So, I happen to be in France, 100 meters from the border of Switzerland, on the outskirts of Geneva, I knew I’d be here around the holidays. I’ve mapped out several different routes to visit various animal parks and nature conservatories, all requiring negotiating the way in to the city around the airport.
I spontaneously decided to do a cold water plunge in lake Geneva on New Year’s Day. The water of the lake is extraordinarily clear, tremendous visibility. I wound up meandering eventually to an area that I found afterwords, is precisely a bathing area: Bains des Paquis. They advertise ‘night swimming’ there although it wasn’t scheduled that particular evening!
It was already after dark, I walked along a pier. Had randomly asked a few people along the way if anyone wanted to take the plunge. Approaching this statue monument at the end of the peninsula, looking down at this boardwalk, I ironically saw a couple getting dressed, having just gotten out of the water.
My cue to take the plunge. I watched and listened to a cluster of birds by this faux light house and eventually built up the nerve.
I looked at the splash wet marks on the wooden walkway by ladders where people had gotten out. This couple were already long gone. I didn’t last very long, but was fully invigorated.
Now I realize why I’m doing this. The character in the book is involved in this process on pg. 120 known as the Mammalian Diving Reflex | Bar–atm | Reduces Need for Breaths “While the initial cold response leads to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, those changes reverse after several minutes.”
I vowed to do it the following day, same place, this time found a place along the building with hooks on the wall for bathers. Around the corner, I saw another couple, in the water. These people have dressing rooms and heat and probably hot water for when they get out. I didn’t, but had layers to put on. Here were concrete stairs going right into the water. This second day was tremendously windy. I went for it. The wind whipped the moisture from my skin quickly.
I did it a third time, also hearing and seeing other people who had come for a night swim. I didn’t fully immerse my head, but swam around these same white birds, now right where I wanted to go in. The third time I stayed in longer, and didn’t have the convulsing feeling of cold and need of heat afterwards. It’s fully exhilarating and is such a charge emotionally, as much from the physiological effects as to simply know that you’ve done it.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that “Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the USA each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide. In many developing countries programs to control exposures are limited or non-existent.” Pesticides Use and Exposure Extensive Worldwide
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the amount of chemicals that humans use to try to control nature, that seep into ground water.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that humans are bent on continued expansion, more shopping malls, more housing developments, more highways and franchises that plow down trees and the essential loss of habitat.
I’m sure it has everything to do with all of these, and frankly, also everything to do with increasing EM frequencies of the human demand – or is it the perceived demand that is stoked by telecommunications marketing foothold on pressing us on to ever more towers and stronger radiation.
In which the fine print dictates that “The law now gives municipalities 60 days to approve or deny a permit to add a 5G cell to an existing pole, and 90 days to approve or deny a permit for a new pole. If a local government doesn’t take action within that time, the permit is automatically approved.”
Manifesto of the many projects which could manifest the Green New Deal. What would you choose to be involved in?
In a more recent evolution of house searching posts, I suggested an ‘artist residency’ ‘in your home’, in which both the artist and proprietor are involved. If the artists doesn’t produce according to the agreed timeline, they lose the room. Win/Win. A humanitarian tax investment, coupled with the motivation-propulsion by the artist to deliver, to maintain the residence. Then I was thinking, this could be part of the Green New Deal, a takeoff on FDR’s ‘New Deal’ which involved the (NRA) ‘National Recovery Act‘.
Within a year of the 1929 stock market crash, 50% of the population was unemployed. The (WPA) Works Progress Administration concept was to employ mandatory structural works, with everyone involved in rebuilding; to put the entire country ‘to work’ – from local to regional – improving their own territories and their quality of life. Among these, the (TVA) Tennessee Valley Authority (which stretched beyond the borders of Tennessee) involved the entire community in constructing a hydroelectric dam, who previously had no electricity whatsoever. In the process, the stones they excavated were used to build homes.
The (CCC) Civilian Conservation Corps also involved restoring, beautifying, repurposing places around the country. The concentration was on re-building the infrastructure of the US, ‘Making it Great Again’, after Wall Street devastated the country with the economic crash that lead the trajectory to the Great Depression.
Does this not give huge perks to the idea of instead, putting the local resources and commodities into the hands and protection of the people?
Establishing local ‘Commons’, in which all the members of the community share ownership and responsibility – as proprietors of their own wealth of resources – to protect: land, water, forests, rivers and air. So that rather than private industries having a right of passage to purchase, privatize and reap rewards and profits for themselves, the community who maintain their resources, have profits recycled back into the community for further enrichment. I remember walking in East Providence, Rhode Island, and looking down at the sidewalk and seeing that this was achieved through the WPA.
Different communities could have their own commons, in addition to creating virtual collective ‘round table’ commons in which information and ideas are exchanged transparently, benefiting all. Meetings of minds to exchange ideas for super efficient and inexpensive ways to manage resources, build sustainable transportation infrastructure and produce energy locally.
My current 77 year old housemate just told me that with the CCC, artists, musicians, writers, performers, actors were all put to work: painting, playing music, entertaining, doing theatre. To make their environment more beautiful and rich with activities. What could possibly be distasteful about being matched to a project that suits one’s interests and capabilities?
I was talking with my sister about how treacherous it is to lose the majestic forests of tall and elegant Pine trees here in Georgia. With awareness of the risk of losing a treasure, we could all be put to work in coming up with ideas that are environmentally ethical and sustainable alternatives. Regardless of the standard for centuries, we know that our planet has finite space and resources. Presently, with an abundance of waste products, there are innumerable ways to employ trash that can be recycled and repurposed. Work that involves brainstorming and design, research and development; encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit in all of us, each involved in their own way.
Repurpose waste materials, combined with products that are abundant. Design and construct things repurposing plastic, glass bottles, cans, rubber from tires, etc. I recently walked on the cushioned surface of pedestrian paths created by Georgia Southern university made from tire rubber, meshed together with other materials. It looks like wood chips, but tightly woven, smooth and resilient. World Wildlife Fund stresses that we need to love nature, or lose it.
Energy, transportation could be redesigned. Instead of paying a private utility company, involve the community in the design, research and development and maintenance of their own energy. If the mentality was changed to complete transparency with an intent on conservation, preservation, health and beauty, involvement in decision making about areas where one has more of a relationship, they would want to take more responsibility and have pride in what their individual contributions to the community manifested in their own region, country or municipality.
Anyway, can you imagine, being able to almost effortlessly, drift towards work that you’d love to participate in, which is completely connected to an area you’d like to invest your time and talent, education and energy into? OK, say the Green New Deal work is mandatory, obligatory and enforced, yet people are given multiple options to match themselves in projects they have interested in, because they enjoy it and are subsequently good at it. Did you hear that correctly? People expressing themselves while participating in assignments in which they have interest. Climate Mandate A Time to Heal.
For some, it may be municipal works in which they are rejuvenating the streets of their town, greening walkways, creating parks and gardens to create pedestrian areas, greening buildings (growing vertical gardens on buildings sides and greening and/or solar rooftops), cleaning up and beautifying a places, restoring, planting trees, establishing neighborhood community vegetable gardens, developing public transportation and local energy systems.
Others may want to apply their participation in the Green New Deal Works by venturing on trains and sailboats to far reaches of the planet, to clean up, collect and separate the massive, ubiquitous plastic trash. One could work together with others with the same intention. Perhaps cleaning up rivers in India, beaches in Southeast Asia, helping countries to restore equilibrium and to balance their environmental impact. Or traveling to remote islands to monitor marine life, land animals and birds, to join E.O. Wilson’s ‘Half-Earth Project’, joining millions to protect half of the earth and sea, for wildlife. Contributing information about local flora and fauna, observing, documenting, identifying sources of pollutants, assessing the more biodiverse regions, in order to incorporate these into the protected earth.
Or joining a crew in the middle of an ocean (via train and sailboat) to clear the islands of plastic that have accumulated in every ocean. Debris swept with the currents of gyres to deposit plastic mounds, which like ice burgs, have much which has accumulated beneath the surface. People could collect and sift the microplastics throughout oceans and beaches. Some could make jewelry, others collect the microplastics to be mixed with others materials like mud, or the fibers of hemp or bamboo (both fast growing), to replace concrete, for walls, roads, sidewalks. paths. The volumes of rubber from dead tires can be mixed with fibers as buildingmaterials.
What if part of the Green New Deal for people of any age, scientists, entrepreneurs and thinkers, participated in working out NikolaTesla’s original experimentation with Zero-Point energy. John Searl points out that an enormous amount of energy is perpetually present all around us, because all matter (which is energy), is in constant motion. Our earth, solar system, galaxy, are all in continuous spiraling motion. At the quantum level, all is continuously moving. Searl talks of capturing this energy that is everywhere around us, through a pretty simple device – using magnets – that perpetuate a continuous flow of energy, with no friction. Clean and quiet.
Others may want to participate in brainstorming ways to develop energy and other processes that are sustainable; that do not involve harming habitats or diminishing natural resources. Taking down telephone poles and electric wires. and instead of silicon or mining rare minerals used in the production of our telecommunications technology, adapting the implementation of graphene: 1-atom thick wafers of carbon. Graphene is extremely conductive, and sourced from carbon, the most abundant material around.
Or one may prefer helping locally in a community garden, planting trees along every street, or doing physical work like creating bamboo or hemp woven with plastic sidewalks, that have the durability of concrete but more flexibility to allow tree roots to breath and grow naturally, without cracking, planting bee highways. Why bee highways? Because everything in nature is connected and interdependent. It’s all about biodiversity. Here’s an explanation of ecoliteracy from Nature’s Web of LIfe.
Jobs would re-create a massive eco alternative, to the current industrial and digital. Because we need less new construction and more imagining of green alternatives and acknowledgment of the habitats of other creatures, we can learn new methods of living harmoniously with the other species inhabiting the planet.
Each can contribute something, with a pencil, paint brush, tool or shovel..Cleaning up, clearing out, repurposing and transforming areas. Planting trees to transform barren, dusty areas or humid regions prone to landslides, to restore them.
Every city mapping out car-free, pedestrian-friendly areas. Creating clean and efficient public transportation options.
With an increasing population of elderly, immigrants – children and adults – could be given education and placement as companions and helpers to the elderly. They could assist, clean, maintain, help with transportation, make meals, learn how to monitor basic vital signs and administer medication, listen to stories, learn the language of their host country and exchange stories. Housing in exchange for services and companionship. Without having the insurance industry having a choke hold on who can be let into your home.
Recently, observing from back roads in Georgia, I noticed less and less tall pines along the road and well, what about the boars? Shall we begin to entirely ‘think differently and rethink together? What building materials, types of vehicles, types of energy that we have used traditionally, to recreate sustainable means everywhere? Not just to be implemented in the Northern Hemisphere.
Prohibit housing and development from spreading like a virus, prohibit expansion of box store franchises, and create more and more green spaces.
Reformulate all factories, mines, yeah, even off-shore oil wells, etc. to create housing, establish reefs…
Repurpose agricultural fields or crops grown to feed animals for the meat industry, into hemp, bamboo, plants which humans eat, plant trees. Undoubtedly, the more minds who are engaged in conjuring up clever ideas, to re-think designs, materials and energy to create sustainable solutions, the more rewarding and fascinating this process will be. Might as well attempt incentivizing people towards better health by encouraging vegetarian diets and informing people about the facts of how unsustainable and wasteful it is to devote land to raising animals; they require more land and water than what the land could be used for to feed humans. Eco education is a must. Green New Deal Projects involving growing food together and learning about nutrition and cooking would be invaluable for young people. Break up pavement and replace it with sustainable ones. Plant trees, EVERYWHERE. Nurture the wilderness. As George Monbiot states, we need to ‘rewild the world’.
There are so many ways the Green New Deal could be a fantastic luxury: putting talent and natural incentive to task. Employing simple fungi to clean up toxic spills, and generate biological life. If we would all be incentivized to clean up plastic all over the world, this could be repurposed with bamboo or hemp, to create building material. We could have a decade and a half of clearing out the trash that humanity has deposited all over the planet, and repurposing it to designs that replace using trees.
What if news channels, delivered by those who own them, were transformed into venues of participatory global commons, in which counties, municipalities, states and federal domains would maintain a global commons channel, for communities to exchange ideas about energy and transportation infrastructure.
Does this sound insanely idealistic? Radically off the cuff, stream-of-consciousness babble? Or am I making a point for ‘socialism’, community shared intention and commitment, to full-out re-appropriation and repurposing of space and industry. With training and education matched with interest and desire to task. Channels streamlined for the purpose of actively sharing ideas at digital round tables – rather than passively listening to news that is dictated by those who wish you to passively attend to that subject. What if everyone was engaged in thinking of ideas, finding teams to draw them up and design, then manifest them?
There would be plenty of ‘work’, to create effective animal bridges and tunnels, to nurture the habitats and migratory nature of animals. With an emphasis on community, not driven by profit or anthropomorphism, but with genuine appreciation and wonder of the natural world. Education can focus on ‘ecoliteracy’. Awareness of the interconnected nature of life and the need to protect habitats and maintain biodiversity, will translate into a population of caring and proactive youths. products, re-appropriate factories and dirty industries.
How would you want to contribute? What would you like to involve yourself in? Where’s the money coming from? Well, all the billionaires, of course.
A few days ago a friend’s FB post was an article Amphibian ‘apocalypse’ caused by most destructive pathogen ever associated with a hard to pronounce fungus. “The sudden appearance of chytridiomycosis, chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, was introduced into the affected regions.”
Dead Frogs killed by amphibian chytrid fungus photo Joel Sartore
Mass amphibian deaths worldwide? I hadn’t known. I felt distressed. “A silent killer has slaughtered frogs and salamanders around the world.Before the fungus, populations of the alpine tree frog were so abundant there, he had to watch his step when he went out at night. A global team of 41 scientists has announced that the pathogen—which humans unwittingly spread around the world—has damaged global biodiversity more than any other disease ever recorded. The origin of this virulent pathogen is unknown.”
Unknown?
Right.
I had a hunch. Was something else beneath the picture of a natural cause such as the proliferation of a fungus? Is this not more likely the repercussion of the poisons that humans have been putting into the earth and air? Is it perhaps the soil’s distressed or diseased response to pesticides?
Let’s get a Little more clarity about this ‘Fungal Pathogen’ killing amphibian. I couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t a detriment due directly and unequivocally to humans. I googled Chytrid fungus. Origin of Frog-Killing Chytrid Fungus Found
corroborating the Chytrid fungus as the cause of amphibian deaths, with no more conjecture as to the trigger of the growth of the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal).
This article points the finger at Korea as the origin of the fungi, sort of like a bait and switch.
article points to regional origin of fungus but nothing of what exacerbates the fungal growth – agrochemicals
Then I googled ‘association of Chytrid fungus with soil’s response to pesticides DDT’ That delivered this.
Understanding Amphibian Decline: the Role of Pesticides and the Pathogenic Chytrid Fungus on Amphibians and Aquatic Communities
Taegan A. Mcmahon, University of South Florida
Effects of Pesticides and the Pathogenic Chytrid Fungus – Taegan A. McMahon Graduate Thesis Univ. of South Florida
Questions these days need to … follow the money …Syngenta was the worldwide leader in agrochemical sales in 2013 at ~$10.9 billion, followed by Bayer CropScience, BASF, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, and then DuPont with ~$3.6 billion
Let’s stop this ecocide and complete lack of transparency in the scientific articles that somehow don’t point to the obvious.
Monsanto is now cloaked within Bayer.
How revolting that agro agriculture and agro chemicals have appeared out of poisons developed for warfare, thinking that we could control nature and mass produce, for our mass fortunes, to the detriment of the soil and all other life who also breathe in and bathe in the pesticides in the soil and water.
I am sending this letter today, right now, to one after another individual and group on the list included at the bottom. Talk about complete transparency. I want each to realize who all the recipients are, so that they may also add to the list. I need a job, and this is what comes to mind; gathering many to coordinate education at the grass roots level, that all of us can participate in.
I’d like to work with you in starting a global, grass-roots educational campaign – coordinated between all – re: ecological emergency; informing and inspiring public response to changing habits and actions.
Hi,
I would like to work with you towards shifting peoples’ perceptions from complacency to fully recognizing how their actions and habits make an impact on their immediate surroundings and cumulatively affect climate change. Offering education and incentives that people can relate to, to guide them to think and act differently. An edutainment campaign which reaches to the public to give them a voice, through asking them to participate in providing ideas, questions, answers and listening to their responses. The idea, that by allowing people to engage and participate, they will feel more connected, more empowered and motivated, more responsible, and feel excited and involved as they watch how their messages like waves, ripple to bring other people together.
I don’t believe anything can happen unless everyone is involved. That’s why I’m writing to each of the (individuals and organizations) resources of information I’ve valued and whose messages I’ve shared. Altogether about 40 at the moment. In fact, I’ve just decided to include the entire list of who I’m writing to, so that each of you can fill in and add some more people or groups to the list; who may in fact be more pivotal and effective in initiating this. I’m a female American who loves to write, draw portraits, paint trees and landscapes, play piano and bass guitar, and use computer music programs to compose electronic music. My compositions often incorporate the sounds of different creatures: whales, dolphins, penguins, insects and birds, so far.
I am ready right now (as I will probably have no housing nor money to pay rent in a matter of weeks and am able and willing to relocate virtually anywhere on the planet) to join a movement that coordinates education to raise awareness and offer guidelines towards immediate action. I believe that by working together, across individual and organizational boundaries, across disciplines, that we could engage the public to respond, as if life on our planet depended on it. Well, because it does. Complacency or lack of information has no place. Leaders and polluters will not inform. Therefore, though the odds may be dramatically against us (comfort over change), we could nevertheless try to inspire a movement of actions from the ground up, for each of us to collectively change some habits, that may actually gather so much momentum that people will start to care about what BIG energy hogs and polluters are doing, and BEGIN to speak out to them. New habits are difficult to start, but if everyone starts to really engage because the same messages are rippling out to the public globally by a team of people who are echoing what you and your collaborators have improvised, there is no telling how a critical mass of people with awareness and action and their heart into it, may start to make this grass roots message really move.
The idea is to instigate people to re-define their relationship to the planet and its life forms and inspire them to re-imagine a dramatically different relationship to all of life, in which humans act responsibly as guardians to the plants and creatures with whom we share the planet. Messages which convey the realization that our greatest treasure is the life that surrounds us, supports us and delights us on earth; containing inspirational guidelines as to how we can change our habits, to live in harmony with other life forms and feel their value; the natural cycles, beauty of flora and fauna and fertility of the earth. You could say I’m an idealist.
I’m primarily concerned with the loss of well, everything, all life with which we could live in harmony. Defenseless species of plants and animals lose habitats through the encroachment of humans, their residual noise, air and water pollution, chemical poisoning and the formidable elephant in the room, global warming, for which human behavior and industry are responsible. A trend which could collapse all systems on earth that have sustained life as we have known it. Given, Americans are the biggest energy abusers, without recognizing their contribution through the demands they put on having ease and comfort. By its nature, the capitalist formula is based on ever increasing profits, measuring success through the GDP, without factoring whatsoever, the health and well-being of all systems on the planet. This perception and motif has been perpetuated through the mendacity of those wishing to uphold it, in their allegiance to profit. We could actually shift our awareness to valuing deeply every single species as part of the labyrinth of life on this planet which we share. Effectually shifting from the notion of primacy of humans, to one valuing and being guardians to the sovereignty of all life.
I speak conversational German, French and Spanish, pretty close to fluent. I love to communicate. I’m presently available to relocate anywhere. I live minimally, acquire a bicycle wherever I live, have no dependents and am healthy, strong and resilient. I gained new perspectives quite different from how I was brought up in central Pennsylvania, though I’ve gathered quite different perceptions of the world through having lived in a variety of quite alternative communities (New York city, Washington D.C., Taos, New Mexico, San Francisco, California, Berlin, Germany where I lived for 7 years altogether, Paris and Montpellier, France where I lived last year for 7 months. I’m adaptable. I’m also a person who has all my life been able to walk up to strangers, approach people and begin conversations. There are plenty of other people who with the incentive to save the planet, would be happy to do the same. I have a strong appetite of curiosity and creative drive to communicate. I have to admit that many of my blogs and music need to be more concise to be more easily approachable. I’m working on delivering more elegant and simple message. I also think vlogs are the way to go, more powerful and compelling, with images and music for people who don’t have the time or patience to read.
My dream is that outspoken individuals and organizations like yourself would actually stretch across each of their own boundaries and work together to create a resoundingly clear and transparent message and movement. A message that moves people emotionally to act, because of how overwhelmingly obvious and compelling it is. And a message that is spread through teams of people who go out into the streets to talk with people and collect information from the public. Messages that are informative, humorous, and elicit community participation. I can help you to create this message, I can’t do it on my own. We can do it together.
Below are links to my blogs, music and book trailer. I am in search of the best fit.
I came upon this quote when I was writing an article in 2003 which I just re-located on my HD. This from an Adbusters article in March-April 2003 Issue, “our first problem is one of denial. (and that) our crisis is not fundamentally one of technology, but one of the mind, will and spirit.” The author wrote that our ” denial must be met with a world-wide ‘perestroika’, predicated on the admission of failure: the failure of economics, which became disconnected from life; the failure of our politics, which lost sight or the moral roots of our commonwealth; the failure of science, which lost sight of the essential wholeness of things; and the failure of all of us as moral beings, who allowed these things to happen because we did not love deeply and intelligently enough.”
I searched under the themes of environment and happiness in each of my blogs, which resulted in several pages in each consolidating articles on these subjects.
Alternatiba
Avaaz
Beautiful Solutions Lab
Bill Maher
Bill McKibben 350.org
Brian Thomas Swimme – Center for the Story of the Universe
Center for Biological Diversity
Charles Eisenstein – The More Beautiful World
Climate Warriors
Collective Evolution
Dalai Lama
Daniel Pinchbeck – 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
David Wolfe – Environmental Defense Fund
Defenders of Wildlife
Democracy Collaborative
Democracy Now Amy Goodman
DJ Spooky – That Subliminal Kid
Earth Guardians
Earthling Ed
Elon Musk
Gabor Maté
Gar Alperovitz – Democracy Collaborative
George Monbiot
Global Climate Action – Climate Network
Greenpeace
Interfaith Power and Light
International Animal Rescue
James Gustave Speth – World Resources Institute WRI
Jeremy Narby – Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
Joe Brewer
Jon Stuart
Michael Moore
Naomi Klein
National Geographic
National Resource Defense Council – NRDC
Next System Project
Noam Chomsky
PlaceToB – Paris COP21
Pope
Prince Ea
Rob Brezsny
Russell Brand
Save Animals From Extinction
Stephen Colbert
Trevor Noah
Vandava Shiva
WildEarth Guardians
WWF – Nikhil Advani – WWF Lead Specialist, Climate, Communities and Wildlife
Carl Safina, PhD in ecology, conservationist and writer
I am very grateful to have discovered Carl Safina’s work and this TED talk just a day previous to posting this. Tears ran down my cheeks as I watched and listened to this scientist’s portrayal of animals, and of humans. Tears continued to stream from my eyes after I listened to his last words. I am so disappointed and basically frustrated with what humans deem as important.
I was about to write a blog about Borders? Why are Human Beings ‘Not Allowed’ to Walk Around on the Earth? However, to me, putting this concept out there of recognizing the importance of all other life forms besides humans, is far more important than the absurd political scenarios that humans impose on one another. What we are doing to the natural world and to other life forms, with our over-population, degradation of the environment, human-induced global warming and inciting a mass extinction, to me, far outweighs any of the absurd things that humans are doing to each other. Carl Safina does not by any means bypass this subject in his talk. He says, what humans do to other empathetic creatures is also what they do to one another.
Animals Carl Safina Empathy Sympathy Compassion
I felt an urgent need to immediately post this to both blogs. I feel very sorry for those humans who do not feel compassion and awe with nature and all of life. I thank my parents that nature and an appreciation for all life forms was revered. I grew up with National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines in the home, and was curated to think way beyond my immediate vicinity.
I recently lauded friends who regularly inform and urge people to think about the protection of animals and wilderness. I mention this in association with a concept that is part of a new mode of thinking, systems thinking, seeing all life forms as interrelated. Human beings should prioritize protecting all other life forms, rather than destroying them and wiping out their habitats without any consideration whatsoever. The various bloody traditions of various cultures that consider it ‘sport’ to kill wolves, whales, bulls is disgraceful. The massive consumption of cows, pigs, chickens and use of land to feed these animals needs to be stopped. Wiping out wild horses and donkeys and other creatures because some believe that by eating particular speciality foods that they somehow will maintain their health or erections, also are dramatically mis-informed. Creatures penned in horrible conditions, blood baths and slaughters because of tradition, must all be reconsidered. People need to be educated. It begins with all of us communicating to one another.
The concept of actually recognizing that we share the same genetics and similar brains and spinal cords with other creatures perhaps will bring about a different sense of empathy.
With a PhD in ecology, conservationist and writer Carl Safina has written several books and papers and has studied various species in their habitat. He was invited by Greenpeace to witness the changing climate in the Arctic and the impacts of industrial fishing on the marine environment.
Human brain exact replica of Chimpanzee brain, merely larger
Dolphin brain larger than human brain, with more convolutions
“What’s going on inside the brains of animals? Can we know what, or if, they’re thinking and feeling? Carl Safina thinks we can. Using discoveries and anecdotes that span ecology, biology and behavioral science, he weaves together stories of whales, wolves, elephants and albatrosses to argue that just as we think, feel, use tools and express emotions, so too do the other creatures – and minds – that share the Earth with us.”
Animals Carl Safina Albatross nest on most remote islands Full of Plastic
6 month fledgling Albatross Death packed with cigarette lighters
Of the 22 species of albatross recognized by the IUCN, all are listed as at some level of concern; 3 species are Critically Endangered, 5 species are Endangered, 7 species are Near Threatened, and 7 species are Vulnerable.
Welcome Human Life with pics of Animals – Shared Lifes in the World
Since humans tend to adorn the rooms of their new born babies with images of the other creatures with which we share our planet, in which every animal of Noah’s Ark is now in mortal danger, instead of asking the question Do animals love us?, We need to ask, Are human beings capable of letting other life continue?
Carl Safina states, “From all I’ve seen, my main conclusion is that at this point in history, nature and human dignity require each other. Where wild places are destroyed, wild animals lost, and the world degraded and polluted, not only is that itself a great loss for the world, but for people in degraded places it becomes almost impossible to maintain a dignified existence.”
This article in the USA Today describes that global warming continues, with each year breaking record temperatures of the previous.”NOAA’s analysis does not include data from the Arctic, while NASA’s does, NOAA climate scientist Deke Arndt said. The Arctic has been warming faster than any part of the world.”
“This announcement should shock no one,” said Lou Leonard of the World Wildlife Fund. “The key question is what we do about it. With the costs of inaction piling up, Washington, D.C., is largely looking the other way. So it is up to a new class of leaders from American businesses, universities, cities and states to pick up the slack.”
Elephants as in every other species, become who they are
Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition
I was incorrect in calling the bird song a Nightingale. I found out since that Nighingales are not in North America. It is the Mockingbird that I was hearing and recording. Last night, i was on my way bicycling – taking a different route home as always – to discover in the darkness (also daylight) all of these different lovely residences with cool plants and/or lighting at night here in Tucson, Arizona. I’m presently charging the batteries of my camera to go out on a night trek to capture the fact that all over in this town, strangely, there are ‘christmas’ lights that remain, uh, year round, as it is approaching the end of June and they’re all still there.
nightingale pics
I stopped to listen for quite a while to the song of a nightingale, then left, heard my phone beep, stopped to look at it and it occurs to me to go back to capture the sound via video. I went back to the bird. (I have since downloaded an app for audio recording) I stood there motionless with my one arm up in the air like the statue of liberty, my phone next to the tree, when I saw activity down the block. Too big to be a cat, a family dog no. As a figure in the darkness silhouetted against a wall approached, I realized it was a coyote. To my delight, there were at least four of them. One of them started trotting directly towards me from across the street, which caused me to turn around, which startled them. It darted away and several emitted some low barks. I turned the light of my phone on as I was still in video recording mode. Though I wasn’t successful in capturing them, as i shown my light towards them I saw several motionless pairs of illuminated eyes looking back at me as they stood still for a moment in curiosity, trying to figure out what i was all about. The nightingale was still singing away, a plethora of tunes, in such a dramatic range of sounds and octaves…what a wild few minutes of this evening.
I’ve just found out that the best means to get an mp4 out there to the world, is not by attempting to upload it to Facebook or WordPress, but to my (your) youtube channel, and then providing the link. voila. Here’s the link to the video, during which time at 2:45 into the tape, while capturing the nightingale’s melodies, you here the barks of the coyotes.
This is a dark video, for the purpose only of capturing a tiny fraction of the immense diversity of song of the nightingale.
“The common nightingale or simply nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), also known as rufous nightingale, is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song.”
coyotes difference between dog, wolf, coyote, jackal and fox
Coyotes are slick, coming into the town during the night. It was about midnight. How cool! I then got on my bicycle to follow them, found one lagging behind that darted into bushes. Tucson is mostly flat, one story houses. I’ve seen baby quails, lots of lizards, have seen a coyote during the daytime by a dry river bed, but not yet any javelinas (wild pigs). I love nature!
“The coyote appears often in the tales and traditions of Native Americans—usually as a very savvy and clever beast. Modern coyotes have displayed their cleverness by adapting to the changing American landscape. These members of the dog family once lived primarily in open prairies and deserts, but now roam the continent’s forests and mountains. They have even colonized cities like Los Angeles, and are now found over most of North America. Coyote populations are likely at an all-time high.”
Tucson, Arizona is located in a small fraction of the immense area that encompasses the Sonoran desert. https://www.desertmuseum.org/desert/sonora.php
Sonoran desert region presented by the Sonoran Desert museum.
Sonoran desert region and its subdivision -sonoran desert museum
I have since downloaded an audio app, to record the unfathomable richness and amusing song of nightingales. 🙂 delightful encounter!
Don’t know why it sounds like i’m standing next to a fast moving river – – ha aha – – here in the desert. poor audio. i’m working on it.
Carol Keiter the blogger, musician and composer
Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations to her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition
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