Bird populations are declining in the France:
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/catastrophe-as-frances-bird-population-collapses-due-to-pesticides" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/catastrophe-as...</a><p>Britain:
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-bird-numbers-species-declines-british-wildlife-turtle-dove-corn-bunting-willow-tits-farmland-a7744666.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-bird-numbers-sp...</a><p>And also seabirds in Britain:
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/20/seabird-colonies-face-catatstrophe-gannets-puffins-food-supply" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/20/seabird-...</a>
This article doesn't mention the declining insect population at all but I would think it's clear that a quickly declining food source would be a major cause of population decline. I wonder if there's a similar decline in other animals that rely on insects, eg bats. Although, interestingly, the article does mention neonicotinoids as a direct reason for the decline in population.<p>It's hard to imagine humans taking the corrective solution here. My gut says we either continue on this road and completely destroy the natural world a la Trantor in Foundation, just one huge mega-city that fabricates all of its needs, or we die out and the planet recovers on its own.
This is one of the saddest things I've read in a long time. Birds are amazing. It's amazing to me that they are the descendants of dinosaurs and they're all around us. Their songs and plumage are beautiful to me.<p>> Grassland species have suffered the biggest declines by far, having lost 717 million birds. These birds have probably been decimated by modern agriculture and development.<p>This one I'm not totally sure is even related to climate change. I don't want to tell the person next to me to "stop trying to make a better life for yourself" so I'm not sure what the solution to this is right now.
Since I almost never see it mentioned in any threads related to this subject, am I thrilled that the main article actually references Silent Spring. I remember growing up that people thought that we had somehow managed to avoid the future it portrayed, but no, we have not. Another generation and the purveyors of death are back selling the cure for other species some people haven't learned to live in balance with.
The article mentions it briefly, but outdoor cats are also a considerable contributor to bird deaths. Feral cat colonies obliterate bird populations.<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/outdoor-cats-kill-between-14-billion-and-37-billion-birds-a-year-study-says/2013/01/31/2504f744-6bbe-11e2-ada0-5ca5fa7ebe79_story.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/outdo...</a>
When the news broke that bugs were disappearing, this was the expected followup. Right?<p><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/why-insect-populations-are-plummeting-and-why-it-matters/" rel="nofollow">https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/why-insec...</a>
Everyone, join in the protests tomorrow!<p><a href="https://fridaysforfuture.org/events/map?c=+All+countries&d=Future&o=all" rel="nofollow">https://fridaysforfuture.org/events/map?c=+All+countries&d=F...</a>
I'm from New Zealand, which has a lot of birds, and I live in California. The forests here are eerily quiet, I hate it. Back home the birdsong in forests is deafening.
People are quick to point out the lack of bugs and habitat, but are leaving out a big killer -- your damn cat.<p><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/moral-cost-of-cats-180960505/" rel="nofollow">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/moral-cost-of-...</a><p>(mostly feral cats... but your lil furball ain't helping)
I went to Australia and spent a day hiking in the blue mountains. I remember thinking that the bird noises were <i>so loud</i>. Not just "huh listen to all the birds" but "it sounds like someone is pumping this in through speakers". Never heard anything like it in America.<p>Maybe that noise level is just normal? I've only been doing meaningful hiking for the past ~10 years. Does anyone older than I am remember birds being much louder in the past?
Anytime someone brings up Monsanto they are downvoted because without pesticides humans cannot feed themselves apparently. And herbicides are for plants only so of course they have no effect on insects. /s
This hurts to know. I know we are living through an extinction event but having numbers like these really make it sink in.<p>I feed the birds in my backyard every day, it's a joy to observe the variety that live in just a small grove of trees.<p>I have a tendency to always look up in the sky and take note of soaring birds of prey, they are awe-spiring to say the least.
(serious) Is there any hope? Its just one problem after another (probably because everything is linked).<p>What are the chances that we will get our act together or be able to engineer ourselves out of all of these problems?
"Bird" is the word today: also on the front page now:<p>> "The Crisis for Birds Is a Crisis for Us All": <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21018850" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21018850</a>
> Grassland species have suffered the biggest declines by far, having lost 717 million birds. These birds have probably been decimated by modern agriculture and development.<p>This has been known for a while. I remember hearing a piece on NPR about this maybe a decade ago. The problem is actually that we have been working hard to reforest, and haven't left grassland. Everything is either forest, or developed, with very little in-between. One of the proposed solutions was to simply not mow 100% of your yard. Leave some bit of it unkempt. There's a local monastery that does this, and there are birds there that I haven't seen anywhere else in the area, so I think there's something to the strategy.
This apparently isn't a popular opinion, but: this world is precious. I would even go so far as to say <i>miraculous</i>. Until we wake up to this fact, we will continue to ennui ourselves and this world into oblivion. It's hard to prove (or even study), but I believe this is the root cause of all the other tragedies. It is not something we will merely engineer our way out of.<p>We don't like religion (or in many cases, even spirituality), and the modern scientific metaphysics has no space for "miracles," so we don't have a coherent framework in which to talk about or even remind ourselves of this profound truth. Each of us is left to cobble something together for ourselves (and for the few people around us that we trust not to think we're crazy).<p>I do think that psychedelics seem like one promising avenue. Perhaps they will help give us the inspiration to fill in this tragic blindspot.<p>Edit: If the votes are any indication, then I was too hasty in calling this opinion unpopular. Perhaps more of us suspect this than are willing to say it out loud.<p>Edit 2: On that note, I've been scared to share my own crazy take on this, but I'll just leave this here: <a href="https://www.lifeismiraculous.org" rel="nofollow">https://www.lifeismiraculous.org</a>
If anyone is interested in a fanciful take on reducing the world's population in order to save it, I can happily recommend Channel 4's two-season Utopia series [0]<p>[0] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJnN3WMwDsk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJnN3WMwDsk</a>
We're swimming in environmental problems.<p>We can come up with makeshift solutions to many, but for solving them all, and not to suggest it's the only solution, but a part of anything comprehensive, is there any environmental problem that a smaller human population doesn't alleviate?
Trying to estimate the population of birds in North America between now and 50 years ago seems like it would have an error rate of at least 29%. Are the counting and estimation mechanism even anywhere close to similar?