Dekotora Trucks from Japan
August 29th, 2010 
admin
The Dekotora or Decotora, an abbreviation for “Decoration Truck”, is a kind of loudly decorated truck most commonly found in Japan.
Posted in Amazing... 
Tags: abbreviation, Amazing..., decoration, Dekotora, girls from japan, Hide, horror illustration, Japan, Pictures, staircase, Truck 
No Comments »Digitized Horror Illustration by Girls from Japan August 29th, 2010 admin
Posted in Amazing... Tags: Amazing..., Digitized, girls from japan, Hide, Horror, horror illustration, Illustration, Japan, japan japan, Pictures, staircase, stationery No Comments »Japan’s Staircase House – Amazing Architecture August 27th, 2010 admin
Posted in Amazing... Tags: Amazing..., Architecture, Bangalore, California, Dubai, glass pavilion, Hide, hill house, house, Japan, opera house, posts california, Related, s hill, staircase No Comments »Japanese Sumo Fight – Amazing Pictures August 27th, 2010 admin
Posted in Amazing... Tags: Amazing..., Architecture, Flower Art, Hide, Japan, Japanese, Related, staircase, Stills, Sumo No Comments »
Biodiversity Action: The Guardian’s ‘Biodiversity 100′ Campaign August 25th, 2010 admin We learned in May that the 2010 Biodiversity Target, to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss, had been missed.
World leaders are going to meet again in Nagoya, Japan this October and hopefully adopt a new ambitious target for 2020 and a longer-term vision for 2050. Many are skeptical of the new plans and want to see more action and less paper and ink.
The Guardian, a British national newspaper, has launched a new campaign, Biodiversity 100, to pressure governments to take more serious action towards conserving biodiversity. They’re compiling a list of 100 tasks to forward to governments and ask them to sign a commitment to action – before going to Nagoya. The tasks will address the G20 countries given that they have no excuses not to meet their obligations.
The campaign is seeking actions that are aimed at protecting ecosystems or species, backed with strong scientific evidence and that are politically costly or opposed by interest groups. The more specific the tasks the better! For example, stopping a destructive industrial project such as the Mackenzie Gas Project or the Northern Gateway Pipeline, or changing or passing law such as repealing the harmful Schedule 2 of the Metal Mining and Effluent Regulations (MMER).
They’re finalizing their list within a month so make sure Canada is represented and add your suggested actions to their simple form by the end of August. Raise your voice at home by signing Nature Canada’s pledge urging the Canadian government to take five concrete actions to conserve biodiversity during the International Year of Biodiversity.
Posted in Nature Tags: action, ambitious target, biodiversity, campaign, Canada, effluent regulations, Japan, list, Nagoya, nagoya japan, nature canada, Northern Gateway, Target No Comments »Global Youth Call for Government Action on Biodiversity August 5th, 2010 admin The voices of youth all over the world will be heard this October when representatives present a Youth Accord for Biodiversity at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) in Nagoya, Japan. These teens and young adults are making it evident that biodiversity conservation is on their agenda, just as much (if not more so!) as it is on the agendas of world governments. They believe that they are the voice of the future and the acknowledge the important role they play in promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Like many of us, this coalition of young advocates, would like to see their governments take action towards conserving biodiversity. The Accord, drafted by youth and signed by over 4,000 young people in 60 countries, calls for actions such as:
- Providing funding for educational programs on the value of and need for biological diversity;
- Setting a defined target date to stop preventable loss of biodiversity; and
- Implementing sustainable development practices in all areas.
There’s been great momentum leading up to COP10 this October, mainly due to the fact that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, and signing this Accord can only add to that.
We at Nature Canada support the Youth Accord for Biodiversity. Nature Canada would like you to sign our letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging the Canadian Government to make significant efforts in protecting biodiversity this year – it is our chance to take action on behalf of future generations.
Japan’s Elegant House – Amazing Pictures July 6th, 2010 admin Japan’s Elegant House – Amazing Pictures
Say No to Commercial Whaling! June 22nd, 2010 admin The post below was distributed by Avaaz, a global online advocay community that brings people-powered politics to global decision-making.
Nature Canada strongly supports the opposition against commercial whaling – this industry poses severe threats to biodiversity and the health of ecosystems.
The international vote that could legalize commercial whale hunting is just days away. Over 800,000 of us have signed the petition to protect whales, and an Avaaz team is on the ground to make sure we’re heard — let’s super-charge this campaign by hitting 1 million signatures! Add your name and then forward this message:
In one week, the International Whaling Commission will hold its final vote on a proposal to legalize commercial whale hunting for the first time in a generation.
The outcome rests on whose voices are heard most clearly in the final hours: the pro-whaling lobby — or the world’s people?
More than 800,000 of us have signed the petition to protect whales — it’s time to reach 1 million! At the whale summit in Morocco, an Avaaz team is setting up billboards, front-page newspaper ads, and a giant, constantly-updating petition counter — all to ensure that delegates, from the moment they step off the plane until they cast their votes, will see from our explosive numbers that the world will not accept legal whale slaughter. Click to sign, and forward this email to everyone:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/whales_last_push/?vl
Thanks to the worldwide outcry, many governments have already pledged to oppose the proposal. Each time the Avaaz whale petition added 100,000 signatures, it was sent again to the IWC and key governments — some, like New Zealand, thanked all of us who had signed on.
But pressure from the other side has been relentless. Now other governments, especially in Europe and Latin America, may abstain… or even support the proposal. The vote could go either way.
Citizen pressure is our best hope. After all, it was an explosive worldwide social movement in the 1980s that led to the commercial whaling ban we’re now trying to protect. As the International Whaling Commission meets in Morocco — starting this Thursday, the 17th, with the crucial vote less than a week away — let’s make sure the world’s voices are there to greet them:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/whales_last_push/?vl
After the global ban was first implemented on commercial whaling, the number of whales killed each year plummeted from 38,000 per year to just a couple of thousand. It’s a testament to the power of humanity to move forward. As we move to confront the other crises of the modern age, let’s cherish this legacy of progress — by joining together now to protect our majestic and intelligent neighbors on this fragile planet.
With hope,
Ben, Ben M, Maria Paz, Ricken, Benjamin, David, Graziela, Luis, and the whole Avaaz team
P.S.: Despite the ban, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have continued whaling — and are now pushing to make the IWC proposal as lenient as possible. Expecting permission to catch more whales than ever, Japan is reportedly planning to buy its largest whaling ship yet. Click here to sign the petition against commercial whaling!
Posted in Nature Tags: Avaaz, Ben, Benjamin, Canada, commercial whale, commercial whaling, David, Europe, Iceland, international vote, international whaling commission, Japan, Latin America, Luis, Maria Paz, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, petition, proposal, vote, whale, whale hunting No Comments »Japan’s Most Famous Love Hotel : Queen Elizabeth May 9th, 2010 admin 
Love hotels are part of Japan’s tradition, and the Queen Elizabeth is regarded as the most popular of them all. It’s not because of the great service, but more because of its wacky design.
Posted in Amazing... Tags: Famous, hotel, hotels, Japan, love, part, Queen Elizabeth, Queen ElizabethLove, tradition No Comments »World Leaders Fail to Meet Biodiversity Targets May 1st, 2010 admin 
According to a new study co-authored by BirdLife International, world leaders have failed to deliver commitments made to reduce the global rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, and have instead overseen alarming biodiversity declines.
The findings are explained in a new paper published in the leading journal Science and represent the first assessment of how the targets made through the 2002 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have not been met.
The study, led by Dr. Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global Research and Indicators Coordinator, focuses on 31 indicators developed by the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership, a collaboration of over 40 international organizations and agencies developing global biodiversity indicators and the leading source of information on trends in global biodiversity.
The results, of course, were not pretty. The study found no evidence for a significant reduction in the rate of decline of biodiversity, and that the pressures facing biodiversity continue to increase.
According to the study, governments and decision makers have made some progress on establishing more Protected Areas (PAs), Important Bird Areas have become better integrated within PAs and more forests are being sustainably managed. Progress, however, has been slow!
There have been declines in population trends of utilized vertebrates (by 15%) and extinction risk has increased for mammals, birds and amphibians used for food and medicine (23-36% of these species are threatened with extinction) and birds that are internationally traded (8% threatened).
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Chief Scientist has said that since 1970, animal populations have been reduced by 30%, areas of mangroves and sea grasses by 20% and the coverage of living corals by 40%.
As Canada’s list of Species At Risk continues to grow year by year, its grasslands are converted and lost and the Arctic Sea ice continues to disappear, one can only turn back to the Government and say ‘you’ve failed us!’. However, the Canadian government approved a ‘Biodiversity Outcomes Framework’ – a tool to manage, measure, and report on biodiversity conservation in Canada and to assist governments in more directly engaging Canadians in conservation planning, implementation and reporting, according to Environment Canada. It provides implementation and reporting frameworks for the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy. A product of the Biodiversity Outcomes Framework is the Ecosystem Status and Trends Report is due this fall.
Finally, parties to the CBD are saddling up for their 10th Conference of the Parties meeting this October in Nagoya, Japan. They’re up for another challenge; to adopt 20 Targets with an aim of reducing and/or halting biodiversity loss by 2020. Let’s hope that this time they will take the issue more seriously.
UPDATE: Listen to Dr Stuart Butchart interviewed about the failure to meet the 2010 Biodiversity targets
Photo Credits: Food market = Claudia Peters Elephants in Ngorongoro Crater = Geof Wilson Coral reef = SF Brit
