How About Some Good News?!
I wish I could stop reading all the news of the world!
Currently it is the fires raging in the Amazon, or it was. Now it has become even bigger with a NASA satellite capturing all the fires raging in Africa. Madagascar just looks like one mighty bonfire! Hong Kong demonstrators are desperately fighting to retain some vestige of democracy and independence from Chinese interference and misinformation whilst the world watches on, no-one wanting to offend China's One China One Nation policy. Australia at the recent Pacific Nations Conference refused to acknowledge the damage being done to low lying Pacific Island Nations due to rising seas resulting from Climate Change, to protect Australia's extensive coal export industry, Trump suggests nuking hurricanes to prevent them from growing into destructive storms(he was not the first idiot to suggest this!) and then this morning I read that we are ingesting micro plastic via our drinking water, the equivalent of the size of one credit card a week! There has not as yet been enough research into this problem to know what effects this may have on our bodies as it accumulates. For me though, one of the most shocking was a report about the opening of the duck season on the east Coast of Australia that typified the bloodymindedness and ignorance the world is up against...
Over the past 4 decades the count for waterbirds(includes 8 species of native ducks only 2 of which are not in decline) over the East Coast of Australia has dropped from from over 650,000 to under 200,000. Loss of habitat and drought have had huge impacts on these bird populations. The RSPCA (the main body for the protection of animals in Australia) has called for the cancellation of this years Duck Hunting Season. The response of the Government minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes was to shorten the season with a statement that "The government recognises that hunting is a legitimate recreational activity, provided the rules are followed,...".
Even more worrying "Upper House MP Jeff Bourman, from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, said they were unhappy with the state government’s decision to shorten this season. ‘‘There is one truism about ducks: where there is water, there are ducks,’’ Mr Bourman said. ‘‘Where there is no water, there are no ducks.‘‘Parts of the state are in drought, but other parts of the country most certainly aren’t - like Queensland. I expect you’d find the duck population up there would explode.’’
Of course there is no evidence this is the case. These hunters look forward to the Duck Hunting Season but can they be trusted to ensure these populations of waterbirds, or is it more likely that if there were only one lake left with ducks they would shoot them until the last one has been bagged? Man is such a stupid species sometimes.
I don't feel optimistic for this planet at all and that really gets me down sometimes.
Stattisctics for past 4 decades
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/duck-numbers-in-crisis-amid-urgent-calls-to-halt-hunting-season-20190313-p513q5.html