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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Shark-fin soup, anyone?
Somewhere off the coast of Australia, a boat filled to the gills with illegally obtained shark fins was boarded in a manner reminiscent of the good old days when pirate ships sailed the high seas. Straining the limits of the power of positive thinking, the crew used machetes and anti-boarding poles (burning ones at that) in an attempt to ward off machine gun toting enforcement officers. Life is complicated. Deep poverty in Indonesia, combined with China's growing economy, has created demand for shark-fin soup, causing an ecological disaster. -
Oil spiel
Now that the Arctic Refuge is one step closer to being despoiled, I am starting to wonder what we are doing wrong (like I am the first). It does not matter if oil comes out of the ground or from palm trees, if the means of production has potential to destroy biodiversity, it should be resisted. Our population here in the U.S. is growing at a rate that would fill a city the size of Boston every two months, and the world's population is slated to increase 50%. Add to that the growing world economy and anyone with a brain can see that the pressure to develop land is not going to slow down in the foreseeable future. I am not feeling confident that the environmental movement (as it is presently called and organized) is going to be all that effective.
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Electric cars are looking good, but not quite there in terms of quality
I dropped in on the local electric car dealership the other day to kick some tires and see what's new. I especially liked the look of one model. It has four doors and a hatchback and is about the size and shape of the old VW Bug. When I checked under the hood I found six 12-volt, lead-acid batteries. It also did not have a transmission. -
Indian government on the cusp of allowing the Asiatic lion to go extinct
These pictures were taken at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. I hate zoos. They are rapidly becoming last ditch repositories for animals on the endangered species list. 
Of course, there are those who don't believe we are in the middle of the sixth great extinction event, or even care, so what's new. While the Indian bureaucracy is flailing about, the Bengal tiger population drops to a new low. Adding gas to the fire was the poisoning of three of the last 300 remaining Asiatic lions in the Gir forest.
