Since its beginning on April 22nd, 1970 the goal of Earth Day has been to raise awareness of the effect our everyday activities have on our environment, climate and the health and well being of every plant and animal that calls Earth home (your kids included).

To help celebrate 40 years of Earth Day, thousands of government, business and community groups in over 180 countries will be organizing Earth Day events.

It’s estimated that 500 million people will participate in various Earth Day activities.

Every manager and business owner has the ability to make an impact by encouraging employees to get involved.

Several recent employee surveys show that morale and employer confidence increases as businesses implement productive green initiatives.

The benefits are also seen across many other areas of business.

On the operations side going Green has proven to be a very smart financial decision by saving money in the long run with less expensive energy costs and money saved on items like reclaimed equipment.

Consumers in numerous recent surveys have said they’re more likely to do business with an eco-conscious company.

While many of us instinctively understand the long term rewards of going green, employees are far more likely to be motivated by immediate rewards than they are the long term benefits for the business.

It’s also been noted in several studies that people tend to go green at home but do the very opposite behaviors at work because they don’t reap those long term rewards.

This is an unfortunate situation of “If it doesn’t help me and I’m not paying the bills, why bother turning off my PC at the end of the day?”

The best way to motivate employees is to embrace the simple changes need to make a positive impact.

Find rewards that make it worth their while. Make going green as easy as possible and most importantly, to lead by example.

Here are 21 simple ideas you can use to celebrate Earth Day this year at your office.

1. Purchase bus tickets or bus passes for your employees on Earth Day

2. Arrange an office wide car pool day

3. If it’s nice outside encourage employees to bike to work

4. There may be a few old standard light bulbs hanging around your office. Make it a team effort to replace these with compact florescent light blubs

5. Many offices have one or two recycling bins set up. Studies show increases in recycling participation with more stations that are easily accessible. There are many small recycling containers on the market that can be placed under every desk.

6. Encourage your employees to bring in reusable lunch containers and reusable coffee mugs

7. Consider purchasing a water cooler instead of bottled water

8. Replace office paper and paper towels with paper products made from recycled material

9. Adopt a “Double-Sided” Policy when printing interoffice correspondence

10. Try to be paper free for the day

11. Consider recycling or donating old computers by arranging for a computer recycling firm to pick up old equipment or contacting local school boards to see if they are in need of computer equipment.

12. Consider setting up a cell phone recycling day when every employee with old phones can bring them in – its estimated that every 18 months 14 million phones are discarded in Canada – only 5% of these make it to a proper recycling facility

13. Switch to a green office cleaning company or request that your current company use on non-toxic cleaning supplies

14. Encourage employees to power down computer equipment at lunch and at the end of the day

15. If feasible, turns off the office lights at lunch time

16. Have an employee driven environmental challenge for the week. The challenge could be not to use disposable cups, going car free, or turning off workstations and lights at the end of the day.

17. Raise money to donate to a local environmental group. Employee donations could be matched by the company.

18. Highlight your internal green plan to employees, clients and suppliers.

19. Purchase renewable power for the day, week, month or the whole year.

20. Screen a film or arrange for DVD copies to be distributed which address issues about the environment. The Planet Earth series has a series of amazing documentaries on different parts of the world as well as a segment on human interaction with the Earth.

21. Start an EcoTeam or committee by bringing together interested people on Earth Day.

I hope you find some of these ideas useful. If you have any other ideas, we would love to include them on our list. Please let us know your thoughts.

For additional ideas of rewards your company can offer to employees for participating in Earth Day initiatives, you can also visit our corporate page on our main website www.plantyourtree.ca for details about our tree planting gift card items.

Gland, Switzerland – Environmental degradation is causing serious detrimental health impacts for humans, but protecting natural habitats can reverse this and supply positive health benefits, according to a new WWF report.

“Our research confirms what we know instinctively: Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet,” says Chris Elliot, WWF’s Executive Director of Conservation.

Vital Sites: The Contribution of Protected Areas to Human Health notes that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 23 and 25 per cent of the global disease burden could be avoided by improved management of environmental conditions.

The report, released in advance of World Forestry Day on March 21, singles out deforestation for its key impacts on human health.

“Deforestation is a double blow to human health,” says Elliot. “It increases the spread of certain diseases while destroying plants and animals that may hold the key to treating illnesses that plague millions of people.”

Protecting natural landscapes can contribute positively to human health through protecting future medicinal resources, reducing the impacts of pollution, toxins and weather extremes and providing recreational places that support physical and mental well-being.

World Forestry Day takes on special significance this year, as 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. “Vital Sites” makes a strong case for protecting biodiversity.

In the forests of Borneo alone in the past decade WWF reports discoveries of trees and shrubs that may be used to treat cancer, HIV and malaria. In all, 422 new plant species have been discovered in Borneo in the last 25 years, but deforestation puts them and others waiting to be discovered at risk.

“When WWF stresses the importance of biodiversity, it’s not just because we enjoy a variety of trees or frogs in a forest. It’s because the science tells us that those trees and frogs are vital to the forest’s health, and the forest’s health is vital to our health,” says Elliot.

The report stresses that while people are good at cultivating plants whose value is known, we have a poor track record at conserving those seen as having little use for humans. The problem is, habitat destruction is eliminating potentially valuable species before they can even be discovered, let alone tested.

This short-sighted use of forest resources has major economic implications as well; by the year 2000, plant-based pharmaceuticals were estimated to earn more than $30 billion per year.

“Vital Sites” should be a wake-up call, not just for people concerned with protecting natural resources and biodiversity, but for anyone interested in protecting and promoting human health.

“Most people think of protected areas like national parks and nature reserves as tools for wildlife conservation, but by protecting whole habitats and ecosystems the world’s protected areas offer us some very practical social benefits as well,” writes Dr. Kathy MacKinnon, lead biodiversity specialist for the World Bank, in the report’s foreword.

Feel free to check out the original post and let us know your thoughts.

WWF Website – Human health linked directly to forest health

When you make qualifying purchases this Earth Week at the following retail malls, you will be eligible to receive a tree planting in your name.













This program supports our goal to engage GTA businesses and the consumers they serve in activities that directly benefit our environment. By partnering with GTA malls we will be able to increase awareness within the community about the important work the Toronto and Region Conservation is doing right here is our city.

Please check with us over the next few weeks at:

for more information as event dates will be release shortly.

We encourage you to visit these retail locations that support our local community and are taking steps to benefit our environment.

This article demonstrates the possibilities for truly altering our dependance on fossil fuels. It also highlights the fact that without public pressure on our elected officials to legislate the required changes, even the biggest of the big face roadblocks.

Back to Nature

by Dr. Reese Halter

Source: Santa Monica Daily Press

February 23, 2010

General Electric and Google — two of the most advanced 21st century companies — have joined forces that will revolutionize North America and elsewhere with state-of-the-art “smart” electricity grids.

General Electric is an industrial conglomerate and a world leader in manufacturing and deploying solar, wind and geothermal energies.

Google is the world’s leading search engine, software and Internet company.

General Electric’s engineers calculated that if only 7 percent of the land area of Arizona was covered with GE PV 165 photovoltaic modules, on a sunny day they would generate daily electricity equal to that of the average daily electricity demand for the entire United States.

In 2007 Google became carbon neutral, in part by covering its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., with 6,000 photovoltaic cells and by planting 3,000 pole-mounted solar panels throughout their campus.

Google is also a major investor in at least two solar ventures: eSolar, an enhanced thermal solar players, and Bright Solar Energy, a nanosolar company.

Currently, billions of dollars are invested in the largest solar play in North America located in western Nevada. There are over 104 claims held by major companies that are backed by Goldman Sachs, Pacific Gas & Electric, Edison International, Israeli and German solar firms, Google, Silicon Valley start-ups and Chevron covering about 900,000 acres. They will generate about twice what the state of California consumes in electricity in a year (33 gigawatts).

A conservative estimate from this western Mojave solar project predicts that by 2020 it will be generating $50 billion annually.

And that’s important because hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created over the next decade in a bold plan to solarize American cities.

Oilman T. Boone Pickens has clearly shown that about $700 billion a year is flowing out of the U.S. to purchase imported oil. The Pickens Plan proposes to create comparable energy in the U.S. from one of his subsidiaries by installing thousands of windmills throughout America.

He is asking the U.S. government to bear the cost of $15 billion to install new utility transmission lines.

In fact, an entire new electrical grid is needed to accommodate the western Mojave solar project.

As a part of President Obama’s $1 trillion spending package his administration will be announcing a revamp of the U.S.’s antiquated high-voltage power-transmission system so that it can deliver, solar, wind, geothermal, tidal and wave energies efficiently across the nation.

Currently, alternating-current (AC) lines cannot carry wind-generated electricity from the Midwest to the Northeast because too much of the energy would dissipate before it crossed the country. Instead Obama’s administration will invest in a new direct-current (DC) power lines that will enable efficient long-haul transmissions.

This is where General Electric and Google come in. Both companies believe it is crucial to build a 21st century U.S. electrical system.

They believe that a “smart” electricity grid including storage points with computerized management overlays allowing the new grid to intelligently deploy the energy along the way will empower utilities and end users to manage electricity more efficiently with significantly lower emissions while America begins changing-over its petroleum-based energy to clean, renewable green energies.

One new feature which is already being installed in San Diego, Los Angeles and elsewhere are easy-to-read electric meters. And in many new homes around the globe, the electric meters are placed next to water meters in a highly visible location inside the house so that the occupants are constantly aware of consumption rates.

General Electric and Google will develop and deploy renewable energy and plug-in vehicle related technologies. In addition, they will create utility-scale renewable energy with an initial focus on advanced geothermal technology.

State-of-the-art software, controls and services will enable utilities to integrate plug-in vehicles into the conventional grid.

Israel has launched an electric car venture that will spear-head into an oil-free economy. Hundreds of thousands of recharging points are being erected throughout the country. The plan calls for motorists to swap their batteries within a matter of minutes at dedicated stations or recharge them at home or at work.  “Oil is the greatest problem of all time — the greatest polluter and promoter of terror. We should get rid of it,” said former Israeli President Shimon Peres.

With a host of exciting and affordable new electric cars coming on the market, it’s clear that at least 25 cities in the U.S. are gearing up to power vehicles that do not rely on fossil fuels. Despite the current economic downturn there are millions of jobs waiting to be created throughout the Western Hemisphere from clean energy partnerships just like the one between General Electric and Google.

This article is dedicated to the late Robert Donner, Jr. (Sep. 25, 1930 — Jan. 13, 2010) my friend, mentor, entrepreneur, sportsman, conservationist and philanthropist.

Follow Dr. Reese: http://twitter.com/DrReeseHalter

Tuesday, 16 February 2010 15:09

Kristen Read – Graphics Arts Magazine

Topknotch Print aims for a greener Toronto

In an effort to give back to the local community and environment, Mississauga-based Topknotch Prep & Print is giving the gift of trees in support of the plantyourtree.ca program. In an idea started by TN Marketing, the program allows companies to distribute cards printed with special codes that, when redeemed, plant a tree on the user’s behalf.

Topknotch, a well-known printer in the GTA, is currently the only print provider involved with this program so far. The company has printed cards on 100% biodegradable paper, each with a unique code. Upon receiving a card, users can visit www.plantyourtree.ca, enter the code, and pick a location where they would like a tree to be planted.

In conjunction with the Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA), the program will email users an e-certificate to commemorate their environmental efforts. Trees will be planted by the TRCA during the next available planting cycle.

Approximately 8 trees are used for every 1200 lb. skid of paper. In its next step to become more eco-friendly, Topknotch is hoping to offset this consumption by offering its clients the option to plant 8 trees for every skid used. In addition, in the coming months the company will implement a calculator on its website to track how many trees will be used for a specific job, with the option to return to the environment what was used up.

Keep your eyes open for a tree gift card from Topknotch, and for more information check out www.plantyourtree.ca.

To view the original article – Graphics Arts Magazine

As more companies embrace earth friendly business practices, we are seeing increased efficiency, reduced waste and increases in operating profits.  Walmart is a great example of how this can be achieved.

The key point for us as consumers is to take note of the companies making the effort to operate in an eco-friendly manner and to support them with our dollars.  Cash is King, and change only follows to money.  Sad, but true.

Our friend and regular contributor Dr. Reese Halter, just released a new article detailing some fantastic historical examples how companies can use nature’s blueprint to successfully operate.  This observation runs very deep. 

New and exciting business opportunities are waiting to be discovered by studying the symbiotic relationships found in nature. 

Read on and let us know what you think:

Riding the blue and green corporate wave

Back to Nature

by Dr. Reese Halter

February 09, 2010

Source: Santa Monica Daily Press

Nature has a warehouse of proven principles and a research and development laboratory with four billion years of product development. Many corporations draw their ideas, information and inspiration from ecosystems like prairies, coral reefs and/or ancient forests.

When we follow nature’s blueprint, economic, social and environmental abundance occurs.

We know that in living systems the behavior of the parts operate to benefit the entire system. In forests, for instance, specialists, species with unique — as opposed to general- requirements find it to their advantage to cooperate with one another. As it turns out, these specialists use fewer resources and in some cases extend their longevity.

A number of businesses around the globe are emulating natural systems, reducing waste, creating new products and employing millions of workers.

In the early 1950s Bill Coors, the grandson of the founder of Adolph Coors Co., discovered that “all pollution and all waste are lost profit.”

He observed that industrial companies were taking raw materials and fuels from nature, cycling products through the economy and then generating tons of garbage. In turn, the garbage was polluting the ground water. An “open loop” system exploits nature’s resources and deposits toxic waste at both ends.

A “closed loop” economy, on the other hand, is one where the full array of costs is accounted for within a system and the only way to do business. Companies and consumers are rewarded for reducing waste. And the environment is safeguarded.

In 1952, in order to control liquid waste from the brewery, Coors built Colorado’s first biological waste water treatment plant, which also treats the entire city of Golden, Colo.’s waste waters.

Bill Coors initiated a penny for every Coors aluminum can returned for recycling and he opened the nation’s first aluminum recycling centers offering “cash for cans.”

CoorsTek, a subsidiary of Coors, manufactures advanced technical ceramics using nature’s model for smart design, by embedding hardness, strength, insulation and durability into its products.

Another Coors subsidiary, Graphic Packaging, uses clever technology to reduce ink by as much as 90 per cent and solvent by 100 per cent while producing bolder graphics.

By following nature’s blueprint many corporations believe the most valuable forms of capital in the learning organizations are knowledge, gained through feedback and learning, and changes in design — adaptations.

Toyota Corporations has effectively used its labor force for ideas. In 1982, for example, its workforce made over two million suggestions, that’s more than two every month per employee, and 95 percent of them were implemented.

Technology enables humankind to do more with less. From 1973 to 1990 society learned how to create more real value per unit of energy consumed. By 1990 about a third of the energy and material services were delivered from innovation and efficiency.

The chipmaker Intel has advanced its microchip design through innovation as each successive generation of chips holds more information. In effect, Intel has been very successful by emulating nature’s blueprint. For billions of years nature has replaced consumption by design.

Burt’s Bees, the leading manufacturer of Earth-friendly natural personal care products has committed to the 2020 Sustainability Goals including sustainable products and packaging, zero landfill waste, 100 percent renewable energy, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified facilities, and 100 percent employee engagement.

Dow Chemical also utilizes nature’s model and in 1982 it began encouraging employees to find ways to reduce pollution. By 1992, 700 projects were underway, reducing waste around the globe and saving the company millions of dollars.

DuPont, another chemical titan, has been reducing its CO2 emissions worldwide striving for a zero-emission target by 2020.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (MMM), a company that specializes in coatings and adhesives, has been following nature’s path for decades, solving their own environmental problems and implementing Pollution Prevention Pays.

By 2000, 4,650 employees had prevented about 1,500 million pounds of pollution and saving the company over $825 million. Moreover, MMM has reduced water losses by 82 percent, volatile organic compounds in emissions by 88 percent, solid wastes by 24 percent and rates of waste generation by 35 percent.

Visa International conducts about $1.75 trillion in transactions annually and their founder Dee Hock followed [WINDOWS-1252?]nature’s blueprint right from the company’s inception. Visa is analogous to a biological organism in a changing environment whereby uncontrolled actions of its members, who self-regulate their activities to serve both themselves and the whole organization.

Business, like nature, is a living system — creative, productive and resilient. All waste is lost profit, all value is created by design and adaptation. The ability to learn is crucial for survival.

Dr. Reese Halter is a conservation biologist at California Lutheran University and the founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. His latest book is The Incomparable Honeybee and the Economics of Pollination

Contact him through http://DrReese.com

Back to Nature
Taking a glimpse at a parched world

by Dr. Reese Halter
Source: Santa Monica Daily Press
February 02, 2010

One stark reality of climate change is drought. It is deadly and history reminds us that it annihilated powerful civilizations including: Akkadian, Moche, Tiwaniku, Mayan, and Pueblo peoples.

Without fresh water all life perishes.

Australia is beginning its eleventh year of drought. Water rationing at homes and at businesses is a reality. The government has given each household waterproof timer’s and recommends four-minute showers.

Drought is not just wreaking havoc on the land down under. Northern China and inner Mongolia are entering their fifth year of drought and last summer five million people were without water and 20 million acres of croplands failed.

Fresh water for farming and hydroelectric power is also being used as a geopolitical tool, and by some accounts benefiting the Taliban in Afghanistan. India is using water from two Afghan rivers that flow into the volatile Pakistan border region, where water shortages have been implicated in fueling local insurgencies. Pakistan is insisting that India is using water as a weapon against them.

Drought has significantly cut the flow of fresh water into the dam, which feeds three hydroelectric plants that supply 73 percent of Venezuela’s electricity. Currently, Venezuelans are faced with rolling four-hour blackouts every other day as the oil-rich country endeavors to contend with less fresh water.

California is entering its fourth year of drought. Tree rings from the ancient bristle cone pines living at almost 11,000 feet above sea level on the White Mountains in east-central California tell climate scientists that California is coming out of the third- or fourth-wettest century in the past 4,000 years.

California is currently floating an $11-billion bond to secure fresh water for over 38 million denizens, the eighth mightiest economy on the globe and the most intensive agriculture system on the face of the Earth. By 2050 the state is projected to have a population of 55 million people.

California receives about 90 percent of its freshwater from the accumulated snowfall long the Sierra Nevada’s. The melt waters feed the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest estuary in the west. Ecologically, it is comparable in its magnificence and beauty to the Florida Everglades.

The delta is a major Pacific flyway providing crucial habitat twice a year to millions of migratory birds. And two thirds of California’s remaining salmon pass through the delta in addition to being home for hundreds of native species of aquatic plants and animals.

The delta is the hub of California’s drinking and agriculture water. Also, over a half a million people live and work close by, and since the 2000 census, the population of towns and cities has grown by a whopping 18 percent.

The Los Angeles basin extends from San Diego to Santa Barbara and spread out over 467 square miles and it’s home to about 18 million people. One stop-gap-measure that so far has helped reduce urban water consumption has been to raise the water usage rates. Increasing rates almost 40 percent has saved over 37.7 billion gallons of water since July 2007.

Agriculture in California contributes over $37 billion annually to the state’s economy. Drought forced the tap to be shut off this past summer and over $3 billion in produce did not make the marketplace.

For every problem there are at least three solutions.

Farmers are turning to technology to help guide them through these dry times. Micro sensors in the field and drip irrigation, which feeds water directly to the root zone, are connected to telephones allowing farmers to get real-time information and immediately adjust water usage.

Since 2003 Californian farmers have invested over $1.5 billion in new irrigation. Some farmers have switched from water-spending crops like cotton, rice, sugar beets and alfalfa to seasonal vegetables, fruits, wine grapes and nuts that use far less water.

Other farmers are looking to safflower, a water-smart plant that sends its roots down as deep as 10 feet in search of water and nutrients out of reach of other annual plants. Safflower produces seeds, which make oil used in cooking and in salad dressings.

Interestingly, crop scientists have shown farmers that by cutting back on water, or dry farming, for navel oranges and pistachios they are able to produce sweeter, denser, crisper and higher-market value fruit and nuts.

California wineries are also changing with the times, seizing golden opportunities to save water and make money, entering into organic and eco-friendly wines.

Fetzer Vineyards in Mendocino County reduced water usage by 24 percent or 6.6 million gallons by installing drip irrigation. They use steam sterilization instead of hot water at their bottling facility, and all wastewater is recycled using a natural system of ponds and aquatic plants. In addition, Fetzer Vineyards does not use synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers derived from petro-chemicals. They have reduced their footprint equivalent to planting 70,000, 10-year-old Eucalyptus trees.

At the end of the day, if each of us lend a helping hand, both at home and at work, and conserve water, we can obviate businessman and inventor Benjamin Franklin’s warning “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”

Dr. Reese Halter is a biologist at California Lutheran University and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. His most recent book is:
The Incomparable Honeybee and the Economics of Pollination
Contact him through http://DrReese.com

In economic terms, it can be easily argued that fully utilizing the land and it’s resources provides the highest benefit to the most people. 

For example, clearing an area of land to build a village of farms provides a group of people with shelter and food.  The trees feld to clear the land can be used to build the homes or sold to acquire the materials needed.  The cleared land now provides the opportunity to farm produce and raise livestock which provide food for the village and excess can be sold to provide an ongoing income.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development recently released a report on economist.com that takes an interesting look into how we allocate our natural resources and the value of these resourses in dollars and cents.

The findings are quite interesting.  The report proposes the idea that there could be more economic value in simply leaving these resources alone in real dollars and cents terms.

The key to this idea is a proper valuation of the long-term benefits nature provides and assessing the true costs of  business.

Here is the link to the full article:

Valuing the environment – World Business Council for Sustainable Development Report

Leave a comment and let me know what your thoughts are.

Thankfully we have seen a unprecedented coalition government, private sector and the public come together to raise money and direct relief efforts to survivors affected by the earthquake.

The Hope for Haiti fundraiser which is said to have raised over $57 million dollars and thus far Canadians have raised well over $20 million dollars which will be mathced by the Canadian government. 

This is a great feat of co-operation and compassion.  I applaud the efforts of the many organizations and people who have come together in this most desperate time for the people of Haiti.

To say we will still need to do more however, is a gross understatement.

I read daily about the efforts and plans to rebuild Haiti and I can’t help think that Haiti doesn’t need to be rebuilt – it needs to be reborn.

Prior to the earthquake, Haiti probably was very low down on the list of places that people though of when discussing areas of the world that need humanitarian help and resources.

While many people are aware that Haiti is an impoverished nation, few of us truly understood the level of poverty that the majority of the 9 million Haitians lived with everyday. 

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty.  For many decades before the earthquake hundreds of thousands of children wandered the streets of Haiti as orphans living with hunger, begin sold into slavery and with zero opportunity to create a better life.

The earthquake was an acute event.  We can immediately see what happened and we can take action. 

But what about a year from now?

Like many critical long-term problems we face today, action and change is slow.

The real work begins after the rubble has been cleared.

There are many ways we can help.  You can start by making a donation to 2 of the most reputable organizations that are on the ground in Haiti right now making a difference:

http://www.unicef.ca

http://www.redcross.ca

Back to Nature Tiny and deadly: the mosquito

by Dr. Reese Halter

December 29, 2009

Source: Santa Monica Daily Press

Of the conservative estimate of 10 million species on planet Earth, there currently exist 2,500 different kinds of mosquitoes. Yet despite being the size and weight of a grape seed, these are deadly and fearsome creatures. Mosquitoes are benefiting from global warming, meaning once near-decimated strains of diseases like malaria are on the rise again. So how has something so tiny, yet so deadly, been able to successfully inhabit our planet for the past 80 million years?

It’s all in the size and, in this case, it matters to be small! Mosquitoes are adapted to every terrestrial ecosystem from the top of mountains to valley bottoms, from the Arctic Circle to the Sahara desert, and everything in between. They have thrived and adapted with the spread of human beings. In 300 years, the common house mosquito which started in Africa is now global.

The mosquito is a self-serving creature. She’s not an aerator of soil like ants or worms, nor a pollinator like bees or moths, and not an essential food source for a particular species. Her goal is to feed and breed. Mosquitoes and the pathogens that they carry are extremely hardy. They are clever and relentless critters. Our troubles with mosquitoes are getting worse as they infect and kill millions of people each year, despite all out war by modern science.

 Within 15 minutes a female can lay about 250 eggs. One by one, they are symmetrically orientated head-first and placed in water into a craft that has a pointy bow. All 250 float together in a war canoe formation. Incubation takes about two days and then the larvae hatch. Much longer, segmented, wriggly, whiskered, with specialized air tubes for breathing, they are set to grow and move into their next stage of development. Under magnification, they are as gruesome as any sci-fi monster! About 14 days after birth, they possess wings for moving, jaws for chewing, large compound eyes for finding their victims, a long spear-like drill for cutting through skin and sucking blood, and fuzzy antennae for smelling victims or sensing mates.

Its wings beat at about 250 to 500 strokes a second and it can attain and maintain speeds of 3 mph and, rather clumsily, hover.

Like humans, their appetite for sex is insatiable, so two days after they become adult they search for a mate. The process begins at dusk or dawn when hundreds or perhaps thousands of males form a dancing swarm in the air near a landmark like a chimney or a church steeple. Males smell the females, lock together and copulate. In many cases the fit is so tight that the male has some difficulties escaping and an unfortunate few manage to get away only by leaving their sex organs behind.

The female mosquito needs just one other ingredient to nourish her eggs — blood. Mosquitoes sense with their antennae carbon dioxide and lactic acid as we exhale and other chemicals from our bodies. This usually occurs at ground level because our scent plume is heavier than air and sinks to ankle level. Next, their compound eyes, similar to a house fly, locate the unsuspecting victim. Lastly, the heat from our muscles guide them to the most radiant spot on our bodies — that bit of flesh not covered by clothing. She lands softly, probes skin up to 20 times with her long snake-like apparatus called a proboscis. Her salivary tube will deliver a chemical that inhibits the body’s ability to stop any bleeding that might begin. Ninety seconds later, her body weight is three times that before feeding, and in an aeronautical feat, she just manages to sputter away.

In one of nature’s most remarkable processes, within 45 minutes, she digests the blood by separating the water from the proteins and urinates pink droplets from her anus. The light solids are stored for creating future offspring. What she leaves behind from saliva will either irritate the skin or kill you! An old female mosquito may live for about five months.

Yellow fever, malaria, dengue, encephalitis and West Nile diseases have all, at one time or another, penetrated southern United States. Each pathogen carried by loathsome species of mosquitoes is excruciatingly painful and, in most cases, lethal. Malaria kills millions of people each year. DDT, although toxic to our environment, is still the only known effective mass antidote to curtail the spread of malaria.

West Nile disease, carried by the common house mosquito, has a relatively short history, first appearing in Israel in the 1950s. It appears to follow flyways of migratory birds as vectors of the disease. Crows, ravens, jays and other Corvids are particularly susceptible to West Nile.

The Rocky Mountains in their entirety and parts of British Columbia are the only regions in North America not yet permeated by this disease. The chemical DEET appears to be an effective insecticide to ward off mosquitoes as does the natural chemical citronella, but it must be frequently reapplied.

Instead of destroying this enemy, modern science is trying to genetically convert her. The race to find the genes to prevent pathogens from developing in mosquitoes is on. But in the meantime, human beings are perishing by the millions as mosquito diseases expand worldwide at an alarming rate.

Dr. Reese Halter is a public speaker, conservation biologist and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science.

His most recent book is The Incomparable Honeybee and the Economics of Pollination

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Incomparable+HoneyBee+reese+halter&x=0&y=0

Contact him through

http://DrReese.com