Asia is the Answer. Surprise.

"As Asia grows wealthier, so, too, the trade in wildlife."

Never have I heard truer words written in an article.

I don't know about you, but I find something very disturbing about the statistics that have just been released about this last year. All I hear on the TV is Asian growth this, Asian business model that, the success of Asian markets. All I see with my eyes? Wildlife, pushed to the brink. Wildlife, with nowhere to go. Wildlife, dying for no other reason but someone's entertainment, someone's placebo. Should their lives really be thrown away so carelessly?

According to the article, in 2001, only 6 rhinos lost their lives to poachers. In 2011, 400 were brutally murdered for their horns. The cartilage horns that happen to grow on their noses appear to be a death sentence. But you know what's worse? These are only official numbers. Think about how many rhinos that have been killed that we just don't know about.

I have to say, my soft spot for rhinos has grown. You look at them from far away and just think, wow. How impressive. How regal. But today I spent about half an hour with the sweetest rhinos in the world. And honestly, it just hurts to think that so many of them are dying. I can't imagine it. They aren't malicious; they're scared. I don't understand how a person so blatantly invade an animal's personal space, then turn around and blame the animal when something goes wrong.

Human lives matter, sure. But what about everyone elses' lives? I talked to someone about whether wildlife trafficking and the illegal wildlife trade bothers them... and all she could say was that she'd be more concerned if people were being hurt. BUT PEOPLE ARE THE ONES DOING THE DAMAGE!!

I dare her to go up to those rhinos I saw today, with the sweet eyes and the trusting attitudes, and tell them she was going to kill them. The rhinos that nuzzled my hand, and the ones that rolled over in the mud and looked just like any cat or dog that wanted a belly rub.

Tell them that their lives mean nothing. Tell them that you don't care. Don't tell me.

The Yellowstone River is...Black?

Ya know, lately I've been hearing a lot of complaining about negative people. So this morning I decided to try to make this next post positive.

'Try' being the key word. I didn't get that far. But then again, this blog wouldn't be what it is without my constant ragging cynicism.

So I picked up this story. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about that lovely ExxonMobil spill into the Yellowstone river in Montana.

Feels like a cheap attempt at replicating the BP spill into the gulf last summer. I mean, no one can deny the investment appeal of a giant corporation trying valiantly to cover their butts and pretend to care about the environment, meanwhile laundering money pointlessly and leaving it to independent organizations and charities to do all the work. Right?

Right. The quarterly and annual profits actually went up after the spill. We're so environmentally friendly, we give them more money after we realize just how wholly incompetent they are. And we don't even make them pay half of what they owe for their stupid, stupid stunt. Not even half. I assure you they have the kind of dough to pay it off easily. About a year after the oil spill, though, we hear nothing of what is still happening under the water at this very moment.

BP aside, Exxon is probably cashing in as we speak. Why, the governor of Montana even accused them of lying about statistics. All the better! Think of the kind of media exposure this gives them? For free?

What to me is the most amazing thing about this spill, however, it how Mr. Governor is handling it. Apparently, this guy actually studied soils and ag., so he knows what he's talking about. A first! And he's even going as far as to say that the data he receives and what he really sees don't match up. He's not trying to cover it up - he went on CNN and said plain enough that either they're really incompetent (unlikely for such an enormous corporation), or what they're telling us is straight up BS.

But who in the media doesn't enjoy some good ol' BS? That's what it's all about, after all.