Ever since 2011 started animals have been dying, en masse, all over the place. We’ve been told it’s fairly common and all the commotion is media hype, but that doesn’t really sit right. I mean, first it was 1,000 birds in Arkansas, then the fish started dying, then more birds and now crabs. Now, I’m not saying this is some kind of biblical end of days kind of thing, although I might have already, but it’s a cause for concern I think, no?

There’s a song by The Police called “Canary In a Coalmine” and it’s kind of about the idea that this person is a little, say, over cautious.

First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect
Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect
You live you life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line

It’s a great song, and one of the things I love most about it is that the person it’s about is pretty ambiguous. It’s not an obvious jab at a girl that won’t let Sting make out with her, or some other kind of “stop being square” accusation. It’s a pretty gender neutral song that’s just saying “stop being so timid, live more.”

Of course, the thing about a Canary in a Coalmine, as the saying goes, is that they live short, but meaningful lives. They’re the first signs of danger, which I think is something we can acknowledge – without getting too far into conspiracy theories – could be scaled upwards. Animals with more delicate respiratory systems, animals like birds and fish, will be affected by upcoming dangers before more complicated animals like say … mammals.

Even a pretty incredible video like this, of a swarm of birds above the Eaton’s Centre in Toronto, is uncomfortably eerie. If it weren’t for the morbid news of that past week it would be beautiful, but the movements feel anxious and desperate now. Like they’re being closed in.

I know! Like a swarm of fucking locusts! All I’m saying is, even as a non-believer, I still kind of hope this is the end of days. Could you imagine? It’s it’s all true?! And really, is bird dropping from the sky in enormous numbers and fish floating to the surface by the millions not something you’d expect to read in the bible? I just want to know what happens next. When the mammals start dying, I’m going to church.

Update #1 01/07/11 10:30am: Behold, a google map to help keep track of the carnage:

View Mass Animal Deaths in a larger map

Update #2 01/07/11 3:06pm:So science blogger and pretty smart lady Maggie Koerth-Baker isn’t buying any of it, and you know what? she’s probably right. I trust her sensibilities more than my own. There is no birdpocaypse, just some dead birds, and there will probably be more which we may or may not hear about.

The ongoing saga over the sale of raw milk added another chapter last week. Dundas, Ont. farmer and raw milk champion, Michael will be back in court on a yet-to-be-determined date to defend his case against the Ontario Government.

Schmidt was acquitted last month of 19 charges relating to the sale of his unpasteurized milk, but the Ontario government has launched an appeal. They seem unrepentant in their quest to squash raw milk, which seems wholly ludicrous to me. I understand, and fully accept the claims that there are real health risks involved in its consumption, but so what? There are serious health risks associated with drinking alcohol and eating raw fish as well. Furthermore, in recent years, mass produced packaged meats seem to be a much more dangerous source of food born bacteria and Maple Leaf foods seems to have gotten through that debacle mostly unscathed.

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Does it mean anything if an onion ring is more poplular than a Prime Minister, or if a pickle has more fans than Nickelback ?

This recent rise in lazy-man activism has been much criticized, for good reason. Really, what does it matter if an onion ring has more facebook votes than Stephen Harper. Does that mean we should move our federal elections to facebook? Is that how we engage people? Would the outcome be a country presided over by pub fare?

Facebook and other social networking services may create an environment for meandering, responsibility-free complaining, but when put to proper use they can be valuable resources to activists. They’re tools for communication that galvanize and mobilize enormous groups of people at once and while the groups mentioned above may only prove that a large chunk of the population has the munchies, the tool itself has promise.

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