The Earth has experienced hot periods before (in addition to Ice Ages) and it is instructive to examine the history of these climatic intervals to see how animals that survived coped with their changing world. Their actions were multi-faceted, with some organisms having more positive outcomes than others. By analysis of historical patterns we may be able to intervene to ensure the survival of animals that would certainly go extinct without human assistance.
In many respects we have become as gods, changing the Earth on a whim, and we must assume the responsibility of helping the flora and fauna to withstand and survive the savage assault we have mounted on them. Ultimately their future is our future and we lose sight of that critical fact at our peril.
Edward Struzik has written an important book, with a message to be heeded by every society on Earth. This issue transcends ideology, religion and national interest; like it or not, we are all in this together.
Whether we have the collective will to act is another matter entirely.
Animal Diaspora: Decoding Ice Age Mysteries to Reveal the Future of Migration - Island Press Imprint, Princeton University Press
Edward Struzik
Hardcover - US$32.00 - ISBN 9781642833232
312 pages - 40 black-and-white illustrations - 2 maps
6.125 x 9.25 inches (15.31 x 23.125 cm)
Publication date: 03 November, 2026
Bueno, muy temprano por aqui en mi país, ya 7:5 am , leo esta entrada y conmueve...
ReplyDeleteayer sin más en una reunión de docentes , una comentaba de lo más significativo
que había sido el trabajo con su nivel a esta fecha y sin duda fue el ABP medio ambiental que se ejecuta año a año en el colegio y que este año se avocó al estudio de la costa marina chilena,desde norte a la antartica, en ello su curso vió lo referido a los humedales
y eso impactó a los participantes , porque se relacionó con el ahora , lo que sucede en el país y el mundo con el fenómeno del NIño, que en mi país ha sido severo
sobretodo en el norte , donde a llovido demasiado y sigue así por periodos...
Bueno contextualizando los niños deben ser sin dudas los que despierten
y sean portadores de la necesidad urgente de hacerse partícipe en lo que ellos puedan aportar, para que la situación no sea tan nefasta en el futuro...
Muy interesante ese libro.
It’s good to hear of this kind of activity. How I wish I could visit Chile again!
DeleteDavid, your review has got me concerned and interested in reading this book. You introduce us to so many important issues and books. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the people who want to conquer the nature and climb the Mount Everest..just leave the the mountain alone.
ReplyDeleteHuman greed and stupidity will doom us all.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a book about animal diaspora is really a brilliant idea. Not because the reasons for it are good. I'm reading a novel right now about how humanity has become a smaller population living in Green Land (maybe the island Greenland, maybe not) because the heating up of the planet has wiped out most people. It's got an archaeology theme, set in the future about 2,000-3,000 years. Thinking we (us now) were an uneducated group. It's more about how an archaeologist finds an old cell phone in a dig. Anyhow, it's not the best book I've ever read but it is one of the more thought provoking fictional stories. Hope you're having a super week. hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting book.
DeleteCutting to the chase here, riveting and disturbing to say the least David, and AI will escalate everything.
ReplyDeletePete.
Hallo David,
ReplyDeletethis sounds like a fascinating book, although certainly not a comfortable one to read.
What interests me particularly is the idea of looking far back into the past to understand how animals responded to earlier periods of major climatic change. We often think of studying the Ice Age as looking into a world that has long disappeared, but here that knowledge may actually help us understand what is happening around us now and what could happen in the future.
Of course, animals have always had to adapt to changing conditions or move to places where they could survive. What seems especially difficult today is the speed of change and the fact that so many natural habitats and migration routes have already been altered or fragmented by human activity.
Your sentence that their future is also our future stayed with me. We sometimes speak about protecting nature as though we humans were standing outside it and generously deciding to save something separate from ourselves. We are, of course, part of the same system and ultimately depend on it too.
It sounds like Edward Struzik’s book gives its readers a great deal to think about. Thank you for introducing it to us.
Best wishes,
Anette
We continue to degrade habitats and eliminate them so that more and more species have nowhere to go.
DeleteYou’re pointing out something important—something many people might not think about, David. We all live on this poor planet, and we all have to face the consequences.
ReplyDeleteHugs and kisses, Marit
An other interesting book David !
ReplyDeleteMen used to migrate too...some continue to do so...
Bises et bonne soirée !
Anna
Buscaré el libro me gusta .
ReplyDeleteMuy cierto que transformamos la tierra a nuestro antojo, somos la peor especie que habíta en ella. Nos da pena ver en nuestro paseos, el abandono y la poca educación de muchos. Un ejemplo. Vamos mucho a la Isla de la Aliseda, la frecuenta bastante gente. Hay bancos para descansar y muchas papeleras, la basura de lo que se comen o beben está tirada en el suelo.
Buen fin de semana David.
Un abrazo.
Lo he buscado y solo está en inglés. Buscaré similares. .
ReplyDeleteUn abrazo.
Some humans do want to act like gods. Changing our one and only earth to fit their hunger for power and money. It will doom us all.
ReplyDeleteA most sobering read to be sure. I've always said, how intelligent is a species that destroys the planet they live on. Humanity has sped up any climatic cycles with what is done to this beautiful globe.
ReplyDeleteInfinite plundering of a finite planet and we have fouled our nest for so long now that it will probably be a mercy when we all go extinct. I remember reading "The Earth Without Us" several years back and it was enlightening how
ReplyDeleteInfinite plundering of a finite planet. The end is inevitable unless we drastically change our reliance on boundless capitalism. I remember reading a book years ago called, I think, "The Earth Without Us" about how quickly the world will recover after we are all gone, forests taking over cities, waterways returning, healthy oceans, etc. I feel quite hopeless lately with all that is going on. And I am not alone.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Thanks for your review A very necessary book. It feels like the whole issue is ignored by many leaders of big countries Although might not call them leaders. Take care
ReplyDelete“Leaders” is definitely a misuse of the word.
DeleteBe good to read this book, if only more people would look after the planet.
ReplyDeleteAs long as people don't change their behavior, nothing will change.
ReplyDeleteFor the world's leaders, and Trump is one of them, it’s all about money and power, they couldn't care less about nature.
I wish you a lovely weekend, David.
All the best, Irma
Davide, to je určitě moc zajímavá kniha, našla jsem si, že Struzik toho napsal víc. Střídání dob ledových a meziledových je samozřejmě zaznamenáno také u nás v Evropě, brzy budu mít článek o plesech, což jsou jezera ledovcového původu. Ovšem Struzik jako vzdělaný člověk čtenáři nabízí i spoustu vysvětlení, všechno se vyvíjí, pak to musí mít vliv i na diasporu zvířat.
ReplyDeleteDěkuji za zajímavé téma a přeji příjemný víkend. Hanka
Hello David :)
ReplyDeleteAn important book, but how to act collectively on saving the planet, when even world leaders are unconcerned. In some respects changes have advanced so fast that I fear it is too late to save what has devastated so much of our beautiful planet. I wish it wasn't so, but time does not stand still and the urgency of changing habits that should have been acted on years ago have reached a point of no return. Sorry David but I don't believe it can be done. Hugs ans kisses
Sonjia.
I fear you are right, Sonjia.
DeleteIndeed, we following each Day the News. For example here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.br.de/nachrichten/wissen/klimawandel-war-ein-hauptgrund-fuer-bergsturz-im-himalaya,VVOBKsu
But... what can we do!?