Their first time out, the tracking dogs, trained in the U.S. and brought to the Kruger National Park, managed to catch a group of poachers who had just killed a rhino.  Since then there has been a tenfold increase in successful apprehensions of poachers thanks to the work of the K9 program.  In 2020 in the country of Kenya, there was not a single rhino who lost its horn or its life.  South Africa, which is home to 80% of all the rhinos on earth reported a 33% drop in the number of rhinos poached in 2020.  In addition to the tracking dogs, decreased travel due to the COVID 19 pandemic, intervention programs to combat poverty in the nearby rural areas and increased policing have also helped.  

​Rhinos are not the only animal to benefit from these efforts.  Elephants, with their ivory tusks, have also had a reprieve in 2020 and elephant deaths have plummeted by 97% according to the Kenyan Wildlife Service.  That is such good news.  We don't need to poach these animals who are innocently living their lives for our own human vanity and greed.  This is a step in the right direction and a victory for the animal kingdom.


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I am originally from Appalachia, a very beautiful area of the United States, but its economy has been dominated for too long by  industries like tobacco and coal, industries that I consider very contaminating for people and our world.  But my daughter just brought to my attention, one industry that is bringing about change in Appalachia (there are also others), and I am so excited to see what is happening. AppHarvest, a non profit organization headquartered in Kentucky, focuses on economically suffering communities reeling from job losses, such as those in the coal and tobacco industries.  One in three people in the area live below the poverty line and unemployment is rampant. AppHarvest offers at least 300, good paying jobs in each of their vegetable growing facilities, on line now and planned for the near future.  The "farms" are under rooftop in climate controlled growing warehouses.  They concentrate on manpower over automation to provide jobs growing vegetables using a hydroponics system with recycled, pesticide free, rainwater and solar energy. Starting in Kentucky, AppHarvest has plans to develop facilities throughout the country.  Locally produced vegetables from the warehouses will save on the cost of trans-continental growing, transportation  and distribution and won't require the energy consuming, polluting long hauling to market.  

In addition to good paying jobs for the adults in the community, AppHarvest is working with the school systems to teach container farming to high school students to show them the benefit of growing quality food locally and giving them a vision of sustainable jobs for their future..  The average American meal now travels an average of 1,5000 miles by the time that it gets to the dinner table.  These farms will produce more food for less money, with less environmental impact for a better future.
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This is Lae Lae's blog and although she is just in preschool now, she thinks of what the future will bring.  She tells me that she is very excited to hear about an industry like this one for the future that she will be a part of.  

​We can do it if we want to - let's work to create a just, sustainable, and healthy environment for us all!!