Does it matter if species become extinct?

[polystyle]

The black bears have had some tough seasons in recent years as some of their usual food
didn't grow as much and so they move in for a chance at more food.
Out West some mountain lions see joggers or bikers as prey ,
and little dogs snatched by coyotes right ?
In Japan it's often these orchards out in the country where the mama and pop family agribusiness has come down to just the two of them left . Then the bears have fun

Adirondacks , that's got to be something this time of year
And sure when camping there you'd better put your food up in a tree, preferably off a branch and high up .
You can hear them out there, snuffling around in the middle of the night .
Did you get snow up there ?

 

[nomadthethird]

The black bears have had some tough seasons in recent years as some of their usual food
didn't grow as much and so they move in for a chance at more food.
Out West some mountain lions see joggers or bikers as prey ,
and little dogs snatched by coyotes right ?
In Japan it's often these orchards out in the country where the mama and pop family agribusiness has come down to just the two of them left . Then the bears have fun

Adirondacks , that's got to be something this time of year
And sure when camping there you'd better put your food up in a tree, preferably off a branch and high up .
You can hear them out there, snuffling around in the middle of the night .
Did you get snow up there ?

Amazingly, not yet, although the Rhinebeck/Hyde Park area (closer to the Catskills) did, I heard.

 

[grizzleb]

I think action about global warming will probably only commence 'proper' when the effects of it are obvious, people talk all they want but everyone I know, including self-proclaimed eco-warriors pay only lip service to the idea of cutting carbon emmissions etc. We need a kick in the face to realise there's a problem, but that's always been the case. Look at the banking collapse. Until then I'm gonna fly and shit like everyone else. Well actually I don't really like flying, but you know what I mean.

Who on here actually properly goes out their way to be ecotastic?

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Until then I'm gonna shit like everyone else.

Too right, I want at least one barbecue summer before I put a cap on my methane emissions.

 

[Mr. Tea]

my methane emissions.

Yeah, I heard about them, fackin ell.

 

[nomadthethird]

Who on here actually properly goes out their way to be ecotastic?

Trick question.

Nobody, because nobody really knows what's the best way to head off CO2 emissions yet.

 

[grizzleb]

That's true I guess, but what I mean is that, for most people action isn't really worth it whilst the majority of people continue to drive big cars, throw away binfuls of half-eaten food and whatnot. People will only act on mass when it becomes immediatley apparent that there is a problem, or I suppose if being unecological becomes criminalized.

 

[nomadthethird]

That's true I guess, but what I mean is that, for most people action isn't really worth it whilst the majority of people continue to drive big cars, throw away binfuls of half-eaten food and whatnot. People will only act on mass when it becomes immediatley apparent that there is a problem, or I suppose if being unecological becomes criminalized.

I know what you're saying, I was just sorta making a rhetorical point about how the solutions to curbing emissions aren't actually as simple as most people think they are (i.e. recycle, use those lightbulbs that work longer).

One thing that reeeally, really annoys me, and always has since even before the global warming awareness was high amongst people, is the way that goods, but especially food, are overpackaged. Why do they need to put things in cellophane and then waxpaper, and then cardboard?? I think the government should regulate how much packaging companies can use.

 

[grizzleb]

Yeah, it's strange that that would make sense but (at least in the UK) there is this sort of backlash against a 'nanny state' and I think ideas like that would probably get booed down as that, petty interference in things that matter little. It's ironic that when people claim common sense is disallowed nowadays, laws that do make sense from that point of view are deemed to be evidence of government interference in the trivial.

 

[CHAOTROPIC]

Humans first, second mountain lions, third tigers, fourth bears..

C'mon ... leopards? If every other large predator becomes extinct, leopards will still be lurking about somewhere, picking us off when we get lazy. In South Africa, all these gated blacks-out compounds with giant electric fences, state-of-the-art security, lights, cameras, & fierce guard dogs. Impregnable. &, all the time, someone walks out in the morning, in their pride & pomp, & stretches, & a guard dog is missing.

Leopards!!!

 

[CHAOTROPIC]

I stared square into the eyes of a leopard in Singapore. About three feet from my face. Singapore Zoo, night safari. He walked up, stared me right in the eyes & just stood there. The concentrated ferocity coming off him was electric. He was beyond charisma. Just unbelievable. & huge - 300lbs probably. Twice the size of the African leopards you see on the telly. Never forgotten him. African game wardens say that a leopard attacking you is like someone throwing a chainsaw in your face. You just can't believe how fast, how strong, how insane.

 

[zhao]

Who on here actually properly goes out their way to be ecotastic?

i gave up driving cars altogether and am entirely on bike and occasionally public transport... can't hurt, right?

oh and i don't think i'm having kids myself. which also helps no?

 

[zhao]

I stared square into the eyes of a leopard in Singapore. About three feet from my face. Singapore Zoo, night safari. He walked up, stared me right in the eyes & just stood there.

there is a scene in Tropical Malady of the man being confronted by his weretiger lover... spine tingling stuff.

 

[zhao]

this is just horrific.

 

[michael]

^ Yeah the stories of what's happening on Midway are heart-rending. Those photos are (as usual) much more compelling than the reportage I'd already read.

The tragic air of the complete ignorance surrounding the birds' actions was touched on earlier in the thread, and I do find it quite horrifying.

That guy's done a lot of interesting images - one of the prints on this page for Running The Numbers II notes we're dumping an estimated 2,400,000 pounds of plastic into the sea every hour, which is obviously directly relevant to the message conveyed by these photos.

 

[CHAOTROPIC]

there is a scene in Tropical Malady of the man being confronted by his weretiger lover... spine tingling stuff.

I really REALLY want to see that film ...

 

[baboon2004]

I really REALLY want to see that film ...

Quentin to the rescue:

"At the press screening at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, several audience members left before the film was over and some of those who stayed until the end booed it. The film received generally poor reviews from such industry journals as Variety and Hollywood Reporter, but then won the Jury Prize from the jury headed by Quentin Tarantino and has been generally met with favorable reviews since then."

This is however a much sounder positive recommendation - Slant is the best film site ont he web for my money:

"Also, it was rated the 3rd best film of 2005 by Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez"

 

[viktorvaughn]

It's a really cool film.

 

[grizzleb]

AA Gill shoots baboon. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/li..._drink/eating_out/a_a_gill/article6882183.ece

"I wanted to get a sense of what it might be like to kill someone, a stranger. You see it in all those films: guns and bodies, barely a close-up of reflection or doubt. What does it really feel like to shoot someone, or someone's close relative?"

What a nugget.

 

[Lewis]

^ I like AA Gill but this has got midlife crisis written all over it. Like he's decided to start living out his Hunter S Thompson fantasies.