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A third of North America’s birds have vanished
871–880 of 901 posts
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#872Earlier quoted context omitted.
that they help a few people with a mouse problem is tangenti You like to eat, yes? Because I assure you, without cats, or something to replace them that does what cats do, you and I will starve to death. Farmers don't have cats because they're cute. 3They have them to stop rodents from eating silo, seeds, fields bare. What do you plan to do? Spray death chemicals all over the place, as a replacement? And no, trapping…
> Because I assure you, without cats, or something to replace them that does what cats do, you and I will starve to death. You could have made the same argument about DDT. You have to acknowledge the problem before you can find a different solution. With enough determination it’s quite feasible. You know as a Canadian that Alberta is the only place in the Americas without rats. They have a very successful management…
Alberta is not rat free. It claims to be, but poke about a bit, and you'll see how fake that claim is.
And rats are not mice. And Alberta has plenty of cats around farms.
And the replacements for DDT are destroying insect populations. The problem is NOT cats. I notice you didn't explain why birds, in all the areas without cats, which is all areas in Canada without human settlements very close by, which is most of Canadian land, are dying too.
You're attributing cats to the problem, then explaining how it's proof it's cats.
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#873Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that cats kill a lot of birds and something needs to be done about this. Outside of birds, cats kill rodents. I live in rural Quebec, near farms, a massive nature preserve, and a national park larger than small US states. When I first moved here, I had no cat, and several other neighbours were new to the area. Old houses, not fresh builds, just changeover of owners... they too with no cats. The first year I w…
If they only killed mice that would be a fun fact, but they also kill 20 billion small mammals a year, lol. The point was though that cats are killing all the birds, that they help a few people with a mouse problem is tangential at best to the topic at hand. I can accept that mice are a problem and cats are killing all the birds and small mammals at the same time. It’s kind of like saying DDT is fine actually because…
> that they help a few people with a mouse problem is tangential at best to the topic at hand
No, they help the people who are putting food on your plate. Good luck living your life if the farmers can’t do their job.
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#874Earlier quoted context omitted.
To what extent does 78 degree homes impact climate change? The answer is very little if we had leadership that pushed zero carbon energy production (nuclear, wind, solar) instead of being bought and paid for by fossil fuel industries
Maybe in some theoretical future world the answer is very little. In the one we actually live in, it's a great deal: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/29/the-air-... > There are just over 1bn single-room air conditioning units in the world right now – about one for every seven people on earth. Numerous reports have projected that by 2050 there are likely to be more than 4.5bn, making them as ubiquitous…
This is missing the point - AC is problematic for exactly the reason you quoted - it produces CO2. My point is that it doesn't need to, and only does because our leadership is some mixture of corrupt, incompetent, or uncaring.
There is no technical reason why 99% of the household energy produced on Earth can't be free of direct carbon emissions. It's a societal issue that it isn't.
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#875Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe in some theoretical future world the answer is very little. In the one we actually live in, it's a great deal: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/29/the-air-... > There are just over 1bn single-room air conditioning units in the world right now – about one for every seven people on earth. Numerous reports have projected that by 2050 there are likely to be more than 4.5bn, making them as ubiquitous…
This is missing the point - AC is problematic for exactly the reason you quoted - it produces CO2. My point is that it doesn't need to, and only does because our leadership is some mixture of corrupt, incompetent, or uncaring. There is no technical reason why 99% of the household energy produced on Earth can't be free of direct carbon emissions. It's a societal issue that it isn't.
I’d argue you are missing my point. There are other issues with A/C (refrigerants are also contributors to CO2, production is an issue), but the finer points of any one technology are not the issue. The issue is that I think it’s a fantasy that we can solve global warming simply with some technical tweaks and no changes whatsoever to our patterns of consumption. “Consume less” is not a message that goes over well.
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#876Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Because I assure you, without cats, or something to replace them that does what cats do, you and I will starve to death. You could have made the same argument about DDT. You have to acknowledge the problem before you can find a different solution. With enough determination it’s quite feasible. You know as a Canadian that Alberta is the only place in the Americas without rats. They have a very successful management…
Alberta is not rat free. It claims to be, but poke about a bit, and you'll see how fake that claim is. And rats are not mice. And Alberta has plenty of cats around farms. And the replacements for DDT are destroying insect populations. The problem is NOT cats. I notice you didn't explain why birds, in all the areas without cats, which is all areas in Canada without human settlements very close by, which is most of Can…
> Alberta is not rat free. It claims to be, but poke about a bit, and you'll see how fake that claim is.
Once again no sources cited on your part other than, I guess, your gut, and "poking around."
> The problem is NOT cats.
You haven't made a case for that. The studies I dug up say quite the opposite, that cats are a massive source of wild bird mortality, that they've driven several species to extinction. I have cited sources and you seem to just be shooting from the hip?
> ... in all the areas without cats, which is all areas in Canada without human settlements very close by, which is most of Canadian land, are dying too.
What makes you think cats aren't in areas without human settlements very close by? This map shows they're all over the place. [1] And if that doesn't convince you check out the invasive feral cat population map in Australia where they actually wanted to cull the population. [2] They live on every square inch of Australia, and let me tell you, people do not.
"In some cases, house cats have singularly contributed to the virtual disappearance of Vancouver Island bird species. The streaked horned lark, once a resident of southern Vancouver Island, is now likely locally extinct in Canada, and cats were cited as one of the main causes of nest failure." [1]
"The coastal vesper sparrow has seen its population drop by 85 per cent over the past decade, and a federal government analysis cited a “high concentration of domestic and feral cats” as factors in their decline." [1]
Stop just repeating "nuh uh" and dig up some studies or lets end this conversation here, because the fact is, you are wrong on this one.
> You're attributing cats to the problem, then explaining how it's proof it's cats.
No, I'm cities studies that attribute it to cats.
[1] https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/cat-victoria-songbird-feral...
[2] https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/invasive-species/feral...
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#877Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alberta is not rat free. It claims to be, but poke about a bit, and you'll see how fake that claim is. And rats are not mice. And Alberta has plenty of cats around farms. And the replacements for DDT are destroying insect populations. The problem is NOT cats. I notice you didn't explain why birds, in all the areas without cats, which is all areas in Canada without human settlements very close by, which is most of Can…
> Alberta is not rat free. It claims to be, but poke about a bit, and you'll see how fake that claim is. Once again no sources cited on your part other than, I guess, your gut, and "poking around." > The problem is NOT cats. You haven't made a case for that. The studies I dug up say quite the opposite, that cats are a massive source of wild bird mortality, that they've driven several species to extinction. I have cit…
Wild house cats cannot live without prey, and they are not adapted to -40C, let alone -20C for weeks at a time. They cannot live in many parts of North America without humans settlements.
There are native cats in Canada, skilled at even detecting prey under feet of snow, but house cats are not that.
There is no significant cat presence in Canada, outside of human habitats.
I notice you cited Vancouver Island, the most temperate place in Canada. And there are deserts in Australia, cats don't live there without humans, yet there are birds adapted to the desert.
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#878Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is missing the point - AC is problematic for exactly the reason you quoted - it produces CO2. My point is that it doesn't need to, and only does because our leadership is some mixture of corrupt, incompetent, or uncaring. There is no technical reason why 99% of the household energy produced on Earth can't be free of direct carbon emissions. It's a societal issue that it isn't.
I’d argue you are missing my point. There are other issues with A/C (refrigerants are also contributors to CO2, production is an issue), but the finer points of any one technology are not the issue. The issue is that I think it’s a fantasy that we can solve global warming simply with some technical tweaks and no changes whatsoever to our patterns of consumption. “Consume less” is not a message that goes over well.
A quick search online shows that HFCs (refrigerants) are 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, which also accounts for them being thousands of time worse than CO2. Which is way higher than I expected, but still not exactly making-or-breaking climate change.
I really don't see the need to consume less energy if it comes from renewable or carbon-free generation. In general, energy is used for good and productive things. AC in particular lets humans live in climates that would otherwise not be used anywhere near to the extent they are without it.
Realistically with the world we live in, yes, reduction is helpful. But accountability to major producers of emissions is at minimum 100 times more helpful.
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#879Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Alberta is not rat free. It claims to be, but poke about a bit, and you'll see how fake that claim is. Once again no sources cited on your part other than, I guess, your gut, and "poking around." > The problem is NOT cats. You haven't made a case for that. The studies I dug up say quite the opposite, that cats are a massive source of wild bird mortality, that they've driven several species to extinction. I have cit…
Wild house cats cannot live without prey, and they are not adapted to -40C, let alone -20C for weeks at a time. They cannot live in many parts of North America without humans settlements. There are native cats in Canada, skilled at even detecting prey under feet of snow, but house cats are not that. There is no significant cat presence in Canada, outside of human habitats. I notice you cited Vancouver Island, the mos…
[citation needed]
Re: A third of North America’s birds have vanished
#880Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, I think that localized thinking has benefits that are so much better than the status quo of globalization that that 99% the issues you describe would be vacated. Like let's talk about food, how we get bananas from across the globe. Who the hell needs bananas when you can buy fresh, seasonal fruit from the farmer an hour away? Yeah you might not get to have banana cream pie for Christmas, but you made a new…
I don't expect the lone grocery shopper will be able to weigh the externalized costs of a cheap, delicious banana so accurately as a regulator. The trick is keeping the banana merchant from turning the regulator into a shareholder of BananaCo. Tell someone if you discover how to accomplish that.
Well put! Consumers have very divergent needs and desires in our system because we built our system to reduce consumer analysis and increase consumption. It's amazing that folks come on here and place additional responsibilities on consumers when all market forces are shoving them in the opposite direction. It's essentially victim blaming.