BK 73: (Aug 6 , 2024): Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet

 

Our Aug 6th meeting we will be discussing the book Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb (Sep 12, 2023). With 302 reading pages it is approximately 8 pages a day. We have 5 weeks. 

Check out the Bio, links and videos below: 

"Shortlisted for the NYPL's 2024 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism

Finalist for the Reading the West Book Award in Nonfiction

A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 and an Editors' Choice • A Science News Favorite Book of 2023 • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2023 • A Smithsonian Staff Favorite of 2023 • A New Yorker Best Book of 2023 • A Booklist Top 10 Book on the Environment & Sustainability for 2024

An eye-opening account of the global ecological transformations wrought by roads, from the award-winning author of Eager.

Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they’re practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb travels throughout the United States and around the world to investigate how roads have transformed our planet. A million animals are killed by cars each day in the U.S. alone, but as the new science of road ecology shows, the harms of highways extend far beyond roadkill. Creatures from antelope to salmon are losing their ability to migrate in search of food and mates; invasive plants hitch rides in tire treads; road salt contaminates lakes and rivers; and the very noise of traffic chases songbirds from vast swaths of habitat.

Yet road ecologists are also seeking to blunt the destruction through innovative solutions. Goldfarb meets with conservationists building bridges for California’s mountain lions and tunnels for English toads, engineers deconstructing the labyrinth of logging roads that web national forests, animal rehabbers caring for Tasmania’s car-orphaned wallabies, and community organizers working to undo the havoc highways have wreaked upon American cities.

Today, as our planet’s road network continues to grow exponentially, the science of road ecology has become increasingly vital. Written with passion and curiosity, Crossings is a sweeping, spirited, and timely investigation into how humans have altered the natural world―and how we can create a better future for all living beings."

Here are some links:

Jun 4, 2024 Gov. Pritzker announces 41B multi-year plan for transportation improvements

Here are a few video interviews. There are more online. 

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This is what we discussed at the meeting:

* Stoner's joint research...ha

* How many animals killed on roads a year

* History of roads

* Ralph Nader history

* Strieter Lites (Pavlov Wrong...should be Skinner!)

* Timing of animal crossings

* Calvin Klein Obsession perfume

* Under and Overpasses for various animals

* Ventura Hwy/405...America's Song Ventura Hwy

* History of Cars

* Animal barriers causing problems with genetic diversity

* Stated internet not around in mid 1990s....wrong I was on it spring 1996, google says 1993.

* Reptiles and Amphibians also problems

* Marquette MI shuts down overnight traffic

* Presidential history and roads

* Problems from road Noise Pollution

* Camping history (famous people)

* Stopping car traffic in National Parks

* Waves calms heart surgery patients (Blue Mind!), trill of crickets boosts cognition of test takers. 

* Tallgrass in IL

* Roundup

* Salting roads and consequences

* Monarchs killed by cars & roadside reserves

* Columbia vultures...Discovery fuel tank hit not shuttle. NASA getting rid of meat and vultures left

* Vulture's stomachs

* Puget Sound/Squaxin Island fish rights court

* Coho salmon dying due to coating on tires

* Australia's orphaned animals and carers

* Depression of Carers

* Findings of Animal Autopsies

* Self-driving cars

* Brazil roads and animals

* # of people die due to crashing into animals

* Oakland earthquake

* COVID effects

* Highway habitats for Butterflies

* Mosquitos bred to wipe out disease

* I mentioned there is an error on the bottom of page 33 concerning using the name Palov with the idea of Reinforcement and Punishments (Consequences). Below are some videos on the difference between Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning & B.F. Skinner's Operant Conditioning (the theory utilizing Consequences to a behavior.

** If I forgot anything please let me know. 

 Pavlov Classical Conditioning. There is no behavior which elicits a consequence.

Skinner Operant Conditioning. A Behavior is done and a consequence follows.

I will say I explain Types of Reinforcements & Punishments in 2 steps. Step 1 does it make you happy or sad. If it makes you happy it is Reinforcement. If it makes you sad it Punishment. Now you are going to categorize the Reinforcements & Punishments into 2 types. Just like first separating Blocks & Flowers. When you have those done you know further separate them into Yellow & Orange. So now we further categorize the Reinforcements & Punishments by whether you are giving something that make you happy or sad (Math: Give/Add...+ sign) or are we taking away something from you that makes you happy or sad (Math: Take Away/Subtract...- sign). The Positive or Negative has NOTHING to do with whether it makes you happy or sad. It is simply categorizing them on a math principle of giving or taking away. :-)