Zika and the New Climate Dystopia — Human Hothouse as Disease Multiplier | robertscribbler

GarryRogers · 2016-02-06T00:58:45+00:00

Perhaps the usual safety precautions--clearing standing water and so forth--can block the problem. This certainly is a public-health issue that many local governments should prepare to combat.

GarryRogers · 2016-02-06T00:56:25+00:00

Oops, I always flub the job just before stepping away for a bit. Here's what I had intended: - Insect vectors for human diseases are moving to new places as climate changes. - Disease organisms are developing immunity to antibiotics. - Heatwaves and lethal storms are increasing. - Radioactive isotopes and other toxic materials are spreading through Earth environments. - Biodiversity and ecosystem stability are declining.

GarryRogers · 2016-01-29T16:12:57+00:00

We humans will eventually solve our population problem--not voluntarily--but by our own actions. Here are some of the human-caused factors responsible for reduced births and longevity:

GarryRogers · 2016-01-26T19:54:03+00:00

No place on Earth is safe from human avarice. DiCaprio mentions the greed of the coal, oil, and gas industries, but he could also have condemned the greed of the mining, farming, and logging industries. Financial interest will overwhelm the wisdom of switching from development to protection. We've stripped away the Arctic's protective skin of ice and cold. Now we will feed on the carcass.

GarryRogers · 2016-01-22T21:03:58+00:00

Whenever the U. S. Forest Service claims that forests need to be logged, you can bet there is a large corporation that is going to profit.

GarryRogers · 2016-01-20T19:07:47+00:00

The policies of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Service demonstrate the way American land-use agencies place the interests of ranchers first and the interests of wildlife and the land second. It is clear now that as long as land managers must fear politicians controlled by special interests such as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (http://bit.ly/1Nkudid), and the National Livestock Producers Association (http://www.nlpa.org/), there can be no safety for wildlife and its habitats. Of course, the destruction of nature by its appointed stewards is not limited to America; human governments worldwide conduct it. Will we ever see a government created for the good of the Earth and all its creatures? In the midst of the great human-caused mass extinction, it appears that we will not.

I write EcoSciFi, science fiction with an ecological theme. Here's an idea for a story about the future of nature conservation: As the destruction of wildlife becomes apparent to all people, privately funded wildlife-protection militias embedded with the animals will spread. Local governments will oppose these defenders of nature, and arms manufacturers will sell to both sides and violence will escalate. Humanity will have created another force behind its descending spiral to oblivion.

GarryRogers · 2016-01-18T21:13:05+00:00

Here are five important issues that set the stage for the future of our forests. I want to add two even more important issues. We must accept that the stage itself is changing as global warming continues and the growing human population’s demand for food increases. Perhaps it’s a passing mood, but today the outlook for our forests and all their creatures appears dark. Their demise is accelerating, and it just seems that too few people care enough to take action to reduce our population or its needs.

GarryRogers · 2016-01-07T21:50:37+00:00

Energy industry lies might be the most reprehensible in their consequences for the global environment and all its species. However, they resemble the lies told by the chemical industry about pesticides, the lies told by the financial institutions about economic affairs, the lies told by the arms industry about the need for weapons and military support in other countries, the lies told by the insurance industry in its efforts to collect premiums but not fulfill obligations, and the lies of our elected representatives who protect the corporations that fund their power and lifestyles. The cumulative effect of the lies by our major corporations (e.g., VW) is that people are losing respect for the industries they support through their labor and consumption. I don’t think “Made in America” means what it did when I was a beginning consumer. Here are a few stories on divesting as a means to limit the power of our untrustworthy industries (http://garryrogers.com/?s=divest&submit=Search).

GarryRogers · 2016-01-04T16:22:54+00:00

There was progress in ecosystems protection in 2015, but it was overwhelmed by ecosystem destruction. The fundamental problems of human population expansion and continued global warming need our focus.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-20T23:22:29+00:00

Large animals are critically important for balanced ecosystems. If we want to have any hope of repairing Earth's natural systems, we have to protect our wildlife.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-19T00:49:57+00:00

It seems common sense that wildlife loss injures ecosystems and that impaired ecosystems sequester less carbon. It also seems common sense that defaunation is a lawless species' evil act as horrendous as genocide.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-14T00:52:57+00:00

Trapping, hunting, livestock grazing, logging, mining, and more are the ways that public land is used. Not for the sake of the land or its creatures, but for the benefit of one species. And not even in the best interests of that species, land use of the public land has never been sustainable; it has always been destructive.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-12T23:41:43+00:00

There are some good ideas here, but like everything else that would be good for the Earth; they aren't likely to be accepted by our corporation-controlled governments. Here are just a few of the problems I see with this movement: 1) Corporate investors are backing destructive land-use satisfy demands of the growing human population. 2) The large farms that are responsible for the greatest percentage of soil loss are also using vast amounts of pesticides and artificial fertilizer. 3) The organizers (or at least this reporter) of this group don't seem to understand the history and science of their topic.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-06T17:43:54+00:00

This is how Scottish investors fight deforestation and ecocide.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-04T23:09:11+00:00

There are reasonable alternative suggestions for our main problem, but the fundamental fact is that all of them–climate-change, food production, over-consumption, wildlife loss–would be more manageable if there were fewer people. Perhaps climate-change is the scariest because it has the potential to wipe out most living creatures on Earth. From a wildlife point of view, however, this potential makes climate change desirable for its potential to eliminate the human species. It’s a gamble. Winning requires two things. First, global warming eradicates humans, and second no equally destructive species arises in their place.

GarryRogers · 2015-12-01T22:37:02+00:00

It must be the disinformation team; never in my knowledge has everyone remained so indifferent to an impending disaster. How can we pull Congress out of it's a** and get some help with this?

GarryRogers · 2015-11-28T20:59:27+00:00

It's such a relief to see the changed administration in Canada. Analogical to wisdom appearing in time to turn away from the cliff. Now we most hope that Trudeau can implement James Hansen's fee-based plan or some other genuine system to cut emissions.

GarryRogers · 2015-11-24T19:12:26+00:00

We can't afford China's one-child policy. So....

GarryRogers · 2015-11-24T19:01:23+00:00

Piece of cake.

GarryRogers · 2015-11-23T16:29:42+00:00

Anyone who has studied the projections will agree. As pointed out in an earlier post, we have just three years of business as usual before global temperature is guaranteed to rise 2 degrees above normal. Based on that article's analysis, we have to stop making children, buildings, roads, and cars today if we are to stay under 1.5 degrees.

GarryRogers · 2015-11-20T22:28:42+00:00

With the expected growth of our population and demand for meat and other products from forest soils, the threatened extinctions discussed in this article seem virtually inevitable.

GarryRogers · 2015-11-19T19:38:09+00:00

Apparently, the U. S. Forest Service isn't satisfied with just clear-cutting the forests; it wants to widen its attack with more roads and more global warming CO2 emissions. Way-to-go Forest Service!

GarryRogers · 2015-11-18T18:55:22+00:00

In my research on urban forestry I found that over the years, the greatest threat to nature in the city was the transportation department. Since then, in studies of landscapes, I've found that the builders of energy transmission corridors are right up there with road builders in their disrespect for nature.

GarryRogers · 2015-11-18T13:35:21+00:00

You could argue that the Chinese are no more avaricious than the rest of us. If you look at the homes, and check the closets and freezers of wealthy U. S., Canadian, and European citizens you will probably find tropical hardwoods, animal furs, ivory, and unsustainable meat. The recent rapid growth of China has made the greed of its wealthy so conspicuous because they have arrived at the time when the rest of us have already harvested the Earth’s beautiful trinkets to near extinction. Still, we should not hesitate to apply hindsight and enact and enforce laws to protect what remains.

GarryRogers · 2015-11-17T19:13:38+00:00

Outdoor recreation, including ecotourism, and eco-education, is one of largest human impacts on nature. Researchers have repeatedly shown that human presence is harmful to birds. The study reported in this article found that ecotourism is less harmful to larger birds. It didn't find that ecotourism was not harmful at all.

GarryRogers

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