permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Living Alongside Wildlife
http://www.livingalongsidewildlife.com/

About This Blog

      "The title of this blog, Living Alongside Wildlife, is a reference to
a land ethic suggesting human and wildlife populations can coexist if we
respect our natural resources.  Our goals should include living alongside
wildlife in perpetuity, rather than unsustainable exploitation, wanton
killing and irreversible destruction of their habitats.  For more about
conservation and land ethics, check out the work of Aldo Leopold,
particularly A Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays &
Reflections)<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195146174?ie=UTF8&tag=livinga-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195146174>.
 These essays were a great influence in formulating my own positions on
various environmental issues.
*
* *Goals*

      The goals of this blog are as follows:

1) to encourage an appreciation for wildlife that tend to have a bad
reputation. This entails describing studies and expeditions that were
undertaken to learn more about these animals while emphasizing their unique
natural history. I also use this blog to counter the sensational (and often
inaccurate) stories about wildlife that appear, all too often, in the media.

2) to make scientific research accessible to a general audience that does
not read scientific articles.

 3) to educate.  Many are generally unfamiliar with wildlife natural
history; as a result there are a plethora of e-mail forwards containing
outlandish stories and photos of various animals.  All too often, these
e-mails are circulated and accepted as fact.  For animals that are already
maligned, scary and fabricated stories only serve to perpetuate the myth
they are dangerous and malevolent. Perhaps this is no more true than in the
case of the giant dead
rattlesnakes<http://davidasteen.blogspot.com/2009/07/return-of-giant-killed-rattlesnake.html>,
wherein a dead rattlesnake is shoved towards the camera and a bogus story
is made up about how various townsfolk were saved in the nick of time by
the marauding monster.  I use this blog to discuss these e-mail forwards,
which I'm often able to debunk based solely on the biology of the organism
in question.

   If you're interested in learning more about the amphibians and reptiles
in your backyard, I recommend the following book: A Field Guide to Reptiles
& Amphibians of Eastern & Central North America (Peterson Field Guide
Series)<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395904528?ie=UTF8&tag=livinga-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0395904528>
"