I went off about this image last night and why “Clementsian” climax ecology is flawed, but it really deserves a full post, not a ramble past my bedtime. In following tweets I’ll talk about Frederic Clements, a very cool ecologist, and last century’s ecological mindset.
Everyone is wrong to be mad at this. This is someone following their true will. They chose buddhism and connection to nature over joining some mindless tech startup that probably won't make a real difference. This is someone using their mind, just in a way you don't like it.
@Peter_Nimitz My favourite bit is the description of official bickering over what to do with a particular Jurchen chief and ultimately no decision being made. Ended with something like: "The chieftain would greatly benefit from further Ming indecision. His name was Nurhaci".
>Federal public land is just barren scrubland?
-Sagebrush scrub steppe is an iconically North American biome. It has thousands of plant and animal species in it, it makes us who we are. The smell after a rain is like nothing in the world, it is uniquely American. And it is yours! It serves the entire country by regulating soil and water systems, and provides habitat for the largest herds of elk, deer, and antelope in America. It's what your ancestors saw when they came out here in wagon trains to cut civilization out of the vines.
-Federal land managers are innovating close relationships with private industry (oil & gas, mining) to prevent species like the sagegrouse from being listed under strict conservation laws like the ESA.
-Robust, capitalistic competition occurs between private companies for leasing rights. This means big oil & gas companies and small family ranching outfits can operate on this land, and pay YOU the owner direct into the U.S. treasury. You can still go access BLM land throughout America because you own it, not the government.
-They've recovered countless species from endemic cutthroats in Nevada, to the desert tortoise of Arizona and California, to Colorado cactus species, and list is long.
Guess what killed the American chestnut trees...chestnut blight, which appears to have from China on imported chestnut trees
Similarly, but more suspiciously, "citrus greening" has destroyed 95% of the Florida orange trees and came from China, appearing around the same time as "Unrestricted Warfare" was released. It has done billions of dollars in damages and destroyed 90% of the Florida citrus industry, along with substantial amounts of the Florida and California citrus industries. It is carried by the Asian psyllid insect, was once only present in China, and appeared as tensions were high
Same with the emerald ash borer, an insect that appeared from China decades ago and has since destroyed hundreds of millions ash trees in America
And CCP-connected Chinese researchers were caught bringing wheat blight into Michigan. If released, it could have utterly destroyed our wheat crop, which is mostly grown in the upper Midwest
Some of this, like the Chestnut blight, is accidental. Some of it, namely HLB and wheat blight, appear to be Unrestricted Warfare-style economic attacks on the American agricultural industry
Intellectually I'm very interested in English diverging into little daughter languages but there's a tyrant in me who wants to start whipping people with yardsticks for writing "ion" as eye dialect for "I don't"
Accidentally based Mike Lee. Yes, when we get it down to 100 million Americans, vast swaths of the Midwest and eastern US can be re-wilded. The American Serengeti will be restored. The old growth eastern chestnut and oak forests will tower once again.
I live across from National Forest. I hope I NEVER see it desecrated, uprooted, plowed, leveled, & filled with anything or anyone who will take our water, our trails, & the second most important resource our nation has after Heritage Americans. That resource is our public land.
You’ve just told me you have no idea how the beef and timber industries work. Both significant exports for the western US. Going through with this could completely overturn the economies of states like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Nevada - to name a few
Critical support to Mike Lee.
Land use in the West is bonkers, and a privatization scheme would be good.
it's all owned by the government and is just used for cattle ranching