Sunday, July 31, 2011

Wisdom in the wild, and other stories

Orion: Wisdom in the wild. What are the effects of removing the aged from a population? Are our hunting and fishing habits not only decimating numbers, but also breaking the cultural continuity of animals?

Guardian: My son, the terror suspect. A father tells the brutal and moving story of his son's conversion to Islam, travels to Pakistan, experiences fighting for the Taliban and eventual capture and suffering at the hands of his own government.

Common Dreams: One more reason why mountaintop removal is really stupid - along with poisoning rivers, destroying forests, levelling mountains and contributing to the destruction of a livable climate, it also doubles cancer rates in the local area.

Bright Green: What's happening in Somalia is no natural disaster.

And the prize for best rant on the Australian carbon price goes to this piece of inspired prose (which comes with a language warning).

7 comments:

psychodougie said...

you can also read a PG rated version of the rant at the drum.

byron smith said...

Thanks, I came across that later and probably should have switched to it.

byron smith said...

Reuters: (Un)natural disasters in the USA. This year is already breaking records.

Brad Belschner said...

I love that "Wisdom in the Wild" article. Although it's not widely known, the same applies to domestic livestock as well. Older chickens know how to skilfully scrounge around for a meal and escape predators, whereas the younger chickens are mostly helpless. Older cattle know where the water is, know which plants are good eatin' and which are poisonous, how to protect themselves from scorching sun and icy winds, how to respond properly to fences and herding management, etc. Some elder Texas Longhorns have a method of dipping themselves into ponds to remove ticks! Younger animals can learn all this by example, if given the opportunity.

byron smith said...

Michael Kirby: Stand up and speak for animals that cannot - a comment on live export from an ex-chief justice.

byron smith said...

Noam Chomsky: 9/11 and the Imperial Mentality.

byron smith said...

Naomi Wolf: The spectacle of terror and its vested interests. Suspicious of the revolving door between US government security positions and private security companies, Wolf asks whether the announcements of thwarted terror attacks are really very convincing or whether they might be pieces of theatre designed to justify the system that "catches" them.