Anthony Marr: March 2012

Thursday, March 29, 2012

E.T.'s-eye-view of Tar Sands Hellhole on Planet Earth

https://vimeo.com/39298276
Would you allow this to happen to the land you love, just so a few oil CEOs and their political puppets could laugh all the way to the bank? Would a true patriot commit such an atrocious crime against his own country? Has anyone cast a passing thought for the animals who used to call this place home?

Anthony Marr and Taina Ketola flew over the vast Alberta tar sands mining area surrounding Fort McMurray in a Cessna 172 for 3 hours to see the environmental devastation for themselves and share what they saw with the rest of the world.

At one point, they were forced by a thunderstorm to land at the private airfield of the Albion Mine, with a 30 mph cross-wind, which the pilot confessed to be a hair-raising experience, but only after they had seated themselves in the state-of-the-art and very private Albion air terminal. There, they were astonished to see a jetliner land and take off with incoming and outgoing loads of workers. This alone attests to the immense wealth at the oil companies' command and disposal.

Strap yourself in and experience the mind-blowingest flight of your life, 49 eye-opening minutes condensed from about 3 hours of actual mine-hopping flying time. This is not something you can experience in a commercial flight. There is no commercial flight overflying the tar sands mines. No tar sands mine wants its dirty laundry aired out in public, live. So please, be our personal guest.

The general impression is one of vast expanse of poisoned landscape and, wanton and reckless destruction, with zero regard nor respect for anything sacred and priceless - forests, animals, aboriginals, global heating, economic collapse, ecological destruction, mass extinction... - except the almighty $$$.

Canada is a bullish bull in the china shop of her own very delicate environmental integrity, whose "Environment Ministry" is a sham whose function is to justify the Crime against Nature, against Humanity, and against Canada, rather than fight it as by definition it bloody well should.

It is to be noted that only 20% of tar sands extraction is by open-pit-mining, meaning that visible from the air is only 20% of the damage.

Other than the obvious, such as the wholesale "removal" of "overburden" (boreal forests) by the thousands of square kilometers, of special note are the "tailing ponds" dotting the landscape by the hundreds, which are essentially man-made toxic-waste storage LAKES, some so enormous to be visible to the naked eye from space, and one boasting of the third largest dam in the world. None of them is lined, so all of them leak, either down to the aquifer and/or directly into the over-used Athabasca River which drains into Lake Athabasca stridling the Alberta/Saskatchewan border farther north.

These tailing ponds happen to underlie the paths of migratory birds. Their contents are so oily and toxic that no water fowl landing into one can be expected to take off again - consider them having enjoyed their final flight.

The entire Athabascan watershed downstream from the mines has been poisoned - not just for now, but for centuries to come. The poisoned Lake Athabaska produces deformed fish upon which the local Chipewyan people feed, or used to feed, resulting in sky-high cancer rates. Who knows what evils would befall the animals drinking from Lake Athabasca, much less the toxic-cocktail directly from the tailings ponds?

Do the oil companies and the oiled governments care? Sure, one company claims to have "reclaimed" 22% of the land devastated by its gigantic Earth-raping machinery, but critics contend that it is in fact only 0.2%. Of course they have their little PR show-pieces. By the way, though they penalized the doctor who blew the whistle on the cancer epidemic, they did magnanimously provided the Chipewyan people with a cancer ward.

To learn more about these tailing "ponds", just google "tar sands tailings ponds".

If you haven't yet read the blog on this Vancouver-to-tar-sands trip, or viewed the preceding video episodes (#1 through #13), please also check them out: http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.ca/2012/03/aliens-eye-view-of-hellhole-on-earth.html

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Brain structure vs brain size as criterion for intelligence

Photo taken at Bandhavgarh tiger reserve, India, by Anthony Marr

There is a possibility that we may have placed the wrong bet on brain size as a measure of intelligence.

In my tiger preservation work, I've had lots of opportunities in observing tiger behavior. There is no question that as a predator a tiger is smart. After all, if not, it could not have survived the eons of hard knocks until today, just so that we big brained humans could stupidly do them in ourselves within a few decades.

As a predator so is a house cat smart, although at 25-30 grams, a house-cat's brain is only 10% that of a tiger's (about 280 grams) in size and weight. But as far as I can tell, tiger behavior and house cat behavior are not all that dissimilar.

Dogs offer a different illustration. Chihuahuas have much small brains than Great Danes, but tell Chihuahua guardians that their pooches are less intelligent, and they will bark right in your ear.

Now, compare dog brains vs cat brains, and dog behavior vs cat behavior, and it won't take the Dog Whisperer to conclude that the main difference is the structure of their brain, not the size.

The brain-weight-to-body-weight ratio may play a part, but apparently nowhere near brain structure as the central determinant of intelligence and behavior.

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Alien's-eye-view of hellhole on Earth

https://vimeo.com/39298276
Would you allow this to happen to the land you love, just so a few oil CEOs and their political puppets could laugh all the way to the bank? Would a true patriot commit such an atrocious crime against his own country? Has anyone cast a passing thought for the animals who used to call this place home?

Anthony Marr and Taina Ketola flew over the vast Alberta tar sands mining area surrounding Fort McMurray in a Cessna 172 for 3 hours to see the environmental devastation for themselves and share what they saw with the rest of the world.

At one point, they were forced by a thunderstorm to land at the private airfield of the Albion Mine, with a 30 mph cross-wind, which the pilot confessed to be a hair-raising experience, but only after they had seated themselves in the state-of-the-art and very private Albion air terminal. There, they were astonished to see a jetliner land and take off with incoming and outgoing loads of workers. This alone attests to the immense wealth at the oil companies' command and disposal.

Strap yourself in and experience the mind-blowingest flight of your life, 49 eye-opening minutes condensed from about 3 hours of actual mine-hopping flying time. This is not something you can experience in a commercial flight. There is no commercial flight overflying the tar sands mines. No tar sands mine wants its dirty laundry aired out in public, live. So please, be our personal guest.

The general impression is one of vast expanse of poisoned landscape and, wanton and reckless destruction, with zero regard nor respect for anything sacred and priceless - forests, animals, aboriginals, global heating, economic collapse, ecological destruction, mass extinction... - except the almighty $$$.

Canada is a bullish bull in the china shop of her own very delicate environmental integrity, whose "Environment Ministry" is a sham whose function is to justify the Crime against Nature, against Humanity, and against Canada, rather than fight it as by definition it bloody well should.

It is to be noted that only 20% of tar sands extraction is by open-pit-mining, meaning that visible from the air is only 20% of the damage.

Other than the obvious, such as the wholesale "removal" of "overburden" (boreal forests) by the thousands of square kilometers, of special note are the "tailing ponds" dotting the landscape by the hundreds, which are essentially man-made toxic-waste storage LAKES, some so enormous to be visible to the naked eye from space, and one boasting of the third largest dam in the world. None of them is lined, so all of them leak, either down to the aquifer and/or directly into the over-used Athabasca River which drains into Lake Athabasca stridling the Alberta/Saskatchewan border farther north.

These tailing ponds happen to underlie the paths of migratory birds. Their contents are so oily and toxic that no water fowl landing into one can be expected to take off again - consider them having enjoyed their final flight.

The entire Athabascan watershed downstream from the mines has been poisoned - not just for now, but for centuries to come. The poisoned Lake Athabaska produces deformed fish upon which the local Chipewyan people feed, or used to feed, resulting in sky-high cancer rates. Who knows what evils would befall the animals drinking from Lake Athabasca, much less the toxic-cocktail directly from the tailings ponds?

Do the oil companies and the oiled governments care? Sure, one company claims to have "reclaimed" 22% of the land devastated by its gigantic Earth-raping machinery, but critics contend that it is in fact only 0.2%. Of course they have their little PR show-pieces. By the way, though they penalized the doctor who blew the whistle on the cancer epidemic, they did magnanimously provided the Chipewyan people with a cancer ward.

To learn more about these tailing "ponds", just google "tar sands tailings ponds".

If you haven't yet read the blog or viewed the preceding video episodes (at the bottom of this blog), please do so first before viewing this Episode #14-#15-#16. Thank you.

http://youtu.be/L4QZw981two
#13 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Why you?"] This is a question I have pondered upon, but only when global warming gives me a break. It is true that of the 7 billion people in the world, I'm the only person doing what exactly what I'm doing. But then, almost every one on Earth can make this claim for himself/herself. The difference then is not in whether I'm doing something, but in what this something is that I've chosen to do, and this something I've chosen for myself to do has become exactly what I'm doing. So the question becomes, "Why have you chosen global warming to fight?" Of course, the standard answer for "Why you?" is, "If not me, who?" BTW, the scenery of the Albertan Rockies is breath-taking.

If you haven't yet read the blog or viewed the preceding video episodes (at the bottom of this blog), please do so first before viewing this Episode #13 of 17 and the aerial video #14-#15-#16. Thank you.

In 2008, the year after the Great Melt of Arctic sea ice in 2007, I published my second book [Homo sapiens Save Your Earth], co-authored with climate change expert Dr. Peter Carter, with a chapter contributed by Taina Ketola .

On July 1 (Canada Day), 2008, I left my home city of Vancouver, BC, Canada, in my car, aiming for Washington DC, USA, to speak at the Animal Rights National Conference scheduled for July 16-19. As with every year since 2004 when I spoke at the conference for the first time, I designed a speaking tour around it. I call these tours my Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE tours). They are not 2-week stints. CARE-1 covered 44 states in the 7.5 months spanning Sep 2003 and Apr 2004, and CARE-7 covered 40 states in the 7 months spanning Apr and Nov 2010.

The first stop was Edmonton, Alberta, 1160km/721mi from Vancouver via British Columbia's Hwy-5 and Alberta's Hwy-16. From Edmonton, I headed directly due north by a treacherous 441km/274mi 2-lane road to Sodom and Gomorrah, I mean, Fort McMurray, where the infamous Tar Sands mines were headquartered. Total driving distance from Vancouver - 1600km/995mi, driving time 14 hours non-stop.

Taina volunteered to come on this leg to serve as an interviewer in the car and operate one of the two cameras to be used on the plane while overflying the tar sands hellhole. We broke the drive up into 2 days, with an involuntary stay at Mt. Robson forced by an avalanche not far down the highway.

The purpose of this trip was first to see, and smell, the infamous tar sands for myself, and second, to photo/video-document the 6 hellholes ("mines") for the whole world to see. We chartered a Cessna 172 to overfly them for two hours (which ended up to be 4 hours) on July 3, a windy day complete with thunder storms which, at one point, forced us to land in a 25mph cross wind at the airfield of one of the mines, shortly before a JETLINER touched down, disgorging a plane-load of robotic workers (see one of the episodes to come) and whizzed away a waiting-room-ful of a bushed crew.

With some 15 hours' total driving time, we decided to take the opportunity for Taina to conduct a series of video-interviews with me while I was driving, on the subjects of animal rights, the environment, global warming, climate change, human population, world resources, food shortages, energy strategies, our children's future, veganism and specifically, the tar sands, presented here in 17 episodes.

There has been and will continue to be those who chastise me for driving a gasoline car while spreading the green message. Here is my answer: Either I speak at the conference or I don't. If I do, which I did, I had the choice of flying or driving, both being energy-consuming. Of the two, I always prefer driving. Not that I'm afraid of flying, but driving allows me to make speaking, action and media stops along the way. I also happen to love cruising on the highway, with my car stereo cranked up to 9.

The reality is that there was and still is no affordable electric car on the road that could handle the tour in terms of range-per-charge. And even if I had a good-range electric car like the Tesla, assuming that I had the $100,000 to pay for it, the electricity is still derived from the fossil fuels, namely coal. So, a Tesla essentially burns coal, while my Mazda burns oil - no real difference. Were electricity derived from solar and/or windy energy, it would be a different matter.

This, in fact, is one of my points to make, that Big Oil and its political puppets are deliberately stifling green tech to give energy-consumers no choice but to continue using their dirty products, that is, if the consumer wants any form of transportation at all other than the bicycle. Europe, on the other hand, is planning a supergrid to distribute electricity throughout Europe: solar from the Sahara and Arabian deserts, geothermal from Iceland and the Mediterranean, and wind, wave and tidal from the coast. In such a system, I would definitely drive an electric vehicle. Right now, in N. America, no such supergrid plan is on the table that we know of, and one of the points I want to make, and am making, is that there should be.

Following is a series of 17 episodes of the extended verbal interview over a 3-day period (July 1-3) in the background of cruising on the highway and aerial video clips from flying over the tar sands, the latter pretty much speaks for itself. The 17 episodes will be released 1-2 per day over the next couple of week, by being added to this blog, and by being individually posted in Facebook on my wall. Please stay tuned.

Following are the video episodes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkGmK-2kraE
Episode #1: [Why climate change is an animal rights issue] - good episode to start with, especially since it ends with a bear sighting. The scenery is always gorgeous.

[An intro to the Tar Sands]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MncnV6g-Dbo
#2 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hell holes. Before watching it, please read the blog and view video below, if you haven't yet. This episode was taken on the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt.

http://youtu.be/ugtwqbXiiiU
#3 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hell holes. This episode was taken on BC Hwy-5 just NE of Merritt. Keep watching for dead lodge pole pines. Topic: [The most dangerous thing on Earth].

http://youtu.be/6Np9PPgxtMs
#4 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: [Lodge Pole Pine Devastation]. This episode was filmed on BC Hwy-5 just NE of Armstrong. There are no words in this episode, just the sound of music and the sight of dying and dead lodge pole pine forests across the landscape. BC has lost over 80% of its lodge pole pine forests. The cause is pine beetle infestation. Due to milder winters resulting from global warming, the beetle larvae, which normally would be killed by the winter cold, have been surviving to infest more forests in the spring.

http://youtu.be/g1l1nq6X8EM
#5 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: [How could the tar sands get past the Environmental Ministry?]. This episode was filmed on BC Hwy-5 just NE of Kamloops.

http://youtu.be/d_ZceKJ8xzA
#6 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: [How much natural gas would you like your stove to leak into your house? How much methane would you like to leak from the Arctic into the Atmosphere?] or [Methane in the atmosphere and its effect on the biosphere]. The video was shot about 100 km north of Kamloops BC on BC Hwy-5.

http://youtu.be/8gMjd7AQAOk
#7 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Fix global warming or kiss our children's future good-bye."] The video was shot on BC Hwy-5 about 30 km SW of Avola and 280 km SW of Jasper.

http://youtu.be/I1_tsireCQY
#8 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Possible collapse of civilization due to energy mismanagement; ecological destruction wrought by ethanol production."] The video was shot on BC Hwy-5 near Clearwater.

http://youtu.be/FZuX60O8qWk
#9 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Deadly Feedback Loops."] The video was shot on BC Hwy-5 between Clearwater and Mt. Robson. In this interview, I was talking in terms of a global average temperature rise of 4, 5, even 6 degrees Celsius over the pre-1880AD pre-industrial global average temperature. The interview was conducted back in 2008, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was predicting a 2-degree-C global average temperature rise by the end of the century. I disagreed with it then, and disagree with it now, one of the reasons being that methane was not a factor in their calculation. Today, in 2012, talk of a 4-, 5-, or even 6-degrees-C rise by 2100 is more prevalent. So far, there is no climate conference I've seen that talks about the Methane Time Bomb, only CO2, its fuse, nor Runaway Global Heating. The world leaders are deeply quagmired in denial. We are the sighted letting the blind lead us into oblivion.

https://vimeo.com/39140640
#10 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. The video was shot on BC Hwy-5 at Mt. Robson. The scenery is so magnificent in this segment that I've decided to just let music (The Last Resort by the Eagles and Unearthed from Cold Case) present the message. A meditative session.

http://youtu.be/eFoT0DHbgrw
#11 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Runaway Global Heating and Mass Extinction."] The video was shot on BC Hwy-5 / AB Hwy 16 while we crossed over the BC/AB border.

http://youtu.be/cU2DEWQyR_4
#12 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Tipping Points"]. There are 9 Tipping Elements, each with its own tipping points. Anthony Marr thinks that 2 of them have already tipped. Find out which two. The video was shot on AB Hwy-16 shortly after we've crossed the BC/AB border.

http://youtu.be/L4QZw981two
#13 of 17 video episodes of my 2-day drive from Vancouver BC to the Alberta Tar Sands, and my 2-hour flight over the Tar Sands hellholes. Topic of this episode: ["Why you?"] This is a question I have pondered upon, but only when global warming gives me a break. It is true that of the 7 billion people in the world, I'm the only person doing what exactly what I'm doing. But then, almost every one on Earth can make this claim for himself/herself. The difference then is not in whether I'm doing something, but in what this something is that I've chosen to do, and this something I've chosen for myself to do has become exactly what I'm doing. So the question becomes, "Why have you chosen global warming to fight?" Of course, the standard answer for "Why you?" is, "If not me, who?" BTW, the scenery of the Albertan Rockies is breath-taking.

https://vimeo.com/39298276
Episodes #14-#15-#16-in-one of 17 in the [Alien's-eye-view of hellhole on Earth] series. Anthony Marr and Taina Ketola flew over the vast Alberta tar sands mining area surrounding Fort McMurray in a Cessna 172 for 3 hours to see the environmental devastation for themselves and share what they saw with the rest of the world.

The general impression is one of expanse and wantonness of destruction, with zero regard for anything - forests, animals, natives, global warming, mass extinction... - except profit.

The tar sands deposits being horizontally oriented, the ruined surface area is colossal. Considering that only 20% of tar sands extraction is by open-pit-mining, what is visible from the air is only 20% of the affected areas.

Other than the obvious, e.g. removal of "overburden", which includes the wholesale "removal" of boreal forests by the thousands of square kilometers, of special note are the hundreds of "tailing ponds" dotting the landscape, which are essentially man-made LAKES, some so enormous to be visible to the naked eye from space, and one boasting of the third largest dam in the world. No tailing lake is lined, so all of them leak, either down to the aquifer and/or directly into the over-used Athabasca River which drains into Lake Athabasca.

These tailing ponds happen to be in the path of migratory birds. Their contents are so oily and toxic that no water fowl landing into one can be expected to take off again.

The entire Athabascan watershed downstream from the mines has been poisoned - for centuries to come. The poisoned Lake Athabaska produces deformed fish upon which the local Chipewyan people feed, or used to feed, resulting in sky-high cancer rates. Who knows what happens to the animals drinking directly from it?

Do the oil companies and the oiled governments care? Sure, one company claims to have "reclaimed" 22% of the land ruined by its gigantic Earth-raping machinery, but critics contend that it is in fact only 0.2%. Of course they have their little PR show-pieces. By the way, they also penalized the doctor who blew the whistle, and provided the natives with a cancer ward.

To learn more about these tailing "ponds", just google "tar sands tailings ponds".

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org

Thursday, March 15, 2012

OMNISCIENTIFIC COSMOLOGY by Anthony Marr

http://youtu.be/PzpQlHEBjEk

"OMNISCIENTIFIC COSMOLOGY - 22nd Century philosophy for the 21st Century - so that there will be a 22nd Century."

In 1979, Anthony Marr, then 35, went solo-camping in Africa for two months, looking for the philosophical holy grail vaguely known as the "MEANING OF LIFE". What he came back to Canada with is a suitcase full of 2000 pages of hand-written notes, which he eventually published in the form of his first book titled [OMNI-SCIENCE and the Human Destiny] in 2008, in which he presented his ground-breaking [Omniscientific Cosmology].

Since the Cosmos comprises All-Things, the Omniscientific Cosmology is a model of the Cosmos based on all of the physical, life and social sciences. All-the-sciences-in-one is Omni-Science.

In 1987, Anthony Marr launched the Omniscientific Cosmology to high academia, there to be tested by the brightest minds he could find. This was accomplished by means of a 5-university speaking tour, which included the University of British Columbia (his alumni university), the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University. The result of this maiden voyage was a collection of 30 accolades for the Omniscientific Cosmology from a range of scientists including anthropologists, astronomers, biologists, chemists, geologists, paleontologists and physicists, and even several philosophers, for Philosophy is where ultimately the Omniscientific Cosmology belongs.

Anthony Marr, 2010.

Following are excerpts from the 30 accolades from the five top westcoast universities:

University of California @ Berkeley

Anthropology, Dr. Tim White: “… Anthony Marr’s OMNI-SCIENCE is formidable…”

Institute of Human Origins, Dr. William H. Kimbel, President: “… a profound contribution to the fundamental definition of humankind in relation to the broader universe... unifies the fragmented Western scientific disciplines… implications of great depth and breadth for the future course of human actions… too important to ignore.”

Astronomy and Physics, Dr. Marc Davis: “… a forward looking moral framework… an important contribution to society…”

Paleontology, Dr. Carole S. Hickman: “… an extraordinary intellectual undertaking… unique… intellectually and aesthetically stimulating… a bold and eclectic piece of scholarship… exceptional… a delight… optimism, concern and compassion for humanity…”

Botany, Dr. Herbert G. Baker: “… extremely interesting… an important contribution towards understanding cosmology.”

Paleontology, Dr. Donald E. Savage: “… powerful… erudite synthesis...”
Zoology, Dr. Richard C. Strohman: “… original… a thoroughly logical system… might indeed fill a large gap in the way we think...”

Biology, Dr. Richard W. Holms: “… a remarkable broad perspective… great depth... truly deserves the name OMNI-SCIENCE…”

And here is Anthony Marr's universal and eternal OMNISCIENTIFIC COSMOLOGY in a 10-minute nutshell:

Stanford University

Geology, Dr. W.R. Evitt: “… sincerity, imagination, intellectualism and scholarship… an immensely logical construct… meticulously thought out… majestic in scope but intrinsically simple, satisfying and optimistic… should have a very broad appeal… these are important ideas with great potential for lessening the conflicts in a troubled world…”

Sociology, Dr. Alex Inkeles: “… impress me not only with the quality of his presentation, but also the quality of his thinking… authoritative… exceptionally comprehensive…”

Philosophy, Dr. John Dupre: “… extremely intriguing and provocative… incomparably more edifying than the vast majority of such attempts…”

Anthropology, Dr. John W. Rick: “… very thought provoking… clearly deserves extensive discussion… a serious, well-founded vision…”

Physics, Dr. Leonard Susskind: “… I found myself stimulated, educated… worth listening to, even for those of us who are not of the same philosophical bent…”

Philosophy, Dr. John Bogart: “… compelling… have moral import…”

Applied Physics and Astrophysics, Dr. Vahe Petrosian: “… elaborate… clearly well thought out and researched… fascinating… a very ambitious task… a beautiful synthesis… captivating… should be of interest not only to experts but to all thinking people of the world…”

University of Oregon

Biology, Dr. Dennis Todd: “… a new theoretical framework… breadth of knowledge… seriousness of intellectual pursuit… keenness of insight... meaningful and coherent… masterly and cogent...”

Geology, Dr. Greg Retallack: “… fascinating and thought provoking… superior to those already available… Anthony Marr is a hard-headed thinker in the best scientific tradition. He deserves serious attention.”

Biology, Dr. Stanton A. Cook: “… a novel way of diagramming… a methodical and visual approach… a well developed message…”

Ecology, Dr. John Burket: “… instilled in me the kind of wondered awe that arises when previously nebulous thoughts, ideas and feelings suddenly crystallized into a framework of order… the germ of a new worldview… the clarity and logical order of this system gives an immediate sense of recognition of ones place in the scheme of existence… one can see from this philosophy how the future of our planet can be seen in terms of undeniable purpose and hope, a state of mind so lacking in these times… an idea whose time has come.”

University of Washington

Ecology, Sociobiology, Dr. Gordon H. Orians: “… deep thinking and widely read… thorough and accurate… a futuristic perspective, offering hope at a time when so many of us feel a deep sense of despair...”

Medicine, Biomedical History, Dr. Keith R. Benson: “… creative, highly synthetic, scientifically sound and eclectic, and extremely comprehensive… compelling…”

Geology, Dr. Stephen C. Porter: “… enlightening… a keen sense of scholarship… thought provoking… original… engaging....”
Astronomy, Dr. Woodruff T. Sullivan III: “… gives promise to lead to further insight…”

University of British Columbia

Geology and Oceanography, Dr. R.L. Chase: “…a brave attempt to give us a new, science-based philosophy, with the aim of giving humankind a common purpose… stimulating...”

Biology, Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan: “… seriousness of purpose… intellectual capacity… forthright… thoughtful... important… unusually talented and discipline… dedicated...”

Evolutionary Biology, Dr. G.G.E. Scudder: “… logical and thorough… original and well founded… clearly dedicated and talented…”

Astronomy and Geophysics, Dr. T.K. Menon: “… highly impressed… no question in my mind about the need to have his ideas widely discussed...”

Biology, Dr. Lee Gass: “… seriousness of purpose… strength of commitment… intellectual solidity and honesty… a degree of intellectual discipline that is rare even among professional scholars… I have no doubt that he has dedicated his life to this project…”

Physical Anthropology, Dr. Braxton M. Alfred: “… Anthony Marr’s effort is in the tradition of 19th Century scholarship, but is based solidly on 20th Century science. There is simply no modern parallel for his accomplishment… His system is extraordinarily ambitious… it purports, and is successful in my opinion, to explain hierarchical structure in the phenomenal world… truly a grand scheme… He speaks with the power and confidence of one who totally commands the material… undoubtedly, no graduate would be allowed to pursue such a project with any expectation of being awarded a degree… in spite of the fact that Mr. Marr’s product is in every way superior to any of the Ph.D. degrees this department has awarded in the twenty years of my appointment. It is characterized by careful, thoughtful attention and rigorous development. I recommend it, and him, without qualification.”

Thursday, March 8, 2012

National Parks, Wildlife Reserves and Eco-Tourism

Faiyaz Khudsar (right) testing a home-made solar-mirror hot-plate constructed with locally available material.

> From: faiyaz Khudsar
> To: anthony_marr
> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 7:23 PM
> Subject: ecotourism
>
> Hi Anthony
> I would like to share something very important. A case is filed in
> Indian supreme court to ban tourism in the core area of tiger
> reserves/ Preotected areas of India. We are trying to use this
> opportunity to see that tourism should be very regulated and money
> earned must be shared with the neighborhood communities. Now Supreme
> Court asked to bring information that what is the worldwide trend in
> this regard. I request you to share some important examples (with
> reference) where regulated tourism is helping not only wildlife but
> also supporting communities, and a complete ban on tourism may not be
> very effective from wildlife conservation as well as a community point
> of view. We will use these examples in the court. Hope to hear from
> you. Regards,
>
> Faiyaz A. Khudsar, Ph.D.
> Scientist Incharge
> Yamuna Biodiversity Park
> Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems
>University of Delhi
>Delhi-110007

==================================================

On 2/16/12, Anthony Marr wrote:

Hi Faiyaz,

Sounds like a good opportunity to make some needed changes in the Indian park system (if they haven't been made yet since I was there), especially in getting the villagers on side. But to answer your question I'll have to do
some research, especially in the national parks of N. America and Africa.
Could you give me a time frame and deadline?

Who is filing the suit?

Anthony
>
> Anthony Marr, Founder and President
> Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
> Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
> Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
> www.HOPE-CARE.org
> www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
> www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
> www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
> www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
> www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
> www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
> www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
> www.ARConference.org

===============================================================

Dear Anthony,

great to hear from you. An activist has filed a petition for a
complete ban on tourism in core area of tiger reserves. One of my
friends has filed an intervening petition suggesting very regulated
tourism which support local community. Supreme court has given three
weeks time to submitt world wide examples in this regard. Therefore,
if you send information within this time frame would be very usefull
to fulfill our long waiting desire to help tiger as well as community.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

regards,

Faiyaz

==============================================================

Hi Faiyaz,

You may recall that when I was at the Kanha tiger reserve back in 1997, one of the things I wanted to change was the Indian park system in regards to the park fee and how the park revenue is handled.

As I recall, the gate charge at Kanha was only about $2.50/day per foreign tourist, and a small fraction of that for domestic tourists, and that park revenue was not shared with the villagers in the Buffer Zone, which made them adversaries to the park, whereas the gate fee of the Chitwan National Park in neighbouring Nepal was 10 times that at about $25/day per foreign tourist, and the park revenue was shared about 50/50 with the villagers, which gave them incentive to cooperate in protecting the park.

I suggested strongly for India to adopt the Nepalese system. Foreign tourists spend $5000 to fly to India from half way around the world and spent upwards of $200 a night at a safari lodge for the prime purpose of seeing tigers. They are not going to skimp on $20 a day to enter the holy of holies - a national park doubling as a tiger reserve, like Bandhavgarh and Kanha.

This said, it has already inadvertently implied that ecotourism, if done right, can give the park a revenue, and also offer the surrounding villagers an income, not unlike paying them a salary to help protect the park from themselves.

Ecologically speaking, having been inside the parks numerous times myself, I have come to the conclusion that tightly regulated ecotourism does not impact negatively on the habitat nor its denizens. The rules and regulations I have personally experienced included an upper limit of tourist vehicles in the park at any given time, while those already in the park are required to stay in their vehicles, stay quiet and respectful, leave nothing behind, and pick not even a blade of grass. The vehicle drivers and guides were knowledgeable and competent. Most of the tigers I've seen were in a relaxed state, and did not appear harassed. Also, every day for an hour at noon, the park was cleared of tourists, so that the tigers could catch their siesta in peace.

If there is a special area or inner core within the park reserved for scientific and/or preservation purposes, tourists could be excluded.

Other benefits of ecotourism include word-of-mouth awareness-raising and pro-wildlife activism by the tourists themselves when they return home, and raise passion for nature preservation not only in India but worldwide.

Yet another benefit is that the presence of tourists in the park deters poaching.

If we look at other parks in other countries, we will see a certain consistency from park to park, from country to country. To illustrate this, I will compare and contrast the gate charge of the following 10 top parks:

Banff NP, Canada:
Adult $9.80/day; $68/year (pass to 27 NPs).

Algonquin PP,Canada:
$16.00*/vehicle/day
$107.50*/bus/day

Yellowstone NP, USA:
7-day entrance fee -
$25 for a private, noncommercial vehicle,
$20 for each snowmobile or motorcycle;
$12 for each visitor entering by foot, bike, ski, etc.
Annual pass, $50.

Glacier NP, USA:
7-Day Automobile/Vehicle Permit
Summer $25.00, Winter $15.00
7-Day Single Entry Permit (foot, bicycle, motorcycle, group vehicle)
Summer $12.00, Winter $10.00
Annual pass $35.

Yosemite NP, USA:
7-day pass per private vehicle - $20
Visitors on foot, horseback, bicycle, motorcycle, or on a non-commercial bus - $10
Annual pass: $40.

Masai Mara NP, Kenya:
$70 for adults non East African residents per day staying inside the park and $80 for adults non East African residents staying outside the park.

Bandhavgarh NP, India:
4,000 rupees ($80) for foreigners and 2,000 rupees ($40) for Indians at the Tala Gate, for a jeep carrying up to six people.

Kanha NP, India:
3,000 rupees ($60) per jeep (presumably for foreigners

Chitwan NP, Nepal:
per person per day:
•For Nepali Nationals Rs 20 (40 cents)
•For SAARC Nationals Rs 200 ($4)
•For Foreign Nationals Rs 500 ($10)

Kruger NP, S. Africa:
•Per Adult: ZAR 192.00 ($25)

Regardless of how the park revenue is split between the parks and the villagers, the fact remains that ecotourism is needed for any wildlife park for it to be financially sustainable, and have the budget for anti-poaching and habitat protection.

It has to be pointed out that some of the parks, like Kruger, derive revenue by allowing "big game" trophy hunting, including of elephants and lions and even rhinos. Contrary to the claim that hunting by foreigners benefit conservation in a big way, it does not. Sure, a member of the Safari Club International regularly pays over $300,000 to hunt a Black rhino, but only $1000-$3000 go to the host government in the form of a license fee. The rest go to the hunting guide-outfitter, which is often also American. In the national parks of the USA and India, hunting is not allowed.

My conclusions are as follows:

1. All parks need a budget to maintain and protect. Ecotourism is the only non-extractive industry that can provide a revenue instead of, other than and/or in addition to government subsidies.

2. A park funded entirely by government subsidies is financially unsustainable, and one funded by extractive industries (logging, mining, hunting) is ecologically unsustainable.

3. Other than the entrance fee, parks also derive revenue from a range of activities including guided hikes, park drives, canoeing, skiing, vehicle rentals, horseback rides, etc. There are usually discounts for children, seniors, families and groups. These are clearly long-standing infrastructures.

4. Not only can ecotourism generate revenue for the parks, it can also produce income for the surrounding communities by 1. sharing a part of the park revenue and, 2. by their own tourism industry targeting the ecotourists.

All in all, ecotourism, but only unobstrusive, tightly regulated, and non-extractive ecotourism (i.e. no hunting), is essential for the long term survival, continuity, stability and prosperity of a large wildlife park.

Anthony Marr and Faiyaz Khudsar with solar oven at Kanha NP, India.

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org

ANIMAL ABUSE Around the World

I would like to start this predictably very long blog with the short one posted by Shannon Wright a few weeks ago titled

[Racism in the Animal Rights Movement]

by Shannon Wright

Once again, this morning, I woke up to the words "There's Chinese bashing going on again." That meant there was a post on Facebook that sent people reeling. I have to say that I am, to be blunt, sick and fucking tired of the racism in the animal rights movement. Why do some people feel the need to hate an entire country for the awful abuses and barbarism that only some of it's residents commit? Unfortunately, this is not limited to the Chinese people; but I have to say, without a doubt, I hear more Chinese bashing than the bashing of any other race, including the Japanese. Here are some of the comments:

"THE EVIL OF THE CHINESE!!! BOYCOTT CHINA FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS--SHARE FAR & WIDE. THX"
Yesterday at 3:20

"This is sick but then its china what do you expect assholes"
Yesterday at 3:23

"exactly h pls share"
Yesterday at 3:25am

"sick asshole and SO PERVERSE AND EVIL!"
Yesterday at 5:46am

"GET OVER IT, LETS STAND FOR THE ANIMALS NOT THE CHINESE, OMG WHO DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT N??????
18 hours ago

"I CARE ABOUT THE INNOCENT ANIMALS IN CHINA WHERE THERE ARE NO FRICKING ANIMAL RIGHTS WHATSOEVER!"

"I HATE THE CHINESE PEOPLE!!!"

"THE CHINESE IS AN EVIL RACE." (In a thread on my wall March 7, 2012)

Before opinions, let's first look at the facts. Here are some examples of the wonderful activism taking place in China as we speak:

Chinese activists rescuing dogs from dog truck.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/19/chinese-animal-activists-save-hundreds-of-dogs-from-being-eaten/?hpt=C2

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/15/chinese-worry-new-year-magic-act-is-cruel-to-fish/

Chinese man adopting and caring for rescued dogs. http://www.wittymag.com/chinese-man-looks-after-140-stray-dogs/

http://www.wildaid.org/news/yao-ming-calls-shark-fin-ban-china

http://english.savechinastigers.org/node/211

And, of course we can't leave out Anthony Marr who led the highest-profile anti-hunting campaign in Canada, has conducted campaigns in Canadian and American Chinatowns to put an end to endangered species medicines and in India to help save the tigers where they live, has traveled the U.S. on seven long CARE (Compassion for Animals Road Expedition) tours just to name a few.

http://www.homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/

I completely understand the hatred. I hate hunters. I hate vivisectors. I hate furriers. I hate those who maime, torture, and kill. But I have transformed that hatred into action. I'm pro-active and I get out there and fight with a level head. As ARAs we should be fighting against racism; along with speciesism, ageism, sexism, and any other "ism" that keeps humans and non-humans oppressed. How can we fight against any of these when hatred is so prevalent in our own movement? How can we fight speciesism when racism runs rampant in AR?

This kind of behavior in the movement is unbecoming to say the least, and it ruins our reputation. The enemy can and will use us against ourselves. Then we will have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning this fight.

Shannon Wright
November 12, 2011

Due to what Shannon has so courageously brought out, I have compiled the following list of abusive activities pertaining to various peoples, cultures and countries, so that we could view the situation from a global, objective, unbiased and balanced perspective.

Given the virtually endless varieties of animal abuse we humans have had the evil genius of inventing, I have limited the following list to those practised by at least 1% of the population of the country in question, and supported by at least 2%, which therefore precludes such highly localized atrocities as tearing live turtles' heads off with the contestants' bare hands in the Snapper Festival in Ohio County, Indiana, USA.

The list, as is, would be incomplete, and may contain errors. If you have any atrocities to include that is practised by at least 1% and supported by at least 2% of the population of the country in question, or if you have any country/ies to add to or remove from any listed activity, please comment, and I will amend the list accordingly. Thank you.

Anthony Marr

This blog was written over the period of four days, during which time I reviewed thousands of animal abuse pictures to select the following few dozen. It has been a hellish experience - definitely not recommended entertainment. But since I have done the agonizing, I humbly request that you look through the pictures that I have selected. They all have their rightful places in AR.

This reminded me of a brief exchange with my FB friend HyEna Howln this afternoon. She commented on the hunting video trailer I posted yesterday (which is also presented in this blog under Hunting Videos below), and said that she was paralysed with rage. She asked me how I handled my anger upon seeing these atrocities done unto other species on a daily basis for years. My answer was very similar to Shannon's:

I transform my feelings into action. Action is the best healing force for me, and the only cure for the problem.

And so, I humbly ask, please take these pictures to heart, feel the fury, then transform it to dynamic action.

To see the pictures and charts and maps best, please click on them for their full size versions.

"Enjoy!"

In alphabetical order:

ALLIGATOR SLAUGHTER - USA

ANIMAL CIRCUS - Peru, Russia, UK, Ukraine, USA (China banned animal circuses January 2011)

BEAR BILE USE & FARMING - China

.........A demo in Hong Kong, sign saying: "BEAR BILE MEDICINAL INDUSTRY = EXTREME CRUELTY!!" and "INNOCENT BEARS TORTURED FOR PROFIT!"

Bird shooting (duck, goose, pheasant, pigeon, turkey...) - Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, S. Africa, Scotland, Spain, UK, Uraquay, USA ++

.........Just how much is enough?.

And how do they do it? Here's how:

BOILING LOBSTERS AND CRABS ALIVE - the method used in the USA, UK, and most other Western countries. ("The Chinese" seldom eat lobsters, but when they do, they decapitate the lobsters first with a single cleaver-chop.)

BOW-HUNTING - Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Central African Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Mozambique, Namibia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, USA, Zimbabwe

Bow hunting is the most cruel form of recreational hunting, with a dismal non-lethal wounding rate of ~50%.

.........Non-lethal wounding rate - ~50%.

BULL-FIGHTING - Colombia, Ecuador, France, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Venezuela

.........This horse was killed.

BUSH MEAT - Cameroon, Congo (great apes), DRC, Gabon, Guinea + some other African countries

CANNED HUNTING - South Africa, USA

CAT/DOG EATING - Angola (dog), Argentina (cat - "only during hardship"), Cambodia, Cameroon (dog), China, Cuba (dog), Japan, Lagos, Laos, Nigeria, Philippines (+ Filipinos in USA), S. Korea, (former) Soviet Union, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, (+ Lewis-and-Clark, USA)

.........S. Korean dog truck.

.........Vietnamese dog truck.

.........Chinese cat market.

.........Chinese activists protesting cat-eating; poster reads: "REFUSE TO EAT CATS! Cats are our friends, not our food!"

.........Korean women protesting dog-eating.

COCK FIGHTING - Afghanistan, Canary Islands, Colombia, Dominion Republic, Ecuador, France, Guam, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Venezuela,

.........Cock fighting in Indonesia.

.........Cock fighting in Thailand.

.........Cock fighting in the Phillipines.

.........Cock fighting in Afghanistan.

.........Once upon a time in the West.

CRUSH VIDEOS - many countries - see www.StopCrush.org/?p=1137

CRUSHING BOX (cruel elephant training practice) - Thailand

Elephants are trained differently between Thailand and India, the latter being much more humane.

"CULL" HUNTING - Canada, Finland, USA (usually in urban areas, by bow-hunters, for bow-hunters)

DAIRY INDUSTRY - Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, Russia, UK, Ukraine, USA

By volume:

World total milk production in 2009
FAO statistics [30]
(including cow/buffalo/goat/sheep/camel milk)

Rank Country Production (10 to the 6th power kg/y)
World 696,554
1 India 110,040
2 USA 85,859
3 China 40,553
4 Russia 32,562
5 Pakistan 34,362
6 Germany 28,691
7 Brazil 27,716
8 France 24,218
9 New Zealand 15,217
10 UK 13,237
11 Italy 12,836
12 Turkey 12,542
13 Poland 12,467
14 Ukraine 11,610
15 Netherlands 11,469
16 Mexico 10,931
17 Argentina 10,500
18 Australia 9,388
19 Canada 8,213
20 Japan 7,909

European total milk production in 2009
FAO statistics [30]
(including cow/goat/sheep/buffalo milk)

Rank Country Production (10 to the 6th power kg/y)
EU (all 27 countries) 153,033
1 Germany 28,691
2 France 24,218
3 UK 13,237
4 Italy 12,836
5 Poland 12,467
6 Netherlands 11,469
7 Spain 7,252
8 Romania 5,809
9 Ireland 5.373
10 Denmark 4,814

.........There are 65,000 dairy farms in the USA alone.

DOG FIGHTING - Afghanistan, Australia (illegal, but happening), India (illegal, but happening), Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, Rome (historical), Russia, South Africa (wide spread), South America (most countries, by and large illegal, but happening), UK (illegal, but happening), USA (illegal, but happening)

.........Once upon a time in the West.

.........Dog fighting in Afghanistan.

.........Dog fighting in Pakistan.

.........Dog fighting in the USA - illegal.

DOLPHIN CAPTURE & CAPTIVITY - Canada (captivity), China (captivity), Guinea Bassau ("massive capture" in 2004 +), Japan (capture and captivity), Mexico (capture - illegal, but happening + captivity), USA (Captivity) +

1985 - Australia banned all cetacean captivity.
1992 - Hungary banned cetacean captivity
1993 - UK banned cetacean captivity
2005 - Chile and Costa Rica banned cetacean captivity

.........Pictures by Anthony Marr @ the Shimonoseki Aquarium, Japan, where the dolphins are captured from Taiji.

Currently, there are ~60 dolphinarium in Europe, 34 in EU.

.........Dolphin capture at Taiji, Japan.

DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER - Denmark (Faroe Islands), Japan

.........The Grind in progress in the Faroe Islands, in which tourists are allowed to participate.

.........Faroe Islands, Denmark, the Grind in progress.

.........Faroe Islands, Denmark, after the Grind.

.........At the Cove, Taiji, Japan.

.........Anthony Marr meeting with Izumi Ishii, ex-dolphin-killer turned whale-watching operator, who single-handedly stopped dolphin killing at Futo, Japan, before heading on to Taiji to perform a dolphin-saving operation.

DRIFT-NET FISHERY - France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Morocco, Taiwan, Turkey

FACTORY FARMS - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech, Colombia (eggs + 2.5M pigs), Denmark, Egypt, Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Netherlands (world's biggest exporter of eggs - 5.4 billion/year), Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, USA

FOIE GRAS - France (78%) +5

FOX HUNTING - UK

.........Gordon Brown and Brian May (Queen)

FUR FARMING - Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Netherlands, EU, Finland, Russia, Sweden, USA

.........Fur farms are hells on Earth no matter what the country; this one just happens to be Russian.

.........And all for this?

GESTATION CRATE - Canada, EU, USA + most countries with factory pig-farms.

Banned in Sweden and the UK. Will be banned in Denmark by 2014, and in New Zealand by 2015. Banned in certain US states (Arizona, California, Florida) but far from all.

.........This device is so heart-breaking that it deserves it own category.

HARE COURSING - Ireland

HORSE EATING and SLAUGHTER -

Consumers: Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China (only a few provinces), France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, S. Korea, Tonga, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

Breaking news! (Nov. 18, 2011) - the USA has just re-instituted horse slaughtering on American soil. States like Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri are considering opening or re-opening horse-slaughter plants. 120,000-200,000 horses will be slaughtered in America per year.

Major Horse meat Production Countries, 2005
Country # of horses
China 1,700,000 horses
Mexico 626,000
Kazakhstan 340,000
Mongolia 310,000
Argentina 255,000
Italy 213,000
Brazil 162,000
Kyrgyzstan 150,000
Worldwide
Totals 4,727,829

---------------------------------------

Horse meat production levels as of 2009
Country Tons per year
Argentina 57,000 tons
Kazakhstan 55,000
Mongolia 38,000
Kyrgyzstan 25,000
Australia 24,000
Brazil 21,000
Canada 18,000
Poland 18,000
Italy 16,000*
Romania 14,000
Chile 10,000
France 7,500
Uruguay 8,000
Senegal 9,500
Colombia 6,000
Spain 5,000*

HUNTING VIDEOS - Canada, USA

.........Snuff films performed by psychopathic serial killers.

.........This will either make your blood boil or make you salivate and crave for more, depending on whether you are a compassionate and conscientious person, or a psychopathic serial killer of sentient beings. If you are the former, please join the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC); if the latter, please quit, then join the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition. Your fate, and that of the animals, are up to you. http://youtu.be/mvWuPbDSTYo

MEAT CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA - Australia, Spain, USA top 3

MEAT CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY - USA + all countries

Line up single file all the cows killed in the USA per year, and the cow line will go from LA to New York 15 times.

Line up single file all the pigs killed in the USA per year, and the pig line will go from LA to New York 35 times.

Line up single file all the chickens killed in the USA per year (~10 billion), and the chicken line will go from the Earth to the Moon 8 times.

OVERFISHING -

The World's Most Prominent Fishing Nations:

1. China
2. Peru
3. Japan
4. Chile
5. USA
6. Russian Fed.
7. Thailand
8. Indonesia
9. Korea, Rep.
10. Norway
11. India
12. Iceland
13. Philippines
14. Korea, DPR
15. Denmark
16. Spain
17. Taiwan
18. Canada
19. Mexico
20. Vietnam

•52% of fish stocks are fully exploited
•20% are moderately exploited
•17% are overexploited
•7% are depleted
•1% is recovering from depletion

.........A rare case where green is bad and red is good.

.........Overfishing on American/Canadian west coast.

.........Comparison of fish stock 1900 vs 2000 (click on pic for animation).

.........World fisheries 1950-1998.

.........Georges Bank Cod decline 1978-2006.

.........Overfishing Index 1 = 100% compliance to limit, 7 = total non-compliance.

PUPPY MILLS (like little factory farms) - Australia, Canada (esp. Quebec, banned in Toronto), UK, USA

RATTLESNAKE ROUND-UP - USA

RHINO HORN USAGE & POACHING - African countries (trophy hunting and poaching), China (medicine), SE Asian countries (poaching), USA (trophy hunting), Yemen (dagger handles, recently banned)

.........Rhino head as hunting trophy.

.........Chinese poster saying: "MY HORN IS NOT MEDICINE".

.........Rhino horn as dagger and sword handles, Yemen - recently banned

RODEO - Canada, USA

..........This horse, named Daisy, died in this fall.

..........Thank you, Steve Hindi, for helping keep Rodeo from worming itself into China!

SEAL MASSACRE - Canada, Namibia

.........Namibia seal massacre.

.........Canadian seal massacre

.........Killing the baby in front of the mother.

.........The Canadian seal hunt quota for 2011 was about 400,000. At 1 meter per seal, a single file of 400,000 dead seals would stretch 400km/250mi along any highway.

........The Canadian ex-minister in charge of the seal hunt wore a seal fur coat composed of the skins of some 30 baby seals.

SHARK-BAITING (with live dogs) - France

SHARK FIN CONSUMPTION - Canada, China, USA

.........Anthony Marr checking Vancouver's Chinatown for shark fins, 2011.

SHARK FINNING - Top 6: Costa Rica, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, UAE + almost every country with a coastline.

.........Definned Whale shark.

"SPORT" FISHING - Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Fiji, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Tahiti, USA + most countries with a coastline

TRAPPING (leg-hold, conibar, snare) - Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden, USA +

The leg-hold trap has been banned in 88 countries (including Finland, Norway and Sweden, but in which other forms of trapping continue), but only 8 US states have done so.

.........A magnificent and rare Bald eagle, what trappers call a "trash animal".

TROPHY HUNTING ("Big Game Hunting") - Botswana, Canada, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, USA, Zimbabwe

.........The "BIG 5", hunted in a half dozen African countries.

.........This hunter killed this elephant with an arrow.

.........This hunter killed this rhino with an arrow.

.........Adding insult to injury.

.........Little man behind big cat.

.........The Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC) was conceived by Anthony Marr in 2003 and founded by him in 2009. Please join GAHC and GAHC-2 in Facebook.

VEAL - see dairy countries.

.........Veal, a cruel spin-off of the dairy industry.

VIVISECTION - Canada, Germany, Switzerland, UK, USA and most countries with universities

.........Stop UBC Animal Research led by Brian Vincent in Vancouver; Shannon Wright on right under the "orb".

WHALING - Canada (native whaling), Japan ("Research" whaling), Norway (illegal whaling)

THERE IS NO HUMANE WAY TO KILL A WHALE!

.......Makah native whaling.

.........The evil Yushin Maru.

.........Anthony Marr performing an anti-whaling operation in Shimonoseki, Japan; the Yushin Maru in the background.

.........The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on the anti-whaling front line.

WILDHORSE ROUND-UP - to make room for more and more cattle ranches on public land - USA

.........Meat eaters love their beef more than wild horses, so the horses are off to slaughter to make room for more cattle ranches.

WILDLIFE TRADE - Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, India, Laos, Maldives, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Panama, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe + the Internet

..........Chinese ivory artifacts.

.........Shipment of rhino horns in Bremen, then meant for being made into dagger handles; other rhino horns of course go to China to be made into medicine.

.........Elephant tusks seized in Africa.

.........Tiger skin to the West, tiger bone medicines to the East.

.........Snow leopard skin openly displayed for sale in Afghanistan.

.........Monkeys from SE Asia, going west.

.........Leopard skins and taxidermied cobra in store window in Thailand.

.........Python skins from India to Germany.

.........Tiger skins on hotel wall in India.

.........Tiger and leopard skins seized from Italian trader in Calcutta, India.

Anthony Marr has performed undercover operations in India to help solve wildlife crimes.

.........With every one of these seizures, several slip through.

WOLF HUNTING & EXTERMINATION - China (license for foreign hunters), Estonia, Finland, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, USA

.........Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

ZOOS (with a few exceptions) - most countries

.......Example of a "good zoo" - a drive-through zoo with 3 huge mix-species enclosures for African, America and Asian herbivores, plus drive-through compounds for carnivors.

.........Aerial view of the Wildlife Safari drive-through zoo in Roseberg, Oregon, USA.

.........As an opposite example, the infamous The Tiger Truck Stop in Gross Tete, Louisiana, USA, where the famous Tony The Tiger lived, all alone, all his life. (Pictures by Anthony Marr)

.........Tony's life-sentence prison.

.........A glimpse of Tony.

.........Anthony Marr speaking out for Tony The Tiger and those who cannot speak for themselves.

Global ENVIRONMENTAL statistics by country:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/env_cur_iss-environment-current-issues

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December 13, 2011:

THE "SUBSPECIESIST"

Somewhat belatedly, though never too late, I came across what entertainer Steven Patrick Morrissey said about the Chinese people being a "SUBSPECIES" (Sep 4, 2010). At issue was animal circuses. Perhaps I was too busy on the road conducting my 7th Compassion for Animals Road Expedition (CARE-7 tour - 40 states in 7 months, Apr-Nov, 2010). Now, upon reading it, the first thought that sprang to mind is: Does he think that he belongs to the Master Race? What does this make him? A "Subspeciesist"?

Good thing that facts speak for themselves. In January this year, China beat Morrissey's UK, and the US, and Canada, in banning animal circuses. Even so, inevitably, when I shared the positive news in a Facebook post, it quickly degenerated into yet another negative Chinese-bashing thread.

As a Chinese Canadian ARA, I've taken this type of abuse on a daily basis - from fellow ARAs of all people - for years - though admittedly none was meant to be offensive against my person. At first, I remained silent, thinking that racism would not be tolerated in the movement espousing Anti-Speciesism, which hopefully would be cleansed by those who could see comparable ugliness in their own cultural mirrors, e.g. bow hunting, factory farms, rodeo, vivisection..., and animal circuses, because I considered the subject beneath my dignity and irrelevant to my pro-animal activism. But one day, upon witnessing my own mother being insulted due to her ethnicity, I began writing about it (e.g. my latest blog on this subject: [CRIMES AGAINST ANIMALS Around The World] - http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/2011/11/crimes-against-animals-around-world.html).

Now, in late 2011, reading Morrissey's statement, and others' comments in his support, and seeing anti-Chinese groups spring up like wildfire within the AR movement, I have come to a point of resignation. Morrissey and his fans can own the racist sector of the AR movement for all I care. Thankfully, there are groups exemplified by Stand By Animals In China, Stop Crush and the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition that hold steadfastly against racism of any kind within the Animal Rights movement, thus maintaining it on an even keel in the winds of prejudice and bigotry.

Though I understand where his offensive statement had come from - his gut and not his head - I feel that Morrissey owes my mother a big apology, and my father, my sister, my brother, my uncles and aunts and cousins, my childhood friends, NONE OF WHOM eat cats and dogs, or use rhino horn, or skin animals alive, and the vast majority of the Chinese people who are as irked by these atrocities as he is. As for me, I don't need his apology. He can save his breath for a new song of true compassion, one embracing all sentient beings - including the Chinese people, at least the hundreds of millions of them that abhor cruelty as he does.

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.DearHomoSapiens.blogspot.com
www.HOPE-GEO.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org