This is not a Blender related thread, but it is related to us all. It is important. If the moderators feel this is not the place to post this, then well, feel free to move it to off-topic chat (and I apologize beforehand).
Yesterday evening my wife and I went to the (free) premiere of Revolution here in Vancouver. It was a beautiful, if disturbing, movie that hopefully will educate people, and the final message is one of hope.
There have been five major extinction events in Earth’s past, and the sixth one is well on its way unless we do something NOW. The oceans’ acidification WILL lead to a new extinction event within our life times, and so far humans have eradicated 90% of the oceans’ bigger fish since the fifties. This goes beyond the global warming/global cooling discussions: the collapse of the oceans’ ecosystems has always lead to the collapse of land-based life. Including the human race.
I have to say, the movie had a deep impact (although I was very much aware of all the issues before I watched it), and at some point near the end of the movie many people in the audience were… crying! And I was one of them.
Go see it. It’s important that everyone sees it. Tell everyone about it - it is out in theaters April 12.
The director is Rob Stewart, and you may have seen his previous “Sharkwater”.
Every problem Humanity has there is already technology to solve it.
Energy problem -> Free Energy devices (used to power underground bases). There are magnetic motors moving cars in these underground bases.
Lack of water to drink or use for animals and plants? -> Graphene filters. These membranes block every molecule except water molecule.
Economy/Greed: Laws avoiding the acts that cause this. Modification of banking actuation and rigging of things as Wall Stret and Libor.
At the moment the governments are ordered to don’t give green light to these things. The goal is to eliminate population, not enhance their lives.
And in such a situation, miracles happen. Wait and see what is going to happen. By September there will not be a “bad guy” in a power position stoping the advancement of Humanity; tons of truths will come out in these months.
I agree with overfishing being a problem but I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether or not ocean acidification is even a major issue.
Apparently I’ve heard that the science is not settled on things like and the recorded change in PH levels according to some measurements is way too small to have any effect on ocean life.
Bao2; do you claim to be a psychic or something or do you believe that most of the modern science-fiction movies are based on true stories?
Some are concerned that the world leaders are unable to act in a global sense on environmental issues. The UN has made a proposal (Agenda 21) but it seemed more like a last ditch effort (as though nothing would be done until it was almost too late). This doesn’t look good because it seems that the UN would sit idly by until it was in a position of power and then implement the agenda. I really should leave it at that. There are movements for solutions to get behind though. Here’s a more recent one.
Along with that having been a highly contestable point in my state over the last year or two, it does remind me of an article published in Popular Science where people of the future move into large, high-rise apartment complexes where the units themselves are so small that the windows have to double as TV-screens (because there might not be room for an actual TV or desktop).
I’m like, what, so we will all move or be moved into cities like Tokyo where the dwellings are pint-sized and have to go to a special ‘pet house’ if we want to play with some furry four-legged companions!? I don’t think we’ll be moving out of our single-family house with a yard anytime soon. (and yes, some people do design their backyards to accommodate wildlife like birds).
Not to say that I would not like to see the construction of what are known as ‘Arcologies’ in SimCity 2000, but those type of places will definitely not be for everybody. I don’t mind seeing more use of alternative transit like bicycles either (why not, reduce the amount of traffic for those who need to use cars for certain cases and cut down on the obesity crisis). Or maybe a 300 Square Ft. apartment would not be so bad (for a select group of people currently not keen about it) once we have the technology to install star-trek style holodecks (a doorway to a virtual, but vast world, hopefully with Dragons ;)).
Out here in California, the environmentalists have many birds under the protection of the law.
of these birds is the Raven: a huge black bird most notably associated with evil villains (unless it’s Raven from the DC comics…in which case it’s mostly a protagonist).
Now on the surface this is not a huge problem.
But, if you look at how we know it from experience:
Ravens are pests.
They kill off Red Tail Hawks: a very beautiful bird.
They kill chickens…we have lost many a chicken to the Ravens.
They get into your trash. We’ve had to pick up a lot of trash because these birds got into ours.
Now we can’t get rid of the sucker birds by any humane means at all. Twice we’ve had to tear down a nest in the same tree and they’ve kept coming back. There are no animal traps suitable for getting rid of them and even if there were, where you could take them without them coming back is a very slim thing indeed.
and you can’t shoot or kill them either or you’ll have the law on your butt faster than a cheetah.
My point is that, while environmental restrictions sound all fine and dandy because you are “Saving The Planet”
in reality you are just causing the creation of tight restrictions because the environmentalists see the effects of a fallen, sinful world.
While I don’t have any specific examples as support, I think that as with everything else people take up as a cause, there is always an extremist element that takes it too far. It’s all well and good to make preservation and conservation a higher priority, and I agree about many of those efforts, but at some point nature will prove that it will evolve any way it wants, and I don’t think we are likely going to be able to fully understand let alone predict it. It reminds me of a story I heard by a veterinarian (or wildlife rescuer, I can’t remember) on a local radio station. She spent many weeks rescuing an endangered bird. Feeding, nursing, training to feed itself, etc. Then one day, they went out into the hills to release it. It flew majestically for a few dozen yards, when another bird of prey swooped in and snatched it up for dinner.
I think we can all treat the planet a lot nicer without becoming militant about it. And until someone can come forward with honest, reliable and unbiased facts about how things are changing, being intelligent enough not to shit in the kitchen so you don’t dirty the bathroom seems to be challenge enough for some.
Very well put. I does seem that if not now then in the near future we may have the software and hardware to actually make heads or tails of our impact. I’m pretty optimistic in our ability to collect the information but not so much in our ability to implement it. That may be a more serious issue and maybe the one to focus on.
Responding to this, since we have a pet cat, we have more an indirect contribution to ending the life of some animals as opposed to helping it begin.
She’s brought us quite a few birds over the years (which some she sneaks inside), she’s also killed plenty of rabbits, dragged the bodies into our garage, and by the time we open the door, it’s not only beheaded, but the digestive system is also laying on the floor separate from the body (which means that I have to help clean it up). She’s pretty much the sole reason why I’ve been somewhat desensitized to animal gore X.X, at least she doesn’t usually kill the snakes (because I like to handle them a little before I let them go).
As they say, the circle of life and life in general can be cruel, when we found a baby bird that fell out of a nest, the best I could do is put it in a spot where it could die in peace, now we are among those who believe that a day will come when all this is removed from existence and that gives us hope, but I won’t go into detail to be on the safe side.
Now how does this tie into environmental discussion, I’m all for ensuring that there are is a vibrant and healthy environment for future generations to enjoy, we also love the presence of animals. (our property has birdfeeders and birdbaths to attract birds for example, we also have a line of trees in the back of the property so there are times where we might see upwards of half a dozen squirrels in one area (not to mention the occasional possum, raccoon, and even skunk, though the raccoons has been infamous for raiding our garage and stealing our pet food). Other places in our area of town may also have had occasional sightings of foxes and in rare cases even a deer, and you also don’t have to go far to get to places where you might spot coyotes. One animal where I wouldn’t mind seeing action taken to control the population is the canada goose, they’re beautiful birds but the downside if the fact that wherever they congregate turns into a minefield of poop (annoying when I’m walking in those areas and I have to coordinate my steps).
Some good points indeed. So far we have either tried to control or just ignored the natural order. I’m just hoping that we can stay out of it’s way as much as possible.
PS: I’ve had some run ins with Canadian Geese they do make quite a mess. Push come to shove though, I hear they’re delicious.
I heard such as well, too bad they are illegal to hunt here. I think the Canada Goose is a good example of how our “good intentions” aren’t so good. Being protected up here, instead of eating them, many people sit in the park feeding them. So not only are we providing a source of the offending remains, we’re supporting larger populations by introducing a drive-thru food service that wasn’t isn’t there naturally.
I live in a more rural area, so many of the less predatory wildlife make many an appearance. Deer are quite common (except in hunting season, I think they have a bunker somewhere they hide in). We’ve had them exploring the fields as close as 200 ft from our house. In the spring flooding, cranes, storks and red tailed hawks frequent the drainage ditches behind the barn. But as Ace Dragon alluded to the circle of life, these visits inevitably bring about packs of coyotes that (at least by the sounds of it at night) number in the dozens. They raid some farms, attack pets and garbage at the curb without fear. Does this mean we are entitled to rid our properties of these animals? Should they be required to find some other tiny corner of the country they once freely roamed? Are we smart enough to think we are entitled to cull and control populations to maintain a balance that has taken millennia for nature herself to work out? Or is there some other responsible way to co-exist?
I don’t think we’re ready yet (but I do agree there are cases where some immediate action can be taken without too ill an effect), but I do hope at some point that mystical power of common sense finds root in more of us. Although I sometimes fear thinking about the catalyst that bring about that change.
The true solution… everyone fix them selves(who can afford to) then can then they help there neighbors,
1- Food - Vertical gardens+ aquaculture
2- power+waste water treatment+ carbon sequestration = PhotoBioReactors + solar algae driers + solar algae gasification + a generator and a “switch” to make plastic or fuel instead of power with a “hybrid catalyst”
3- Bullet belt batteries for automobiles - gas station = Attach new belt with “battery pump” grabs old belt, pulls it out while feeding in new… recharges old belt… (think propane exchange)
We’ve had them exploring the fields as close as 200 ft from our house. In the spring flooding, cranes, storks and red tailed hawks frequent the drainage ditches behind the barn
Our part of town has quite a few man-made lakes so there are spots that have a population of gulls, we also tend to see the occasional heron and crane in the days after a rain.
I find the hawks a pretty neat sight as well when they actually choose your property as a place to hunt from, there has been a couple of winters where they used one of our walnut trees as a place to perch (I still have a hawk feather that I found lying on the ground in the yard). Though the one bird-of-prey that seems to always be around are the owls, there’s been many nights where I hear their hoots and there was even an owl nest at one point where three chicks were raised (which blew down later in the year).
Another visitor that comes by after it rains are ducks, usually just a pair that crosses the yard now and then, but there was a time last year where a duck made a nest hidden in a tuft of ornamental grass that we grow around the utility box (complete with eggs), the big challenge there was making sure our beagle didn’t disturb it too much. (only for a little while as it was abandoned once the chicks hatched and followed mother to the nearest lake).
We also have taken pictures of baby robins which hatched in a crabapple tree right outside the front door a couple of years ago, which we luckily were able to keep our cat away from when we caught her sneaking up on the babies and squirting her with the garden hose. Apparently we are finding it an increasingly popular place for birds because there’s another nest in it (which means we’ll have to again make sure the chicks don’t succumb to a feline fate).
As for co-existence, Popular Science had an article on how coyotes adapted to the small spaces found in cities up in the Chicago area (where they were even reported walking around in the central business district and crossing the streets at intersections). The coyotes around here haven’t done that yet compared to the foxes because there’s still a lot of open countryside where they can roam.
Of course, when it comes to fox sightings at least, there have been sightings of dens just outside our neighborhood, but they don’t seem to want to have anything to do with both people and the dozens of domestic dogs that are in the area. (though there have been anecdotal reports from many years back of them stealing cats).
I’m not going to die. I’m going to become a cyborg.:eyebrowlift: Then I’m going to upgrade myself until I’m smart enough to invent a time machine.:yes: If M-Theory is right I may not even need the time machine. Either way I’ve got death beat.
Sounds like you’re in a rather nice area Ace, and it’s nice for it to sound like it’s appreciated, and not abused.
I’ve seen a number of these articles and TV tidbits as well, but in my opinion, they tend to take the perspective of the city or sub-urban dweller, who may typically only see them in no more than pairs, or just on occasion. They tend to steal pets and garbage as you mentioned, but it’s an entirely different thing when they roam in large packs. They have caused some damage to fences, coops and other farm property around here, and I know at least two farmers that have lost lambs to them. Next time I hear them at night, I’ll try and get a recording - it’s surprising how loud they can get and how far the noise carries.
@PhoenixSmith: Regardless of where you go when you die, what will you be remembered for? Will you go leaving the world in better shape than you found it? That to me is of more importance. But being militant and dishonest about things is often just as destructive as apathetic.
I’m going to become a cyborg.:eyebrowlift: Then I’m going to upgrade myself until I’m smart enough to invent a time machine.:yes: If M-Theory is right I may not even need the time machine.
Either way I’ve got death beat.