Before embarking on the discussion of the unusual happenings in the animal kingdom promised in Part 1, I’d like to cite a quote that demonstrates the nature and impact of exponential change. The quote comes from a remarkable article from Reuters:
about major world cities combating the combination of rising seas and sinking landmass due to subsidence from draining the groundwater under each city:
As everyone knows, that ice sheet stores enough ice to raise the global sea level about 7 meters (24 feet). As it gets more permeable, it becomes less stable. As I said, food for thought.
Especially during the last year, the animal kingdom has shown signs of extreme duress.
First, there are many stories of pets attacking, and sometimes killing, their owners:
If you would like to dismiss this as anecdotal, of course you can, but it would fly in the face of statistical evidence, from around the globe:
Deer are known for trying to avoid people and buildings. Not these:
Then there are the many cases of fish that normally live deep in the oceans appearing at shorelines, sometimes thousands of miles from their usual area of habitation:
There are stories of birds so far from their usual turf that they sometimes end up on the wrong continent:
I have a lot more links for animals attacking humans (especially coyotes, jackals, wild dogs, and wild boars, but also including owls, foxes, and otters), but I’ll spare you having to scroll past them, and pass to another category: regional animal die-offs across many species.
in which he listed reports of devastations of West Coast starfish (A marine epidemiologist at Cornell University says that this is “the largest mortality event for marine diseases we’ve seen“); bluefin tuna (only 4% are left); sardine, anchovy, herring, and oyster populations; and major difficulties for many marine birds including pelicans. And more:
Highly radioactive water at the plant is seeping into the earth and mixing with ground water. Experts estimate around 200 tons of contaminated ground water are leaking into the ocean each day.
Each day!
Then there are the global problems:
More mass animal deaths occurring now than ever before, study claims
Mass die-offs of certain animals has increased in frequency every year for seven decades, according to a new study.
Researchers found that such events, which can kill more than 90 per cent of a population, are increasing among birds, fish and marine invertebrates.
Silent Spring: Songbirds are disappearing across the planet reveals new documentary film
And this link points to a study that lists 794 species that are on the brink of extinction:
So, what are the reasons for this dreadful state of affairs. There are several, to be sure.
In the case of the whales (and perhaps the other creatures that normally inhabit the ocean depths and who can now be found at the beaches), one major cause is certain: the use of powerful sonar technologies by the militaries to hunt for submarines and the oil and gas companies to hunt for that stuff we pump into our cars. This link:
The epic fight to protect cetaceans from the US Navy
has a sad but amazing story of how proof of this was accepted by the US Navy itself. A retired navy guy with an interest in whales–the guy actually worked in the navy’s secret sonar program–witnessed the beaching of 17 beaked whales immediately following US Navy exercises in his area. This is the deepest diving whale species of them all. For them to beach as a group was unprecedented. Suspecting the cause, the guy immediately had their heads sent to a lab for autopsy and it was found that the ear drums of each whale had been shattered. The guy had to get this info onto the 60 Minutes television program before the navy would respond, but finally, respond they did, strongly limiting their own sonar use during exercises. And this link:
Whale Mass Stranding Attributed to Sonar Mapping For First Time
describes how the mass stranding of 100 whales was connected with exploration by ExxonMobil.
So, is there relief for the whales and other deep-sea creatures? Given the near-daily whale beachings listed above, probably not much. In July, the purportedly liberal White House approved the use of such technologies in Federal waters off the US East Coast:
The Obama administration has sided with energy developers over environmentalists, approving the use of underwater blasts of sound to pinpoint oil and gas deposits in federal Atlantic Ocean waters.
And how could we forget this as an indicator of what’s plaguing sea creatures:
Perhaps the deflationary wave that has been sent to the world economy–the price of oil, at $45.29 per barrel today, has now been cut by 58% since June, natural gas prices have also been crashing (again), and interest rates are now negative in several countries–will provide the kindness of some relief for the creatures of the ocean deep, kindness that humanity has been unwilling to provide.
Another monster problem for sea creatures and ocean birds is tens of thousands of tons of plastic:
One highly-recommended article that really gets the point across about the state of the oceans, especially the Pacific, is this one by an Australian yachtsman, which should be a must-read for everyone:
The ocean is broken
What was missing was the cries of the seabirds which, on all previous similar voyages, had surrounded the boat.
The birds were missing because the fish were missing.
Exactly 10 years before, when Newcastle yachtsman Ivan Macfadyen had sailed exactly the same course from Melbourne to Osaka, all he’d had to do to catch a fish from the ocean between Brisbane and Japan was throw out a baited line.
“There was not one of the 28 days on that portion of the trip when we didn’t catch a good-sized fish to cook up and eat with some rice,” Macfadyen recalled.
But this time, on that whole long leg of sea journey, the total catch was two.
No fish. No birds. Hardly a sign of life at all…
If that sounds depressing, it only got worse.
The next leg of the long voyage was from Osaka to San Francisco and for most of that trip the desolation was tinged with nauseous horror and a degree of fear.
“After we left Japan, it felt as if the ocean itself was dead,” Macfadyen said.
“We hardly saw any living things. We saw one whale, sort of rolling helplessly on the surface with what looked like a big tumour on its head. It was pretty sickening.
“I’ve done a lot of miles on the ocean in my life and I’m used to seeing turtles, dolphins, sharks and big flurries of feeding birds. But this time, for 3000 nautical miles there was nothing alive to be seen.”
In place of the missing life was garbage in astounding volumes.
“Part of it was the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Japan a couple of years ago. The wave came in over the land, picked up an unbelievable load of stuff and carried it out to sea. And it’s still out there, everywhere you look.”
This lack of ocean fish is killing the ocean-migrating birds because there is nothing for them to eat:
The industrial overfishing, the chemical pollution, the radiation, the acidification, the garbage…We truly are trying to “break” the oceans.
When that Malaysian airliner went missing, garbage hampered the search:
Malaysia plane: Confronting searchers is an ocean full of garbage
Since the older generations can’t see a way to fix this, maybe younger people can start the process:
As far as those rampaging elephants are concerned, can you blame them?
These are animals who walk miles to attend to the death of another elephant or the death of a person who was a friend to them:
Wild Elephants gather inexplicably, mourn death of “Elephant Whisperer”
Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 2. His family spoke of a solemn procession of Elephants that defies human explanation…
For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives. The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony…
For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died?…
There are two elephant herds at Thula Thula. According to his son Dylan, both arrived at the Anthony family compound shortly after Anthony’s death. “They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,” Dylan is quoted in various local news accounts. “The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush.”
If humans were more rational, perhaps we would be trying to understand elephants’ telepathy and empathy rather than killing them for their tusks.
And then there are the poisons we spray, and the systemic poisons created by design in GMO crops:
Neurotoxic pesticides linked to honeybee decline are affecting other species, scientists say after four-year assessment
Neurotoxic pesticides blamed for the decline of honeybees is also harming butterflies, worms, fish, and birds, and contaminating habitats worldwide which are crucial for food production and wildlife, scientists have concluded after a four-year assessment.
So we’re not just poisoning ourselves–and the bees and pollinators who are crucial to one third of humanity’s food supply–with toxic chemicals:
we’re poisoning lots of species.
And what about the migratory animals, both birds and sea creatures, who are losing their way?
Birds are losing all sense of direction
It turns out that some migratory birds are stymied when they encounter the edges of a city, industrial area, or campus. The electromagnetic emanations from these places disturb the workings of these birds’ navigation systems. Given that experiments have shown that the emanations from wifi routers can kill plants, I guess it isn’t surprising that our electromagnetics are disturbing animals. And probably us as well.
And how can I fail to mention how we treat animals raised for food, putting them in cramped industrial settings and cages prior to their slaughter. Were it not for strong doses of antibiotics–which end up on our plates–most of these animals would die of disease.
Is the growing 2014 trend of animal attacks on people an indication that they have started to fight back? We better hope not. If the animal kingdom ever decided to fight with us, we’d likely all be dead within months. Without the ceaseless cleanup of our environment by insects, worms, algae, bacteria, fungi, etc., we would find ourselves living in waste. As it is, these beings constantly process billions of tons of materials into forms useful for us. And we often pay them back by trying to exterminate them, interested in the endless “growth, growth, growth” chant of our so-called leaders who definitely have no understanding of the exponential function.
Everyone has heard of the “lost animal syndrome” where there is a notable increase in pets getting lost before earthquakes. Are the animal agitations and disorientations a reaction to current Earth changes, or to an impending mega-Earth change. If it’s the latter, one might shudder to think what that would be.
Are the animals who normally remain deep in the oceans reacting to increases in methane and volcanic materials coming from the ocean floor? Perhaps.
Are the animal attacks a reaction to the changing energies of our evolving world? Are they reacting to the rapid decrease in Earth’s magnetic field, described here:
…based on the latest readings from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) satellite array called Swarm:
Once every few hundred thousand years the magnetic poles flip so that a compass would point south instead of north. While changes in magnetic field strength are part of this normal flipping cycle, data from Swarm have shown the field is starting to weaken faster than in the past. Previously, researchers estimated the field was weakening about 5 percent per century, but the new data revealed the field is actually weakening at 5 percent per decade, or 10 times faster than thought. As such, rather than the full flip occurring in about 2,000 years, as was predicted, the new data suggest it could happen sooner…
(Wow, 5% per decade. An exponential progression to be reckoned with.)
Or are the animal attacks on humans simply the animals reflecting our own emotional and mental states?
It seems clear that the assault, often clearly our assault, on the animal kingdom, and the plant kingdom, is unwise. Some Churchianity people quote Genesis about man being given “dominion” over the animals and plants. For some, this somehow justifies pillage and plunder versus the stewardship that, logically, must have been the intended meaning of the statement. Undoubtedly, dominion can’t mean the creation of a wasteland. But that is what we are doing in many domains. Here’s an excellent indicator of the bad news (I promise to follow it with some good news!):
Photographic Adventure Reveals the Frightening Deadness of Genetically Engineered Corn Field
By Dr. Mercola
A recent NPR article highlights the truly frightening environmental effect of monoculture. NPR commentator and science writer Craig Childs decided to replicate a photo project by David Liittschwager, a portrait photographer who spent years traveling the world dropping one-cubic-foot metal frames into gardens, streams, parks, forests, and oceans, photographing anything and everything that entered the frame.
Around the world, his camera captured thousands of plants, animals, and insects within the cubes, with entirely different “worlds” of plants and animals living as little as a few feet away from each other.
Childs recruited a friend, and together they set out to replicate Littschwager’s “critter census” in a corn field in Grundy County, Iowa.
But whereas Littschwager’s camera captured several dozens of insects wherever he set up his frames, Childs and friend found nothing stirring among the genetically engineered corn stalks on the 600 acre farm in Iowa, where they spent an entire weekend crawling around on the ground. No signs of life with the exception of an isolated spider, a single red mite, and a couple grasshoppers.
“It felt like another planet entirely,” Childs said. “I listened and heard nothing, no birds, no clicks from insects. There were no bees. The air, the ground, seemed vacant. Yet, 100 years ago, these same fields, these prairies, were home to 300 species of plants, 60 mammals, 300 birds, hundreds and hundreds of insects,” Robert Krulwich writes2. “This soil was the richest, the loamiest in the state. And now, in these patches, there is almost literally nothing but one kind of living thing. We’ve erased everything else.”
The good news, the very good news, is that more and more people (permaculturists, organic growers, channelers of information from the devic realm in places like Findhorn and Perelandra, occultists, etc.) are realizing that nature provides a physical and energetic abundance that is currently well beyond our comprehension and perception; that we should be working with the processes, energies, and intelligences that provide that abundance rather than working against them; and that our own evolution depends directly on our turning our interaction with the natural kingdoms from one of exploitation and devastation to one of great respect and harmony. In this exponential accelerating trend lies great hope for us all.
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(*Note of credit and thanks: Many links in this article come from the amazing SOTT.NET Earth Changes tracking page. They make great videos summarizing each month’s earth changes; you can see them here. As stated elsewhere, I think they do a wonderful job of collecting information, but a poor job of theorizing about its causes. They say that there is so much global cooling that a new ice age has already started, that “Planet X” is on the way, etc. I think they are wrong about these things. However, they do seem to like G.I. Gurdjieff, so there is hope.)
Thundering Heard 