Environmentalism and Wildlife Conservation Discussion

(drawls). Well, maybe we'll get there if we can survive the antibiotic-resistant superbug apocalypse. Bacteria spends a lot more time than we do on the evolution thread mill.

Thing is, I still would rec expressing some reluctance when expressing support for eugenics or eugenics-like stuff. Cause like it's still gonna be awhile before the designer baby thing become cheap enough for the average joe.

Like if I base on that, I'd have to (reluctantly) put my vote for disallowing older parents to have kids.

Not gonna happen because you'd never be able to show a benefit significant enough to justify the damage.

. Plus, too many older men just loves to canoodle with young ladies.

Old foreign gent with sweet young thing is too common sight over here.

We're turning Ascension Island into a Maritime Reserve. The area covered is slightly smaller then the entire UK.[1]

This is gonna fuck with my plans to build a supervillan lair there isn't it? But it's so perfect: volcano, check, awesome name, check, military airport, check, remote location, check, technically the property of a single entity who could kick everyone off (the British goverment), check, GPS ground relay station (one of five in the world), check, ESA rocket tracking station, check, NASA orbital debris tracking station, check, signal intelligence facility, check, BBC world service relay station, check.

Also what a history, the guard post after we locked Napoleon up just south of it, the base of the West "sorry about slavery, we're gonna try and make up for it now", Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy, a stop of point for Darwin, the point where underwater cables were laid to connect the UK to South Africa, a base during WW 2 and the gathering point for the Royal Navy Task Force during the Falklands War.

Sorry I just wanted an excuse to gush about an awesome island that is one of the few places I feel I must visit some day.

edited 4th Jan '16 4:22:51 AM by Silasw

Whoa, that place sounds awesome. Almost makes me want to shell for a ticket to go there. Almost.

Just out of curiosity, how much environmental damage does Merchandize Driven series and other toy lines inflict?

You'll have to take a Military flight from Brize Norton^note  The Falklands Air Bridge, BTW. Or from South Africa later this year.

Plastics would probably be the biggest issue.

Huh, I'd thought that the transport inflicts more damage to the environment.

If not directly related to enviromental conservation, this is still beautiful historically speaking.

Calypso, the boat that legendary Captain Jacques Cousteau sailed will be readied for use in the sea after its legal troubles are over

edited 7th Jan '16 3:06:11 PM by Aszur

Must share. Pictures of animals smelling flowers.◊

https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/407p80/animals_smelling_flowers/

Is there any environmental news that DOESN'T make one want to jump out the window?

Stuff that isn't "humanity is responsible for 99% of deaths in the animal kingdom", "global warning is going to open a portal straight to hell", "we're all doomed because of HUBRIS™", but some more nuanced articles?

Cool creatures being cool probably doesn't count eh?

Well...by definition, enviromentalist and conservation movements are intrinsecally tied to the fact there is something in danger and must be protected. It is how they surged in the first place.

If you want that tied to a narrative and hoping it is awsome, I would suggest reading Lord of the Rings

I lost that kind of adoration when I turned 12.

Well, I actually meant news that doesn't drive one to despair. Stuff like successful conservation and the like.

Those are, I believe, so rare these days that it's damn hard to find any.

Well, large carnivores are overall recovering in Europe, despite many conflicts with different local populations. It's not new though, the article is one year old, but that is the one good news I can think of. Note that even the population I am working on is currently recovering - we just have to wait and see how inbreeding will influence it in the mid- to long-term, but I would be carefully optimistic.

The Anthropocene: Hard evidence for a human-driven Earth: "Evidence for a new geological epoch which marks the impact of human activity on the Earth is now overwhelming, according to a recent paper by an international group of geoscientists."

In Arctic winter, marine creatures migrate by the light of the moon: "A few months ago, researchers reported the surprising discovery that marine creatures living in one Arctic fjord keep busy through the permanently dark and frigid winter months. Now, a report extends this activity to the whole of the Arctic. They also find that, in the absence of any sunlight, it's the moon that drives the vertical migrations of tiny marine animals."

The thign is, that's still nothing. That doesn't get close to 15th century conditions let alone pre-destruction levels.

If anything, we are being too optimistic when we are slowly losing the war, just because of a few small victories.

edited 12th Jan '16 8:32:26 AM by Bk-notburgerking

To also be fair, we simply can't come back to Middle Ages levels of wildlife in an era where we expect constant agricultural production every year.

Well I DO have one good news.

Grecia, the Toucan that was savaged by youngsters and had his beak amputated not only raised a succesful kickstarter but now (The reveal was today) sports his new beak.

The link is in spanish because it is very recent news so it will take some time for it to be translated into english by some english costa rican news stuff.

Pictures here, here, here, here, here and here

This is I think, the second toucan that gets a prosthetic beak, the first one from an occurence in Brazil. He is the second because toucan play at this game.

But anywyas the 3d printed beaks is an example of technological advances being put to help not just humans but also our feathered friends.

Would be better if the poor guy did not need his beak replaced in the first place, but it happened and at least we could fix it, which is better than it happening and nothing being able to fix it.

Did they get those bastards to confess why they savaged the poor toucan in the first place?

No one even knows who it did. It was a small group of young vandals.

The EPA Finally Admitted That the World’s Most Popular Pesticide Kills Bees—20 Years Too Late

So how much evidence does the EPA require before they finally go, "Okay! Okay! It's bad for the environment."?

edited 15th Jan '16 4:56:39 PM by nervmeister

Heck if I know. I have a bad feeling they're not as competent as they ought to be.

Could anyone explain to me how the disruption of the nitrogen cycle factors into global warming? I already know that it's partially responsible for things like algae blooms and subsequent formations of dead zones- do nitric oxides produce a similar greenhouse affect to CO 2?