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Hello Paul -
A wonderful piece of writing, I agree with it 100%.
Thank you.
Roland.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul S. Boyer" <psboyer@eastlink.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:00 AM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Birds face longer migrations due to climate change
> What I find objectionable is reporting speculation as fact.
>
> I would agree that migration is a hard business, and every year
> numbers of migratory birds do not survive the journey.
>
> We have been in and out of an estimated 22 major climatic variations
> in the last 2.4 million years, including four very major glaciations.
> Each time, fauna and flora have had to adjust, and those who were
> unable to adjust have presumably been winnowed out long since. A very
> minor change in world temperatures probably will not harm birds and
> other wildlife.
>
> If we consider the species which have become extinct since
> colonization, in our area there are rather few. We don't know what
> became of the Labrador Duck: it seems to have been uncommon, and the
> best guess is that molestation in its nesting area may have been a
> factor. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker lost its habitat due to drainage
> of swamps, and destruction of its forest habitat. The Passenger
> Pigeon was killed in huge numbers right at its nesting sites, in a way
> which eliminated it, even though it was one of the most common birds
> on the Earth. The Great Auk was also relentlessly persecuted in is
> nesting area.
>
> It we were to review all the cases, I think that it would be difficult
> to find a single bird species in North America which has gone extinct
> through climate variations. By far more important are factors such
> as: persecution while nesting; over-hunting for market; introduction
> of alien species (competitors and predators); and destruction of
> habitat. There is also the matter of pesticides, which at one time
> threatened the Osprey and the Bald Eagle; but we can report that both
> those species have recovered markedly. (I recently observed an eagle
> nest which has been producing young for nine years, located in a
> populated neighborhood in city of about 250,000 human inhabitants.)
>
> Of the major threats to bird life which I just listed, all can be
> controlled. Climate cannot be substantially controlled; and the
> proposals to attempt to do so are an attempt to administer a medicine
> which is far worse than the supposed disease. Can anyone really
> believe that the world will cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 80% within
> a decade, as some politicians have announced as a goal? That is
> absurd! This is what disturbs me: that the global warming issue has
> become not only politicized, but that it has become a state-supported,
> established ersatz-religion. It is propagated in the compliant media,
> and taught uncritically to students even in early grade-school.
>
> Perhaps I should not worry about this, because the public every now
> and then gets beset by some such raging fad; and ultimately, one may
> hope, everyone will learn the way things really work, and come back to
> reality. But in the meantime, do we have to make the lessons so darn
> expensive?
>
>
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