Endless, Mindless Population Growth

One inevitable consequence (there are many others, all of them bad) of human overpopulation is species extinction, both from habitat destruction and for human stomachs, in the case of some species deemed edible by the killer apes. Nowhere is this phenomenon more heartbreaking than in the case of the world's fish. A potent reminder appears in today's paper of record. Also included are reasons that farmed fish, by and large, are vastly inferior nutritionally and ridiculously expensive in terms of calories, to produce, but oh well. Humanity clearly will adapt to its own systematic and progressive destruction of the planet and all life, long before it voluntarily limits its growth.

Quote of the Day

Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will we realise that money cannot be eaten.
- Cree Indian saying

Next: an open letter to Costa Rica...

Enjoy the Fish (While We Can)

Not especially new, but breaking new ground in severity (basically, the story for the past year on species extinction, global heating, etc.), is a new study from the crackpot science journal Science which baldly states that unless drastic measures are taken NOW (wake up, sleepyheads!), there will be nothing left to fish for in the oceans within Chaos' optimistically expected lifetime (2050).

"The way we use the oceans is that we hope and assume there will always be another species to exploit after we've completely gone through the last one," said one of the researchers.

That's right, you can't make this stuff up, it's too depressing. What's even more depressing is the "ho-hum" response this story generated. Chaos noted the riot of exotic fish offered at the local market over the weekend: wild shark steak, Chilean sea bass, tuna, steelhead trout, etc. Oh well.