In this months episode of Nature Bats Last on PRN.FM podcast, I was honoured to re-interview Professor Paul Ehrlich on his book “The Annihilation of Nature”,the show is embedded here:
“The numbers are sobering: Over all, there has been a human-driven decline in the populations of all species by 25% over the past 500 years, but not all groups have suffered equally. Up to a third of all species of vertebrates are now considered threatened, as are 45% of most species of invertebrates. Among the vertebrates, amphibians are getting clobbered, with 41% of species in trouble, compared to just 17% of birds—at least so far. The various orders of insects suffer differently too: 35% of Lepidopteran species are in decline (goodbye butterflies), which sounds bad enough, but it’s nothing compared to the similar struggles of nearly 100% of Orthoptera species (crickets, grasshoppers and katydids, look your last).“The Sixth Great Extinction is Underway and We’re to Blame;
Johns Hopkins University Press, The Annihilation of Nature
Published on Apr 23, 2015
“In this beautiful book, three of today’s most distinguished conservationists tell the stories of the birds and mammals we have lost and those that are now on the road to extinction. These tragic tales, coupled with eighty-three color photographs from the world’s leading nature photographers, display the beauty and biodiversity that humans are squandering.”
For a slide show of the wonderful photo’s and illustrations in this book click on the following link;The Annihilation of Nature
“The oft-repeated claim that Earth’s biota is entering a sixth “mass extinction” depends on clearly demonstrating that current extinction rates are far above the “background” rates prevailing between the five previous mass extinctions. Earlier estimates of extinction rates have been criticized for using assumptions that might overestimate the severity of the extinction crisis. We assess, using extremely conservative assumptions, whether human activities are causing a mass extinction. First, we use a recent estimate of a background rate of 2 mammal extinctions per 10,000 species per 100 years (that is, 2 E/MSY), which is twice as high as widely used previous estimates. We then compare this rate with the current rate of mammal and vertebrate extinctions. The latter is conservatively low because listing a species as extinct requires meeting stringent criteria. Even under our assumptions, which would tend to minimize evidence of an incipient mass extinction, the average rate of vertebrate species loss over the last century is up to 100 times higher than the background rate. Under the 2 E/MSY background rate, the number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have taken, depending on the vertebrate taxon, between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear.” Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction.
I mentioned in the interview; “The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) simply blows out of the water anything else that’s been attempted in human history. As currently planned, it will involve some 7,000 separate infrastructure or extractive industry projects scattered across 70-odd nations, with a total price-tag of $8 trillion. It’ll span half the planet — from Asia to Africa, Europe and the South Pacific.”
It’s hard for me to think where the sand, let alone the energy for this project will come from,considering to all intents and purposes we have consumed the planets ‘construction sand’ already.China’s Global Infrastructure Initative Could Bring Environmental Catastrophe
Also mentioned was this quote from Joanna Macy:
“Because of social taboos, despair at the state of our world and fear for our future are rarely acknowledged. The suppression of despair, like that of any deep recurring response, contributes to the numbing of the psyche”. The Greatest Danger;
On a similar theme this great You Tube presentation from PaulBeckwith.net ” Human Decimation of Earths Creatures:”
I’ve embedded below another important discussion between Professors Paul Ehrlich and Guy McPherson titled: A Conversation with Paul Ehrlich
I'm an anti-imperialist, environmental activist and blue ocean sailor, who is passionate about the earth and all it's inhabitants without favour. Brace for imminent impact as we bare witness to the non-linear unraveling of the biosphere and habitability disappearing for most if not all complex life on the only habitable planet we know of. To quote President Niinistö in North Russia: ‘If We Lose the Arctic, We Lose the World’. Folks we have lost the Arctic.
Kevin Hester 
And I find odd bits showing that the destruction never goes down, only up. And people are trying to be so optimistic about the future while they check their FB page and text their outrage to politicians who are owned by the bribes paid out by the corporate giants.
WTF is wrong with people?
Ikea’s Race for the Last of Europe’s Old-Growth Forest
The furniture giant is hungry for Romania’s famed trees. Little stands in its way.
https://newrepublic.com/article/165245/ikea-romania-europe-old-growth-forest
sealintheSelkirks
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Wow, brilliant, great catch bro, thx.
Have a great collapse ! 😉
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Here’s another one of those ‘nobody hears about this shite’ articles. Africa this time and a Canadian oil company. Everywhere I look there is more destruction under the radar because there is just too much to report on. And nobody really wants to pay attention anyway.
Don’t Look Up. Since I don’t have TV no NetFlicks in this house so I haven’t seen it but do I really need to? What I see happening in these mountains and what I read certainly does bolster the movie’s premise: Nobody is going to be bothered. It’s like what is going on in this country with Covid; ignore it as even my governor is cancelling mask mandates in less than a month as will Oregon…;then the next variant will break out and slaughter because the US is ‘so done with covid’ like the disease gives a shit. From two days ago:
Canadian oil company illegally bulldozes protected land in Africa
Farms, water, and endangered wildlife are threatened as ReconAfrica expands its operations despite violations.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/canadian-oil-company-illegally-bulldozes-protected-land-in-africa
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Weather continues to not snow in these mountains. Going on two months without anything more than an occasional dusting of an inch or else so thin it can’t be measured. Temps down to -20’C at night to 8’C by 10:30am. then it jumps some when the overcast burns off about noon to a bright blue sky and beaming sun rays through the south-facing window. Very windy on Monday causing major windchill.
sealintheSelkirks
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Seal I suggest you see “Don’t Look Up’, I’m sure it would appeal to your sense of humour and irony. 😉
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Nature getting revenge today in Queensland:
Still selling lots of coal to China, eh mates? Look at all that fresh water!
sealintheSelkirks
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Republicans Seize the ‘Major Questions Doctrine’ to Block Biden’s Climate Agenda
The seldom-used principle was first enunciated to stop the Clinton administration from regulating cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28022022/biden-supreme-court-major-questions-doctrine
Then, right on schedule this comes out a few days later:
Conservative Justices Express Some Support for Limiting Biden’s Ability to Curtail Greenhouse Gas Emissions
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01032022/conservative-justices-supreme-court-epa-greenhouse-gases
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So I guess, due to the insanity of neo-Fascist Talibangelical unSupreme judges that have been installed, the EPA (almost useless most of the time anyway) regulation of CO2 will probably end up like tobacco. bad for us but you can smoke as much as you want as long as somebody is making a lot of money doing it, the government gets to tax it while at the same time funding it by tax breaks and subsidies, and of course the politicians get mucho mas dinero for their next election cycle along with all those perks (like vacations to ‘meetings’ for ‘discussions’ on this or that in incredibly expensive tourist locations paid for by lobbyists of those companies that they are supposed to regulate.
I love how all this is so neatly tied up in a bright red bow, don’t you?
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It is brilliant sunshine, nearing 15C with sticky mud and slush from the melting of what little snowpack I have this year, and the first yellow jacket showed up today. The first week of March???
Appalled I am. So on that note, listen to this:
Fuck This Shit Katie Goodman
sealintheSelkirks
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The latest on the unfolding armageddon unleashed on the biosphere;
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22958614/insects-bees-butterflies-decline-extinction?fbclid=IwAR1cnrG8dyyZ53rjSMt5BfT5I8NeA-y4uZrErOH-kRbaNjzwZl7qlYVfnlQ
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This just boggled my mind.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/18/2086779/–Impossible-and-Unthinkable-heat-dome-anomalies-of-90-degrees-over-East-Antarctica
Links to ClimateReanaylzer.org and others links in this summary.
Of course on the other pole is nearing 50’F above normal…so it’s going on at both ends of the planet.
This coming summer is going to (again) be completely unbearable here I’m afraid. I’m really not looking forward to it.
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Then there is this:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/18/disastrous-news-widespread-bleaching-great-barrier-reef-underway
My friend Judi the columnist at OB Rag.org wrote and said her grand & 2 g-granddaughters are okay after the massive bomb cyclone drowned Brisbane. They just happen to be living on one of the highest places in the city above the river and weren’t flooded out. People were crowding onto that hill from all over, though, camping out with nowhere to go. Climate refugees, homes gone, shops gone, jobs gone. Nothing but devastation in every direction (she sent a couple cell phone pics with the email). Place looks just trashed. Incredibly amounts of toxic waste washed down the rivers into the ocean along with all the debris, dead animals, etc etc.
The mom happened to be down by the roaring river when a drowning 5 month old puppy came by and she managed to get close enough by crawling out into the floodwaters on part of a house that had washed up to grab it before it went under. The dog refuses to go outside without her being with it. Dog trauma, but she told Judi that she is just fostering until she can find the missing owners because they are hopefully coming back the US this summer and can’t take a dog. Judi said in the Zoom call that the puppy was asleep in her lap during the call…
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Weather
Just switched to rain, daytime have been in the 10-12C range all week Snow is mostly gone at my elevation now and mud has replaced it. It used to snow in April here quite often but not so much anymore.
Nothing else but bad to worse news from around the world continues to be the norm now, doesn’t it?
sealintheSelkirks
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Hi Seal, I seemed to have missed your latest missive.
Down in SW Oregon coast, it’s DRY & a little warmer than “normal” but of course, there is no more “normal”. My Angels trumpet still has leaves, I already have my Epiphyllums (orchid cactus) outside, my red current is blooming as is the Salmon berry, our earliest bloomer.
The county commisoners voted against providing homes for the homeless, they want St. Timathies to stop feeding the homeless & poor, their suing!
Thanks to the lack of INSECTS, I have been blocking or removing my nest boxes so house sparrows can’t nest in them, I USED to have swallows but thanks to us, they are no more.
There are virtually NO beetles, no flies, no butterflies, no wasps, no bees, no spiders, no dragonflies,no bats & no swallows. WASF!!!
At least I don’t have to worry about flooding, tornadoes, hurricaines, lightning storms, ice storms, snow, black ice on our roads, just THEVES! A theif stole a coral bell I have had for DECADES!
While checking my sparrows this AM, I found one missing, she wasn’t in the “hiding place” or on her usual perch, I finally found her, dead, at the bottom of the cage by the door. Now her little friend is scared & she’s hiding in the “hiding place” a paper tube.
I’m trying to trap another companion for her.
Do you also have some food shortages?
Down here, we haven’t had enough frozen food since 2020, big gaps in the frozen food bins, toilet paper is still iffy but people are still blind as to what is going on. They believe that all that needs to be done is for OPEC, the Saudies or the US to “produce” more oil, “open up the spigots”, Biden was over in the middle east begging OPEC to “produce” more oil to keep prices down!
Now why in the hell would they want to do THAT?
I would have given Biden the middle finger & tell him there isn’t ANY MORE CHEAP OIL LEFT TO EXTRACT & aside from that, WHY should they sell for CHEAP the ONLY asset they have?
India is being hit with fertilizer & natural gas shortages, this means more starving Indians & other poor people.
It also means more MIGRANTS on the move looking for a better life!
What they will get are high fences, razor wire, water cannons, toxic gas, bullets & clubs.
We have been SO DAM STUPID in allowing ourselves to become totally DEPENDENT upon a TEMPORARY RESOURCE!
People in the advanced countries who were able to enjoy the rich life thanks to OIL, COAL & NATURAL GAS, don’t appreciate just how lucky they have been for the last 200 years, now it’s back to the stone age & far fewer humans, these morons have no idea that we are headed for collapse!
Now their pushing hard for us to BUY electric cars, put solar panels on our roofs, pay billions in taxes to put wind turbines off our coast, go vegan, a diet that will KILL YOU if you don’t take vitamin suppliments like B12!
The only thing that will accomplish is to make their producers RICHER, it will not solve our
RESOURCE SHORTAGES & GROSS OVERPOPULATION!
Trying to educate willfully IGNORANT, STUPID people is a waste of time, let DARWIN sort them out!
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The 800 pound gorilla…is overpopulation isn’t it, Sheila? Here’s a recent article…and what I see in it is young mothers with 7 kids wondering why they are starving to death dependent on imported food…which, as this civilization tanks, is going to quit coming while they have more babies. The local guy burning what’s left of the forest to start a farm because he just got married and has to ‘feed his wife’ hoping the rains will come (don’t count on it, dude). And then they’ll end up with near a dozen kids who’ll continue the cycle…of course until they won’t because they’ll all be dead. This article pretty much describes the problem but of course god will come save them, yes?
A green island turns red: Madagascans struggle through long drought
https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/a-green-island-turns-red-madagascans-struggle-through-long-drought
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Up here we have already seen more rain instead of snow, so much that we’ve already passed the ‘normal’ numbers for Spring wet. And it’s supposed to still be snowing or at least it USED to snow here in these mountains this time of year. 60’F expected this week. Again. A local weather report said maybe 70’F by the end of the week. IN MARCH???
Insects were wiped out last summer here. Then the birds disappeared and haven’t really come back over the winter. Far fewer on the suet feeder since, and the insect population must be pretty low because there are Flicker woodpeckers eating on them along with a much smaller black & white woodpecker. Drastic 1 year drop in the bird population I’m afraid.
And after the heat finally broke there just wasn’t the clouds of summer bugs one would expect. It was SO dry here, and the ‘official’ state heat numbers were bumped up a few months ago to this county hitting 120’F.
Bats aren’t back yet (or do they hibernate?). First yellow jacket wasp flew by March 5th but it’s frozen over again off and on this month and I haven’t seen any others.
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There’s a new bumper sticker out; Let’s Go Darwin! Much more spot on than the stupid MAGATS saying against the closet republican Biden…
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I have no idea about the store shortages as I don’t go into them much. I can’t afford the prices anyway, and am a 1 meal a day guy anyway as I’m never hungry in the morning. As for toilet paper, all that does is leave dried poop smeared on your butt. Washing with water has a much better outcome. I’m a proponent of bidets and washcloths that can be laundered after the paper wipe…
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Those county commissioners of yours will be rather vexxed when those starving poor people overrun their homes to take what food they have. That’s what always happens in collapses of civilizations, the hungry find something to eat. Then they start eating people is what our history says. I wonder if county commissioners taste like chicken?
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The US has completely stopped trying to deal with Covid. About the fucking dumbest thing I’ve heard is that the US is ‘TIRED’ of it and wants to forget about it. No, that’s what the wealthy want to do because they need their wage slaves back at the grind of sub-living wage shit jobs to keep their profits growing. Even so, the very richest have done quite well this last two Pandemic years as the 600 billionaires in this country increased their wealthy by about $2 trillion dollars. And almost NONE of it is going to be taxed. How’s that for irony? People are sinking Russian oligarchs yachts so why aren’t people here doing the same to OUR oligarchs? Are they stupid? Yes. If the mob was smart they’d sink those boats with the oligarchs duct taped to the decks…
The 4th Covid Wave is on the way and will be filling hospitals by mid-April it looks like. Omicron BA.2 has jumped the pond from the UK and is now spreading through the NE. It’ll be here on the West Coast in another couple weeks. Looks like Omicron II is bypassing the vaccines, too, so watch yourself because it could get pretty nasty. Omicron I killed mostly unvaxxed GOP anti-maskers which wasn’t any loss; LET’S GO DARWIN! Better for the genetic pool I guess. There’s also an even nastier variant that combined the worst aspects of Delta and Omicron labeled DELTA-CRON (how original!) but so far BA.2 is spreading quicker. I can’t wait to see what mutation comes out by this Summer or maybe Fall. It’s likely, given the speed these variants are mutating at, we’ll see something even worse in the next six months.
Unmasking the Great Unmasking
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/16/unmasking-the-great-unmasking/
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It’s now after 4am and I tried to go to sleep but my brain wouldn’t turn off so here I am smoking a bowl and writing to you on Kevin’s site. Hey Kevin, the climate’s is FUCKED and so are we!
Best go put a few sticks in the woodburner. House is chilling down. Maybe I can get back to sleep.
sealintheSelkirks
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Scary isn’t it, the population keeps growing, fed by OIL, none of our rulers has a clue that we are in deep overshoot, or at least they act clueless. How can they not know? Do they believe they are immune from the consiqences of overshoot?
I’ve read that those rich bastards have luxury bunkers here & there well stocked with food & water. I expect they have also contracted with some organic growers to supply them with nice, clean food while the rest of us starve!
All our RULERS do is push “renewables” & transistion to “renewables” seemingly blind to the fact that “renewables” are also tied to OIL, COAL & NATURAL GAS!
Our RULERS are eager to get their low wage “essential” worker slaves back to work so they can squeeze more PROFIT from them, to hell with the pandemic!
I see no point in “voting”in our fake “elections”, it’s too late to stop the train rushing towards us trapped in the tunnel, most still believing the light they see is the end of the tunnel.
In WW2, the Germans tried to starve out the UK by cutting off their IMPORTS of food, Europe is not food secure, too much needs to be imported & as oil declines, so will food exports.The scarcity of fertilizers will also cut food supplies. India is having fertilizer shortages, more hungry people!
Europe is also dependent upon RUSSIA for GAS & OIL, no wonder they don’t dare aid the Ukraine in the battle against the invading Russians who aren’t doing so well, IF we can believe our crooked, lying, corporate media!
On another front, I actually saw a small flash of orange fluttering about my yard! It was a Mylitta Crescent butterfly, a real, live BUTTERFLY!! They used to be common here & today, I saw TWO!
I also heard the deep drone of a queen Bumblebee as she searched for a burrow.
Your black & white woodpecker at your feeder was likely to be a Downey woodpecker.
I did some scything of the back yard to cut down some invasive but pretty red flowers from a corm & some tall grass.
Some Beacon broadband guys were here to lay some conduit under the “grass” in my side yard.They are a local high speed, glass fiber, internet provider, I’ll be able to dump Spectrum & it’s $100. a month charge for internet & a phone that dies with the power, just like cell phones do.
Can’t get a real land line any longer.
I’ve been hit by THEVES! They stole my solar powered chanalear that hung infront of my kitchen window, they also stole a coral bells that I had in a pot on the front steps,I had that plant for DECADES!
I will not replace the chandalear! I see no point in having something pretty outside that some ass hole can just up & STEAL!
Let the place look like a dung heap & perhaps the theifs will pass it by.
Too bad I can’t set a BEAR TRAP by the garrage in the deep shade, a bear trap would break his leg & keep him there until the sherriff arrived, but until then, let him SUFFER!
It takes about 30+ minutes for a sheriff to show up.
He could also bleed to death before the sheriff arrived, good riddence!
I see the Acuweather forcast shows “drizzle” for today, no drizzle, just FOG!
There is a new version of COVID moving west from the east, that’s all we need MORE COVID!
At Freddies today, almost no one wore a mask!
Let “Darwin” sort them out!
I hope more of those racist, Trump MAGA dupes DIE from COVID or at least suffer long COVID!
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Hi Seal, I’m still on W7, I started out with W95, then I
went to XP. I’m considering getting a new computer but
with all the crazyness, I wonder if I’ll be around long
enough to get much use from it.
I’m composing this on “Notepad”, keeps it from getting
deleted before I’m through composing it, I can simply
save it for later completion.
This country has been crazy for a long time, so dam many
IGNORANT FUNDIES, they think there is something wrong
with me because I refuse to believe in total NONSENSE
like religion & of course “renewables”!
They just refuse to “get it”, we cannot replace
declining resources with a resource dependent
technology.
I’ve never seen so many homeless people! In some places,
there are “tent cities” full of homeless people, under
overpasses is popular, in less rigorous climates, tents
& tarps line the sidewalks for blocks!
We throw money at war but somehow we lack the funds to
aid our homeless, jobless, unskilled & poor. We also
need to ban outsourcing & END IMMIGRATION!
India is already suffering killer heat waves, farmers
have to use less fertilizer because of high prices,
crops are being lost to those same heat waves & even
farmers here are forced to use less fertilizer & fuel
because of higher prices.
Soon millions of poor, hungry, jobless, unskilled, people will be migrating
the rich will simply fly in comfort to a better place.
Food prices here are also rising. Perhaps it’s the
problem of finding enough FOOD that is keeping McKay’s
from opening. I was suppose to have opened last spring,
it’s now May & it’s still CLOSED.
The war in Ukraine has made it more obvious just how
DEPENDENT we are on fossil resources, Europe is sweating
because their natural gas supplies come mostly from
Russia & it’s supply is in decline, the Ukraine is also
Russia’s & Europes BREAD BASKET, Russia & Ukraine is an
important EXPORTER OF GRAIN, 30% of the worlds grain is
grown there, that’s down thanks to that war.
There is no way for battery powered tractors & trucks to
plow farmers fields or move their produce to market,they
MUST HAVE OIL for their vehicles not solar panels.
There are NO battery powered tractors or trucks that can
replace fossil fueled vehicles. Other uses for oil will
have to be curtailed if we are to keep feeding
ourselves, for a little while longer, but OIL too is in decline!
Sure I know Tesla showed off an 18 wheeler for long haul transport, but they will haul very little as most of their haul weight is taken up by the weight of those heavy BATTERIES.
I haven’t heard anything about those battery powered
trucks since their introduction by Musk several years ago.
There is some outfit that’s going to FORCE wind turbine farms off our coast, worthless, noisy, EXPENSIVE wind turbines.
Our fisherpersons will “love” being unable to fish in
their most productive areas or having their nets tangled
in their guy wires!
The energy they produce will be expensive, erratic & many batteries will be needed to store that energy.
I wonder how long those huge turbines will last in our rough,corrosive, ocean environment?
Even worse, those huge blades can’t be recycled,
they will end up in our LANDFILLS.
I’m still wearing my stuffy 3M N95 mask each time I have
to shop at Freddies, hardly anyone wears a mask anymore,
they believe it’s over & they want to ignore the FACT
that it’s still infecting & killing people but our
RULERS are playing that down, you have to search for
COVID news now. Yahoo! news does a pretty good job of
keeping us informed as do independent & foreign news sites.
The Oregon Health Authority has an active site for the
latest info about covid here.
I was outside today (Saturday) to remove a house sparrow nest &
eggs from a nestbox that’s still up. I don’t expect to
see any swallows this year either but I also don’t want
to breed any more alien house sparrows.There were no
embryos in those eggs thank goodness, I would not like
to kill baby birds, not even house sparrows.
I have a lot of garlic coming up, a mix of potatoes & I
again started some milkweed in case there are any
monarchs still alive on the west coast, I even planted
some thistles for Painted ladies in case any of them
show up, I didn’t see any last year, no monarchs either,
most of our insects & spiders are GONE!
The road department is still spraying week killer along
the road side!I have my “no spray” signs up again.
Perhaps if the cost of fuel get’s too high, such
nonsense will end.
There used to be a little wildflower area at Chetco
point until the parks department decided it needed to be
“cleaned up”. So they mowed down the wildflowers,
poisoned the thistles, turned the area into a biological
desert.
People are so dam clueless, they haven’t been paying
attention to what’s been happening, the decline in our
wildlife, foreign diseases that have been killing our
trees, the steep decline of insects, insects are a
keystone family, the whole ecosystem would collapse
without enough insects & so would we.
We are related to EVERY living thing on this planet, the bugs, trees, rats, butterflies, beetles, birds, snakes, grass etc etc etc!
Just contemplate that next time your outside, look around at
all of your relatives, they’re everywhere!
The more nature videos I see on Youtube, the more I wish
I had to power to stop this capitalist madness, this
endless push for more, more & more without end.
We must stop planning to terraform Mars & instead stop
our growth & stop destroying the only planet we can
survive on!
Of course none of this will happen, we all know the
likely outcome & it’s painful to sit by as life is squeezed out by us.
There are some real crazy politicians running for office out there, not only do they want to ban abortions for any reason, they want to make it impossible for states to impose public health measures when the feds are run by another whack job, they want to turn the US into a theocracy, I thought it already was.
This is the time to forget we are fucked, just get out & enjoy what’s left, prepare for the worse, snowboard while you still have snow, listen to the birds before their gone, if you can get away from noisy humans, find a nice quiet place alone to sit & just listen, smell & just BE!
This is the result of my ramblings over several days, I’m so down what with COVID & other people going maskless in crowds, eating out & having fun, living life, not a care in the world, clueless, while I dare not.
Thank SCIENCE for the internet!
It’s too crappy here still, wet one moment,chilly, windy & sunny the next, then more drizzle so I spend too much time vegging out in my nice, cozy, warm, dry, water bed while also remembering what a LUXURY such would be for the billions of the worlds poorest who never even get a bath with warm, clean water, who will never have enough to eat.
I wish I could forget what’s heading our way, that makes it hard to go on, knowing everything will continue to get worse.
Get out & smell some flowers Seal while you still can.
Kevin, keep warm & “enjoy” the on coming winter if possible.
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Wow Shelia, that is a magnificent assessment of our predicament. You have completely and utterly nailed it.
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Well hell, Sheila, it’s what I’m already doing. Do something fun every day has been my saying for the last few years. People look at me very strange when I say that…and I smile and tell them even a five minute rub on the floor with your dog counts!
I’m going to ramble through your post in my reply. May be a bit disjointed!
First hummingbird showed up today, buzzed my head angrily because the feeders weren’t there. Carrie over in Bonner’s Ferry (north & east of me closer to Canada) said the first one showed up ten days ago in her garden. They never used to show up before the end of May or sometimes in early June.
The first robin showed up IN MARCH this year, two months early. I’ve got to take down the nest under the eves that still has four hardboiled blue eggs in it from last June when mama robin abandoned the nest in 116’F temps.
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My first computer was in 1995, a Mac 6115 CD that used big floppy disks and had a 13″ screen bought when I went back to finish my degree. Student price! Then I got talked into Win 98 by my shop web builder. Then Win 2000 pro, then XP which I had to finally retire since I couldn’t even access my own shop email after it was ‘updated.’ Cancelled me right out.
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After last year’s burn-off of the insect population I’m not expecting any kind of recovery. The birds that have always shown up probably won’t, either, or at least not in the profusion I’ve grown accustomed to. Haven’t seen a single mountain bluebird yet. Robins are still around but…the ground was baked hard and I think it did some serious damage to the underground insect population, too, as the robins are far fewer.
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The insanity of ignoring covid is…insanity. I’ve been getting some good info from a compilation that is posted twice a week, Mon & Thursday, on DailyKos. This was this mornings:
Monday COVID Roundup: Ready for COVID to Cycle Around YET AGAIN?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/2/2094919/-Monday-COVID-Roundup-Ready-for-COVID-to-Cycle-Around-YET-AGAIN
Expect to get slammed in another…two months or so as the latest variants are coming from South Africa. Omicron BA. 3, BA.4 are looking rather scary as they have even more immunity towards the vaccines…
And yes, I’m in N95s every time I go inside ANYWHERE. I saw a few others today in masks but…not very fucking many are paying attention. Homo Sap are saps alright.
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Elon Musk/Tesla Corp is a right wing Trump Fascist asshole billionaire like so many other wealthy. He bought Twitter so he can be even more of a twit. But the only thing that matters is how rich one is, not what their character and behavior shows. Back to that sap thing again!
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Of course the US is a Theocracy. It’s about to get worse. These insane fundies are already burning books, literally, and soon they will be burning witches. And probably lighting off the homeless encampments because obviously geezuz don’t like them people or they’d all be rich.
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Yes I have “owner will maintain’ along the county gravel road on my west treeline so they don’t get sprayed. The signs start south of me with the whacko Trumpie gun nut who decided to listen (he lives down below but has animals along the road up here) and continues past me around the corner up the canyon where my retired biologist property fronts the road. Unfortunately my local-born neighbor across the road doesn’t want to bother so that the only gap but I’ve noticed the county hasn’t bothered to use toxic chemical poisons the last few years because I haven’t seen the wilting from herbicides across the road. So much is already under signage that I think the county crew just skips it. I was quite surprised the asshole Trumpie did this but I guess he didn’t want poison in his cows and horses? It’s the only good thing I’ve ever seen him do.
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Dandelions have popped up out front, and the grass is growing quickly since it’s been raining enough to let the naturally-occurring grass grow. I don’t seed it or do anything to it and by summer it starts to die out and turn brown. I just mow it when it gets too high, and no I don’t freaking rake it up. Let it mulch by itself!
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I AM away from noisy humans, comparatively at least. At night it gets downright quiet because the two lane state highway down the hill has nearly no traffic. I can sit outside on the porch steps and hear…wind ruffling tree sounds, owls, coyotes talking, sometimes a wolf howl (yes there are a few around). Sitting on the porch with no lights anywhere except pinpoints across the valley on the opposite ridgeline so the sky is brilliantly bright. Then you’ll hear a vehicle coming from far off and it’ll pass by down below and for the next 20 or 30 minutes there won’t be another. I’ve lived this way for 18 years now… My county gravel road that runs past has even less traffic! There are maybe four trains a day that go by down below, too.
I like it here even with the fucking RWNJs that rule this county. I can see the light glare of Springdale (pop 300) if I walk to the south side of the house but at least it’s behind the ridgeline.
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As for the stupidity and hubris of US involvement in Ukraine (since the US PAID $5billion for the coup that put in the Azov/Fascists in power in 2014 and they’ve been shelling the civlian population of the Donbass breakaway republics for eight fucking years A WAR CRIME!), I’ll leave you with this piece of information to listen to:
She’s exposing the TRUTH in Ukraine and they don’t like it | Redacted Conversation with Eva Bartlett (well-known Canadian Investigative Journalist and war correspondent):
It feels like a repeat of HWbush’s lies about Iraqis throwing babies out of incubators in Kuwait (a made-up country run by a king), Wbush’s lies about Iraq (WMDs!), lies about Syria (chemical weapons on their own people), Libya (he was a bad man no matter how well his countrymen were treated because, well, he didn’t do what the US said, either). Except this time we are fighting Russia with expendable Ukrainians who nobody really cares about. Think about this, what the US did to Iraq in the FIRST WEEK of bombing is worse that what Russia has done to Ukraine in two months. Think Falluja, Mosul, all those cities that the US Air Force destroyed utterly. And irradiated it with Depleted Uranium that spread throughout the gene pool. If Russia wanted to do what the US did in 2003, it could have… Putin is an autocratic asshole…just like our leaders have always been.
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Okay, almost 3am. Time for bed as I just added a couple pieces of wood to the Lopi Stove and shut it down. Time for my 5-6 hours of sleep.
sealintheSelkirks
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WordPress is blocking me from replying, I keep getting this – ” Sorry, this comment could not be posted.” WTF????
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Hey Sheila, you might find this Mark Fiore video oil cartel cartoon somewhat humorous. Or not because like most real cartoons it speaks truth to power…
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/25/2087800/-Cartoon-Supplying-sort-of-our-demand
Sorry to hear people are sneaking up to steal stuff that they are going to do what with? I mean, it’s all getting so pointless! Steal really valuable stuff from the Oligarchs that rule our world seems a much more sensible path to take if you are going to steal, right?
As for Covid, yep Omicron BA.2 mama O’s little baby strain jumped the pond from the UK about two weeks ago and it’ll be out here on the West Coast by probably mid-April I’m guessing. And the corporate Democrats have succeeded in doing by stealth what the corporate Republicans were unable to do by screaming (remember Trump’s QUIT COUNTING rant?) and all it took was sending out millions of fest kits FOR FREE so that people who are getting sick don’t get counted in the statistics. Brilliant move by the Oligarchy-owned politicians I must admit. People start feeling sick, they test themselves and since most people are not dying of it and then they stay home and the numbers keep going down. At the same time the Dems changed the metric to how many are hospitalized. I mean truly somebody was really thinking this through, eh?
So we have millions of people still getting sick and nobody care because, well, Covid is so OVER and we can GET BACK TO NORMAL (whatever the fuck that was and it wasn’t good in the first place) and the wealthy can get back to raking in the profits. Not that the billionaires haven’t been doing that the entire time anyway.
As for Wall St. I’m sure they’re damned happy about the lack of numbers, too. But I’m sure they weren’t very happy that this got published:
‘Jaw-Dropping’: Wall Street Bonuses Have Soared 1,743% Since 1985
A new analysis finds that if the federal minimum wage had increased at the same rate, it would currently be $61.75 an hour.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/23/jaw-dropping-wall-street-bonuses-have-soared
A new analysis out Wednesday estimates that if the federal minimum wage had grown at the same rate as Wall Street bonuses over the past three and a half decades, it would currently be $61.75 an hour instead of $7.25.
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You’ll notice (if you watch TV news) not a damned word about this has showed up in the MSM that I know of…
Seen a few butterfly flashes around here the last few days, too. Very small black ones but not close enough to really see other any color definition. A bunch of robins have shown up, more and more every day hopping around the property. And the two flocks of turkeys have been through as, so far, they haven’t caught the latest Avian Flu strain that is slaughtering their cousins in the eastern part of the country. I read somewhere that million of US turkey and chicken flocks have been slaughtered already over it.
A very scary new Avian flu is loose again and we’ll just have to see if it makes the jump to humans. That will be WORSE than covid from what I’m reading and hearing from my two biologist friends.They are really worried as I guess it usually does make the leap. A new strain of Covid and Avian at the same time in a population that has now taken off the masks and are acting positively giddy stupid about being in groups…what could go wrong, eh?
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I have a story about last weekend but it’s too long to post here. Almost 3400 words long but it is a good story! I went up to my snowboarding hill for the first time since the stroke as I was invited to the pro snowboarder Jaegar Bailey Memorial Park Party (65’F on TOP of the Peak in the snow) for whom I told a couple of stories at the wake in 2019 that made his family cry and laugh at the same time.
But unless Kevin says it’s okay to post I won’t! I don’t have your email or I’d send it to you. I sent it out to a few friends and the replies were all really good. I can still snowboard but the damned blood clot sure messed up my body system and I’m pretty much retired from that, too, now. If you want to read it go to my shop website and send me an email! boardwarm.com
Best get off this machine.
sealintheSelkirks
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Yes, that theft was STUPID, what will they do with an old, beat up, wooden seed feeder”? What did they do with the coral bells in a pot they stole? Can they sell the solar powered chandalear?
The oligarchs are well protected from thefts thanks to their gated, guarded communities, we have no such protections so we are easy prey.
It hardly matters anymore anyhow, we are all DOOMED!
Too dam many of us, too much consumption, too much poisoning of our planet, even the insects are dying off.
Too many people still believe that they are immune to the laws of physics & nature & that we are so “smart” that we will always find a way to keep growing & prospering, BUNK!!
I’ve been putting away all my nest boxes as I do not
want to be breeding alien house sparrows here in place of the now gone, lovely, native, Tree swallows.
Those insane repugs are busy shoving forced breeding down the throats of women & women are being written out of the reproduction process altogether, now it’s “PEOPLE” getting pregnant, “PEOPLE” getting abortions & “PEOPLE” INCLUDES MALES BUT MALES CANNOT GET PREGNANT & MALES NEVER NEED AN ABORTION!
Paul must be very depressed at how STUPID our RULERS have proven themselves to be, their still pushing GROWTH, GROWTH THROUGH FORCED PREGNANCIES & BIRTH but once it’s born, your on your own, BITCH!
I don’t give a “F” who’s running for some office, it will just be more of the same CRAP no matter who gets the SELECTION, no educated progressive has a chance in our FAKE, RIGGED “ELECTIONS”! It’s too dam late to change the road we are on, we are already over the cliff & in free fall.
You should see some of the vids on Youtube about homelessness, drug addiction, rotting cities & homes falling down that were at one time had well paid working folks building cars, refrigerators, clothing, machines, etc etc etc, all that is gone now, either automated or those jobs were shipped off to communist China, Mexico, Bangladesh, Haiti or where ever the government is most corrupt & the labor is cheapest.
There are rumors about claiming that the oligarchs are working to produce a virus that will kill off most of the worlds “useless eaters”.
COVID got rid of quite a few old farts in nursing “homes” but too many repugs & science deniers died as well.
Yeah what could go wrong, let those morons take off their useless fashion “masks” that their wearing below their noses, gather in crowds like in CHURCH & get what ever virus is about, I could not care less!
Let “Darwin” sort them out!
I’m STILL wearing my 3M, N95 stuffy mask & it’s NOT hanging below my nose either!
Gee, you want MY EMAIL!
Well I can post it here, it’s kinda weird, so here goes, stashgal666@gmail.com
Because I won’t hide the fact that I’m not a believer in ancient nonsense, I get a lot of hate from some people on Nextdoor Brookings, let them hate, I have had to put up with bullying, mocking, ridicule & hate all of my life, I had to grow a thick skin & I refuse to hide my ATHEISM!
I rode a MOTORCYCLE, not a scooter all over southern Oregon & N. Cali, in southern Cali I rode a scooter, in Silicon valley, I rode a Suzuki 380 road bike until the bike haters got too dangerous.
I skin dived off S. Cali beaches, fished off the Santa Monica pier, went out on “cattle boats” for deep sea fishing, hunted for fossils in Topanga canyon & in the Santa Monica mountains & in the Rogue valley & on the Oregon coast.
I wore jeans, a jacket,boots & a helmet, I backpacked, hiked in wilderness, caught snakes, lizards & I have no fear of either or of spiders & insects.
I loved to listen to the tree crickets in the apple tree when I lived in Grants Pass many decades ago, I suppose their gone now too as well.
Knowledge is POWER!
It’s also a lot more FUN!
A blood clot sure messed up my life now that it took out my once dominant right eye, being a one eyed FREAK is a BITCH!
I’m rather used to being a “freak” as I have been a freak most of my life & my caregivers did not want me.
Proof of that was when they were told by one of the many schools I attended that I had poor eyesight & needed glasses.
Of course they refused to get me glasses, I was just a worthless “girlee” after all, condemmed to getting married & shoving kids out my bum each year & speaking only baby talk, you don’t need an education for that & the only “education” I got in high school was how to sew, make beds, measure food, make pot holders, set tables etc, HOUSEWIFE CRAP & I did NOT WANT THAT!
The BOYS however had many other options, for BOYS there were many classes that taught them JOB SKILLS & HOW TO DRIVE, they told us “girlees” that our husbands could teach us how to drive, IF they felt like it. Back in those days, women didn’t drive, they had to depend upon their HUSBANDS to take them shopping or visiting.
Thanks to my lack of education, the only jobs I could get were crappy, poverty wage jobs only immigrants & “N’s” would do, WRONG. You have to do what ever you can get.
Sorry about your stroke, that SUCKS big time, at least your back up on your board, I could have never done that, too poor, no snow & I’m too dam FAT!
I started putting on FAT with puberty when that DAM bloody filth started & those worthless blobs of fat started growing on my chest & my ass got BIG, YUCK!
Now I’m stuck at home, I still garden, put in a bunch of garlic & several verities of potatoes. I too have no TV, haven’t had one for years, too much CRAP & PROPAGANDA, the media LIES to us all the time with “renewables” just one of many lies we were told.
Get in all the living you can Seal, our time is short & it’s all downhill from now on.
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A fascinating episode with the fascinating Paul Ehrlich.
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Paul-Ehrlich–Unfiltered—Special-Earth-Day-Episode.html?soid=1114995572373&aid=V8CSyGMlsSg
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Incredibly human centric article about the insect apocalypse
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-triggering-global-collapse-in-insect-numbers-stressed-farmland-shows-63-decline-new-research-170738?fbclid=IwAR08SQKxLhaO5hfmOLg4lTYRiIlwsT0Tx-egqe4XBKnBV1TcYwGtD73w7og
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To not see hardly any insects, bugs, butterflies & bees is terrifying! As you know their what supports virtually every other living thing including us!
Two insects are very abundant this year are MOSQUITOES & ANTS!
I’m being drilled to death from head to toe, I’m sitting in front of my ‘puter with a sheet wound around my legs in an effort to protect them.
I sure hope the bug zapper I ordered from Amazon will work as claimed, many other purchasers were very happy with this unit, it really attracted the insects & zapped them.
Unfortunately because they used them outside, most of the insects they were killing were harmless moths, beetles & flies & a lot of mosquitoes.
I’m only going to use mine inside, leave the outside insects for the birds, frogs, bats & fishes.
It is so short sighted to see the world only as it affects us humans, other living things have no value to capitalist. They just refuse to accept that growth will end, continue to push growth will only produce a harder, more devastating collapse.
Every year we add 80 million more hungry humans, crop yealds will be declining this season, shortages of fertilizers. Climate disruption is also not good news for crop yealds.
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Lynsey Howell
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“They had already seen a drastic reduction prior to then , surveys in both Germany and France had concluded in a study lasting 27 years that a loss of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study. We show that this decline is apparent regardless of habitat type. So it is safe to assume similar losses in the UK, given this the 60% recorded since 2004 is a percentage of an already decimated figure, I liken all species across the board to bricks in a wall, the incredible loss of insect biomass is like removing the foundation stones of the wall, to do that causes the whole wall to fall down.”
“Flying insect numbers have plunged by 60% since 2004, GB survey finds
Scientists behind survey of car number plates said drop was ‘terrifying’, as life on Earth depends on insects”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/05/flying-insect-numbers-have-plunged-by-60-since-2004-gb-survey-finds?fbclid=IwAR1qAyiDMC8-aCJWpHLfRPc3udQmzpV6a4e82WQTBPmIfw0zgCmGVAvlk_8
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This was posted on commondreams a couple of days ago. Sure fits in what I’m seeing around here I’m sorry to say.
Makes one wonder what the real numbers are don’t you think? I mean, since baseline with climate seems to rarely be set at 1750 when the ‘industrial age’ started, why would anyone use 2004 as a baseline to count loss of insects when it has obviously been going on for…decades longer at least? Hell, re-read Carson’s Silent Spring from 1962 and, projecting the timeline from that to now, the numbers are probably far worse.
I posted that article about the loss of 3 billion birds in the US since 1970 somewhere on this site, yes? How many of those deaths are linked to their food supply disappearing I wonder? And that is still more recent that Silent Spring!
And this article below means more habitat will be disappearing. And more insects will go with the forests of course. Our dear leaders just continue to compound the losses because…that’s what their corporate owners want. All I can do is shake my head.
More Business as Usual: Biden’s Old-Growth Forest Plan
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/05/06/more-business-as-usual-bidens-old-growth-forest-plan/
Pouring rain again today. Last year it was 85’F on this date but DNR is already sending out warnings to get ready for heat and fires. Huge proscribed burn about 3 miles s/e of me a few days ago, burned off the entire ridgeline at the top of Springdale hill where the Ford-Corkscrew fire missed last summer. And some lightning strikes yesterday evening, too, before the rain started up again. Four days ago it was 78F/27C and the last three days fairly consistent rain with some very heavy downpours at times.
sealintheSelkirks
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It is indeed, HORRIFYING!!! Insects are CRITICAL to life on earth, when people mention the services of insects, they forget to mention that not only humans depend upon them, so do birds, lizards, flowering plants & INSECTS are critical for the survival of freshwater fishes!
Soon we will also miss the trout, salmon, bass, carp, minnows, salamanders, etc etc etc, without freshwater fishes, lakes, streams & rivers will die, other animals that also depend upon those fishes will go extinct as are our swallows, swifts, nightjars, bats, etc, all animals that depend in one way or another on insects will go extinct & that includes humans.
The house sparrows are frustrated that their nest boxes are either gone or blocked up.
I installed them to provide nesting boxes for swallows, NOT alien, agressive HOUSE SPARROWS & STARLINGS!
I will always miss “my” swallows, they were so beautiful!
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Agree, Sheila, and those of us that don’t live in towns or cities are noticing the loss of insects and birds far more I think. Those folks just are more disconnected from the world around us by being encased by concrete and asphalt. No matter how many trees they plant or parks they build, it isn’t nature.
There are so few flying bugs around that it’s spooky, and I’m still blaming the massive heat of last summer for that. Even the suet feeders are not overwhelmed at this point though I did put the last squares I had in them a few days ago. But it’s taken months longer to go through a ten pack.
When woodpeckers show up instead of seed eaters to hang off them pecking, you know something is wrong as this is not their normal food supply.
The robins that arrived so early this year have all disappeared presumably because there just aren’t enough worms and ground bugs to eat. Nothing is showing even with the rain that used to force the worms to the surface. Hopefully they went down to the valley and found food but it means this property is becoming barren. No earthworms? Not good, not good at all.
I’ve seen a few bats but…there aren’t many bugs at night either since the windows aren’t attracting them in the hordes I have gotten used to when I first moved to these mountains. I’d have to turn on the ‘yard lights’ to go out at night to draw them away from the front door and, so far, I’m not having to do that.
And people continue to ignore what is going on all around them. Can you imagine what is going to happen when they finally realize what is happening and can no longer hide from facts that are in their faces? It’s going to be an absolute panic. And they will search for scapegoats. With the complete ownership of information by they corporate-owned MSM, I’m sure they’ll be directed at all the wrong people. It’s the eco-freak libbrls that did this to us they will cry as mobs of starving suburbanites rampage around looking for food.
For some reason I’m feeling particularly grim today. Had a couple of really shitty dreams I woke up to and still am remembering instead of them drifting away like mist when you awake.
But then there is the ‘funded studies’ that not only ignore most humans (non-white, non-wealthy, non-Western) when it comes to environment but forget that we only share this planet with millions of other species…that WE NEED to stay alive on the planet because…they aren’t worthy or are ‘expendable’ since only humans (some humans!) are worth counting. The blindness inherent in our societies is astounding:
Warming Trends: Nature and Health Studies Focused on the Privileged, $1B for Climate School and Old Tires Detour Into Concrete
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07052022/warming-trends-nature-privileged-climate-school-tires-concretes/
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Raining again today, had a few thunderclaps an hour ago. Water from the sky 4 of the last 5 days…
sealintheSelkirks
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Popped up today:
‘Our House Is Truly on Fire’: Earth Now Has 50% Chance of Hitting 1.5°C of Warming by 2026
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/05/10/our-house-truly-fire-earth-now-has-50-chance-hitting-15degc-warming-2026
Excuse me? I guess the World Meteorolgical Organization did not catch the conversation between Guy and Bhaskar that you put up, eh? Hopium is deep…
sealintheSelkirks
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People who live in “shitties” are cut off from nature, they are totally surrounded by cement, steel & tarmac, their scared of anything not a human or a “pet” & want to kill it!
Most of the birds are gone now, they flew north to breed, I’ve seen a few more hummingbirds & a flock of band tails is eating out my food trays.
Woodpeckers are not seed eaters, bugs only so if their trying to eat seed, their starving! I’ve only seen/heard a few robins this year, no swallows of course, no insects on my flowers.
I used to see beetles, flies, bees & butterflies on my flowers, now nothing!
I was getting eaten up by skeeters, I had wheals from head to toe so I finally had to get a “bug” zapper.
Yesterday I had two bites on my thighs but this morning, no bites on my face or anyplace else!
I won’t use the bug zapper outside as I do not want to kill harmless things like moths, most flies or beetles, leave those for the bats & birds what few their might still be left.
Yeah when things really get nasty, the environmentalist will be blaimed for not allowing the oil co. to drill from coast to coast, north to south for more oil, Bidens already been over to Saudi Arabia asking them to “produce” more oil, I guess he doesn’t know that no one can “produce” a raw material!
Those city folks have no idea how to survive without electricity & oil, I bet they would even try to eat POISON OAK!
I would point out the POISON HEMLOCK to them, doesn’t that look TASTY? How about that pretty all white mushroom? add that to the pot! Heh heh heh!
Our rulers are so dam STUPID their back to forcing WOMEN NOT “PEOPLE” into having children they do not want or afford!
The media has started to totally write out GIRLS/WOMEN from the reproductive process, now it’s “people” getting pregnant, it’s “people” who want abortions & it’s “people” they want to prevent getting birth control!
So soon we have forgotten what happened when we did that in the past, dead women from botched illegal abortions, dead unwanted infants in trash bins.Those greedy morons actually believe that GROWTH will solve our problems & GROWTH is PROFITABLE FOR THEM!
Our house is indeed ON FIRE & those MORONS that rule us are still pushing for MORE DAM GROWTH!
A little news is leaking out about EV’s, it takes HOURS to recharge their battery & it takes many thousands of dollars to replace them when they can no longer hold enough charge but they still haven’t figured out where the ELECTRICITY needed to charge them comes from & just WHERE will all that juice come from as OIL, COAL & NATURAL GAS fade away & climb in price?
It won’t be coming from “renewables”!
The car companies are churning out EV’s but WHO but a few rich people can afford to buy them & again, WHERE will the needed ELECTRICITY come from?
Some European countries are sweating nails at the thought of not having Russian gas, much of their grain comes from the Ukraine, other countries that must import their food are seeing prices soar leaving the hungry poor even poorer & hungrier.
What will our rulers do when MILLIONS of poor, needy, unskilled people start flooding the borders & demanding we let them in? Those ignorant religious bleeding hearts want us to open the borders & let them ALL IN! Are they THAT CRAZY?
yes!
How can we feed, provide health care, house, water & find jobs for millions more when we can’t even house, water, provide health care, feed & find employment for those already here?
I see no reason to hope for a better future, all I see are masses of desperate, starving people fighting for survival while the rich hide in their luxury bunkers.
They will get EATEN later!
We also still have intelligent but poorly educated people who believe we can terriform Mars & from there spread out onto the UNIVERSE!
But that will be impossible, we have neither the raw materials, energy or time to even make it to Mars & get a little, doomed colony there as for spreading out beyond our solar system, that too is impossible, it would take GENERATIONS of travel to reach even the nearest star & it’s a DEAD STAR, no way could there be a survivable planet there.
We do not have the means, the knowledge or the energy to survive on a space ship for generations, we can’t even survive here without destroying it.
Gotta tell the sheeple lies & feed them tons of “hopium” while the rich scarf up what’s left before collapse becomes too obvious.
Could it be possible for our rulers to be working to develop a virus that will wipe out “useless eaters” while sparing them?
Nope, we are ALL ONE SPECIES, the poor are just like them except for the $$$$$.
Composed on notepad so the system can’t delete it before I can even post it.
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I love these anecdotal observations Shelia, thanks for taking the time to record them.
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I pulled down last year’s robin’s nest from the crossbeam under the front porch roof this afternoon.
How hot was it last June? Mama robin PECKED HOLES IN THE EGGS!
No, I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen that happen before. She literally poked holes in them as her babies cooked. I took a picture.Those are peck holes! And yes,there are corpses inside so it wasn’t something trying to eat them.
But the few robins that showed up in March are all gone as I haven’t seen a single one in weeks…so all the robins that have multiple generations of nesting here, 3-4 eggs per nest every year for 18 years, dozens of birds, are no longer doing that I guess. Definitely too many died last summer.
I’ve got a children’s (Pre-K age) book written and I took the 13 seriously bitchen pictures from the first four blue eggs, to the first one coming out, to the wide-open mouths pointing up at the camera, growing feathers, too big for the nest. Then I missed them leaving! A week later there were 3 more eggs and I was more diligent and have the pic of the first one standing on the edge leaning forward just before its first flight. And I ran out of the woodshed and caught it landing on the woodpile with a parent standing nearby in the frame. I can’t afford to publish it, I’m still paying off the cost of Massacre Sites, but the pictures tell the story incredibly well. I started this book maybe ten years ago.
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I knew that about woodpeckers. These are little black & white ones and the larger Flickers who were hitting them last Fall and now this Spring. I guess the migrate in Winter? Yeah, they’re starving. No bees yet, either, and the apple tree is nearing flowering time. Freezing overnight the last couple of days isn’t too good for it but today was a sunshine day and probably low 60s.
Yep, Signs of collapse are all around us unless you live on concrete. Not much changes on concrete so you don’t have to notice. Most people really don’t notice I guess. How can one not miss birdsongs from multiple species every day unless you don’t live where there are anything but pigeons?
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Sheila, I’ve always read science fiction books for fun reading to give my brain a break from the more intense level books and articles. I also understand the level of technology our species is at and it sure isn’t flying large groups of slaves to work the new planet we can’t reach anyway. I don’t want any of what Musk is smoking! Just because you’re a billionaire doesn’t mean you are actually intelligent. Look at Trump for example, eh? HA!
sealintheSelkirks
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“Pitchfork”? Your being entirely too kind!
I have something worse in store for that greedy, POS!
Start off with a green cow hide, sew him up inside it,
leave him in the sun by a fire ant hill, smear him with
honey & let the “fun” begin!
If he’s still alive when the hide has shrunk, cut him
free of it, give him a lot of water & beer to ingest,
give him a short rest then the tie his manhood up tight
so he can’t pee, stake him to the ground & watch his
bladder swell until it bursts.
Tell him to pray to what ever “god” he chooses & watch &
suffer as his “god” as usual does NOTHING!
Want more ideas on how to deal with POS, just read what
the church & state did to infidels & Jews during the
“holy” inquisition!
Humans are NASTY!
We have a ‘new’ disease to worry about now, “monkey
pox,” looks like small pox but doesn’t usually kill you but you still get those nasty pustules.
Here is some info on monkey pox from OZ ,
https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/monkeypox
Up here in the north where it’s spring, I’m still
missing woodpeckers, swallows, swifts & kingfishers,
beetles, flies, spiders, dragonflies & ‘bugs’ are also
conspicuous by their absence.
On our few warm days, there were NO INSECTS on my
flowers!
I’ve been busy scything the back, the front, the side
yards, the grass is growing faster than the weeds!
Those alien house sparrows are unhappy since I kept them
from using my nest boxes, if I can’t have swallows, I
don’t want alien sparrows breeding here either.
Looks like McKay’s market will soon open up, they had a
job fair on May 10, we really NEED another food shop
here & not just dollar general which just has cheap junk
food or Grocery outlet which carries mostly rejects or
over stock from other markets.
Fuel prices for regular gasoline has hit $5. a gallon,
that would be about $19. a liter!
I wonder how those guys with the huge 4X4 pickup trucks
feel about filling up that fuel hog now?
8th attempt to post this.
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A fantastic new interview from the great man;
https://www.growthbusters.org/ehrlich-limits-to-growth/?fbclid=IwAR1M1mU9PeF8PmWT2kQ0XL62aQcVoEF4mBLyf6yYMftkKcFWUIb9stBP_Co
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“We assessed evidence of collapse in 19 ecosystems (both terrestrial and marine) along a 58° latitudinal gradient for which major signals of change have been reported.”
A better title would have been “We aren’t Combatting Ecosystem Collapse from the Tropics to the Antarctic”
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15539?fbclid=IwAR2-xeZIMNumfSQP4wLk43xn49ZyGKQIVU4UsgyRpkC9k7bwX9zkDiU0cyk#.YqkEYyhgBuk.facebook
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The annihilation of nature
Here’s What It’s Like Living in One of the World’s Hottest Cities
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88q4pg/jacobabad-climate-change-heat-wave-extreme-weather
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This isn’t startling:
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/
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Species Extinction
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/16/species-extinction-choice-groups-urge-strong-global-pact-save-life-earth
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sealintheSelkirks
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“April 29, 2022 ‘Apocalypse Papers’: Scientists Call for Paradigm Shift as Biodiversity Loss Worsens”
https://insideclimatenews.org/todaysclimate/apocalypse-papers-scientists-call-for-paradigm-shift-as-biodiversity-loss-worsens/
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“It’s impossible to deny — humans are destroying the natural environment at an unprecedented and alarming rate. According to a new report out Tuesday, animal populations have declined by such a staggering amount, that only an overhaul of the world’s economic systems could possibly reverse the damage.”
“Nearly 21,000 monitored populations of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians, encompassing almost 4,400 species around the world, have declined an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2020. Species in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as global freshwater habitats, were disproportionately impacted, declining, on average, 94% and 84%, respectively.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/endangered-species-animal-population-decline-world-wildlife-fund-new-report/?fbclid=IwAR2_73TCu60iO-f3Io8QqCTyU9HNPu-wXALstxifB8filmCQO1DlOg0PaK0#l73hs788lp0f7jy0idk
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It Is A Good Time To Appreciate The Insects
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/it-is-a-good-time-to-appreciate-the?fbclid=IwAR0i76Pj_UW34lfGJOXOC0_TFoqphTFEUQVrjJ-xvBb2iJ2x8nUhefJoovs
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“Wait, why are there so few dead bugs on my windshield these days?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/21/dead-bugs-on-windshields/?fbclid=IwAR1MowVToJ24VAy2B67BsMFjLjn7U19doX1sFGafDsCgyhHotWMwVY8WaBg
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Hi Kevin, since I can't seem to say more than a few words on wordpress, I'll comment briefly here.
This year I have seen a few MORE insects than last year, I saw a pretty wasp a few days ago, more flies, isopods & more spiders, they're small & dark but that's more than I saw last season.
Still no swallows, I haven't seen any Oregon junco's so far this year & there are fewer migrants than last year.
I hope the farmer across the road from me never grows another crop of easter lilies, the poisons he uses kills too many insects & I wish Biden would BAN those nicotine based pesticides like Europe has.
It's been very dry here, less than 1" of rain this season so far, California is even worse off & it's our major fruit, nut & veggie grower.
Today was another sunny but DRY day, it's suppose to rain by Sunday.
The NE of the US is worried about this winter, the US has allowed gas extracting companies to take our natural gas, compress it & ship it off to Europe leaving us short of gas for winter heating & cooking, PROFITS are more important than freezing, hungry 'mericans!
We have TRILLIONS OF $$$$ to give to Ukraine for fighting off the Russian invasion while letting 'mericans die in our streets from exposure & lack of health care, too many also die from drug overdoes. Health "care" in this country is CRIMINAL, too many people suffer & even DIE because they can't afford our PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance scam!
Now with so many "conservative" states again banning abortions, ALL abortions, I'm wondering how many MORE FEMALES will have to DIE this time to make abortions legal again?
Even little 10 & 12 YO FEMALE CHILDREN are being FORCED to keep the embryo of their RAPIST!
This is INSAINE & deadly, little girls cannot give birth to an infant without risking her life, her pelvis is still too small to allow the passage of an infant. Those little girls are still trying to grow, they cannot grow an infant too.
Their parents had to drive hundreds of miles to get their little girl to get REAL MEDICAL CARE.
How many little girls will have to DIE because of these crazy abortion bans because their parents cannot afford to drive hundreds of miles to get health CARE for their little PREGNANT girl?
I wish I could LEAVE this CRUEL COUNTRY!
Sheila in Harbor Oregon, USA.
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 5:40 PM
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Via the incredible Sam Carana
‘Insects need our help in a warming world, now’
70 scientists’ warning on climate change effects https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/970420
Entomologists Issue Warning About Effects of Climate Change on Insects
UMD entomologist Anahí Espíndola says insects are under threat, but there is still time to change course https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/4999
Scientists’ warning on climate change and insects – by Jeffrey Harvey et al. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/ecm.1553
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Comparing to what I’ve seen since I moved into these northern mountains in 2004, I would have to say the insect population has dropped 75%. Especially after last year’s heat insanity. They did NOT come back this Spring (enormous amounts of rainy days), then summer just turned on in mid-July to overly hot again (112’F/44-46C) and they still didn’t show up.
Bird populations just crashed last year and this year those numbers were extremely lowered also. When you have woodpeckers and Magpies eating from suet feeders running the few smaller bird species off you know life ain’t good for much of anything. Like Sheila to the south of me, even the migrants weren’t showing up.
And there is nothing I can do about any of it. Watching the world wind down into human-caused disaster. Is this another form of entropy? I guess.
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Sheila: good to read your words seeing that you are still around.
Yes I’m having trouble with wordpress, too. With some threads on here my writing pops immediately up, some posts wait a day or two and then come up, and some never show up at all and disappear into the internet dead zone. I have no idea why. I try to remember to copy and paste into the document file so I don’t lose the words and links but am not all that consistent. Frustrating I’ll agree!!
Spiders I still have, fewer yellow jackets this year along with bald-faced hornets. None of the Asian monster hornet bee-killers have made it to this side of the state yet. Even with all the rain and lower temps into mid-summer didn’t bring the usual mass ‘skeeters out to feast on my blood which is also unusual. It was a somewhat barren summer in this neck of the woods to be honest. And far quieter due to the lack of birdsong. That gives me the creepy-crawlies.
Saw the biggest skunk I’ve ever seen around here yesterday wandering across the property. The first snowfall last week dropped about 3-4″ of extremely heavy wet on everything. Then started raining that afternoon so my apple tree, which was still completely loaded with leaves and over 200 apples, ended up looking like a giant had stepped on the top of it. Didn’t lose any branches or major limbs for some reason, but the entire thing bent! The next day went to 47’F and not a speck of snow left on by sunset. The deer hit the tree that night and just stripped it of every apple and leaf they could get. They’ve still been showing up but the apples left are too high for them to get. I’ve had a few, they’re delicious.
My neighbors to the north’s 50 yr old orchard had the same thing happen but they lost major limbs on a few of theirs. But they’d already picked it clean for preserves. I have no idea how to do that and can’t afford all the jars etc anyway, so mostly I munch on my one old lady tree’s apples until they freeze too much to be edible. At least to me! I leave them for the other critters. Gophers chewed through every other fruit tree I’ve planted here but this tree has been here for decades. More apples this year than anytime in the last ten I’ll bet. It really rained here this year which I think helped.
It snowed/sprinkled three times since and I have an icy crusty snowpack of about 4 inches covering the property. Still have snow on conifers in the shaded area. 8’F the last few clear nights, and the full moon was flat gorgeous last Tuesday as it rose over the ridgeline behind me.
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As for heating our homes, yep, it’s all about profit for the extremely wealthy. And destroy the drinking water under our feet by permanently poisoning the aquifers so it can be sold overseas seems rather counterproductive but there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about either. Nor the insanity of the Fascist GOP or corporate Fascist DEMS fighting for control of us all as both are captive of the wealthy corporations and the psychopathic billionaires. Big sigh.
I have 5% left in my house furnace propane tank and not much money so I’m not using it hardly at all except to heat for 15 minutes to cut the extreme chill before the woodstove gets going in the mornings. It does help. Exhaling smoke in the house without firing up a bowl is rather hard to deal with some days…
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This little link about just how far down the rabbit hole we’ve gone in this country…on purpose. By those that own everything and effectively rule our lives. Ruin our lives. People don’t like to admit just how ignorant and/or stupid USA citizens actually are. But then stupid is endemic to our species I think…
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Kevin: No recent article link to anything about bugs. I do think Espindola is rather optimistic but that’s just my opinion.
sealintheSelkirks
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DANG IT! The link didn’t post or did I forget to paste it?
Made Stupid
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/27/2125554/-Made-Stupid
Please excuse my forgetfulness!
sealintheSelkirks
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Paul’s latest interview on 60 minutes
https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/cG7qoNYftu4y86WcjDdvebTKV2xcNPUz/
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Naturally The Guardian had to find a solution when in reality there isn’t one when we’re so far over the cliff, but they have advertising revenue to ‘earn’!
We will never get the truth from the corporate media; it would be bad for share prices.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/09/global-pollinator-losses-causing-500000-early-deaths-a-year-study?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR3BL9hWwe5uwUhpPCjMCEib3iujPDTQu5l8kRjnWcFnPUyvLufh8nNXmcM
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Cars kill trillions of bugs in Australia every year
A Dutch biologist has calculated that cars kill 133 billion insects every month in the Netherlands.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/cars-kill-trillions-of-bugs-in-australia-every-year/
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Moving vehicles at night across the US? It’s got to be in the trillions.Then there is the collapsing climate…
I haven’t lived around streetlights since I moved here. But I lived without streetlights on top of Palomar Mt. in the mid-80s across from the Observatory for a couple of years. Then in the middle of Cache Valley on a farm road connecting two towns after that while at university. No streetlights.
But the last two decades up here have spoiled me to living in the dark at night. It’s my west side windows that tells me how the insect life is doing because being so dark they all congregate on the glass (and the bats know they are there!). Insect numbers have NOT come back since 2021’s blistering temperatures.
I would say no more than maybe 40% and that percentage cut down even further once the 112’F layered these mountains last summer. Even more just suddenly disappeared as did many bird species. Very few nests of any that I saw except hummingbirds.
This forest isn’t going to survive summers like these. Not the trees or the insect life. Especially since the heat starts earlier and stretches into what we used to call Fall. When I moved here the last frost was sometime in June and the first one was usually around the first week of September. Hasn’t done that in years.
Bugs can’t take this. Mating season all screwed up because it’s dependent on the weather, too.
The living planet is losing parts of itself and it’s accelerated so quickly towards collapse… And El Nino is coming back this year. I read this a couple of days ago. It fits here:
How does a billion years of Earth’s history go missing?
https://nautil.us/the-great-forgetting-253223
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sealintheSelkirks
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Magnificent piece, many thx Seal
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As human activities rapidly transform the planet, the global insect population is declining at an unprecedented rate of up to 2% per year.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-ENVIRONMENT/INSECT-APOCALYPSE/egpbykdxjvq/?fbclid=IwAR293u_whKNmRW-lwHIjRm3W_e19-oL0Paho-eO_hU-wB2XFRg8_MkOIi68
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Another wonderful discussion with the indefatigable Professor Paul Ehrlich.
Paul offered to take me out for a meal in Sydney last year, but the trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. He jokes about it at the 55-minute mark and said we might be able to meet up for a meal in October. Something to look forward too.
I’m still waiting for my copy of Paul’s autobiography, Life: A Journey Through Science and Politics, hopefully Guy McPherson and I will interview Paul again about the book, nuclear war and climate break down willing! 🙂
The last time the three of us spoke Paul said, “It’s good to be back with friends”.
In reply, I joked that he and Guy are the two most abused scientists on the planet and they both cracked up. It’s incredible the abuse these two scientific heroes suffer through. I get a fraction of the push back they receive and it’s wearying!
Both of those seasoned scientists have brilliant a sense of humour and Paul mentions it’s an important release, studying what we study! That in itself is important tuition.
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“Mutilation of the tree of life via mass extinction of animal genera”
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2306987120
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Study finds human-driven mass extinction is eliminating entire branches of the tree of life
A new analysis of mass extinction at the genus level, from researchers at Stanford and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, finds a “mutilation of the tree of life” with massive potential harms to human society.
https://news.stanford.edu/2023/09/18/human-driven-mass-extinction-eliminating-entire-genera/?fbclid=IwAR3PxdNDhYZFdvIw3etSsvouKdqCG_ia2Cfd1BjkeyvsAgI4edNrFSj0kPg
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Then there is this:
https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-plastic-created-one-of-the-most-598?publication_id=302288&post_id=136504780&isFreemail=true
As micro & nano-particles are getting into blood and brains of the critters that eat it…this is NOT going to turn out well, is it?
sealintheSelkirks
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