The Oil Drum

11 comments on The Round-Up: July 11th 2007

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CrystalRadio on July 11, 2007 - 10:10am

Hi Stoneleigh,

You have assembled lots of suitably scary mortgage , oil and energy stuff, great work! Reads like those SF stories I read as a kid where the story would be set within, current to that future, news items... similar to this one from above, Amphibian Population Shrinks, Taking Potential Medicines With Them

"The potential is great. The problem is, many of these species will go extinct before they have time to investigate it. So the loss of some really great human medicines is there," Simmons said.

There once again is that interesting human centered view that all creation is the footstool of man, hope he meant it only to popularize the issue but who knows the darkness in a frogmans mind, anyway I have enough problems with the darkness in mine.

Too bad there is no market for human mental darkness we could offset all those mortgage blues and do real solid economic growth ...no bubble possible.

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HeIsSoFly on July 11, 2007 - 10:56am

Yeah, he scientist who comes up with these numbers is mentally incapable of figuring out that if 50% of all amphibians is gone, we'll have mch bigger problems than whether or not we can develop a new sunscreen or cough syrup from salamander glands.

Forgive me for copying what I just posted on the Drumbeat, I think people should read the article.

Amphibian Population Shrinks, _{Taking Potential Medicines With Them}

The global amphibian crisis continues to grow as conservationists estimate that up to

half of all species of amphibians will go extinct in the next five to 10 years.

Habitat loss, disease and pollution threaten the world's amphibian population. Together with chitryd fungus, the circumstances are combining to make the amphibian population disappear at what the researchers called an alarming rate. Of the 6,000 known species, experts believe up to 3,000 will disappear within the next decade.

People may be shocked by disappearing bees, but they are just one tiny piece of the puzzle. Not a bad analogy, really, to say we're doing this giant jigsaw puzzle from which ever more pieces go missing.

Bees, birds, butterflies, fish, amphibians and all other life forms are disappearing at astoundingly fast rates. ...half of all species of amphibians will go extinct in the next five to 10 years.. Still trying to wrap my mind about that. 5 to 10 years.

The whole natural world, the very fabric of life, is vanishing around us while we try to figure out how much longer we can afford to drive cars. Intelligent species, you say?

Man evolved in the world as it was up to a few hundred years ago, not in the one we will soon have. We were not made for that one. The planet is rapidly thrown back into a state last seen millions, if not billions, of years ago, fit only for primitive life forms.

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Samsara on July 12, 2007 - 7:59am

Here's some more disturbing news;

The starvation of the grey whale

It is a phenomenon which has alarmed scientists - grey whales showing worrying signs of malnutrition. Could this be another example of the ravages of climate change?

http://environment.independent.co.uk/wildlife/article2750456.ece

And More on Whales;

I heard about this a while ago, and it really made sense to me. I can imagine the acoustics of the ocean and pragmatically blowing a dog whistle under water.

I googled "whales navy sonar"

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Navy to study possible link between beached whales and sonar

Important clues have surfaced that may help prove a suspected link between beached whales and powerful sonar equipment used by the US Navy and other nations ...

http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/07/28/beached.whales/

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U.S. Navy Sonar May Harm Killer Whales, Expert Says

In recent years incidences of beaked whale beachings from the Bahamas to the Canary Islands have been associated with sonar exercises conducted by the US ...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0331_040331_whalesincris...

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Whales at Risk From New U.S. Navy Sonar Range, Activists Say

The US Navy is moving ahead with plans to build an undersea warfare training range on the US East Coast despite fierce opposition from animal welfare ...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1103_051103_whale_sonar....

Sonar Used Before Whales Hit Shore (washingtonpost.com)

The International Whaling Commission said in a report last month that there is "compelling evidence" that Navy sonar is harming some species of whales, ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47256-2004Aug30.html