11/5/2021
Whales have been looming large in my life of late. First off is a story about the potential for computers to decode whale song and facilitating interspecies communication. That's interesting in and of itself, but here's what caught my interest on Wednesday night. Marianne Guenot reveals the Staggering Data On How Much Whales Actually Eat Just Solved The 'Krill Paradox'. Whales eat a lot of krill and plankton, ergo whales shit a lot. Fun fact about whale shit: it's rich in iron.
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Years ago I read an article about this one guy's maverick proposal to reverse climate change: dump tons of iron filings into the Antarctic Ocean. The iron filings will encourage plankton to bloom, suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and hopefully begin cooling the planet as CO2 levels begin to drop. People were skeptical of the scheme thinking it'd cause massive blooms, followed by the creation of vast swaths of the Antarctic Ocean becoming sterile as the aftermath.
Everyone talks about the Amazon forest and the Pacific Northwest among other forests are the "lungs of the planet", when they're really small potatoes compared to all the plants living in the ocean and its capacity. For millennia, whales have been pooping their iron rich poop and fertilizing their home. As early as the 18th century, humans have hunted whales for oil to the point of extinction. Whale populations haven't rebounded considering their long gestational periods and small numbers which probably means less whale poop, therefore less iron in the ocean. plankton has been declining
Fewer whales and less plankton is part of the equation for global warming and the demise of life as we know it on the third rock from the sun. By my estimation as laity, this is a self-sustaining loop where things can only get worse before they get better. Compounding the issue is the fact whales eat a lot of krill and plankton. More than anyone ever expected and their consumption may be hastening the process, making two of the planet's known smartest animals guilty of damaging a biosphere.
Jesus Christ.
memory flash
I thought of Edna while writing the previous essay and editing it on-the-fly. Back when we were bookkeeping, I showed her how I write and post my stuff at the fortean website. "I always put punctuation outside of html tags", I told her then expressed gratitude that she was interested in reading what I wrote. Above, I posted a link and saw I put a period before >/a< so I deleted then put a period after the closing anchor tag. The memory was so quick and vivid. It also annoys me because I don't want to think of or about Edna.
free food
Had a dinner date with my soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law (S2BXMIL) on Thursday night. I made the most of it by ordering a cup of chili, a buffalo chicken wrap with fries, and chocolate lava cake. I caught her up with various stuff going on with my life. She surprised me while I was talking about the support group down in May's Landing, how my friend Rameen invited me to attend, and the whole while I was using they/them but my S2BXMIL guessed Rameen is a woman. Not that it means anything, but not identifying the gender of people I hang out is my way of having control over my life and avoiding awkward questions like, "Are you fuckin' her?"
Not that S2BXMIL would ever ask that, but I know Leah would in a heartbeat.
Then masturbate to the idea later on.
