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Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

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Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#71

Post by _jal »

yters wrote: post #59
aeturnum wrote: post #27

The "earth is healing, we are the virus" narrative is overblown (and ecofascistic), but it's good to remember that humans are not special. We push other life forms out of our spaces, but many of those life forms continue a marginal existence. The end of humanity would not be the end of life and being reminded of that is a useful check on our tendency to put ourselves at the center of "the" world (instead of just the…

What if humans are special, and help hold ecosystems together? We know of some, like the great plains and the redwood forests, where lack of human management leads to ecosystem breakdown.

That doesn't make humans special. Ecosystems are defined by the interrelations of many actors. The fact that humans are huge, impactful actors matters, but doesn't make them unique.

Also recall that humans, as an invasive species, can be adept at destroying ecosystems. There's a big, interlocking series of forests in South America, for instance, that gets a lot of attention, but that's hardly the only example.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#72

Post by thedance »

aeturnum wrote: post #27

The "earth is healing, we are the virus" narrative is overblown (and ecofascistic), but it's good to remember that humans are not special. We push other life forms out of our spaces, but many of those life forms continue a marginal existence. The end of humanity would not be the end of life and being reminded of that is a useful check on our tendency to put ourselves at the center of "the" world (instead of just the…

I fail to see how "ecofascistic" does not fly apart into its mutually repellant components. Fascism is strongly tied to modernity and modernism. It is the polar opposite of allowing nature to overtake cities. Intentional decline is decadence, which is expressly opposed by fascist ideology.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#73

Post by jwilliams »

as-j wrote: post #37

As an early morning runner in SF, I see coyotes in SF every week or two, including at Twin peaks as mentioned in the article. One morning in Golden Gate Park I warned a few people walkings dogs since there were about 4 coyotes around the corner. From my first hand experience, I'd assume any wooded area with cover in SF has a coyote living there.

Same. I even regularly see a few at Coit Tower.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#74

Post by _jal »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #48
GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think any ecofacist exists outside of 4chan

If eco-terrorists are a subset of eco-fascists, they certainly exist in the real world and are dangerous.

I'm not aware of any "eco terrorist" who also as an eco-fascist, but I could be missing someone.

Scare quotes because I refuse to debase the word 'terrorism' by extending it to include property damage.

Edit: To put it mildly, the average Earth Firster has almost nothing politically in common with, e.g., the Christchurch shooter or the Unibomber.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#75

Post by fosk »

macintux wrote: post #64
resu_nimda wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Major extinction events have historically paved the way for new and interesting forms of life, including humans.

But easy access to energy is gone. This is Earth’s last chance to bootstrap to the stars.

That's not true: given enough time decomposing organic material will create new oil reserves, while all the metals excavated are still right here on the surface of the Earth used every day by us (cars, phones, ...) and ready to re-enter the surface once we are done using them.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#76

Post by jessaustin »

yters wrote: post #63
resu_nimda wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Major extinction events have historically paved the way for new and interesting forms of life, including humans.

What if humans are a unique higher lifeform that will never be matched in the history of the universe?

That seems really unlikely. That is, it's like the reciprocal of the Drake equation, multiplied by some additional infinitesimal factors.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#77

Post by mytailorisrich »

webignition wrote: post #42
mytailorisrich wrote: post #16

Here in England we don't have coyotes but just today I saw a pheasant walking down a deserted road nearby. It looked slightly confused.

Is that unusual where you are? Over the past few years I've seen the odd pheasant within ten minutes walk of the centre of Basingstoke as well as the occasional deer sprinting across the ring road dual carriageway. Hopefully we all get to see more wildlife as life quietens down a little and, at least in the UK, we can be sure not to encounter anything even remotely dangerous.

We're not far from the edge of town and the fields, and it's common to see pheasants out there but not where I saw that one, which was quite a distance from there.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#78

Post by yters »

jessaustin wrote: post #76
yters wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if humans are a unique higher lifeform that will never be matched in the history of the universe?

That seems really unlikely. That is, it's like the reciprocal of the Drake equation, multiplied by some additional infinitesimal factors.

Seems highly likely given how fantastically different we are from all other known life forms, especially in our mental ability.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#79

Post by thedance »

In Berkeley we have these, plus bobcats, foxes, and mountain lions. One of the interesting things about California is that even though humans have stepped all over the ecology of the American West, that hasn't been going on long enough to extirpate literally every wild species. Compared to places that have been settled for 1000s of years, California can seem wild.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#80

Post by pc86 »

filoleg wrote: post #67
macintux wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But easy access to energy is gone. This is Earth’s last chance to bootstrap to the stars.

I never thought of it this way, but after reading your comment, this realization definitely hit me pretty hard.

Well, they're wrong, so...
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