Did you know June 15th is Global Wind Day? How about that June 16th Is World Sea Turtle Day? Were you aware June 17th is both World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought and World Croc Day? Find out how and why.
Global Wind Day, World Sea Turtle Day, World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, World Croc Day
GLOBAL WIND DAY ON JUNE 15TH
Global Wind Day is a worldwide event that is held on June 15 around the world.It is organized by WindEurope (WindEurope) and GWEC (Global Wind Energy Council). It is a day for discovering wind energy, its power and the possibilities it holds to reshape our energy systems, decarbonize our economies and boost jobs and growth.
Although the website, globalwindday.org insists “2020 marks the 13th year of Global Wind Day, the very first “World Wind Day was actually held back in 1967! On the one hand, Global Wind Day feels like a completely industry-created day, kind of like the Chamber of Commerce creating a “Shop Local” day…wait a minute…on the other hand, we’re talking about an entire day unabashedly devoted to hyping the benefits of clean wind energy, so it’s actually pretty awesome.
Globalwindday.org has got some pretty interesting short wind and wind turbine tutorials to view, along with other fun stuff. Like this year, as part of the 13th year celebrations, we’re all invited to join Malgosia and Rebekka for Global Wind Day’s first ever virtual quiz! Whether in a team with your colleagues or from the comfort of your own home, join us on Tuesday 15 June to have fun and even have a chance to win exclusive prizes!
The only caveat is it’s happening live from 5-6:00P CEST—Central European Summer Time, which is six hours ahead of US Eastern Daylight time, and so on, and so on. If you’re down to play, please remember to set your clock accordingly.
DEEPER DIVE: Global Wind Day, Global Wind Day Quiz Registration, Wikipedia
WORLD SEA TURTLE DAY ON JUNE 16TH
Well June 16th is World Sea Turtle Day. Not to be confused with May 23rd, which is World Turtle Day.
And the difference is?
Turtles are turtles and sea turtles are you know, sea turtles. Duh.
Oh. Of course. So glad you pointed that out.
I’m here to help! Speaking of which, Did you know that World Sea Turtle day is celebrated on the birthday of Dr. Archie Carr, often called the godfather of sea turtle conservation? Dr. Carr was the founding scientific director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy, a role he filled until his death in 1987. Through his research, teaching and writing, Dr. Carr was responsible for accumulating and distributing much of what is known today about the biology and life cycle of sea turtles. He is credited by many for bringing the first international attention to the plight of marine turtles.
This is why World Sea Turtle Day matters to us: Turtles and tortoises thrived for 200 million years, but now because of climate change and habitat destruction, and other human activities, they’re rapidly disappearing. About 61% of turtles worldwide are threatened or already extinct. According to experts, turtles are the most threatened of the major groups of vertebrates, more so than birds, mammals and fish.
There’s some really great information about Sea Turtles at seaturtleweek.org (yes, somebody is trying to make a week of it, bless their hearts), and in the Deeper Dive links at the end of the transcript for this story. Just go to TheClimate.org/episodes and find today’s show.
DEEPER DIVE: Sea Turtle Week, Sea Turtle Conservancy, Marine Bio
WORLD DAY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT
The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a United Nations observance celebrated each year on 17 June.[1] Its purpose is to raise awareness of the presence of desertification and drought, highlighting methods of preventing desertification and recovering from drought.
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts. It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one third of the world’s land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the productivity of the land.
This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on January 30, 1995. Each year’s global celebration has a unique, novel emphasis that had not been developed previously. Last year’s theme was Food. Feed.Fibre. – the links between consumption and land. So far, the 2021 theme is not up on the UN-Desertification Day website, but there are some compelling stories to watch there.
DEEPER DIVE: UN, Wikipedia, Desertification Day Stories
WORLD CROC DAY ON JUNE 16TH
June 17th is also World Croc Day No, I don’t mean footwear.
World Croc Day is “a global awareness campaign to highlight the plight of endangered crocodiles and alligators around the world.” World Croc Day was organized by the Crocodile Research Coalition in conjunction with the Belize Zoo back in 2017
The hope is the day will encourage people to get involved in helping them. During past celebrations, events have been held at the zoo and the day has been marked around the world.
Do you know the difference between crocodiles and alligators?
Umm, one has a bigger snout?
Crocodiles live near lakes, rivers, and wetlands in the tropical regions of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. There are thirteen species, which range in size. The smallest, the dwarf crocodile, reaches about 5.6 feet in length and weighs between 13 or 15 pounds; the largest, the saltwater crocodile, may reach over 20 feet in length and weigh over 2000 pounds.
Alligators take their name from the Spanish words for “the lizard”: el lagarto. Although there once were more, there now are just two species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator. The Chinese alligator is threatened and is thus where particular attention is focused today. American alligators can grow over 11 feet and a weight of almost 1,000 pounds, while Chinese alligators grow to between 4.6 and 4.9 feet and only weigh around 50 pounds.
Spend June 17th celebrating, raising awareness about, and helping alligators and crocodiles. You could put your support behind organizations such as the Crocodile Research Coalition or the Crocodile Specialist Group.
DEEPER DIVE: FaceBook, AWFSZoo, Drishtiias