I just spent the last 1/2 hour reading this entire thread, and I have just a couple of things to say.
One dead squid is hardly comparable to the millions of tons of bycatch and other wasted food that could go to feed the starving mass of humanity. One of the most ridiculous demonstrations of this happens regularlily in my own little part of the world. The Salinas Valley produces 70-80% of the entire lettuce crop for the US. But is is quite routine for growers (large corporations, not individual or family farms, which are nearly extinct) to plow under [/b]entire crops because prices have fallen too low fit into the profit margins demanded by the stockholders and the tax right-off of donation is not enough to cover the loss. So not only is the food wasted, which could be used to feed the homeless, destitute and infirm, all of the irrigated water (which the area has none too much of to begin with) flushes gallons and gallons of pesticide, herbicides, and fungicides into a sanctuary already threatened with sewage hazards and golf course runoff.
The thing that I have noticed with people that cry out over the loss of life in cases like this generally don't own up to their own contribution to the dimise of life as they knew it. Whether it's the use (abuse) of petro-chemicals in all things western civilization, or the gallons of water wasted on keeping non-native, eco-threatening gardens flourishing, or the damage done to native cultures in so-called eco-tourism.
I wag this same finger at myself everyday. My sculpture nearly didn't get finished because of it. Copper is not something that is mined in a friendly way. While it's not as bad as gold, it's often the same companies that mine both. Tracing the source of metals is like trying to find a true statement in a politicians (a.k.a. lawyers) speech, so finding a supplier of a eco-friendly mined copper would be an exercise in futility. In the end though, it's like the one dead squid compared to all of the loss of life and food. It's just one. If I were doing bronze casting it would be a different story, then there would be a couple hundred of them.
If I had the courage to take myself out of this world, I would have done so a long time ago. But my biological will to live easily beats out my intellectual digust of what our species has done to the world. I gave it a good try, mentally at least, to beat it out; I couldn't do it though. Honestly, I have no hope that I will see great change in humanity in my lifetime, nor do I expect it anytime in the next 30,000 years. Our genetics are being changed before it's even understood.
How stupid are we to f**k with evolution anyway??
And do we really need to save more lives?? (I'm putting on my flack jacket now.) The root to the majority of the problems we have caused come from the fact that there are too many of us. I am not giving argument for mass suicide, genocide or other atrocities, but I do think that it's time to start facing up to the fact that we have got to cull the herd a little before it runs out of grazing range. This is a highly unpopular point of view to be sure, but one that I can inhabit a little more safetly than others because of my maleness (never heard of a male "biological clock") and a long term view of the past and future. I won't have children, and yet I try to think of what I would like my fifth, twentieth, and hundreth generation grandchilden to inherit. Certainly not the bloody mess we have created so far.
Please excuse me for this, it only comes out about once every 5 months or so. I used to be this way all of the time, but since I stopped paying attention, I haven't had much to say. For some reason in the last few months I have read the paper a couple of times, watched the news occasionally, and started reading more posts.
To end on a more positive note, I am curious what are some of the things that you do on a daily basis to lessen your impact on the planet that we love. I'll list a few of my own, and maybe we can all learn a thing or two.
-I don't shop at Walmart, eat at McDonalds, or by any more GE products
than I have to.
-I refuse bags of all kinds at every possible occasion, and state that it's
garbage before it's even used.
-I buy used and recycled as often as possible.
-I eat the last grain of rice in the bowl.
-I try to learn at least 3 things a day, and teach at least one.
BTW, I have a great recipe for brussel sprouts. Parboil a dozen or so of the little buggers, season with salt, pepper, a little thyme, a little oregano, and a little butter. Stuff them in the cavity of a season chicken and bake. Mmmmmmmmm....brussel sprout stuffed chicken....aghagahghagh....
Bully on Steve O, just remember to acknowledge your own part in it.
With dying breathe, "What was that all about." -Marlon Brando
Whew. That was a lot!
