Articles by Biodiversivist
My real name is Russ Finley. I also have my own blog called Biodiversivist, which contains articles in addition to those submitted to Grist. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be.
All Articles
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A roundup of forest-fire news
An association of fire ecologists have issued a five page warning:
Currently, we are observing wildland fire conditions previously considered rare, such as extreme wildfire events (e.g. high heat release and severe impact to ecosystems), lengthened wildfire seasons, and large-scale wildfires in fire-sensitive ecosystems (e.g. tropical rain forests and arid deserts).
And here, palm-oil plantation owners and entrepreneurs are being taken to court for setting fire to their forest holdings -- a cheap way to clear land for palm oil plantations to grow food for our cars.
The Indonesian government plans to sue three oil palm plantation firms and one oil palm entrepreneur for allegedly starting fires in their concessions that grew into massive forest fires in Riau province, a newspaper said Saturday.
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Elephant massacre related to ivory trade
... you ignorant ass.
National Geographic has an interesting story about a recently discovered elephant massacre. The elephants had wandered out of a preserve during the rainy season where bands of poachers with high-powered rifles were waiting. Go here to see some pictures. Watch the fifth photo for a few seconds while it automatically zooms in on what appears to be a very happy poacher.
As you may recall, it is illegal to trade in ivory. The fact that elephants are still being slaughtered is all the evidence you need to know that someone is paying for it. Did you know that there are 10,000 businesses in Japan that legally sell and manufacture goods made from "legally obtained" ivory? Now isn't that interesting?
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Biodiversivist
I’m back at the fairgrounds. One of my daughter’s roosters won first place. Her picture is hanging on his pen, braces reflecting the camera’s flash. As I sit here in the barn, I just watched her other rooster, the obnoxious and butt ugly turken, nail a guy who put his finger through the chicken wire (live and learn buddy). They are the largest chickens at the fair, which also makes them the loudest (WAV file, turn it all the way up). I’ll wager that the decibel level is outside OSHA limits. People turn their heads when one lets loose with a crow, and some toddlers even go running to mom. I can imagine what it would feel like to look eye-to-eye with a rooster your own size. -
Bicycling highs
You know what kills me? We have perfected a transportation technology that could make a huge dent in CO2 emissions and in liquid-fuel consumption -- and it's barely utilized. I know it gets tiresome hearing bike enthusiasts harp about their passion, but if you could eliminate most of the reasons people don't ride bikes, you would have an awful lot of bike riders.
