The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Meanwhile, in Australia, there are two fairly huge environmental issues which need to be known about by the wider world. Most people are of course aware of the devastating bush fires which swept Australia late last years and for the first quarter of this year.  Bush fires are a naturally occurring thing down under, but this scale was unprecedented. Now some time has passed and authorities are beginning to get an idea of just how big the damage to the animal and wildlife populations these fires was - they estimate that  3 billion  animals were hurt or killed.  Koalas, one of Australia’s indigenous and iconic animals will be extinct by 2050 if serious intervention doesn't take place now.  It's a shocking and very upsetting thought. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-53549936 Elsewhere in Australia, water is the problem, with coastal erosion causing millions of dollars of damage to ...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Is nature takings it's revenge on us? That's a pretty bold statement and the short answer is that clearly I don't know. Nature is pretty awesome - the way it can be destructive and regenerative. The huge bush fires that devastated Australia recently were unprecedented in their scale but fire is normal there and part of the cycle.  Nature should hopefully kick in and the plant life at least should soon start to recover.  The scale and damage to the wildlife population though is not yet fully known. What's my point?  Well the video below is an example.  As populations and their demands have grown, we have spread further and further into the habitats of many animals and plants, cultivating the land for ourselves and our selfish needs.  Now some of the animals are tentatively venturing onto land that was once their home. As air travel has reduced our air is clearer and clea...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown There are some slightly more unusual things that have been made available online now.  Soon we won't ever need to leave our homes. Art The J Paul Getty Los Angeles, The Vatican,  MASP, São Paulo, Brazil and  many of London's galleries and museums are among some who are opening their virtual doors - links in this article:  https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/mar/23/10-of-the-worlds-best-virtual-museum-and-art-gallery-tours Zoos and farms Our own Chester Zoo are doing Virtual Zoo Days:  https://www.chesterzoo.org/virtual-zoo/ San Diego, California has live cam on a range of animals:  https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams And this place is a sanctuary for rescued farms animals in upstate New York which is lovely:  https://explore.org/livecams/farm-sanctuary/wisconsin-pasture-farm-sanctuary