Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
The Greatest Natural Disaster in the World
The greatest natural disaster in the history of the world has been the human brain. Get rid of us and Eden will return unaided. . . . . . - When the Thrill Is Gone by Walter Mosley
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6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I so wish more humans admired this- god's good earth is where it's at. :)
As a general rule, statements of the form "everything will be wonderful if we just get rid of X" don't survive contact with reality.
Best case scenario is, a barricade to success, growth or life is removed, and if it was accurately identified as a toxin, some new endeavor/system/species comes into being and thus begins a new struggle. Which runs into another challenge/toxin. In simpler terms: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
I am not quite sure what mkfreeberg is saying, but if it's that humans are just like every other species and we are no worse, then I am afraid that is simply wrong.
No other species make atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, or billions of tons of pesticides and herbicides a year that is spread with airplanes and massive sprayers over the land.
No other species makes chainsaws and skidders that can level a forest, and then sends that forest 5,000 miles away where it ends up as waste.
No other species make plastic fishing nets and long liness that decimate oceans, and no other species makes plastic that floats on every ocean of world.
No other species rips down millions of square miles of land, plows it up, and turns it into a monoculture crop for its own purpose.
No other species cuts the tops off of mountains in the blink of an eye, nor does any other species construct massive hydroelectric dams that flood valleys and all that live there.
As I have noted on this blog in the past, we KNOW what happens when man disappears; nature comes roaring back and wildlife with it.
The Garden of Eden comes back.
This has happened at Chernobyl, in the Korean DMZ, and in the various nuclear and military arsenals in the U.S. where man has been (or was) excluded for so long. And it is happening now in Japan in the nuclear zones.
See >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-new-wildlife-park-in-japans-future.html and read about other examples here >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/06/upside-of-disaster.html
I'm with you Patrick. And our little white dogs will turn into foxes living in holes in the ground and still hunting the little creatures. I just hope there's a few friendly humans left to turn our domestic and captive animals loose so they can have a chance.
I've said for a while now that the whole save the planet issue is easily solved. We just go on as we are. If we do this we will soon be decimated as a species and the planet will be able to get on with fixing itself. Of course it won't be the same planet, but it beats a dead planet. And yes, the planet will loose a lot of species. (I personally lament the tiger) But the planet's ecosystems have survived mass extinctions before. If our numbers are severely pruned it can only be a good thing.
6 comments:
I so wish more humans admired this- god's good earth is where it's at. :)
As a general rule, statements of the form "everything will be wonderful if we just get rid of X" don't survive contact with reality.
Best case scenario is, a barricade to success, growth or life is removed, and if it was accurately identified as a toxin, some new endeavor/system/species comes into being and thus begins a new struggle. Which runs into another challenge/toxin. In simpler terms: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Cool quote, though.
I am not quite sure what mkfreeberg is saying, but if it's that humans are just like every other species and we are no worse, then I am afraid that is simply wrong.
No other species make atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, or billions of tons of pesticides and herbicides a year that is spread with airplanes and massive sprayers over the land.
No other species makes chainsaws and skidders that can level a forest, and then sends that forest 5,000 miles away where it ends up as waste.
No other species make plastic fishing nets and long liness that decimate oceans, and no other species makes plastic that floats on every ocean of world.
No other species rips down millions of square miles of land, plows it up, and turns it into a monoculture crop for its own purpose.
No other species cuts the tops off of mountains in the blink of an eye, nor does any other species construct massive hydroelectric dams that flood valleys and all that live there.
As I have noted on this blog in the past, we KNOW what happens when man disappears; nature comes roaring back and wildlife with it.
The Garden of Eden comes back.
This has happened at Chernobyl, in the Korean DMZ, and in the various nuclear and military arsenals in the U.S. where man has been (or was) excluded for so long. And it is happening now in Japan in the nuclear zones.
See >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-new-wildlife-park-in-japans-future.html and read about other examples here >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/06/upside-of-disaster.html
I'm with you Patrick. And our little white dogs will turn into foxes living in holes in the ground and still hunting the little creatures. I just hope there's a few friendly humans left to turn our domestic and captive animals loose so they can have a chance.
Debi and the TX JRTs
I've said for a while now that the whole save the planet issue is easily solved. We just go on as we are. If we do this we will soon be decimated as a species and the planet will be able to get on with fixing itself. Of course it won't be the same planet, but it beats a dead planet. And yes, the planet will loose a lot of species. (I personally lament the tiger) But the planet's ecosystems have survived mass extinctions before. If our numbers are severely pruned it can only be a good thing.
Agreed
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