European countries dominate the Environmental Performance Index, and many, such as Norway and Netherlands, fund countries elsewhere in the world to preserve their habitats and wildlife.
For example, the ‘Norwegian government paid the South American country of Guyana $250 million between 2011 and 2015 to stop logging and protect its forests.’ (mnn.com).
I was disappointed Princess Kate seemed to have become a Calamity Kate recently, buying a shotgun as Britain goes weapons crazy!
Kate Returns to Form
So I was delighted to see Princess Kate return to great greenYgrey form on a visit to Blackpool recently (maybe tangerine would have been more fitting though?), sporting big green and grey, and a little yellow in the arrow symbol of her handbag and the umbrella handle.
So I wrote this Folding Mirror poem to celebrate, adapting it from a spontaneous poem that seeped down effortlessly from the unconscious, and that is included below the FM one.
Swapping Shotgun for Umbrella, Remembering gYg Princess Era
Princess Kate taking up shooting
was like a poisoned ↑
through my greenYgrey wolf ♥.
Seeing symbol on handbag
like Y in disguise
deflated, like crushed umbrella.
is T a good umbrella symbol, between windy Y and deflated ↑
Thankfully, brolly she’s holding
in stormy Blackpool photo
sheltered her from rain.
One day when sunny again
Kate will consider birdsong celebrations
more important than dinner conversations.
Princess Kate taking up shooting
was like a poisoned arrow
through my greenYgrey heart
but seeing the symbol on her handbag
I see it’s just like a Y in disguise
deflated like a storm-broken umbrella.
Thankfully, the brolly she’s holding
in the stormy Blackpool photo
sheltered her from the rain
and one day when the sun shines
Kate will consider birdsong celebrations
more important than dinner conversations.
If you liked the above, and love birdy animals, you should be very interested to know it’s the last day or two, depending where you are, of my latest poetry book and second of the greenYgrey trilogy – fantasy fiction parody comedy Australia travel -being free on Smashwords:
The report, drawn up by Women’s Aid, shows a rise in the number of killings from 2016, when there were 113, and 2015, when there were 119.’
Wild Birds Deliberately Killed
In more bad news, it’s emerged in this MSN article the UK authorities are also deliberately killing off wild bird populations; I’d thought declining numbers are an indirect result of humanity, but it appears the problem also has an intentional factor!
On a brighter note, I’ve updated the mistYmuse news in this Midwinter Solstice week with some new acronym gifts on this site’s sister site, travel25years.wordpress.com.
I wasn’t surprised to see that Nike has an advert ready to reward Raheem Sterling. Meanwhile, white people who tried to expose anti-white racism, such as the decades long grooming scandal, are more likely to be persecuted, and end up in prison; as Tommy Robinson was – no Nike advert for him!
Subtle Anti-white Racism
I watched Football Focus yesterday and a non-white discussion group were saying how racism isn’t always obvious, and is sometimes subtle; and I think that includes anti-white racism.
I was watching a BBC news report from the Nelson Mandela primary school in Birmingham during the summer, at the time of what would have been his 100th birthday (18th July). There were only one or two white children there, which wasn’t a surprise. What did shock me was that in a school book they were reading it talked of the white South African government while Mandela was rebelling.
You may be wondering why that shocked me – it’s because it talked of white, rather than using the political correctness non-whites expect (not discussing Prophet Mohammed’s 6-year-old bride, saying ‘terrorist group who call themselves ISIS’ etc), by calling it the apartheid government or something.
So, it seems they are starting the anti-white brainwashing young now – in a primary school named after a revolutionary black leader, with hardly any white children!
Is there a school in the UK named after a white conservationist killed in Africa, such as Dian Fossey (Gorillas in the Mist) or British couple George and Joy Adamson (Born Free), who were all killed by Africans while trying to do good work.
There are lots of Africans doing great work for conservation too, and unfortunately lots of ‘big white hunters’; although the damage tourists do is nothing compared to poaching gangs and locals with machine guns!
This isn’t a criticism of Africa or Africans in general, more the British media/Establishment bias, in trying not to be ‘racist’ (if they don’t just hate the white working-class, and I know there are some who do) – like the police who didn’t investigate the grooming scandal, or the children who didn’t know how to say no – they become anti-white racist.
The BBC have another slave drama starting over Christmas, which will likely create more white hate! What about a white slavery (whites being enslaved by non-whites, as was also common) one; or even an Arabs enslaving Africans one, as was happening a long time before the white European operation began. Not enough interest without some white baddies, and a lesson in white evil, non-white goodness?
Stormzy Scholarship
The same kind of criticism can be levelled at Stormzy, who created a couple of university scholarships this year, and specified they were only for people of his ethnicity.
After years of British society having quotas and trying to be ‘fair’, Stormzy comes along and rips up the rule book, totally being ‘racist’.
If I hadn’t been persecuted out of academia I could have helped some of my demographic, and maybe even get them off the bottom of the league tables as they are now.
Return to Raheem
Maybe they’ll give Raheem Sterling an honorary doctorate in Media Studies now, after the establishment seem to love his research, which I wouldn’t have been too happy about if I was Phil Foden: could be considered snitching, which Sterling shouldn’t like, with his gun tattoo – like one of the independent-white-girl bullying Little Mix (Black Magic video)!
At least Sterling made his racism claims before the end of his career, when ready for a presenting job, like Rio Ferdinand and Eni Aluko.
Yaya Toure and Pep Guardiola
Funnily enough, Yaya Toure called Pep Guardiola racist at the end of last season, when leaving Manchester City, for not picking him enough, and I saw this week he’s just been released by new club Olympiakos after a few months.
Nike and the BBC will probably offer him contracts as he’s made an anti-white racism complaint.
Maybe that’s why Pep Guardiola kissed Sterling on the head while substituting him last season, trying to avoid looking racist; although he could have opened himself up to a complaint of inappropriate behaviour!
Apologies to Manchester City club and fans again, and good to see you return to winning ways yesterday, with Jesus, Sane and Sterling on form, although I like the Everton blues too.
Yesterday we started off the files with the humans, because we’re weres, and already very big in the wolf world, and want to break the human market as successfully.
So, here are the greenygrey wolf images sent from aW, with the real people who posted them on Google+ cited in the captions below, when available.
Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem contrasts humanity’s search for life on other planets and in the supernatural with the damage it is doing on our home planet. The BBC’s History of the World pulled no punches this week in describing how our species killed off the Neanderthals, and we look set to exterminate a lot more of our close relatives this century unless we change our ways, which looks unlikely the way this century and decade is going.
Sorry if it’s a little negative, and Marc is fascinated by all the space exploration… as well as liking humanity… just not everything our species does… and the priorities it sometimes seems to have. The world is still a beautiful place, and there is still an abundance of life at the moment, so make the most of it, and enjoy life. Here’s the poem:
Mars, 2001, with the southern polar ice cap visible on the bottom. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Search and Destroy
digging the dearth on Mars
discovering minutest microbes,
exoplanets in the habitable zones
of faraway solar systems,
imagining angels above
waiting for sinning souls
ambitions of a species, degradation of our planet
centre stage the clowns
Jester’s acid tears,
melt the polar icecaps
creating new passages to pollute,
plundering nature’s riches
ignoring the beauty of Earth
Mission: Earth, Voyage to the Home Planet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hi, it’s Chris Packwolf, celebrity naturalist at the Greenygrey. I was thinking this week how Olympic athletes have seen the two sides of Britain since their arrival last week, with the greenygrey weather of last weekend breaking into hot sunshine for the southern half of Britain over the last few days. The greenygrey weather has travelled farther south now, so it is a shorter journey north for any athletes in London who are pining for more greenygrey.
The international feel to Britain at the moment reminded me of a fellow from Kazakhstan I saw talking about bears in his country; Borat was his name. Here he is in glorious greenygrey:
Cover via Amazon
He said he used to hunt bears in his country, but didn’t any more; because there were none left.
It’s the same kind of situation in Britain; although the government laudably banned hunting with dogs ten years ago, and we do have some of the best animal welfare legislation in the world now.
Is Britain Bearable?
We do lack big wild animals like those seen in North America and some European countries. The sunshine of recent days makes me think that Britain would be even better with some bears in the wild; maybe even some sun bears.
English: One of Wellington Zoo’s sun bears relaxes in the afternoon sun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It would probably need high strong fences to keep the animals in a reserve though; and protect them from humans and other predators… and vice-versa.
I saw a similar scheme in Australia on Secrets of our Living Planet, presented by Chris Packham, with the title of Killer Moggy of Oz reminding me of Grey’s amazing book title Werewolf of Oz.
Hi, it’s the Greenygrey. In this second instalment of the Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps book on this blog we have the disclaimer.
dISCLAIMER
This book is a work of fictional parody. While it features real people and places, they are taken out of their real context and transported to the fantasy world of Oz via Google maps for this exploratory expedition into comedy fantasy – magic realism virtual travelling. Only the author has had anything to do with the creation of this book. Apologies to people and places that do not think they are portrayed positively, but it is obviously fictional, and hopefully this book will create further interest in them.
The book is written from an agnostic viewpoint. Some of the material may offend religious extremists, so they are advised not to read any further. The book also contains sections involving alcoholic beverages: good times are balanced with bad.
One of the reasons the writer chose Australia; the main one is of course that its nickname, Oz, ties in with the Wizard of Oz; for this journey was because he thought Australians would appreciate the humour. It was written with fondness and respect for Australia; a country where the author spent most of 1989.
The book consciously provides a positive anthropomorphic view of animals, and especially the wolf. It is hoped that, in some small way, this might help the remaining wild animals in the world survive a little longer by raising awareness. Despite providing us with our ‘best friend’ dog, the wolf has suffered a particularly negative image in human cultures alienated from the wilderness. This has resulted in the wolf’s persecution and extinction in many regions of the world.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. No part of this book should be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without acknowledging its source. If you could also tell the author it would be appreciated.
Hi, it’s Greenygrey. They’re awful busy creating a new site over at Suite 101, so we thought we’d skip the articles and just copy our transcript here in two parts for now, so you’ll be the first to see it. It will hopefully be of interest to you, and should be particularly useful for those unable to see the documentaries. A mutt called Jeff transcribed them, so blame him for any mistakes. There’s more about muttley Jeff at the end of the transcript.
Across the planet, most wildlife is under threat, but against the odds, one animal is making a comeback. In North America it is controversial. Team of wildlife experts go to the frontline, to work out how far they are spreading.
For thousands of years wolves were North America’s top predator. Fierce, formidable. When Europeans arrived they were pushed out of the US, and into wilds of Canada. More than a million exterminated.
Jasmine Minbashian, local wildlife campaigner: spent years travelling through the Cascade Mountains, dreaming of the return of wolves. She was 5 months pregnant, but didn’t want to pass up this chance.
Isaac Babcock: wildlife tracker.
Winter base camp in the Cascades. They have one month to find pack: it’s 70 years since wolves were in the Cascades.
Wolves can smell humans from a mile away, and hear them from much further
Buchanan uses wolf urine on tree to try and attract wolves
Wolves can travel 50 miles in a day.
Pack in region been named the Lookout Pack, thought to be 10 strong.
Doug Smith, wolf expert. Says 200 years from now he’d like to see wolves from Canada down to Mexico, a mountain highway.
Team tracking the pack in winter, as tracks easier to find.
Isaac teaches Gordon to howl, try it in one valley, but no response.
Ask locals, who say they have sighted wolves.
Buchanan (in greenygrey) unpacks a robo wolf: it howls, and they hope it will attract wolves.
Gordon Buchanan with robowolf.
Then Buchanan hikes into mountains with 35kg of kit. Says wolves can do 50 times his speed; they are built for speed and stamina. Shows difficulty of surviving in the mountains, and how wolves are perfectly adapted to the situation.
Isaac shows Gordon a wolf track: nails, heel pad, toes. Gordon says they are enormous: ‘We’ve got a wolf, that is a wolf.’ But it’s not a fresh track.
Jasmine looks through film footage from cameras near camp, and sees a wolf coming around a tree. Good news at the end of a tough week.
Doug Smith says large carnivores like wolves are as important to the structure of the natural system as sunshine and climate. Wolves are the top animal predator in North America. Without wolves, deer and elk overgraze, and this harms the environment.
Doug Smith shows how reintroducing wolves has balanced the Yellowstone environment. Plants have grown again, providing a habitat for songbirds, wood for beavers etc.
Biologists hope wolves will balance nature in the same way in the Cascades Mountains.
Gordon sets up a hide near a carcass, with deer distress calls intermittently played.
Isaac finds fresh tracks made by 2 wolves, about an hour ahead. Then finds the carcass of a young mule deer. He says wolves can crush bone down to nothing. Thinks they killed it a day or two ago, and have been coming down to feed on it since.
Show bobcat, cougars caught on camera. Cougars have benefitted from wolves’ absence.
Local biologist, Scott Fitkin, has heard wolves, and called Jasmine out at dawn. They listen to howling. First time she’s heard wolves in this area. Jasmine hopes there’s a female, and they are breeding. Then they see two wolves on the horizon. One is howling. Then they stop, and are just looking down. Jasmine says they are so calm.
Wolves howling mournfully on hill.
Back at camp, they review the video. Jasmine thinks the howling is mournful, and hopes it’s not a sign that the female is missing. They think the other wolf is a young male.
Doug Smith says that part of the appeal of the wolf is that they are a ‘noble species, that feels things like humans do’; a male who loses its mate will howl at a higher rate than normal for several days. Some biologists say the wolves are mourning. Don’t know for sure, but do know that for several days their behaviour is different.
Jasmine worries that the female is lost, and the alpha is waiting for her to return.
Gordon goes to meet ranchers. Wolves are protected by law in Washington state.
One rancher says they have a saying about dealing with wolves: ‘shoot, shovel and shut-up.’ Another three say that if wolves are a threat to their livestock and families they’ll shoot.
Gordon says it is okay when wolves and humans are kept apart, but when they are close together the controversy and clashes start.
Isaac finds a wolf den and goes inside. He says it looks like the pack has been broken up.
Narrator says wolves can survive on their own, but only thrive as part of a pack.
Doug Smith says a big part of wolf life is they are a social animal. Only 2-3 % of animals live as a family, and the wolf is one of them. Pups, yearlings, 2 year olds, sometimes even 3 year olds living under the alpha pair. We call it a pack, essentially it is a family, and they live in that social state all their lives.
Narrator says Lookout pack need pups to continue the pack.
Week 3, and Gordon is called into the Washington State Wildlife Enforcement HQ. An officer says they’d had 2 calls reporting an individual had killed a wolf, and they found a carcass. A lab report found it had been shot: it was missing its feet and head, and was decomposed when found. It had also been skinned. Done on purpose.
Gordon says Lookout pack is in dire straits, and man-made.
Then show newspaper headlines about wolf deaths, and narrator says 3 local people were later charged with killing 5 members of the Lookout pack. That’s why the team has been struggling to locate the pack, and only found 2 wolves.
Jasmine’s in camp. Her worst fears have come true.
She goes to meet Ron Gillette, anti-wolf campaigner. He shows photos of an elk he said was killed by wolves: all chewed out on the rear end, before being left. Another one with blood around.
Gillette says he wants big game herds for sports. Says wolves being good for the eco-system is a load of baloney.
Narrator says Lookout pack might be in decline, but reinforcements might be on the way, howling has been heard just 20 miles away, and new tracks found on the border with Canada.
Gordon goes out to investigate, with husky team. 8 hour climb.
Jasmine follows up a sighting over 100 miles further down from base camp. Jasmine said if verified, they will be the furthest south recorded.
Gordon howls on the mountain, joined in by the huskies, but no response. So he continues north to the border with Canada, the most inhospitable part of the mountains. Not even huskies can make it up there.
Local biologists have positioned cameras there. Gordon finds a wolf, and then two more, It is a new pack. Gordon has found a route wolves are using to cross into the States. Gordon says the Lookout pack, the pioneer pack, might be wiped out, but he hopes there is an unstoppable tide of wolves returning to Washington state.
Hi, it’s Grey Greyvara, leader of the Grey Equality Transition (GET) at the Greenygrey. I am upset to see the grey name tarnished in the The Grey film, which regurgitates the demonic wolfophobic style grey wolf image that has led to the wolf’s extinction in most regions of the world.
Grey Balance
If anything has suffered a horrific nightmare in the human-wolf relationship, it is the grey wolf, with communities of the animal that gave us our ‘best friend’ in the dog, wiped out around the world.
And yet, in the 21st century, as the grey wolf attempts to survive in its old territories like Yellowstone, after the wonderful reintroduction in 1995, The Grey might set the image of the wolf back again, and provoke some people into wanting to hunt the brave and wise big wild dog.
Jaws is thought to have led to a big rise in shark deaths after it monsterised the species. We hope that not one wolf dies as a result of The Grey, but fear there might be multiple deaths.
We thought about ignoring the film, after first mentioning it in the December blog stating that our Grey’sWerewolf of Oz shouldn’t be mixed up with The Grey, as we thought publicity might create more interest.
But PETA has called for a boycott after the star of the film, Liam Neeson, boasted of eating wolf before making the film, so we have responded.
Switzerland
France
Denmark
Malta
Sweden
United Kingdom
Luxembourg
Austria
Ireland
Finland
Iceland
Spain
Germany
Norway
Belgium
Italy
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mistYmuse 