There were eight tiger subspecies at one time, but three became extinct during the 20th century. Over the last 100 years, hunting and forest destruction have reduced tiger populations from hundreds of thousands of animals to perhaps fewer than 2,500. Tigers are hunted as trophies, and also for body parts that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. All five remaining tiger subspecies are endangered, and many protection programs are in place.
I have recently entered into WWF’s competition to travel to Vladivostok Russia to see the Siberian tiger in its natural habitat, and to attend the youth tiger summit. WWF have asked for 2 entrants of between 18 and 25.
The criteria was that they had to be physicality fit (As they would be hiking through Russia’s wilderness to tiger projects), be confident in front of a camera as there will be press and PR as well as recording a daily video blog, and most importantly have to be able to speak in front of large audiences and when the trip and conference is over to become involved in spreading WWF’s message to save the tiger!
I sent my application off last week and will hopefully know by the 25th.
So as i said 2010 is the year of the tiger….. But lets not forget about our other big cats!
for instance did you know that in the 1800’s we had 1.2 million lions!!! by 1940 we had 450,000 we now have just 20,000!! so for all of you who aren’t good with maths (like me) since 1800 that’s a 99.8% reduction in the species and since 1940 that’s a 95.56% reduction.
its unbelievable that our planet is in such a bad state.
i have always had the philosophy that indigenous people and tribes live by a law and word that has seemed to fade into silence, that word is Equilibrium. It is something we need to become reacquainted with.
we need to have a renewed understanding of where we belong in the food chain and what i would like to know is why does a human seem to think we have more right of being here than the animals we share this planet with.
“I think the question is not why to save an animal, but why not? What has given the human species precedent and more of a right of existing on this planet than animals? Animals live in a silent world where they cannot stand up and tell us of their own plight, the way they have seen their homes disappear in front of their eyes, or the barbarity of what they have seen by human hands. As this planet has given life to us so must we return the favour!” 2008 Louis Barnett
As part of my mission this year i hope to attend the tiger summit, to continue to raise awareness of the tiger and the big cats endangerment and to donate funds to projects and charities that truly make a difference.
for some years now i have been in contact with Beverly and Derek Joubert (National Geographic explorers in residence) a passionate and inspiring couple. I remember the first time i saw one of their documentaries, ‘Living With Big Cats‘ on national geographic.
I emailed them as soon as the program had finished, they responded and let us know that their new film had been entered into the panda awards in Bristol and we should meet up .We met up and chatted for many hours, i then went to watch a premier screening of ‘Eye of the leopard‘- their award winning film. I am very privileged to be working with two world renound conservationists with their charity the great plains trust and raising finds for the big cat cat initiative . I am looking forward to finding new ways to work with them in the future.
Hopefully now as my bars are being listed in the States i can start to donate and help them raise funds.
Today i would just like to take a short time out of your day to tell you about my new campaign with International animal rescue. i would also like to tell those of you out there who don’t know about the plight of orangutans and the reasons why they are so endangered.
The Orangutan ”The Man of The Forest (for now)”
The orangutan one of the worlds most majestic creatures is under threat from one of its closest relatives; Humans I remember the first time i looked into an orangutans eyes, to behold their uncanny human expressions, their movements and to see true thought behind those big eyes is something you have to experience yourself. After my first encounter with an orangutan (even if it was through perspex) has forever left me with a question, how could anyone hurt these magnificent animals?
Orangutans like our surrounding world are on a knife edge, and it is only us, the humans who can chose their fate we can either act now and make sure that our children and our children’s, children can experience the same wonder on looking into their eyes as i did. Or we can do nothing and condemn them!
If we are very lucky we have 9 years to save them from complete extinction, and its all because of Palm oil.
what is palm oil?
palm oil is an edible oil commodity that is used in the food and cosmetics industry world wide, and the worst part is in most cases its only their to cheapen the product!
I first came across palm oil while researching chocolate ingredients (Yes palm oil is in most chocolate too). After seeing the product in many ingredient sheets i began researching, and i discovered one of the biggest threats to our environment and animals on our planet. Because of palm oil anything up to 10 football pitches are being destroyed every minute of every day! If we are lucky we have 9 years to save the orangutan!
The destruction caused by palm oil
So not only did i choose never to use Palm oil i wanted to do something about it!
so i launched a campaign called Biting Back, and a range of chocolate bars that would donate 10p from every bar sold to orangutans and other critically endangered animals worldwide.
Now in 2010 i have teamed up with International Animal Rescue I am trying to raise £100,000 to build an new orangutan orphanage in West kalimantan Borneo
i hope to travel to Borneo in August to see the land and help with the starting of the new orphanage and sanctuary.
The destruction caused by palm oil from 1950 to 2005 and onwards
Woke up to another grey summers day in the uk! got ready and headed out to Birmingham.
got to the bullring with sally at about 11:30am and met with Jamie Dunn another fellow young entrepreneur!
we sat down at Starbucks for a couple of hours brainstorming ideas, Jamie and i have come up with an idea to get other young people involved in a business networking and work shop meet up. we are looking for enterprising Yong people with a passion for business or fellow entrepreneurs.
31st of April:
Woke up to a gloomy looking Kinver and a very stiff back! (I fell down the stairs on Sunday night)
Hobbled downstairs, made sally (the girlfriend) a cup of tea and brought all her presents up stairs (for her 20th birthday).Finished packing for London and got a taxi to Stourbridge train station. Had a very relaxing journey on the virgin train to Euston.
Got into London for about half four and slowly made our way over to Highbury & Islington. Met Paul (Head chef of the Mint Leaf restaurant, and close friend). Went back to his home unpacked and sat outside in the polluted warmth of London for a couple of hours.
We then called a taxi and headed over to the Mint Leaf Haymarket for sally’s birthday meal.
I had a starter of Lamb Seekh Kebab and Main of Lamb biryani and a gulab jamun brulée desert.
It was a fantastic meal in a relaxed setting, the cocktails are some of the best i have ever tasted and there expression of true Indian cuisine is absolutely fantastic!
woke up nice and late and made our way to the Curzon Soho cinema for a meeting with Suresh Ariaratnam (My literary agent) and a documentary producer Johnny Young.
It was a great meeting and i have all my fingers and toes crossed that this will be the one!
I have been talking to producers for many years but i haven’t as of yet had a documentary produced. surely it has to happen soon!!
After the meeting we called a taxi and made our way to the Mint Leaf Lounge
We had a tasting platter of tandoori paneer with tamarind chutney and spiced mint relish, African flame grilled prawn with onion, chili, chocolate and ginger sauce, mains of Malbar chicken stew, and corgi style pork belly curry with black lentils and saffron rice to accompany. Finally i had Gulab Jamon with black cardamon ice cream for desert.
Again a truly extraordinary meal! The flavours are so distinctive and powerful as well as being totally complementary, the service is fantastic and for the first time since Mexico i felt like a truly valued customer!
We finally said our goodbyes to Paul and the team hoped on the tube only to realise we had 20 minutes left till the last train. Got into Euston, ran down the train platform (witch did my back a world of good) and slumped into the seats. To arrive home at quarter to twelve.
it’s my first blog post and im pleased to welcome you all to louisbarnett.co.uk !
i will be posting as many blogs as physically possible to keep you all up to date with what i’m up to, events i will be attending, special offers and anything else thats going on!
2010 is year of the tiger
