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I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!
As far as I can tell these people are phantoms. That's cruel on multiple levels. If I was not familiar with this SEO trick I'd spend time looking for them both (to politely tell them about the errors in their blog... which I would assume they would care about since they love insects.)
But I know what this is now. It's probably the exterminators. To get their page ranks up they need "legitimate" pages... like personal blogs by enthusiasts to link to them.
They are pretending to be *ME*
We are expected to take this kind of BS as "harmless gaming of the system." but I find it incredibly distrustful and hurtful. It's making it harder for people to find each other by putting all these fake people in the way. It's LIES the pages are full of half-true nonsense. It's making people know less and filling their heads with false facts.
And this kind of page is what you find FIRST. You won't find @alexwild or the formiculture forum.
You find these mendacious SEO ghosts.
@futurebird @alexwild SEO and the marketing as a whole are toxic as fuck. They want to push themselves in your space, without your consent only to gain more power/money. There is not a single acceptable thing about it ...
These fake pages ought to be blacklisted to oblivion. But I don't see any search engines taking this seriously at all.
Not really in their interest to do that. We need to make more noise about just how terrible these pages are. Fake experts? Fake people? Fake images? Fake facts?
Information pollution & fragmentation of natural networks of human learning. A rot on the body of human knowledge: any search engine that puts such pages at the top should be ashamed.
I wonder if a non-profit search engine is possible. I can’t believe Google is willing to burn down their brand like this. Also, an opening for curated information services like Wikipedia and Encylopedia Brittanica.
I was initially skeptical of Wikipedia and I feel a little bad about the article I contributed about hummingbirds hitching rides on the backs of geese (it didn’t last long) but Wikipedia has proven very reliable for what I need.
@wa7iut @futurebird @wmd @alexwild Someone turned me onto this: https://www.ecosia.org/
they plant trees with ad revenue --> very cool
I don't have a good feeling about this. "Planting trees" is almost a red flag for me at this point since very few people seem to understand how complex and the real investment needed to plant a tree.
You can't just spam saplings and expect a forest. A forest is a living complex system easier to preserve than it is to build.
"planting trees?" Really? What kind? Are they native species? Who will care for them in the critical first years? Who owns the land?
Tree planting schemes have been used as green-washing more often than they have been sincere or effective means to care for the earth. Some "tree planting" operations are just logging companies who sell the rights of their monoculture fields to companies who want to claim they planted trees. The trees are harvested years later.
In NYC we planted millions of trees. But they just sent saplings and let amateurs spam them wherever. Years later they have all died.
This is why I'm deeply suspicious of anyone who claims to be "planting X trees when you do Y"
These are just indulgences of our modern time.
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd Next you’ll tell me carbon offsets are a scam.
@aral @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd
I'm sure you're joking but i thought i would demonstrate the grift here anyway.
Let's say i own land with trees on it. Let's say that land is not doing anything when I get a call from someone trying to get carbon credits. They need my trees to be threatened with destruction so they can save them and claim credits. This will be valuable to them so they will pay me for my efforts. All i have to do is claim i want to do something with the land but this money stops me.
Nothing has changed except that I'm getting paid to keep trees that were never threatened, and the company is publicly taking credit for saving the planet.
@RnDanger @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd Yep, it was pure organic sarcasm.
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd yeah, my family has tried to raise about 2 hectar of mixed forest for about 30 years - it's insane how many of the trees planted didn't make it
even if they mean well, one planted sapling isn't one tree in the end, it's 90% deer breakfast
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd Agreed - and it's a PR move for companies as well. "See, we care about the environment." Most don't know much plastic "recycling" programs are a sham as well: https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/recycling-was-a-lie-a-big-lie-to-sell-more-plastic-industry-experts-say-1.5735618
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd
Yeah I think most of the research finds protecting currently existing forests is always better for the climate & protecting biodiversity than planting new trees.
We should plant new trees, but that's mostly because wood is really useful and we should leave real forests alone.
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd
I’ve used Ecosia for many years and had the same fears, but they’re a good company. They have different projects. It’s not random. Some are ecological restoration projects others are afforestation. Others agricultural. It depends on the location and the circumstances.
@nathaliaassaad @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd : the problem is that the use money from… advertising.
The very goal of advertising is to make us consume more and pollute more than what we really need.
Advertising money is a very small fraction of the benefits big corpos would not have made if there was no advertising.
By definition, everything related to advertising is destroying our ecosystem. That’s even the goal itself ( because "consuming" == "transforming ressources into trash")
@ploum @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd
I hadn’t thought about it like that. My take is that I am going to search for information through Google, Ecosia, or any other search engine so I might as well do it with Ecosia who use what money they make (I didn’t think about how they make it) for something other than getting themselves rich.
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd 
the more you know (the more you hate everything)
I still think the NYC tree planting events were good for the community. People got together and dug around in the soils of their local parks and medians. We noticed the little wild places tucked between the buildings and met other people who cared. I think a better event could feature:
* identifying insects and wildlife
* better guides for the local groups
* planting native PLANTS not just trees
* weeding species that don't fit
* housing for bees and ants
So if you planed a tree and it died don't feel so bad.
We can't just spend a day planting trees and call our problems solved. We all need to learn a lot more about the ecosystems we live in.
@futurebird @wa7iut @wmd I agree --> I'm Co-Founder of this group:
Your chart is ready, and can be found here:
https://www.solipsys.co.uk/Chartodon/112629795815411099.svg
Things may have changed since I started compiling that, and some things may have been inaccessible.
In particular, the very nature of the fediverse means some toots may never have made it to my instance, in which case I can't see them, and can't include them.
The chart will eventually be deleted, so if you'd like to keep it, make sure you download a copy.
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd I will say this activities frees more seats at restaurants, plays and movie house, making me reservations easier. Kudos! Please continue!
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut This is honestly giving me the idea of "natural city tours" that don't just take you to parks or nature preserves, but wander around a city/suburb and point out all the wildlife there -- native and imported. Dole out factoids about each. Add in some kind of identification guide/treasure hunt aspect to get people more engaged. Donate portions of ticket sales to rewilding or other local initiatives to increase native rewilding.
Idk you've got to meet people where they are to get them to care. Showing them the nature around them, around where they live, might just spark that for some.
@Byrdbrnz @mistergibson @wa7iut
I love this idea and I'm thinking it could be a great Senior Thesis project for some of our students to develop and give such a tour in our area. This would let me get some professional dev. hours to develop lesson plans for how to make such a tour (and design one myself, to really learn how to do it right)--
And then who knows maybe they will feel like doing it again when they move off to college!
I gotta go bug the biology teachers again.
@futurebird Yes!! 
Maybe have them start with their own neighborhoods? There's a lot of life we often overlook in our own streets because we walk by it every day. But definitely consult with the other faculty to help build it out! Hopefully it catches some student's attention and awakens their inner biologist/ecologist!
@Byrdbrnz @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut in my city we have an event called Jane's Walk (after the urbanist Jane Jacobs) that is a weekend of community-led local walking tours: <https://janeswalk.org/> Topics include food, art, urban planning, history, systemic inequities, and yes, nature.
I've thought about doing a bug/spider-related walk for years but it's kind of hard to make sure they'll show up, you know?
@nev @Byrdbrnz @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut I wish these things existed everywhere.
Still, "be the change you want to see in the world" ain't the worst aphorism. Maybe I should kick it off myself. Let's see how quickly I can piss people off about me going on about the swifts, lindens, Norway maples and hooded crows of Berlin
@nev Legitimately surprised to see cities near me on this list!
It is difficult to make sure there will be attendance, but I think partnering up with organizations like this is a good way to get started. You never know! If I lived in your area, I'd be sure to go, because I know next to nothing about how to identify the spiders and bugs around me.
@Byrdbrnz @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut Check out Jane’s Walk https://janeswalk.org
@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd planting trees for the sake of trees, forests, and communities is great. Planting trees for the sake of capitalism, not so much.