I try not to broadcast much about our severe ecological situations, focusing instead on improvement. But there are times we must face death. We hear of human struggles near and far, flooding and fires and infrastructure issues etc. Do those stories from the news tubes sink in and lead us to minimize harm enough, or in any way at all?
Amphibians are often an indicator species, an early warning system for observant humans about environmental hazards. Not that this record-settingly widespread disease necessarily applies to humans directly.
Some may see frogs as less than human, and in that same perspective they may not empathize much for humans suffering today and tomorrow. But nature is not so below us, it is adjacent to us, it is intermingled with us; nature is not a stock of resources, it’s full of creatures with families, hopes and hungers, intelligences and approaches to providing for one’s basic needs, more varied than we can imagine. We can live in mutual benefit to one another, or with disregard and eyes for exploitation. Separate and combine.
“I can totally understand why some people might see this issue as too little, too late, but I strongly disagree with that, because saying that does not truly take into consideration how much worse it can still get,” says study co-author Jonathan Kolby (thanks for your work Jon).
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If this is an indicator, what is it of? A parasite spread vastly from one part of the world, through wildlife trafficking and various features of globalization. How do we heed this warning? More careful global systems tuned to nature’s harmony. Tightening the channels of wildlife trafficking. Treating nature not as a resource but as a system full of creatures. What do you think? What can you do?