Now,
there’s moose. Lately, I’ve
noticed in the Rochester-area
environmental news that there are
increasingly more stories about
sightings of coyotes, bears,
mountain lions, and now moose. What
is one to make of these alleged
come-backs—animals previously lost
to us, now inching their way back
into our environment? Could it be
the enthusiasm of the editorial
staff of our newspapers short on
things to titillate the public with,
or have there really been actual
sighting of these animals? I know
people have seen coyotes, some have
seen bears, it’s really sketchy as
to whether anyone has seen a
mountain lion in these parts, and
moose—I doubt it. But, that just my
opinion. What I find interesting
most, though, is the impressions
each of these animals and their
anticipated returns bring with them.
Few care about having the coyote
around because there is so much
misinformation about them and few
think they do any good. Some like
the idea of bears being back, but
most have no desire to see one
except through closed car windows.
Almost no one wants mountain lions
around because of the fear factor.
But, I suspect everyone except
speeders on our winding country
roads are for moose coming back to
our area. Except for dangerous car
collisions with these humongous
beasts, what’s not to like in these
majestic beasts making a come back?
Overall though, we should be
wondering what is causing these
animals to return (though actually
the Eastern Coyote is not really
returning, but making its way East
because there are no wolf
populations existing here) to our
area. Why were they all killed? Why
are they coming back? What role did
they play in our environment? What
role would they play in our
environment if anyone of these
creatures made a significant come
back? These top predators and plant
eaters play a significant role in
areas where man has not taken over,
but do they still have a place in
our local Rochester-area environment
today—with all our houses and roads
and factories and lawns and, you
know, man’s ubiquitous footprint.
These are questions for scientists
and though our opinions will
ultimately decide whether or not
these creatures are allowed to stay,
if would be interesting if our
colleges and/or governmental bodies
actually went out and did a complete
study on each of these animals and
how each has and will help frame our
environment. Check out this story:
Moose regain footing
in N.Y.
Roughly 500 of the animals are
thought to be in rural areas —
ALBANY — The moose are loose in
northern New York. The number of
moose, which until 20 years ago were
almost never seen in New York, is
now estimated at 500, the state
Department of Environmental
Conservation said Thursday. "It's
wonderful to see this marvelous
animal make its way back to New
York," said DEC Commissioner Pete
Grannis, who noted that the moose
disappeared from New York around the
end of the Civil War because of
unregulated hunting and the chopping
down of woodlands for farms.
(September 30, 2007)
Democrat & ChronicleThere seems to be more reports about environmental degradation lately than you can shake a stick at: Are the Greenies on the rise, chicken-littling the climate change debate to death? I don’t think so. All that’s going on, that is, what’s indicated in this report is that conditions that affect human existence are going to be dramatically affected by manmade footprints. It’s time for the naysayer’s to climb out of their denial box and take a hard cold look at the plethora of facts and reports about the changes that our species have made on this planet. The answer is not to get overwhelmed and depressed, but to acknowledge that unprecedented change is going to occur and become part of the solution.
There is hope, some have looked ahead: One of the theories as to the popularity of science fiction is that in this vein of literature we can imagine future scenarios and virtually ‘move around’ in them to examine the repercussions of such a world. Science fiction writers have imagined all sorts of worlds, one of their favorite being our planet invaded by an alien race, one where all humans have to put away their differences and focus on the threat to us all. This is the message of the changes that are coming: We must stop acting the way we have and treat the changes coming to our planet as if an alien race were attacking us all. Which is sort of what is happening. If we don’t sort out our political and economic differences and focus on the common threat that Climate Change and other changes described in this latest report describe, then how to we solve them?
Most of the pundits on most of the mass media believe that the political concerns in the Washington beltway, or Iraq, or Iran, or North Korea, or sexual behavior of this or that senator, or the vagaries of the stock market, should preoccupy our minds. But, it isn’t so. While we squabble about our usual human transgressions a much larger problem about our ability to sustain our way of life is looming. We’d better find a way to better sort out our priorities or we will be battling the usual suspects while we all fall together.
Vital Signs 2007 - 2008 | Worldwatch Institute This report tracks and analyzes 44 trends that are shaping our future, and includes graphs and charts to provide a visual comparison over time. Categories of trends include: Food, Agricultural Resources, Energy and Climate, Global Economy, Resource Economics, Environment, Conflict and Peace, Communications and Transportation, Population and Society, and Health and Disease.
I’ve decided that I want to be rich and so I’ve embarking on a broad 'aspirational goal' of being a millionaire. The great thing about this approach for getting lots of money is that I don’t really have to do anything--noting concrete, no goal setting, nothing really at all. I just have to dream about the prospect that lots of money will fall into my hands by magic or serendipity (I just like that word.). I kinda just have to aspire towards it, a sort of mental leaning and poof! just like that tons of money will fall into my hands. Those poor idiots who slaved and worked for economic wealth.
I don’t know why the rest of the world doesn’t wake up to this fanatic way of goal setting. Just think how many problems in the world could be solved, if we all just aspired, without any specific concrete actions, to achieve our goals. Nobody would have to do anything say, to curb poverty, or diseases, or making this planet a better place to live.
But, the really great thing about this strategy to becoming a millionaire is that I won’t offend anyone. For those who think my spending the rest of my life rapaciously grabbing for great wealth is a bad thing, I can prove that I’m not really doing anything about it because I’m just making it a broad aspirational goal of it.
For those who think that you’re not really ‘anybody’ unless you have lots of bucks, I can show them I have a very specific plan for becoming like them. Everyone’s happy: my critics, my friends, and me. Except…, I wonder what the odds of my making a cent? But really, it must be a great strategy because look: The brilliant leaders of the world have just decided on this approach—a broad aspirational goal-- to curbing the greatest problem of this century—Global Warming.
They haven’t set any solid goals, or created any binding agreements. The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum stood firm in making a string of lofty sounding sentences towards the great problem on fixing Global Warming and not doing a damn thing about it.
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