Tuesday 12 July 2011

The sea is falling!

I, for one, welcome our jellyfish overlords.
Mr George Monbiot looks at jellyfish with all the perspective of a panicky meerkat and loses it completely:
A combination of overfishing and ocean acidification (caused by rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) has created the perfect conditions for this shift from a system dominated by fish to a system dominated by jellyfish.


If this is indeed what we’re seeing, the end of vertebrate ecology is a direct result of the end of vertebrate politics: the utter spinelessness of the people charged with protecting the life of the seas.
Flee for the hills!  The Day of the Jellyfish is at hand!

6 comments:

Sergej said...

I think I saw that on MST3K. But it was one of the later ones, with Mike Nelson.

Ironmistress said...

Jellyfish recipies, anyone?

(Unfortunately, those sleazeballs aren't kosher.)

Daniel said...

On the bright side, it's good news for the sea turtles, which will see a massive increase in their food supply.

Or are we not allowed to look on the bright side of environmental stories any more...

eon said...

Daniel;

There are none. All environmental stories add up to, "The world is ending, and it's all Humanity's fault- for existing."

I used to think that environmentalists (like Monbiot) had a secret death wish evidenced by their ardent desire to see most of the human race erased. But I've come to the conclusion that they in fact see themselves as an entirely separate, "post-human" species, who not only will survive the fall of our civilization they are desperately trying to bring about, but are also (since they are, by their own definition, "superior") in no way responsible for the "crimes" of humanity.

This probably explains how each one of them, with their executive jets, limousines, etc., have a clear conscience about having an individual carbon footprint the size of Szechuan Province. Their carbon is also inherently superior, and therefore not a problem.

Or they may simply be megalomaniacs who are also bats**t f**king insane into the bargain. As Tom Clancy would say, I call the odds six-five and pick 'em.

cheers

eon

Ironmistress said...

I remember when I was a kid in the seventies, and me and my family sailed at Baltic. Those slimeballs were all around. In the eighties they disappeared for good.

Then I learned that jellyfish thrive at Baltic when the salinity is high and they disappear when it is low. The salinity depends on the rainfall and the flow of the rivers - Baltic is brackish water.

Incindentally, when there is jellyfish, there is also cod. The reason is that the eggs of the cods are dependent of the salinity - they won't develop if the salinity of the water is too low.

But whales, sea turtles and sunfish will love the news. [If we only can get the plastic bags off the sea...]

Ironmistress said...

Jellyfish recipies. Sorry, that is still not kosher.

Nor halal.