If you’ve gotten this message after attempting to leave a comment at the previous post, or after clicking on any of the navigation links from the post page, you’re not alone. I don’t know what the heck’s up with it. I’ve tried taking the post down and publishing it anew, but the problem persists. I felt bad about the negative tone of the piece when I wrote it last night, and now, it’s clearly cursed. I don’t know if the hex can be lifted. Best not to click on it for now.
My apologies to anyone whose comments have been lost.
UPDATE (1:12 pm EDT): All fixed now! Matt tells me that some word or combination of words in the text of the post (“pretty pictures”? “exploitation”?) had triggered a block from the security system in place at the hosting provider. That system has now been turned off for Via Negativa.us.
The comments work fine here – see?
Now I don’t have to feel guilty for not having had the time to comment for a while. I could just pretend the hex ate it! But since I’m here, I do want to say that I totally agree with your asssessment of our earth’s ecological disaster, that we often cover up our despair in pleasantry. I think we do need to voice this despair and anger if we want change but I know I’m guilty of not being an activist because I think that would need a full-time commitment to the cause.
Oh, I was going to say something about how as long as we let so much fuel build up maybe these fires will be hot enough to bake the invasive earthworms… along with something about how beautiful those photos are. It’s an inarticulate morning around here.
We need joy, we absolutely do. But we also need to take whatever steps are within our reach. It’s easy to dismiss the fact that small things add up — and that works both ways.
Marja-Leena – You should never feel guilty for not commenting here! Comment if the spirit moves, and not otherwise – that’s my rule, at any rate. You don’t need to be a full-time activist to work for positive change. A well-writtn letter to the editor now and then can work wonders.
MB – Yep, the little things. You’re right, of course. As for fires, that’s an interesting thought. Here in the humid east, we almost never get fires of that intensity, but with changes in the global climate, who knows? The once-wet coastal forests of northern Portugal and northwestern Spain have been burning in fires of unprecedented scope and intensity for three (?) years in a row now, I’ve heard.
Oops, there I go making myself depressed again. Sigh.
Are the worms limited to the East? Things have certainly been more than hot and smoky enough here in the arid West. Perhaps I should have said it’s a particulate morning around here! May you not suffer this.
mb – Actually, I don’t know what the situation is with invasive earthworms in your area, and even if I did, I wouldn’t really be able to comment. Everything I know (or think I know) about forest ecology is based on the Eastern forest, which has radically different disturbance regimes and ecological communities from those of the West. The whole notion of an edaphic climax, for example, is based on eastern models and may not be such a good fit for the fire-dependent ecosystems west of the 100th Meridian.