65 thoughts on “i think the planet is trying to tell us something . . .”

1. I’m not yet convinced that global warming is caused by human presence and not just a natural cycle in Earth’s warming/cooling. I think it’s ignorant and egotistical to assume that we know everything there is to know about Earth and that we’re the sole cause of this.
   But regardless of whether or not it’s our fault (or if we’re speeding things along), there’s no reason NOT to lessen our impact. I purposefully got a job that is 3 miles from my house – I now ride my bike to work. I take public transportation whenever possible (though that’s not often, since Cleveland’s transportation sucks and is unreliable). I take reusable bags to the store with me. I shop as often as possible at the local open-air market.
   What are YOU doing Wil? How important are conventions to you? Do you really need to go to all those? How much fuel are you wasting? “Oh, but he has to make a living!!1!” Yes, but I found a way to make a living that doesn’t impact the environment – why don’t you?
   Please don’t preach at us until you’re doing your part.
   The “go green!” movement is acting just like the religion it is – people believe whatever they want to regardless of any facts that crop up. And you don’t have to actually do anything as long as you’re giving lip service. The whole thing disgusts me.

2. Also, to those stating that this is an overpopulation problem and we’re all going to die unless we stop having kids:
   If you want to do things the “natural” way, get rid of all our modern medical cures and let people die when they should naturally. This will clear the way for the next generation of people and we won’t have an overpopulation problem. You want me to give up having kids? You first give up your parents and grandparents.
   Do you see how much that’s asking? I will give up a lot to lessen my impact on the Earth, but I won’t give up my relationships and I won’t give up my ability to have kids.

3. We’ll know the end is near when we see Wall-e units trundling around cheerfully stuffing garbage inside their bellies to compact into neat cubes.

4. Where have you gone, Wesley Crusher, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you…woo woo woo…
   He’d figure a way out of this mess.

5. I heard that dire news aswell. I can only hope that they are wrong, because there is little that can be done in that amount of time…. quick everybody open the frig turn on the A/C and open all your doors and windows we’ll cool the planet.
   As far as the european honey bees, I read were a mite is lessening numbers and a pathogen from the middle east was discovered to be affecting them aswell, I haven’t noticed a major reduction in their numbers around here,…so far. In fact they swarmed the oriole feeder and drank it dry in less than 19 mins the last time I filled it. I am concerned, since I have crops such as almonds which are 100% pollenated by bees, but not drastically since my shift to helping native american bees thrive, there are over 2000 species of them, not to mention beneficial flies & wasps, and butterflies that also pollenate plants. I’ve helped their numbers by allowing the native flowers to grow where there was once lawn grass. I could write a whole book rather than a comment on the evolutionary relationship of plants to insects and how it helps upper fauna survive such as, um…Us.
   On more positive news, so nobody jumps off the top of a giant redwood, while the ash tree is being annihilated by emerald ash borers and a mystery whiting disease the American Chestnut tree may be ready to return its majestic size and beauty to our eastern forests blight free in 2010 after being almost entirely wiped out by the introduction of chinese chestnut blight…oh, the bears will be happy, and the American Elm is showing increasing resistence to Dutch Elms Disease.
   Plasma Gasification is a promising future for waste- meaning zero landfill I’m not an expert on the process but essentially it involves incinerating everything into gas and the gases are separated for capture and reuse. From what I’ve heard the process is self sustaining and emits no waste once started.
   I have an area of pristine forest (unaltered by man) behind my house, as a child I grew up playing there and seeing the beautiful creatures and the unexpected on a daily basis, it’s probably what gave me my love of the natural world, it made life intriguing. If more people could grow up in such places I think they would be more inclined to preserve them as they are.

6. http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/09/050251&from=rss
   The Earth is more resilient than people think.
   Does that mean we should trash it? No. But it does mean actions within reason.

7. Lets embrace one-parameter decision making.

8. Bees are well and fine at my house. A swarm has moved into the walls and I can’t get anyone to remove them. I was told I may have about 100 lbs of honey in the wall. You would think that a bee keeper would want some healthy bees! But what do I know?
   Anyways Enjoy this video of be getting pwaned by the bees…
   

9. I meant “This video of ME getting pwaned.”
   Sorry I have “be” on the mind.

10. In the paper this morning was the article that “scientist now concede that 20-40% of all known species could go extinct…mountain goats that live in high mountains will lose their habitat and are likely to go extinct…the warmer weather already may be affecting diseases, which could be moving north into new habitat now warm enough to let them thrive. A parasitic brain worm is killing moose in Minnesota. West Nile virus, carried by mosquitoes has moved west and north to threaten sage grouse and kill people.”
    interestingly, the article talked about how people must start looking at the big picture. For example, removing dams to enable salmon to thrive typically means replacing the dams power with sources more damaging to the environment.

11. for what its worth… I am new to bee keeping but I’ve been watching for a while. CCD “Colony Colapse Disorder” seems to be connected to a myraid of issues. One thing to keep in mind is that bees are treated much like tools by the commercial bee farmers. These guys truck bees up, down, across our country with the little winged migrant worker bees. It’s a great system, don’t get me wrong. It’s just like anything else and there are sometimes lazy people doing it. Based on what I saw last summer, its no wonder the colonies are week. I watch as a whole truck load was left in a field and taken as needed. Hundreds of hives, stacked out in the hot sun. Bees can keep a hive cool but don’t stand a chance when they are packed on a pallet with dozens of hives on top and next to. They also were left in an area for weeks that couldn’t possibly support that many bees. Just not enough plant life. Worst of all, the “farmers” would take a pallet or two in teh middle of a sunny day, a time when half the workforce was out seeking food. Just like anything else, make a workforce weak and you’ll make it more likely to get diseased. Geez, pack a sick colony in with 400 other sick colonies and what do you suppose will happen?

12. Bee mystery solved: they are just going back to their home planet because they know the Daleks are coming. So it’s ok.

13. As for the ice thing, it’s probably worth noting that the southern hemisphere has gained more ice than the northern has lost. On net, the planet is a bit *over* the 30-year average in ice cover. See charts here at climateaudit.

14. “Could we maybe work together as a species to stop shit like this from happening?”
    We’d have to stop killing each other first.
    Sad but true.

15. Wil,
    did you see this interview with Arthur C. Clark? Pretty good stuff.
    http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw19051.html

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