The Sixth Mass Extinction has begun...

[OoohShiny]

I'm no hippy-dippy tree hugger but stories like this really do concern me:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ng-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

I mean...:

One of the biggest impacts of insect loss is on the many birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish that eat insects. “If this food source is taken away, all these animals starve to death,” he said. Such cascading effects have already been seen in Puerto Rico, where a recent study revealed a 98% fall in ground insects over 35 years.

... is completely ridiculous - why is big business not actively changing farming habits to enable more organic growing of crops?

Or is it only about the bottom line and money in shareholders' pockets NOW, and **** what happens in 5, 10, 20 years' time?

We as consumers can buy organic wherever possible but there still seems to be vast numbers of people who just don't give a crap about where their food comes from and don't even think about their impact in terms of food production, nevermind microbial resistance from excessive and unnecessary use of biocides, wasting energy through unthinking behaviours like leaving lights on in empty rooms, lapping up products containing nanotechnology despite no research being done on direct bioaccumulation and foodchain pollution...

Sometimes I really do wonder if a worldwide wipeout of the majority of the human population wouldn't actually be a bad thing.

[/rant]

(Perhaps I really am a tree-hugger??)

 

[monarch64]

Look, DF will just waltz in here and tell you there is no such thing as climate change and you can’t control Mother Nature, so...yeah. People are still convinced that carbon footprints are a myth or things to behold when viewing science fiction films.

 

[monarch64]

Also it is my firm belief that we are just here to feed the trees, so your tree hugger status may not be all that far off.

 

[missy]

How terrible.

Sometimes I really do wonder if a worldwide wipeout of the majority of the human population wouldn't actually be a bad thing.

Me too.

 

[MeowMeow]

I'm not entirely sure it's that people don't care about their food but that it's expensive. My husband and I LOVE buying cage free organic everything but guess what? We have a baby and lower enlisted pay just doesn't go as far as many think unless both are dual mil or the spouse has a great job. I could go get food stamps today and qualify, even if for not much money. We have a weekly budget of 100 dollars for cleaning and hygiene supplies and food. It's more than some people have for sure but there is 0 room for organic cage free food. This basically feeds us fairly healthy keto light dinners since weight is something he especially needs to keep off. I gained 15 pounds recently when we tried to keep food plus supplies at 50 to 75 because the food was all cheap carbs and no veg. Our diet now is chicken soups, beef soups and super cheap roasts with vegtables. It also feeds me low carb tortillas with cheese and 2 peices of meat for lunch and meat and cheese for my husband since he doesn't really care for the tortillas. On weeks I need no supplies I am under budget by 15ish but that is not most weeks. Most weeks I barely scrape in under 100 or i am over by a few dollars. There are many of us in this position. When we have more money we will certainly be switching back to organic. In the meantime I only leave one light on and that is on the steps until after dark because I don't like to waste light during the day. I try and recycle my newspaper and plastic as much as possible to reduce our footprint slightly because things like that do concern me.

 

[bludiva]

Or is it only about the bottom line and money in shareholders' pockets NOW, and **** what happens in 5, 10, 20 years' time?

Sadly this. Most people don't know or don't care about the long term ramifications of their actions. And what we can do as individuals (and we try in my house - recycling, composting, EV, etc..) has frustratingly little impact compared to what corporations can do.

 

[bludiva]

Also the earth will be fine eventually, humanity I'm not so sure about.

 

[lissyflo]

Have you read Sapiens @OoohShiny ? There’s a section in it correlating early human spread across the planet with huge changes in wildlife. So worryingly, the changes we’re causing now are on top of a base that we’ve already radically altered. It’s an amazing book - I put off reading it for ages because I thought it would be really heavy, but it is very engagingly written and hugely interesting.

I think part of the problem is sometimes a lack of clear information and guidance. I changed our hand soap at home from liquid soap to bars of soap a while ago, thinking it would reduce plastic waste from the bottles, but then read an article claiming liquid soap had a lower carbon footprint overall for some reason (I can’t now remember why). So maybe confusion rather than apathy explains some people’s lack of action?

 

[missy]

 

[Karl_K]

I can go a mile from my house and find a spot which used to be all full of life and now does not have a lot but if I go 100 feet away its teaming with life.
Why?
Local conditions on that specific spot changed due to a fire.
But hey the world is ending because that specific spot changed, global warming!
Any area is going to change over 35 years, if they found twice as many insects you would never hear about it.

 

[Matata]

The world as we've known it is ending. Whether one is blasé about that fact or astute to the issue doesn't matter. What we do in the foreseeable future in an attempt to diminish the effects on humanity doesn't matter anymore because we've passed the point of no return in too many crucial areas. Scientists have been feeding us warning snippets about our plight for decades but none of it got much press and what did didn't garner much attention from the masses because everyone thinks it won't happen in their lifetime. Well, Surprise! For all you skeptics out there, you'll see, because you have no choice and there's no where else to go. Christians should recognize the two horsemen of the apocalypse that have been loosed -- famine and death.

The fastest solution, and one which mother nature will ensure occurs, is to rapidly diminish the number of humans on the planet.

Have a good day everyone.

 

[House Cat]

I'm no hippy-dippy tree hugger but stories like this really do concern me:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ng-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

I mean...:



... is completely ridiculous - why is big business not actively changing farming habits to enable more organic growing of crops?

Or is it only about the bottom line and money in shareholders' pockets NOW, and **** what happens in 5, 10, 20 years' time?

We as consumers can buy organic wherever possible but there still seems to be vast numbers of people who just don't give a crap about where their food comes from and don't even think about their impact in terms of food production, nevermind microbial resistance from excessive and unnecessary use of biocides, wasting energy through unthinking behaviours like leaving lights on in empty rooms, lapping up products containing nanotechnology despite no research being done on direct bioaccumulation and foodchain pollution...

Sometimes I really do wonder if a worldwide wipeout of the majority of the human population wouldn't actually be a bad thing.

[/rant]

(Perhaps I really am a tree-hugger??)

What’s wrong with tree hugging hippies?

::::looks over at her hugging tree:::::

 

[Matata]

What’s wrong with tree hugging hippies?

::::looks over at her hugging tree:::::

Splinters in the lips for those who hug & smooch, sap on clothes, rashes if you're allergic to some trees as I am, needles or leaves in the hair. We're kinda easy to spot depending on the season.

 

[arkieb1]

I've been watching the studies on the decline of bees for years, the theories being we need bee numbers to pollinate everything and without them we will have to resort to genetically engineered food, flowers etc to survive.

Sometimes humans are too stupid to know what is and isn't good for them.

 

[chrono]

Not stupid, simply greedy and selfish.

 

[sonnyjane]

Also the earth will be fine eventually, humanity I'm not so sure about.

Earth will be fine ONCE humanity is gone...

 

[qubitasaurus]

I would assume that the heavily pestacide laced crops (which are causing the problem) are already being farmed and propogated without any help from bees or other insects to polinate them? And therefore it may change the food source, but maybe some crops might not need to be polinated the traditional way.

What sounds more worying is that a base change at such a low teir of the food chain could have ripple effects that devestate a large number of animal and plant species. I would also worry that humans may end up above carrying capacity if we were to go back to less invasive means of agriculture (what happens if we need the extra yield efficiency to feed all the mouths we have created? It is a bit sickening.)

 

[vintagelover229]

I've been watching the studies on the decline of bees for years, the theories being we need bee numbers to pollinate everything and without them we will have to resort to genetically engineered food, flowers etc to survive.

Sometimes humans are too stupid to know what is and isn't good for them.

It's been too long, can you email me?! I'd love to chat about bees!!!!! Stupid bylaws won't let me have them.

Everyone needs them! It's historically been more valued than gold at times (honey).

I would love to hear your thoughts more on this but I'm not here much anymore.

 

[Indylady]

I can go a mile from my house and find a spot which used to be all full of life and now does not have a lot but if I go 100 feet away its teaming with life.
Why?
Local conditions on that specific spot changed due to a fire.
But hey the world is ending because that specific spot changed, global warming!
Any area is going to change over 35 years, if they found twice as many insects you would never hear about it.

Hi Karl, global warming is a big problem in California, where I live--local conditions have changed in ways that it makes enormous wildfires prevalent and difficult to extinguish (cycles of heavy rain and serious drought mean that there is often lots of dead foliage for the fires to run through). If we found twice as many people as the ones we lost in a wildfire, we'd have something pretty interesting to talk about, but unfortunately that does not seem to be our situation. Is the world ending? No. Did it for many near me? Yes, unfortunately. Just in 2018, 104 people killed, $3.5 billion spent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_California_wildfires

 

[Indylady]

I'm no hippy-dippy tree hugger but stories like this really do concern me:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ng-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

I mean...:



... is completely ridiculous - why is big business not actively changing farming habits to enable more organic growing of crops?

Or is it only about the bottom line and money in shareholders' pockets NOW, and **** what happens in 5, 10, 20 years' time?

We as consumers can buy organic wherever possible but there still seems to be vast numbers of people who just don't give a crap about where their food comes from and don't even think about their impact in terms of food production, nevermind microbial resistance from excessive and unnecessary use of biocides, wasting energy through unthinking behaviours like leaving lights on in empty rooms, lapping up products containing nanotechnology despite no research being done on direct bioaccumulation and foodchain pollution...

Sometimes I really do wonder if a worldwide wipeout of the majority of the human population wouldn't actually be a bad thing.

[/rant]

(Perhaps I really am a tree-hugger??)

PS. I just started reading the book with this title--its a pretty good and accessible read.

 

[Karl_K]

Hi Karl, global warming is a big problem in California, where I live--local conditions have changed in ways that it makes enormous wildfires prevalent and difficult to extinguish (cycles of heavy rain and serious drought mean that there is often lots of dead foliage for the fires to run through). If we found twice as many people as the ones we lost in a wildfire, we'd have something pretty interesting to talk about, but unfortunately that does not seem to be our situation. Is the world ending? No. Did it for many near me? Yes, unfortunately. Just in 2018, 104 people killed, $3.5 billion spent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_California_wildfires

Historically it is not unusual to have massive fires in those area.
It is good for the forest to have fires unfortunately homes were built in death trap areas.
Putting out fires makes the problem worse.
People fought tooth and nail against effective forest management that might have helped some what.
So yes you could blame man but it isn't global warming that is at fault.
The first thing that needs to be done is checker board the woods and clear off brush.
But in the end your not going to change nature there will be fires.
I feel really bad for those that losst everything including their lives.
But that can not prevent one from being realistic about it.

In this case the "study" once you look into the details that prompted the article was totally bogus.

 

[Karl_K]

I've been watching the studies on the decline of bees for years, the theories being we need bee numbers to pollinate everything and without them we will have to resort to genetically engineered food, flowers etc to survive.

Sometimes humans are too stupid to know what is and isn't good for them.

The fungus problems that invasion from China of bugs that infect hives has been hard on bees.
But it isn't as bad as thought, they do not count man raised bees they count hives.
Hives these days have 2x to 3x the number of bees per hive than 30 years ago and the numbers are not adjusted.
It was popular for a long time to run small lean hives where these days the hives are much larger and ran fat with more bees per square inch.

 

[OoohShiny]

The fungus problems that invasion from China of bugs that infect hives has been hard on bees.
But it isn't as bad as thought, they do not count man raised bees they count hives.
Hives these days have 2x to 3x the number of bees per hive than 30 years ago and the numbers are not adjusted.
It was popular for a long time to run small lean hives where these days the hives are much larger and ran fat with more bees per square inch.

I never knew that!

I want to keep bees but I need my own place and a garden first...

 

[Karl_K]

I never knew that!

I want to keep bees but I need my own place and a garden first...

They are a whole lot of daily work and you will be stung and your liability insurance goes way up.
Which is why a lot of fruit producers have outsourced it to bee companies rather than doing it themselves.
Which is another problem.
There is less diversity in bee colonies and hive types which made the problem worse with the attacks on hives.
In general the large bee companies all their hives were related bees and the same types of hives.
They are trading queens across the country to try and fix that.

 

[blueMA]

Stupid reckless human beings are trying to wipe us all out.
Glyphosate (water soluble and now even detected in rain), EMFs, and I'm very worried about the 5G roll out since I'm EMF sensitive.
Somethings got to give...

 

[cocotate]

5G is a terrible news. We all need to petition the government to stop the roll out.

 

[OoohShiny]

Stupid reckless human beings are trying to wipe us all out.
Glyphosate (water soluble and now even detected in rain), EMFs, and I'm very worried about the 5G roll out since I'm EMF sensitive.
Somethings got to give...

I have been generally avoiding the news because it's entirely Brexit dominated over here, lol, and because it ends up getting depressing hearing about bad things we can do nothing about.

What is glyphosate?

And is EMF just Electro Magnetic Fields? (Aren't they already around in terms of the fields created around electrical cabling when it is in use??)


My personal concern that is making me worry (a lot) is the ridiculous amount of 'nanotechnology' products, most (99.9%) of which are not marked to say they have nano stuff in.

Given that microplastics at the size of those 'wash beads' in face scrubs and toothpastes are being flagged as a concern and are being mostly outlawed over here, why is no-one doing the same for nano products, given the particles in question are so small they can just cross human cell membranes that 'normal' things can't, and there has been zero research on potential novel ways they interact with / damage the human body and the wider environment, nevermind any research on bioaccumulation, food chain pollution, longevity, methods of filtering them out...

I already told the good lady this week that she bought the wrong toothpaste, because it had 'microscopic particles' in it (according to the box, which was a surprise because they usually never mention such things), but the replacement one she bought has Titanium Dioxide in and no mention of the size of the particles, whereas I am sure I read nano versions of it are being widely used in food and other products...

 

[missy]

What is glyphosate?

It's a broad spectrum herbicide. Poison. It has carcinogenic potential.

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/glyphogen.html

And is EMF just Electro Magnetic Fields?

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-280...really-like-to-live-with-emf-sensitivity.html

 

[blueMA]

I have been generally avoiding the news because it's entirely Brexit dominated over here, lol, and because it ends up getting depressing hearing about bad things we can do nothing about.

What is glyphosate?

And is EMF just Electro Magnetic Fields? (Aren't they already around in terms of the fields created around electrical cabling when it is in use??)


My personal concern that is making me worry (a lot) is the ridiculous amount of 'nanotechnology' products, most (99.9%) of which are not marked to say they have nano stuff in.

Given that microplastics at the size of those 'wash beads' in face scrubs and toothpastes are being flagged as a concern and are being mostly outlawed over here, why is no-one doing the same for nano products, given the particles in question are so small they can just cross human cell membranes that 'normal' things can't, and there has been zero research on potential novel ways they interact with / damage the human body and the wider environment, nevermind any research on bioaccumulation, food chain pollution, longevity, methods of filtering them out...

I already told the good lady this week that she bought the wrong toothpaste, because it had 'microscopic particles' in it (according to the box, which was a surprise because they usually never mention such things), but the replacement one she bought has Titanium Dioxide in and no mention of the size of the particles, whereas I am sure I read nano versions of it are being widely used in food and other products...

Glyphosate is the chemical in RoundUp.
It's banned in many countries already, but US is still running TV commercials with the tag line "Trusted for over 40 years." - unbelievable. You may not realize it but you're already affected by it.

Watch this relatively shorter video. It'll explain a lot.

If you have time, watch this. It's worth it and may wake you up.

EMF - If you have a wifi router as all do nowadays, turn it off at night at least. I use everything cable/ethernet as much as possible.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Hi Karl, global warming is a big problem in California,

Really ?? You wanna pay my electric bill?