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A third of North America’s birds have vanished

nautil.us

1–10 of 901 posts

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#3
They're all in my yard...

Seriously, the number of birds I've seen in my yard and neighborhood is way higher than in years past. I don't know what the explanation is. Maybe the local population has had a boom, or other food sources have disappeared and they have chosen my corner of suburbia. My first assumption was that they were rebounding after a few years of avian flu.

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#5
climate change is always framed in terms of how many coastal people it will affect when sea levels rise a few meters. the canadian wildfires going on now. the only thing i hear about it in the media is how bad the air quality will be in this or that city, or how many oil/gas/logging jobs will be lost. the amount wildlife that is being displaced or burned alive? fuck it! did you hear that 10k humans had to be evacuated!

rarely does anyone talk about the rapid collapse of entire ecosystems and disappearance of millions of species in short order. coral bleaching gets a passing mention, cause us scuba divers notice how shitty the scenery is becoming. pollution is a problem for individuals to solve; "just recycle!", the plastic/oil lobby shouts at us.

we don't deserve this planet. but it will recover a few million years after we're gone. the industrial revolution was both the best and the worst thing that ever happened to humanity. we don't have a chance in hell of living even 5% as long as the dinosaurs did; not here, not on mars.

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#6
post #3

They're all in my yard... Seriously, the number of birds I've seen in my yard and neighborhood is way higher than in years past. I don't know what the explanation is. Maybe the local population has had a boom, or other food sources have disappeared and they have chosen my corner of suburbia. My first assumption was that they were rebounding after a few years of avian flu.

We're assuming the loss affects all bird species uniformly and that location (urban, suburban, rural, shore, etc) does not matter.

I'm not an expert, but I would guess both have an impact on losses.

Migratory (either regional or long distance) likely has a part in it as well.

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#7
post #3

They're all in my yard... Seriously, the number of birds I've seen in my yard and neighborhood is way higher than in years past. I don't know what the explanation is. Maybe the local population has had a boom, or other food sources have disappeared and they have chosen my corner of suburbia. My first assumption was that they were rebounding after a few years of avian flu.

In terms of quantity or variety?

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#8
post #5

climate change is always framed in terms of how many coastal people it will affect when sea levels rise a few meters. the canadian wildfires going on now. the only thing i hear about it in the media is how bad the air quality will be in this or that city, or how many oil/gas/logging jobs will be lost. the amount wildlife that is being displaced or burned alive? fuck it! did you hear that 10k humans had to be evacuate…

Forget where I saw this, but we won't "save the planet", it will save itself by getting rid of us.

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#9
Besides the habit loss for the grassland birds, which lost over 50% of their population, I wonder how much of this is due to pesticides killing off their primary food source. If you get rid of pesticides, you need more farmland to produce food to feed everyone to account for the loss to pests, which destroys more habitat...

Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished

#10
post #5

climate change is always framed in terms of how many coastal people it will affect when sea levels rise a few meters. the canadian wildfires going on now. the only thing i hear about it in the media is how bad the air quality will be in this or that city, or how many oil/gas/logging jobs will be lost. the amount wildlife that is being displaced or burned alive? fuck it! did you hear that 10k humans had to be evacuate…

Forget where I saw this, but we won't "save the planet", it will save itself by getting rid of us.

George Carlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c&themeRefresh=1

i will say that saving (preserving) the planet for your children is still a form of "saving" it. english's lack of nuance here is unfortunate, but also makes for some hilarious puns :D

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