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<p> In a nutshell, he has devis This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------36D5981B8A8E49751EBF5451 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi All, I think John Muir touched on this question with his observation that "Everything is connected." The notion that some 'useless' plant may contain the cure for some disease is a cop out because it implies that, if it were not to contain some cure then it would indeed be useless. Rare plants or animals may be on the road to oblivion, waiting for a break or about to become more common if conditions were to change. When in doubt about values it helps to read a few passages in "A Sand County Almanac." and reflect. Or examine the stigma of a Luzula with a 6x hand lens. Or reflect that arrangement of only four bases on DNA describes precisely all possible life from day one to eternity. They all have a story to tell and sometimes one can guess the essence; ability to disperse propagules to naturally cultivated soil, ability to survive where other plants can not....ability to conserve water blown in as snow and make it last a year. But I digress. I recently came across an example of the unlikely magic which can surface in nature (American Scientist March April, 1977 The plant animal interface in freshwater ecosystems. Karen G. Porter:159-170). In one study, using algae containing radioactive tracer and a closed test chamber immersed in a eutrophic lake during periods of peak zooplankton abundance, the grazer zooplankton filtered the test sample 4.69 times during one day (469%). This rate was I gather measured by the rate at which radioactive algae became radioactive grazer zooplankton. And the short answer, less personal than the "What are you good for ?" is "What is anything good for". Or one could refer to the Ancient Mariner; "He prayeth best who lovest best All things both great and small; For the good Lord who loveth us, He made and loveth all." Dave Webster, Kentville On 6/18/2019 11:19 AM, John and Nhung wrote: > > My response to the “What good are they?” (They being Atlantic Coastal > plains flora.) was that you never know what sort of medically > beneficial chemicals are waiting to be discovered in some plant > species and that the rare lants around our lakes are a tourist > attraction. (True, eh?) > > But I’m slow on the draw. We do need to marshal more arguments. > > Re. Brazil and Balsonaro, I cringe. Then I listen to some of the > complaints some people in Canada make and boy, we may have problems, > some of ‘em serious, but we had better appreciate what we have and > we’d better not take it for granted. A lot of us need to look > outside, and think. > > *From:*naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca > [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] *On Behalf Of *Richard Stern > *Sent:* June 18, 2019 11:02 AM > *To:* NatureNS > *Subject:* Re: [NatureNS] Bird Habitats > > Preaching to the choir ......... I'm sure everyone in this and similar > groups already feel as I do, that habitat is vital to migratory birds > all along their migration route, and that I enjoy birds because > they're interesting, beautiful, challenging to ID and photograph, are > harbingers of environmental change, etc. etc., and that enjoying the > great outdoors is pleasurable to middle class people like myself. So > how do you justify/ explain their value in these terms to somebody > whose livelihood and that of their family depends on working in a pulp > mill, or an open pit mine, in NS, when there are no other jobs around, > or engineering a condo block on the Gulf Coast, or growing his meagre > crop of wild rice in Venezuela, etc. etc. - all of which are threats > to the migratory birds that nest here in NS? I ask this because I > recently had a conversation with someone who works in Brazil, and is a > supporter of the new president (who is a worse environmentalist than > Trump), but who told me that all his co-workers support him because he > promises to improve their standard of living, and the long term > environment somewhere else on the planet is not really relevant to > their humdrum and poor quality daily lives, --- and I couldn't think > of any convincing answers. How do others address this issue? > > Richard > > -- > > ################# > Richard Stern, > Port Williams, NS, Canada > sternrichard@gmail.com <mailto:sternrichard@gmail.com> > ################### > --------------36D5981B8A8E49751EBF5451 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <p>Hi All,</p> <p> I think John Muir touched on this question with his observation that "Everything is connected." <br> </p> <p> The notion that some 'useless' plant may contain the cure for some disease is a cop out because it implies that, if it were not to contain some cure then it would indeed be useless. Rare plants or animals may be on the road to oblivion, waiting for a break or about to become more common if conditions were to change. <br> </p> <p> When in doubt about values it helps to read a few passages in "A Sand County Almanac." and reflect. Or examine the stigma of a Luzula with a 6x hand lens. Or reflect that arrangement of only four bases on DNA describes precisely all possible life from day one to eternity. <br> </p> <p> They all have a story to tell and sometimes one can guess the essence; ability to disperse propagules to naturally cultivated soil, ability to survive where other plants can not....ability to conserve water blown in as snow and make it last a year. But I digress.</p> <p> I recently came across an example of the unlikely magic which can surface in nature (American Scientist March April, 1977 The plant animal interface in freshwater ecosystems. Karen G. Porter:159-170). In one study, using algae containing radioactive tracer and a closed test chamber immersed in a eutrophic lake during periods of peak zooplankton abundance, the grazer zooplankton filtered the test sample 4.69 times during one day (469%). This rate was I gather measured by the rate at which radioactive algae became radioactive grazer zooplankton.</p> <p> And the short answer, less personal than the "What are you good for ?" is "What is anything good for".</p> <p> Or one could refer to the Ancient Mariner; "He prayeth best who lovest best All things both great and small; For the good Lord who loveth us, He made and loveth all."</p> <p>Dave Webster, Kentville<br> </p> <p> <br> </p> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/18/2019 11:19 AM, John and Nhung wrote:<br> </div> <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:009001d525e0$cffbdef0$6ff39cd0$@eastlink.ca"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"> <style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" /> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout v:ext="edit"> <o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" /> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> <div class="WordSection1"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">My response to the “What good are they?” (They being Atlantic Coastal plains flora.) was that you never know what sort of medically beneficial chemicals are waiting to be discovered in some plant species and that the rare lants around our lakes are a tourist attraction. (True, eh?) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">But I’m slow on the draw. We do need to marshal more arguments.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Re. Brazil and Balsonaro, I cringe. Then I listen to some of the complaints some people in Canada make and boy, we may have problems, some of ‘em serious, but we had better appreciate what we have and we’d better not take it for granted. A lot of us need to look outside, and think.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US"> naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Richard Stern<br> <b>Sent:</b> June 18, 2019 11:02 AM<br> <b>To:</b> NatureNS<br> <b>Subject:</b> Re: [NatureNS] Bird Habitats<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <div> <div> <div> <p class="MsoNormal">Preaching to the choir ......... I'm sure everyone in this and similar groups already feel as I do, that habitat is vital to migratory birds all along their migration route, and that I enjoy birds because they're interesting, beautiful, challenging to ID and photograph, are harbingers of environmental change, etc. etc., and that enjoying the great outdoors is pleasurable to middle class people like myself. So how do you justify/ explain their value in these terms to somebody whose livelihood and that of their family depends on working in a pulp mill, or an open pit mine, in NS, when there are no other jobs around, or engineering a condo block on the Gulf Coast, or growing his meagre crop of wild rice in Venezuela, etc. etc. - all of which are threats to the migratory birds that nest here in NS? I ask this because I recently had a conversation with someone who works in Brazil, and is a supporter of the new president (who is a worse environmentalist than Trump), but who told me that all his co-workers support him because he promises to improve their standard of living, and the long term environment somewhere else on the planet is not really relevant to their humdrum and poor quality daily lives, --- and I couldn't think of any convincing answers. How do others address this issue?<o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class="MsoNormal">Richard<o:p></o:p></p> </div> </div> <div> <blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm"> <div> <blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm"> <div> <div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><o:p> </o:p></p> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div> </blockquote> </div> <p class="MsoNormal">-- <o:p></o:p></p> <div> <div> <div> <p class="MsoNormal">#################<br> Richard Stern, <br> Port Williams, NS, Canada<br> <a href="mailto:sternrichard@gmail.com" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">sternrichard@gmail.com</a><br> ###################<o:p></o:p></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> </body> </html> --------------36D5981B8A8E49751EBF5451--
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