Reactions to story from The New York Times

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  Canaries or canards?

  http://planetdoom.blogspot.com/2008/03/canaries-or-canards.h...
  248 days ago in planet doom? · Authority: 3

  As the Whirligig spins faster, the canaries stop singing, one by one. While it may be outdated, the idea of 'canaries in a coal mine' as a metaphor for the events occurring as we meet our onrushing environmental fate remains useful. The birds go silent – an ill wind blows. Time to heed the warnings or a false alarm? Bats in New York state are dying, and no one knows why. Wildlife biologists fear a significant die-off in about 15 caves and mines in New York, as well as at sites in Massachusetts and Vermont. Whatever is killing the bats leaves them unusually thin and, in some cases, dotted with a white fungus. Bat experts fear that what they call White Nose Syndrome may spell doom for several species that keep insect pests under control. Researchers have yet to determine whether the bats are being killed by a virus, bacteria, toxin, environmental hazard, metabolic disorder or fungus. Some have been found with pneumonia, but that and the fungus are believed to be secondary symptoms. Of course, climate change could be considered, but it could be through a second-order effect. For example, some subtle alteration in the timing of severity of the seasons could upset the balance of the local ecology, altering the microbial environment and ultimately resulting in dead bats and serious alteration of the local environment. However, discerning the interactions between the myriad variables – their interactions and feedbacks – is difficult work. Ultimate cause and effect is hard to establish. This is witnessed in the case of the vanishing harlequin frogs in Costa Rica. AS the story notes, '...teams of biologists have been sifting spotty evidence and pointing to various culprits in the widespread vanishing of [the] frogs'. The person quoted below has the correct perspective “There is so much we still do not know!”... The origin of the fungus and the way it kills amphibians remain unknown and there are ample mysteries about why it breaks out in certain places and times and not others. Different approaches and paradigms of different researchers lead to different answers. In science, one paper or observation is not definitive...replication is key. And given the complexity of ecosystems, many of the hypotheses may be partially right. It may be years or decades (or never!) before we have certainty that the 'truth' is known. The disappearing salmon off the California coast are another sign of something gone amiss. The reason for the decline is unclear. The reason for the decline is unclear. Both hatchery and naturally produced fish have been negatively affected, and returns of coastal stocks in Oregon, in the Columbia River, and in British Columbia were all low in 2007. The decline seems to be a coastwide phenomenon, probably related to ocean conditions. In Chile, the fishing methods used have been indicted in a salmon virus outbreak. A Change in the Wind has a comprehensive post on the closure of the fisheries and the sources of uncertainty in ascertaining the cause. A link between the Pacific Decadal Osciallation and the number of salmon is explored. As before, nothing is certain. They are many partially correct explanations. Disentangling natural variability vs climate change is next to impossible in the short term. Are they canaries or canards? The increasingly frequent timing of these events and others like them, in light of the known greenhouse gas forcing and other 'environmental crimes' of humanity, is worrying. But the answers don't come easily. Nonetheless, one can only imagine that whatever Nature's verdict, Humanity will be implicated. Our environmental impacts are enormous. We are the common factor in all these events. Of course we're responsible. And if it doesn't immanently lead to societal and/or ecosystem collapse, then all the luckier for humanity. That gives us more time to act, and allows us to maintain the faint hopes that it is not too late. While success is not assured, despair guarantees failure. Nature always bats last.***Image: Dante Fenolio/Atlanta Botanical Garden via New York Times
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  Jacob Escobedo's Kerry

  http://20x200.com/blog/2008/06/jacob-escobedos-kerry.html
  181 days ago in The 20x200 Blog · Authority: 42

  Discombobulated Tuesday greetings collectors. I just arrived in Madrid a few hours ago for Photos España and after partaking of some breakfasty items and some not good enough coffee, I stumbled back to my room and fell asleep for too long. This means I have little to report of Spain so far, except for this: the breakfast pastries at the Oscar are yummy and the room I'm in, while oddly laid out, has an entirely too comfortable bed. Hopefully I'll have more commentary of note after this evening's festivities, which I am dashing off to just as soon as I dash of this note to you. Today's print edition, the obsessively detailed and slightly creepy (why so angry my little bat friend?) Kerry, comes to us from Atlanta-based artist Jacob Escobedo. You definitely want to check out the bigger version of this bad boy, because the details are incredible. I love this project of Jacob's. He's been making drawings of his friends' favorite animals and all of them are really stunning. When he came by the studio to sign certificates, I think I managed too convince him that being part of the 20x200 fam made us friends, so I'm hoping that there's a similarly rendered otter in the offing. Otters are not necessarily my favorite but my dog Ollie Otter is my favorite creature on the planet so it seemed apropos. Also, some of my other faves? Taken. Apparently I am not the iconoclast I'd thought myself to be. Hmph. Bats are pretty damn cool, and like the bees they are in some recent, big and mysterious trouble. As with bees, they play a critical role in balancing out our eco-system and managing some pesky insect populations, so the trend of tens of thousands of them dying off is alarming for lots of reasons. Bat Conservation International is an organization I learned about several years ago via my friend Antony. They've been really active in leading the charge to figure this whole thing out, so go have a look there and consider getting involved. You can also help in a more passive way, by simply drinking coffee. Specifically Bat City Blend a really delicious blend made by Austin-based roasters Katz Coffee. A portion of the proceeds from Bat City blend sales goes to BCI. Both the coffee and the organization are good, so I say: drink up. Me? I'm off to find some cafe con leche after which I'll be off to the Biblioteca Nacional for a Best Photo Books of the Year event. This probably means that there are more interesting tales from my trip to be told tomorrow. Until then: Adios!
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  Edition Announcement #71 - Jacob Escobedo

  http://20x200.com/email/edition-announcement-71-jacob-escobe...
  182 days ago in The 20x200 Newsletter · Authority: 4

  Tuesday Edition: Jacob Escobedo Discombobulated Tuesday greetings collectors. I just arrived in Madrid a few hours ago for Photos España and after partaking of some breakfasty items and some not good enough coffee, I stumbled back to my room and fell asleep for too long. This means I have little to report of Spain so far, except for this: the breakfast pastries at the Oscar are yummy and the room I'm in, while oddly laid out, has an entirely too comfortable bed. Hopefully I'll have more commentary of note after this evening's festivities, which I am dashing off to just as soon as I dash of this note to you. Today's print edition, the obsessively detailed and slightly creepy (why so angry my little bat friend?) Kerry, comes to us from Atlanta-based artist Jacob Escobedo. You definitely want to check out the bigger version of this bad boy, because the details are incredible. I love this project of Jacob's. He's been making drawings of his friends' favorite animals and all of them are really stunning. When he came by the studio to sign certificates, I think I managed too convince him that being part of the 20x200 fam made us friends, so I'm hoping that there's a similarly rendered otter in the offing. Otters are not necessarily my favorite but my dog Ollie Otter is my favorite creature on the planet so it seemed apropos. Also, some of my other faves? Taken. Apparently I am not the iconoclast I'd thought myself to be. Hmph. Bats are pretty damn cool, and like the bees they are in some recent, big and mysterious trouble. As with bees, they play a critical role in balancing out our eco-system and managing some pesky insect populations, so the trend of tens of thousands of them dying off is alarming for lots of reasons. Bat Conservation International is an organization I learned about several years ago via my friend Antony. They've been really active in leading the charge to figure this whole thing out, so go have a look there and consider getting involved. You can also help in a more passive way, by simply drinking coffee. Specifically Bat City Blend a really delicious blend made by Austin-based roasters Katz Coffee. A portion of the proceeds from Bat City blend sales goes to BCI. Both the coffee and the organization are good, so I say: drink up. Me? I'm off to find some cafe con leche after which I'll be off to the Biblioteca Nacional for a Best Photo Books of the Year event. This probably means that there are more interesting tales from my trip to be told tomorrow. Until then: Adios! Kerry, by Jacob Escobedo Detail:
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  The massacre of bats

  http://tothefuturewithlove.blogspot.com/2008/05/massacre-of-...
  200 days ago in To the Future with Love · Authority: 5

  Bats Perish, and No One Knows WhyBy TINA KELLEY Published: March 25, 2008 It was broad daylight in the middle of winter, and bats flew out of the mine about one a minute. Some had fallen to the ground where they flailed around on the snow like tiny wind-broken umbrellas, using the thumbs at the top joint of their wings to gain their balance. All would be dead by nightfall. Mr. Hicks, a mammal specialist with the state’s Environmental Conservation Department, said: “Bats don’t fly in the daytime, and bats don’t fly in the winter. Every bat you see out here is a ‘dead bat flying,’ so to speak.” In what is one of the worst calamities to hit bat populations in the United States, on average 90 percent of the hibernating bats in four caves and mines in New York have died since last winter. Wildlife biologists fear a significant die-off in about 15 caves and mines in New York, as well as at sites in Massachusetts and Vermont. Whatever is killing the bats leaves them unusually thin and, in some cases, dotted with a white fungus. Bat experts fear that what they call White Nose Syndrome may spell doom for several species that keep insect pests under control. Researchers have yet to determine whether the bats are being killed by a virus, bacteria, toxin, environmental hazard, metabolic disorder or fungus. Some have been found with pneumonia, but that and the fungus are believed to be secondary symptoms.Merlin Tuttle, the president of Bat Conservation International, an education and research group in Austin, Tex., said: “So far as we can tell at this point, this may be the most serious threat to North American bats we’ve experienced in recorded history. “ This month, Mr. Hicks took a team from the Environmental Conservation Department into the hibernaculum that has sheltered 200,000 bats in past years, mostly little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) and federally endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis), with the world’s second largest concentration of small-footed bats (Myotis leibii). In a dank galley of the mine, Mr. Hicks asked everyone to count how many out of 100 bats had white noses. About half the bats in one galley did. They would be dead by April, he said. In January 2007, a cave explorer reported an unusual number of bats flying near the entrance of a cavern near Albany. In March and April, thousands of dead bats were found in three other mines and caves. In one case, half the dead or living bats had the fungus. One cave had 15,584 bats in 2005, 6,735 in 2007 and an estimated 1,500 this winter. Another went from 1,329 bats in 2006 to 38 this winter. Some biologists fear that 250,000 bats could die this year. Since September, when hibernation began, dead or dying bats have been found at 15 sites in New York. Most of them had been visited by people who had been at the original four sites last winter, leading researchers to suspect that humans could transmit the problem. In Vermont, Scott Darling, a wildlife biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Department, said: “The last tally that I have is approximately 20 sites in New York, 4 in Vermont and 2 in Massachusetts. We only have estimates of the numbers of bats in the affected sites — more or less 500,000. It is impossible for us to count the dead bats, as many have flown away from the caves and died — we have over 90 reports from citizens across Vermont — as well as many are still dying.” People are not believed to be susceptible to the affliction. But New Jersey, New York and Vermont have advised everyone to stay out of all caverns that might have bats. Visitors to affected caves and mines are asked to decontaminate all clothing, boots, ropes and other gear, as well as the car trunks that transport them. It’s very scary and a little overwhelming from a biologist’s perspective,” Ms. von Oettingen said. “If we can’t contain it, we’re going to see extinctions of listed species, and some of species that are not even listed.” Biologists are concerned that if the bats are being killed by something contagious either in the caves or elsewhere, it could spread rapidly, because bats can migrate hundreds of miles in any direction to their summer homes, known as maternity roosts. At those sites, females usually give birth to one pup a year, an added challenge for dropping populations. Nursing females can eat up to half their weight in insects a day, Mr. Hicks said. Other researchers want to know whether recently introduced pesticides, including those released to stop West Nile virus, may be contributing to the problem, either through a toxin or by greatly reducing the bat’s food source. The die-offs are big enough that they may have economic effects. A study of Brazilian free-tailed bats in southwestern Texas found that their presence saved cotton farmers a sixth to an eighth of the cash value of their crops by consuming insect pests.source My comment:Weird, huh? Reminds you of the movie "The happening"? I know it's not on air yet, but the story goes in similar lines. Anyway, I think that any massive die-off of living things should be investigated thoroughly. We simply have to know what's going on. Because we could be the next.
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  First the bees, then the ants, now bats are dying off.

  http://mortgagae.us/2008/05/first-the-bees-then-the-ants-now...
  202 days ago in MORTGAGAE information. » MORTGAGAE.US · Authority: 2

  It was broad daylight in the middle of winter, and bats flew out of the mine about one a minute. Some had fallen to the ground where they flailed around on the snow like tiny wind-broken umbrellas, using the thumbs at the top joint of their wings to gain their balance. All would be dead by nightfall. read more | digg story
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  MUXTAPE: to les animeux

  http://toastytime.blogspot.com/2008/05/muxtape-my-bad-mankin...
  204 days ago in T-T-TOASTY · Authority: 1

  "MY BAD" - mankind to the animal kingdom WE STILL LOVE to eat YOU The first fatal shark attack in San Diego in 50 years, you gotta wonder what's gone into animals these days. Pissed off tigers, aggresive sting rays, dying bats, and more recently, disappearing salmon, which is gonna provoke grumpiness out of some chill Canadian bears: "Salmon shortage starving Canadian grizzlies Relocation producese stress - Wildlife experts say most relocated bears try to return to their original territories ... Experts also say that relocation simply postpones the inevitable ... leading to a slower, more painful death. " Animals are definitely doing more and more freakish shit. They're getting run out like a townie getting bought out by gentrification and so forced to go in more undesirable locales. We destroy their homes and they're like, what the hell, where do i go now? i hear human-land isn't too bad. yeah, there's a little bit of a commute but it's affordable for my ravenous appetite. Sound the horn, animals are declaring war on us.
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  Bats Perish, And I Know Why

  http://evanschiller.blogspot.com/2008/03/bats-perish-and-i-k...
  204 days ago in Conventional Stupidity · Authority: 4

  Bats Perish, And I Know Why Today the New York Times ran a story called: "Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why." I guess 90% of the bat population has died off in the Northeast, and eco-batologist-types are worried the world is about to end. Worst of all, no one knows why this is happening... no one... except me. Here are the facts: Bats hang out in pitch black caves year-round. When they leave their dreary, subterranean dens, they seem to keel over and die. Why am I not surprised? First off, bats are just about the weirdest looking thing left on the planet. Yikes. It's furry and translucent. That's a winning combo. The truth is, weird looking things inevitably die off. Take the dodo bird, for instance. It looks like an albatross raped a pigeon. EXTINCT. Or the woolly mammoth. Some people say Native Americans killed them off. Nope. They're just ugly. Think about it, what's uglier than an elephant... that's right, an elephant covered in shaggy, brown hair. EXTINCT. As for bats, I'm pretty sure it was Darwin who said, "animals that look like miniature-pterodactyl-mice will perish." It's probably on page 1 of that book he wrote that Creationists hate so much. The only time furry, translucent creatures get any ass is when they're in dark caves. It's a lot like how drunk people--who would otherwise find each other revolting--hook up in dimly lit dive bars. If you can't see who you're banging, it's hard to object. And that, my friends, is why bats have lasted so long. It's the caves. Plain and simple. If they keep leaving their caves, venturing out into broad daylight, they will inevitably, and steadily, decline as a species. Posted by Evan

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