Looking at the picture in yesterday's post, I am reminded that the the conflict between agriculture and habitat is nothing new. Neither is the demand for people with the passion and conviction to stand in the face of the status quo.
"Ding" Darling (1876-1962) is a name most of us in wildlife biology are familiar with but one that I think the rest of society has missed out on. He was a gifted editorial artist (his cartoons grace this post), which garnered him two Pulitzers. But even more important was his skill and dedication for conservation education. He founded the
National Wildlife Federation as well as the
US Duck Stamp program, just to name two of his lasting legacies.
Leadership and education like his are priceless in our rapidly changing world. People are bombarded with information and MISinformation from every direction at once on a daily basis. The long term consequences are lost among the trees of the short term gain. More than ever we need voices of reason and compassion, like Darling's to cut through the noise of the everyday.
It is at once hopeful and heartbreaking that even then, over 50 years ago, Darling and others like him saw that without our natural resources, we are nothing. Without clean water and air, without the richness of our global fauna, our future is lost. Darling also understood, in a way so beautifully illustrated in the cartoon above, that conservation and economic development are NOT mutually exclusive. It's not all or nothing, either or, as the naysayers would have you believe. All it takes is some thoughtfulness, common sense, planning and a dash of love to hold on to our invaluable "natural capital" on which our lives are built.
If we can just do that, we can avoid ending up with this:
"GEORGE! I TOLD you we needed a padlock on the roof rack! I JUST bought that nightie!"
If it seems so obvious that surely EVERYONE would know it...
They probably don't.
Facts don't really seem to factor in to many people's arguments. At all. I am constantly flabbergasted (isn't that a great word?) by the lack of excruciatingly basic biological literacy. I mean that stuff that 4th graders know. I used to teach university undergraduate biology labs and on a quiz, as a "gimme" question, I asked "What is a tadpole?" Not exactly rocket science. Answers included "A fish that hatches out of a frog egg and turns back into a frog later" and my very favourite, "A baby lizard."
*beats head against desk*
Why why why does this occur? How are adults so disconnected from the world? When glazed-over eyes fix on "Britney's Beach Cellulite Captured on Film" and the new primetime series "24 Hours Until The CSI Team Breaks Out Of Prison On A Lost Island", is all useful knowledge sucked out and vaporized???
True story: I was at the Kansas City Zoo (which contains some appallingly poor animal keeping practices by the way, never go there) watching a sea lion show. A sea lion was up on a rock, walking around and catching frisbees in its mouth (apparently zoo staff felt that sea lions were simply aquatic Border Collies?). Let me emphasize:
walking around on a rock. A kid and mom walk up behind me and the kid says, "Wow, mom, what is that?" Mom says, "Dolphins, honey." *sound of my palm hitting my face* DOLPHINS CAN'T WALK, YOU IDIOT. God only knows how that poor child is going to get through life with an educational example like that.
Once again, Patrick McDonnell captures the phenomenon with his usual mix of laughter and poignant truth:
Or should I say "purr-fect" since it is a creation of the
LOL Kittehs. Go take a walk with your "significant otter" or dog or whatever and enjoy the fresh wonder of spring as you wander.
You know you tuned in just for your Friday Fun Fact! So here you go!
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight, and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
This is equivalent to a 150 lb human lifting 7500 lbs and pulling 4500 lbs. That means the Ant-Human can single-handedly bench press a female elephant and drag a female hippopotamus. That makes me tired.....
My question is: who paid for the research that ferreted out which side ants fall on when they are drunk? Did someone follow ants to tiny clandestine pubs or feed them insect-sized cocktails?
I can say with some authority that a human will fall pretty much any which way when intoxicated, but only after asserting that they are in fact NOT intoxicated and don't need any help at all, thank you very much.
Ok, maybe that won't be the next new gameshow to blow ratings, but turns out that Goldy just might be smarter than you gave him credit for. Once again, National Geographic News provides me with my handy (and on time!!!) Friday Fun Fact. (
article here) Fish can count! Yes, like 3 is more than 2 and less than 4. So they don't just swim around making kissy faces after all. Nature is just cool -- how can anyone argue with that!
Kinda gives the cartoon below a whole new creepy meaning...next they will be saying "we are learning to program your computers to destroy you!"
It appears that innocence leads to wisdom. I just wanted to share one of those gems from my all-time favourite comic strip, Mutts. This was one of the days when it hit the nail on the head with such poignancy and truth that I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.
...or else whatever you are drinking may end up snorted onto your monitor. The
LOL kittehs always provide me endless nose-clearing amusement (promotes sinus health too!) -- if you have never had your life enriched by the kittehs, then you must wander over NOW and enter the dimension of hilarity! This particular gem was too good not to share!
Looking at the picture in yesterday's post, I am reminded that the the conflict between agriculture and habitat is nothing new. Neither is the demand for people with the passion and conviction to stand in the face of the status quo. 
