I know how busy Nyack is so I'll start this week's photos for her. 
To celebrate World Environment Day 2012, we thought we would shine a spotlight on some of Brazil’s most stunning species.
Spectacled caiman
Found in northern and central South America, the dwarf caiman is the smallest extant species of crocodilian. This species’ genus name Paleosuchus means ‘ancient crocodile’.
Emperor tamarin
A charismatic primate, the emperor tamarin is concentrated mainly within the south-western Amazon region. It is named for its characteristic long white moustache.
Boto
A distinctive river dolphin with a bulging forehead and often pink colouration, the boto is a striking inhabitant of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers in South America.
Hyacinth macaw
The Endangered hyacinth macaw occurs mainly in Brazil. It is the largest parrot in the world, sometimes growing to a massive one metre from the tip of its tail to the top of its head.
AWESOME! They are beautiful! Happy World Environment Day!
Rio+20 Or Bust: Activists Doubt Summit’s Impact
- by Beth Buczynski
- June 5, 2012
- 11:30 am
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/rio20-or-bust-activists-doubt-summits-impact.html#ixzz1wyATntUR
“15 Days To The Future We Want”
That’s the text that accompanies a ticker counting down the days until the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development on the Rio+20 website.
The statement seems to imply that the only thing standing between humanity and a better, cleaner world is to articulate what that future looks like. If history serves, however, it will take far more than words to produce an impact at this year’s global summit.
Today is World Environment Day, a symbolic holiday that many hope will remind world leaders exactly why they’re traveling to Brazil and what’s at stake if Rio+20 fails to achieve its goal.
“Currently we are a long way from where we need to be in these negotiations,” said WWF Director General, Jim Leape. “Heads of State still have a unique opportunity in Rio to set the world on a path to sustainable development – but they need to step up their game dramatically. As things currently stand, we are facing two likely scenarios – an agreement so weak it is meaningless, or complete collapse. Neither of these options would give the world what it needs.”
We’ve seen both of these outcomes at previous conferences designed to wrangle world leaders into an agreement that will prevent human accelerated climate change from dooming our species to extinction. Although there have been heated debates and countless revisions, no previous event has produced a binding agreement aggressive enough to actually make a change.
This means Rio+20 attendees are faced with both a huge opportunity and a massive responsibility.
“When they gather in Rio, governments must restrain the flow of weasel words that is threatening to emasculate any agreement,” said Leape. “They are not helping their people or the planet by ‘noting’, ‘recognising’ or ‘emphasising’. We need to see time-bound commitment and action words like ‘will’, ‘must’ and ‘deliver’,” said Leape.
“These talks about our common future risk being strangled by short-term views focused on national interests that are to nobody’s long-term benefit. Governments must come out of their corners, and together embrace a bold vision for a better future for all – and do what it takes to get there.”
Concretely, this means agreeing to integrate the value of nature into national and corporate accounting standards, eliminating harmful subsidies, agreeing to Sustainable Development Goals and strong regimes to protect oceans.
This post was modified from its original form on 05 Jun, 17:46
Beautiful! Thank you Lynn and Nyack.
Beautiful Photos Lynn and noted the article Nyack
