|
What - with genetically
engineered treats you are dismayed?? Hm.
Perhaps it will help to
remember that worldwide pollution standards are in the offing - so that
variances and other deals can be afforded to deserving corporations and
countries all around the globe, where every species of animal and human
lives. Just think of how much of an improvement in health and welfare that
will be and you can truly have hope.
As for the animal species
loss, well just about every metropolitan area all around the globe has them for
us to see - safely behind bars, screens and glass - so one can rest
assured that we are indeed saving the animals and not hurting them.
Coughingly
yours,
foxter
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2001 9:10
AM
Subject: [CTRL] Interesting
-Caveat Lector-
I really wish I could feel there was
hope. Prudy
Subject: [The_Spike] Study: Ancient humans decimated
ocean species, damaged
ecosystems
> Study: Ancient humans
decimated ocean species, damaged ecosystems
>
> By PAUL RECER - AP
Science Writer
> Date: 07/26/01 08:47
> http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/home.pat,local/3accd94a.726,.html
>
>
WASHINGTON -- Humans started destroying the natural abundance of the
seas
> thousands of years ago and tipped a delicate balance that left
the
> environment more vulnerable to the excesses of the modern age, a
study
> shows.
>
> By widespread slaughter of sea turtles in
the Caribbean, or sea cows off
the
> coast of Australia, or sea
otters near Alaska, ancient humans started a
> damaging cascade that
changed the Earth, researchers say in a study
> appearing Friday in the
journal Science. It still is being felt.
>
> "There's been a
longtime belief that everything was fine until the ...
> Europeans
showed up," said Karen Bjordal, a zoology professor at the
> University
of Florida. "Now we've discovered that the start of the
> environmental
problems (in the sea) go way back before that."
>
> "The notion of
the native peoples of having a benign impact on the
> environment in
their vicinity has been challenged," said Charles Peterson
of
> the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The general feeling is
>
that there were dramatic effects locally and not a prudent predation"
by
> ancient humans long before the Colonial and industrial
eras.
>
> Based on combined research of 19 scientists on four
continents, the study
> shows that careless and excessive harvesting of
food from the sea as early
> as 10,000 years ago caused changes in the
ecosystems and made the
> environment more easily damaged by the
wholesale exploitation of modern
man.
>
> James Acheson, a
marine scientist at the University of Maine, called the
> research "a
breath of fresh air" in the understanding of marine ecology
and
> how
it has been affected by humans.
>
> "They are pointing toward a
new way to look at the oceans," said Acheson.
> "They show that human
predation preceded all the other damage" done to the
>
oceans.
>
> In the study, researchers analyze the effect that the
loss of species has
ha
> d on the intricate food web of coastal areas
in the Americas, Australia
and
> Europe. Included was an analysis of
kitchen debris left by ancient humans;
> reports on the abundance of sea
life by explorers in the 18th and 19th
> centuries; and modern wildlife
population studies.
>
> "It is astonishing the effect we have had
on the Earth," said Peterson.
>
> Bjorndal said algae now choking
and killing many coral reefs in the
> Caribbean can be traced to the
slaughter more than 3,000 years ago of the
> green sea turtle and to
other animals that grazed on the sea plant.
>
> She said a study
of kitchen refuse piles from the Amerindian peoples who
> first settled
the Caribbean showed that they depended heavily on the sea
> turtle for
food. The animals were easy to catch as they regularly lumbered
> ashore
to lay eggs on the semitropical islands.
>
> Bjorndal said an
analysis of the kitchen refuse piles at ancient island
> village sites
shows that at first "a large amount of the meat the people
> lived on
was sea turtle."
>
> But evidence of turtle slaughter in the
kitchen refuse grew less and less
> with the passage of time until,
finally, "The turtles disappear entirely.
It
> is clear the nesting
colonies were wiped out," she said.
>
> With the turtle gone, the
people turned to other food, such as the large
> parrot fish, a meaty
dweller of the reef. Those, too, eventually became
> scarce, as did
other plant-eating animals.
>
> "We reduced the system to one
plant-eating species," a type of sea urchin,
> said Bjorndal. "The
system continued to function, but it was incredibly
>
vulnerable."
>
> That was shown when, starting 15 years ago,
disease wiped out the sea
> urchin, she said. Algae quickly exploded in
growth, smothering many coral
> reefs. This in turn, doomed many species
that lived in the reef.
>
> "This was a process was set in motion
when the (native people) killed off
> the sea turtle," Bjorndal
said.
>
> Another example cited by the researchers is the loss of
vast kelp forests
> that once grew thickly offshore along North
America's east and west
coasts.
>
> Overharvesting of the sea
otter, starting some 2,500 years ago, led to a
> huge population of sea
urchins, the otter's principal food. The sea
urchins
> grazed away
the kelp forests, causing a steep decline in fish populations.
>
>
In modern times, the sea otter has been protected from human hunters,
but
> now, because of mankind, it has a new enemy -- the killer
whale.
>
> Peterson said the killer whale normally dines on seals.
The population of
> seals has fallen dramatically over the last 200
years, however, both
because
> of fur hunters and later overfishing
by humans that deprived the seals of
> food. Since there are few seals
to feed on, the killer whale now preys on
> the sea otter. This in turn
allows the sea urchin to graze down the kelp
> forest.
>
>
Bjordal and her co-authors believe some of the environmental loss can
be
> recovered with new programs to protect sea life and control
fishing.
>
> Many of the depleted animals are not extinct and
could be brought back to
> restore a lost balance, she said. "One of our
main messages is that there
is
> hope," she said.
>
>
------
>
> On the Net: Science magazine (after 2 p.m.): http://www.eurekalert.org
<A
HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION
& DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational
exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed.
Substance-not soap-boxing-please! These are
sordid matters and
'conspiracy theory'-with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright
frauds-is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said,
CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to
readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust
denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always,
Caveat
Lector.
========================================================================
Archives
Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A
HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives
of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A
HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To
subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE
CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To
UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF
CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
|
