Sep 24, 2007
In 1870, the Menominee inventoried 1.3 billion standing board feet of timber on their 235,000 acres. Since then, they have harvested nearly twice that amount—2.25 billion board feet. Considering the “clear-cutting” methods of the corporate lumber merchants you hear about, which completely strips land of its trees, you’d expect that the Menominee would have barely a single tree left, not to mention any forest wildlife. In fact, they have 1.7 billion board feet left, more than they had in 1870, and a thriving forest ecosystem.
That’s because the Menominee tend to cut only the weaker trees, leaving behind the strong mother trees and enough of the upper canopy for the arboreal animals to continue to inhabit. They have figured out what the forest can productively offer them instead of considering only what they want to take from it.
This is largely how every other species on earth lives—in harmony with the environment. Lions neither starve themselves nor gorge to the point of wiping out the gazelle population. Instead, they promote the health of the gazelle herd by culling its weaker members and preventing herd overgrowth which in turn prevents overgrazing of the savannah. Animal waste does not poison the ground but fertilizes the soil so that it can produce more vegetation for the animals to eat. Bees feed on the pollen of flowers but far from damaging them they provide the crucial service of pollinating them.
No Impact Man: The No Impact Philosophy
Sep 21, 2007
“It’s sort of as if you scaled up a chicken and then gave it really nasty teeth and big claws on its feet,” he said.
VOA News - Scientists Find Conclusive Evidence Velociraptor Had Feathers
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Sep 21, 2007
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar opened at exactly 100 U.S. cents Friday morning, up 0.13 of a cent from its close Thursday - the day it topped US$1 for the first time since November 1976.
The Canadian Press: Canadian dollar opens at parity with U.S. dollar, then pulls back slightly
Sep 19, 2007
if i hadn’t done anything but try to ask a question, and the police threatened to tase my ass for wanting to ask that question, i’d not roll over, too.
they’d have to tase me.
Sep 14, 2007
what do christians do with this story?
Two elephants walk together at night. (No, this isn’t a joke—it’s a scene from a wildlife reserve in Thailand.) There is heavy rain and the older elephant slips and falls in the mud. She’s unable to get up. The younger elephant, unrelated to her companion, stays with her for most of the night. The next day a group of mahouts, elephant caretakers from the wildlife reserve, try to hoist the elephant up to her feet with braces and ropes. In all the commotion—a crowd has gathered to watch the rescue—the younger elephant remains by the side of her fallen friend. The mahouts and the crowd shout for her to move out of the way, so they can get better leverage. But she won’t budge. Instead, she burrows her head under the body of the other elephant and tries to lift her up. She does this several times, risking injury in the attempts. Incredibly, the elephant appears to recognize that the mahouts want to help rather than hurt her friend. She times her pushes, or so it seemed to me, with the hoisting of the mahouts.
The Believer - Interview with Frans de Waal
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Sep 13, 2007
get this: one year later, new paraplegics and lottery winners happiness levels are identical, and the same as everyone else’s. this interesting video explains why.
Psychologist Dan Gilbert challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel real, enduring happiness, he says, even when things don’t go as planned. He calls this kind of happiness “synthetic happiness,” and he says it’s “every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for.”
TED | Talks | Dan Gilbert: Why are we happy? Why aren’t we happy?
the mother Choosing to trust is difficult enough for many people. …
Badthing I think it's really interesting how this can be done,…
jr Awesome post. Thankee.
You should look up more about Gehenna,…
