The Chinese are At It Again

(This was written in April just before our trip to China. I decided to delay publication until we got back and forgot. Here it is, late but still timely.)

Tiger penis, powdered Rhino horn, bear gall bladders and gods know what else the Chinese eat to improve fertility and erectile function. They must think they have a fertility/performance problem and they are eating their way through endangered species at an alarming rate. Now it is fish swim bladders. Read this:

The totoaba's swim bladder is a tube-shaped organ that fills with gas to help control the buoyancy of the fish, which the U.S. Attorney's Office said can grow over 6 feet long, weigh up to 220 pounds (100 kg) and live to the age of 25.

The United States listed the totoaba as an endangered species in 1979 and they are also protected in Mexico. Officials said the fish's bladder was seen in some Chinese cuisine as a prime ingredient in a type of soup and prized for its supposed ability to boost fertility and circulation. (1)

For a country with billions of people, and cheap Viagra the eating of exotic and endangered species makes no sense at all. I have known many Chinese people over my lifetime, and none seems to have problems with “getting it up”, so to speak. So what is the fascination with eating rare meats. And the growing middle class in China is buying Ivory at an alarming rate. Of course this is illegal trade as well.

It makes me sad to see a great nation like China, with many wonderful people and traditions give in to the demand for these exotic products. The good news is there is a thriving market for fake exotic parts, and they seem to work just as well. Hmmm. The “placebo effect”?


1. http://news.yahoo.com/california-authorities-target-smuggling-bladders-endangered-fish-035423364.html

Image: Same as above.

Sowing and Reaping: We are Sooooo Screwed.

“At 10 p.m. on Jan. 26th, 2014, the temperature in Homer, Alaska of 54 F (12 C) was warmer than any other place in the contiguous United States except southern Florida and southern California.”(1)

And so the discussion of Global Warming and Climate Change moves on to the end game. The warming of the Arctic and melting of sea ice over the past decade has brought the predicted meandering of the jet stream and the consequences also predicted.

PREDICTION: Proposing some future event will/might occur.

SCIENTIFIC PREDICTION: “In science, a prediction is a rigorous, often quantitative, statement, forecasting what will happen under specific conditions- - “(2)

I did say the “end game” didn't I? Because that is precisely where we are in this perturbation of the climate. We have passed the tipping point of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses, we have reached the point of jet stream wandering and we have passed the point of ocean stability (temperature going up, acidity going down, and volume going up).

What is left to us and the future generations is to pick up the pieces of the broken world and move on. The consequences down the road are chilling to say the least and surely include war, famine, genocide and disease. Not pretty is it? The “climate change deniers” will continue to spew their misinformed points of view, some downright lies while others are just ignorant, and the rest of us will suffer with the knowledge that we are all screwed.

The power industries and manufacturing industries of the world will continue to produce more and more pollution while justifying their actions by demand and denial of problems.

If you seriously don’t believe that human kind has ruined the earth for a long time to come by unrestrained production of energy and the pollution of the air and water that results from this, and the unchecked population growth that will be checked by the dire consequences outlined above, then you are among the most pitiful and ignorant humans on earth. You don’t deserve what you will get, but as you sow, so shall you reap.

Image: U.S. National Weather Service Alaska

1. http://news.yahoo.com/does-polar-vortex-mean-39-much-global-warming-003940054.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction