Posted on 08/18/2006 1:12:35 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Germans are getting used to a new kind of immigrant. In 1998, a pack of wolves crossed the shallow Neisse River on the Polish-German border. In the empty landscape of Eastern Saxony, speckled with abandoned strip mines and declining villages, the wolves found plenty of deer and rarely encountered humans.
..Wolves returning to the heart of Europe? A hundred years ago, a burgeoning, land-hungry population killed off the last of Germany's wolves. Today, it's the local humans whose numbers are under threat.. Home to 22 of the world's 25 lowest-birthrate countries, Europe will lose 41 million people by 2030 even with continued immigration...
Increasingly, worried European governments are crafting natalist policies to nudge couples to have more children, from offering better child care to monthly stipends keyed to family size. Trouble is, across most of the aging continent there are just too few potential parents around today...Farms abandoned, the wilderness once again encroaches...
This isn't necessarily the environmentalist's dream. The scrub brush and forest that grows on abandoned land might be good for deer and wolves, but is vastly less species-rich than traditional farming, with its pastures, ponds and hedges. "Once shrubs cover everything, you lose the meadow habitat. All the flowers, herbs, birds and butterflies disappear," says the EEA's Petersen. "A new forest doesn't get diverse until it's a couple of hundred years old." An odd alliance of farmers and environmentalists have joined to put pressure on the EU to "keep the landscape open," as World Wildlife Fund spokeswoman Catherine Bett calls it. Keeping biodiversity up by preventing the land from going wild is one of the reasons the EU pays farmers to mow fallow land once a year.
"We still cry when the woods close in," Revaz says. Unless, of course, you're a fan of the wolves.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I'd say "in the long run," but surprisingly, it doesn't take that long.
... and suddenly we're back to the old Russian stories about the wolves and the troika.
Beware the Beast of Gevaudan.
Great News for America!It should be easy pick'ins for the wolves,the "euro-peons" won't even fight terrorists.
Well put.
> Reminiscent of the Medieval post-plague years.
What, the "Rennaissance?"
The 20th Century wars resulted in the spiritual death of nations.
No, the dance of death and the burning of witches. The Renaissance was a time of economic depression and extravangant display by the rich, including the popes of the Church.
(Europe's Declining birthrates: wolves taking the place of people.)Not only wolves. Moose and limes.
"You don't know what you've got..til it's gone"...comes to mind.
Europe has been here at least twice in the last millenium - once following the decline of the Romans (which also had a declining birthrate among its original population) and second during the Black Death in the mid-14th century. The Romans experienced wave after wave of other people moving through Western Europe, such as the Visigoths and other Germanic tribes. After the Black Death, there were also movements of people around Europe such as the expansion of the Ottomans into Eastern Europe and the Scandinavians into Russia and northern Europe.
Someone much smarter than me said "nature abhors a vacuum." The current population crash in Europe invites the movement of others into the "unused" space - someone like the nearby Islamic people of northern Africa and the Middle East.
Inevitably, that kind of population movement turns into war. We're in for interesting times.
Having a natural sciences degree, I am appalled at this assertion in the article:
"The scrub brush and forest that grows on abandoned land might be good for deer and wolves, but is vastly less species-rich than traditional farming, with its pastures, ponds and hedges. "Once shrubs cover everything, you lose the meadow habitat. All the flowers, herbs, birds and butterflies disappear," says the EEA's Petersen. "A new forest doesn't get diverse until it's a couple of hundred years old.""
Cropland and mature forest -- like the CA redwoods -- are some of the most INhospitable, non-diverse habitats available for wildlife. It is the initial regrowth of cropland or burned forest for the first 5 to 10 years that is in fact the most beneficial for deer and other species.
We have coyotes coming into our yard. There's also been a bear seen in the neighborhood, so I guess it's not hard to imagine wolves as well. I think the birth rate around here is a bit above average, though.
Europe is doomed.
"What, the "Rennaissance?"
A depopulated countryside, with wilderness encroaching once again, was a frequently noted effect of the Black Death. The lack of labor played a major role in the collapse of feudalism.
Death of the West.
And if the West dies, the rest of the world will suffer.
And exploding palnes.
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