Amen to that! I never really knew about these Chinese Dophins but it's too bad they're gone. At least we still have other Dolphins that are just as cute. Every time I hear a story about extinction I think about the Dodo's. Those were cute little buggers. As long as Cows and Chicken don't go extinct, I'll be happy for a while.
Undoubtedly! There were rumors that he attempted to teach the dolphins defense, and his mug scared the living hell out of them. That, and the glare off his head. The poor dolphins found it very offensive. Not Jeff's speciality.
An excerpt from the cover story on ESPN atm: Behind The Bamboo Curtain http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bamboocurtain Road Diary, entry 3: DESCENT INTO HELL Driving between Xin Zhou and Linfen There is a tunnel ahead. Coal dust and smog block out the sun. It's morning but it feels like dusk. Kilometer by kilometer, we close on Linfen, the most polluted city in the world. Smokestacks line the road like telephone poles. The white road markers are stained black. The red bricks are stained black. The faces of the people we pass are stained black. The tunnel gets closer. We pass a cement factory. Then a brick factory, one of many we've seen in the past hour, some of them known to be manned by children kidnapped and forced into grueling labor. Every so often, an impromptu Delta Force of angry fathers rescue their children. The hours are long and hellish here in the place hope forgot. Austin, the interpreter, calls her husband in Beijing. "It's horrible," she tells him. "It's a disaster zone. Everything is black. I don't want to get out of the car. It's shocking." We pass a wedding procession, a train of black Audis covered in red ribbons and balloons. This should be a joyous day. But the air is black and the future is bleak. "I feel sorry for those newlyweds," Austin says. Finally, we're inside. The tunnel seems to be about a kilometer or two long, straight as an arrow. The air is so thick with pollution and coal dust that we can't see. Headlights don't help much. We hear a truck rushing toward us before we can pick it out of the blackness. Singing Songs slows. We are driving toward the most polluted city in the world, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Google News not showing up any chinese papers. I wonder if it's because they need time to transalte to english or if it's a banned topic.
Needlessly destructive? Now I wouldn't say that. As some one who lived in China in the 80's, and seen first hand how poor the country was, compare to what it is now. I would say while I find it sad that the environment of the country is amazingly bad (I get sick from the air almost every time I go back for vacation), the lives of the common people in the cities are about 10x better than what it was. You don't get the kind of economic miracle that China saw in the last 15 years without having to break some eggs.
*Yawn* Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? If you believe in evolution, this simply meant these dolphins weren't cut out for the current environment. New species appear and disappear all the time. Unless the extinction of the species cause a sizable impact on the earth's environment, and therefore our own welfare, why does it matter? China's developing their economy and military right now. I fail to see why they should be condemned because they don't give a damn about a few dolphins. Now, the overall pollution problem... that's a whole different topic which can be debated(just not on this forum).
Because the dolphins died from abuse of the environment. No one is shedding tears probably, but ya know, all that pollution might be killing off a lot more then dolphins in the rivers....stuff that might be a little bit more important to us humans.
Like I said, the pollution problem is what really matters, something the Chinese government need to do a better job of regulating. But that goes against their policy of expanding the economy(things are more expensive to produce when factories have emission regulations). The extinction of these dolphins though, matters not at all.
If it's a tradeoff that Chinese are willing to make, they have that right. 1.3 Billion is out of mouth to feed, especially since actual habitable lands are actually quite scarce in China.
Because all people like to have some semblance of their current environment with nature around them. Cut enough strings in the web and eventually the only animals we see on land are the ones we eat, feed, and poison.
The rate animal species are getting extinct today is the highest it has ever been, even higher than when the dinosaurs died. So it sort of is a big deal. However like i have said in other threads in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but if we look at it from the grand scheme of things we as humans will not survive for long. IMO the mammalswill get extinct, and we as humans will have a big influence on the speed of this. In the grand scheme of things what we do doesn't matter, but if we look at it that way a few more dead humans also do not matter. And that is not something i agree with. Species get extinct but i prefer it that my children will be able to talk about species (such as the Snow leopard, european lynx etc) like we talk about those species, and not like we talk about the Dodo.(in the present tense and not in the past tense)
So, what you're saying is that these things should be more important to the Chinese government than taking care of their people, or expanding the economy. I don't want to turn this into a D&D discussion. But I do suggest that if you want to help prevent these things, stop buying stuff made in countries without tough environmental regulations(and this includes products where parts are made elsewhere, like cars "assembled" in US). Stop driving cars to work and use the bus. Don't buy items with extensive wasteful packaging, etc. etc. etc. It saddens me to say this, but we Americans are the leading cause of pollution in the world. So we might want to look in the mirror before blasting others. It is? I don't mean this sarcastically, but can you explain? How does this impact the environment in general?
A couple of thing 1st I'm not an american, so i'm not part of the leading cause for pollution in the world(tell that to the ivory coast who have had some problems with Dutch and pollution this year ). second, we reacted to your post were you said you didn't care. We didn't say we didn't care about the humans. I'm not saying that the chinees government should care more about animals than humans. I'm in favour of working on both. I think that is possible. I also do not think economic growth should be the main goal for a country(I understand it is easy for me to say such a thing since I live in a country with a good economy). I almost never use a car, i work in te same town i live so i go by bike. If i have to travel further i use public transportation. I'm really trying to always keep the environment in mind when i buy things. You are right people should try to do good thing for the environment themselves. However that does not excuse a government. People can critisize a government for doing bad things to the environment and nature. For example i really hate that some chinees people use Snow leopard bones in traditional medicine. It is one of the mean reasons the snow leopard is endangered.
Agbee; I was in a small city in Northeastern China in January and it looked like the pics in your post.
Evolution isn't a process that serves us and isn't a guided process. Natural factors didn't kill this species but human actions did. So while evolution is unfeeling we as humans should feel responsible. Even if you don't care about the dolphins they are a canary in the coalmine and a warning sign about the sorry state of China's rivers. True they weren't very adaptable but many of the same things that killed them also have a very negative affect on human health and the health of other species beneficial to humans. The fact that the whole species has been wiped out should be a wake up call about how dangerous pollution has gotten.
