Shotgunning Hedwig: The Dilemma of Invasives and the Bizarre Decision to Slaughter Barred Owls
12/18/24 • 33 min
The US Fish and Wildlife Service decided to "manage" barred owls by shooting half a million of them over the next three decades. Jason, Rob, and Asher (along with the postal workers at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) are upset about this plan for addressing the predicament of invasive species. Surely there's a finer tool than a double-barreled shotgun for conserving ecosystems and protecting the species that inhabit them.
Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
- Bill Lucia, "Plan Finalized to Kill Thousands of Barred Owls around Northwest," Washington State Standard, August 28, 2024.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Final Barred Owl Management Strategy, August 2024.
- "Killing barred owls to save northern spotted owls: Rethinking American wildlife conservation," On Point, WBUR, 9/5/2024.
- Avram Hiller, Jay Odenbaugh, and Yasha Rohwer, "A Dystopian Effort Is Underway in the Pacific Northwest to Pick Ecological Winners and Losers," New York Times, August 8, 2024.
- Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program."
- Robert Dietz and Brian Czech, "Conservation Deficits for the Continental United States: an Ecosystem Gap Analysis," Conservation Biology, August 16, 2005.
- Tom Murphy, "Metastatic Modernity #12: Human Supremacy," Metastatic Modernity Video Series, August 9, 2024.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service decided to "manage" barred owls by shooting half a million of them over the next three decades. Jason, Rob, and Asher (along with the postal workers at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) are upset about this plan for addressing the predicament of invasive species. Surely there's a finer tool than a double-barreled shotgun for conserving ecosystems and protecting the species that inhabit them.
Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
- Bill Lucia, "Plan Finalized to Kill Thousands of Barred Owls around Northwest," Washington State Standard, August 28, 2024.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Final Barred Owl Management Strategy, August 2024.
- "Killing barred owls to save northern spotted owls: Rethinking American wildlife conservation," On Point, WBUR, 9/5/2024.
- Avram Hiller, Jay Odenbaugh, and Yasha Rohwer, "A Dystopian Effort Is Underway in the Pacific Northwest to Pick Ecological Winners and Losers," New York Times, August 8, 2024.
- Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program."
- Robert Dietz and Brian Czech, "Conservation Deficits for the Continental United States: an Ecosystem Gap Analysis," Conservation Biology, August 16, 2005.
- Tom Murphy, "Metastatic Modernity #12: Human Supremacy," Metastatic Modernity Video Series, August 9, 2024.
Previous Episode
Breaking News: Crazy Town Joins the Newly Formed Department of Entropy
Rob, Jason, and Asher talk about joining the new Trump Administration, at least until Elon Musk eradicates it. They explore the implications of Trump 2.0 through three reality-bending lenses – shifting baselines, entropy, and the upside of down – and three ways of responding: resistance, resilience, and regeneration. They decided they couldn’t stomach a fourth R – respect.
We’ve added something new to this and future episodes: VIDEO! If you’d like to feel even more like you’re in the room with the Crazy Town gang, please check out the video and let us know what you think.
Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
- Daniel Pauly’s 1995 article, Anecdotes and the Shifting Baseline Syndrome of Fisheries
- Randy Olson’s op-ed in the LA Times, Slow-Motion Disaster Below the Waves
- Video of Howard Dean’s speech with the infamous “Dean Scream”
- NASA’s description of the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy law (Be sure to read it before the incoming US administration repeals the laws of thermodynamics!)
- Thomas Homer-Dixon’s book The Upside of Down
Next Episode
The Frequent Flyer Tree: Losing the Last Bit of Sense in the Climate Emergency
In the world of college sports, money talks and the volleyball team walks, er, flies 33,000 miles to play games. The NCAA, like almost everyone else, is playing games with Mother Nature. What do we expect student-athletes to gain from ignoring the climate emergency (not to mention putting their health at risk)? Who cares, as long as we can wring a few more dollars out of the TV deals -- am I right?!? Jason, Rob, and Asher propose a new plan for college sports and for taking the climate emergency seriously.
On a happy note: FeedSpot ranked Crazy Town as the #1 environmental economics podcast.
Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
Sources/Links/Notes:
- Jeff Eisenberg, "Conference realignment has redefined 'travel ball'," yahoo!sports, September 11, 2024.
- Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment and Doerr School of Sustainability
- Stanford has the most winning NCAA program, counting all sports. (2nd and 3rd are UCLA and USC, by far!)
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