Tag Archives: Nature

As the Climate Changes, So Will Our Understanding

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William Gail is a past president of the American Meteorological Society. He calls attention to an aspect of the global warming crisis I hadn’t really considered: climate change will mean that we’ll know less about the world.

Civilization’s understanding of Earth has expanded enormously in recent decades, making humanity safer and more prosperous. As the patterns that we have come to expect are disrupted by warming temperatures, we will face huge challenges feeding a growing population and prospering within our planet’s finite resources. New developments in science offer our best hope for keeping up, but this is by no means guaranteed.

Our grandchildren could grow up knowing less about the planet than we do today. This is not a legacy we want to leave them. Yet we are on the verge of ensuring this happens.

His op-ed article is here.

From the Cicada’s Perspective (Again With the Cicadas!)

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Having a perspective is one of the things that generally sets us apart from inanimate objects (putting aside some inanimate objects like radio telescopes). A cicada has a perspective too, although it’s presumably not quite as nuanced as ours.

From our perspective, it can seem rather sad that these living things are stuck underground for 17 years, only to spend a few days or a few weeks in the open air before dying. It doesn’t seem like much of a life.

On the other hand, if we were to go very far out on a limb and attribute emotions and conscious reflection to these little creatures, we might suppose that they are perfectly happy living underground, away from birds and car tires, resting comfortably in the dark, taking sustenance from tree roots.

The years go by and one day they have to leave their homes, exposing themselves to all kinds of strange goings on, climbing trees, going through metamorphosis, flying around, making so much noise looking for a mate. What a pain! Can’t I stay down here for another decade or so?

Or maybe they feel suddenly liberated? Having been imprisoned in the earth, serving what amounts to a life sentence, they finally get to leave their jails, have some fun if they’re lucky and then call it a day. What a relief! I’m glad that’s over. I’ve done my bit and now it’s time to shuffle off this mortal coil.

The Remarkable Cicadas in a Remarkable Video

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The soil in our town recently grew warm enough for the cicadas to emerge. I don’t think we’ve seen any around here since 1996. This bunch has been living underground for 17 years.

We find them (or the outer skeletons they’ve left behind) every morning, mostly on tree trunks, but also on our garage door, our front steps and even our car tires. They’re looking for a temporary home in a hospitable tree. If they find a safe place to rest and mature, they’ll make an amazing amount of noise and attempt to mate. The females who survive will give birth to a new generation. In 3 weeks or so, all of the adults will die.

A filmmaker named Daniel Orr is trying to finish an hour-long documentary about these remarkable animals. He’s using Kickstarter to raise money. If you visit the site below, you can watch 7 minutes of his film. One viewer (no fan of the cicadas, she thought they were really creepy the last time she saw them, when she was 8) called this short video “terrifying, beautiful, disgusting and sad”.

It seems irrational to feel sorry for these insects. Or to feel any other strong emotion about them. Yet it’s hard not to feel something when you watch Mr. Orr’s video. Maybe we imagine ourselves waiting such a long time and then coming into the light.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/motionkicker/return-of-the-cicadas

P.S. — This morning, the ones who made it into the trees are proclaiming their presence to the world!