SlowpokeBlog

... as opposed to the not-so-well-informed sort discussed two posts earlier.

O.S. writes:

You're right about the global warming problem, but not about that last bit, that humans will become extinct while other animals adapt.

Unfortunately, we are better suited to adapting to rapidly changing climate and rapidly changing ecosystems than most animal and plant species. This is partly due to the fact that many species are adapted to specific climates, food, rainfall patterns, and so on, and normally they could react to change by migrating, but thanks to humans' love for massive development and destruction of natural environments, we have isolated many species in "islands" (surrounded by such things as the Seas Of MiniMall, Sprawlville, Megafarms, and Wal Marts) from which they will not be able to migrate. Thus local/climate specifically-adapted species will simply disappear when thier local climate and ecosystems change - what we are already seeing, for example, with tropical frog species in Central America.

On the other hand, humans have spent the better part of the last 200 years remaking the Earth to suit ourselves and our little preferences. We will surely have problems, and of course lots of poor mostly brown people will die of starvation and conflicts over dwindling resources (but like anyone cares about them, right?). But by and large, humans will almost cetainly survive even rapid, drastic climate change - and in fact we'll likley react by manipulating the earth even more into a relatively undiverse, human-supporting, homogenous factory for the few things we really like - fossil fuels or other shit we can burn easily, genetically enhanced corn, and hamburgers-on-legs.

The only other species likely to do as well or better than us, of course, are cockroaches and rats. Maybe mosquitos.

Hooray for the future, it's going to be great!

I'd say I agree with this projection; I would add that the cartoon was not meant to be a realistic statement so much as a playful (if somewhat grim) exercise. It was partly inspired by the David Attenborough nature documentaries that Mr. Slowpoke and I have been watching off and on over the past year. Did you know there are virtually no birds in Guam because of human-introduced brown snakes? Now you do.

Regarding the "Freedom vs. Freedom" cartoon from Jan. 23, Peter writes:

I just read your "freedom vs. freedom" strip. What a hoot!
Unfotunately, nothing has ever been said for the first time. Sir Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay called "two concepts of liberty" a while ago which deals with this very issue. Here is a link to it:
http://tlrdoc.free.fr/pages/berlin.htm
Just thought you might be interested.

I had heard about the concepts of "positive" and "negative" freedom, so I was aware the strip was expounding on an old idea, but didn't know it was Berlin who had written about it.

Anyway, I appreciate the intelligent feedback.