Random thoughts

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Insects
Humanity must save insects to save ourselves, leading scientist warns
Insects are ‘the glue in nature’, says Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, underpinning the food and water we rely on
Damian Carrington Environment editor


A Notch-horned Cleg,
A Notch-horned Cleg, a type of horsefly. ‘While we humans have doubled our population in the past 40 years, the number of insects has been reduced by almost half,’ says Sverdrup-Thygeson. Photograph: Rebecca Cole/Alamy
Humanity must save insects, if not for their sake, then for ourselves, a leading entomologist has warned.

“Insects are the glue in nature and there is no doubt that both the [numbers] and diversity of insects are declining,” said Prof Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. “At some stage the whole fabric unravels and then we will really see the consequences.”

On Monday, the largest ever assessment of the health of nature was published and warned starkly that the annihilation of wildlife is eroding the foundations of human civilisation. The IPBES report said: “Insect abundance has declined very rapidly in some places … but the global extent of such declines is not known.” It said the available evidence supports a “tentative” estimate that 10% of the 5.5m species of insect thought to exist are threatened with extinction.


Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life
Read more
The food and water humanity relies upon are underpinned by insects but Sverdrup-Thygeson’s new book, Extraordinary Insects, spends many of its pages on how wonderful and weird insects are. “The first stage is to get people to appreciate these little creatures,” said Sverdrup-Thygeson.

Many appear to defy the normal rules of life. Some fruit flies can be beheaded and live normally for several days more, thanks to mini-brains in each joint. Then there are the carpet beetles that can effectively reverse time, by reverting to younger stages of development when food is scarce.

Others are bizarrely constructed. Some butterflies have ears in their mouths, one has an eye on its penis, while houseflies taste with their feet. Insect reproduction is also exotic. The southern green shield bug can maintain sex for 10 days, while another type of fruit fly produces sperm that are 20 times longer than its own body.

Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'
Read more
Some aphids, which can reproduce without sex, produce babies that already themselves contain babies, effectively giving birth to their children and grandchildren simultaneously. There are also a lot of insects - more than a billion, billion individuals alive today. “If you shared them out, there would be 200m insects for each human,” said Sverdrup-Thygeson.

But for all their abundance, insects are in trouble. “Global data suggests that while we humans have doubled our population in the past 40 years, the number of insects has been reduced by almost half – these are dramatic figures,” she said.

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Some researchers warned in February that falling insect populations threaten a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, while recent studies from Germany and Puerto Rico have revealed plunging numbers over the last 25 to 35 years.

“There are lots of details to fill in, but I have read pretty much every study in English and I haven’t seen a single one where entomologists don’t believe the main message that a lot of insect species are definitely declining,” said Sverdrup-Thygeson. The destruction of natural environments to create farmland is the key cause, she said. “When you throw all the pesticides and climate change on top of that, it is not very cool to be an insect today.

Prof Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson
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Prof Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences author of Extraordinary Insects Photograph: Håkon Sparre/NMBU
“I can understand people might not be interested in saving insects for insects’ sake. But people should realise this will come back on ourselves. We should save insects, if not for their sake, then for our own sake, because it will make it even more difficult than today to get enough food for the human population of the planet, to get good health and freshwater for everybody. That should be a huge motivation for doing something while we still have time.


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Sverdrup-Thygeson said insects play a critical role in the complex natural world that sustains all life on Earth. Best known is the pollination that fertilises most of the world’s crops and wildflowers, including the tiny midge essential to cacao. “Without them, there would be much less chocolate for sure and maybe none,” she said.

She pointed out that ants also play a little-known role in seed dispersal for 11,000 species of plants. Some, like the wood anemone, attach a “goody bag” of food to each seed, and the ants carry both back to their hungry larvae in their underground nests.

The waste disposal service provided by insects is also vital, decomposing wood, plants and animals into nutrients for new life. In Australia, the lack of native dung beetles able to deal with the prodigious output from imported European cattle led to vast swathes of pasture being rendered useless in the 1960s.

Another critical service provided by insects is as food for many other creatures, from birds to reptiles and amphibians and mammals. The weight of insects eaten by birds alone is about the same weight of all 7 billion people on the planet, said Sverdrup-Thygeson. However, falling insect populations have contributed to the loss of 421m birds in Europe in the last three decades.

Sverdrup-Thygeson said rarer species are being lost first but the potential knock-on effects of their demise are mostly unknown. She likened the complex systems of nature to a hammock upon which humanity is resting: “You can pull out some threads but at some stage the whole fabric unravels and then we will really see the consequences. Then it will not be fun to be a human on this planet either.”

Humanity must save insects to save ourselves, leading scientist warns

 

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Why do cats—and so many other animals—look like they’re wearing socks?

The possibilities of pigmentation are endless.

oh taken 5 years odd to let us all know huh
panc and paranoia neccessary because the UN have finally said so duh

A new UN report reveals the extent to which mankind is driving life on Earth to extinction. William Brangham talks to one of the report’s authors, the National University of Mexico's Patricia Balvanera, about what’s causing the changes and how to stop them. Photo by REUTERS/Marko Djurica

 

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A new UN report reveals the extent to which mankind is driving life on Earth to extinction. William Brangham talks to one of the report’s authors, the National University of Mexico's Patricia Balvanera, about what’s causing the changes and how to stop them. Photo by REUTERS/Marko Djurica


Reptile haven of Sri Lanka yields up new species of rough-sided snake
by Dilrukshi Handunnetti on 11 May 2019

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK THIESSEN
MAGAZINE
The 'Smokejumpers'
Each summer an elite team of firefighters parachute in to fight wildfires in Alaska's combustible backcountry.
SEE THE PICTURES
SHARE

PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE
ANIMALS
Pulling off the world's largest lion relocation
To bring lions back to central Mozambique, logistics ranged from providing safe transport to blessings from the spirit world.

 

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thid

21 Quick and Nutritious Gluten-Free Snacks

not that

Burger King’s ‘Impossible’ Whopper Has No Beef — Does This Make It Healthy?

and yes,definitly this

What Are Ginger Shots? Everything You Need to Know

and again,preferably not that
- personal preferences
- i said haha

not in extreme quantities ha

9 Impressive Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee (Plus How to Make It)

 

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NPR sorting our life out today, frokm health to sex to age smile yay

dozen raw oysters a week wll do me mmmmm

Cornelia Li for NPR
8 Ways To Cultivate Joy In Times Of Stress
When you’re going through something difficult like a loved one’s illness, how do you keep your spirits up? It turns out, staying positive is a skill that can be learned. And a positive outlook keeps anxiety and depression at bay.

The latest proof of this comes from a study of caregivers — all of whom had a loved one with dementia. After a five-week course in skills for coping with stress, participants' distress decreased.

Hundreds of stressed-out people have taken the skills class, including women with breast cancer and people newly diagnosed with HIV.

"These skills can definitely help people, no matter what type of stress they are experiencing, even if it is 'minor' everyday stress," says Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University who developed the course.

Read on to learn the eight skills for coping with stress.

Thomas Tolstrup/Getty Images
The Good News About Sex After Menopause

Menopause blindsided author Darcey Steinke. The hot flashes, the insomnia, the depression... But perhaps the worst part was the cultural expectation that postmenopausal women are no longer interested in sex.

"Once menopause comes, there's a feeling of shame that comes for a lot of women," Steinke says.

In her new book, Flash Count Diary Steinke shares the experience of her evolving identity after menopause and her new, open-minded approach to sex. If couples are willing to think beyond traditional intercourse, she argues, they'll find their relationships are more intimate than ever. “The level of intimacy is kind of mind-blowing,” she says of her own love life.

It helps, she adds, if you’re not afraid to use lots of lubrication.

Read on for advice about how to have great sex after menopause. Plus: how men feel about.

Nanette Hoogslag/Getty Images/Ikon Images
How To Help A Victim Of Domestic Violence
Many women have a hard time admitting — even to themselves — that they're being abused by their husband or partner. So how can friends or family or social services providers recognize the signs? And can we help them?

In a candid conversation, two women talk through what helps: Suzanne Dubus, CEO the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, a domestic violence crisis center in Massachusetts and author Rachel Louise Snyder, author of the book No Visible Bruises. Read highlights of the conversation.


More of this week’s health stories from NPR

Denver decriminalizes magic mushrooms

Medicine’s greenhouse gas problem

Why racial gaps in maternal mortality persist

We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth.

Your Shots editor,

Carmel Wroth

 

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read

the hopeless UN scaremongering crap that we all know about
should have been comming out ANNUALLY for the last 20 years
as much to blame as the report itself
of course asll media jump on it for a few days
oh such an alarming occurence
- UN said

ENVIRONMENT
The UN's devastating extinction report, explained in 5 charts


Unpacking how we got here.

By Alex Schwartz May 8, 2019

Orangutans, native to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, are critically endangered as humans are cutting down their old-growth rainforest habitats to build palm oil plantations. Without a "transformative change" of human behavior, orangutans and over a million other species could go extinct, a new UN report warns.

Alex Schwartz


We’re not going to sugarcoat it: The latest news from the United Nations is pretty dire. A summaryof a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) says human activity is threatening the existence of over a million plant and animal species—more than ever before in human history.

The IPBES will release a groundbreaking report later this year on their findings, which they refer to as the most “comprehensive assessment of its kind.” The full package will be some 1,500 pages long, authored by 145 experts from more than 50 countries and drawing from more than 15,000 scientific and government sources. But the summary is alarming enough on its own.

“We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide,” IPBES chair Sir Robert Watson said in a press release.

How did we get here? The report, while outlining the extent of the ecological destruction that could occur around the world, thankfully answers that question too—with lots and lots of statistics. While overwhelming, they could be the silver lining in this gloomy report. When we have a detailed diagnosis, it’s a lot easier to come up with a treatment. Let’s take a dive into the data:

There are more than 8 million species estimated on Earth, losing a million of those species would eliminate a massive chunk.

Infographic by Alex Schwartz

There are more than 8 million species estimated on Earth, though scientists discover new ones every day—we could be driving some we don’t even know about to extinction. Losing a million of those species would eliminate a massive chunk, with amphibians, insects, and non-fish reef dwellers taking the biggest hits. While climate change is playing an increasing role in all this (5 percent of species are expected to go extinct just as a result of 2˚C of warming alone), there are many activities humans engage in that the report links directly to the loss of species.

Less than 70 percent of the Earth’s forests that existed before the industrial revolution remain.

Infographic by Alex Schwartz

Forests have taken major hits, primarily from agriculture. Today, less than 70 percent of the Earth’s forests that existed before the industrial revolution remain. In the tropics—particularly tropical rainforests, which contain some of the highest levels of biodiversity on the planet—more than 100 million hectares have been cut down between 1980 and 2000. That’s bigger than the country of Venezuela. Cattle ranchers in Latin America cleared almost half of this land, while palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia are responsible for the loss of about 6 million hectares. Cutting down tropical forests disproportionately affects the planet’s total species number: While they cover less than 10 percent of the Earth’s land, they house more than half the planet’s terrestrial species.

Since the 1870s, over half the world’s coral reefs have died, largely due to bleaching events worsened by warming oceans, agricultural runoff, and industrial pollution.

Infographic by Alex Schwartz


We’ve also wreaked havoc on the oceans, having brought industrial fishing to over half of their surface area. A third of fish stocks are being fished unsustainably, and 60 percent are being fished at the maximum level to qualify as sustainable. Since the 1870s, over half the world’s coral reefs have died, largely due to bleaching events worsened by warming oceans, agricultural runoff, and industrial pollution. Wetlands like marshes, swamps, and mangroves have been decimated since the 18th Century, primarily as a result of coastal development. And there are 400 known coastal “dead zones,” in which ultra-concentrated nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus have caused intense algae blooms that suck up oxygen and make water uninhabitable for most marine organisms. These dead zones are the result of industrial fertilizer running off into the ocean.

To date, humans have altered three fourths of all land on Earth (and about two thirds of all water).

Infographic by Alex Schwartz


Humans have managed to alter three fourths of all land on Earth (and about two thirds of all water), and we’re consuming more of it every day. A third of the world’s land is used for agriculture, the growth of cities since 1992 has more than doubled, and the report’s authors expect more than 25 million kilometers of new roads to be built by 2050—90 percent of which will be in developing countries.

The report emphasizes that drawing on indigenous knowledge could help see us through this crisis as Indigenous groups manage almost a third of the world’s land

Infographic by Alex Schwartz


The report emphasizes that it’s the first biodiversity study done at this scale to incorporate knowledge from indigenous communities around the globe. It advises policymakers to consider their perspective and “positive contributions to sustainability” when addressing these issues, and that drawing on indigenous knowledge could help see us through this crisis. Indigenous groups manage almost a third of the world’s land, which includes 40 percent of all formally protected areas and 37 percent of land that’s unprotected, but still relatively undisturbed by humans. The report notes that biodiversity in these areas is deteriorating at a slower rate than elsewhere (in the Amazon, deforestation on indigenous lands occurs at a rate 50 percent lower than on non-indigenous land)—a testament to how indigenous knowledge can help humans avoid destroying nature. However, these areas are still under pressure: 72 percent of local species used by indigenous groups are on the decline.

The report says these negative trends will undermine progress for 80 percent of the assessed targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which address issues from poverty to healthcare to hunger. A loss of biodiversity at the scale foreshadowed in the report would affect medicine, food systems, energy, and much more.

But the report didn’t stop there. A common theme among all these issues is agriculture—we’re producing food without regard for how it will affect ecosystems—and the UN notes this could be a place to seek solutions. The authors argue that a holistic, localized approach to farming will have social and economic benefits beyond the food system. It also recommends conserving species of plants and animals and reducing food waste.

To stop the degradation of the oceans, the report recommends incorporating ecological knowledge into how we manage fisheries. Establishing marine protected areas—which have proven to benefit marine species around the globe—and reducing runoff and industrial pollution into oceans should also be priorities, according to the report. It also advocates for preventing runoff and pollution in freshwater systems and increasing freshwater storage.

Even cities can provide solutions. The report says introducing green space in urban areas could improve the health of native species. It also suggests improving health and access to services for urban low-income populations, who often bear the brunt of environmental problems in cities.

While fixing these widespread issues won’t be a cakewalk, the report says we can still avoid extinction doom.

“Through ‘transformative change’, nature can still be conserved, restored, and used sustainably,” Watson said in the release, adding that such change “can expect opposition from those with interests vested in the status quo, but also that such opposition can be overcome for the broader public good.”

tags:
The UN's devastating extinction report, explained in 5 charts

 

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Considering Nature, and the End of Nature
Two leading environmental writers wonder if the sense of urgency is coming too late.

The New Yorker Radio Hour
Considering Nature, and the End of Nature
Two leading environmental writers wonder if the sense of urgency is coming too late. Plus, Heidi Schreck on the Constitution, and Karen Russell’s move from Florida to Oregon.





From the Latest Iss

 

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20 or more years worth
embarrasing the way you all put it out there now
that many years later
and yes some of us/perhaps many of us could see it happening

Humans are driving one million species to extinction
Landmark United Nations-backed report finds that agriculture is one of the biggest threats to Earth’s ecosystems.

Report on the state of the world’s ecosystems finds that human activities and climate change have significantly altered habitats such as coral reefs.Credit: The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey


Up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of human activities, says the most comprehensive report yet on the state of global ecosystems.


Humans are driving one million species to extinction

 

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SMARTNEWS Keeping you current
China’s National Panda Park Will Be Three Times the Size of Yellowstone
The vast space will connect China’s fragmented panda populations, enabling the land giants to better find mates and diversify their species’ gene pool

image: https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/OfnY...40769/panda_cub_from_wolong_sichuan_china.jpg

Over the next 80 years, one-third of panda territory will become too hot to support bamboo growth (Public domain)
By Meilan Solly
SMITHSONIAN.COM
MAY 13, 2019 12:46PM
grown significantly, with a 2015 census placing the total number of mature wild bears at 1,864—up from a low of some 1,200 during the 1980s. The numbers are so promising, in fact, that in 2016, the IUCN Red List downgraded pandas’ threat level from “endangered” to “vulnerable.”

But as Jennifer S. Holland writes for National Geographic, the iconic creatures aren’t out of the woods just yet. Thanks to logging, construction, agriculture and natural disasters, China’s pandas have a limited range of habitable land. Today, the animals live in around 30 groups scattered across six mountain ranges in western China, separated from their peers by degraded land and ongoing human activity.


A proposed park measuring three times the size of Yellowstone aims to connect China’s fragmented panda populations, uniting nearly 70 extant nature reserves and protected areas in one 10,476-square mile umbrella space. According to the Telegraph’s Neil Connor, China first unveiled plans for the park, which is set to encompass territory in the neighboring provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi, in 2017. Funding followed in March 2018, when the state-owned Bank of China pledged 10 billion yuan, or $1.5 billion USD, to the project.

The Giant Panda National Park’s principal purpose will be ensuring the species’ long-term survival by diversifying the gene pool. Female pandas are only fertile for a day or two each year, Fast Company’s Adele Peters reports, and give birth at most once every two years. Given the fragmented nature of China’s wild panda populations, which can comprise as few as 10 bears, inbreeding poses an increasingly serious threat.

“A small population means there’s a high possibility for pandas to inbreed and mate with [other giant pandas with] similar genes,” Fan Zhiyong, a senior supervisor at the World Wildlife Fund’s Beijing office, told Alice Yan of South China Morning Post in 2017. “It’s very bad for the panda’s reproduction and will lift the risk of their extinction.”
By placing the country’s scattered populations under the purview of one national administrative bureau, the park will enable pandas to better find mates and enrich their species’ genetic diversity. Under the previous system, it was difficult for pandas to roam this freely, as they could cross a provincial boundary and blur the lines between various administrations’ jurisdiction.

image: https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/aZcu...-4f30-a023-fb6df7f04998/6990634-panda-hug.jpg

The park will unite dozens of existing panda preserves and protected areas (Todorov.petar.p via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA-4.0)
Another concern, according to Luo Peng of the Chengdu Institute of Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was the fact that multiple local governments, each with their own priorities, were tasked with managing pandas’ territory. As Peng explains to National Geographic’s Holland, “Coordination was not always effective.”

In addition to connecting panda populations, the park will ensure the animals have a steady supply of bamboo. Climate change is drastically shifting the regions in which the plant can grow, Fast Company’s Peters writes, with more than a third of China’s panda habitats poised to become too hot to support bamboo over the next 80 years. To circumvent this issue, park officials are planning on creating passageways and tunnels that allow pandas to easily travel to bamboo-rich areas.


Speaking with Holland, panda expert Marc Brody says the proposed park looks promising on paper but fails to “directly resolve habitat fragmentation.” To fully maximize the space’s potential, Brody adds, China must restore degraded lands, enforce stronger land-use restrictions and build an array of “wildlife corridors” capable of easily transporting pandas from one area to another.

Pandas aren’t the only living creatures whose lives will change with the opening of the Giant Panda National Park: According to China Daily's Yang Wanli, the space will protect more than 8,000 kinds of wildlife, including snub-nosed monkeys and takins. Looking to the park’s human impact, Peters reports that some 170,000 people living within the proposed territory will be forced to relocate or adapt to new restrictions. Others will benefit from the burgeoning ecotourism industry associated with the park’s creation.

The park, initially scheduled to open in 2020 (Holland notes that the government’s final plan will likely be finalized in fall 2019, but she does not pinpoint a specific opening date), “takes the long view,” says Bob Tansey, China policy advisor for the Nature Conservancy.


Read more: China’s National Panda Park Will Be Three Times the Size of Yellowstone | Smart News | Smithsonian

 

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QUIZ
Find Out If You Suffer from Impostor Syndrome With This Research-Backed Quiz

By Ashley Hamer

Do you ever feel like a fraud?

uuhmmm may be advantageous to ...

SPONSORED | COURSERA
10 Online Courses That Make Personal Growth Easier Than You Think

By Ashley Gabriel

Including a course from Yale University.

 

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Hofstra University Frat Suspended For Forcing Dog To Do Keg Stand In Video
The dog 'had no choice. It didn't say, 'Hey, I want a beer and I want it poured down my throat.' So, it's wrong. It's wrong on every level.'...

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You could get the plague (but probably won't)

The disease still thrives in the United States.

LAUGH

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With humans out of the way, Chernobyl's wildlife thrives

The nuclear meltdown killed most animals in the area, but now nature is thriving.

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Bayer could be on the hook for $2 billion award in latest Roundup cancer trial

Another California jury finds that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, caused cancer in two people who used it for decades.

By Sam Bloch | Read more

Is city life good or bad for your mental health?

We're starting to understand it better.

 

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Our Columnists
A Decisive Year for the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal

The organization, with the help of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has helped to push climate change to the center of American politics.

By Osita Nwanevu

​

Bayer could be on the hook for $2 billion award in latest Roundup cancer trial

Another California jury finds that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, caused cancer in two people who used it for decades.

By Sam Bloch | Read more

​

In Missouri, lawmakers are poised to eliminate local regulation of CAFOs

Two new bills would remove local leverage over large-scale farms, often headquartered out-of-state.

By Leah Douglas | Read more



world putting a little more effort into important things now
no time for wars maybe
i doubt that very mucn
humankind has that mania for such, takes precedence huh

Carbon dioxide levels highest in human history
Atmospheric levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide have hit a record high of more than 415 parts per million. The accelerated rise of man-made greenhouse gas emissions has scientists alarmed.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has reached a record high, according to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US.

The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii recorded a carbon dioxide level of 415.39 parts per million (ppm) on Saturday, marking the first time a reading of the greenhouse gas has measured over 415 ppm.

The Daily Good
After walking thousands of miles, Mink the bear is almost back home.

Courtesy of Michael Hinsley

For years, a man in New Hampshire fed maple-glazed doughnuts to a black bear. When the man died, the bear went into Hanover, N.H., to look for more doughnuts. So wildlife officials moved her into the woods far up north. Ever since then, Mink the bear has been making her way home.

 

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NG put some decent stuff out no dfoubt


SPECIAL REPORT
THE HIDDEN COST OF WILDLIFE TOURISM
THE WILDLIFE WE SEE
THE SUFFERING WE DON'T
by Natasha Daly
READ THE FULL STORY

When I went to the Amazon in July 2017 to a river town where people illegally catch sloths and keep them in boxes, I didn’t know I’d be spending the next 18 months in search of wild animals that work as photo props and entertainers for tourists.

Photographer Kirsten Luce and I knew that sloths and other animals are used in the tourism industry all over the world. So after our Amazon story ran, we proposed a broader investigation of wildlife tourism—one that would look at the disconnect between well-meaning tourists who flock to attractions that offer hands-on experiences with animals, and the suffering endured by many of the animals at such attractions. We chose to focus on hotspots: Thailand, Hawaii, Russia, and the Amazon.

The story is timely. Social media posts, such as tourists’ selfies with animals, provide instant viral advertising for wildlife tourism activities such as elephant riding and tiger hugging.

Instagram was a powerful research tool. Hashtags and location tags made it possible for us to see animal experiences vicariously and then connect with tourists in real time, sometimes joining them on their adventures. Social media underpinned much of our reporting. Kirsten and I couldn’t have told this story without it.

National Geographic’s reporting on animals generally concentrates on their natural history and issues of habitat destruction, poaching, and trafficking. This was a different kind of story. Getting close to captive wild animals often seems joyful—an innocent, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Most people I met love animals. Many thought that by supporting the attractions they were visiting, they were helping the animals they encountered. They were largely oblivious to the suffering behind the scenes.

Kirsten and I were there to do a job—to report on what we saw. This helped me detach somewhat from the reality I found. But sustained exposure to injured, confined, sickly animals was painful. A couple of times I found myself breaking down over a particularly abused animal. I struggled with guilt over the abuse we witnessed. We could leave and return to our lives. The animals could not.

Kirsten and I hope our story will give you a better understanding of what lies behind wildlife attractions. Thank you for reading and looking.

 

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Aoraki

Big Blue

More Scent

Porlock

Solstice Lavender

Chocolate Flake

We LOVE gardening!

 

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Reef restored: How Belize saved its beloved coral

By Chris Iovenko

Contributor

Read now

So 1 million species are at risk of extinction. Now what?

 

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Arnhem Land fishermen prohibited from selling their barramundi threaten coastal closure
Traditional owners are prohibited from selling valuable barramundi from their waters while commercial boats do just that.

Oil company's seismic testing approval creates waves in Tasmanian fishing industry
Tasmania's fishing industry warns seismic testing in Bass Strait could prove "destructive", but say they feel powerless to stop it.

LAND OF PLENTY

UNDER OUR NOSES

The Quest to Make a Bot That Can Smell as Well as a Dog
BY SARA HARRISON
Scientists are trying to crack the code of how smell works—and create robots that can sniff out the world's secrets like a dog.

 

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bummer


Lucky the lynx killed in car accident
The male lynx was killed on a state road along with the deer he was hunting. Lucky was one of the first lynx to be resettled in the wilderness of the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Lucky, a 4-year-old male lynx, was killed on Monday, May 13, when he and the deer he was chasing jumped out onto a state road and were hit by a car. Both animals were killed in the accident. The driver of the car was uninjured.

Students in the “Environmental Conservation and Restoration” class, taught by Marlyse Duguid, the Thomas G. Siccama Lecturer and associate research scientist at F&ES, took photos of osprey and other native New Haven animals using motion-activated cameras throughout a degraded urban nature reserve. #FESLife

Incidentally, did you know that an F&ES alum, Alan Poole’76 M.F.S., recently published a book about ospreys?


uuhhmmm
bit of a wanky chamge
admit i have a shoe/sneaker fetish
actually have a set of NB purple real light weight runners, thought i better start wering them before i crap out and die
dang things about 5 years old before i started using them ha, and everyone comments asnd says they love them, purple with purple laces haha true

RUNNING

New Balance's New Shoes

 

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Everything Is Horrible


By River Clegg

Photograph by Mario Weigt / Anzenberger / Redux

Everything is horrible, so here’s an eighteen-second video of a baby elephant taking a bath and sloshing around in the water. How cute! Yes, we know that eighteen seconds isn’t very long. We also know that, when the video ends, you’ll probably return to thinking thoughts like, How will climate change exacerbate food scarcity in the coming decades? Still, you’re always free to replay the video. Adorbs!

Everything is horrible, so here’s a picture of an iguana. We’re aware that iguanas aren’t traditionally viewed as cuddly or anything, but the Dow recently fell more than six hundred points in a single day. We’re not sure what that means, exactly, but it sounds terrifying. So why not look at the iguana?

Everything is horrible, so here’s a piglet running in circles around his mom. When the piglet gets tired out, he leans against his mother’s belly, panting in this darling, high-pitched squeal. It’s a good thing these pigs don’t live on a factory farm—where the vast majority of the meat Americans consume comes from—because none of this would be possible there. Not even close. Aw, look, the little guy’s running again!

Everything is horrible, so here’s a picture of the rain forest. There are probably some colorful birds in there if you squint. We’re not holding your hand through this one.

Everything is horrible, so here’s a three-legged cat. Wait, wait! We know this might seem depressing at first, but it’s not. It’s actually one of those videos that only seem depressing, but which then turn out to be inspiring. See, the three-legged cat was actually adopted by a grizzled old man who takes in injured animals. He’s got a partially blind dog, a goat with a messed-up hoof—all sorts of animals like that. He loves them and gives each one a fresh start. He also spends five hours a day on Twitter disputing the scientific evidence for a spherical Earth. Shit.

Everything is horrible, so here’s a raccoon whose owner taught it a little dance. Best of all, the raccoon isn’t even that good at the dance, so the owner probably didn’t have to resort to abuse to make it learn the dance.

Everything is horrible, so here’s a dog who made friends with a chimpanzee. They sometimes bully a baby hippopotamus together, but they’re very cute when they’re not doing that.

Ready for a changeup? Everything is horrible, so here’s one of those short videos in which someone prepares a nice-looking meal. Sorry you can’t taste or smell it. We hope we didn’t make everything more horrible by reminding you that there are people with the ability and will to make delicious home-cooked meals on a regular basis. These people are nothing like you, of course. But they’re out there.

Sorry, that one got away from us. Back to animals. Everything is horrible, so here’s a video of a polar bear, and—wait. Moving on.

Everything is horrible, so here’s a video of two ostriches having sex. Bet you never thought you’d see this, huh? Look at them. Their legs are so long. How are they even managing this, physically? Wow. It’s hypnotic. We’ve almost forgotten that the average life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped for three years in a row—seriously, three years. That hasn’t happened since the First World War! And what’s being done about it? Something? Anything? Anyway, it’s neat watching ostriches do it.

Everything is horrible, so here’s a clown fish with a speech bubble that reads “Why are you sharing this picture of me? Yes, there are a lot of bad things in the world, and it’s fine to forget about them once in a while. But do you realize the pattern you’re in? You say, ‘Everything is horrible,’ as though the mere recognition of that fact somehow absolves you of guilt for doing nothing to alleviate the horror, and then you share a cute animal thing. Why? Do you think it’s funny? It’s not. Stop it. Better yet, just this once, take the twenty bucks you were going to spend on takeout and give it to Amnesty International. Nobody’s asking you to drop everything and join the Peace Corps. But come on. You’re better than this.” Do not pay attention to the speech bubble!

Everything is horrible, so here’s a picture of the mechanical shark from “Jaws.” Hey, it’s better than nothing.

Everything Is Horrible