#but the ecological damage

[impossible-rat-babies]

what gets me sometimes w the idea of the calamity is that there are probably places in the deserts of thanalan where the fire of bahamut turned the sand to glass and it’s just. a few handfuls of sand there are layers of glass

[sir-kettle-of-countertop]

So, I saw a post circulating here about the “extinction of birds in 2023“, with this picture attached

My, what a bold claim! All these poor birdies, “went extinct” in just one year alone? Why would such an outrageous, depressing and catchy claim be spread around? Let’s fact check it.

All the species listed, Bachman’s wabler (Vermivora bachmanii, 1988 or 1980s), Kāmaʻo or large Kauaʻi thrush (Myadestes myadestinus, 1989 or 1987), Bridled white-eye (Zosterops conspicillatus, 1983 and 1983), Kauai ʻakialoa (Akialoa stejnegeri, 1969 or 1960s), Kauaʻi ʻōʻō (Moho braccatus, 1987 and 1987), Kauaʻi nukupuʻu (Hemignathus hanapepe, 1899 and 1899), Maui ʻakepa (Loxops ochraceus, 1988 and 1988), Kākāwahie or Molokaʻi creeper (Paroreomyza flammea, 1963 and 1963), Maui nukupuʻu (Hemignathus affinis, 1896* and 1996 ) and Poʻouli (Melamprosops phaeosoma, 2004 and 2004) are all, indeed, either extinct or possibly extinct, according to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

What are the dates after the scientific names? Well, those all are *last sightings* per IUCN Red List and USFWS accordingly. So, these birds were not seen for DECADES and in one case FOR MORE THAN A GODDAMN CENTURY. And sure as hell there is NO information about them very suddenly being gone all last year.

What’s the deal then? Where did this claim even come from? Well, likely from this article "21 Species Delisted from the Endangered Species Act due to Extinction" from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It includes all the birds in the picture (with the last date of sight, listed above).

From the article: “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is delisting 21 species from the Endangered Species Act due to extinction. Based on rigorous reviews of the best available science for each of these species, the Service determined these species are extinct and should be removed from the list of species protected under the ESA. Most of these species were listed under the ESA in the 1970s and 80s and were in very low numbers or likely already extinct at the time of listing.”

They didn’t ALL fucking suddenly drop dead all in the same year – if they did, as some other people have already pointed out, there would be an uproar EVERYWHERE. Ornithologists alone would not let it live down. They were officially delisted from endangered status by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that year, there was a proposition to do so back in 2021, too. Some were already declared extinct before by IUCN.

Despite not being seen for so long, they remained on the list of critically endangered for a long while, cause you cannot just immediately declare a species extinct. There’s no RTS unit amount number that goes to 0 once there’s nothing left; people keep checking for them over and over and over again. Sometimes it turns out that a species previously thought to be extinct is actually still out there. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna for example was last sighted SIXTY YEARS ago before being sighted again in 2023. It was thought to be extinct for a while, before 2007, when signs of its activity was spotted again. More often than not though, a species turns out to be actually very extinct, unfortunately – like in this case. I cannot possibly know if the creators of this picture, or people that spread it on social media ever had good intentions behind it for awareness, however even if they did, it turned out to be nothing but very blatant misinformation, with a fearmongering effect. The only thing this achieves is not awareness of habitat destruction or pernicious tourist influence or climate change or what have you – the only thing this achieves is despair and panic. People already so casually fall into complete doomerism, they’re very used to hear bad news. And guess what doomerists do? Typically nothing. It renders people helpless. It’s not gonna make people get up and be ready for action, it, at best, would just make people feel sad and/or angry, or at worst, feed into the current alarming rise of ecofascism. NOTHING good comes out of this. At the very goddamn least, no one needs to lie to promote a goal.

The aim of the USFWS article, on the other hand, IS to make people aware about those animals that are already gone from the face of the planet, no matter how long ago, and that now we have to protect those animals that are critically endangered and still out there – to not have to repeat those tragedies.

Be very critical of what you see on the internet, especially if it’s sited with no sources. Especially-especially if it causes a strong emotional reaction. Lies and misinfo could only hurt the cause, no matter how noble. And please, be aware of your local wildlife status. Check in with it accoding to trusted sources.

[*sic, possibly a typo and it was meant to be 1996, other confirmed date listed there is 1989] Addendum: I could not for sure find the uncredided (who woulda thunken that ppl that don't cite their sources would also not credit the artists) author(s) of the bird illustrations. If someone finds them, please, let me know! Edit: Huge thanks to moosefinch for finding the sources for the artwork! I'll add their contribution below:

"Image sources!

The Kauai ʻakialoa, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, Maui ʻakepa and Kauaʻi nukupuʻu are from Birds of the World.

The "Maui nukupuʻu" and "Molokaʻi creeper" illustrations are also Birds of the World, but are actually a female Kauaʻi nukupuʻu (the other being the male) and Laysan honeycreeper/Laysan ʻapapane respectively.

The bridled white-eye is by Lauren Helton according to this source.

Bachman's warbler is by Lynn Hawkinson Smith/smithhouse2 according to this Etsy listing.

The Poʻouli is by Christina Czajkowski."

[myxomycota]

Stemonitis sp. by Ian Field

[blackfilmmakers]

White people acting like the racist Haitian pet eating bullshit is a one off silly thing no one would take seriously is also wild bc while this time, it's rooted in antiblackness and specifically against Haitian immigrants, there is a long history of white people saying this shit to incite racist and anti-immigrant paranoia and violence - I remember when whites thought every Chinese person will steal and eat your dog or cat and that Chinese restaurants would do that too, and some of them still believe it.

Yeah, we haven't gotten over any of these stereotypes that have caused decades' worth of hate crimes, for yall to be playing around with it

"Sometimes all you can do is laugh" or you can do your part by researching and continuously providing resources to diminish the impact.

Yall talk big game about harm reduction (under the wrong and ableist context compared to its original definition, mind you) but won't do this simple task. Hell, I'll be funny, yall talk about "harm reduction" but still watch Hazbin Hotel and not say anything when they enforce these stereotypes

Also, feel like people should mind their own business on what kind of animal meat other people ate

[shiraishi--kanade]

A controversial opinion perhaps, but I actually don't enjoy ethical AI art either.

Sure, if an artist wants to draw like 200 pictures and then train an AI to reproduce their style, they can do whatever they want. If they want to sell that and are upfront about it being ethically made AI art, whatever.

But the entire notion of automating art, something that makes humans uniquely us, something we've been at for millennia, for the sake of capitalism or production or time-cost saving or whatever, makes me sick.

[ceasarslegion]

Bro just because i hate wasps and spiders doesnt mean i think entire species should be driven to extinction. Like i get that youre annoyed by people who use their personal disgust to justify calling for mass extinctions to happen but me personally hating spiders so much that i squash them when they come into my house because i can not get anywhere near live ones without crying is not that. If youre allowed to be annoyed by that then im also allowed to have my own feelings about a bug

[heavenly67]

idc if you repost my art and call it your own just dont feed it into those ai generators pls💕

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[prototypelq]

....while I haven't played the ubisoft avatar game myself, or more accurately, I have obsessively played the x360 one, I doubt it could be better than the Ancient Forest of Monster Hunter World.

I have. Never seen a jungle location be this layered, vertical and complex, while also remaining extremely readable. Like, there'a and easy route around the map and insides of a giant tree in the center of it, to act as a crossing or shortcut. However, the actual map is... so much more detailed than just this.

There are vine swing-jumping sections which open up new pathways for you, there are less noticeable vines to climb, which reveal new arboreal pathways ahead. There is an entire 'jungle-catwalk' section right near the dragon nest at the top of the giant tree. You cannot navigate these additional paths with map, it is much more simple and natural just to remember them and trust your memory on this.

It's just I have spawned in a rainy weather for the first time, and started exploring these vines, and this has been THE Avatar experience. Honestly no other game has ever made a more natural and interesting forest to explore than this one.

I genuinely did not anticipate this level of detail, beauty and meticulous attention to everything from a game about exterminating dinodragons. I picked it up for the Monster Hunter part of it the title, but let me tell you the World part is the actual gem of the game for me, I am in love with this.

[orcelito]

Sasuke is Out! Sasuke is Doing things! What will Sasuke do?! I have no idea!!! I've never gotten this far in the story before, so I have no idea how things are going from here!!!! But Sasuke is Loose!!!!!!

Quoting this post to myself as I see Sasuke walking around and doing things. I haven't seen this guy do anything in like a hundred episodes. It's so exciting

[to-the-western-wood]

edmund: if you got like a 100kilo bag of glitter and opened it up and left it in the path of like a tornado i think that would be interesting. i don't care about ecological damage btw

lucy: i do. 100kg bag of seaweed based glitter.

peter: i don't. 100kg bag of enriched uranium based glitter

peter: wait isn't uranium denser than lead how heavy would a 100kg bag of uranium be

susan: peter.

peter: just kill me

[liberalfartsdegree]

The Super Bowl is the most ontologically evil thing I can think of.

[alarici]

top 5 kinds of sharks?

White shark, Carcharodon carcharias (basic answer. They are so cool. And they’re endangered/vulnerable depending on region…kinda crazy to think that The Iconic shark may not be around in 100 years :///////)

Thresher, Alopias pelagicus (specifically the pelagic one with the massive tail)

Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran (goofy ass)

Lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris (funny guy)

Bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas (freshwater baby!)

My favorite group of sharks are the requiem sharks (includes lemon sharks, bull sharks). Also it’s awesome that the great white and Greenland/mega mouth are in the same order (the mackerel sharks). Phylogeny is so neat idk.

[neverfeltthewinterquitesodead]

invasive plants have it so easy with nothing eating them theyre lucky im not a bug i would make the conscious decision to eat every last one of those fuckers

[t4t4t]

I'd recommend taking nature walks on psychedelics to anyone, in forests or deserts, not necessarily for reasons of inherent positive energy. I think they make you more curious, let you draw into your curiosity easier, and it's nice to give yourself something with depth and beauty on such feelings. San Pedro or peyote would be cool, but mushrooms are usually easier to find. Psilocybe, not even to mention the active species of Pluteus, Gymnopilis, Panaelous, etc, can be found in nearly every region, definitely every temperate region, with the right moisture and temperature microclimate conditions, which differ slightly for every species. I mean I guess you could grow them but that's not as fun. And also like, you need a microclimate device of some sort, mold is a common problem in many indoor grow attempts. Whereas outside it's evolved to be competitive on the natural substrate. It can be competitive and strong willed in indoor grows but it needs help. "90 second mycology" has lots of indoor grow tutorials I guess. Uhhhh spread mycelium outside please thanks :)

[nonsense-aesthetics]

Wounded earth