible energy consumption behavior and end illegal wildlife trade within our lifetime.” To achieve this WildAid, “uniquely focuses on raising awareness to reduce the demand for threatened and endangered species products and to increase public support for wildlife conservation by conducting global public awareness campaigns, field conservation programs and enforcement of marine protected areas.” They are also “revolutionary in their funding - their overhead is funded by donations from foundations and direct donations from individuals so that all on-line donations can go 100% into programs.” The organization was founded by Peter Knights and Steve Trent.

WildAid has a very specific purpose. It was not created to save the planet or the wildlife one animal at a time with the use of willpower and hope, but to save the wildlife by strategically cutting out one of the main reasons that have caused the populations to dwindle. If the market for animal products is choked, then hopefully fewer animals will die because they are no longer being poached. I say this to let you all know that this organization is not simply shooting in the dark. It is a sound organization with a plan to put a huge damper on a very large issue, and that is what I will make you see through this blog. You all should be thanking me, because I just saved you from looking at a whole tab on their website, which is my next topic for the evening and the purpose for this blogs title.

The WildAid website is chocked full of information. Anything you would ever need to know about the organization, its programs, founders, team members, it’s all there. The only problem is…it’s somewhat difficult to navigate, but for the sake of following my blog…I need you to know what it is so if I refer to the website all you have to do is visit www.WildAid.org and you will be instantly plugged into the world of WildAid. The website works on a kind of tab system. They have “Top Stories” on the main page of the website, but beyond that you have to go on a search for any other information. It all begins at the top of the main page, which is where you’ll find the first eight tabs which will lead you to their own individual page that feature their own nice set of tabs, this time on the left! Some of these tabs will either lead you to their own page, or just switch while the others stay the same. I’ll go through these tabs one by one, probably in my next few blogs so that I can deliver to you all what I find to be the most pertinent information that I find on the site as I decide which facet of WildAid that I will decide to focus on. Due to it being such a large sight whose cause spans almost the entire globe, it would be best for me to consider strongly supporting one cause under the umbrella that is WildAid. Till next time!

The National Geographic

Once again, I am here to write about…things, surprising right? Well this week, although it is only my second post I’m going to be changing it up quite a bit. Along with my original assignment of choosing, supporting, and following a non-profit of my choosing, I also had another chance to flex my choice muscle to decide upon reading a magazine! My choices this time around were National Geographic, Details, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. This time ill cut to the chase and fill you in…I chose National Geographic. Why? I’m not actually sure, it seemed more AJ-like and I thought it’d go along quite well with my choice to follow the WildAid non-profit, which in hind-site…was completely true, but I’ll touch on that in another post. The point of today’s post is actually to discuss the qualities of this magazine ranging from its audience, why it has the specific audience it does, what they expect and how the magazine delivers. After reading my first copy of the National Geographic, and attempting to read my second (my second copied has disappeared into the darkness and will be found or *shudder* repurchased at a later date) I think I have somewhat of an idea.

Before I dive deep into the critical parts of this conversation I’d like to point out how immensely useless I found the first 15 or so pages of this magazine… While I say useless I do, in fact, believe that this completely “unnecessary” first half of the magazine is imperative if the magazine is to deliver the desired experience to its target audience. The beginning of the magazine is filled with a myriad of advertisements, disembodied pictures and blocks of text so small I wouldn’t bother to call them “Articles.” Their more like matter of fact tidbits of information, trivial in nature, something like a “The-More-You-Know” type deal. They would be great for starting a conversation that begins with, “Hey have you heard about [insert random topic here],” but they do absolutely nothing to contribute to the larger scope of the magazine. The article right between the “we thought you might find these interesting” articles and the true meat of the magazine is actually called, simply, “The Big Idea”, letting the readers know that they’re about to be ushered from the completely mundane into a much bigger, more vibrant experience.

Moving on to how I believe this helps the magazine perform its key purpose…first, I should tell you what I believe its purpose is. It is…drum roll please…to take its readers on a journey. To take them to places they haven’t seen, and to go in depth about places that people have been. They go to places the general populace can’t reach, and write about it! I believe that in order to accomplish this, they get all the advertising out of the way at the very beginning and insert a block of text to simply remind the audience that they are still reading a National Geographic and that the real material is close at hand. Beyond “The Big Idea” there lies a wonderful world unseen. The articles beyond that point have no advertisements in between and feature a myriad of amazingly vibrant pictures and illustrations that take up a corner to two whole pages of space, showing you the majesty of everything the reporters experienced during the exploration involved in writing their 5 – 10 page long article. That’s right! Almost every article in the last half of the magazine is more than 5 pages long and goes into extraordinary detail of any topics, of a national scope, that one could think of. From diving into the depths of a humanly intolerant underwater cave, to rhinos, elephants, and tigers, The National Geographic has it all and more!

That is what the reader of this magazine expects and how their expectations are fulfilled, but who is their audience? Anyone and everyone who has an interest in the world, as in, people who see the whole picture or simply wish that they could, that’s who. This audience includes people who travel, people who want to travel, and those who just like to keep track of global issues in general. Reading notes to the editor about a special edition of the magazine showed me the variety of people who frequently purchase the magazine. Some people spoke about the places they mentioned as if they had just left, some wishing better fortune upon those mentioned but never encountered, but they were all worried about the issue at hand and I don’t believe the magazine has to do much to reel these readers in.

I think the appeal is all in the title. The title is straightforward. It isn’t clever or sassy, and almost sounds more like an encyclopedia than a magazine, but when the words “National Geographic” are combined with a beautiful picture of an awe inspiring underwater cave, or the face of a sarcophagus the intellectual travelers, and those interested are sent into a craze. They simply must get a glimpse of what’s going on thousands of miles away, and what new inventions are being created to make the world a better place…what happened to a native or deceased tribe of a tropical island filled with as much danger as it is beauty, and all this from the safety of their own home. That is the appeal of a National Geographic and I think it’s gotten me hooked too.

Choosing a Non Profit

Alright...So now that I'm back in school it’s about time that I do some work and I have been graced with the chance to look up, compare, decide, and blog about a non-profit organization of my partial choosing. As fun as this sounded initially, it turned out to be far more interesting than expected.

I was given a choice of eight nonprofits: Stand up 2 Cancer, charity:water, WildAid, Peace One Day, amFar, Natural Resources Defense Council, ONE Campaign, and Global Green. Now I'm sure these are all nice, charitable organizations that will one day(or already has) make a huge difference on the planet we all share I have to choose one…How am I to go about choosing one out of eight nonprofits whose goals are all to make life better for humanity?!(begins to research)

I have researched most of these organizations to decide which I believe I would support in actuality given the chance. I say most because I believe that some, mainly amFar’s purpose could be achieved far more quickly if people were to simply practice respect, and healthy habits i.e. if people were to(beginning now) just practice safe sex, abstinence, and monogamy the AIDs virus would die out far, far before an actual cure has been found.

Stand Up 2 Cancer seems like it would be a great organization to support. Their mission is simple: “Stand Up To Cancer is a new initiative created to accelerate groundbreaking cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. SU2C's goal is to bring together the best and the brightest in the cancer community, encouraging collaboration instead of competition. By galvanizing the entertainment industry, SU2C creates awareness and builds broad public support for this effort.” They want to stop cancer, just like the rest of the world, because it’s killing lots of people I get it. But I don’t believe that throwing money at research that’s already being done is going to stop the uncontrollable reproduction of cells any faster, and honestly I believe that there are enough people on the bandwagon for this nonprofit that my money would be lost into the wind.

WildAid on the other hand I as interested in from the moment I read the name, I assumed the moment I read it that it had something to do with animals and from there my interest was sparked. I believe that although many people love animals, lots of these people don’t really care about what happens to animals that are miles and miles away. We care about the animals in our gulf, because we see them but, us as humans worry far more about those things that involve us directly to worry about the effects of what we as people do simply to make money. Poachers kill animals to make a profit, but the business is perpetuated by those who choose to purchase and partake in the splendor of the deaths of species that are already endangered. Not to say that humans are selfish, but we are somewhat self – serving, and self centered, seeing as any life form, including other humans at times, that we see as beneath us we kill, ravage, and plunder anything they have that e could take for ourselves. As is the history of the US, and any other country that exist today because of one peoples taking what another people already has. This plight is even worse for animals seeing as they can’t even talk to defend themselves or sign treaties to justify that their life is worth more than their body parts.

I believe that WildAid is a worthy cause to save creatures that cannot protect themselves against the slaughter brought about by us more “advanced” beings. They have a solid following with some sponsors of the celebrity variety but are not really as know as other non profits such as Stand Up 2 Cancer. I believe that the endangered animals of the world including tigers, rhinos, and elephants, those of which are all hunted for their pelts and tusks, deserve a chance too. While some may choose to support causes that are sucking up money to reverse the crimes of humanity against ourselves, instead of the crimes of humanity against the innocent, I do not. I would go out of my way to support this nonprofit if I were to have the resources at my disposal, but I’ll just do what I can at the moment and bring this great organization to the front lines of the UTK community. I want to provide as much insight as possible about the comings and goings of this organization, its events and any possible opportunities that we as college students can participate in. Although this started out as a simple English assignment, I now see it as a chance to help do some goos in the world.