#save the pupfish or kill the pupfish

[feather-bone]

This is the devil’s hole pupfish! A tiny species that lives only in One water-filled limestone cavern in Nevada. It was one of the first animals on the endangered species list. At the last count in 2022 there were 263 pupfish observed - the most in 19 years! They’re tracked pretty carefully, as their 215 square foot habitat (the smallest of any know vertebrate) is fragile and has been disturbed in the past by groundwater extraction and other human interference.

[ID: an illustration of a shiny metallic blue fish, the male devil’s hole pupfish, facing to the right. It is on a lighter blue background with a ripple pattern. End.] l

[crevicedwelling]

the natural world will make so much more sense to you when you stop trying to make animals have a “purpose.” thinking about animals having “jobs” is a good teaching tool up to a point but I don’t think it’s stressed enough how harmful it is to believe certain organisms could disappear without consequence because they are “useless.”

from our human perspective, we can come up with relationships between organisms that cause things to happen in ways that we can arbitrarily define as “good” or “bad”: ticks redistribute nutrients “locked up” in mammalian bodies, feeding spiders and birds that could never hope to take down a whole deer; ticks spread disease that weakens or kills animals, reducing pressure on those animals’ food sources; etc. but those relationships don’t happen for a “purpose.” they just happen. and evolution has shaped environments with ticks in them to account for the presence of ticks and other parasites. I’m not saying that every environment is dependent on ticks, just that they are part of everything, and that’s enough.

we can’t let our selfishness dictate what animals we deem “useless” or “valuable.” I ask, useless to whom?

what “purpose” does the Devils Hole pupfish serve? they exist in a single puddle in Nevada and if they did go extinct it probably would have no effect at all on the rest of the natural world. but I think many people would agree that it would be a shame if they disappeared—that’s why we’re trying so hard to protect them. they matter to people because they exist.

what “purpose” do domestic cats serve? they provide comfort to humans and kill billions of animals every year, placing some species in peril. if they went extinct, countless endangered small animals would be saved—and humans would be sad. because of how much cats matter to people, we’ve allowed them to erase entire species.

what “purpose” do ticks serve? they suck blood, but some suck only rhinoceros blood, or tortoise blood, making those species in peril of extinction because their hosts are in peril—what to do about those? does their parasitic lifestyle make them less worthy of life than the pupfish? more common species transmit diseases, feed other animals, and maybe do lots of other things we just don’t know about. we don’t know what would happen if they disappeared. it’s impossible to make a consistent definition of an animal’s “purpose” without bringing selfishness or changing what that purpose means. just let animals exist to exist, please

when people say "ok but x bug has no benefit to nature" I bet they can't even name 5 facts about the bug they're shitting on. so how could they Possibly know what its function is in the environment and if it's "useless" or not

wasps being the perfect example, I still get people saying "oh bees are cute and pollinate :) yay. but WASPS ARE EVIL and they don't contribute ANYTHING!!!" and it's like buddy. wasps pollinate too. they also control spider populations. they do a lot of great valuable things. but even if they didn't, they're still worthy of being here. I see SO much hatred toward wasps and I wish people would try to learn a little more about them.

I'm mainly talking about paper wasps here because these are common ones we run into in daily life and most commonly deemed "aggressive". but wasps have body language. and if you learn to read this language and learn how to properly act around them, things will go a lot better for you! wasps can be curious creatures and they may come up to observe you, especially if you're wearing something brightly colored. this can be startling for sure, but my best advice is to just be still, DO NOT SWAT or wave your arms. try to just back away or sidestep so it loses interest and leaves. swatting is just gonna make them feel as if they are being attacked and increase your chances of being stung.

many stings happen due to unfortunate but accidental circumstances. unknowingly getting too close to a nest, stepping on a wasp on accident, one getting stuck in clothing, etc. I got stung once while gardening, went to pull a weed and the wasp was on it, so I grabbed her without knowing and she stung me because she was scared. this doesn't mean "oh wasps are AGGRESSIVE and EVIL" it means you stumbled into an unfortunate situation where the wasps felt threatened and defensive. instead of being like "FUCK all wasps" go forward trying to learn about common nesting areas, be wary of holes in the ground, wear gloves while gardening, and if you do have to be around a nest, try not to make a lot of noise. if the nest absolutely needs removed, call a professional.

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north america used to have a carbon sink in the prairie. it was designed by indigenous people and destroyed by colonists for the agriculture that caused the dust bowl. the pacific northwest isn't a coincidence, the forests were planted by people who mostly died in a catastrophic earthquake and flood in the 17th century. the "devil's hole" pupfish probably couldn't exist without having been intentionally brought there, its existence was threatened in the 70s because the land's relationship with the people who built it had been severed, and the habitat reconstruction facility is a prestige project to prove we can save a fish from extinction after committing 828 nuclear tests in the same water table. it's an inevitability that the fish will lose its habitat due to the circulation of the irradiated water table underneath the capitalist gambling desert. over and over it's the same symptoms stemming from the same problem, that we are continuing an occupation that relies on subjugating indigenous people

john muir's essay dam hetch hetchy outlined a philosophy of conservationism that continues to extend this problem today, although briefly threatened by trump, replaying the same "save the pupfish" vs "kill the pupfish" dialogue writ large as a puppetshow to distract from the fact that we're all participating in an ongoing occupation. the national parks program is as much an essential part of the ongoing campaign of imperial colonization as anything else i've listed, whether you argue for it (land should be left untouched) or against it (land should be used by businesses), both of these arguments that have been printed for you wholesale by the occupying empire, necessarily exclude native perspectives on land stewardship, intentionally, by design... but sure, "op is an anti-human and a luddite," i've been laughing about that one for days

[foulserpent]

Yo based on the pictures I kinda figured death valley was where you were!! How would you rate the experience? I wanna do a southwest roadtrip this summer as a post graduation "im finally fucking free" thing and I'm building a list of pitstops lol

it was a few locations in the mojave but yeah a lot of death valley

and yeah its a GREAT place but they strongly encourage that you dont hike or do much of anything in the summer. the heat Can Kill You, reception is bad, gas stations are few and far between (and like. 1-2$ more expensive than everywhere else) so i would strongly encourage you to save death valley for the cooler months so you can really enjoy it

but yeah theres a TON of cool places to go there. if you want a guarantee of seeing animals i would recommend darwin falls (short hike, moderate difficulty towards the end) (thats where those swampy photos were from) and salt creek, which has one of the species of death valley pupfish in it. otherwise everything is beautiful and theres so much variety in the biology and landscape everywhere you go. 100% worth it

[warriorsofsplatsville]

"You big, stupid sea creature! UNHAND ME!" She had struggled under Gideon before, but Kurt was massive compared to her. She couldn't move at all.

Mirage saw the opening. With a single flick, they fired the ink arrow toward her wrist. A bullseye. The red-hot explosive ink hit the watch with a great explosive force, breaking it. It left a burn mark around her wrist. But luckily, the clones vanished one by one as a result.

As Biela knocked one with great force into the wall, they and Coquina were swooped up in the arms of Ro, being rushed out. Vulture already knew to take a hint and retreat up the stairwell, limping quickly out of the lab.

"COWARD!! PROFESSOR TREVOR!! ALWAYS RUNNING AWAY FROM A FIGHT!!" She roared after him, and it took everything within him to not go back and pummel the woman with his bare fists. Even if the thought of revenge against her was plaguing his mind.

She dodged the object, glaring at Ao. Though she realized too late that perhaps his aim wasn't her.

Before she knew it, she was completely covered in blue ink. It hindered her movement greatly, but she dashed toward the stairs after them.

When she was met by Octobombers, slowly, but surely, she took them down, horrifically slashing at them to take them down.

Just as she approached the door, she watched being sealed shut. She slammed on the door, yelling after them. After a second, she laughed maniacally, wiping ink away from her brow.

"You'll be back. I know you will. This fight isn't over, Trevor. I've got the advantage."

-

When they were set down, Coquina sat on the floor, holding her chest. Mirage patted her shoulder, worrying for their mother.

Biela was looking around the room, hitting their staff against the floor. "Fancy..."

Vulture was leaning against the wall, wheezing. He had never run that fast in his entire life. Tara's words were still echoing through his head.

When Ao asked for a roll call, Coquina stood up with Mirage's support and spoke up. "I am Lady Coquina. This is Mirage, my child, Biela, a Splatlands native pupfish, and that is Vulture, one of the last humans of our world. A professor." She calmly explained. "That was....actually, I'm not quite s-"

"Tara." Vulture abruptly said, voice hoarse. "Tara Pluto. A professor. One I know. She......" He was saying this for Ao, but partly to explain to everyone else. "She killed one of my colleagues and attempted to end the human race twelve thousand years ago. And she still is now..." His mind thought about Greg's busted beta pod. How did it work? How did she survive with all of its malfunctions? He shuts down once more.

"Yes.....we truly weren't expecting her. She was a surprise for all of us." Coquina goes into defense mode. "These two gentlemen, they came here on our request, to save Vulture. He would not be alive right now if not for him," She points at the weak AI. "So we owe him everything. If you are to be angry, direct it towards me. As queen, I take full responsibility."

"M-Mom...." Mirage mumbled.

Vulture snapped back when T asked everyone if everyone was okay. He nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah....."

"V-Vully...your face...." Biela points to their own face to direct him toward the problem. He touches his face, and looks at the fresh blood that now layered over the dried blood on his hands from before.

"Oh....yeah, that's not good." He hangs his head. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Mirage asks.

He pauses. "If it weren't for me, this would've never happened. If I hadn't waited for help, if I wasn't so stubborn about my condition, then..." He looks at Gideon. "It's all my fault."

"We need to warn the Splatoon about Alterna. They can't enter that place at any cost until we're ready for a counterattack." Mirage said.

"Yes, you're right.....child, contact the Captain. Biela, contact your friends, and I'll shall get in touch with Salomon. Oh, this is going to halt the golden egg returns....those poor eggs."

"Slumber party? Oooh, I like those. I'll get to know you all better~" Biela chirped, trying to bring some light into the situation. The mood was already pretty bad, though.

Vulture coughs, remembering something. "Wait. How did Tara know about Annalise being alive? Unless....." His widen in realization. "Oh my god, did she do something to her again?! I have to go back, not just for her, but for Alterna, and--" He staggers back against the wall.

"Take it easy. There's absolutely zero chance we're going back like this." Mirage covers the mic of their phone to respond to him.

@grandpacephalopods-rp

“Alright mom, I’m heading down to the bottom part of the tower.” Mirage said, walking toward the door.

“Oh, is it that person we got into contact with?” Coquina looked at them.

“Yeah. I know we don’t know them very well….at all, actually, but they seem to know what they’re talking about. So we have to take a shot.”

“Yes….”

“They better know! Vully’s life is at stake here!!” Biela exclaimed. “If they don’t save him, I…..I don’t know what I’ll do….”

Mirage let out a large sigh, sliding out into the hallway of the tower. They climbed some stairs (that were luckily implemented after the fight in Alterna so they didn’t have to go through hell to get to Vulture’s office) and arrived at the landing. Hopefully, these people knew how to get to this place….otherwise this would’ve been a whole lot of nothing.

[lacesextonsblog]

Blog #2: What is Sustainability?

1. The first line in the textbook reading that stood out to me is, "Earth is currently operating at 140 percent of its capacity ... and on track to be operating at 200 percent by the 2030s (Robertson, 2017, p. 5). I had no idea that Earth was operating that much over its capacity and that it's only going to keep increasing if we won't do something about it. I believe we must take care of the planet we live on and if we don't respect it then it won't be sustainable which in the end hurts us. I found a website that explains the amount of waste a human makes daily. Looking at the trash I go through daily does not seem like a lot, but in a household of 5, we have to take out the trash more than I feel like we should. Then if we take into account everyone on earth its an insane and I can't even imagine how must waste that is all together. Looking at all these statistics from the textbook and the website I linked down below makes me want to start making sure all my friends and family recycle and stay on top of it so we slow down the amount of waste we create daily.

Here is the webiste URL: https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/lifestyle/trash-one-person-produces-year/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20EPA%2C%20the,That's%20a%20lot!

2. The second line that stood out to me from the textbook is, " We live at the beginning of a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene, a time in which human activity has become such a powerful force that has a major, planet-scale impact on climate and every living system" (Robertson, 2017, p. 6). The reason I picked this line is that I had never heard of the term Anthropocene until I read the textbook. Now, I did know about the impact humans have on the climate and how it's causing climate change but I didn't know we had that much of an impact on every living system as well. Some of the most common man-made disasters that I can come up with off the top of my head are oil spills, fires, and terrorism. It is human nature to make mistakes, but we really should try our hardest to save our planet and not make the same mistakes over again. It kills me to see on the news how many forest fires that happen that start as a controlled fire but turn into a disaster. Forest fires can even happen because of climate change which causes a forest to become super dry and even a cigarette butt can cause it to go ignite.

Forest Fire Picture URL: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/08/12/forest-service-launches-new-wildland-fire-website

Forest Fire Picture URL: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/08/12/forest-service-launches-new-wildland-fire-website

3. The third line in the textbook reading that stood out to me is, "Once a species has gone through a listing process and has been listed as threatened or endangered, FWS and NMFS are required to create a detailed recovery plan (Robertson, 2017, p. 14). The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is such a wonderful Act to be created, and I hope from here on out our country does more to look out for the animals that are on living on our planet whether they be endangered or not. 7 animals went extinct in just 2019 and those are the Sumatran Rhino, Chinese Paddlefish, Yangtze giant softshell turtle, Indian Cheetah, Spix Macaw, Catarina Pupfish, and the Indochinese Tiger (Desk, 2020). This makes me so sad to hear and I feel it will only get worse because humans can be selfish and hunt certain animals so they can make money off their body parts. Animals, especially endangered or near endangered animals should be left alone just like we want to be left alone. I can tell you for certain that humans don't want to be hunted and have our lives ended based on selfish ambitions, so we should treat the animals who live with us the same way.

Rhino Picture URL: Desk, I. T. (2020, March 03). World Wildlife Day 2020: 7 animals that went extinct in 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2021, from https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/world-wildlife-day-2020-here-are-7-significant-wildlife-species-that-went-extinct-in-2019-1652013-2020-03-03

References:

Desk, I. T. (2020, March 03). World Wildlife Day 2020: 7 animals that went extinct in 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2021, from https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/world-wildlife-day-2020-here-are-7-significant-wildlife-species-that-went-extinct-in-2019-1652013-2020-03-03

Robertson, Margaret. (2017) Sustainability Principles and Practice 2nd Edition. Routledge. SBN-10: 041584018X

[portpebble]

[Image IDs: two different bumper stickers on two different cars. The first one says "SAVE THE PUPFISH". The second one says "KILL THE PUPFISH". End ID.] matching bumper stickers for you and your narrative foil.

save the pupfish

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i didn't know that, thank you. it seems to explain several things (like, off the top of my head, wizard island and witch's cauldron at crater lake, and skinwalker ranch in utah, although this is a bit broader than devil/hell/infero i think it's exactly the same thing)

conservation and national parks are used as a way to redirect environmentalist protest toward expanding the empire. "if it's the fish you care about," they say, "then we'll build a million dollar secret habitat replicating facility and put a big fence around the hole, so no one can hurt the fish for as long as the empire survives" (nevermind that the fish wasn't threatened until a century after the area was colonized by settlers, when a mining company saw an opportunity to exploit a natural resource for profit)

this also serves to exclude native people from the discussion. the conflict is remembered as being between "save the pupfish" vs "kill the pupfish," ignoring and erasing anyone who was saying "give the land back."

i don't know if there was any tribal involvement in the pupfish conflict, because if so, it seems to have been somewhat successfully erased, or i don't know where to look. the pupfish habitat is located on shoshone, washo, and paiute land that was inhabited seasonally for at least 10,000 years before they were disrupted by settler-colonists

i hope they find a stupid tiny fish or something on mars and make mining illegal, just like the devil’s hole in california

these endangered bastards and their bathtub-sized habitat (just the surface shelf of a giant cave structure thanks) singlehandedly pissed off SO many businessmen lol