Ancient Pathways to a Sustainable Future

The Incredible Shrinking Megafauna

Ken Fischman — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:19:36 +0000

It is clear from these examples that humans can inadvertently and mistakenly have profound effects on the genetics and behavior of wild animal populations, and that much of the time these effects are either unintended or even contrary to the hoped-for results.

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The Pleistocene Massacres

Ken Fischman — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:24:17 +0000

There are two alternative stories to explain the extinction of North American megafauna around 10,000 years ago. In one story, it was the advent of a land bridge from Siberia to North America, created by the waning of the last ice age, that enabled Siberian hunters to enter and people the Americas. These selfsame hunters hunted the megafauna into extinction.(Martin, 1967). In the other story, climate changes, transitioning from the last Ice Age, set in place complex ecological forces, which were responsible for the disappearance of mammoths, giant sloths, megabison, dire wolves, and other large mammals (Allen, 2010).

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Are the Beliefs of Earth-Based Peoples a Valid Guide to Their Behavior?

Ken Fischman — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 01:02:01 +0000

I find it hard to believe that people who regarded the rivers as their sisters, would have raped them by pouring toxic waste into them, or thought of their forests as brothers, would have clear-cut them. Explain to me how people who looked at wolves as older brothers and whose scouts emulated them, like the Cheyenne did, would have turned around and shot them from helicopters if only they had they possessed such equipment.

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Uncertain Future for the Gray Wolf

Ken Fischman — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 01:12:46 +0000

The recovery of the gray wolf in the Rocky Mountain West is one of the Endangered Species Act’s great success stories. Hunted nearly to extinction, wolves were reintroduced to the region in the 1990s and have since staged a remarkable comeback, thanks to federal protections. But whether this story has a happy ending will depend on the federal government’s willingness to monitor, and revise if necessary, wolf management plans it has agreed to in Idaho and Montana and is about to strike with Wyoming

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How Our Cultural Beliefs Effect The Way We Treat The earth

adm83 — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:36:26 +0000

How Our Cultural Beliefs Affect the Way We Treat the Earth Lanie Johnson, M.A. and Ken Fischman, Ph.D. March 25, 2007(rev. 10/3/11) Our cultural values, customs and beliefs affect the way we treat the Earth, and they have led to the twin crises of Peak Oil and Climate Change [...]

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Climate Scientist Stirs Up A Storm

Ken Fischman — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:53:14 +0000

Hansen concludes his assessment by saying that if we destroy our planet, we destroy ourselves. What should we do? Keep atmospheric CO2 below 350 PPM. For a brighter future, we must move beyond fossil fuels and energy, and reduce human population.

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Trophic Downgrading or Where Have All the Predators Gone?

Ken Fischman — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:19:53 +0000

It deals with the recent and rapid disappearance of top predators, such as wolves, lions, & sharks, mostly brought about by the actions of that top predator of all – mankind, and the surprisingly profound effects their loss is having on ecosystems worldwide.

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The Tracks In Chauvet Cave

Ken Fischman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:06:09 +0000

The two sets of tracks were side by side. One of them was that of a young child, and the other of a wolf. What if I were to tell you that these tracks were found deep within Chauvet Cave, high above the Ardeche River in France, a cave, which contains some of the most glorious Stone Age art ever found? Chauvet cave is a marvel indeed, opening to us not only a window on the considerable artistic abilities of Paleolithic man, but also on his inner life, and perhaps in the case of the child and wolf, on his connections to the natural world.

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Ancestors Of African Pygmies And Neighboring Farmers Separated Around 60,000 Years Ago

Ken Fischman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:41:54 +0000

they determined that the ancestors of Pygmy hunter-gatherers and farming populations started to diverge ~60,000 years ago, coinciding with a period of important human migration both within and outside Africa

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MYTHS & FACTS ABOUT WOLVES

Ken Fischman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:42:25 +0000

If you chunked up Idaho into areas each of 100 square miles and evenly distributed people, elk and wolves among the chunks you would have in each chunk 1,800 people, 140 elk, and 1 wolf. That demonstrates how few wolves there really are. How are they to fulfill their role of keystone predator

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