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| The Gannets of Cape St. Mary's August 2011 |
Or world out of wack. Or “What? Me Worry?”
On August 8th this year,
thousands and thousands of gannets flew away, en masse, from their
nesting grounds on Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland. Abandoning their
solitary chick. Gannets have only one chick a year and safeguard it
as we would our own babies. Both birds attending to its every need.
Word of mouth here spread the news.
Nothing was published on the phenomenon. (Bird watching at Cape St.Mary's is a huge tourist industry. )
I now see on a Google search that there
is finally something on this catastrophe in the Winnipeg Free Press where a biologist is attributing the
vanishing bird-parents to the higher temperatures of our oceans.
Daughter was driving through Quebec
recently and discovered, in a conversation with a local, that their
gannets were falling dead from the skies. A phenomenon never seen
before. A web search brings up nothing on this.
And this all brings to mind what other
serious environmental wake-up calls are not being publicised. Media being
bought and paid for like never before and all that.
Common Dreams struggles along, its lamp
still held high, bringing our attention to the arctic ice disaster on
a regular basis. The record breaking iceberg run past Newfoundland
this past few months was startling to many of us. We dared to
whisper: is this the last of the northern ice? How much is left?
And still we party, like there is no
day of reckoning tomorrow.
And sure, maybe it's all we're capable of doing.
Wow WWW...disturbing news about the gannets. I, too, am deeply concerned by all the things going on...I think maybe the partying is, for many, a coping strategy because to think about it - I mean REALLY think about it all - is so mind-boggling that one could drown pretty quickly in the depths of despair (although I don't, by any means, condone sticking our heads in the sand and doing nothing or recklessly wasting resources and raping, pillaging, disrespecting, and destroying our fair planet on a daily basis like there will always be a tomorrow). Thought provoking post.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of news is not hidden here. We have entire documentary programmes of the melting ice and all new research data is widely available.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite shocking what we are doing to our planet. It's probably already too late to halt the ice melt.
The wee creatures are always more aware of impending trouble - and are not afraid to show it and act on it - than we, supposedly intelligent intellectual, humans. I hope the parent birds return for their chicks soon. Perhaps they've gone to scout out new territory and will come back.
ReplyDeleteI can only say once again, don't expect the politicians to do anything sensible, they're too busy feathering their own nests and looking for short-term successes and quick fixes. And they'll still be doing that as the world implodes.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I am glad I am getting old, 'cause if I have to stop doing anything else, you might as well dig that hole in the ground right now.
ReplyDeleteSometimes in the dark hours of the night I envy all the people who refuse to believe in climate change and for that matter all of those who are kept in the dark. But just because the media over here is reporting regulalrly doesn't make people more aware.
ReplyDeleteBG:
ReplyDeleteI used to write a lot more on this but it was getting me down too much so I only write of it, now, when my head explodes.
We are quite beyond the point of no return.
And no politican will call an emergency and force us to reduce our pollution by rationing oil, etc.
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Friko:
ReplyDeleteI think Europe's press is more free than here.
I suppose we might as well party, I am really glad I am as old as I am.
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T:
ReplyDeleteI'd like to agree with you but I think the gannets and the whales are our canaries and we are ignoring them.
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Nick:
ReplyDeleteIt makes Nero's fiddling look like a picnic. I agree with you.
There will be no emergency called and we will be filling our cars surrounded by flames.
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GM:
ReplyDeleteMe too but I worry for our grandchildren and this awful mess we are leaving behind.
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Sabine:
ReplyDeleteYes, to be too aware can be so depressing. I too wish I wasn't as awake to the coming catastrophes.
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I agree - even when we're going up in flames, there will be the naysayers who just won't believe it could happen. My poor, poor little grandchildren.
ReplyDeletePauline:
ReplyDeleteYes, the future looks horribly grim, especially for the next generations.
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