#anthropogenic activity

[whats-in-a-sentence]

In considering particular environmental subjects, we focus on the basic chemistry and to do this it is necessary to examine some or all of the three factors – composition, chemical process, and perturbations caused by natural or anthropogenic activities – that we have discussed above (Fig. 1.7).

"Environmental Chemistry: A Global Perspective", 4e - Gary W. VanLoon & Stephen J. Duffy

[easterncoyoteenthusiast]

Attitudes Towards Coyotes

Coywolves can live successfully in a variety of habitats (for related information, see my post on range/diet). The primary sources of mortality in the majority of these environments are anthropogenic (i.e., trapping, shooting, car accidents, and poisoning). Poisoning remained a widespread method of predator eradication until 1972, when its use on federal lands was banned in the United States; the use of household rodenticides is, however, still allowed.

Though a portion of the general public has become sympathetic towards these animals in recent years [1-2], deliberate killings still occur on city margins. An example of this was discovered during a 2005 study of a pack of coyotes in eastern Massachusetts [3]. Activity and movement patterns in this study were typical; the coyotes did not kill local pets or physically endanger citizens, but rather increased their nocturnal behavior to avoid people and displayed territorial behavior towards transient individuals. Even so, sightings of the individuals in this pack—Maeve, Jet, and Cour—led to some upset.

All three individuals were found dead during the study; in each case, the cause of death was ruled an anticoagulant pesticide (Brodifacoum, a second-generation poison and active ingredient in some forms of rat poison). Because all three displayed no abnormal behavior in the week leading up to their deaths and all died in less than a week, it is likely that, rather than having eaten poisoned prey, they were purposefully dosed at high concentrations.

Public support for the lethal management of carnivores has noticeably declined over time. Jackman and Way surveyed Cape Cod voters to examine “knowledge of and attitudes toward current coyote hunting policies and practices in Massachusetts” [1, p. 188]. Knowledge was largely limited, with only 40% being aware that Massachusetts has a hunting season for coyotes and 14% being aware that there are no bag limits—meaning a hunter can kill as many coyotes as they want. Responses to the survey indicated that only 23% supported the no-bag limits; the “only group to include majority support (62%)” [1, p. 190] comprised frequent hunters, who represented only a small percentage of the sampled public.

Anyone wishing to determine shifts in attitude towards and/or awareness of coywolves should consider the use of surveys à la Jackman and Way [1]. I wanted to incorporate a survey to determine whether residents of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania (where I am currently based) had noticeably different stances, but I did not give myself enough time to get IRB approval and properly analyze data. I would also recommend a potential partnership with an ecologist and/or biologist. Because I am an anthropologist and have little background in those fields, I was therefore somewhat limited in my view/understanding.

References:

[1] Jackman, J.L. & Way, J.G. (2017). Once I found out: Awareness of and attitudes toward coyote hunting policies in Massachusetts. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 23(2), 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2017.1397824

[2] Way, J.G. (2021). Coywolf: Eastern coyote genetics, ecology, management, and politics. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, Massachusetts. www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/Coywolf/

[3] Way, J.G., Cifuni, S.M., Eatough, D.L., & Strauss, E.G. (2006). Rat poison kills a pack of eastern coyotes, Canis latrans, in an urban area. Canadian Field Naturalist, 120(4), 478-480.

TL;DR:

Coywolf mortality is largely anthropogenic

Attitudes towards coywolves have improved over time

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have no bag limits on coyotes; Pennsylvania has no set hunting season

Hybridization | DNA Analyses | Range & Diet | Behavior & Ecology | Conservation | The Anthropocene

[in-sightjournal]

Ask A Genius 1068: Anthropogenic Climate Change

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Climate change denial, I should specify anthropogenic climate change denial. Rick Rosner: Right. Since we’ve been talking for ten years, the evidence for climate change has grown a lot. What you used to see was straight-out people saying, “Nah, it’s bullshit. It’s not happening. The Earth’s cooling,” or whatever. As evidence for climate change accumulates, you get a…

[wainswright]

i can be an everglades weeb

[pangur-and-grim]

I’m mostly good, but sometimes people will accidentally trigger my cat autism and then. and then they suffer.

like last weekend my aunt said she felt bad for cats whose owners didn’t let them freeroam, and I was like HOOOO HOO YOU HAVE ACTIVATED ME, YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO MY TRAP, here look at my phone this is the current state of the anthropogenic mass extinction event, here is its rate in comparison to previous mass extinctions, here is how many birds species have been wiped out by free roaming cats, here is the comparative lifespans of indoor vs outdoor cats, here is my fenced in catio, here are my cat wall shelves, here is my seven foot cat tree that is styled to look like an actual tree, here is my six foot cat tree, here is the special rug by the heating vent for them to sleep on, here is…..wait where are you going, come back……aunt martha………

[herpsandbirds]

The seventh species of the newt genus Tylototriton in Thailand: a new species (Urodela, Salamandridae) from Tak Province, northwestern Thailand

Porrawee Pomchote, Parada Peerachidacho, Wichase Khonsue, Pitak Sapewisut, Axel Hernandez, Chitchol Phalaraksh, Parunchai Siriput, Kanto Nishikawa

Abstract

A new species of the crocodile newt genus Tylototriton from Doi Soi Malai located at Mae Tuen Wildlife Sanctuary, Tak Province, northwestern Thailand is described based on molecular and morphological evidence, and named as Tylototriton soimalai sp. nov.  The new species is the seventh recorded species of the genus Tylototriton reported in Thailand. It differs morphologically from its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characteristics: head longer than wide; snout blunt or truncate; sagittal ridge on head narrow, short and distinct; dorsolateral bony ridges on head pronounced and rough; parotoids distinct; vertebral ridge prominent, wide and not segmented; 14–16 distinct, rounded and isolated rib nodules but posterior nodules connected; tips of fore- and hind limbs overlapping when adpressed along the body. The body background color is black, while the color markings are orange. Molecular analysis indicated that Tylototriton soimalai sp. nov. is a distinct lineage and sister to T. uyenoi with a 4.1% genetic sequence divergence based on the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene. The new species is currently restricted to the hill evergreen forests of Doi Soi Malai. The implementation of a strategic plan is recommended to protect both the species and its habitat from anthropogenic activities.

Read the paper here:

The seventh species of the newt genus Tylototriton in Thailand: a new species (Urodela, Salamandridae) from Tak Province, northwestern Thailand

[rebeccathenaturalist]

The short version of this article basically boils down to "protect and restore habitats, restore native species while removing invasive ones." These are very flexible plans that can be done on a wide variety of scales, even a small yard or garden. At a time when things seem dire for the planet and its many ecosystems, these deceptively simple solutions can have a major impact.

For example, removing invasive species can make an ecosystem much more resilient in the face of anthropogenic climate change. While this is sometimes easier said than done (ask me how much Scotch broom and autumn olive I've pulled over the years!) the sustained effort of habitat restoration is worth it.

Plus there are already people around the world engaged in restoration ecology. There might not be as many volunteer activities as there are here in the U.S., but that doesn't mean you can't do your own pulling up of invasive plants in your yard if you have one, for example, or along a local streambank. Each one removed means fewer in the local gene pool and competing with native plants.

Many small efforts add up, and while it won't solve all the ecological problems, it's a way to do something concrete that works.

[todropscience]

Vessel sound is temporarily causing hearing loss in squids

Globally, anthropogenic sounds have become louder and more persistent, however, little is known about how invertebrates detect and respond to human-made sound. Now, new research shown noise associated with boats causes  causes temporal hearing loss in squids across different stages of their life cycle.

The hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi) has a short lifespan of at least 6 months, which make them a convenient animal for lab studies. Hearing and behavioural observations were made by researchers before, during and after 15 minutes of vessel sound playback, to test how these squids react to noise pollution, and noted that these squids decrease their hearing sensitivity after exposure to noise, and particularly noise affected juveniles. Juvenile squids experienced an important hearing loss sensitivity after noise exposure between 400 and 800 Hz, while adult and mature squids decreased their sensibility after 200 to 600 Hz exposure, showing more resistence. All squids recovered auditory sensitivity within two hours.

Researchers aim the inclusion of cephalopods within management and policy, because anthropogenic activities and associated sound levels in the ocean are increasing, while the role sound plays in cephalopod life history is only just beginning to be understood.

Photo by Pascal Girard

Reference ()  Putland et al. 2023. Vessel sound causes hearing loss for hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi). Frontiers in Marine Science 

[serpentface]

this might've been covered in an earlier iteration of this project, but (given that entire clades have skipped the evolutionary chopping block and crowded out/filled the niches of their real-world counterparts, and vice versa) how have mass extinction events differed in this setting compared to ours? both in the actual material events themselves (i.e. was it a single cataclysmic event or something more gradual) and how they played out evolutionarily. bonus question if applicable: if any occurred within the cultural memory of any sophont species, how is it handled in folklore?

This is going to be a really disappointing answer because this is the one major section of worldbuilding that I am completely just like 'fuck it' about and only have a broad sense of the last 20,000 years or so in terms of climactic change and extinction (and it's only WELL developed in a 1000 year period). Like, given the life in this setting is broadly similar to earth and suggests a similar trajectory to earth history, it's kind of implied that there was a fantasy KPG impact-esque extinction (that somehow spared a few nonavian dinosaurs, some pterosaurs and mosasaurs) but I am honestly cannot be worried about the details. It's mostly just "I want to have these animals still around and I want this clade to be Different. They worked it out somehow, I guess" and then I do that. That's kind of the full extent because I am not prepared to do an entire evolutionary history of this setting.

The one thing that is RELATIVELY well developed (but not really smoothed out enough to stand up to scrutiny, I had too much of this setting in place before I started worrying about geological/climate coherency) is that 3/6 continental plates merged in 'recent' geological history (comparable to the formation of the eurasian-african landmass in size), which has resulted in associated extinction events due to ecological interchange and climate change (not on a scale of one of the big 5/6 mass extinctions, but pretty significant). But this is mostly on such a long geological scale that there's little to no sense that the landmass was once separate (the concept OCCASIONALLY comes up in mythology, but the merger occurred before even anatomical modernity for all sophonts and this is less cultural memory than gleaned from skillful interpretation of the world around them, or a lucky guess).

The more recent global warming (playing out on a longer and less acutely devastating scale than anthropogenic climate change) is the delayed effect of CO2 emmissions from volcanic activity that was intensified by the continental merger. This has existed on a fast enough scale that there is distinct cultural memory of once fertile lands becoming deserts and rising sea levels engulfing entire land masses. The worst of the flooding is now over (this was triggered by one of the last major ice sheets collapsing, and peaked around 800 years before present), but this last round of intensive flooding and continuing (though slower) sea level rise and desertification has had massive cultural impact in both folklore and the physical movements of people.

Examples that have come up here are the entirety of the once broadly inhabitable 'Deadlands' becoming desertified and abandoned over a few millenia, the Saloche people migrating to Bylaea due to flooding, the ancient Sea People migrating to the Lowlands (the cataclysm that spurred the move is remembered as either a volcanic event, flooding, or both), almost the entirety of the Archin species going extinct due to sea level rise and the Red Rock archin dispersing in search of new lands, and the 2nd Burri empire collapsing (largely for unrelated political reasons, but the coastlines and its extremely populous capital city being entirely flooded over a period of decades didn't help).

The setting is mostly stabilized from the ecological interchange, and has not yet stabilized from ongoing warming. So there IS a sense that a lot of animals that were There before are now gone, and a vague sense of apocalypticism pervading a lot of global cultures. The effects have been slow enough that most peoples are used to periods of intense drought or flooding being part of life, but particularly acute and years-long incidents are enough to make most people go 'woah'.

A lot of known megafauna is near-extinct or completely gone (though the population of large megafauna is healthier and more diverse than on contemporary earth). "Dragons" (large azhdarchids) are a hugely significant one because they had a very large range of influence, especially in their last remaining strongholds in the steppes to the far northwest (where the last individuals likely died within the past 200 or so years).

Dragons had supreme significance in basically every connected religious practice rooted in Cynozepali cosmic dualism as the demigod offspring between the solar god and the stellar lek (while all other mortal life is the offspring of the solar god and the world serpent), seen as the key psychopomps that could carry the souls of the dead to the afterlife on the moons. As they went extinct, their roles were replaced by the Lunar Emissary priesthood taking over the ritual consumption of the dead, and this partly spurred the development of the Lunar Traveller offshoot cult (who believe the disappearance of dragons is a sign of the impending endtimes and that all earthbound souls will be annihilated at the world's ending, and travel as missionaries to spread this news and to ensure 'foreigners' can be reborn in the next world).

[thats what this painting is about]

[rjzimmerman]

Illustration of natural and anthropogenic sources, sinks and transport pathways of trace substances in coastal ecosystems that may interact with climate impacts. Red arrows indicate expected directions of change due to climate change. Zitoun et al. 2024

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

A new study is warning that trace metals like lead, arsenic and mercury that are present in ocean water can become more toxic over time as factors like ocean warming and acidity can increase the bioavailability of these trace elements.

Although these elements can naturally occur in coastal areas, their concentrations have increased due to human activities like agriculture and industrial manufacturing. Now, scientists warn that problems such as ocean acidification and warming are further strengthening the toxicity and spread of trace elements, both from natural and human sources.

“Human activities have increased the global flow of toxic metals such as lead by tenfold and mercury by three to seven times compared to pre-industrial levels,” Sylvia Sander, professor of marine mineral resources at GEOMAR, said in a statement. “Toxic elements like silver are increasingly detectable in coastal waters, originating from coal combustion and the growing use of silver nanoparticles in antibacterial products.” 

The researchers found that the effects of rising sea levels, ocean warming, melting sea ice, drying river beds and ocean acidification could all play roles in the transport and accumulation of trace elements, particularly those that occur naturally. The researchers published their findings in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

But trace elements from human sources are also contaminating the environment, with heavy metals coming into the oceans from fossil fuel and industry activities. Further, shipping and plastics can also introduce more trace elements into the oceans, especially because plastics can bind certain metals, including lead and copper.

As ocean temperatures rise, the bioavailability of trace elements increases, meaning it becomes easier for marine life to absorb the trace elements, the researchers explained. Trace elements, especially copper, also experience an increase in bioavailability and solubility in the presence of more acidic water. Copper can become extremely toxic to marine life in higher concentrations. 

In a recent report on planetary vital signs, a team of international scientists confirmed that ocean warming and acidification had reached record extremes in recent years.

[andy-paleoart]

The great dying: Permo-Triassic extinction | A grande morte: Extinção Permo-Triássica

🇬🇧

The Permian-Triassic Extinction is the most devastating mass extinction event in Earth's history, occurring approximately 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period and the beginning of the Triassic period. This mass extinction resulted in the loss of up to 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species.

The exact causes of the Permian-Triassic Extinction are still debated among scientists, but several theories have been proposed. One of them is intense volcanic activity, such as the massive eruption of the Siberian Traps, a large volcanic province in Russia. This activity released huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing drastic climate change and ocean acidification.

These catastrophic events caused widespread mass extinctions, affecting both marine and terrestrial organisms. The recovery of biodiversity after the Permian-Triassic Extinction took millions of years and profoundly influenced the subsequent evolution of life on Earth.

The relationship between the Permian-Triassic Extinction and current climate events can be observed through similarities in causative factors and consequences for life on Earth. Similarly, contemporary climate events are largely influenced by human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This anthropogenic activity has led to global warming, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification, among other impacts. These changes are putting immense pressure on ecosystems and biodiversity, leading to species extinctions and ecosystem degradation. Both the Permian-Triassic Extinction and current climate events highlight the profound impact that changes in climate can have on life on Earth. Understanding the parallels between these events can help inform efforts to mitigate the current climate crisis and protect the planet's biodiversity and ecosystems.

🇧🇷

A Extinção Permiano-Triássica é o evento de extinção em massa mais devastador da história da Terra, ocorrido há cerca de 252 milhões de anos, no final do período Permiano e início do período Triássico. Esta extinção em massa resultou na perda de até 96% das espécies marinhas e 70% das espécies terrestres.

As causas exatas da Extinção Permiano-Triássica ainda são objeto de debate entre os cientistas, mas várias teorias foram propostas. Uma delas é a atividade vulcânica intensa, como a erupção em massa dos Trapps Siberianos, uma grande província magmática na Rússia. Essa atividade liberou enormes quantidades de gases de efeito estufa na atmosfera, causando mudanças climáticas drásticas e acidificação dos oceanos.

Esses eventos catastróficos causaram extinções em massa generalizadas, afetando tanto organismos marinhos quanto terrestres. A recuperação da biodiversidade após a Extinção Permiano-Triássica levou milhões de anos e influenciou profundamente a evolução subsequente da vida na Terra.

A relação entre a Extinção Permiano-Triássica e os eventos climáticos atuais pode ser observada através de semelhanças nos fatores causadores e nas consequências para a vida na Terra. Da mesma forma, os eventos climáticos contemporâneos são amplamente influenciados por atividades humanas, particularmente a queima de combustíveis fósseis, que libera gases de efeito estufa na atmosfera. Essa atividade antropogênica tem causado o aquecimento global, mudanças nos padrões de precipitação, aumento do nível do mar e acidificação dos oceanos, entre outros impactos. Essas mudanças estão exercendo uma pressão imensa sobre os ecossistemas e a biodiversidade, levando a extinções de espécies e degradação dos ecossistemas. Tanto a Extinção Permiano-Triássica quanto os eventos climáticos atuais destacam o profundo impacto que as mudanças climáticas podem ter na vida na Terra. Compreender os paralelos entre esses eventos pode ajudar a informar esforços para mitigar a atual crise climática e proteger a biodiversidade e os ecossistemas do planeta.

[planetsviews]

I will keep preaching nature. Let's embrace the diversity of our world. The anthropogenic activities is putting stress on our heritage

[thomastheunwise]

Alright, so. A friend linked me a video that seemed like it contained some dubious information, and I went on a deep dive to see if it was legit or not. I don't want to link the original video, because it contains a lot of misleading information, but the topic was on experimental weather control and how it might have contributed to hurricane Helen.

So, the first big red flag in the video is a lack of sources. The creator of the video fails to site any source other than "I asked AI." She also does not provide links to any sources in the video description. That alone should make anyone watching the video view it with a healthy does of skepticism. She does show screenshots of text to occasionally support her claims, but does not say where they come from. Most of them look like the output of ChatGPT. Since AI has famously gotten some things very wrong and fabricated others seemingly from nowhere, I don't think we should rely on AI as a reliable source. Not yet.

I'm honestly not sure what the main point of the video even was, but I THINK it was that some nebulous "they" used weather modification, specifically cloud seeding, to create hurricane Helen for.... Reasons? Something to do with quartz? There was a quartz mine that was pretty thoroughly trashed, so maybe she was saying that the hurricane was deliberately created just do that? That seems like a stretch. There are many, much easier ways to commit industrial sabotage that don't involve nearly as much collateral damage.

Now, weather modification through cloud seeding is a real, experimental technology. The idea being to kick-start the formation of clouds and increase precipitation to alleviate drought. It's typically done by spraying particulate, usually sodium iodine, into a cloud formation. Water and ice crystals attach to the particle, accumulating until the cloud drops them as precipitation. The results of cloud seeding attempts have been mixed, and the efficacy of such efforts is questionable at best. You can read more about it here:

Then there was the infamous NOAA project Stormfury, an attempt to seed clouds in such a way as to weaken hurricanes or even disperse them entirely. It was deemed ineffective and abandoned in 1983.

But to date, no one has had much success with cloud seeding or weather modification in general. Certainly not anything close to producing hurricane level storms or precipitation.

Now, the frequency and intensity of hurricanes IS increasing due to human activity. But NOT from experiments with weather modification. The increase in tropical storm activity is due to anthropogenic climate change. We pump BILLIONS of tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually. Carbon gas acts a blanket, trapping thermal energy in. The ocean, making up most of the surface area of the earth, comes in the most contact with the thermal energy in the atmosphere, and water is an excellent thermal conductor. Thus, our oceans are absorbing about 90% of the excess heat that is trapped in the air due to greenhouse gas emissions. One of the ways all that heat in the oceans gets dispersed by re-aborbing into the atmosphere, providing fuel for bigger and badder storms. So we get storms of ever greater frequency and intensity forming over the oceans and pummeling our coastal regions. This is well understood and documented by NASA and NOAA

Now, back to content of the video and some of the specific claims made there.

She starts by talking about some mysterious "blue jelly balls" that "fell from the sky" and were found in a man's back yard somewhere in Britain. To her credit, the video creator acknowledged that scientists did examine these balls. The conclusion was that they were gel capsules filled with solidum polyacrylate. Sodium polyacrylate is an extremely water absorbent substance used in diapers and in gardening. Cut open the thick part of a diaper and you'll find a bunch of tiny gelatin beads of sodium polyacrylate. A larger version of these beads is sometimes placed at the bottom of flower pots. In both cases, the purpose is the same: Absorb moisture and prevent leakage. This presents a much more likely explanation for the presence of these "blue jelly balls" in a man's garden than that they "fell from the sky." They could have spilled out of some broken plant pottery or been carelessly tossed out by an inconsiderate neighbor. But no, that's not the conclusion that this video creator goes to. Occam's razor? She's never heard of it.

Before I go on, there is another more recent use for sodium polyacrylate. It is being studied for its ability to absorb heat and emit cooling mist. There is some hope that it could be incorporated into building materials or even clothing to replace air conditioning, reduce energy consumption, and thus help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

The video creator seems to have found this information. She also found a video clip of a droplet of liquid being stimulated by a piezoelectric transducer. Piezoelectric materials are materials that can produce an electric current when subjected to physical pressure. Among these materials are ceramics and quartz. Piezoelectrics have a variety of uses. More information on them:

Anyway, the droplet in the video clip she showed was spherical and blue, just like the beads of sodium polyacrylate found in the man's garden. Put a pin that for now.

She claims that piezoelectric transducers seed clouds using ultrasonic sound waves. I did find that piezoelectric devices can be used for generating ultrasound, but I couldn't find a single reliable source saying that ultrasound had ever been used for cloud seeding. I'm not even sure how that would work, since cloud seeding relies on water and ice crystals clinging to some kind of particulate. I'm no physicist, but I don't see how pumping sound into the cloud would help. If I'm missing something here, please point it out to me.

That aside, the "evidence" she presents that ultrasonic sound waves are being used to seed clouds is a video clip of people standing outside in a storm and hearting a very loud, grating sound seemingly coming from the atmosphere. Now, I'm not going to speculate on what that sound actually was. But I can tell you what it wasn't: It wasn't ultrasonic. Ultrasonic, by definition, means sound in a frequency wave too high for a human ear to detect. If ultrasonic sounds were being used to modify the weather, we wouldn't hear them at at all.

So, getting back to the mysterious "blue jelly balls." She took the superficial similarity of a drop of liquid being stimulated by a piezoelectric device to a bead of sodium polyacrylate, the polyacrylate's usefulness for absorbing water and heat, and came to the conclusion that.... These blue beads are piezoelectric weather control devices? Do I have that right? I honestly don't see the connection here. The beads were filled with sodium polyacrylate. Not quartz or any other piezoelectric material. So... Huh?

She also talks about how piezoelectric devices can be used in "energy harvesting." I find it interesting that she uses that term. She talks about the "magical means" by which energy is converted from one for to another and keeps using "energy harvesting" like it's some sinister term. But the thing is? We harvest energy every day. Every time a wind turbine rotates, it's harvesting the kinetic energy of the wind and turning it into electric energy to power homes. Coal plants burn coal and use the heat to boil water which produces steam that then spins a turbine. Potential energy (coal) converted to thermal energy (fire) converted to kinetic energy (steam pushing a turbine) converted to electrical energy (a magnet on the turbine oscillates around a conductive wire, creating electrical current). There's nothing magical or sinister about it. And as for piezoelectric devices being used to harvest energy? Well, sure... In that piezoelectric materials are used in most digital devices today. Which brings us to the last point.

She spends some time at the end of the video sort of demonizing quartz because it is a piezoelectric material, which is apparently bad because they're being used for weather control (they're not). But she then goes on to say that quartz is being used by AI, not to power it directly, but to make the hardware that runs it. And like... No shit? Pure, high quality quartz is a semiconductor. AI runs on computers. Computers use microchips to rapidly perform calculations. Every microchip we have made to date has been composed of transistor gates made of semiconductive materials, including.... You guessed it, quartz!

She ends the video by pointing out the dollar value of quartz. As I said at the beginning, I'm not sure what the point of all this mess actually was. My best guess is that, because Helen took out a quartz mine and that will have an impact on the supply chain for tech products (including AI), some people think that the hurricane was created deliberately? I don't know. I don't really follow the logic. I mostly just wanted to try to debunk the misinformation presented. I hope I managed to do that. If you want to watch the original video and draw your own conclusions, I can provide the link to it.

[weekendviking]

1800 Ghosts, and counting.

So, 1800 or so ghosts live in my brain. I put them there, not on purpose, but they lodged in my mind during the course of my daily work as I found them, checked, referenced, located and georeferenced their ends. Most are pretty quiet, and really only pop up when I do something that specifically reminds me of them. But some of them are quite active, and pop into my head whenever I pass near where they died or touch on some aspect of the subject of their death.

They all died in some sort of landslide, avalanche, debris flow or rockfall, both natural or anthropogenic. Some of them I know next to nothing about. Others of them I know how they died, graphically, medically accurate details in both time, place, physics and biology. At length. Some I stood nearby as they were exhumed. I Smelt them, I stood by as they took their last journey. I looked into the faces of those who had to find, pack, lift and move them. Very occasionally I have to talk to their families. I'm not good at that.

Some of them are close relatives and ancestors of mine, but most are not. They are just people, who were doing the things that just people do.

But having them there, and knowing their story, stories, makes me a bit twitchy. There are some areas of my country, towns, cities, mountains, farmlands, forests, rivers, that I can't be in without thinking of these ghosts. Some of them are so active in my head that certain streets, certain valleys or hills, make me so uncomfortable it feels like there's someone with a rifle focussed on me, just out of sight. Because I know how dangerous the geography is, and who died there, when, and how often. Often in graphic detail.

Most of the time I'm not close in to these ghosts unless there's a major emergency response, which I am part of. Most of the work is dry, digital, old documents, GIS software, geomorphology and weather and rainfall and rock strata and pore pressure and earthquake and clay and Gravity. Gravity.

I _Enjoy_ this work. I do it for public service, because it leads into maps, risks, hazards, fatality risks, etc, making things safer for people in the future. But it leaves ghosts in my head. So I'm a bit fucked up by it.

So I now look at the people who do this day in, day out, for our soulless social media landscape. The contracted mechanical turks behind the trust and security teams, the people who classify images and videos and media behind the term 'AI' (and what an ugly term that is, because there is not yet any AI worthy of the name), as it hoses through our social media feeds straight from warzones and every other zone where something awful happens, and think how much worse this is than what I do, for better money, shorter hours, and with actual recourse to professional medical help when I need it:

Outsourcing the hard bits to where it's cheaper, to where the jurisdiction is more lenient, to where it raises less waves, is not going to help anyone in the long run. It's abdication of our own humanity made possible by corporate structure.