tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post7946096084803435800..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Lemur lost -- last redoubt (Wislawa Szymborska: Consolation)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-54784971208531080642015-06-16T00:04:28.958-07:002015-06-16T00:04:28.958-07:00Of course, Darwin probably would have cared, and w...Of course, Darwin probably would have cared, and worried, or felt sad -- which is the basis of Szymborska's poetic speculation -- "he’d had enough of dying species, the triumphs of the strong over the weak, the endless struggles to survive, all doomed sooner or later. He’d earned the right to happy endings, at least in fiction with its diminutions..."<br /><br />The idea that reality, in its present state, cannot be confronted without inviting rage or madness, provides a reasonable explanation of the contemporary phenomenon of mass denial and escapism, which in turn accounts for the otherwise inexplicable popularity of ephemeral fantasy-fiction "entertainment vehicles" such as, to pick one momentary example, Game of Thrones.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-91960963809836679652015-06-15T23:50:38.105-07:002015-06-15T23:50:38.105-07:00Gracias, Sandra.
That super-hermosa mariposa -- a...Gracias, Sandra.<br /><br />That super-hermosa mariposa -- a Comet moth or Madagascar moon moth -- is a species that was until a decade or so ago teeming and abundant in the rainforests of Madagascar.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.magicoflife.org/butterfly_photos/Comet_Moth_Argema_mittrei.400.html" rel="nofollow">Argema mittrei</a><br /><br />It is one of the largest moths in the world. The adult life-span is only four or five days. <br /><br />The life-span of the species, alas, may not be too much longer than that, as the ancient rainforests of Madagascar are being aggressively plundered for their rosewood trees (bolabola), a variety of hardwood especially coveted by the Chinese.<br /><br />Now that the Chinese elites have the wherewithal to induce the poorest peoples of Africa and Southeast Asia to decimate their forests (while simultaneously condemning to extinction the rarest species therein, from the lemur to the moon moth), we can expect the brilliant variety of life on earth, that gift of which humans have done everything possible to prove themselves unworthy, to be diminished accordingly, at a rate that would be considered alarming -- if anybody cared.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-6138195084368219082015-06-15T16:58:01.975-07:002015-06-15T16:58:01.975-07:00love the butterfly!love the butterfly!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com