FYI: sad finding

BBC 08/07/07:

Rare river dolphin 'now extinct'
A freshwater dolphin found only in China is now "likely to be extinct", a team of scientists has concluded.
The researchers failed to spot any Yangtze river dolphins, also known as baijis, during an extensive six-week survey of the mammals' habitat.

The team, writing in the Royal Society Biology Letters journals, blamed unregulated fishing as the main reason behind the dolphins' demise.

It would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.

The World Conservation Union's Red List of Threaten Species currently classifies the creature as "critically endangered".


We have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet
Dr Sam Turvey,
Zoological Society of London
Sam Turvey of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), one of the paper's co-authors, described the findings as a "shocking tragedy".

"The Yangtze river dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago," Dr Turvey explained.

"This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet."

'Incidental impact'

The species (Lipotes vexillifer) was the only remaining member of the Lipotidae, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, about 40-20 million years ago.

The white, freshwater dolphin had a long, narrow beak and low dorsal fin; lived in groups of three or four and fed on fish.

The team carried out six-week visual and acoustic survey, using two research vessels, in November and December 2006.

"While it is conceivable that a couple of surviving individuals were missed by the survey teams," the team wrote, "our inability to detect any baiji despite this intensive search effort indicates that the prospect of finding and translocating them to a [reserve] has all but vanished."

The scientists added that there were a number of human activities that caused baiji numbers to decline, including construction of dams and boat collisions.

"However, the primary factor was probably unsustainable by-catch in local fisheries, which used rolling hooks, nets and electrofishing," they suggested.

"Unlike most historical-era extinctions of large bodied animals, the baiji was the victim not of active persecution but incidental mortality resulting from massive-scale human environmental impacts - primarily uncontrolled and unselective fishing," the researchers concluded.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6935343.stm

Published: 2007/08/07 23:53:05 GMT

How the Past Informs the Future

1. What significance would you attribute to chimps "making tool"?
It seems to tell us something that we already know which is that at some point humans (evolving from chimpanzees) made weapons to kill their prey and tools to assist in labor. What the new chimp observations tell us perhaps, is that this was
happening sooner than we thought. A lot of our gender roles, i believe, have been re-inforced by habit and tradition and sometimes encouraged by the roles we observe in animals. If people did their research they'd find that there is a gammet of gender-bending animal behaviors among the animal kingdom, so it's surprising that we've created such stringent roles for humans. In either case, be it the chimps of West Africa's use of tools or the focussed and strong throws of the females, this is one group in one location. It certainly offers insight, but should not be used for general conclusions.

2. Giant toads or colossal squid-- whatever's next?
Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to Nature (don't quote me on that!). Mother Nature's creations have taken on so many shapes and forms---- it's absolutely stunning and sometimes on the verge of unbelievable. The smallest ants gathering leaves amaze me, their form and their instinctual organization. Imagining a squid 10X my size is crazy, like something out of 'Alien'-- but it's REAL! How f**kin cool! How will Nature continue to evolve? What conditions caused such size in the first place? It's ever changing, that's the thing: stories like these are never going to end!

Top U.S. Cash Crops

According to Wikipedia:

The top twenty agricultural products of the United States by value as reported by the FAO in 2003 (ranked in order of value with mass in metric tons):

1. Corn 256,904,992
2. Cattle meat 11,736,300
3. Cow's milk, whole, fresh 78,155,000
4. Chicken meat 15,006,000
5. Soybeans 65,795,300
6. Pig meat 8,574,290
7. Wheat 63,589,820
8. Cotton lint 3,967,810
9. Hen eggs 5,141,000
10. Turkey meat 2,584,200
11. Tomatoes 12,275,000
12. Potatoes 20,821,930
13. Grapes 6,125,670
14. Oranges 10,473,450
15. Rice, paddy 9,033,610
16. Apples 4,241,810
17. Sorghum 10,445,900
18. Lettuce 4,490,000
19. Cottonseed 6,072,690
20. Sugar beets 27,764,390

The only other crops to ever appear in the top twenty in the last 40 years were, commonly, tobacco, barley, and oats, and, rarely, peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds (in all, only 26 of the 188 crops the FAO tracks worldwide). Alfalfa and hay would both be in the top ten in 2003 if they were tracked by FAO.

Not quite a "staple food," but... according to ABC News:

Marijuana Called Top U.S. Cash Crop
Marijuana Takes the Pot as Most Valuable Cash Crop in the Country. Marijuana is the top cash crop in 12 states and among the top three cash crops in 30, according to a new study. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=2735017

Ha!

Which Way Forward?

1. If you had access to all resources how would you deal with "the global crisis in diet"?
1. Distribution of Information. So that nobody can say, "i didn't know," after they've bitten into a fast-food sandwhich with enough sodium to exceed their daily value.
2. More education: Public service announcements of the effects of high fat, high sugar, high sodium diets can have on their health, and most importantly on their childrens' health.
3. Critique specific businesses publically. Our local and national news, as well as our food critics should be handling this issue and targeting offensive reataurant chains to change their habits.
4. Do NOT serve Taco Bell, McDonald's, Pizza Hut or Burger King in our school cafeterias!! Students (or anybody) should not be eating processed food which makes you comatose and constipated, to be blunt. School districts should be making business alliances with local farmers and grocers to have healthy food provided. (If kids are addicted to the other crap, they can bring it from home, but at least the school won't be providing it).
5. Teach children about responsible investing and the most basic level: giving corporations (or non-corporations) your monetary support when you recognize that they are nourishing the community. Help children, teens and adults see that they have the power to demand changes about what goes into their bodies.

2. Would you expect "carbon offsets" to work effectively?
I think that it sounds like a pretty cool idea that is worth a try. I'd be very interested to see (and hopefully breathe) the results. The cynic in me (which thankfully is not my presiding instinct) says that polluters will find a way to pollute, that big businesses will find loopholes, and that the overall effect will not change. The idealist in me sees that simply the step of making individuals aware of what they are "spending" on a daily basis could have huge effects. I think that along with the "carbon offset" program there would need to be a lot of regular and serious inspections of companies' usage, as well as on ongoing educational team that work with everybody to learn how to continually cut carbon-spending quarterly.

3. Do you agree that laughter really is the best medicine?
How do you feel after you've had a really hardy (hearty) laugh? like you've relaxed, released tension, let-go, disregarded that little voice that says to stay in control? maybe you've even cried or felt suddenly thankful for whatever/whoever brought laughter into your day. I am not surprised if there are biochemical reactions that reduce your stress-level or boost your immune system. Laughter brings us to the present moment, in touch with the juice of life instead of struggling against it. If people could stop and laugh more often and find the beauty in making someone else truly smile, i'm sure we'd all be a lot happier and healthier.

Restoring the American Bison to its Rightful Range

1. How would you prioritize the reintroduction of the American Bison?
I think it seems very important. It's hard to prioritze things like this in the scape of potential world war, famine, local homelessness, illiteracy, etc. etc., but I think that at the core of a lot of our unrest, racial discrimination, displaced communities, and apathy are histories like that of the American Buffalo. As Fred Du Bray of the Cheyenne River Sioux said, "We recognize the bison is a symbol of our strength and unity, adn that as we bring our herds back to health, we will also bring our people back to health." It's a matter of respecting what we have been given: what our ancestors and land been through to bring us where we are now. Metaphorically, giving attention and support to the reintroduction of the American Bison is feeding this country a big bowl of nutritious and warming food that reminds us of goodness and our connection to the land that brought it forth, and gives us strength and vitality to make more motions that feed us instead of destroy us.

2. How would you assess "The New Pill promises to reduce breast cancer risk"?
Well, my first response, honestly, is that's great that women will be at less risk for cancer from their birthcontrol, why not put all of this effort into designing a male contraceptive? hmmmm? Reading on to the "it also stops women having periods altogether" part, I'm a bit disgusted. I realize that for some women this would be a real blessing and i greatly sympathize with those who go through such torturous periods. Of course, coming from a TCM perspective i can't help but think that this is a sign that there are some significant imbalances in their bodies that shouldn't be masked, but treated. Offering the option to any women who wants to stop her period seems sad to me, as it furthers the disconnection many women already have to their bodies. i don't want to speak for the rights any woman has to make for her own body, but i wish this kind of thing wasn't such a trend. The birth control pill, historically, has offered a lot of liberation for women, since it first being smuggled into the U.S. from France. It is encouraging that scientists are trying to limit the amount of side-effects the pill can have, but i wouldn't necessarily call it a milestone for women's health.

Ecosystems and Deep Ecology:

1. What do you think about the "8-point Deep Ecology Platform"?
I think this platform is awesome. it covers a lot of ground succinctly and soundly. I, personally, believe all that it states: the inherent worth of all life regardless of the usefulness for human purposes, that our richness relies on the diversity of our planet, that we are acting out excessively and irrationaly if we want to continue to have a planet to flourish on... When I slowed down and sat with each one of the points, i found that they hold a lot. I think it would be very useful for people to at least think about each of the 8-points, since quite often people aren't thinking this way... at all.

2. Can you explain why "ecosystems are both strong and fragile"?
Ecosystems are strong because of their diversity and each unique role that each species plays. They are fragile because they are reliant on the health and propagation of each of these species. So, when one is nurtured, they are all nurtured, and when one is threatened they are all threatened. Like a spider web, an ecosystem's strength is also in its structure, the reliance each strand holds on another to keep it taut. -- remove one strand and the entire web is weakened.

3. How would you assess the "end goals" of Social Ecology?
Social ecology "analyzes the various politcal and social institutions that people use in relationship to nature and its resources." I think that first goal of Social ecology to to assist a dialogue among people that encourages them to reflect on the various tensions that exist within our relationships to nature, ourselves, and technology. The second goal is to point to the contradictions that arise from these relationships (ie between forces of production and local ecological conditions, as well as biological and social reproduction). Social Ecology calls us to look at our government policies, social biases and discrimination, and each country's unique political economy and internal history. The end goal of this theorist movement is for people to look into the complexities wrapped up in the relationships we form to maintain our existences and realize that some are more destructive than not; the movement calls us to make changes on all levels to steer our cultures into more enlightened directions.

WK 8: Cell Biology: HIV and AIDS

1. How do I feel about western approaches to HIV/AIDS?
As with cancer, i feel very impressed with the amount of knowledge the western medical world has gained about the pathogenisis of the disease. They are dealing with an epidemic that propogates with huge mutations, so no two cases are exactly the same (i would guess). i think this is probably where my critique of the western approach comes in: that many individuals, despite their natural constitution, series of symptoms, or stage of illness are treated with the same cocktail of drugs and treatment (i'm sure a lot of medications are taken out and added in, but still they are dealing with a set of "HIV/AIDS" drugs that often cause crazy side-effects and don't truly "work" with the individual). same as usual, a non-holistic approach to a virus that effects each body differently....

2. Can TCM strengthen our immune system?
I think yes, definitely yes! This is one of the beautiful things that it does is strengthen our system to be able to combat exterior pathogens and not allow them to enter deeper layers. If people used TCM more often in this preventative way, instead of only running to their acupuncturist when they are sick, I think the true benefits can really been felt and seen.

3. The "Deal that Saved the Whales":
I loved reading this article. It sparked my own interest in the ideas of eco-tourism and made me happy to hear that locals of Baja are stepping up to not see their land raped and pileged like so many other locations that attract people becuase of its beauty. I think that it is very important to look at the cycles of nature that we are effected with capitalist growth and development. Breaking such cycles like the pregnant grey whales' amazing migration could down the line be a sign of real destruction of our own. The farther we separate ourselves from the web that holds us together and make decisions that completely disregard other life, in the end, the weaker we truly become. (I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that disagree with this and measure our success in terms of money and power only). It is important for people who feel a tie to their community to stand up for it, like the group Pro Natura, and take responsibility for bringing prosperity to peoples' lives without destroying the Nature that they live besides.