Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A third of North America’s birds have vanished

nautil.us

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 901 posts

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

#311

Post by bmitc »

hparadiz wrote: post #191
bmitc wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Individuals cannot solve this. I leave trees up, dead or alive. I plant native plants. I remove invasive species. I only keep invasive bushes if they house birds. I don't spray for insects except around the base of my house, I don't kill off chipmunks, voles, squirrels, rabbits, etc. How can this compete with the dozens of neighbors in a half-mile radius that have removed in excess of hundreds of trees, big ones like…

In some areas humans actually increase the biodiversity. My area is mostly desert most of the time. We get our water from the California aqueduct. On my property I have squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks. I've seen red tailed Hawks and Owls. Cats can't be outdoor here. I've already seen a cat's head discarded on my property. I have so many types of birds here all the time. The open space here has a ton of animals and…

> but humans have actually increased the biodiversity

If that's even true, I would say that it is exceedingly rare, even on small local levels. And it would be dwarfed by the rest of human activity killing off biodiversity. I have squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, voles, foxes, raccoons, owls, hawks, several species of birds like woodpeckers, cardinals, nuthatches, etc., bats, coyotes, fisher cats, deer, bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, and more all on my properly. Some are there every single day, like the chipmunks and bees, and the others are frequent visitors. But even with all that, the diversity is absolutely lower than what this area would have been like just 200 years ago. For example, mountain lions are gone and bobcats are on their way out. Same with bears. And there are several native plant species that are on their way out as well.

Also, deserts actually can be teeming with biodiversity. It's just not the biodiversity that we recognize.

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

#312

Post by diffeomorphism »

23B1 wrote: post #35

One thing I dislike the most about these problems – and the information/media/activism around them – is the "solutioning". Yes, we should recycle and reduce carbon emissions and learn to live in a more integrated fashion with earth. But the problem is so diffuse and requires substantive work against powerful forces (government, business, apathy). What I'd like to see more of, when presented with these sorts of proble…

Doing things yourself is good, but these "you personally need to" has a very, very bad aftertaste with things like

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oi...

Is there a version of Poe's law for idealists (which I assume you are) and shills?

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

#313

Post by debaserab2 »

bmitc wrote: post #307
debaserab2 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common in a 50+ year old neighborhood for trees to be diseased or dead or have a root system that is growing into the foundation of buildings or other infrastructure. It's not that people don't want trees, it's that people don't want trees that are a liability during the next storm (which I'm guessing is especially true in a place like florida).

But just think about that. Imagine someone just up and moving into your yard, without your permission, and then they decide to bulldoze your house because it's getting in the way of . I do understand the practicalities and constraints of homeownership, but I do wish we, as a species, did a bit more thinking ahead and had more empathy for literally anything else besides us.

I doubt that it's people lack empathy, it's more that if a tree root starts cracking up your concrete or a dead branch falls on your roof in a storm it will likely cost you a lot more than just dealing with the tree in the first place.

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

#314

Post by bmitc »

deepnet wrote: post #224
bmitc wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Individuals cannot solve this. I leave trees up, dead or alive. I plant native plants. I remove invasive species. I only keep invasive bushes if they house birds. I don't spray for insects except around the base of my house, I don't kill off chipmunks, voles, squirrels, rabbits, etc. How can this compete with the dozens of neighbors in a half-mile radius that have removed in excess of hundreds of trees, big ones like…

The Oasis effect of habitat is valuable and can form part of corridors so insects and birds can migrate and breed. So your actions alone can be valuable. Your may inspire others or be part of a chain of things which inspires them. Your hard won knowledge awaits their questions. You may have to fight HOAs and disaproval. Your battles lay the groundwork for those that follow to succeed - setting precendent and raising…

> You may have to fight HOAs and disapproval.

Thank god that I do not have an HOA. Luckily things are different here, although I am very surprised that someone recently was able to cut down literally every tree on the property. (It appears the house was bought by an investor or someone quite wealthy.)

I honestly can't imagine the stress that an HOA would bring to my life.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm definitely still learning and making lots of mistakes along the way.

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

#315

Post by akomtu »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #264
23B1 wrote: post #35

One thing I dislike the most about these problems – and the information/media/activism around them – is the "solutioning". Yes, we should recycle and reduce carbon emissions and learn to live in a more integrated fashion with earth. But the problem is so diffuse and requires substantive work against powerful forces (government, business, apathy). What I'd like to see more of, when presented with these sorts of proble…

I find it hilarious, that no one mentions the real solution. Of course, once it's spoken it's obvious why it can't even be spoken aloud... 5. Exterminate all stray/unlicensed cats, exterminate all indoor cats if caught outside and fine the registered owners $50,000. If I posted this on reddit, I'd have maniacs stalking me and issuing death threats. Maybe here it'll only be hatemail.

It's not a solution, it's cheap bluff. Try to voice this idea on an HOA meeting and tell Ms. Smith that you noticed her kitty outside and that next time you'd "exterminate" it. If you can't do that, how are you going to convince people to vote for such a law?

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

#316

Post by therealdrag0 »

macinjosh wrote: post #23
MrVandemar wrote: post #13

The estimate is about 200 species go extinct every day from the actions of human beings -- ecosystem destruction, degredation, climate change etc. We are a meatgrinder to the biosphere.

the biosphere is a meat grinder. nature is scary

How so? humans dominate. Our livestock outweighs all wild animals. And humans will outweigh all wild animals very soon if not already. HALF of the entire earths habitable land is used for agriculture. Humans dominate earth.

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

#317

Post by bmitc »

ChatGTP wrote: post #230
bmitc wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Individuals cannot solve this. I leave trees up, dead or alive. I plant native plants. I remove invasive species. I only keep invasive bushes if they house birds. I don't spray for insects except around the base of my house, I don't kill off chipmunks, voles, squirrels, rabbits, etc. How can this compete with the dozens of neighbors in a half-mile radius that have removed in excess of hundreds of trees, big ones like…

I've lately wondered if people like us could setup a foundation to buy more land and setup private sanctuaries? What do you think about this? Does anything like that exist currently?

I don't know, but that's an interesting idea. I've thought about looking into what it would take to protect certain trees and native plants on my property. But I have also wondered if that would also make my property unsellable. :(

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

#318

Post by Madmallard »

23B1 wrote: post #35

One thing I dislike the most about these problems – and the information/media/activism around them – is the "solutioning". Yes, we should recycle and reduce carbon emissions and learn to live in a more integrated fashion with earth. But the problem is so diffuse and requires substantive work against powerful forces (government, business, apathy). What I'd like to see more of, when presented with these sorts of proble…

In my mind this is just like entropy in action. We hit the exponential growth curve and we're going to cull ourselves out of our environment, taking other things out with us or before us because humans dominate that much of nature at this point. Just seems like an unstoppable force. As far as I know exponential growth curves lead to something like that in all animals independently of their behavior because Darwinian adaptation in animals is much slower than the decline caused by exponential growth.

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

#319

Post by johnnymorgan »

foobarian wrote: post #53
hasmanean wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not over-population. Over consumption. Actually over-production since a lot of food is wasted before consumption.

But why is over-consumption even possible? It's the plentiful cheap energy in the form of fossil fuels that we figured out how to tap into. Once that is gone I am hopeful the next civilization cycle will be more temperate.

No it's not, go read the wealth of Nations to understand.

The over production started before we adopted fossil fuels.

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

#320

Post by tguvot »

bmitc wrote: post #310
tguvot wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

try to use some PGR. Like primo-maxx (or generic). it should make things easier

What are the environmental repercussions of that? I don't do any chemicals, weed killer, or chemical fertilizers. All I do, to feed the soil and not the grass, is dolomitic lime and organic fertilizer.

none that i saw. it just suppresses growth hormone of plants for a couple of weeks so they grow at half speed or less. less mowing. less watering. less fertilizers. etc. for plants that are not grass pgrs usually slow down vertical growth and promote lateral branching/density
Post reply on HN