If you love frogs, and why wouldn't you, you must explore the Frogs Are Green website/blog. A bright and enticing design makes it a pleasure to explore. The site was created to created to increase awareness about the catastrophic decline of frog and other amphibian populations and to advocate for conservation measures to help protect them. The site radiates a love for frogs.
Parents, teachers, and naturalists will find pictures, drawing, posts, and a community of people who care about our endangered friends. One of the founders of Frogs are Green, Susan Newman, talked to us about the site and the mission to raise awareness about the plight of frogs.
How did you come to found Frogs are Green?
Wanting to do my part (as President Obama has reminded us), I have always been attracted to organizations and green initiatives that will help our planet. A few years ago, I launched a line of environmental concept t-shirts to promote "green" living. The response to these t-shirts was quite positive, but I knew there was still more I could do. I was inspired to make a greater impact environmentally.
My partner, Mary Jo Rhodes, author of nature books for children, has always cared about the environment. Together we explored various environmental causes and settled on the amphibian decline, because we found few quality sites devoted to this cause.
We are proud of Frogs Are Green, and have been pleased by the positive response from readers around the world in such a short time. The dramatic amphibian decline is an urgent issue, and yet many people are unaware of it. We feel as if we are making an impact.
Why should we care about Frogs?
We are in the midst of what ecologists and conservation biologists warn might be the early phase of the sixth great extinction episode in Earth's history. Over one-third of amphibians are on the brink of extinction. Causes include habitat loss, global climate change, over-exploitation, introduced species that can eliminate native populations, environmental contaminants, and infectious diseases such as the chytrid fungus, which can quickly wipe out an entire species of frogs.
Frogs are often an indicator species of health or sickness in the ecosystem.
Lately we've read some articles debunking the claim that frogs are bioindicators. And yet frogs, with their permeable skin, are extremely vulnerable to chemical contaminants in the water. We've written a few posts on Frogs Are Green about endocrine disrupters, chemicals that are found in common consumer products such as shampoos and soft plastic toys. Dr. Tyrone Hayes at University of California, Berkeley, for example, has done studies showing the effects of very low levels of endocrine disrupters on frogs, including male frogs that developed eggs in their testes. Now some of these intersex characteristics are showing up in male babies and toddlers.
So, yes, we believe frogs are an indicator species. If your backyard was once alive at night with a chorus of frogs and now is silent, that is telling you something about the environmental health of the area. This is one of the main purposes of Frogs Are Green--to alert people to that connection--and to spread the message that healthy frogs mean a healthy planet for all.
Is there any good news for frogs?
Some frog species that were on the brink of extinction have rebounded a bit because of intense efforts by volunteers, scientists, and researchers. For example, the Nature Conservancy recently bought land in New Jersey in order to help preserve the habitat of the endangered Pine Barrens tree frog. These kinds of efforts are occurring around the country. In addition, although scientists have not yet found a cure for the chrytid fungus, they have learned more about it in the past year, which may ultimately help them to understand how to combat this infectious disease. Recently the Amphibian Survival Alliance was formed to coordinate the efforts of government agencies, scientists, and researchers in order to help save amphibians from extinction.
What can our readers do to help Frogs?
One way is to learn more about the frogs in your area, read about frogs, and help spread the message that amphibians, on Earth millions of years before humans, may be gone in our lifetimes. Building a frog pond in your backyard is one way to help frogs. Because of development, loss of habitat is one of the main causes of the amphibian decline. We have a category of posts on our blog called Living a Frog-Friendly Life and How You Can Help, which include reducing the use of products that contain chemicals harmful to wildlife and the environment, maintaining a wildlife-friendly backyard, and thinking globally by buying fair- trade coffee that is grown on farms that conserve rainforests and help both local people and wildlife.
Please hop over to Frogs are Green and get involved!
Comments