1974. 50 years ago. I read a library book about extinct animals. The passenger pigeon broke my heart. They became extinct because they adorned ladies’ decorative hats. Decorative Hats. It was the same year my mother had a psychotic break and no one from our community helped us. We were on our own living in an upper class suburb that we couldn’t afford.
I decided I hated human beings at the age of 11, 50 years ago. We were destroying the planet and killing the animals.
In 1972, ABC made an after school special, the Last of the Curlews, about the northern curlew. Northern curlews have not been reliably spotted or confirmed in 40+ years, but in typical human fashion, we won’t admit that they are extinct until every bit of land is scoured.
The first earth day was in 1970. No world agency was created to protect the creatures of earth. The billionaires that run the world want more and more money to hoard. They don’t want us to think about our fellow creatures. ABC would never make a movie about the curlew today. The Lorax was a banned book because it was anti-capitalism.
Your essay reminds of all of the animals I cried about in 1974, and why I have always believed in zero population growth.
In 1970, there were 3.7 billion people on earth. There are over 8,000,000,000 people today. More than twice as many. Too too many of us. We are like a virus on the planet. And there isn’t a vaccine to
Slow us down…only the planet’a destruction or a superbug will slow us down…
The thing about the hats that you wrote reminded me of why I started stepping away from my old best friend. I mean there were lots of reasons, but the day I decided I didn’t actually like her was the day she tried to tell me that some 100 year old small business, some family that makes a specific musical instrument, can only make their instrument if they use some horn or hoof from some animal that is endangered. Then she said something like we don’t want to lose a small business that’s been around for 100 years! I actually thought she was being sarcastic and I laughed in her face. Then I realized she was serious.
I told her that animal that’s being harvested for that small business has been around longer than the business, they need their parts more. Furthermore nobody has promised that their business gets to live forever just because they started it and it’s successful for a while.
If a business can’t continue without killing something that is almost extinct that business needs to be done. They had a good run. 100 years is a long time.
But the fact that she thought that I would say that this animal should go extinct because these people have failed to figure out how to use an alternative material in 100 years made me realize that she thinks differently than I do and I don’t think we’re compatible.
I'm not asking this to be confrontational, and I don't want to argue with anyone, but who among the commenters here--and you, yourself, Nate--are vegetarian or vegan...? And if not, then why? Thank you if you answer....
I am vegan. I became vegetarian when I turned 18 after seeing farmer friends slaughter a lamb that was affectionate and friendly, an animal that I knew and loved. He got the knife because he was easy to catch - he came when called like a dog. I thought of him like a goofy dog. So why do we eat lambs and not dogs? Animals want to live, just like we want to live. It was unbearable to me - that betrayal of trust. Eventually I moved to veganism; it seemed easy and natural, since eggs and dairy had been less a part of my diet over time anyway. I understand that it is a difficult and emotionally challenging change to make, but offers a new world of food that I would not have found otherwise. I enjoy cooking and experimenting with a wide variety of legumes, vegetables, herbs, grains and spices.
I am currently modifying recipes for Christmas baked goods. My sons are not vegetarian or vegan, but happily eat what I prepare. It is food, after all; forget the label.
Wow - a great article! This has been on my mind for a long time. You don't mention the pre-historical aspect, the destruction of megafauna wherever humans went, but that's also part of our legacy.
Unfortunately, I don't see any way to end this problem with a population of more than eight thousand million humans. The entire mammalian population of the planet has become a monoculture of humans and the animals we feed on.
In the UK, there is a road down every side of every field, round every woodland, at the base of virtually every mountain, round virtually every lake. Millions of miles of tarmac and concrete, for what?
Yes it is. (yet, the information you present needs to be more widely known). I do not believe we can retreat from the cliff of our own species’ extinction, much less that of the animals. The psychological dissonance of people spending billions on pet care while carving up steaks, boggles the mind. Historical evidence show us that exploitation of the earth’s resources, then moving on, is part of our DNA. Now we have run out of room and are literally “swimming” (e.g., breathing and ingesting plastics) in our own filth. Oh well. Hello paddlefish.
I’m sorry I can’t read all this because I’m crying about the fish going extinct. And all the other others that have gone extinct.
I used to donate money to the animal legal defense fund (ALDF) in California. they do good work and they are the only ones I know of who file lawsuits to try to help the animals.
I had to stop giving them money though because if I donate I get tons of mail soliciting more donations and I can’t tolerate the graphic descriptions of animal abuse.
I don’t understand why they do that. First of all I don’t understand how my donation even helps if they’re going to spend it sending me junk mail for the rest of my life, but if I’m sending them money it means I understand there’s a problem that needs to be addressed, I don’t need to see horrible photos and abuse descriptions on the outside of the envelope.
1) Geese are now literally falling out of the air from H5N1. This is a horrible sign as Ducks and Geese have been immune carriers of H5N1. Not any more.
2) Blue light and separately flicker at 100 or 120 hz from LED lighting devastates birds, other mammals, especially small mammals, insects and beyond.
Climate change is the coup de grace. But human population explosion is the main driver of all of this.
On the good side, our ignorance and stupidity is killing us at an accelerating rate ahead of the expected collapse in a few years from resource limitations, and from catastrophic climate change.
However, since we are well beyond the chance of stopping the catastrophic climate change and its consequent extinction event, and beyond most abilities to even slow the rate of that, the rest are window dressing in the calamities to come.
Thanks for responding, Tami, Denae, and Nate, and sharing bits of your stories! I find it heartening that the four of us (I'm vegan, too) are aware and concerned enough to make the dietary changes we have. I'm troubled that it isn't a much larger issue among those, largely "leftists," who profess to care about other creatures who share our planet, as well as climate, sustainability, poverty, justice, cruelty, worker safety, and more. Adopting a plant-based diet is one of the most significant individual actions that a person can take that will address all the issues we and our comrades say we care about, yet it remains a subject of frequent ridicule even on the left. Two of my heroes, Astra and Sunaura Taylor, are beginning to address this. Also, the podcast "Citations Needed" has a great episode on the subject. (Link: https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-80-animal-rights-as-media-and-pop-culture-punchline)
I don't want to feel despair. But. Twenty years ago I bought my home in Virginia. I had a half acre of yard, so began converting it to a native habitat. Because I am on the Atlantic flyway, my yard attracted 45 different species of bird at a time during migration. I kept a list of all the fantastic insects, and often would have 50 butterflies at a time in my pollinator garden. Indigo buntings, chickadees, wrens, and barred owls nested in my yard. Foxes slept under the shrubbery at night. I added a pond that supported green frogs, gray tree frogs, dragon flies and salamanders. Then mosquito fogging trucks showed up in my neighborhood. The butterfly populations collapsed. Then new neighbors, adjacent and upwind from my yard moved in and contracted monthly fogging. I did not know. At first I knew something was wrong because all the frogs died. I could not find beetles in my yard. Fireflies were gone. I found six paralyzed skinks. I developed asthma. Another neighbor told me about seeing the truck there. I had already met the neighbors, so it was easy to go and explain the ramifications to my yard, and how unsafe the pesticides are to dogs and humans. They felt I was overstepping, butting into their business and stopped speaking to me. I cleaned out and covered the pond and set up all kinds of interventions to protect my yard from drift - a 7 foot fence, a line of tarps, activated charcoal, more trees and bushes. None worked completely. My six-year-old golden retriever developed a brain tumor and died; the veterinary neurologist said it was not hereditary but due to toxins in the environment. The pesticide used is tied to neurological damage and brain tumors. I am having issues and now see a neurologist.
I began my habitat project when I was overwhelmed by the scale of the environmental crisis. I thought I should focus on what I could control - my property. But due to the actions of others, my yard became a death trap. Control was an illusion. I took my issue to local and state legislators, also an attorney, and was told that there was nothing to be done because the pesticide lobby is too strong in this country. One positive, a local birding association used my research to create a position paper against the broad use of pesticides.
I plan to sell my house next year, and hopefully buy a lot of acreage on a wooded mountain in New England, an area that tends to be more environmentally responsible. For anyone reading this, please be aware of all that is happening around us to degrade the environment. There are no "safe" pesticides, and inhaling the fumes is the most dangerous way to be affected. Also, planting native trees, bushes and annuals provides much needed support to wildlife, and can provide a lot of joy.
1974. 50 years ago. I read a library book about extinct animals. The passenger pigeon broke my heart. They became extinct because they adorned ladies’ decorative hats. Decorative Hats. It was the same year my mother had a psychotic break and no one from our community helped us. We were on our own living in an upper class suburb that we couldn’t afford.
I decided I hated human beings at the age of 11, 50 years ago. We were destroying the planet and killing the animals.
In 1972, ABC made an after school special, the Last of the Curlews, about the northern curlew. Northern curlews have not been reliably spotted or confirmed in 40+ years, but in typical human fashion, we won’t admit that they are extinct until every bit of land is scoured.
The first earth day was in 1970. No world agency was created to protect the creatures of earth. The billionaires that run the world want more and more money to hoard. They don’t want us to think about our fellow creatures. ABC would never make a movie about the curlew today. The Lorax was a banned book because it was anti-capitalism.
Your essay reminds of all of the animals I cried about in 1974, and why I have always believed in zero population growth.
In 1970, there were 3.7 billion people on earth. There are over 8,000,000,000 people today. More than twice as many. Too too many of us. We are like a virus on the planet. And there isn’t a vaccine to
Slow us down…only the planet’a destruction or a superbug will slow us down…
The thing about the hats that you wrote reminded me of why I started stepping away from my old best friend. I mean there were lots of reasons, but the day I decided I didn’t actually like her was the day she tried to tell me that some 100 year old small business, some family that makes a specific musical instrument, can only make their instrument if they use some horn or hoof from some animal that is endangered. Then she said something like we don’t want to lose a small business that’s been around for 100 years! I actually thought she was being sarcastic and I laughed in her face. Then I realized she was serious.
I told her that animal that’s being harvested for that small business has been around longer than the business, they need their parts more. Furthermore nobody has promised that their business gets to live forever just because they started it and it’s successful for a while.
If a business can’t continue without killing something that is almost extinct that business needs to be done. They had a good run. 100 years is a long time.
But the fact that she thought that I would say that this animal should go extinct because these people have failed to figure out how to use an alternative material in 100 years made me realize that she thinks differently than I do and I don’t think we’re compatible.
I'm not asking this to be confrontational, and I don't want to argue with anyone, but who among the commenters here--and you, yourself, Nate--are vegetarian or vegan...? And if not, then why? Thank you if you answer....
I occasionally buy some local goat cheese. Don't eat meat, fish or drink milk
I am vegan. I became vegetarian when I turned 18 after seeing farmer friends slaughter a lamb that was affectionate and friendly, an animal that I knew and loved. He got the knife because he was easy to catch - he came when called like a dog. I thought of him like a goofy dog. So why do we eat lambs and not dogs? Animals want to live, just like we want to live. It was unbearable to me - that betrayal of trust. Eventually I moved to veganism; it seemed easy and natural, since eggs and dairy had been less a part of my diet over time anyway. I understand that it is a difficult and emotionally challenging change to make, but offers a new world of food that I would not have found otherwise. I enjoy cooking and experimenting with a wide variety of legumes, vegetables, herbs, grains and spices.
I am currently modifying recipes for Christmas baked goods. My sons are not vegetarian or vegan, but happily eat what I prepare. It is food, after all; forget the label.
Wow - a great article! This has been on my mind for a long time. You don't mention the pre-historical aspect, the destruction of megafauna wherever humans went, but that's also part of our legacy.
Unfortunately, I don't see any way to end this problem with a population of more than eight thousand million humans. The entire mammalian population of the planet has become a monoculture of humans and the animals we feed on.
Give the land back to our Indigenous stewards. This is our only hope for the survival of all animals.
In the UK, there is a road down every side of every field, round every woodland, at the base of virtually every mountain, round virtually every lake. Millions of miles of tarmac and concrete, for what?
“Maybe it’s a silly, utopian idea.”
Yes it is. (yet, the information you present needs to be more widely known). I do not believe we can retreat from the cliff of our own species’ extinction, much less that of the animals. The psychological dissonance of people spending billions on pet care while carving up steaks, boggles the mind. Historical evidence show us that exploitation of the earth’s resources, then moving on, is part of our DNA. Now we have run out of room and are literally “swimming” (e.g., breathing and ingesting plastics) in our own filth. Oh well. Hello paddlefish.
I’m sorry I can’t read all this because I’m crying about the fish going extinct. And all the other others that have gone extinct.
I used to donate money to the animal legal defense fund (ALDF) in California. they do good work and they are the only ones I know of who file lawsuits to try to help the animals.
I had to stop giving them money though because if I donate I get tons of mail soliciting more donations and I can’t tolerate the graphic descriptions of animal abuse.
I don’t understand why they do that. First of all I don’t understand how my donation even helps if they’re going to spend it sending me junk mail for the rest of my life, but if I’m sending them money it means I understand there’s a problem that needs to be addressed, I don’t need to see horrible photos and abuse descriptions on the outside of the envelope.
May in a not too distant future a new political party will be met with a this feeble pejorative, "The're Animals!"
I hope these Animals devour the opposition!
Hello
Add to all of the other impacts:
1) Geese are now literally falling out of the air from H5N1. This is a horrible sign as Ducks and Geese have been immune carriers of H5N1. Not any more.
2) Blue light and separately flicker at 100 or 120 hz from LED lighting devastates birds, other mammals, especially small mammals, insects and beyond.
Climate change is the coup de grace. But human population explosion is the main driver of all of this.
On the good side, our ignorance and stupidity is killing us at an accelerating rate ahead of the expected collapse in a few years from resource limitations, and from catastrophic climate change.
However, since we are well beyond the chance of stopping the catastrophic climate change and its consequent extinction event, and beyond most abilities to even slow the rate of that, the rest are window dressing in the calamities to come.
Thanks for responding, Tami, Denae, and Nate, and sharing bits of your stories! I find it heartening that the four of us (I'm vegan, too) are aware and concerned enough to make the dietary changes we have. I'm troubled that it isn't a much larger issue among those, largely "leftists," who profess to care about other creatures who share our planet, as well as climate, sustainability, poverty, justice, cruelty, worker safety, and more. Adopting a plant-based diet is one of the most significant individual actions that a person can take that will address all the issues we and our comrades say we care about, yet it remains a subject of frequent ridicule even on the left. Two of my heroes, Astra and Sunaura Taylor, are beginning to address this. Also, the podcast "Citations Needed" has a great episode on the subject. (Link: https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-80-animal-rights-as-media-and-pop-culture-punchline)
I don't want to feel despair. But. Twenty years ago I bought my home in Virginia. I had a half acre of yard, so began converting it to a native habitat. Because I am on the Atlantic flyway, my yard attracted 45 different species of bird at a time during migration. I kept a list of all the fantastic insects, and often would have 50 butterflies at a time in my pollinator garden. Indigo buntings, chickadees, wrens, and barred owls nested in my yard. Foxes slept under the shrubbery at night. I added a pond that supported green frogs, gray tree frogs, dragon flies and salamanders. Then mosquito fogging trucks showed up in my neighborhood. The butterfly populations collapsed. Then new neighbors, adjacent and upwind from my yard moved in and contracted monthly fogging. I did not know. At first I knew something was wrong because all the frogs died. I could not find beetles in my yard. Fireflies were gone. I found six paralyzed skinks. I developed asthma. Another neighbor told me about seeing the truck there. I had already met the neighbors, so it was easy to go and explain the ramifications to my yard, and how unsafe the pesticides are to dogs and humans. They felt I was overstepping, butting into their business and stopped speaking to me. I cleaned out and covered the pond and set up all kinds of interventions to protect my yard from drift - a 7 foot fence, a line of tarps, activated charcoal, more trees and bushes. None worked completely. My six-year-old golden retriever developed a brain tumor and died; the veterinary neurologist said it was not hereditary but due to toxins in the environment. The pesticide used is tied to neurological damage and brain tumors. I am having issues and now see a neurologist.
I began my habitat project when I was overwhelmed by the scale of the environmental crisis. I thought I should focus on what I could control - my property. But due to the actions of others, my yard became a death trap. Control was an illusion. I took my issue to local and state legislators, also an attorney, and was told that there was nothing to be done because the pesticide lobby is too strong in this country. One positive, a local birding association used my research to create a position paper against the broad use of pesticides.
I plan to sell my house next year, and hopefully buy a lot of acreage on a wooded mountain in New England, an area that tends to be more environmentally responsible. For anyone reading this, please be aware of all that is happening around us to degrade the environment. There are no "safe" pesticides, and inhaling the fumes is the most dangerous way to be affected. Also, planting native trees, bushes and annuals provides much needed support to wildlife, and can provide a lot of joy.
This is a horrible experience. I'm so sorry you went through this
Horrific and heartbreaking experience! Also, frustrating and infuriating. I'm so sorry!