Phytoplankton are the basis of the entire marine food chain, and have an important role in the global carbon cycle. Through photosynthesis, they produce around half of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere and drive the 'biological pump' that fixes 100 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide a day into organic material, which then sinks to the ocean floor when the phytoplankton die, or are grazed and digested.- Nature.com
The reasearch is extensive and disturbing, slow, long term phytoplankton decline caused by oceanic warming is another dying canary warning us of the feedback loops being untethered by Gaia in response to our consumptive lives. The oceans are eating up our carbon dioxide and its offspring global warming more and more slowly even as we dump more in her and ask more of her everyday.
MORE-MORE-MORE, the siren's song of materialism, the catechism of capitialism and dominion's undoing. Endless growth was one of the self-serving lies our ancestors told themselves. It's still being told today, more hummers, more highways, more, the big lie that our culture uses to destroy the very basis of life.
We milk the cow of the world, and as we do We whisper in her ear, "You are not true."
- Richard Wilbur, 1950
- Richard Wilbur, 1950
There are things we as individuals can do right now-today to help stem the tide of MORE, to make a difference in our personal health and Gaia's. The Gaurdian's article: 10 ways vegetarianism can help save the planet details the numbers behind the costs our carnivorious brethren force the ecosystem to pay. i've been a non-meat eater for nearly 35 years, i'm 6'5", 270 lbs, healthy as a horse, strong as a bull and haveworked hard all my life. Anybody can make different choices. If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment, the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat.
