#434: Schloriz cartoon

 

#412: Birdsong matters... and it's disappearing

A piece in The Guardian from a few days ago talks about the slow disappearance of birdsong from the landscape.

Biodiversity is rapidly declining, reducing the quantity and quality of human interactions with nature and constraining its contribution to human health and well-being. Natural sounds are a key component of our experience of nature, but biodiversity losses are reflected in soundscapes, which are becoming less diverse and quieter.

There are various terms here which may relate to the changing relationship we have with our surroundings. The soundscape is changing, and shifting baseline syndrome means we are not necessarily aware of what we have lost. Landscapes emanate a collection of biological, geophysical and anthropogenic sounds which together form ‘soundscapes’

Check out this academic paper which is mentioned in the piece. It's accessibly written. On the extinction of experience.

#360: A fishy tale

A cross-posting from my Passed the Point of No Return blog.

Back in 1983-4 I had a lecturer on my undergraduate degree course from a wonderful lecturer called Alan Pitkethly. He is fondly remembered by many of his students. 

He would lecture without notes often, sat on the desk, taking us along on a story. One of his lectures was on the idea of the 'Commons' and the changing fortunes of salmon in Canadian rivers.

This Guardian article looks at the decline in migratory fish populations and the impact of human activity.

Another story of collapse - migratory fish populations have crashed by more than 80% since 1970 https://t.co/y3rKQZkrMp

— Phoebe Weston (@phoeb0) May 21, 2024

#358: "Nature's Ghosts"

A recent piece in The Guardian from Sophie Yeo uses the phrase 'nature's ghosts' to refer to some of the lost species which have been the result of modern farming methods. It's an extract from her new book of the same name, and is tellingly part of a series of articles called 'The age of extinction'.

Here's a review of the book.

I will hunt this out in the library and perhaps add it to the reading list in due course.

#257: Declining plant awareness

This is an area that I have previously blogged about, going back to work by Robert MacFarlane, which led to the original 'Lost Words' book being created with Jackie Morris.

There were articles published when the Oxford Junior Dictionary announced it was dropping some nature words back in 2015.

The words missing were natural words, and there were others which replaced them that were to do with technology. One could argue as well that these technology words were far more ephemeral than the natural words - technology changes and things become redundant.

This is a more recent academic paper on the same theme. This is very readable.

It starts with some striking words, which I can see being used as the basis for a section in a textbook:

From our earliest settlements, we have been reliant on plants to provide shelter, fuels, and sustenance and are the basis of nearly all terrestrial ecosystems (Lev-Yadun et al., 2000). Plants perform a huge variety of essential functions, from forming soils to producing oxygen, yet their neglect is costing us dearly (Bardgett et al., 2021). From birth to death, plants dominate every aspect of our existence—they are our silent partners in civilization (Adamo et al., 2021). There is virtually always a plant or a plant product in your field of vision. Despite this significance, plants are currently underappreciated and neglected in many sectors of modern society, and there has been little research into identifying the measurable consequences of our plant apathy toward societies' challenges.

It also references Robert Pyle's work referring to the "extinction of experience".

Pyle describes disconnection from nature via a “cycle of impoverishment  that  is  initiated  by  the  homogenisation  and  reduction  of local  flora and  fauna,  followed  by  disaffection  and  apathy.”  Ultimately,  this  impoverishment  is  intensified by a “shifting  base-line,” progressively decreasing expectations of the quality and function of  the natural areas individuals are exposed to.

#171: 'Two million species at risk of extinction'

... and many of them are insects which form the basis of many food chains...

Number of species at risk of extinction doubles to 2 million, says study https://t.co/3pc4OUMuVW

— Guardian Environment (@guardianeco) November 8, 2023

97% of all animals are invertebrates. Of that group, about 90% are classified as insects. They provide vital ecosystem services: pollinating crops, recycling nutrients into soils, and decomposing waste.

 “Without insects, our planet will not be able to survive.”

This is further worrying news in a week of worrying reports. And all the while, the government just rearranges the deckchairs on the Titanic...

Image: Leaf Hopper, Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

#169: A Disappearing Planet

A nice data visualisation. Scroll down to reveal the not-so-nice story.

#25: WWF Living Planet Report - 70% of animals lost

A report which always makes fairly shocking reading is the Living Planet report from WWF.

This is the latest edition of the report, dating from 2022. There will be at least one more update before the new specification starts to be prepared for first teaching.

A young person's version of the report is also available.

The Young Person's report would be a fantastic resource for the course. It has a global scale look at key ecosystems such as the Amazon, and the world's oceans, and is presented in an easily accessible visual style.