Monday, July 11, 2011

Jellyfish and Cats

Browsing through my news sources, I was struck by several headlines that relate to global warming  and the environment and the species that live on our planet in a new way. Like this one:  "Jellyfish, With Numbers Increasing From Warming Waters and Pollution, Force Shutdown of Power Plants"


So the story is that because the planet is warming, we have jellyfish in unsustainable numbers in the ocean and they are now choking the filters nuclear reactors along the coasts of the oceans. At the Orot Rabin Electric Power Station,on Israel's west coast, several tonnes of jellyfish clogged the filters, then last month the Torness Power station on the south-east coast of Scotland, the reactors were shut down after jellyfish were found in the seawater filters. And about the same time, the cooling system at one nuclear reactor in western Japan was blocked by a jellyfish invasion! See the whole story here.  Then from Mother Jones this headline: "Are Cats Bad for the Environment?" According to this story, our harmless little house friends ("kittehs" as one of my favorite bloggers 'Why Evolution is True' calls them) kats 
 kill at least a hundred million birds in the US every year—dwarfing the number killed by wind turbines. (See "Apocalypse Meow," below.) They're also responsible for at least 33 avian extinctions worldwide. A recent Smithsonian Institution study found that cats caused 79 percent of deaths of juvenile catbirds in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Bad news, since birds are key to protecting ecosystems from the stresses of climate change—a 2010 study found that they save plants from marauding insects that proliferate as the world warms.

 

The article goes on to talk about feral cats which is an even bigger problem because they are protected by many cat advocacy groups. The idea is to neuter feral cats then release them with the idea being that they will eventually go away. unfortunately there are simply too many cats and too little money. It ain't happening. We are not being responsible pet owners. 


And then this is not so whacky as it is a reminder of what we have coming at us from Al Gore's blog 

Evidence of the damage the climate crisis is causing continues to mount:
“The sea-level is now rising faster along the U.S. Atlantic coast than at any time in the past 2,100 years, and this surge is linked to increasing global temperatures, an international research team reports.”
"Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change, as rising temperatures melt land-based ice and warm ocean waters," said study co-author Benjamin Horton of the University of Pennsylvania. The study was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” 

  This is from USAtoday folks. Be afraid. Be very afraid. On the upside, maybe I'll be able to have one of these here in Denver!
(I am trying to decide on whether to keep the political blog going or not. I don't think I keep I going the way it needs to be AND to top it off I have trouble getting readers there so I have reposted this here in order to see what readers think: here or on the political blog?)


Note: I apologize for the caps on my font. Blogger has put this on for some dumb reason and I can't get it off no matter how many times I delete and repost. I don't like reading in caps but I am getting tired of trying to fix it and I need to get some actual writing done tonight!!! 

9 comments:

  1. Hi Danette!
    Thanks for stopping by and if it's any help: I say why try to keep up with two blogs when one does the job just fine? I like your eclectic content (love the 30's and 40's for film) and if you want to write about Key West, then do it! (It's all I can do to keep up with one blog and try to occassionally hack material out of my emotionally insecure writer brain!) Good luck with your decision! :)

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  2. I'm new to your blog, Danette, so I'm afraid I might not be the best to answer that question. BUT, I must say I couldn't imagine keeping up with TWO blogs. Wow, I can barely keep up with one. If you can, great. If not, could you combine them? Just a thought.

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  3. All input is welcome! Even if your new, speak up! I am thinking the other blog is superfluous. I don't post anything of value there generally and I have a hard time getting readers there. So I am thinking it will go away for meaningful content!

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  4. I like to read a mix of stuff on any blog! That's my two cents for ya. As for kittehs, yes they are naughty, but I still love them!!

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  5. Hiya Trish! yeah, I am kind of the same mind. I just started that blog and then kind of liked the name. That's my problem I think. Attachment to the look/name.

    Shew, finally got the Caps down to only the first few sentences!

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  6. I like to read a mix of stuff too.

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  7. I like reading a mix, too.

    Had not heard about the jellyfish.

    Poor kittehs. I don't want to see a war on cats.

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  8. Who says a writer's blog has to always be about writing?

    I enjoy reading all kinds of things on blogs and I really enjoyed this post too.

    I must agree with Ciara, though. I can barely manage two posts per week on one blog!

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  9. LadyFi: Me too actually.

    MPax: I hope there's not a war on kittehs. Perhaps the answer is just to keep those pets indoors since cats don't NEED to be outdoors.

    Lisa: I think I'm going to just use this blog. It seems only logical.

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