Don't Sit Still

Flirting In Red #20121

November is all about preparing for Thanksgiving and holiday shopping and diving in with both feet into the spirit of the season. Garnets and rose colored quartz are just so very festive. And in Swarovski crystal burgundy just shines and is sure to catch the eye.  That's why we chose to focus on those warm colors of the heart.  And the charity we are pairing these works with is one close to our hearts. American gem Michael J. Fox has a wonderful record of pushing through advances in order to find a cure for Parkinson's.  We are donating 25% of all we do this month to Michael J. Fox's Foundation For Parkinson's Research.

"Orange you Glad" #20122

According to their website, as recent as November 14th they were published for their  study, published online in Annals of Neurology, the researchers interviewed 99 twin pairs in which one twin had Parkinson's Disease while the other did not. The interviews focused on each individual’s work history and hobbies. The researchers were probing for situations that would have exposed individuals to the solvents perchloroethylene (PERC), carbon tetrachloride (CCI4) — both commonly used dry cleaning agents — and TCE. TCE was banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 1977. It once was used in dry-cleaning solutions, adhesives, paints, carpet cleaners, as a metal degreaser and as an anesthetic, skin disinfectant, and coffee decaffeinating agent, among other uses. TCE is also the most common organic contaminant in groundwater, and is found in up to 30% of drinking water supplies across the United States. (In September, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that TCE was also carcinogenic.)

#20123

Several studies have linked an individual’s exposure to solvents with an increased risk of Parkinson's Disease. But the Goldman Tanner study is the first to report population-based findings data on the relationship between TCE exposure and Parkinson's Disease.

To date, no definitive cause for Parkinson's Disease has been discovered, yet environmental factors may in fact trigger the disease and have long been the focus of intense interest among Parkinson’s researchers. Michael J. Fox's Foundation (MJFF) has funded multiple studies into environmental factors believed to play a role in Parkinson's Disease research, including a portion of the work being carried out by Tanner and Goldman.

Other studies include:

• A 2006 grant to the Harvard School of Public Health was the first large scale study to examine the possible links between chronic, low-dose exposure to pesticides and PD risk. Data showed that individuals reporting exposure to pesticides had a 70 percent higher incidence of PD than those who did not.
• This past May, a team of researchers headed by Dr. Brad Racette of Washington University in St. Louis reported final outcomes of their work investigating how exposure to metals might lead to a higher risk for PD. Racette’s team studied 600 welders across the world, finding that, according to Positron emission tomography (PET) scans, welders had an average 11.7 percent reduction in a marker of the chemical dopamine compared to those who did not weld (Dopamine is decreased in certain brain regions in people with PD).

All this according to the wonderful work described when you go visit MJFF's website at http://www.MichaelJFox.org. Yay Michael. We celebrate your devotion to a cure the best way we know how: with our pledged support.  You can help too by donating directly or purchasing one of our One-Of-A-Kind pieces as a gift (or gifts) this holiday season.  Check out our latest creations at www.ebay.com by doing a search for -- Missing Links Lisa Lindo --.

Never too early to get those gifts on their way for the holidays.  And our best to you and yours.

Lisa Lindo
misssinglinksfiound@gmail.com

I Heart Snow

'I Heart Snow' (#420)

For the newest collection from Missing Links, we've collaborated with celebrity infused social action campaign 'Green Means Go' which celebrates the tenants of Earth Day, every day.

#420, 'I Heart Snow,' with its multiple strands of white crystal seed beads and Silver Heart, Silver Leaf and Crystal Hanging Pearl Pendant, reminds us that we love the bright white cuteness of a polar bear cub and treasure that they are not yet completely extinct.  The United States is blessed with a great variety of awe-inspiring landscapes from coast to coast. The National Wildlife Federation is working to protect these extraordinary places that are critical to the survival of America's wildlife so please bid generously. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270734640074

(National Wildlife Federation, 2011)

LIKE MANY PHOTOGRAPHERS, Lois Settlemeyer traveled to Churchill, Manitoba, last year to see and shoot polar bears. She writes, “Since the early 1980s, the Churchill polar bear population has decreased 22 per cent and the decline has been directly linked to the ice breakup on Hudson Bay. Polar bears depend on sea ice for food and for survival. Climate change threatens their very existence.” The Washington State resident used a Canon EOS 40D and a 70-300mm lens for this portrait.

This is just one of the many one-of-a kind handcrafted pieces you can see and read about at: MissingLinksFound.com

Missing Links, a Limited Edition line from Lindo Exclusive, was created to combine art with philanthropy and sustainability.  25% of each and every sale from the "Green Means Go" Exhibit goes to the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization National Wildlife Federation of the United States, because what better gift is there then a a necklace from Missing Links that works to protect our wildlife.

Each month, we are proud to spotlight a DIFFERENT charity and focus awareness to raise funds through wearable art.  Each piece inspires and evokes dialogue about the regions and histories of these semiprecious stones.  Whether a gift for you, or someone you care about, your purchase lets you feel good about being fashion forward while making the world a more beautiful place.

Thank you for coming and learning.  And please share.  These are great causes to support.

Dax
missinglinkfound@gmail.com
www.missinglinksfound.com

Loving Animals Part Deux - Saving Tigers

(World Wildlife Library, 2011)

Discovering the tiger's eye stone and its properties has led us on a quite a journey.  We didn't know that tigers were disappearing from the earth rapidly. According to Huffington Post:  "Their numbers have dwindled to about 400 from 1,000 in the 1970s, and that according to the World Wildlife Fund, which set up cameras in Riau and Jambi provinces just three months ago to keep track of these treasured cats."

In support of the work being done by WWF, we began to create our new "Eye Of The Tiger" Series for the World Wildlife Fund's Save Tigers Now global campaign sponsored by Leonardo DiCaprio. Working together with the Smithsonian, their goal is to build political, financial and public support to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.

Tigers are at a tipping point -- the point at which they can go either way in the wild: survival or extinction. Sumatran tigers are on the brink of extinction because of the destruction of forests, poaching and clashes with humans. This, the most iconic species on our planet, the one ingrained in our religions and in our cultures, could be gone forever.

So in 2010, the last Year of the Tiger, Leonardo DiCaprio teamed up with WWF, and the Smithsonian, to create the Save Tigers Now campaign. 

What has STN done lately?  Well...

(World Wildlife Fund, 2011)

• New Tiger Cub Stamp Will Generate Funds for Wildlife Conservation May 12
  The Save Vanishing Species stamp is a new semi-postal stamp designed to raise money to help protect endangered wildlife, including tigers, rhinos and marine turtles. The stamp features an Amur tiger cub and is the result of a 10-year effort begun and led by WWF, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Postal Service and other international conservation organizations.  So please go buy these stamps and save a species and a habitat.  For the latest PSA from WWF:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnZcAJEiXmA&feature=player_embedded

Solutions are being worked on now:  

Highlights from 'Setting Priorities for the Conservation and Recovery of the World's Tigers: 2005-2015'

WWF, Save the Tiger Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society and the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park collaborated on the most comprehensive scientific study of tiger habitats to date. We found that tigers reside in 40 percent less habitat than they were thought to a decade ago and now occupy only seven percent of their historic range.

About the study

• This is the most comprehensive report on the state of wild tigers ever produced and serves as a roadmap to guide conservation investors, practitioners, development agencies and governments as to actions needed to save wild tigers.
• Tiger conservation landscapes (TCLs) - an area with sufficient habitat for at least five tigers and where tigers have been confirmed to occur in the last 10 years - were assessed and 76 identified across Asia.
• TCL's were then prioritized by analyzing three data sets:
  • land cover derived from satellite images;
  • human interference data based on a previous global human footprint analysis; and
  • tiger distribution records from on-the-ground tiger sightings and signs, gathered from more than 3,000 tiger location points and input from 160 of the world's leading tiger conservation experts.

Important findings

• Tigers occupy just seven percent of their historic range.
• Tigers use 40 percent less area than was estimated in the first habitat assessment, completed in 1995 and published in 1997.
• A large area of habitat remains (>1.1 million km²).
• Four strongholds were found that can support more than 500 tigers:
  • Russian Far East-Northeast China,
  • Terai Arc Landscape of India and Nepal,
  • Northern Forest Complex-Namdapha-Royal Manas (Bhutan/Myanmar/India) and
  • Tenasserims of Thailand and Myanmar.
• Just 23 percent of tiger conservation landscapes are protected.

(World Wildlife Fund, 2011)

Recommendations to ensure a future for tigers

• Create human-tiger friendly landscapes that offer both core protected areas, surrounded by buffer zones where tigers can raise their young and allow humans and tigers to co-exist, and provide corridors that will connect tigers to other core protected areas.
• Increase conservation investment. Between 1998 and 2003, US$23.3 million was invested in all tiger conservation landscapes, with the two most significant donors being WWF and Save the Tiger Fund.
• Improve conservation across international borders - 18 of the tiger conservation landscapes are transboundary.
• Essential goals for the next 10 years:
  • Secure tiger populations in all global-priority tiger landscapes;
  • Obtain reserve status for 10 places with unprotected breeding tiger populations;
  • Establish at least five tiger habitat "corridors" between fragmented tiger conservation landscapes.
  • Expand the range of breeding tigers in at least five priority tiger conservation landscapes.
• Implement a holistic conservation strategy. This should engage regional development organizations, government officials, NGO's and businesses to consider tiger conservation needs in national and regional development plans.

Learn more at tigermaps.org Visit www.SaveTigersNow.org to learn about the threats facing tigers and how you can help, or maybe even symbolically adopt a tiger.

We at Missing Links are proud to donate 20% of our proceeds to WWF during the month of May on all items purchased from our "Eye of the Tiger" series.

You can check 'em out at these links...
Inner Circles #802:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270749988662&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Tiger's Eye Beholder #803
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270749993195&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

All Eyes #804
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270749999343&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Princess of the Forest #805
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270750019288

Eyes of Tigers #806
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270750022515

Trees For Tigers #807
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270750025502

Purchase an heirloom, save a tiger.  ;-)

(World Wildlife Fund, 2011)

Wild about Wild Life

(The Talking Parrot, 2011)

April has been all about learning more about our furry and feathered friends, and focusing on each of them in their purity and disappointingly low numbers. What can we do? We see the oil spills and the the pollution and it is really hard to know what to do. Well, one of the first charities we are choosing to focus on is The National Wildlife Federation or nwf.org.

And so we continue this month showing our pieces around the world. Carecrafted necklace (#422), which was part of the "Green Means Go" Exhibit from the Limited Edition Collections at Missing Links, went for $125 American to an anonymous buyer from the store Pedestrian as a gift for his love. The Talking Parrot, with its iconic Talisman has traveled from St. Croix to Maui and almost everywhere in between, and began it's life as part of a keychain, so it meets the criteria of repurposing, too.

The World is blessed with a great variety of awe-inspiring landscapes from coast to coast to coast. The National Wildlife Federation is working to protect these extraordinary places that are critical to the survival of America's wildlife.

Scientists are working far and wide and have helped to save some of the strangest and most endangered birds in the world from extinction. The kakapo, for instance, was facing extinction due to man's invasion of its habitat.

(National Wildlife Federation, 2011)

Experts in Glasgow have been instrumental in helping to boost its numbers by developing a food supplement to improve its breeding potential.

Environmental factors such as habitat clearance and the introduction of predatory animals caused numbers of the breed to dwindle to only 51 in 1995.
Kakapos breed infrequently as they feed their young on the fruits of the pink pine and rimu trees, which produce fruit every two to six years - so kakapos can only breed then.

During the years in between, the kakapo's natural diet consists of coarse leaves, grasses and herbs, which lack adequate nutrients for rearing chicks. 

You can be assured that 25% of the proceeds were set aside to help these beautiful citizens of nature remain for our children and their grandchildren to enjoy by reforesting and attempting to create safe safer havens for these birds to exist.

Looking to do more? National Wildlife Federation is currently recruiting volunteers for restoration and planting events, wildlife monitoring and surveillance and public speaking and education about the Gulf oil spill's impacts specifically and the importance of healthy wildlife habitats.

You can find out more:
http://www.nwf.org/Volunteer/Find-Opportunities/Gulf-Coast-Surveillance/Sign-Up.aspx

You Can Help Restore The Balance Of Nature.  You Really Can.

;-)