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 ProjectsLifestyles and Citizen Action: Internet SolutionsBackground
Internet websites provide a new avenue to protect the planet through programs like "click-to-donate." Merely by clicking onto the Internet site, one activates funding for wilderness, endangered species and environmental protection from corporate pledges. EcologyFund (www.ecologyfund.com) is one such website that receives more than 100,000 visitors each month. In exchange for ad exposure, the fund donates sponsors' money to protect wilderness, plant trees and reduce pollution. Threatened wilderness land in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Africa, the Amazon Basin, Patagonia and Scotland has been preserved, and the fund claims to protect 187 square feet of land and save 2 pounds of carbon dioxide per visitor every day. Care2 (www.care2.com) also has a "click-to-donate" program focusing on endangered species and rainforest protection. One of its programs, "Race for Big Cats," has protected 16,000 square miles of key habitat for endangered Tigers, Jaguars and Snow Leopards, in conjunction with the Wildlife Conservation Society. In cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, Care2 has purchased large tracts of rainforest.
A related approach to preserving wildlife and funding conservation work consists of Internet sites that tune into live videocameras located in national parks or other natural areas, sending signals to satellites. Some websites are free, while others charge a small fee. Cameras set up in South African national parks (www.africam.com) focus on wild animal lairs, waterholes and other wildlife spots. They have generated large sums of needed money for the park system. In the United States, television cameras have been trained on Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagle nests and transmitted to a cable station that plays the picture. Solar-powered videocameras have been designed that can be placed in the most remote wilderness with no need for batteries or outside electric power sources. This concept has great educational potential, simultaneously raising money for endangered species and wilderness protection, while educating as well. Such websites can provide important information on these subjects while providing exciting views of wildlife and wild places. As an alternative to eco-travel for those of lesser means or those unable to travel, such websites could offer tours, such as tree-top views of rainforests and their abundant wildlife, or close-ups of seabird colonies or coral reefs. They have the added benefit of protecting delicate ecological areas from the effects of too many tourists. Such websites should provide a portion of the funds to local people as an incentive to preserve the land and wildlife. If significant funds were generated, countries faced with choices such as whether to allow corporate logging, commercialization of wildlife, dams and other projects needed to repay national debts, might consider these cameras to be a better alternative. If successful, such websites would encourage countries to maintain large areas of wilderness. Videocameras also have a scientific potential in giving a 24-hour view of areas harboring wildlife, often difficult to observe through other means.
Activities
o Click onto several videocamera sites to see the various types of wildlife spectacles offered. Some examples: seemorebears.com (Alaskan bears feeding on salmon in season); www.african.com (see above); www.world-stream.com (views of ancient species of fish, the Coelacanth); zooatlanta.org (Giant Pandas). What threatened species or habitat would you like to see on a videocamera placed in the wild? Would you also like the views to be part of a menu offering information on the species and the habitat? What ideas do you have about the applications and potentials of these live videocams linked to the Internet and television cameras broadcasting to cable television stations?
o Select a country that is suffering high levels of environmental destruction
but also has beautiful scenery and many endangered species. Discuss the potential of proposing alternatives to such a country, i.e. placing videocameras as income producers versus commercial logging, a short-term destruction versus a long-term investment. What scenery and wildlife would you think would attract Internet users in this country?
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