Five Bullets 3.1.24
Childhood's End, Dune, Solar Storms & more
Good Morning & Happy Friday Everyone!
Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment; it seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them. Ecology also provides information about the benefits of ecosystems and how we can use Earth’s resources in ways that leave the environment healthy for future generations.
This week’s bullets involve ecology to some degree. Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End deals with humanity’s relationship to the universe. Frank Herbert’s Dune, inspired by the Oregon dunes, demonstrated how neglect of our planet may lead to a desert wasteland. With the creation of Yellowstone National Park, Native Americans who managed the region’s ecology for thousands of years were expelled. In New York City, building windows or glass which weren’t bird-friendly may have contributed to Flaco the owl’s untimely demise. Meanwhile, we know very little about the sun and the powerful solar storms which could upend our modern electricity-dependent civilization.
What can we learn from studying ecology and how can we incorporate it into our lives and our societies?
Here’s this week’s Five Bullets:
Books: This week I’m reading Arthur C. Clarke’s 1953 science fiction novel Childhood’s End about the peaceful invasion of Earth by an advanced alien race named the Overlords. In the introduction, Clarke writes that his inspiration for the ‘invasion’ came from seeing hundreds of silver barrage balloons over London in 1941. Stanley Kubrick intended to make a movie adaption but instead chose Clarke’s The Sentinel for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Syfy released a three-episode series adaption of the book in 2015.
History: "The big myth about Yellowstone is that it’s a pristine wilderness untouched by humanity." On March 1, 1872 President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first such park. Native American history in the region dates to at least 11,000 years ago but white explorers propogated the myth that Native Americans were afraid of the area’s hot springs and stayed away. After the park’s establishment, the Army was stationed there to protect the area and make it safe for visitors.
Movies: Dune: Part Two comes to theaters today, the second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s adaption of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel. In 1957 Herbert travelled to Florence, Oregon to write an article about the Oregon dunes threatened the local community giving Herbert the inspiration for the planet Arrakis in his Dune series.
NYC: RIP Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl. In February 2023 Flaco escaped the Central Park Zoo after a vandal cut a hole in the owl’s enclosure netting. On Friday Flaco’s body was found on the Upper West Side presumably after striking a building. An autopsy will be done to see if anything else, such as ingesting poisoned rats, could have contributed to Flaco’s death. Each year an estimated 230,000 birds die from hitting windows in New York City. Next month would have been Flaco’s 14th birthday.
Science: What a Major Solar Storm Could Do to Our Planet. The Carrington Event in 1859 was the most powerful geomagnetic storm in recorded history. Solar storms, caused by solar flares or coronal mass ejections, interfere with Earth’s magnetic field creating an excess of electricity which can wreak havoc on everything from the power grid to G.P.S. to communications to nuclear weapons. Since the creation of our modern power grid, the Earth hasn’t experienced another powerful storm like the Carrington Event. We may not be ready when the next one occurs.
RIP Flaco!