I have a question for you, Guy. What is the other half of the tree of life? I spent several years as a young, awe-struck guide on the rivers of Idaho and California when there were still runs of salmon in the 70's. Before retiring, I worked restoring rivers and creeks in the Napa Valley of California. I loved the work but I learned from scientists like you that the Pacific Ocean was becoming too warm and too acidic for plankton and salmon to survive and I learned that the Salmon river and the Payette river of Idaho had become biological dead zones and that the Sacramento river, once famous for its salmon runs, was in rapid decline. Does the unraveling of the biodiversity of the oceans and the rivers start with the decline of the plankton?
The other half is unstated in the papers I’ve cited here. I seriously doubt we stop at half. All life on Earth is threatened with extinction.
Life on terrestrial Earth came from the global Ocean. The former still depends heavily on the latter for survival. We seem collectively intent upon destroying it all.
I miss the sound of frogs in the spring and summer. My brother and I used to swim in the local reservoir on warm summer nights and the sound of frogs was deafening. We thought we were in the heart of Africa and we loved it, the full moon, the warm water and the frogs. To top it off we were breaking the law. 70 years later there are no frogs. Not even one and the swallows seem to have disappeared too. I wish I had a recording of the frogs and our joyful laughter, at least something from that time to share with my grandchildren.-Peter Anderson
Growing up in rural Waikato we used to see 'Blizzards' of moths at the streetlights. Our old Vauxhall car over heated once because the radiator was blocked with their bodies. Wind screens needed to be cleaned of the "Bug splatter" after driving at night. On my recent road trip driving from Christchurch to Auckland in a thousand km's I didn't need to wash the wind screen once! This loss of insects will domino through bird populations, which will mean less seeds spread.
In one of our interviews with Professor Paul Ehrlich he said we are "Sawing off the limb of evolution that we are sitting on", I can hear it creaking and cracking.
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, we were warned.
I have a question for you, Guy. What is the other half of the tree of life? I spent several years as a young, awe-struck guide on the rivers of Idaho and California when there were still runs of salmon in the 70's. Before retiring, I worked restoring rivers and creeks in the Napa Valley of California. I loved the work but I learned from scientists like you that the Pacific Ocean was becoming too warm and too acidic for plankton and salmon to survive and I learned that the Salmon river and the Payette river of Idaho had become biological dead zones and that the Sacramento river, once famous for its salmon runs, was in rapid decline. Does the unraveling of the biodiversity of the oceans and the rivers start with the decline of the plankton?
The other half is unstated in the papers I’ve cited here. I seriously doubt we stop at half. All life on Earth is threatened with extinction.
Life on terrestrial Earth came from the global Ocean. The former still depends heavily on the latter for survival. We seem collectively intent upon destroying it all.
I miss the sound of frogs in the spring and summer. My brother and I used to swim in the local reservoir on warm summer nights and the sound of frogs was deafening. We thought we were in the heart of Africa and we loved it, the full moon, the warm water and the frogs. To top it off we were breaking the law. 70 years later there are no frogs. Not even one and the swallows seem to have disappeared too. I wish I had a recording of the frogs and our joyful laughter, at least something from that time to share with my grandchildren.-Peter Anderson
Great sounds, also from my youth! I grew up in a village in northern Idaho. Nature was everywhere. I now live in a too-quiet village in Vermont.
Growing up in rural Waikato we used to see 'Blizzards' of moths at the streetlights. Our old Vauxhall car over heated once because the radiator was blocked with their bodies. Wind screens needed to be cleaned of the "Bug splatter" after driving at night. On my recent road trip driving from Christchurch to Auckland in a thousand km's I didn't need to wash the wind screen once! This loss of insects will domino through bird populations, which will mean less seeds spread.
In one of our interviews with Professor Paul Ehrlich he said we are "Sawing off the limb of evolution that we are sitting on", I can hear it creaking and cracking.
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, we were warned.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Silent-Spring
I remember the days of many invertebrates. My Mom used to use the squeegee at the petrol station to clean the headlights while my Dad filled the tank.
With an apology for my redundant responses, thank you for your ongoing collegiality. Indeed, thank you for all you do to support my work, Kevin.
Not encouraging is an understatement! I suspect the far-right crowd will be the end of us.
Thank you for following my work and contributing to it, Dr. Miklashek.