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August 2014

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Subject:
From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 3 Aug 2014 07:57:26 -0400
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Rich Bradley apparently planned to post this on the list, so here it is.
Historically speaking, he refers to posts here way back on 7/26.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: historical data etc.
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2014 06:33:27 -0400
From: Rich Bradley <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]

Bob,

I read your reply to Bill Whan's post on the ABA Ohio listserve.  Your
rather glum assessment is probably accurate, but I do think that there
is great value in understanding context.  The only way we can convince
people that we are in crisis is to demonstrate how much change has
occurred.  As each of us grows up in a "different" world (in terms of
personal experience), we get an impression. Through our lives, things
change. If we assume that the change we observe in our lives is all that
has happened, we are very mistaken.

This is the classic "shifting baselines" issue.  I used to teach this in
my general biology classes, illustrated with a series of landings at a
particular sport fishing pier over a period of a century of so. The
landings in recent years look robust, until you look at what people used
to catch on their one day fishing trips two generations ago.  It is
quite sobering and made the point very quickly to first year college
students.

Bill (If I may speak for you) is doing a search for some of that lost
context.  I must confess I've not heard anything about the manuscript he
is searching for, but it would be an interesting find.

I'm constantly confronted with people who say that the world is in fine
shape, no problems. Look at all that green, all those critters.  They
justdon't see the difference between exotic introduced species and the
vanishing native fauna.  If they don't have any comparative baseline,
they think that the natural world is in just fine shape.  Sort of the
frog in the gradually warming pot's view.

Just my .02$ worth,

Rich

PS: I can't figure out how to keep my login credentials active on the
list, and I've given up trying. I just lurk out here, watching without
posting.  I've tried a few posts, but it never works for me.  If either
of you chooses to include (quote) my comments in a post to the list, I'd
be fine with that.

--
Rich Bradley
Associate Professor, EEO Biology
The Ohio State University at Marion

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