by suxs » Mon 12 Jul 2021, 05:44:55
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Humanity is Playing Russian Roulette with Nature. As we sever the individual links in the intricate chain of life due to a perfect storm of ---- Mass Species Extinctions, Oceanic Dead Zones, Desertification, Ground Water Depletion, Coral Bleaching, Deforestation, Soil Erosion, and you fill in the blank on the many other catastrophes in development ---- we know not when the global ecology will implode.
Most are aware how the mysterious plague of White Nose Syndrome (WNS) that originated in the northeast has devastated bat populations to the extent that several species have been placed on the ICUN Red List- at risk of extinction. Specifically, the US Fish & Wildlife Service has identified substantial declines in four species, and extinction of at least one species is predicted. This new disease organism arrived where I live approximately nine years ago and the consequences have been nothing short of catastrophic. We used to enjoy watching the sociable and friendly bats (i.e. northern long-eared) perform their acrobatics at dusk in search of insects. At dawn, they would return to the large bat houses we had erected. WNS killed every member of the colony and they have never returned. The Ag. Department reports that farmers are having to spend billions of dollars more on toxic insecticides to replace the work that was performed by bats (a bat consumes its equivalent body weight in flying insects every night- mosquitoes are a favorite of bats), although the addition of tons more chemicals into the environment is only serving to exacerbate the situation.
Now It's Birds in the US Dropping Dead
A frightening novel disease, first observed in Washington D.C., West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia, has killed thousands of birds of many species throughout the Midwest, South, and now East. The following statement was issued by the Audubon Society a few days ago.
"We are witnessing the deaths of thousands of birds and the losses continue to grow in frequency and severity. This is truly scary stuff and we don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it's just every day more and more birds." said a USGS representative.
A strange disease is responsible for killing many thousands of birds in the Midwest and South. Whatever is killing the birds has now spread to the East Coast. The cause is unknown, and the threat so severe that the Connecticut Audubon Society, working closely with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is recommending that residents remove birdfeeders from their yards.
The society itself has removed birdfeeders at its own centers, something it has rarely done; the last time was during the spread of House Finch eye disease several years ago.
Asking that feeders be taken down is not a decision that was made lightly, says Connecticut Audubon Society’s Executive Director Patrick Comins."
"The good Earth- we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy." ~~Kurt Vonnegut~~