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Thursday, April 07, 2005

Weedy species, no fish

Once again, an excellent link via Quark Soup, who always seems to have interesting environment links (hard science, not wooly head thinking or downright anti-human). Stephen Meyer, in his essay End of the Wild, lays out the future, a world in which only "weedy" species will survive. By weedy species, I think he really means those species that can co-inhabit with humans (some birds, coyotes, maybe leopards) or can exist despite humans (cockroaches). As for the oceans, he says:

"Similarly, the depletion of global fish stocks shows the basic flaw in the sustainability strategy. Local fishermen fishing for the local market are not depleting the stocks. The problem is the rise of global markets to satisfy the demands of people remote from the fishing grounds. Gross disparities in wealth between those who supply (low-wage labor) and those who demand (high-wage developed societies) ensure that sustainability will be a function of maximum bearable price, not ecological balance."

What he and others don't put forth, and which seems to be the simplest solution, is to stop eating fish. Make it a protest, stop eating fish until the commercial fishing industry changes its habits. Guess what? If you eat fish, you are part of the problem. Become the solution.

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