Comments Ivriniel has made

Re: Info on Canada Geese

According to the Canadian Wildlife Service's Hinterland Who's Who on Canada Geese there's dispute about how the various races of Canada Geese should be organized but this is what the CWS has to say about the Giant Canada Goose:

One race, the Giant Canada Goose, used to breed in southern Canada and the northern United States but disappeared from most of its range by the late 1800s. Early settlers may have gathered Giant Canada Goose eggs and rounded up and slaughtered many of the geese during the flightless moulting period. Beginning in the early 1900s, Canada Geese from captive breeding flocks were reintroduced into the southern parts of their former range. This practice continued through much of the 20th century, and Canada Geese were eventually restored in Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, and west to southern Alberta. During this period, geese were also introduced to areas where they may not have bred before.

These reintroduced populations have since exploded, and Canada Geese have become a nuisance in many areas. The birds thrive under the close protection and feeding opportunities they find in parks, near suburban wetlands, and on lawns or golf courses. Because no hunting takes place in these areas, there are few natural factors working to limit population growth and disperse the birds. Populations of urban Canada Geese are still growing, and the range of these birds is still expanding. Problems associated with geese include droppings on lawns and beaches, which may contaminate drinking water sources, aggressive behaviour toward humans, and collisions with aircraft. Wildlife managers are increasingly being asked to balance the careful conservation of some types of Canada Geese with programs designed to limit or reduce populations coming into conflict with agriculture or other human activities. To deal with problem geese, the Canadian Wildlife Service has liberalized hunting regulations as much as possible. It has also allowed other management options under permit.

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=35

In any case, according to Wikipedia the American Ornithological Union reorganized the subspecies of Canada Geese in July of 2004. Maybe your bird books predate that?

IvrinielOn Readers write in about sexist hair-color remarks, microwaving tea, eco rock concerts, and more posted 2 years, 8 months ago 5 Responses

Lower cost environmentally responsible food

Here's a way to buy more enivironentally responsible fruits and vegetables at a reasonable price.

In the Greater Toronto Area, Foodshare,  a United Way Agency has what it calls "good food boxes". Good Food boxes contain produce that is group purchased to bring down the costs to consumers.  The program is open to anyone regardless of income level. What's more they come in organic and non-organic versions.  Both versions do their best to emphasize local in-season produce.  The contents of the boxes vary from week to week, based on food availability and price.

In Toronto the regular boxes range in price from $17 to $12 per box and the organic ones from $32 to $22 per box.  

Apparently there are similar programs in other cities around North America.

For more information here's their website: http://www.foodshare.net/goodfoodbox05.htmOn On greening your roommates posted 2 years, 9 months ago 3 Responses

PVC

Just to add to the all around badness of PVC, Vinyl Chloride is associated with a very specific kind of liver cancer, and workers who make PVC are exposed to the stuff.

IvrinielOn Umbra on which plastics to avoid posted 2 years, 9 months ago 4 Responses

Canada Geese

Thanks Gary Lantz for your comments.

I found David Feld's comments somewhat questionable myself.

Especially his claim that Canada geese in Canada are migratory.  Perhaps he'd like to come to Toronto and explain that to the geese that are taking over my neighbourhood?

We have a flock of geese living in the school yard, another one living in the mall parking lot, and a third one living on the front lawn of the local Sikh temple.

Canada geese will stay anywhere in their breeding range where there is adequate food and open water throughout the winter. What's more, their breeding range is not restricted to Canada, as Mr. Feld's comments implied.

IvrinielOn Readers write in about sexist hair-color remarks, microwaving tea, eco rock concerts, and more posted 2 years, 9 months ago 5 Responses

A Question

You say:

Another problem with appealing to a natural recovery from the LIA is that temperature has now risen to levels higher than the assumed baseline climate. So even if some recovery were to be expected, why have we now exceeded it?

A climate skeptic might reply that it's like a pendulum swing.  After the drastic downward tip of the Little Ice Age, the climate is now overcorrecting,  How would you respond to that?

Thanks,

IvrinielOn 'We are just recovering from the LIA'--Why should we expect this to happen? posted 2 years, 9 months ago 4 Responses

Seal Blubber!

First off, in Collapse, Diamond gives figures based on bones found at the Greenland colonies about what animal species they were eating.  I lent my copy of the book to a friend, but as I recall there weren't any whale bones in the mix.

Seal bones were definately found, with the poorest people eating mostly seal.  This is probably the source of your blubber. (I mean, the blubber mentioned in the book, not any personal blubber you may or may not have. ;) ).  These seal were hunted from the rocks though, not from the sea.

The Norse diet seems to have been mostly a yogurt-like product produced from sheep and cow milk, and meat.

Also as far as wood goes, metal was a far bigger limiting factor.  The Norse obtained iron from bog iron, which is a poor source requiring a lot of smelting to get small quantities of usable metal. At one point a medieval chronicler reports people in Iceland being shocked by a boat from Greenland that arrived at their port.  The boat didn't have any nails..It was entirely held together with wooden pegs.  It's believed that the Norse could obtain plenty of wood from  nearby "Markland."  As long as they had 1 working ship, they could obtain more wood.

In any case, for more on the Greenland Norse, I would suggest that you read the full chapter (if not the whole book) in Colapse by Jared Diamond. It's fascinating.

IvrinielOn 'Greenland used to be green'--Don't judge a book by its cover, much less a land by its name posted 2 years, 9 months ago 23 Responses

Clouds and temperature

Ed Wood:

I'm your neighbour over in Ontario, and I like to point out something about our regional climate that you may not realize.

In the winter time, when the weather is clear and cold, it is because we are under the influence of an arctic airmass.   Air coming in from the arctic is very cold, and also very dry (since there's little to no open water to evaporate up into the sky up there), so there are little to no clouds in the sky.

When it is cloudy and warmer, it is because we are under the influence of an Atlantic airmass.  Air coming in off the Atlantic is warmer and also wetter (since there's plenty of open water to evaporate into the sky).

You're assuming that clouds cause warmer weather, when  different factors are influencing both the temperature and the level of cloud cover.

IvrinielOn 'Global warming is part of a natural cycle'--This idea is one short step above appealing to magic posted 2 years, 9 months ago 39 Responses