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Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

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Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#101

Post by beedeebeedee »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #99
beedeebeedee wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, with all that implies. I'm having a hard time responding in a way that meets the Hacker News guidelines. I don't want to attribute to you the implications (slavery, slaughter, environmental destruction, etc), because I have a hard time believing you actually mean that (or perhaps you thought I was only referring to the mineral aspect of the world and not the life that lives in it). I understand that you might…

> because you make a special carve out for only humans mattering Your relating of an anthropocentric ethics to support for slavery does not make sense to me. What does the previous horrors of human slavery have to do with our relationship to non-humans?

Similar logic

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#102

Post by SamPatt »

Jensson wrote: post #72
CalRobert wrote: post #26

We live in an empty, denuded world, a faint shadow of its former self. Even "green" Ireland which sells itself as a natural place is an ecological wasteland. From Whittled Away, by Padraic Fogarty https://iwt.ie/product/whittled-away/ """ In 1623 it was reported chat Ireland was exporting 20,000 tons of pilchard annually.4 To pm this figure in perspective, it is over four times the toal landings for all species from…

Just look at google earth photos anywhere. Its all just large patches of farmland. Only exceptions I've found are Africa, deserts and far north/south. Pretty soon Africa will probably be all farmland as well.

I see forests all over the world.

Seriously, there are so many trees. I have no idea what you're talking about.

Edit: I looked up the numbers, and one quarter of the earth's land is covered in forest.

The same percentage as twenty years ago.

https://ourworldindata.org/forest-area

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#103

Post by nhchris »

CalRobert wrote: post #26

We live in an empty, denuded world, a faint shadow of its former self. Even "green" Ireland which sells itself as a natural place is an ecological wasteland. From Whittled Away, by Padraic Fogarty https://iwt.ie/product/whittled-away/ """ In 1623 it was reported chat Ireland was exporting 20,000 tons of pilchard annually.4 To pm this figure in perspective, it is over four times the toal landings for all species from…

But remember, Malthusianism was proven wrong, because we're not starving. Nature is driven to the brink, but we're not starving, so go ahead and make yet more people.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#104

Post by ericmcer »

CalRobert wrote: post #26

We live in an empty, denuded world, a faint shadow of its former self. Even "green" Ireland which sells itself as a natural place is an ecological wasteland. From Whittled Away, by Padraic Fogarty https://iwt.ie/product/whittled-away/ """ In 1623 it was reported chat Ireland was exporting 20,000 tons of pilchard annually.4 To pm this figure in perspective, it is over four times the toal landings for all species from…

You don't need to go back to 1623. Talk to fishermen who have been working the same waters for 30 years, the decline is very apparent.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#105

Post by m3047 »

jvm___ wrote: post #33
Mistletoe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/5/2... Looks like plants outweigh it all by a lot.

Lichen covers ~7% of the surface area of Earth. "They can even live inside solid rock, growing between the grains. It is estimated that 6–8% of Earth's land surface is covered by lichens. There are about 20,000 known species."

The fun thing about lichens is that they can carry multiple copies of DNA and switch between them at pivotal moments. I dunno how. My mother's PhD was in this many many years ago.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#106

Post by h2odragon »

m3047 wrote: post #105
jvm___ wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lichen covers ~7% of the surface area of Earth. "They can even live inside solid rock, growing between the grains. It is estimated that 6–8% of Earth's land surface is covered by lichens. There are about 20,000 known species."

The fun thing about lichens is that they can carry multiple copies of DNA and switch between them at pivotal moments. I dunno how. My mother's PhD was in this many many years ago.

> The fun thing about lichens

I really love conversations that can include phrases like this.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#107

Post by Mistletoe »

jvm___ wrote: post #33
Mistletoe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/5/2... Looks like plants outweigh it all by a lot.

Lichen covers ~7% of the surface area of Earth. "They can even live inside solid rock, growing between the grains. It is estimated that 6–8% of Earth's land surface is covered by lichens. There are about 20,000 known species."

That’s neat but lichens aren’t plants.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#108

Post by stormking »

orcajerk wrote: post #94
chitowneats wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes. An empty, denuded world, with unprecedented flourishing for our friends, family, and fellow humans. This type of nostalgia for a wild world full of disease and dangerous predators fails so utterly to motivate me.

Ponder this question - if humans were removed from the Earth, would evil cease to exist?

Yes, of course, as "evil" is a concept of human thought.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#109

Post by CalRobert »

SamPatt wrote: post #102
Jensson wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just look at google earth photos anywhere. Its all just large patches of farmland. Only exceptions I've found are Africa, deserts and far north/south. Pretty soon Africa will probably be all farmland as well.

I see forests all over the world. Seriously, there are so many trees. I have no idea what you're talking about. Edit: I looked up the numbers, and one quarter of the earth's land is covered in forest. The same percentage as twenty years ago. https://ourworldindata.org/forest-area

Yes, tree cover is doing reasonably well, thankfully! But the loss of biodiversity and wildlife that isn't trees remains a critical issue.

Re: Who rules Earth? Wild mammals far outweighed by humans and domestic animals

#110

Post by throwayyy479087 »

timeon wrote: post #20

There is either not much of wilderness.

Wild areas in the USA have been growing for a century. Same with Canada and Britain.

I only have influence over my local area. New York has seen an incredible environmental rebound. There are dolphins here again.

Globalism is designed to make me feel responsible for poor decision making worldwide, and I reject that.

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