BacktoCricaddict Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 (edited) https://www.sciencealert.com/a-neurotoxin-is-causing-sea-lions-to-bite-people-in-california Headline A Neurotoxin Is Causing Sea Lions to Bite People in California Established fact A marine algal species makes a neurotoxin domoic acid. Fish eat the alga, sea lions eat the fish, ingest domoic acid - it makes them go wonky. But what does article say? "This catastrophe might be linked to an imbalance of nutrients in the ocean driven by the combined consequences of climate change and El Niño, as well as pollutants from human activities." Huh? No direct evidence. Just arm-waving conjecture. Especially ridiculous when it is clear and an established fact that the frikkin alga is the culprit, why drag climate change and humans into the equation? It's like an impulse for people today. "Dude .. look, there's an animal. Awww .... it's suffering" OR "Dude, something seems like it's off with the environment" "Duuude. It's climate change!! Humans are bad!!" Even when there is clear evidence that, in this case, it's the frikkin alga that's doing it, they can't accept that even other species can create problems. Edited July 8, 2023 by BacktoCricaddict Vijy, Mariyam, coffee_rules and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 (edited) The various degrees of environmental activism . Stop farming: saale ab goo khayega kaa pic.twitter.com/jZ8PLhuIey — Clown World ™ (@ClownWorld_) July 6, 2023 More nuanced Bs from the elite Here’s the advice I shared with Malia about what progress looks like – and the work we can do right now to make a difference. pic.twitter.com/c3fbAEp3eu — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 6, 2023 Edited July 9, 2023 by coffee_rules Lord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 11, 2023 Share Posted July 11, 2023 More bakchodi This is so surreal. The socialist Spanish minister uses a private jet to attend a climate conference. 100 metres before the venue she gets out off the limo and takes a bicycle. The security cars follow her. pic.twitter.com/NkSF3hJrOH— David Vance (@DVATW) July 11, 2023 Vijy and beetle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharathh Posted July 11, 2023 Share Posted July 11, 2023 Don't know about alarmism... But this video really hit hard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 11, 2023 Share Posted July 11, 2023 Human action has severely impacted the environment, so it is good to see people associate that factor as well. There are too many human beings on this planet and eventually, everyone/everything else would need to pay the price to accommodate them. In 1960, the population was 3B In 2022 (62 years), the population has more than doubled to 8B. Vijy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetle Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 There is big money made in climate activism. coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 1 hour ago, beetle said: There is big money made in climate activism. Welcome back! beetle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoCricaddict Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 22 hours ago, zen said: Human action has severely impacted the environment, so it is good to see people associate that factor as well. There are too many human beings on this planet and eventually, everyone/everything else would need to pay the price to accommodate them. In 1960, the population was 3B In 2022 (62 years), the population has more than doubled to 8B. Conflation is one of the biggest scientific errors, and undermines the credibility of the message. There is evidence that the alga is the cause of wonky sea lions. Until there is evidence that, somehow, humans are causing wonky sea lions, it should not be mentioned. Just because humans cause some problems doesn't mean they cause all problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 23 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said: Conflation is one of the biggest scientific errors, and undermines the credibility of the message. There is evidence that the alga is the cause of wonky sea lions. Until there is evidence that, somehow, humans are causing wonky sea lions, it should not be mentioned. Just because humans cause some problems doesn't mean they cause all problems. People of science can be unidimensional at times, acting as if life is like a math equation. The articles specify one of the potential causes of an increase in alga or whatever: This catastrophe might be linked to an imbalance of nutrients in the ocean driven by the combined consequences of climate change and El Niño, as well as pollutants from human activities. In turn, microscopic marine plankton called pseudo-nitzschia surged in numbers – a phenomenon known as a 'red tide'. Pseudo-nitzschia produces the powerful neurotoxin domoic acid. Fish gorge on the algae, and the neurotoxin accumulates in the food chain. Sea lions, which mostly feed off anchovies and sardines, are particularly vulnerable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoCricaddict Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 4 minutes ago, zen said: People of science can be unidimensional at times, acting as if life is like a math equation. The articles specify one of the potential causes of an increase in alga or whatever: This catastrophe might be linked to an imbalance of nutrients in the ocean driven by the combined consequences of climate change and El Niño, as well as pollutants from human activities. In turn, microscopic marine plankton called pseudo-nitzschia surged in numbers – a phenomenon known as a 'red tide'. Pseudo-nitzschia produces the powerful neurotoxin domoic acid. Fish gorge on the algae, and the neurotoxin accumulates in the food chain. Sea lions, which mostly feed off anchovies and sardines, are particularly vulnerable. Reading the entire article and then digging deeper will tell you that the imbalance and climate change factors are purely speculative, whereas domoic acid is a well-known, confirmed, uncontroversial, no-more-explanation-needed cause of wonky sea lions. In this particular case, there is no need to invoke any other causes unless there is any real evidence to do so - which there is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) 7 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said: Reading the entire article and then digging deeper will tell you that the imbalance and climate change factors are purely speculative, whereas domoic acid is a well-known, confirmed, uncontroversial, no-more-explanation-needed cause of wonky sea lions. In this particular case, there is no need to invoke any other causes unless there is any real evidence to do so - which there is not. Journalists use words like - “might be linked”, “one recent study found out that”, “some experts say”, “some environmentalists (like Greta) clearly feel” and write whatever BS they want. It’s the intelligent ones that differentiates the cheese from the chalk! Edited July 12, 2023 by coffee_rules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 9 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said: Reading the entire article and then digging deeper will tell you that the imbalance and climate change factors are purely speculative, whereas domoic acid is a well-known, confirmed, uncontroversial, no-more-explanation-needed cause of wonky sea lions. In this particular case, there is no need to invoke any other causes unless there is any real evidence to do so - which there is not. I have seen enough negative impacts on the environment due to human actions to worry about minor things. It is well known that pollution, which is driven by human beings, creates an imbalance in the oceans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoCricaddict Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 20 minutes ago, zen said: I have seen enough negative impacts on the environment due to human actions to worry about minor things. It is well known that pollution, which is driven by human beings, creates an imbalance in the oceans. But the imbalance does not make sea lions wonky, which was the whole point of the article. Accuracy is important. Proper cause-effect attribution is important. If not, the big-picture conclusions will be incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said: But the imbalance does not make sea lions wonky, which was the whole point of the article. Accuracy is important. Proper cause-effect attribution is important. If not, the big-picture conclusions will be incorrect. The imbalance in oceans can impact sea life in a variety of ways ... More on Algae blooms below - Link The explosive growth of algal blooms is linked to rising temperatures and rising pollution. These green waves are both a warning sign and a symptom of a changing climate. As farming fertiliser and a tsunami of human sewage hit our warming waterways, we are in danger of turning our very drinking water toxic. In the ocean, a coastwide bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia algae in spring 2015 resulted in an outbreak of the neurotoxin, domoic acid, along the entire US west coast, spanning four states. Elevated toxins were found in marine mammals and fisheries, with over 1,950kg (4,300lb) of clams lost in just one day and over 200 sea lions stranded with neurotoxin poisoning. A bloom in the Gulf of Mexico in 2017 was recorded to cover 8,776 sq miles (22,720 sq km). Typically these giant blooms occur near deltas, where rivers – draining huge areas of land and fertiliser – meet the sea. But inland rivers and lakes are increasingly getting swamped before they even reach the sea. And their waters endanger the human populations that border them. People and animals exposed to algal toxins by drinking or swimming can suffer rashes, fevers, even liver and kidney damage. According to an overview of HABs by the binational United States and Canada Great Lakes organisation The International Joint Commission, only 12 published accounts of algal outbreaks were recorded in Canada and the US in the 1980s and just 19 in the 1990s. By the mid-2000s, however, reports of HABs suddenly began appearing in unlikely landlocked states. By 2021, nearly 1,700 HAB-related warnings and public health advisories were issued within the US alone. HABs are now a major environmental problem in all 50 states. These toxins may also be entering the food chain. In August 2022, over 60 California sea lions showing signs of domoic acid intoxication – including seizures, disorientation and loss of muscle control – had to be saved following an HAB incident. Stauffer confirms that this now occurs annually on the western and eastern coasts of the US. "Sea lions aren't feeding on little microscopic [organisms], they're feeding on fish, on crustaceans," she says, just like we do. Sea lions commonly feed on fish such as anchovies. During the 2015 incident, anchovies caught in fishing nets were found to have very high levels neurotoxins from the algal blooms. This is far from a US-only problem. Jessica Richardson, a researcher at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre in the UK, has described blooms of cyanobacteria as a "threat to global water security" that is expected to increase due to a chemical and climate cocktail of "nutrient enrichment, increasing temperature and extreme precipitation in combination with prolonged drought". In short, more sewage and fertiliser being flushed into warmer waters by heavy rain hitting parched ground. England's largest and most famous lake, Windermere, has also started turning a troubling shade of blueish-green. In August, local campaigner Matt Staniek went viral with a short video scooping green gunk from the lake's surface, stating "I got a cyanobacteria bloom tested as I felt this wasn't being taken seriously enough. It exceeded World Health Organization guidelines… Windermere is not safe." SENSORY OVERLOAD From the microplastics sprayed on farmland to the noxious odours released by sewage plants and the noise harming marine life, pollutants are seeping into every aspect of our existence. Sensory Overload explores the impact of pollution on all our senses and the long-term harm it is inflicting on humans and the natural world. Read some of the other stories from the series here: The underwater sounds that can kill Why you are probably eating plastic Staniek, a 20-something zoologist who grew up in Windermere village, says that algal blooms would appear occasionally when he was a child, but "it has been getting progressively worse", noting that the annual average temperature of the lake has increased by 1.7C (3F) in the last 50 years". He describes the explosion of blooms as "the sign of a dying lake". Unlike in the US, however, Staniek believes the nutrient loads feeding the blooms aren't coming primarily from pesticides, but from local sewage plants. In 2021, the United Utilities Staveley sewage works, near Windermere, spilled untreated sewage into a nearby stream 80 times for a total of 1,172 hours, according to an interactive map by The Rivers Trust which documents sewage spills. This was not a one off; the United Utilities plant at Grasmere spilled 90 times for a total of 1,348 hours. The UK’s ageing sewage network is struggling to cope with intense rainfall, a growing population and an historic lack of investment. The map reveals that the whole of England and Wales is in a similar, sorry, sewage-drenched state. Other water bodies, such as the River Wye – also a tourist hotspot – are "facing ecological disaster" due to once unheard of, but now annual, algal blooms, blocking out the sunlight and killing everything below. A BBC report found that the seven main water companies in England and Wales discharged untreated sewage into rivers and the sea more than 3,000 times between 2017 and 2021. "Why is that happening?" asks Staniek. The longer this goes on, he points out, the more phosphorus is stored up in the sediment of lakes like Windermere. A petition to name Windermere a Special Area of Conservation with a legal mandate to reduce nutrient levels now has over 150,000 signatures.At a national scale, the chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, a cross party parliamentary group, has said that water companies have turned "a blind eye" to unpermitted sewage discharges, and urged both regulators and water companies to "get a grip". "There will always be some of these blooms," says Stumpf. "The world is getting warmer which means that blooms may last longer." But, he says, it ultimately comes down to the pollution and nutrients we release into the water. It's the choices we make as to "how we use the land", he says. And we do have control over them. PS The fishes could eat these types of "polluted" algae. Other living beings would eat fish impacted by eating such algae, causing different types of illnesses in different beings. Edited July 12, 2023 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 On one hand, human beings can be impacted by eating fish or other marine beings which feed on "polluted" algae or whatever. On the other hand, for Sea Lions, a protected species, a copious amount of proof needs to be provided to determine that the "food" that they eat (that too without having too many choices) is not impacted by pollution! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijy Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 sloppy reporting is an increasingly big problem, as is climate alarmism. on the other hand, however, it is vital to also appreciate the magnitude and severity of the climate change issue. beetle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 16 hours ago, Vijy said: sloppy reporting is an increasingly big problem, as is climate alarmism. on the other hand, however, it is vital to also appreciate the magnitude and severity of the climate change issue. The issue should be left to scientists instead every left or right wing politician , activist , journalist, regular SM poster is an expert environmentalist aur gyaan pelte rehte hain! Vijy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 I am glad, it still hasn’t caught up in here. EU is screwed. With the refugee crisis and these climate nutjobs, it will be crazy out there. What is wrong with these people?!?!?These climate “activists” actively prevented a woman from getting to the hospital!!!ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!pic.twitter.com/qUYc7Z9u5Q— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) July 21, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkt.india Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijy Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 On 7/21/2023 at 4:21 PM, coffee_rules said: I am glad, it still hasn’t caught up in here. EU is screwed. With the refugee crisis and these climate nutjobs, it will be crazy out there. What is wrong with these people?!?!? These climate “activists” actively prevented a woman from getting to the hospital!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!pic.twitter.com/qUYc7Z9u5Q — Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) July 21, 2023 EU will break up in the not-so-distant future. that's my (not-so) bold prediction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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