Turtles, snakes and lizards head toward extinction

Some of the comments I've read in this thread have me almost wishing for the purification of humans from this planet. We take without asking and waste life over temporary comforts to suit our own ignorance and greed.

Whoever wrote that article hasn't ever come around South Louisiana. If you want to take some of ours, please do. We have far too many of all 3. Add gators to that list as well.

I think this is more of a problem in the developing world than in the westernized countries. The U.S. Australia, Japan, etc. . . all have laws protecting habitat for endangered species. I hope something can be worked out soon to balance development with ecology in the developing world before more species are lost forever.

"Subdue the earth and keep it." Yeah, it's religious, but that doesn't make it any less truthful or relevant to the issues we're facing today.

Originally posted by starshift
Some of the comments I've read in this thread have me almost wishing for the purification of humans from this planet. We take without asking and waste life over temporary comforts to suit our own ignorance and greed.

um yah!

what do you think we are doing here? If you think it is anything other that terraforming this rock to make it as comfortable as possible to the largest brains present then you should wonder... Why did you put on socks this morning? why do you eat off a plate? heck why do you cook your food? why do you brush your teeth? why do you read? and why do you plan for holidays? if you do any of those then you cannot deny that you live your life in a controlled environment. You cannot possibly redesign this environment to be fair to every species so just be happy you are the one at the top of the food chain. If other species perish it is because they did not have what it takes to survive against other predators.

you want to part of the animal kingdom? have fun! I promise i wont eat you but i cannot guarantee you will not end up a trophy on my wall. I will stare at it and wonder why you were frolicing in the woods with socks on. It will seem strange to me.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
This is really stunning. 1/3 of reptiles, some of the longest surviving species on the planet, are nearing extinction.

NBC News

Nearly one fifth of all reptiles — turtles, snakes, lizards and crocodiles — are on a slippery slope toward extinction due to loss of habitat, overharvesting and other factors, a new report says.

The study is the first of its kind to summarize the global conservation status of reptiles. More than 1,500 species were selected at random from around the world for conservation assessments in an effort to gain a representative sample.

The results highlight "conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles," more than 200 researchers led by Monika Böhm at the Zoological Society of London write today in the journal Biological Conservation.

The study is linked above and is quite startling if you ask me. We always hear of endangered species but hardly ever about these particular animals.

I don't expect this to be seen as drastically important by the general population or government however. We as humans have a pretty crappy record of conservation to begin with.



Thoughts ATS?

~Tenth

edit on 2/15/2013 by tothetenthpower because: (no reason given)

Let me tell you a story. A few years ago I took an environmental science course at a local college. One of our assignments was to study and write a report on the gall ball fly. We were given samples to examine and all the papers to go with it etc. One of the first things out of this credentialed phd doctorate professor was how the Goldenrod flowers this fly lived on was going extinct. Now I am no rocket scientist but on my way back home (which was a 25 mile drive) I seen fields of Goldenrod flowers. Everywhere.?????? And the moral of this story? Don't believe everything you here. I have an overabundance of goldenrod flowers, honey bees, bumblebees, turtles, snakes and all the other creepy crawlies where I live.

Monika Böhm (* 1960 in Hofheim am Taunus) is a German legal scholar, environmental rights activist and Professor of Public Law and European Law at the Philipps University in Marburg and state attorney at the Hessian State Supreme Court in Wiesbaden.
life

Most people have an agenda. I wonder if she has one?

Originally posted by ohioriver


Most people have an agenda. I wonder if she has one?

I think she does. Agenda 21 springs to mind.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte

Originally posted by ohioriver


Most people have an agenda. I wonder if she has one?

I think she does. Agenda 21 springs to mind.

Ahhh and there it is. Agenda 21. People need to not be so eager to jump on the first bandwagon that rolls by. My favorite quote is "Trust, but verify".

reply to post by ohioriver


Yep. Believe me, snakes and turtles and lizards are doing fine and will likely be around long after we're gone. Remember when the frog population was "rapidly disappearing"? Go to any warmer climate in a rural area. There are millions of frogs croaking away.
This pseudo Gaia religion that environmentalist types worship is nothing more than an agenda to centrally control the livestock (us) by globalist elites.
Kind of like how the gag order was placed on the CERN scientists who discovered that solar activity had a lot more to do with climate change than human activity. Or how NASA bureaucrats hushed up the scientific results which showed that a lot more carbon escaped the atmosphere than the vaunted "models" allowed for.

Does the fact that there are 7 billion humans and counting on the planet mean that there will be some affects on other species? Of course. It is a closed system after all. But what these people don't get is that we're an insignificant, short lived species in the great scheme of things.
And like all the millions of changes the Earth has gone through in the last 4 Billion years, if we do manage to make a permanent dent, the world will adapt accordingly like it has for much much more drastic changes - meteor strikes, extreme volcanic activity, etc.

The vast majority of species that have gone extinct were extinct long before the first human figured out how to light a fire or build a wheel. We had nothing to do with their demise. If we do cause a mass extinction, which we won't, it will only be another very minor incident in Earth's geological timeline.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
1/3 of reptiles, some of the longest surviving species on the planet, are nearing extinction.

[I don't expect this to be seen as drastically important by the general population or government however. We as humans have a pretty crappy record of conservation to begin with.

Thoughts ATS?

~Tenth

edit on 2/15/2013 by tothetenthpower because: (no reason given)

It is tragic is what it is, I want to cry when I read how we are pushing out other species. What will this planet be like in 150 years, concrete and humans, with a few dogs and domestic animals.

I am not happy with the way we are treating this earth and our fellow creatures. It is unforgivable really.

Thank you Tenth for bringing this sadness to our attention, I am not sure what I can do, I wish I could do something.

It needs to be a collective effort and not enough people care - that is the painful truth, which breaks my heart.

Originally posted by pierregustavetoutant
reply to post by ohioriver

 

. If we do cause a mass extinction, which we won't, it will only be another very minor incident in Earth's geological timeline.

Yep just like the blip in earths evolution that humans will represent when they are long gone ...

Originally posted by ohioriver
Most people have an agenda. I wonder if she has one?

I am sorry but are you for real ? Someone points out that many animal species are becoming extinct and you think they ahve an agenda ???
Maybe the said agenda is that we as the guardians of this planet should do our job better and care for all creatures ..

While this may he news to some, others have known we're in the sixth mass extinction event for some time now.

It's estimated we're losing 100-200 species a day, and the process is accelerating.

Some scientists expect ecosystem collapse worldwide by mid to late century.

That won't go too well for us.

reply to post by FirstCasualty


Thanks but I don't need any more examples to support my post.

I think a lot of the endangered animals are local sub-varieties and/or in microclimates. some of these are limited to a single valley or lake, but are 99% identical to widespread species. so we might lose the Monkey-Faced Disco Hawk, which only lives on the shore of Larson Lake, but we're in no danger of losing the other Disco Hawk sub-species (only a Disco Hawk expert with a microscope can tell the difference). if you believe in evolution you accept that species come and go, and if they can't adapt, oh well. (if you believe in Divine Creation you accept that God gave earth to man, and if the hawk can't co-exist, oh well.)
related; some animal species are 'generalists', some 'specialists'. generalists can handle varied climate/terrain/foods (rats, mice); specialists must be in a single climate/environment (Koala Bears, which must be in Eucalyptus trees, as do their vicious Drop Bear cousins). natural progress means changing pristine environments into developed areas (agriculture, mining, housing, Wal-Marts). some of these environments will inevitably contain specialist species (snail darters).
I don't want to see any animal (or plant) species lost, but we can't tell people not to improve the quality of life. looks pretty hypocritical for the Al Gores of the world to tell, for instance, Amazon tribespersons that they shouldn't develop to the point of having air conditioning, when he's living in a climate-controlled mansion (he's just one example of western leftists).

Good luck with that whole "we kill off reptiles to live comfortably stuff" we'll see how comfortable you are when the population of insects that eat our crops and spread diseases goes up, and not to mention the rodents that snakes eat which also cause havoc and spread disease. But let me guess, we will just make better poisons and pesticides? Then we will sit around wondering why our plants aren't growing as well as they used to, and why the animals that eat our poisoned insects and rodents are also dying.

Convincing ourselves that we are above nature, and no longer part of life's cycle will only ensure that we are no longer a part of nature or life's cycle. The ironic part of it is we will convince ourselves that we are actually helping our survival all the way up to the edge of the cliff.

I wonder if discussions like this ever happened in easter island and similar lost civilizations. There must have been people saying "hey guys we can't keep this up" while the never satisfied crowd told them to shut up demanded more and more.

We like to talk about how great our brains are, but we are to stupid to learn from history, we are to stupid to realize that we confuse wants for needs. We put more importance on what we desire, and quickly forget the satisfaction of what we already have. We are short sighted. We don't care if we consume and grow at rates we can't keep up, as long as we satisfy our wants right now.

Buddhists have a quote that compares this type of thinking to drinking salt water in an attempt to quench your thirst.

reply to post by tothetenthpower

They should have evolved but they didn't so they die

Originally posted by votan
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

They should have evolved but they didn't so they die

if you stamp on an ant it dies, not becuase it is not evolved but because you trod on it !

reply to post by mahatche


GMO with pesticides look it up

Originally posted by HelenConway

Originally posted by votan
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

They should have evolved but they didn't so they die

if you stamp on an ant it dies, not becuase it is not evolved but because you trod on it !

Its buddies should evolve so I can't stomp on it anymore.

Evolve or die. I think many businesses die because they do not evolve and they get stomped on. You know VHS was stomped on by DVD

This thing is misleading in a way, if you want to look and see how many snakes and reptiles are breeding in your local neck of the woods all you would need to do is go there and see, trust me there are plenty of snakes and lizards out there, and cockroaches will still likely be here for a long long time, # they could probably survive on mars oxygen depleted as it is now. Srry but it talks about die offs in long standing habitats which are intruded by other growing habitats ie human habitat, in a over all scope for every one species that goes extinct another little critter takes its place which, over comparing humanity to other creatures on this planet I would not bet that humanity when its all said and done comes out on top or even survives in the long run.

I find myself quoting Joe Rogan a bit to much now a days. But yes we are here to eat the sandwich its just a do process, like everything else it will just lead into other things, our time in the sun.