Some 400 short-tailed shearwaters have died near Esperance this week. We are told (again) that this is likely due to various natural phenomena including algal blooms.
In September, a parliamentary inquiry found the export of lead carbonate through Esperance Port contributed to lead pollution which killed almost 10,000 birds.
I guess we don't like to think that we are poisoning the planet. Better to blame "natural causes". I'm sure the state environment department realises that the increased frequency and size of algal blooms is hardly natural. It's caused by ridiculous amounts of nitrogen run-off, and the sewage that we "dispose" of in the ocean.
In any case, just like last time, I think the sudden death of these birds is more likely related to the mining activities in the region that, like mining everywhere, is poisoning the planet.
It is an interesting fact that in nearly all know human mythologies, the underworld is a place of death and danger not just to the body but to the soul. Pluto, Odin and the dwarves of the underworld, or Mars and Vulcan, Gods associated with the metals we bring up from below, all rule over the dark realms that mortals enter at their peril.
Whether we pump oil from the oceans, extract gold from mountains, or scrape away our farms and home to get at the nickel or coal, the fossil fuels and heavy metals we bring up from inside the earth poison our crops and our trees, destroy our children's immune and endocrine systems, give us wasting diseases, and kill our animals and fish - often many years after the money they made us is spent.[Link]
RIP Mutton birds.
