Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

Ancient Eyes in the Surf

 

Some years ago I spent a wonderful ten days on an island nature reserve in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the first time that I saw horseshoe crabs. Everything about them spoke of ‘ancient’. Indeed they have been around for over three hundred and fifty million years.

But in the world of these horseshoe crabs there is now a problem; they are harvested for a property in their blood. Their blood is strange in that it is copper based. Scientists utilize this property to test for the presence of bacteria.

In the past these crabs were harvested in their millions for processing into animal feed and fertilizer.

Horseshoe crabs still come into the shallows of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico – but in far fewer numbers now. 

(Extract from the book – Planet Dancing.)

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

Extract from Planet Dancing

 

TAPESTRY:

Should we not shed our concerns about extinctions? From the time of the green algae all species have fought for dominance. All are locked together – the winner taking all in the Olympic Games of the Genes. If what we do is no more than a process of nature – why hide it? Should we not shout out our success? Why don’t we stand up and roar our triumph into the faces of clouded leopards?

(An extract from the book – Planet Dancing.) 

Patrick

 

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

Extract from Planet Dancing.

 

‘Perhaps we will never know reality through science alone. A biologist may throw out a line and draw in a very small fish – but he cannot pull in the water in which the fish swims. Science can tell us something of fatty acids. It can tell us of zygotes and polar bodies but it cannot give us an understanding of ‘whale’ or of the ‘silence of butterflies’. It cannot talk to us of the ‘comprehension of ghost fish’. It cannot tell us of the ‘sadness or of the happiness of kelp flies’. Perhaps most things will never be known through science. Perhaps most things will never be known at all. 

The Hawaiian people have a word – Lokahi – They use this word to define Unity-Nature-God.

Lokahi should be the conservation word of this new century.’

(Extract from the book – Planet Dancing.)

Patrick.

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

EXTRACT FROM ‘PLANET DANCING’

 

ECHOES IN THE SEA:

Today we no longer kill whales with harpoons – we kill them with ‘research’.In an age depleted of Blue Whales, what judgement of us moves in the brains of these magnificent animals? Brains that know the passes through the mountains of the great oceans; that have confronted giant squids; that have seen the wrecks of whaling ships – are they aware that something has changed?Are they aware that fewer great whales inhabit the seas?Are they aware how few? 

Will it matter if there is silence in the ocean of whales?

(From the book – Planet Dancing.)

Patrick

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

The Frog and the Princess.

 

The air was particularly fragrant that morning. the scent of the lily pads across the entire pond was never finer. It was a good place to be a frog.

He sat on a half-submerged leaf with the sun full on his face and thought, with particular satisfaction, of the three lady frogs he had covered the evening before. Many tadpoles would issue as a result of that profligate dalliance with those notable dainty strumpets.

Then his patch of sunlight suddenly darkened. A large princess, notable for her extreme ugliness and gross weight, sat herself down without invitation on the very edge of the frog pond. It was clear to the frog that she intended to sit there for a considerable time blocking his place in the sun.

He said to her: “If you kiss me I will turn you into a beautiful creature.”

The princess was not to pass up such a tempting offer. She got down on her fat hands and broad knees and leaning out over the pond kissed the frog – and was immediately turned into a beautiful butterfly.

The frog ate the butterfly and the sun shone down on his pond as before.

 

(More from the book Planet Dancing.)

Patrick

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

1 – Why should we care if species become extinct?

 

It’s a reasonable question.

There’s a little guy that lives in one of the driest places on Earth – the Namibian Desert in south-west Africa. The place may be dry but even a little fellow needs water. So where is he to get it? Where indeed? 

A thin fog, so weak that we humans cannot see it, drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean. There are prospects in that. It may not be much – but water is water. So this little guy, a beetle, looked at the problem a long time ago and came up with an intriguing method of capturing from this fog the little amount of water he needs. 

To do this he stands in the path of the fog with his back towards it. The word ‘stands’ is not exactly correct. He stands almost on his head so that the greatest amount of his back faces into the fog. The drifting fog condenses on numerous bumps on his back to form tiny droplets of water. These droplets are channeled down his back and into his mouth.

We can only speculate on how such a process of water catchment evolved. It must have taken thousands of years of trial and error by this Namibian Fog Beetle. We can only stand in astonishment at what these beetles have achieved. For just this wonderment alone they should have a place in our hearts.

Scientific studies of the behaviour of these beetles has resulted in the production of fog nets covered in thousands of glass beads that can be used to capture water from fog.

So even a tiny insect like this can be of direct benefit to us. We would be wise, therefore, to take care that NO species becomes extinct. We simply don’t know the potential value to us of ANY species into the future.

Three cheers for Namibian Fog Beetles!

(More on species extinction to follow.)

Patrick.

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

Must China and Japan go to War?

The previous blog suggests an outcome that would save face for both countries without the need to go to war. Could we have some more re-blogs and re-tweets on this idea to generate a ground-swell to help these two countries resolve their gathering conflict? If we do this in enough numbers we could all be part of something important that could make a difference.

Thanks – Patrick

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

Must China and Japan go to war?

 

How easy it is to slip into war. A niggling dispute might fester for a while then an unrelated incident trigger it into a conflict that no one could have predicted.

China and Japan are engaged in a simmering disagreement over ownership of a group of islands. Must two fine countries send young men and women to kill each other?

To ease these countries away from their differences over these islands, and save face on both sides, a simple suggestion might be proposed:

That the disputed islands and the sea around them  be declared a national park to be managed by the United Nations until such time when an amicable solution is found by the two countries in dispute.

A single blog like this will do nothing to calm  matters between these two countries. But what if this uncomplicated suggestion were picked up by others and allowed to go viral? By this process millions of people could register their sympathy against what is occurring with the prospect of the weight of world opinion nudging the two countries towards a settlement as suggested.

If we can be of help here it would be the first time that citizens of the world would have succeeded in turning aside potential conflict. Would that not be a great thing?

If you agree with this idea please consider re-blogging or re-tweeting it to others to generate a chain reaction around the world  to make it easier for these two countries to find an easement in their difficulty.

 

Patrick

  

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

MUST CHINA AND JAPAN GO TO WAR?

 

War can accelerate from small beginnings. A country can allow its indignation to build over a small matter until it reaches a pitch until war is seen as an inevitable outcome. And young men, and young women, are once more sent forward to kill each other. 

There is now a dispute growing between China and Japan over the ownership of a number of small islands. It would be a good thing if the concerns on both sides were to be put to rest.

Nature needs places of safety and refuge. It might be proposed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and others, that these islands and the sea around them be proclaimed a national park and conservation area and placed under the ‘ownership’ of the United Nations for 50-100 years or until such time when an amicable solution to the dispute can be agreed upon. No young men, or young women, need to go to war against each other.

Nature would also benefit.

But the time is urgent. I ask that this proposal be discussed as a priority at the UN. It is a practical way to alleviate the concerns on both sides of the dispute. UN please take this into your discussions.

 

Patrick

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

OPEN WIDE AND SAY – AH!

Going to the dentist used to be a thing of dread until pain killers arrived. Recently it has been discovered that Ecuadorian Poison Frogs have a chemical in their venom that may result in even more powerful pain killers. So, in the future, the demand by your dentist to ‘open wide’ may produce even less concern – provided these frogs don’t become extinct in the mean time.

Panamanian Poison Frogs have a flag to wave too. Their toxin has the potential to produce new heart drugs.

Even the little Mexican Leaf Frogs should be given a cheer. It appears that chemicals in their skin are useful against harmful bacteria. Such chemicals may also prove useful to us.

It is estimated that one in three frog species are threatened with extinction. We don’t know the potential benefits to us of many of these. We are therefore fools not to protect all of them.

Patrick.