It’s a Great Spotted Woodpecker, taken by “aspiranthighlander” somewhere in the UK. Evidently these Theropod dinosaurs (i.e., “birds”) are quite active these days, on the island.

“Nature” has always been an interesting word to me. We naked apes typically use it to describe either directly or by aspect, plants, animals and environs that we’re not so familiar with. In other words, more or less everything we forgot about since ~12Kyrs ago, when we chose the strange new practice of agriculture over our native hunter-gatherer / nomadic lifestyle we’d been living for likely millions of years. (yes, genus “Homo” goes back ~2.5Myrs, and proto-humans, much longer)

And yet for all that, nature is around us, always, and we are certainly part of Nature. Whether we quantify that by “natural law,” starting with the four elemental forces (gravity, electromagnetism, strong & weak atomic force), or moreso in philosophical, existential terms, it is true either way.

So we are in nature, a part of nature, and owe our very lives and existence to nature, and yet ~12Kyrs ago we started to entertain a very curious thought-- that in fact we own nature and its resources, and therefore are free to do with them as we please.

Yeah, well… good luck with that, Homo sapiens.

–Johnny

  • anon6789
    3·
    2 days ago

    The rescue’s bathroom has part of a poem or essay hanging up on the wall, and it talks about how we should stop and think about how we regard animals. Often we see them as simple, or even ignorant creatures, unaware of what is going on in the world. It reminds us that we live separate lives from them, and we no longer have our senses about nature, and that the animals see the world very differently than us, and have languages of their own we cannot understand, so we can’t judge them by the standards we have for ourselves.

    Working there has let me begin to see how complex the world is for them, especially the modern world full of strange noises, hazards, and pets. Each animal is near as unique as you and I are. They have personalities, different coping mechanisms, different things that bring them peace or comfort. They see dangers we don’t, but have the ability to find safety and shelter in places I never could.

    We don’t need to forgo all our modern comforts to stop and value nature a little more though. We just need to pay more mind to the plants and animals we share this planet with. We’re all in this together, even if we no longer speak the same language or share the same fears.

  • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialOPEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    The rescue’s bathroom has part of a poem or essay hanging up on the wall…

    Whoops, the PieFed.Social server was down for maybe ~7hrs until just recently, so your extensive comment unfortunately didn’t federate for us, @[email protected]. For anybody who can’t see it (it starts with the line above), check LW directly: https://lemmy.world/post/48161091

    To your first points, I am indeed easily riled about our condescending hubris regarding animals, and our general ignorance about understanding who we are and what our relationship is with our environs, as I alluded to in the OP. Learning about such things is a kind of ‘homework’ I feel that we all have a responsibility to put some work in to across our lives. Then again, we’ve been overwhelmingly normalised for up to ~500 generations upon ideas of ‘property,’ ‘progress’ and ‘hierarchy’ such that it’s also perfectly understandable why so few of us have the slightest clue. And if I sound bitter, that’s probably because I am.

    Right then, I’ve ranted enough here. In any case, I salute those fine thoughts of yours about understanding our animal relatives and doing better by them. I don’t have all that much confidence that anything significant will change in this late-stage capitalist era, but sod that-- it’s the right thing to do. And I’m forever grateful to people like Konrad Lorenz, Darwin, John Muir, J.J. Audobon and more recent folks like E.O. Wilson, Attenborough, Cousteau, Irwin, Goodall, and others for leading the way in terms of education and conservation.

    Dunno how many here have heard about him, but I loved Dick Proenneke’s films recording his self-subsistence in the Alaskan wilds. He sort of forced himself to learn about the local flora & fauna, putting his life at stake repeatedly.

    Here’s the first 10min of his first film:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3fUIoXQ5A