As usual, I stumbled onto Facebook this morning to ease my way into the day, and to browse how many likes I'd received overnight (none) and so, over coffee I scrolled tediously through all the gunk and detritus of my friends' lives looking for something that mentioned me favourably or, failing that, a loris being tickled.
And then I saw a friend had posted something about wolves and Yellowstone Park, two things high on my list of things I've never seen but would quite like to if (a) the wolves were a long, long way away and (b) if Yellowstone wasn't an actual volcano, like the whole thing, ready to blow, like as soon as I set foot on it.
Anyway I pressed play, somewhat despite myself, for it was a video which is a shame because it's usually just clickbait and I can't be bothered to even wait through the advert, but I stuck with it because (a) it was voiced by my favourite Guardian rantmeister George Monbiot, and (b) because he said “trophic cascade” very early on, which sounds fantastic. Whatever it may be.
And four minutes later I knew, and so will you if you watch it (here).
Flipping heck, 08:56 and I've grown a new branch of understanding within my naturalistic soul, for aren't we all that river, bending to the unknown forces of higher predators. I sat back satiated. But underneath the link, Facebook had kindly spammed me with three related articles. One was a recent one in the New York Times, so I whizzed through that, for now I am a bona fide professor of all things trophic cascadean it's important to keep up with the latest research and, guess what, it's all a rural myth, apparently.
Fuck me, and it's only 9am. Knowledge, the Facebook way...
And then I saw a friend had posted something about wolves and Yellowstone Park, two things high on my list of things I've never seen but would quite like to if (a) the wolves were a long, long way away and (b) if Yellowstone wasn't an actual volcano, like the whole thing, ready to blow, like as soon as I set foot on it.
Anyway I pressed play, somewhat despite myself, for it was a video which is a shame because it's usually just clickbait and I can't be bothered to even wait through the advert, but I stuck with it because (a) it was voiced by my favourite Guardian rantmeister George Monbiot, and (b) because he said “trophic cascade” very early on, which sounds fantastic. Whatever it may be.
And four minutes later I knew, and so will you if you watch it (here).
Flipping heck, 08:56 and I've grown a new branch of understanding within my naturalistic soul, for aren't we all that river, bending to the unknown forces of higher predators. I sat back satiated. But underneath the link, Facebook had kindly spammed me with three related articles. One was a recent one in the New York Times, so I whizzed through that, for now I am a bona fide professor of all things trophic cascadean it's important to keep up with the latest research and, guess what, it's all a rural myth, apparently.
Fuck me, and it's only 9am. Knowledge, the Facebook way...
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