What follows is an excerpt from the Rewilding Institute, spearheaded by Dave Foreman.
If it tickles your brain, visit the group’s website at Rewilding.org.

Earth is in the throes of a mass extinction event that is caused solely by the population explosion of six-and-a-half billion human beings. If Nature lovers hope to minimize or stop The Big Killing, we must be bold and think big: Big in terms of space, time, and vision.

The Rewilding Institute is committed to doing whatever we can to stop The Big Killing. Our work is grounded in traditional conservation values—that Nature and species have inherent worth—and in recognition that strictly protected areas are the best tool to defend and restore wild Nature.

We stress the vital role of large carnivores in maintaining and restoring ecological health and the need for a continental-scale approach to conservation in North America.

The Rewilding Website is a service provided to Nature lovers and the conservation community by The Rewilding Institute. It is designed to educate, connect, and activate conservationists by explaining key conservation concepts and giving access to essential resources: groups, books, websites, papers, and so on.

According to the Telegraph UK, “The super-rich may evolve into a separate species entirely in the future due to enhancements in biotechnology and robotic engineering, American futurologist Paul Saffo has said.”

Nice try, but a tad late. The super rich have already evolved into a new species – Homo erectus asphaltus affluenza.

posted by Mudd

“People will need to turn vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming.”

There’s nothing like a little methane gas to get the juices flowing. “Direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas.”

How do the Climate folks plan on eradicating meat eating on a global scale? It’s going to get interesting when the Copenhagen police show up in Lander, Wyoming!

free condoms!

posted by Mudd
back in Alabama

Attention Neo-Greens! This just in from the Wildlands Network – “….. there is an alarming trend that’s been developing particularly since Obama took office, and Congress began tackling the climate issue. Simply put, the solution strategies on the table make it easy to forget that ‘environment’ means more than ‘carbon counting’ and ‘green energy/technology.'”

Touché! How about another fun blip? “It’s just that the public is being led down an erroneous path, perhaps by design, perhaps not, toward believing that if we can just reduce that pesky carbon thing, everything will be fine.”

Perhaps a voice crying in the proverbial wilderness (literally) – but these folks don’t speak with forked tongue. Descended from such luminaries as Bill Devall and Michael Soulé, the Wildlands Network is worthy of a lent ear.

all quotes from Wildlands Network’s newsletter (Wildlands Connections, Fall 2009)

posted by Mudd
New Mexico

For all you followers of the Everett Ruess saga – “New DNA testing shows that the disappearance of writer, artist and explorer Everett Ruess is still a mystery — despite findings earlier this year that indicated his remains had been found.” [NPR]

posted by Mudd
New Mexico

In case you’re off to Sweden for a bit of R&R, be sure to read the labels on grocery items in Stockholm. How else are you going to be as green as Kermit the Frog?

Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.” So, naturally, the Swedes are slapping carbon footprint info on what goes in the grocery buggy. Data in, data out.

The New York Times reports “An estimated 25 percent of the emissions produced by people in industrialized nations can be traced to the food they eat, according to recent research……” Beware the carrots!

Next on the agenda? The Carbon Calorie Cops! How else can 6.5 billion primates be compelled to eat the proper green diet? And what about all that gas monkeys tend to emit? Flatulence tax!

pass the butter, before it’s too late.

posted by Mudd
New Mexico

Grist.org wants to know – “What will you do for International Day of Climate Action on Oct. 24?”

Lunch at Pasquals sounds like a winner to me.

pass the green chillies.

posted by Mudd
Santa Fe, NM

Breaking news – while polls show that 102% of the world wants to “save the planet,” California’s Guvnah “said he’s going to sign an environmental exemption bill that will clear the way for construction of the LA Stadium.”

According to NBC, “Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill in support of the stadium because its impact on the local economy and its ability to generate jobs.”

Of course, enlightened folks everywhere know that some things have to stand aside for America’s favorite avocation – football.

Hail Mary and pass the peanuts.

posted by Mudd
on the Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico

The UK’s Prime Minister, Monsieur Gordon Brown, said this week that “negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the ‘impasse’.

Egads! Does this mean we can quit worrying about the Mayan Calendar?

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the greenest of them all? Hollywood actresses, of course.

And for those interested in such nonsense, tune into Grist.org for an exciting question – “Does being hot make your green website hot, too?”

Peruse the green dream queen silliness if you want; but in an effort to save all of us a few moments of valuable time, the answer to Grist’s risible question is “no”.

posted by Mudd
Santa Fe, NM