Hey, guys. Remember when I said I might update this blog if something came up in my Environmental Sustainability course? This is one of those updates. It feels like a rather important one:
I am so glad I started this blog when I did. It was started in 2010, the Year of Biodiversity! Just because that year is over does not mean we can stop caring, though. We still have a lot of work to do.
The video isn't lying, guys. I will not go wolfaboo on you all and say "OMG ALL HOOMINS ARE EVUL," but I will say, "damn, we screwed up." We have been screwing up since we first learned to make fire. Humans have been burning things since the dawn of time; it has little to do with modern technology, going green, or any other such thing. (Modern technology and affluence do affect impact, but the flipside of that coin can be just as bad, if not worse.) The loss of biodiversity is a very real problem.
Other comments:
- I wonder how many people knew about the river dolphin and the hummingbird moth pictured in the video? My teacher actually asked if anyone knew what the hummingbird moth was; I was apparently one of the few who knew. Dare I show him this blog?
- A few species, such as the Tasmanian Tiger, have already suffered the fate of being alive only on video. Several other predatory mammal species, particularly tigers and polar bears, are probably going to go extinct within a few years. We should think about herbivores, too; it was really a shame to lose the aurochs. Cows don't do them justice. Mouth-brooding frogs were adorable. (There were also numerous insect, bird, and reptile species that were also our bad. We just have a horrible track record with other mammals in particular.) Watch the news; species are dropping like flies.
- I love how they picked only the creepy invasive species. Sparrows (in America), rabbits (in Australia) and dingoes were originally invasive, too. Can't forget feral cats and dogs, either! Oh, and humans are technically invasive species in a lot of areas.
Thoughts? Good ones might get forwarded to my ecologist teacher, so please be awesome. :)
I am so glad I started this blog when I did. It was started in 2010, the Year of Biodiversity! Just because that year is over does not mean we can stop caring, though. We still have a lot of work to do.
The video isn't lying, guys. I will not go wolfaboo on you all and say "OMG ALL HOOMINS ARE EVUL," but I will say, "damn, we screwed up." We have been screwing up since we first learned to make fire. Humans have been burning things since the dawn of time; it has little to do with modern technology, going green, or any other such thing. (Modern technology and affluence do affect impact, but the flipside of that coin can be just as bad, if not worse.) The loss of biodiversity is a very real problem.
Other comments:
- I wonder how many people knew about the river dolphin and the hummingbird moth pictured in the video? My teacher actually asked if anyone knew what the hummingbird moth was; I was apparently one of the few who knew. Dare I show him this blog?
- A few species, such as the Tasmanian Tiger, have already suffered the fate of being alive only on video. Several other predatory mammal species, particularly tigers and polar bears, are probably going to go extinct within a few years. We should think about herbivores, too; it was really a shame to lose the aurochs. Cows don't do them justice. Mouth-brooding frogs were adorable. (There were also numerous insect, bird, and reptile species that were also our bad. We just have a horrible track record with other mammals in particular.) Watch the news; species are dropping like flies.
- I love how they picked only the creepy invasive species. Sparrows (in America), rabbits (in Australia) and dingoes were originally invasive, too. Can't forget feral cats and dogs, either! Oh, and humans are technically invasive species in a lot of areas.
Thoughts? Good ones might get forwarded to my ecologist teacher, so please be awesome. :)
I believe the best idea is an old one. Get involved. In my younger days I volunteered with the Nature Conservancy. (I like them because they're hands-on. And I got to go canoeing in the cypress swamps of southern Illinois.) I can't go out and hack down buck thorn anymore. But I can still be involved. Thanks for making me think.
ReplyDeleteNo problem! That's what this blog is for. :)
ReplyDelete