JILLY jellybug partners with African Rainforest Conservancy!

JILLY jellybug is excited to announce it’s partnership with African Rainforest Conservancy (ARC)! ARC conserves and restores African rainforests—among the oldest and most biodiverse in the world—through grassroots conservation and community development. 

Founded in 1991, ARC works alongside its field partner the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) to support a network of 140 villages in eight mountain and coastal regions throughout Tanzania that are protecting 250,000 acres of forest – an area 300 times the size of New York’s Central Park. Focusing on advocacy, Participatory Forest Management (PFM), environmental education, community development, and biological research, TFCG is a leader in implementing high-impact solutions to address the challenges facing Tanzania’s forests and the millions of people who depend on them.  

And to help ARC celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, JILLY jellybug has designed a special t-shirt just for ARC (and we will donate 15 percent of sales from this custom shirt to ARC!). 

To officially launch the partnership, ARC is giving away a 20th anniversary t-shirt to one of you! Visit the ARC blog this week to learn more and enter the contest!

Japan's earthquake disaster may boost rainforest logging in Borneo

Malaysian loggers say Japan's recovery from last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami will boost demand for rainforest timber, reports the Borneo Post. AmResearch, an investment research firm based in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, said logging companies that export plywood to Japan are poised to benefit from reconstruction.


Read more here: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0313-japan_sarawak_logging.html

10 countries that will change your life

Some holiday destinations are good for just that: holidays. Getting away from it all. You turn up, have a little look around, drink a few beers, buy a few souvenirs, and go home.

It’s nice, but it’s not going to rock your world. It’s not going to change who you are, or how you look at the world.

And that’s fine. But travel can be a lot more than that. If you’re looking for a country that will change your life, then these are the places to start: Laos, Mexico, Japan, India, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Uganda, China and Cambodia.

--Ben Groundwater
Read the full story

Chimpanzee and gorilla heads and body parts seized in Gabon

Five people were arrested for the cache which included the head and hands of an endangered gorilla, 12 chimpanzee heads and 30 chimpanzee hands. WWF called for a tough judicial approach to act as a deterrent. Africa's wildlife is often poached for the profitable bushmeat trade or for use in traditional good luck charms. Gabon's rainforests teem with wildlife, including lowland gorillas and forest elephants - and national parks make up around one tenth of the country.

Read more at BBC News Africa

Danger to Great Barrier Reef from Queensland Flooding

Marine life in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could be at risk from the effects of intense flooding across Queensland, environmental officials stressed in a 10 January statement.

The flood waters are carrying toxic material into the Reef, and turtles and corals alike could suffer as a result.

“Toxic pollution from flooded farms and towns along the Queensland coast will have a disastrous impact on the Great Barrier Reefs corals and will likely have a significant impact on dugongs, turtles and other marine life”, the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) stated---ENVIRO NEWS' 

Orphaned gorillas find a safe haven

“Called GRACE (Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education), the center’s goal is to teach orphaned gorillas how to survive in the wild as a new, self-sufficient “family,” with the longer-term goal to release them into a natural habitat in a neighboring forest in the Congo Basin.”
Read more at http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/17/grace.gorillas.congo/

Natural Help for Sinus and Migraine Headaches

I suffer from sinus migraines. It seems that since I moved to Florida five years ago, they have gotten worse with the additional allergens from tropical plants and trees. I take the usual over the counter pain meds, but they don't always provide relief. Last week, a friend of mine gave me a bottle of small green beads from Aromafloria. You place the beads in cheesecloth and then inhale the aroma when you feel the headache starting. I can say that today I have a migraine from the low pressure moving into Florida, but when I inhale the beads, it seems that the dagger is removed from my sinuses for a time of relief. Be sure to check out http://www.aromafloria.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=11