Your Pizza Binge Could Be Making Tree Kangaroos Extinct

                Indonesia’s native tree kangaroo is on the brink of extinction due to the planet’s addiction to palm oil – used in pizza, noodles – it has been revealed. The systematic bulldozing and burning of the endangered creature’s rainforest home to make the substance use in a massive range of every day products is leading to dramatic dwindling of its numbers. The kangaroo’s cousin, the cuscus, is also facing extinction as hunting and habitat loss takes its toll. They go in and bulldoze the forest, take out high value wood, then set the biomass on fire.

                In just 25 years, 76 million acres of Indonesia’s rainforests have disappeared – an area the size of Germany. The golden-mantled tree kangaroo, which was discovered in Papua, has already lost 99% of its historic range. Much smaller than their common cousins, tree kangaroos live off the ground, using their tails to hang from branches and their stronger limbs for climbing. Already listed as critically endangered, there are thought to be fewer than 250 left in the wild.

                Palm oil is the edible vegetable oil derived from the fruit of oil palms. It is used to make a vast array of consumer products both in Europe and the US. These include foods such as crisps, pizza, noodles and doughnuts, as well as toothpaste, shampoo and biodiesel. Around 60 million tonnes of it is produced each year around the planet and exported to more than 70 countries, including the UK. Mighty claim palm oil companies has been burning forest in Papua, knowing full well the practice is illegal.

4 Year Old Not Physically Ready For School

                A “concerning” number of today’s four year olds are not physically ready to start school, new research has revealed, with children’s mobility levels said to be at an all-time low. Early years specialists monitoring children of school age found a higher number experience problems with their balance and coordination than previously thought, ultimately affecting their ability to learn in class. Researchers said the increase was partly a result of modern children being less active in their early years compared with previous decades, with typical movements associated with play and development reduced by the introduction of electronic toys and screens. Test to assess Foundation Stage children’s physical development at the start of the first school year found almost a third to be “of concern” for lack of motor skills and reflexes. Almost 90% of children demonstrated some degree of movement difficulty for their age. The tests suggest up to 30% of children are starting school with symptoms typically associated with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD – conditions which can be improved with the correct levels of physical activity.