tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post9049985302329725394..comments2023-10-28T03:14:44.519-07:00Comments on Calhouns Can(n)ons: NewsstandGreghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099049885765768069noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post-16800331269462030892008-02-03T07:47:00.000-08:002008-02-03T07:47:00.000-08:00wonderful new book for you'all: (can't find the d...wonderful new book for you'all: (can't find the darned thing) but it's called something like: The Earth After We're Gone. Author carefully documented the various changes that would start taking place if we all immediately disappeared tomorrow. Very interesting. History Channel did a special baed on the same topic, with CGC recrations. Also very interesting. <BR/><BR/>A fruiting body. Ah, yes, fecund Mother Earth, beautiful Gaia, Persephone returning from the dark every spring. I find that very comforting indeed.Churadogshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362538114791652208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post-85889998787742019892008-02-02T23:24:00.000-08:002008-02-02T23:24:00.000-08:00No Rick, not simple. The natural world that we liv...No Rick, not simple.<BR/> The natural world that we live in is complex, almost beyond understanding.<BR/> In fact, almost every endeavor and science you can name seeks to understand the natural world in an organized fashion.<BR/> That is the basis of human nature.<BR/> We seek to shape our world in a facsimile of our dreams, to categorize and enumerate to label what we think we know.<BR/> The natural word couldn't care less.<BR/>It's quite possible that those eucalyptus are changing in their new environment to fill the niche of our desire, and thereby filling a necessary link.<BR/><BR/> let them be.Mike Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14883036796650379771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post-36054232433539558632008-02-02T12:39:00.000-08:002008-02-02T12:39:00.000-08:00As always, a beautifully written blog. On an inter...As always, a beautifully written blog. On an interesting but utterly intractable topic. Boy, you really like to dwell on the tough ones don't you? Like you I am beyond amazed at the capacity of nature to create - both organic forms and inorganic formations. Although I sometimes wonder whether we aren't deluding ourselves when we draw a distinction between the two. I doubt whether creative force pays much attention to such distinctions. In the vastness of eternity it is all a blank canvas and anything goes. The diversity of lifeforms you mention in your blog remind me of Alan Watt's take on the earth. He said it was a fruiting body. The earth's very purpose is to fruit life. From our egocentric perspective it is <I>'peopling'</I>. But I think that a somewhat narrow perspective given the huge diversity of life forever re-creating itself on this orb. The macro-organisms we know about are certainly wildly entertaining. But they pale compared to the oddities found in micro-organisms. That's where it gets really really bizarre.<BR/><BR/>> <I>I'm sure we may join those bones as well. Just another biological variant in a rich mix. Earth will abide. We may not.</I><BR/><BR/>I find some small comfort in that. Given our propensity for blundering and screwing things up I find comfort in knowing we are part of something so much bigger than us that there are inherent limits to the damage we can do. The earth will just keep fruiting and fruiting for nearly - read: effectively - forever. I can't wait to see what else it brews.*PG-13https://www.blogger.com/profile/14900054935763648975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post-22794318288093008682008-02-02T10:05:00.000-08:002008-02-02T10:05:00.000-08:00Here, the answer is pretty simple.Things changed r...Here, the answer is pretty simple.<BR/><BR/>Things changed rapidly when people started intentionally importing non-native species in significant numbers.<BR/><BR/>If some accidentally tagged along, any they weren't adapted, they would die.<BR/><BR/>Eucalyptus trees don't meet that test. And even if they did, they are dangerous because their roots are shallow. They can fall and kill people, and too often do.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13582018930679524381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post-39662548787259916602008-02-02T06:28:00.000-08:002008-02-02T06:28:00.000-08:00Discover Channel last year or so did a series usin...Discover Channel last year or so did a series using CGC animation on the various mammals that existed between the demise of the dinosaurs and the appearance of humans. What was so wonderful and sad and startling was to be reminded of the ENORMOUS numbers of utterly WIERD and WONDERFUL animals that were here and are now long, long gone. Somehow, in the shorthand of my mind, I think: Dinosaurs, poof! pronghorned antelope and zebras, forgetting the gazillions of years just filled with all sorts of other amazing creatures unlike anything seen on earth today, all filling their particular niches for their particular time, all long since turned to petrified stone. I'm sure we may join those bones as well. Just another biological variant in a rich mix. Earth will abide. We may not.Churadogshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362538114791652208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13758431.post-76976182407536255892008-02-01T15:32:00.000-08:002008-02-01T15:32:00.000-08:00Great article Ann, Kudos!Well, I hope they just le...Great article Ann, Kudos!<BR/>Well, I hope they just leave Sweet Springs alone.<BR/> The "What is nature?" question is sure complicated, I've even heard from well intentioned folks that the earth would be better off if all the human infestation would just leave.<BR/> Who would pull up all those non-native invasive plants then?<BR/> And since the earth is getting warmer on our account, and we don't seem to be willing to stop it, what happens to the native plants that cant survive a hotter/dryer climate?<BR/> Maybe we should be using G.E. to save them?<BR/> A great book on this subject (my tongue in cheek comments aside) is "The Botany of Desire" by M. Polan.Mike Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14883036796650379771noreply@blogger.com