<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for How wildlife biologists are becoming hospice workers]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by caniscandida http://www.grist.org/article/sitting-by-the-bedside-of-a-disappearing-world/ Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:31:16 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/sitting-by-the-bedside-of-a-disappearing-world/1 incapable of even recognizing

This is a lovely, poignant essay.  Many thanks to Meera Subramanian, whose writing I have seen in NYT and Audubon.

We must try to understand the frustration of these biologists, observing creatures whose numbers are fewer every year, knowing no way to halt that decline, just writing down numbers, as though to give witness, till before long the animals and plants that they love are all gone.

It would be great if one of the presidential candidates could be drawn to a forest in the PNW where spotted owls live, to deliver a speech with the title, "God bless Strix occidentalis!"  The one I especially have in mind is John Edwards, whom I like very much, the pro-worker candidate -- what an interesting confrontation that would be, between him and the lumber workers.  Profile-in-courage time.

He could follow that up with a visit to Massachusetts, at Gloucester perhaps, and a similar speech with the title, "God bless our fish!  God bless our whales!"

Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

]]> incapable of even recognizing

This is a lovely, poignant essay.  Many thanks to Meera Subramanian, whose writing I have seen in NYT and Audubon.

We must try to understand the frustration of these biologists, observing creatures whose numbers are fewer every year, knowing no way to halt that decline, just writing down numbers, as though to give witness, till before long the animals and plants that they love are all gone.

It would be great if one of the presidential candidates could be drawn to a forest in the PNW where spotted owls live, to deliver a speech with the title, "God bless Strix occidentalis!"  The one I especially have in mind is John Edwards, whom I like very much, the pro-worker candidate -- what an interesting confrontation that would be, between him and the lumber workers.  Profile-in-courage time.

He could follow that up with a visit to Massachusetts, at Gloucester perhaps, and a similar speech with the title, "God bless our fish!  God bless our whales!"

Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

]]> Comment #2 by atreyger http://www.grist.org/article/sitting-by-the-bedside-of-a-disappearing-world/ Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:06:17 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/sitting-by-the-bedside-of-a-disappearing-world/2 I wonder...

...why the spotted owl habitat out west is slated for clearcuts rather than put under selection system cuttings, which actually gets the forest to old growth faster (if it's second growth, for example) or maintains the old growth.

It appears that this is typical of both the environmentalists (any cutting is bad) and the conservatives (forest owners? forest managers?: stupid environmentalists). There is a middle ground for both wood production and habitat protection, and this is particularly true with increasing insect outbreaks and tree species declines as a result of infestations and multiples of other reasons (warmer winters and droughty summers?).

]]> I wonder...

...why the spotted owl habitat out west is slated for clearcuts rather than put under selection system cuttings, which actually gets the forest to old growth faster (if it's second growth, for example) or maintains the old growth.

It appears that this is typical of both the environmentalists (any cutting is bad) and the conservatives (forest owners? forest managers?: stupid environmentalists). There is a middle ground for both wood production and habitat protection, and this is particularly true with increasing insect outbreaks and tree species declines as a result of infestations and multiples of other reasons (warmer winters and droughty summers?).

]]> Comment #3 by swan http://www.grist.org/article/sitting-by-the-bedside-of-a-disappearing-world/ Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:14:46 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/sitting-by-the-bedside-of-a-disappearing-world/3 Each bird counts

I am 64 years old. I grew up on the gulf coast. As a child, I walked the beaches with my birdwatching grandmother for miles and miles with no sign of human presence or contamination. Over the years I lived in beautiful remote places - near the Canadian border in Eastern Washington, in the mountains of northern New Mexico, in the Sonoran desert and along the banks of the Guadalupe River in the hill country of Texas.

I drank from pristine rivers. I walked in some of the last vestiges of a world rich with birds and animals and plants - the last unspoiled wildernesses.

My grandchildren live in a very different world. I want them to know that each bird counts. I share my stories with them so they will know and share my love for what remains and it is my hope they will pass the stories on to their children.

I'm writing a blog at http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com and working on a book about some of my travels.

This is an excellent article and expresses a lot of my feelings about this tragedy, this incredible loss.    

 

]]> Each bird counts

I am 64 years old. I grew up on the gulf coast. As a child, I walked the beaches with my birdwatching grandmother for miles and miles with no sign of human presence or contamination. Over the years I lived in beautiful remote places - near the Canadian border in Eastern Washington, in the mountains of northern New Mexico, in the Sonoran desert and along the banks of the Guadalupe River in the hill country of Texas.

I drank from pristine rivers. I walked in some of the last vestiges of a world rich with birds and animals and plants - the last unspoiled wildernesses.

My grandchildren live in a very different world. I want them to know that each bird counts. I share my stories with them so they will know and share my love for what remains and it is my hope they will pass the stories on to their children.

I'm writing a blog at http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com and working on a book about some of my travels.

This is an excellent article and expresses a lot of my feelings about this tragedy, this incredible loss.    

 

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