alex.m.thompson
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Publications
  • Photos
  • Research
  • Collaborators
  • Blog

my thoughts on science

the world's still broken....but there is hope

10/30/2014

0 Comments

 
I saw a video on youtube the other day that has gotten me fairly depressed about the current state of our environmental policy. In this video, filmed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, a 12 year old Canadian girl implores the UN delegates to change the policies of their countries to help save the planet. She lists all of the awful things that were occurring way back in 1992. She is very articulate in her arguments and states that it is adults who are destroying the world that their children will inherit, pointing to the hypocrisy of how adults teach children to behave and then how adults themselves act towards the planet. The thing that I found most depressing was that every single issue that she lists is still a major problem now, 22 years later. Most of these problems will have been exacerbated in the intervening years, meaning that the magnitude of the worlds ills are far worse now than they were when she was speaking. This means that all of calls to arms fell on deaf ears. We need to heed her words sooner rather than later, or we will (as I fear) get past a point of no return with respect to many of the environmental issues facing the globe. For many species any such changes have already come to late. 

Then to add to the dissolution with mankind that came after watching this, two news articles this week regarding the badger cull and the unnecessary killing of birds of prey in the UK. The ruling by the British courts mean that the Badger Cull does not require an independent reviewing and monitoring body, reducing the creditability of any data that comes out of the cull. This adds to the fact that the cull has again not hit targets for badgers shot, which will actually increase the risk of bovine TB transmission. This is an example of the idiocy by the legal establishment. With regards to the killing of raptors, this is just a sickening and depressing thing to see. These are majestic and beautiful creatures, many of which are endangered. I just hope that the people responsible are court and prosecuted, but that means relying on the same legal system that seems to willingly defy common sense and the scientific consensus.

But fear not, there are a lot of organisations out there fighting for our planet. One book that will give you hope is Andre Balmford's book Wild Hope. It documents conservation successes, so it's a good thing to read when your had a news week like this!! And positive news from Ethiopia, re-greening appears to be working!! (Link below) So don't despair, if we all make a concious effort and do what Ghandi said ("be the change you wish to see") then we can make a difference, despite the lack of willpower from the political establishment.

Youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVsCnk1b5qc
 
Badger cull
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/29/badger-cull-campaigners-lose-legal-battle


Birds of prey
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/30/hundreds-of-birds-of-prey-being-shot-or-poisoned-in-uk-rspb

Positive conservation stuff to restore your faith in humanity
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo13823467.html

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/30/regreening-program-to-restore-land-across-one-sixth-of-ethiopia
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a behavioural ecologist, my main interests revolve around familial conflicts and their resolutions. However, my scientific interests are fairly broad.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    Categories

    All
    90
    99 Percent Invisible
    99pi
    Africa
    Alien Species
    Allee Effect
    Altruism
    Amazon
    Andreas Wagner
    Anthropocene
    Apostle Bird
    Arabian Babbler
    Attenborough
    Babbler
    Badger Cull
    Badgers
    Banded Mongoose
    BBC
    Bee
    Big Bang Fair
    Bighorn Sheep
    Biodiversity
    Biological Control
    Biology
    Biology Letters
    Bird For Britain
    Birds
    Birthday
    Black Sparrowhawk
    Blogs
    Book
    Book Review
    Breeding
    Brood Parasitism
    Brown Tree Snake
    Burying Beetles
    Butterflies
    Butyric Acid
    Camel
    Cane Toad
    Chemicals
    Chernobyl
    Chimp
    Chronotype
    CITES
    Climate Change
    Cod
    Collaborations
    Color
    Colour
    Colour Vision
    Common Misunderstandings
    Communication
    Competition
    Conference
    Conflict
    Conservation
    Conservatism
    Conservative
    Cool Papers
    Cool Research
    Cooperation
    Crime
    Crows
    Cuckoo
    Dad Media
    Dailymail
    Dalai Lama
    Darting
    Darwin
    Darwin's Finches
    Deception
    Deception Africa
    Decision Making
    Deer
    DES
    Dieter Lukas
    Disney
    Diving
    Documentary
    Dominance
    Drongo
    Eavesdropping
    Economics
    Education
    Elephants
    Epigenetics
    EU
    Evil
    Evolution
    Evolutionary Approach
    Extracurricular
    Fear
    Fennec Fox
    Filming
    Fish
    Fittness
    Fitz
    Football
    Foraging
    Fork Tailed Drongo
    Fork-tailed Drongo
    Free Radicals
    Future
    Gastranaut
    Good Genes
    Ground Squirrel
    Group Living
    Grouse
    Guardian
    Hands
    Hedgehog
    Hero
    Home Advantage
    Honeyguide
    Hornbill
    Hot Birds
    Human
    Human Impact
    Human-wildlife Conflict
    Hummingbirds
    Inbreeding
    Intelligent Bird
    Interesting Research
    Intrasexual
    Invasive Species
    Isbe 2014
    Ivory
    Kalahari
    Kardashian
    Kenya
    Kids
    K-index
    Koala
    Language
    Larks
    Learning
    Long-term
    Male-male Competition
    Male Tenure
    Mantis
    Mating
    Meerkat
    Meta-analysis
    Mice
    Misconceptions
    Miya Warrington
    Mongoose
    Moths
    Mysogyny
    Natural Selection
    Nepotism
    Nestling Growth
    New Papers
    New Research
    Niche
    NO2
    Nuclear
    Old Boys Club
    Olfaction
    Ornithology
    Overfishing
    Owls
    Oxidative Stress
    Parental Care
    Peer Review
    Percy FitzPatrick Institute
    Pest Control
    Pesticides
    Phd
    Phd Comics
    Phenotypic Plasticity
    Pheromones
    Pied Babbler
    Pied Babblers
    Pied Crows
    PLoS One
    Poaching
    Podcasts
    Politcians
    Political Views
    Polymorphism
    Poor Reporting
    Population Change
    Population Decline
    Population Dynamics
    Precautionary Principle
    Public Understanding
    Raccoon
    Radiolab
    Raihani
    Random
    Raptors
    Reciprocity
    Red Deer
    Referendum
    Regulation
    Research
    Resource Dispersion Hypothesis
    Robin
    Rum
    Running
    Schools
    Science
    Science Education
    Science In The News
    Scientific Method
    Scimitarbill
    Scotland
    Seagull
    Sexism
    Sexual Conflict
    Sexual Selection
    Shrikes
    Signalling
    Singing
    Smell
    Sociality
    South Africa
    Speach
    Spring
    Stealing
    STEM
    STEMtech
    Stuff You Missed In History Class
    Stuff You Should Know
    Suppression
    Syntax
    SYSK
    Tamarisk
    TBT
    Teaching
    Temperature
    Theft
    Theory Of Mind
    The Telegraph
    The Times
    Tigers
    Tim Peake
    Top 10
    Tories
    Trees
    Uganda
    UK
    Urban
    Urban Animals
    Urbanisation
    Weaver
    Wheel
    Wild
    Winning
    Wood Wide Web
    World Cup
    World's Sneakiest Animals
    Wrinkle
    Youtube Channels
    Zebra Mussel

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.