Butterflies may be early victims of the sixth mass extinction

" A milestone study of British birds, butterflies and wild flowers has revealed the strongest evidence yet that we are on the verge of a mass extinction of global wildlife - the sixth mass extinction in the history of life on Earth.

Scientists have accumulated the most detailed data to date indicating that human activity is systematically stripping the planet of its rich biodiversity.

Nearly a third of native British plants have significantly decreased in 40 years, more than half of native birds have declined in just two decades and nearly three-quarters of British butterflies have fallen in numbers in 20 years.

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In a speech at the time to the World Conservation Union, he said: 'This represents the sixth great wave of extinction, fully compatible with the big five mass extinctions of the geological past, but different in that it results from the activities of a single other species rather than from external environmental changes.'"

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=502762

One day the rethugs are going to be held accountable for this. They turn their eyes and label those who care "commies" or "enviro-nuts" - they will be held accountable...by me, by the world. I want any and all rethugs reading this to mark my words: YOU WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.

left on Earth to hold the culprits responsible?

"For threatenin' our babies, unborn and unnamed,
Ye ain't worth the blood that flows through your veins."



"Masters of War" Bob Dylan

(slightly modified to make it more universal in application -- changed "my baby" to "our babies," which can also mean our grand-babies or even great-grand-babies, depending on a person's place in the reproductive universe. For those unable or uninterested in babies of their own, it symbolizes the threat against the contnuation of Homo sapiens on Earth. )



I alternate between rage and tears at the stupidity of my species.

"In a speech at the time to the World Conservation Union, he said: "This represents the sixth great wave of extinction, fully compatible with the big five mass extinctions of the geological past, but different in that it results from the activities of a single other species humans rather than from external environmental changes."

They are all but gone it seems sometimes in Louisiana and Mississippi except in the backyards of a few fanatics. When I put in butterfly plants, they came from all over...they just need somewhere to feed and to live! But most people don't even think to provide native plants. It's all Home Depot/Walmart introduced species.

Republicans are not the only ones to blame, although they are making the most profit out of killing our flowers and buterflies. But there are folks on our side who won't give up their precious soy to save a butterfly; I've debated them before and learned it does no good to raise the issue, for they will never alter their minds nor their diets for a flower much less an insect. The cause of the extinction is habitat loss and death of the wild native plants (called weeds by Monsanto) so that we can have dead fields where soy grows and nothing else can live over huge areas. It is extremely discouraging. Fanatical promoters of a vegan diet (which usually relies heavily on soy for protein) do have to share in some of the blame for making soy, once a cheap animal feed, an acceptable food for Americans. OK, rant over. We can all agree that a huge, huge, huge share of the blame goes to those who profit from monoculture agriculture, and Monsanto is at the top of the list in my view.

Developers are another problem species -- they howl in outrage if a butterfly, a flower, or even any bird species except the largest and most un-ignorable are given any protection that interferes with their desire to cut down every tree that is not a papermill tree in the U.S. Southeast!

I wonder if we're next on the list.