Environmentalism and Wildlife Conservation Discussion

I always try to tell my mom about why leaving the outdoor lights on at night is bad but she's firmly convinced they deter burglars

Get a motion sensor then. Leaving lights on constantly MIGHT deter some, but if they're intent they'll realize they're always on, every night, and just ignore them.

So Apparently the Real reason we have these lights is because the insurance company deducts money from our bill because of it -_-

edited 26th Mar '15 10:55:35 AM by Xopher001

Having them and running them all night are different things. You could still probably put a motion sensor on them if you wanted too.

Er, what has that to do with the thread topic? It's tangential at best.

Energy conservation generally falls under Environmentalism. Or, failing that, " the conservation of wildlife, water, natural habitats and resources". Specifically the last of those.

edited 26th Mar '15 11:46:51 AM by Joesolo

Light Pollution has a negative affect on the environment

Good luck and the Chinese reverse global forest loss: "Analysis of 20 years of satellite data has revealed the total amount of vegetation globally has increased by almost 4 billion tons of carbon since 2003. This is despite ongoing large-scale deforestation in the tropics."

Climate-related disruptions of marine ecosystems: Decades to destroy, millennia to recover: "A new study reports that marine ecosystems can take thousands, rather than hundreds, of years to recover from climate-related upheavals. The study's authors analyzed thousands of invertebrate fossils to show that ecosystem recovery from climate change and seawater deoxygenation might take place on a millennial scale."

Well say what we well about expansionism, aggression, propping up dictatorships, being a horribly unrepresentative government, polluting the Fuck out of rivers and air, and being the single largest threat to sharks and turtles world wide, China sure does plant a lot of trees.

Polar bears unlikely to thrive on land-based foods: "Polar bears, increasingly forced on shore due to sea ice loss, may be eating terrestrial foods including berries, birds and eggs, but any nutritional gains are limited to a few individuals and likely cannot compensate for lost opportunities to consume their traditional, lipid-rich prey — ice seals."

Major study shows some biodiversity losses can be reversed: "Humanity's use of land for agricultural production has come at a cost to local ecosystems worldwide, but some of the damage can be reversed, according to new research."

Oil dispersant used in Gulf Oil Spill causes lung and gill injuries to humans and aquatic animals, also identifies protective enzyme: "New research suggests that Corexit EC9500A, an oil-dispersal agentl, contributes to damage to epithelium cells within the lungs of humans and gills of marine creatures. The study also identifies an enzyme that is expressed in epithelial cells across species that has protective properties against Corexit-induced damage."

edited 4th Apr '15 12:09:58 AM by rmctagg09

New dragons discovered in Andes: "Three new species of dragon-like lizard have been discovered by scientists in the forests of Peru and Ecuador, in South America.

Known as wood lizards, the reptiles live in cloud forests covering the Andean mountain range.

Wood lizards are among the largest and most striking of South America’s lizards, so finding three new species is a surprise.

The lizards, which are differently coloured to other species and have some unique features on their scales, were identified by Omar Torres-Carvajal of the Museum of Zoology in Ecuador, Pablo J. Venegas of the Centre for Ornithology and Biodiversity in Peru, and Kevin de Queiroz of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in the US.

DNA tests confirmed their unique status, and details are published in the journal ZooKeys''."

We can fix the Great Barrier Reef: "Leading coral reef scientists say Australia could restore the Great Barrier Reef to its former glory through better policies that focus on science, protection and conservation, experts say."

The Smell Of Rain: How CSIRO Invented A New Word: "Australia’s CSIRO has come up with some pretty amazing inventions over the past 86 years of research, from polymer banknotes to insect repellent and the world-changing Wi-Fi. But we can also lay claim to something a little more esoteric – we actually invented a whole new word.

And no, we’re not talking about one of these new-fangled internet words like 'YOLO', 'selfie' or “totes”.

The word is 'petrichor', and it’s used to describe the distinct scent of rain in the air. Or, to be more precise, it’s the name of an oil that’s released from the earth into the air before rain begins to fall."

Culling feral cats actually increases their numbers, new study finds: "A new study has found that trapping and culling might not be the best solution to Australia’s feral cat problem - the practice can actually cause an increase in their numbers.

Of all the feral animals currently eating, stomping, and hunting their way through Australia’s suburbs, cities, rural areas, and desert plains, none have been quite so disastrous as the cat. According to the ABC, cats are estimated to eat 75 million native animals every night in Australia, which is a rate we can’t possibly sustain. Right now, we have the worst mammal extinction rate in the world, with 29 native mammals having become extinct since European settlement, and on a global scale, one in three mammal extinctions in the last 400 years have occurred in Australia."

You sure we're talking about China here?

Old news. Showed up at the end of The Last Continent.

Could be Russia too. Got options.

edited 8th Apr '15 3:37:58 PM by Joesolo

Oh, indeed we do.

I mean really, Look at the US. We've improved dramatically. Chicago used to have river fires and the Hudson would eat away at ship's hulls, and look at it now. Not the best but pretty clean all in all. No reason they can't.

Plus, you know, actual elections, but that's beyond the purview of this thread.

edited 8th Apr '15 4:07:58 PM by Joesolo

River f-? Holy shit...!

" Debris and trash are commonly caught up in these slicks forming an unsightly floating mess. Anaerobic action is common as the dissolved oxygen is seldom above a fraction of a part per million. The discharge of cooling water increases the temperature by 10 °F (5.6 °C) to 15 °F (8.3 °C). The velocity is negligible, and sludge accumulates on the bottom. Animal life does not exist. Only the algae Oscillatoria grows along the piers above the water line. The color changes from gray-brown to rusty brown as the river proceeds downstream. Transparency is less than 0.5 feet in this reach. This entire reach is grossly polluted."

"At least 13 fires have been reported on the Cuyahoga River, the first occurring in 1868.[12] The largest river fire in 1952 caused over $1 million in damage to boats, a bridge, and a riverfront office building.[dead link][13] On June 22, 1969, a river fire captured the attention of Time magazine, which described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays"."

It was a fun time in history for fish...

Recipe for saving coral reefs: Add more fish: "Fish are the key ingredients in a new recipe to diagnose and restore degraded coral reef ecosystems, according to scientists.

For overfished coral reef systems, restoring fish populations that perform key roles will in turn restore ecological functions critical to recovery. For moderately or lightly fished reefs, the recipe requires knowing which fish to catch, how many, and which to leave behind.

The authors assessed fish biomass and functional groups from more than 800 coral reefs worldwide and used them to estimate recovery periods for both lightly fished and overfished reefs. The scientists speculate that maintaining and restoring fish populations and the functions they provide can increase the resilience of reefs to large-scale threats such as climate change."

Dispersant used to clean deepwater horizon spill more toxic to corals than the oil: "The dispersant used to remediate the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is more toxic to cold-water corals at lower concentrations than the spilled oil, according to a new study that comes on the eve of the spill's fifth anniversary, April 20th."

"Fix" one problem, create two problems......

Gorgeous images reveal new macaque: "Amazing images taken mainly by camera traps reveal a previously unrecognised species of macaque living in Tibet’s forests.

The photographs, also including some images from manually operated cameras, provide an intimate portrait of the cute primates – showing the monkeys grooming each other; foraging and tending to their young.

he elusive monkey, which researchers have called the white-cheeked macaque (Macaca leucogenys), had previously been identified as the Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis). But now researchers in China who took the images say the charismatic creature is a species in its own right."