[rangerone314]

Perhaps a methane emission killed them.

I *AM* getting over a norovirus and I'm percolating like Yellowstone.

[Pretorian]

Peak oxygen? Now thats a food for a thought!

Food for an easily dismissable thought maybe:

Because of this relative bounty of oxygen, scientists such as Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration don’t fear that carbon emissions will cut off our oxygen supply. “Even if we were to burn another 1,000 billion tons of fossil fuels, we would only decrease the oxygen in our atmosphere to 20.88 percent,” he says.

That is assuming that burning another trillion tons of fossil fuels (along with mining and extracting them) will not kill any additional trees, plancton organisms, will not destroy nor harm remaining eco-systems, will not support and cause further population growth along with its real and wannabe needs(read--pollution), etc. Yeah, there is a fat chance of all that to happen.

[smiley]

I'm inclined to say these are isolated incidents. But it did get me to think. I find it pretty disturbing that we have not been able to find a clear cause of death for these birds yet.

We (or at least a lot of us) use to view nature a) as being pretty robust and b) something we pretty much understand by now. We might not act on it but at least we understand what we're doing wrong.

These events and our inability to understand them, for me is strong evidence to the contrary.

And the talk about actively stewarding the planet, sustainable development and all that yadayada is more or less akin to a four year old, thinking he can drive his fathers car home. If we can not figure out why 5000 birds died, we also have no clue about how to keep the remaining lot alive.

[Jellric]

FACT CHECK: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly

WASHINGTON – First, the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year's Eve in Arkansas. In recent days, wildlife have mysteriously died in big numbers: 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world. Blogs connected the deadly dots, joking about the "aflockalypse" while others saw real signs of something sinister, either biblical or environmental.

The reality, say biologists, is that these mass die-offs happen all the time and usually are unrelated.

Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link them to each other.

"They generally fly under the radar," said ornithologist John Wiens, chief scientist at the California research institution PRBO Conservation Science.

Rest of article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110107/ap_ ... fact_check

[rangerone314]

I'd like to know if there were as many mass bird deaths in North America in the 18th century, or if this is something that is like that colony collapse disorder killing bees, the fungus killing bats, the fungus killing off frogs all over the world, etc.

[Xenophobe]

The bird and fish kills are caused by the earth slamming into space clouds.

Its on the internet, it must be true.

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1437.htm

[Ludi]

we also have no clue about how to keep the remaining lot alive.

We have a clue, we just choose to ignore it, mostly.

[meemoe_uk]

Here's a couple more older ones.
Coldest UK december in over 320 years result : most shoreline crab life just wiped out in UK
Coldest month weather in bolivia in 50 years result : most of bolivian amazon river life dies suddenly

Huge chunk eco-system sudden wipeouts are common when the temperature dips unusally. Since we are getting deeper into this global cooling phase, this story is going to keep popping up more and more.

[dorlomin]

Must see video.

16 minutes.

[Pretorian]

"The news was disturbing – we were racing to get images of a Rhino being poached of its horns. One almost gets used to this, realizing that almost one animal a day was poached in South Africa during 2010.

But, this assignment was different and set to shake up everyone’s views of just how callous poachers can be. The shock of this assignment will reverberate worldwide and the shock will last for a very long time.

The difference here; “This Rhino was alive!”

http://rhinoresourcecenter.com/forums/R ... #entry1118

[Pretorian]

Thanks asshole. I guess white people wouldn't do that? Right? Is that the point?

Guess who invented scalping? Take your racists sickness some where else

I don't know, would they? But I'm glad you understand which race did it without me mentioning anything.

[Fishman]

Moderators, can we take this down? Can't for the life of me think of how remotely this could be anything about peak oil. On the other hand, I'm looking for some rhino liner like paint for a small aluminum boat? Anyone with any experience?
When I picked this small boat up from my dad he asked why use such a small boat. I replied this was a $4 a gallon of gas boat. Recreation changes dramatically with peak oil. I find myself just sitting in my garden knowing that what few offshore fishing trips with friends (in their boats, me providing fishing experience) will be decreasing with gas skyrocketing. Any recreation comments about peak oil?
Dang, that rhino nose job was really botched.

[Pretorian]

Am surprised to agree with Fish-man, lets move this to the open forum

[dohboi]

http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2011/07/oceans-dying-very-quickly-canadas-most.html

Derek Hatfield has always known about the loneliness of the long-distance sailor, but he's never felt as alone as he does these days when racing over the vast, empty expanses of our dying oceans.

Hatfield recently completed his second successful race around the world, sprinting to a third place finish in the grueling VELUX 5 Oceans competition, a solo round-the-world ocean race that is held every four years.

But the last eight months have been an eye-opener for the New Brunswick-born sailor when it comes to the state of the world's oceans.

Streaking across the open waters in a sleek, 60-foot yacht that affords him a unique, close-up view of marine life, he has been troubled by what he is not seeing.

"You don't see the fish, you don't see the turtles, you don't see the birds," Hatfield said in an interview from Nova Scotia, where he now lives.

"Along the coast you will see the odd humpback whale but it is getting more and more rare. Last year I did a transatlantic race and I didn't see one whale in the whole 15 days of racing across the North Atlantic. Not one whale! … The oceans are dying and they're dying very quickly."

He especially misses the company of dolphins.

[mememine69]

STILL want to tax the air to make the weather colder?
Climate Change wasn't energy or sustainability or oceans or little kids planting trees. No! It was a 25 year old CO2 Death Threat to billions of children and THANKFULLY a comfortable lie and criminal “worst case scenario” exaggeration. These remaining phony planet lovers just hate humanity and want this crisis to be true. At this stage of the game if you still believe in climate change you sure don’t act like it. Every remaining believer should be marching in the streets for this IS the greatest crisis ever you cried for 25 years.
Without the CO2 mistake nothing changes, except the spear of fear in our backs and billions wasted on "effects" of CO2, all the while not even understanding climate variation in the first place. Welcome home CO2. It’s been a long time. You have been proven innocent by a now “former believer” majority of voters.

[DrGray]

STILL want to tax the air to make the weather colder?

Yes, meme, we get it, you are a troll. You've proven that point nicely. Now go troll somewhere else.

[mememine69]

I'm not a troll. It's an opposing view from a former believer and if you still think there are enough voters out there to vote yes to taxing the air to make the weather colder, YOU are the new denier. CO2 crisis was a blunder of a mistake. It was an Iraq War for us on the left and progerssive side and to all of science.

[Sixstrings]

Was reading Huffpost, they have this video of dogs going after sharks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6HyIZh5BQZY

On the video you hear Australians laughing about it, but I have to wonder what kind of people let their dogs swim with sharks and even go after the sharks.. easy way to lose your dog I would think.

But what pissed me off is when the camera pans to the left and the Aussie casually says "we gotta Dugong that's been speared over here ready for the dinner plate, that's what bringing the sharks in."



These are endangered. Why are they eating them. I had to google this, I can't believe any developed nation allows sea cow hunting:

The causes of decreasing number of Dugongs population in Australia are far too many:

Direct human threats such as hunting for its meat, as it is considered to be a traditional cuisine, effective medicine against many diseases and more importantly for its skin. They are also killed for using the bones and tusks as ornaments.
http://www.endangered-animals.com.au/dugong.htm

Aussies and kiwis are hard to figure out.. they claim to be so green, yet you read these shocking stories about cruelty to their endangered wildlife. There are kiwis who club seals for the heck of it. And apparently Australians "spear" these endangered and helpless sea cows and throw them on the barbie.

I love manatees, a relative of the dugong. All these sea cows are endangered for lots of reasons, motor boats are a big one. But I can't imagine anyone hunting them.. there's no sport in that at all, they're so helpless. They can't even swim away fast if they have to.

So what gives here.. why can't Australia protect its endangered species? And how can you guys so casually hunt such a helpless animal? In Florida, this would get you a lengthy jail sentence. It's one thing to run over a sea cow with your boat, but you don't spear them for the barbecue. These species are going extinct already.

Even Kenya has banned dugong hunting, but not eco-conscious Australia.

[SeaGypsy]

The same reason you guys allow the fur seal hunt. Traditional land rights, pre-existing culture. I am part of a push to ban this hunting using anything but traditional equipment to persue such. BTW unless you can prove you are from one of about 15 remote
tribes inb the far north don't think you would get away with it. The punishment would be loss of all vehicles and equipment used, a massive fine, life ban from commercial fishing/ that's 1st offense.

[Sixstrings]

The same reason you guys allow the fur seal hunt.

Hunting marine mammals in the US is strictly banned. Only a couple tribes in Alaska are allowed, and the seals aren't endangered plus they don't kill many of them.

The United States, which had been heavily involved in the sealing industry, now maintains a complete ban on the commercial hunting of marine mammals, with the exception of indigenous peoples who are allowed to hunt a small number of seals each year.[26]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_hunting

BTW unless you can prove you are from one of about 15 remote tribes inb the far north don't think you would get away with it.

The people in the video sound white to me, but to be fair maybe it was aboriginals who speared the sea cow.

Anyhow.. sea cows are seriously endangered. Being "indigenous" should not be an excuse to hunt endangered species. If you're at least saying this is rare, I feel better about it. I still don't get why Kenya can ban it but you can't. It's just wrong, these animals are going extinct.