April 22nd 2009 is Earth Day. The objective is to highlight the importance of altering our way of life in the interests of the survival of the planet and its ability to support the range of diverse life forms which it does today. From the WWF website:

We’ve reached a critical moment in the history of the Earth and it’s Time for Change. In the 50 days leading up to Earth Day 2009, we will be asking all people to help World Wildlife Fund protect the future of nature by pledging to make change.

Is this just scare mongering? Is there a real threat to the Earth’s ecosystems and their ability to support the diverse range of living organisms that it does today? In 2008 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released its Living Planet Report which attempts to quantify Humankind’s demand on the Earth’s resources and calculated what is sustainable based on the Earth regenerative capacity and Human activities. The results are alarming.  The report states:

Whether we live on the edge of the forest or in the heart of the city, our livelihoods and indeed our lives depend on the services provided by the Earth’s natural systems. The Living Planet Report 2008 tells us that we are consuming the resources that underpin those services much too fast – faster than they can be replenished. Just as reckless spending is causing recession, so reckless consumption is depleting the world’s natural capital to a point where we are endangering our future prosperity. The Living Planet Index shows that over the past 35 years alone the Earth’s wildlife populations have declined by a third.

By using measures such as Humankind’s demand on fresh water resources and land area for food, our “Ecological Footprint” was calculated.  

The Earth’s ability to support life is then established by calculating factors such as fresh water replenishment rates and soil nutrient cycling rates. Humanity’s impact on this in the form of pollution,  habitat loss and climate change etc is also factored in.

The results are alarming. On the one hand, Humanity’s demand on the Earth’s resources is increasing while, due to our actions, the ability of the Earth to support life is decreasing. Both these trends are illustrated below.

The Earth's ability support life relative to 1970 levels`

Humanity's ecological footprint relative to Earth's sustainable capacity

 

The top graph shows the “Living Planet Index” which represents the Earth’s ability to support life relative to 1970 levels. It can be seen clearly that this has been been decreasing steadily for the last two decades. The second, bottom graph shows Humanity’s demand on the Earth’s resources, such as fresh water and soil nutrients. The horizontal green line is the Earth’s regenerative capacity. It can be seen that as of 2005, we have been using the Earth’s resources 30% faster than they can be replenished. The consequences of inaction are obvious - shortages in the basic resources and services to support life.

 

So surely the objectives of WWF Earth Day are worthwhile. There is no escaping the fact that Human behaviour must change if the Earth is to retain its ability to support the enormous diversity of life that it does today.

The Living Planet Report can be downloaded here.

To celebrate WWF Earth Day on April 22nd, Soft and Cuddly is offering a 10% discount off their brand new Eco-Plush range with products from the Aurora Naturally range by Aurora World and the Eco Mouse by Happy Horse. Also, there is now 10% off all WWF plush animals.

For more information on WWF and how to help, please visit http://www.worldwildlife.org/

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Jody Eco Issues climate change, earth day, environment, soft toys, wwf

The Easter Bunny, That Well Known Christian Symbol... eh...

The Easter Bunny was certainly a big feature of Easter when I was growing up - but where is the connection with the traditional Christian Easter story? At least with Santa Claus there’s a tenuous connection with Christmas in the form of the legend of St. Nicolas. But the Easter Bunny - what on earth has he to do with Easter?

We run SoftandCuddly.ie and for the past couple of weeks, our cuddly bunnies have been literally hopping out the door and this is what got us thinking about the origins of this great Easter symbol.

So we did a little internet research and our bouncy friend seems to have his origins in Germany and first made an appearance in the 17th century. The first record of edible forms of the character appear in the early 1800s. As to the connection with Easter and Christianity, this is a little less certain and most links are sketchy at best.

The best that can be done is to link the Easter bunny with springtime. Like many traditional Christian holidays, the timing of the Easter celebration may have its origins as a pagan spring celebration. Given that the timing is tied in with the lunar calendar this makes sense. Eggs, rabbits and hares have long been prominent symbols of fertility in many cultures which can explain an association between spring time and rabbits. Further more, the mating antics of hares and rabbits around Easter time make these normally placid creatures a lot more conspicuous in the human eye.

During the spring mating season, many male hare approaches to females are rebuffed, pretty similar to the human experience! However, persistence gives way and the female finally succumbs. To the observer, this whole process can appear as a frantic dance as the male chases the female looking for some action! This is where the phrase “as mad as a March hare” comes from.

So it appears that the best we can do is to attribute the rabbit’s association with Easter down to his status as a fertility symbol and their crazy antics during spring time. Somewhere along the line, some Germans incorporated this into the Easter tradition and some entrepreneurial confectioner made edible ones.

So there you have it. Funny though that he hasn’t been commercialised to the same degree as Santa.

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Jody Did You Know? easter, easter bunny, rabbits, soft toys