Canada & the North
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—one of the world’s most breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas—received some much-needed support recently. In early September 2023, President Biden canceled the last seven gas and oil leases there.
Conservation
When you walk through a forest, you surround yourself with carbon. Every branch, every leaf, every tendril of unseen root and every inch of trunk contains carbon pulled from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
Asia & The Pacific
Whether you’re a red panda fan because you’ve seen them at your local zoo, or because your tween has watched Disney’s “Turning Red” movie umpteen times, you don’t want to miss International Red Panda Day on September 16, 2023.
Galapagos Islands
By Sara Thomas, WWF Senior Director of Integrated Marketing and Activism Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean exists a wildlife enthusiast’s paradise—one that many conservationists and travel experts alike have on their bucket list: The Galapagos Islands. Traveling to Ecuador’s biodiverse Galapagos Islands has the promise of being the trip of a lifetime.
Conservation
In February 2017, residents on the Norwegian island of Sotra found a Cuvier’s beaked whale stranded on a beach in southwestern Norway. It wasn’t the first time this particular 20-foot-long male, who was visibly sick, had gotten stuck in the island’s shallow waters.
Conservation
Scenes of devastation from wildfires have almost become a staple of summer in the past decade. In addition to the physical destruction they cause, wildfires release carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases into the air that contribute to climate change.
Conservation
Considering 80% of the world’s oceans remain unknown, it’s almost impossible to imagine the constant wonders early explorers experienced. As they entered fantastic new worlds, European sailors landed in North America made of accounts of mermaids swimming off the shores of modern-day Haiti.
Churchill Polar Bears
By Brandi Worden, WWF Senior Program Administrator, Reporting Lead Animal sightings in Churchill, Manitoba ebb and flow with the sea ice in Hudson Bay. In the summer as the ice melts, you’ll find the largest gathering of beluga whales in Canada.
Conservation
Today, across the planet, hundreds of millions of acres of land are being abandoned due to what’s known as rural outmigration, or people leaving for urban centers. Some people leave their rural lives behind to seek economic prosperity in cities when agriculture is no longer profitable.
Churchill Polar Bears
On the southwest coast of Canada’s Hudson Bay is the town of Churchill, Manitoba, known for its sled dogs, auroral views, and, in the fall, its grand title “The Polar Bear Capital of the World.”
Nature & Wildlife
Bison are having a moment, and we couldn’t be happier for North America’s largest—and once widest-ranging—land mammal. Although an estimated 30–60 million plains bison roamed freely prior to European colonization and westward expansion, by 1889, their numbers had fallen to a mere 512.
Conservation
Around 850 CE, an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi was maintaining his livestock when together, they happened upon an unusual plant with berries. The animals began snacking, and Kaldi soon noticed a change in their demeanor.
