Dolphins are endangered! Nooo!

[Ian SCD Officer]

I read on the MSNBC website this morning that dolphins are an endangered species, along with many species of pandas and gorillas.

I must say, I was quite upset about this, I really like animals, and I can't believe that the dolphin, possibly the most intelligent mammel on the planet, is endangered. I am hoping that they will be saved in a 'Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy' style (where they find out that the world will be destroyed very soon, and find a way to ger off the planet) but I don't think that's going to happen somehow!

I think we should be doing more to protect our endangered species. There are too many people, and not enough resources to go around, so we have started to hunt all these endangered animals and build upon their territory. It just doesn't seem right.

 

[Enadil Moonweaver]

One Show on the science channel predicted that we may use up our resources by 2015. I find that very sad, but I am glad people are trying to find other alternatives like solar energy and other types of fuel.

Dolphins have always been endangred at least in florida. Along with manatees. Dolphins seem to have bad luck because they have competition for land and food, and because we have better equipment than them they are losing. Manatees are usually the casualties of being hit by speed boats.

 

[j d worthington]

One Show on the science channel predicted that we may use up our resources by 2015.

I posted a thread elsewhere about a new study that (according to some -- I've not had a chance to look myself, as my Adobe Reader is acting up currently) seems to be pretty impressive, and predicts such a dire result by 2050....

http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/33347-will-we-run-out-of-resources-by-2050-a.html

If so, there really isn't time enough to do all that needs to be done, though that shouldn't stop us minimizing the damage as much as possible. But if either prediction is correct, I expect we'll be getting a serious visit from the Four Horsemen within our lifetimes....

 

[Saltheart]

I blame Pollution: it is having a perverse effect on our ecosystem. Why, in Austialia there is a highly toxic super bacteria that is killing marine life; world tempertatures are going up; migratory patterns are changing; and animals are changing there homes: all these are effects of pollution.

 

[Enadil Moonweaver]

Pollution and people in general the earth was better off before we invented cars. We should have stuck to the horse and buggy

 

[chrispenycate]

I blame Pollution: it is having a perverse effect on our ecosystem. Why, in Austialia there is a highly toxic super bacteria that is killing marine life; world tempertatures are going up; migratory patterns are changing; and animals are changing there homes: all these are effects of pollution.

Have you sufficient evidence to support your assertion, or is this merely an opinion (I'm not saying you're wrong, note, just not documented.)
Pollution causing the mutation of bacteria? Not impossible, particularly if the pollution is of medical supplies (particularly antibiotics) but life mutates anyway, and bacteria develope tougher and more succesful varieties absolutely naturally; that's what natural selection is all about.
I suppose if you consider carbon dioxide and methane as polluants, then pollution has its role in global warming; but both these gasses existed in quantity in the atmosphere long before humanity had the possibility of upsetting the balance, and part of the increase is due to the unfreezing of reserves in polar regions, caused by the warming itself (I tend to class polluants as substances that would not normally be found in the environment in appreciable quantity; which makes volcanoes great polluters)
Please don't consider this as an excuse to continue polluting; the proved disadvantages of uncontrolled pollution are sufficient to condemn it, without adding difficult to prove or unprovable assertion which the companies (and countries) who don't want to be forced into cleaning up their act can latch onto, and, as if finding one error in one branch of an argument renders the whole thing invalid, claim "They're telling lies to try and shut us down"

 

[Whitestar]

I'm not sure if we can actually reverse the damage to our planet, but I definitely think we can at least slow it down by consuming less and carpooling. As for the endangered animals, the best course of action is to place them in man-made environments like the zoo, thereby, preserving these guys and make sure they are well taken care of.