Christine Volker

Scenes from my novel set in #Venice - one a day for the next week. A friend's warning for Anna, the main character. ---Universal Amazon link at mybook.to/VenetianBlood

Show this to your children. They deserve to know that there once existed magical forests lit by fireflies, purple frogs that emerged with the rains, slender lorises watching silently from the night canopy, vultures circling wild skies, dugongs grazing seagrass meadows, striped hyenas walking forgotten scrublands, turtles blessing our shores, Raptors soaring high, Amur Falcons crossing oceans without rest for days, and Nilgiri Tahrs ruling mountain escarpments like a kingdom above the clouds. Perhaps we are the last generation to witness many of these wonders in the wild. The Earth is losing biodiversity at a pace never seen before and with every disappearance, something ancient, irreplaceable and deeply alive fades away forever. Biodiversity is Earth’s heartbeat. The moment it begins to fade, the planet will slowly forget how to breathe. If we want a future, we must help the Earth breathe again. We already know what to do. Let’s do it. Protect. Conserve. Cherish. Happy #BiodiversityDay @UNBiodiversity #LocalAction #KMGBF #IDB2026 #ForNature

@aroog1278 You did the right thing.

My wife wanted a German Shepherd puppy for Valentine’s Day after struggling deeply with the pain of never being able to become a mother. We went to adopt a puppy and met little Luna. But when we picked her up to leave, her mother cried in heartbreak. My wife started crying too. So instead of taking just the puppy, we brought both Luna and her mother home together. ❤️

A tale that is becoming more common. Killed by animal poachers or others with no care for the natural world.

🚨🐘📉🌳📉‼️ African forest elephant population dropped by nearly 90 % in just 3 decades, says IUCN which classifies them as nearing extinction. Their decline could be castastrophic for survival of ebony trees, too. Why? 👇 edition.cnn.com/world/africa/e…

@Protect_Wldlife @zhaabowekwe Sick.

What satisfaction can you get out of shooting a stationary animal from a few metres away?!? 😡 #BanTrophyHunting NOW!

Read it and weep

New research: Pilot whales are struggling to hear over ship noise They're trying to compensate, increasing dB with all their might—but failing—it's too overwhelming Some just give up & fall silent It's hard for us to grasp how profoundly this impacts every facet of their lives.

This will never be normal. Let's come together and help Nature make a giant comeback! For our future generations.

#Birds What do you think about this? British-owned beef giant CPC has been granted a permit to poison and kill 20,000 native galahs and little corellas at one of their vast cattle stations in the NT, Australia. In its permit application, CPC admits its practices created the problem: “grain production, on-site storage, and cattle feeding have provided an artificial food source.” Ornithologist Dr Lilleyman was "shocked" to learn of the NT government's decision to grant the permit. She said that Birdlife Australia is concerned about the potential for secondary poisoning of non-target species occurring close to "an internationally significant wetland". CPC has ten cattle stations on about 9 million acres. They supply cattle and beef to Asian markets, domestic feedlots and processors, and export live cattle. The company is owned by Guy and Julia Hands through the Hands Family Office. They live in Guernsey after leaving England to avoid UK tax. CPC has also applied for massive water licenses for irrigation projects to grow grain sorghum and other crops which will inevitably attract even more birds. So what happens then? Even wider-scale poisoning of native wildlife?

China’s trawlers are electrocuting the Persian Gulf to death. Their industrial scale Pulse fishing kills everything in the water, leaving a dead ocean. They need to be stopped before the ocean is completely lifeless.

@mamboitaliano__ Just reclaiming what once was theirs!

🚨 Italy 🇮🇹 Between peacocks invading Emilia-Romagna and flamingos roaming the streets of Sardinia, this is starting to feel like a Hitchcock movie With the way 2026 is going, what else could go wrong?!

@RepMaxwellFrost @slothinstitute @SlothCon Great work! As you know, animal trafficking is a worldwide criminal business in the $ billions. In addition to prosecuting each link in the illegal chain, more vigilance is needed at entry points like Miami International Airport, using sniffer dogs and other means of detection.

Yesterday, I visited the Central Florida Zoo where the 10 surviving sloths from Sloth World are receiving care. I was joined by experts from @SlothInstitute and @SlothCon to discuss this tragedy and how stronger protections are urgently needed to stop this from happening again.

A 10-year French experiment just showed that farming without pesticides is actually possible. INRAE (France’s national agriculture research institute) ran nine different pesticide-free cropping systems across real farms — mixing long rotations, cover crops, biodiversity, and smart soil management. The results? In many cases, yields were close to (or even matched) conventional systems, and some were economically viable with the right marketing and crop diversity. It wasn’t perfect — weeds were a challenge in some spots — but it proves pesticide-free isn’t just a dream. It’s technically and economically doable under the right conditions. This is encouraging. We keep hearing that we have to choose between food production and protecting the environment, but studies like this show there might be smarter paths forward. If we can grow food with far fewer chemicals while keeping farms profitable, it could be a game-changer for soil health, biodiversity, water quality, and long-term food security. What do you think — could we realistically move toward much lower-pesticide farming at scale, or are there too many obstacles?

Utah residents packed meetings begging officials to stop a massive AI data center project tied to billionaire Kevin O’Leary. They warned about water usage, environmental destruction, corporate control, and losing their own community to the AI gold rush. The response from leadership? Mockery, arrogance, and complete disregard for the people footing the bill through taxes and local support. One commissioner even told residents to “grow up.” Then they approved the project anyway. This is what happens when corporations and political power merge. Citizens become obstacles. Communities become assets. And local voices become irrelevant.

“We often talk of saving the planet. But the truth is, we must do these things to save ourselves. With or without us, the wild will return.” — David Attenborough

🌍 New report: Norway's fish farm pollution of coastal waters is so serious, it's equivalent to the raw sewage of nearly 30 million people. It is devastating the ecosystem—destroying kelp forests and leaving low oxygen & dead zones—and driving fish and marine life away👇 🧵

A critically endangered parrot is being pushed toward extinction so a mining company can dig bauxite. The Baudin’s black cockatoo is one of Australia’s most iconic birds. It is found only in the forests of southwest Australia. It has declined by more than 90% in the last 40 years. Scientists say it could be extinct within 50 years. The reason is habitat loss. Specifically the Northern Jarrah Forest, one of the most biodiverse temperate forests on Earth, which the US mining company Alcoa has been clearing for bauxite. In February, the Australian government granted Alcoa a national interest exemption, the kind usually reserved for emergencies, defense or national security, allowing the company to continue operations despite years of unauthorized clearing. As remediation, Alcoa agreed to pay A$55 million and implement some conservation programs. Environmental organizations say it is nowhere near enough to prevent extinction. A 90% decline. Unauthorized clearing for years. A fine. And the mining continues. This is what it looks like when a species loses.

@cutiieepie6 Hannah

What’s an old-fashioned grandma name I could give my girl?

The Amur Leopard is hunted for its beautiful coat, while its habitat is being destroyed by human development. Fewer than 130-150 are believed to remain in the wild. 😢 #InternationalLeopardDay 🐆. 🎦 Credit: Unknown (DM for credit).

“Sunlight has to travel 93 million miles to reach the Earth, but none of those miles go through the Strait of Hormuz,” says climate activist Bill McKibben. He points out that a global movement toward clean energy is accelerating amid the fuel crisis caused by the war on Iran.