Photo albums: plastic, trees and wildlife

What was everyone talking about at Rio this week? Work to do, work to do, no doubt, but with a lack of heavyweights there, there was talk, but what about action...? Yet to be determined. Good to see the artists getting in on the act and giving everyone something to talk about. Many more pictures of this great plastic bottle fish sculpture are here and here. But I first saw someone share the above photo from Cool Hunter on Facebook, who has an excellent exhibit on modern eco tree houses. Nice to see trees getting such respect.
Lots of other cool stuff on Cool Hunter's site.

I can't resist this other photo album from the Guardian's Week in Wildlife Pictures. These species only exist on Earth and nowhere else. Pretty incredible...

Korean paradise flycatcher

Signs of Spring

Time to celebrate biodiversity and given that it's officially spring in the Northern Hemisphere, today we pay homage to an incredible natural phenomenon. Artist Chris Jordan is at Midway Island, the location of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and the home of the world's largest population of Laysan Albatrosses. He is also filming an environmental tragedy because despite the remoteness of the island, plastic garbage (bottle caps, broken toys, lighters and so on) from all around the Pacific floats nearby and is mistaken for food by the parent albatrosses who then feed it to the chicks. With a bellyful of plastic, many of the chicks don't survive.

Here's a great 10-minute clip to show just how many birds have been nesting there this spring:


Here's a shorter clip a few weeks later showing several hatchlings:


I have blogged about plastic and Chris Jordan's work previously here or you can go
to the source and see the effects of our plastic debris at his website.

Cool Biodiversity: The Mimic Octopus

We still know so little about the 1.8 million catalogued species that we share the planet with and our knowledge is especially incomplete when it comes to the oceans. The best way to halt the biodiversity crisis is to get to know these creatures better. The good people over at the 5 Gyres, whose mission is to end plastic pollution, no less, are starting a series about Cool Water Animals on their blog, kicking it off with the, ahem, inimitable, mimic octopus. Check out the video to see why they call this fantastic creature a magician. And, while you're at it, check in with the 5 Gyres: