Earth Who Cares Anyway

Our Earth
Who Cares Anyway?

The Importance of Biodiversity

Kathleen Mary Andersen

Science Thesis - June, 2011

Introduction

Why should we worry about biodiversity: the diversity of life? Why does it matter? Historical records have shown species have always gone extinct over millions of years. When the human population of the world suffers from starvation and poverty, why do we want to spend time and money on protecting the animal and plant species on this planet? What about us, the human species, do we have priority? We share this planet with over 1.7 million known species and possibly more. If we don’t understand them how do we know how our lives as human not only impact us but how we might impact them nor how important their survival means to the future survival of us as a species. Does it matter that there aren’t so many species? What is “biodiversity”? Biodiversity is a variability and genetic diversity within a species population and the variety of ecosystems over a geographical area. We, as humans, depend on a sustainable environment that is healthy but we continue to damage our environment. Issues have included nature and animal conservation, the impact of our increasing population, climate change, development and genetically altered food.

• Biodiversity can be classified in three groups:
• Genetic diversity - the genetic variability within a species. Species diversity - the variety of species within a community
• Ecosystem diversity - species in an area into distinctive plant and animal communities

Biodirsity is the part of nature which includes the difference in genes among the individuals of a species, the variety and richness of all the plant and animal species at different scales in space, locally in a region, in the country and the world and various types of ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic within a defined area. Biodiversity deals with the degree of nature’s variety in the biosphere. Unlike the 5 mass extinction events that have occurred in our geological history, the current extinction appears to be almost entirely responsible by a single species: humans. We do not actually know how many species actually exist on this planet, but we have discovered that we are losing species between 1,000 and 10,000 higher than the natural extinction rate. The IUCN (International Union of Conservation of Nature), the world’s oldest and largest conservation agency calculates that 0.01 to 0.1% of species will become extinct each year. Mass extinctions have contributed to an acceleration of evolution of life here on earth. The passing of dominance of one species passes to another. But it is rarely because the new dominant group is "superior" to the old. Gymnosperms, the plant group that including conifers are the most threatened plants on Earth. Over all, the report reveals that plants are more threatened than birds, and just as vulnerable as the planet's mammals. We are currently undergoing extinctions at an alarming rate.

Washington’s diverse topography, exposure to Pacific Ocean currents and weather patterns, and location on the migratory path of many wildlife species make it one of the most biologically diverse states in the nation, encompassing seacoast, shrub-steppe, native prairie, parts of four major forested mountain ranges, and Puget Sound. In fact, Washington has two ecosystems that cannot be found anywhere else in the world: the Olympic rainforest and the channeled scablands of eastern Washington.

These ecosystems and the biological diversity they support range across a landscape that extends from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Puget Sound in the west to the Columbia Plateau and Northern Rocky Mountains in the east. Consequently, Washington is home to a remarkable variety of fish and wildlife species--a natural heritage important to the long-term health and economic security of every resident of the state. However, changes to the landscape and native habitat, primarily as a result of human activity, have put many of these species at risk.

There is a great need to be proactive, to protect what we already have, and to keep common species common before they become endangered or at risk. Washington is one of the most biologically diverse states in the nation, but the health of its native plant communities and wildlife is declining due to factors, including changes in land use, invasive species, pollution and climate change. Biological diversity provides Washington with economic, health and cultural benefits. These include the economic returns of agriculture, forestry and fishing, which generate roughly $3.5 billion in income in Washington annually. Healthy ecosystems provide services, such as the flood protection, valued at up to $51,000 per acre. Is Washington State living up to its promise to protect eco-systems and biodiversity? This report discusses the history, background and current state of biodiversity and their eco-systems.


The Importance of Biodiversity

Background

Although we may think that ecology and the concern for the biodiversity of species on our planet is new, it actually dates back to perhaps the first ecologist, Aristotle in 244 B.C. In his Politics, Book 1, Chapter 8, he wrote, “nature has made all things specifically for the sake of man”. He continued that the value of nonhuman things in nature is merely instrumental. His young student, Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC) wrote “Enquiry into Plants” and “On the Causes of Plants” which changed our biological world of identifying and cataloguing all the species that live on earth. Everything alive on this planet is categorized by Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. However, officially, Alexander von Humboldt is often referred to the father of ecology. He was the first to take on the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.

Theophrastus exposed the existing relationships between observed plant species and climate and described vegetation zones using longitude and latitude, a discipline now known as geobotany, the geographic distribution of plant species. Many would follow such as Wallace, Mobius and Darwin whose extensive research made us aware of the relationship between species and their environment. Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth and the essential interdependence of all living things. Scientists have identified more than 2 million species. Tens of millions remain unknown. Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. A larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

Arthur Tansley the 19th century, botanical geography and zoogeography combined to form the basis of biodeography science, which deals with habitats of species and seeks to explain the reasons for the presence of certain species in a given location. It was in 1935 that Tansley coined the term “ecosystem”, the interactive system established between the biocoenosis (the group of living creatures), and their biotope, the environment in which they live. Ecology thus became the science of ecosystems. The early ecologist noted and warned about the effects of deforestation, the industrial revolution and what could happen, as well as what the effect may be from homesteading pioneers forging out the west. It became the science of concerns about the impact of human activity on the environment.

The term ecology has been in use since the end of the 19^th century. Anyone who studies U.S. history willremember the conditions that lead to the “dirty thirties” or the dust bowl era. Over working of the soil added to drought conditions producing a major disaster in this country. The effects amounted to over 3 million people leaving middle America and over 150,000 square miles of crops were destroyed. The Goddard Institute for Space Studies conducted a simulation of the conditions surrounding the 1930’s dust bowl. Over 70 years later, there has been no conclusive evidence of what really happened however the Goddard Institute stated in their report “First changes in tropical sea surface temperatures created a drought. Poor land use practices then led to exposure of bare soil followed by wind erosion and dust storms. The dust storms interacted with radiation to make the drought worse and move it northward increasing the potential for further wind erosion.”

The most influential person in recent times was Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Carson began her career as a biologist in the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, but became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us and her follow up books brought her financial security. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides. Silent Spring (1962) was the result that brought environmental attention and concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public. Silent Spring, while met with fierce denial from chemical companies, spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides—and the environmental movement the book inspired led to the creation of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency.

Our World, Our Concern

There are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth, which have their own complement of distinctive inter linked species based on the differences in the habitat. Ecosystem diversity can be described for a specific geographical region, or a political entity such as a country, a State or just a neighborhood. Distinctive ecosystems include landscapes such as forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, as well as aquatic ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and the sea.
Each region also has man-modified areas such as farmland or grazing pastures. An ecosystem is referred to as ‘natural’ when it is relatively undisturbed by human activities or ‘modified’ when it is changed to other types of uses, such as farmland or urban areas. Ecosystems are most natural in wilderness areas. If natural ecosystems are overused or misused their productivity eventually decreases and they are then said to be degraded. India, for example, is exceptionally rich in ecosystem diversity. tury. “Biodiversity makes important contributions to human well-being, but many of the actions needed to promote economic development and reduce hunger and poverty are likely to reduce biodiversity.”
The balance of nature is a theory that says that ecological systems are usually in a stable equilibrium. This fine balance can be affected by the smallest change in some parameters such as population. It may apply where populations depend on each other, for example in predator/prey systems, or relationships between herbivores and their food source. It is also sometimes applies to the relationship between the Earth's ecosystem, the composition of the atmosphere, and the world's weather.


The Gaia hypothesis is a balance of nature-based theory that suggests that the Earth and its ecology may act as co-ordinated systems in order to maintain the balance of nature. Whether nature is can ever be permanently in balance has been largely discredited. In the marine world, widespread damage to diverse species of corals has been documented around the world. The phenomenon is known as coral "bleaching," involves the corals expelling their symbiotic algae often resulting in death of the coral. Coral bleaching is thought to possibly related to climate warming, although it can be caused by both unusually high or low water temperatures, changes in salinity, and other environmental stresses.
Another unexplained case of an ecological disease appears to be afflicting species of amphibians in many parts of the world. Chytridiomycosis is an infectious fungus disease. Chytrid as it is also known has been linked to dramatic population declines or even extinctions of amphibian species in western North America, Central America, South America, Eastern Australia, and the Caribbean. There are sporadic deaths in some amphibian populations and 100% mortality in others. There is no effective measure for control of the disease in wild populations. The disease is contributing to a global decline in the amphibian populations has affected 30% of the amphibian species of the world. The benefits of frogs, for example, is that they filter the water they live in while providing bug control within their environment.

The American farmers love their chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and apply them liberally to their crops. Unfortunately, these chemicals – along with nitrogen-rich livestock waste – seeps from farmlands along the Mississippi River into the water and eventually, down into the Gulf of Mexico, where they have led to an oxygen-starved “dead zone” the size of New Jersey. Ocean dead zones cannot support sea life. Nitrogen in the chemicals and animal waste spur the growth of algae, which is eaten by zooplankton. Those microscopic creatures then excrete pellets that sink to the bottom of the ocean and decay, a process that depletes the water of oxygen. Researchers set out last July to study the dead zone, taking water samples and measuring the total affected area. Some water samples showed no oxygen at all, and smelled of hydrogen sulfide, a rotten egg smell that indicates organic sediments on the sea floor.
The dead zone has grown steadily over the past few decades. Though it tends to disappear in October, once cold weather sets in, there’s a “legacy” left behind due to the fact that not all organic matter on the bottom decays in any given year. This means that even if the same amount of nitrogen is released into the Gulf year after year, the dead zone will get larger. A recent study identified many of the species of the nitrogen runoff along the Mississippi River, and the government plans to help states focus their pollution-reduction efforts to prevent some of the runoff from ending up in the river. This ecology disaster became even more critical when the recent BP oil spill incident added to the already suffering ecological area.

On March 06, 2008, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, signed an executive order to protect the state’s threat to species and critical ecosystems that have resulted in endangered species. Her council produced goals in the “Biodiversity Conservation Strategic Comprehensive Guide” and put programs in place to protect conservation areas. The strategy of this program was initiated at a meeting of legislative bodies in December of 2007. The minutes of this meeting included items such as the importance of biodiversity at the highest levels of our quality of life and economy, the importance of population growth, reinforcement of biodiversity goals, strategy and the creation of maps to carry the message to the people. In April of 2011, the Washington State Biodiversity Project which governs the State of Washington’s effort in biodiversity has stated on their website

“The Washington Biodiversity Council reached its sunset date on June 30, 2011 and will no longer meet.”
In April, 2010, legislature passes a budget that would provide funding for the Council’s fiscal year. However in May of 2010, Governor Gregoire vetoed the provision and made a statement “while I strongly support of the work of the Biodiversity Council, I am asking the Natural Resource Cabinet to absorb the Council’s oversight role”. This has meant that the projects and work involved over the past two years will be either dropped or continued until June 30, 2011. After this month, the website and most projects will be dismantled.


An interview with Jodie Saltz, the stewardship program director of the Washington Biodiversity Project which is the effort put forth by the Washington Biodiversity Council explains “projects that were on the table or future projects will now be either dropped or absorbed by other non-profit foundations such as Cascade Land Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, Puget Sound Near Shore Organization and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources”. LandScope, America, (www.landscope.org) is a new collaborative effort by Natureserv and National Geographic Society to cover biodiversity and conservation efforts across the country. They will be reporting and taking information about the State of Washington’s efforts to carry on the biodiversity projects and is a grass roots, interactive reporting service and mapping agency (GIS) that will allow users to be a part of biodiversity efforts not just in Washington state but across the country.

Eco-system protection still look promising for King County. Jennifer Vanderhoff, Senior Ecology for the county explained “Reports of King County Biodiversity is measured by species, habitat and eco-regions. Biodiversity can be vague in genetics due to a lack of information gathering.” Challenges that arise in Washington State has been private property changes, large and long established ownership in a checkerboard pattern in forest protection areas, expanding population growth along the urban boundaries, climate change pressure on certain species ranges. Climate, whether identified as climate change by human or natural causes, does affect the future of animal species. In ecology, a cline represents a term used to identify ecotypes of habitat that contribute to the genetics and survival of a species.

Isolated areas for migration can contribute to inbreeding of the herd or group which can affect not only immune system defenses but the health of the group. Decreasing glaciers for example play a role in expanded migration and a new gene pool for animals such as mountain goats, bear, elk, wolves as well as many others. Other privately funded organizations are taking up the slack of government funding cutbacks is the Seattle Environmental Science Center. Founded in 2000, offers environmental education programs at our local beaches, streams, forests, and classrooms in South King County. Miriam Castor, Director of ESC said that the programs promote environmental stewardship to thousands of people through collaborations with a growing number of school districts and community-based organizations as well as speaking engagements, festivals and workshops. During the past ten years, the center feels it is important to promote foster environmental stewardship and conservation early, and their focus is grades K – high school. During the inquiry-based field portion of the program, students learn to analyze what they are seeing, develop a deeper understanding of ecological systems, see how environmental quality is impacted by human decisions, and reach informed conclusions about how to make responsible choices as citizens.

Conclusion

Does biodiversity matter?

Does eradication of one small organism matter? An example that many of us are familiar with is the case of the mosquito. Out of the 3,500 named species of mosquitoes, only a couple hundred bother to bite humans. They have been on earth more than 100 million years and they can be found all over the planet. Some feel, an ecological scar left by a missing mosquito would heal quickly as this niche would be replaced by another organism.
A Nature Magazine, July 2010 issue, a number of entomologists explained the ecological importance of the tiny mosquito. Prime areas affected would be the tundra where the caribou herd select paths that are facing the winds to escape the swarm. A small change in path could have a major consequence in the Arctic valley where the herd migrates, trample the ground, transport nutrients, feeding wolves and generally altering the ecology. Fish, spiders, many species of insects, members of the amphibian family rely on eating mosquitos. Since it is the male mosquito who is the pollinator, many plants would be affected.
Biogeography: “a science that deals with the geographical distribution of animals and plants” (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary) is a growing field that aims to reveal where organisms live, at what abundance, and why they are (or are not) found in a certain geographical area. Biogeography, with the assistance of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) help in not only the mapping of ecology zones, but the biodiversity of the community within each zone as well as serve as a model to predict future trends in the organisms that reside there. Scientist can better understand a species adaptability when isolated from the mainstream, such as island ecology.
Andersen 14
Fragmentation of the landscape due to farming and development impacts potential gene flow and long term-persistence of a species population. Logging may temporarily increase subsidies of nutrients to adjacent streams while invasive species introduction and carried by either human or mechanical means prevent native species of not just plants but fish to establish and exist within their protected area.
Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) an American author, scientist, forester, ecologist and environmentalist was influential in the development of today’s environmental ethics and the movement for wilderness conservation. His belief in nature and wildlife preservation major impact on the environmental movement. He emphasized biodiversity and ecology. In his book “A Sand County Almanac”, he wrote, "Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land." "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Andersen 15

Works Cited

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). “What is Biodiversity and why it is important.” April, 2011. <http://www.ciel.org/Biodiversity/WhatIsBiodiversity.html>
King County Washington. “Animals, Plants and Habitat, Biodiversity in King County, Washington”. April, 11. <http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsandplants/biodiversity. >
Withgott, Jay H.; Brennan, Scott R. “Foundations of Environmental Science”. Environment: The Science Behind the Stories. 4th Ed. 2011 Page 18, Table 1.1

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment Report. “Ecosystems and Human Well–being: Biodiversity Synthesis.” May 02, 2011. Page 77. http://www.maweb.org/documents/document.354.aspx.pdf

Richard T. Wright. “Wild Species and Biodiversity”. Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future. (11th Edition). Pages 261 – 283
Janet Fang. “Ecology: A World Without Mosquitos”. Nature Magazine. July, 2010. 432-434 (2010) | doi:10.1038/466432a
Aldo Leopold,.“A Sand County Almanac”. Oxford University Press, Inc. 1949.

site photos

The EDate

On Line Dating
"The New Paradigm On How We Create Relationships"
From: A Crazy Little Thing Called Love
www.radarblipbooks.com and www.ebookad.com

I am an “EDate” survivor. Being an Edate, as I call it or online dating has changed the dynamics of how we meet and fall in love. I used to be one of them.

A brief history of online dating. There once was a love story called Linda and Leonard. They met online and lived happily ever after. But wait,that was really not the beginning. It goes back much further to the year 1979. In 1979 I was lucky to a pioneer in the phenomenon of communication via the home computer. I remember sitting at my Apple computer in the laundry room slash office having hooked up my acoustic coupler modem and receiving my first call on my computer. It was an engineer who was testing modems at Arco in downtown Los Angeles. I was amazed. Imagine me, a housewife sitting at my house in Woodland Hills California talking to someone who I didn’t even know. Neither of us knew each other’s age, our physical appearance nor the sound of the others voice. Here we were typing, two pioneering souls in the new cyber society.

I had belonged to the Apple Corp, a grassroots computer club that met at UCLA. A group of computer “nerds” as we were called back then, fascinated with these machines that would revolutionize not only our world, but the entire world. As part of the club, we included our phone number in a newsletter and I became one of 12 Bulletin Board Systems or BBS’s for short, that had sprung up around the country. The phone continued to ring and my little computer continued to bring me new people from all over southern California. I started to see that communication without face to face or voice to voice would change how we view each other. I had days when I sat in my bathrobe, slippers and having a bad hair day. But who cared? I was welcomed and greeted for no matter how I was looking or feeling. The person I was communicating with could only visualize me from what I was typing.

In 1981, our modem bulletin board system went from one user to a 12 users system. The computer community grew. We called it Mail Pac. The Los Angeles Times ran a story about it and more people joined the Mail Pac village. We became a family. A group of people who could sit at their home and talk to each other at one central system, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We started to meet for pizza every month so we could see what each other looked like in person. These were single people, families, children and parents. All these people could see the vision of what the internet would soon become. At the first meeting, I was amazed to see that the little community came in all ages. The faces behind the screen names ranged from ages 8 to age 75. The computer allowed all of us to be “you” without anyone really knowing what color hair you had, how tall you were or even your age.

This community included a housewife from Santa Monica<, one celebrity endorsement agent, a well known songwriter, a television writer for a major network, a retired air force sergeant, an 8 year old from Van Nuys, a corporate sales manager, a sound engineer, a child actor from Encino and yes even a non sighted person. Each could be equally accepted for our individual mind and not our appearance. We forged a bond that we might not have happened if we were neighbors, coworkers or friends. We could say whatever we wanted; we could share our moods, our daily ups and downs, our fears and our hopes. Our lives became interactive all hours of the day, it was real time problem solving. As in life, all other facets of human interaction kicked in. That included online romances for example. When you live behind a screen name, you can be anyone your heart desired. It’s amazing what can happen. You could be any age, any sex, and any martial status. Handicaps do not exist.

The success story was that a woman named Linda Thomas. She met a man named Leonard who called in; they typed for hours and finally talked on the phone. One night he showed up at her door step and never left. They got married and went off into the sunset happily ever after. This was 1983 but soon our community would be gobbled up by bigger giants who came onto the scene smelling profit. The CompuServes.

Moving into the future: The Linda and Leonard love story has changed slightly. Although online dating today is not different in its approach, the gene pool, so to speak, has gone from a handful of singles to millions of singles not only in this country but all over the world. Whether you are listed on Match.com, Eharmony, Yahoo.com or Tickle.com, you can still be anyone you want to be. And that right there is the first problem. You don’t even have to ever meet the other person You can become what I term a serial Edate just by sitting on your couch and typing away. Charm the potential prince from your kitchen counter or cheer up the lovely damsel from your desk at work. We can live our love life in fantasy.

When beginning your new role as an online availability, most of us must choose the words describing ourselves, or at least in our opinion how we see ourselves. Since there is no one to judge the real facts, you can write down anything you see applies to you. If you are slightly overweight and don’t think of yourself that way, you become “average”. If you smoke but you really you are going to give it up, you might list yourself as a non smoker. You can literally create your persona for the entire world to see and right from the comfort of your own home. Then you go on exhibit.

What I learned about playing the Cyrano de bergerac back then was that most of the people who sign into the services are hiding behind a screen name, a description and a photo and often times not even a current photo. It is our introduction to others, our potential mate and it is so important because it is what we put out as the first impression. And we wonder why things don’t always work out?

I questioned seven people who have been an online dating site for more than two years. Each had the same goal. “To meet the love of my life”. Has each of these people done that? No, the sad part is that out of the seven cases, none have met the perfect match. Actually most had met what they considered their perfect match only to have it end in failure within months and often time after just four dates. Has each person been happy with this dating process? Their answers to what they want and what they actually mean might be two different things. All have been confronted with the indecision of staying another month or taking themselves off. Some actually have removed their profiles and then came on again once a relationship does not appear to be going anywhere. So why do they stay?

Options for meeting singles is primarily bars, single events, friends, family and church. Let’s not forget the workplace then again I’ve heard horror stories about mixing business and pleasure. Each of these people are within the ages of 32 to 62. Most are professional people or people who have had a good education, stable upbringing and are financially secure. The question remains, what goes wrong? The real answer might be that nothing is wrong. It is not the online dating system that has failed them, it is how they treat the online dating system, the purpose of online dating really is about. Did you ever wonder how many people are actually on single sites and how many people do find relationships that last more than one year.

I don’t think online dating is an ending, although most shoppers are looking at each product as an ending. What if they understood it to be a store? A place where you can shop for possibilities and opportunities. Let the happily ever after come later. Looking at every photo and profile as happily ever after can be dangerous business. It leaves out so many factors. But it can be used as exposure. Playing the odds so to speak. Not necessarily an end of the journey. In my test cases, do they represent themselves as I saw them?

Subject Number One: male, fifties, nice looking, and excellent job. How many dates has he secured from his online experience? He said he lost count in year one but it probably has totaled about 70 -75, ranging in all ages. Has any of these encounters worked out on a long term? “No” he answered. He has had a lot of fun, met a lot of woman. Is he carrying baggage in his nifty luggage called life experience? What is he like in his personal dating life in comparison to his online dating life? His photo reflects an accurate portrait of what he looks like. What both ofthese things do not show is that he is an incredible womanizer, attacking any new female face at any party or at any social event. In real life, he is the serial womanizer, never finding the ideal woman he sees in his mind, always looking for Cinderella in the next female he sets his eyes upon. Was the internet really the wrong choice for finding Ms Perfect? I’d say no. The internet is where he belongs.

Subject Number Two. Female, age 58, married for many years, widowed. Faithful in her marriage before her husband’s death. Became an addict to Match.com about eight months ago. Has met and dated about 12 men, the longest span being 1 month. She claims she wants only one special person in her life, someone who loves her, someone she can love. When asked why she felt none of the men she met from her Edate worked out, she claimed that they or most of them had flaws. None was as perfect as her husband had been. One in particular did not know how to spell properly, most lived too far away, although she knew exactly where they lived when she wrote to them, some were shorter or taller than she imagined, as if that should make a difference. But the most important fact seemed to be in her response, “there was no personal chemistry” or connection when she met them in person. Is internet dating actually the right choice for this pouncer? Probably.

Subject Number Three: Single, female, 36 years old. Has dated perhaps over 150 men in one year alone on the internet. At one stage she had a breakfast, lunch and dinner meeting each day of the week. I guess she knew how to save on grocery bills! Did any of these men work out? The answer is no. It didn’t work for the three years she was on a number of sites. She once got thru one whole month of one man. She is off the love matches these days and has become a serial dater in real life. The difference is that she meets her men in bars. Was internet dating the wrong choice for this feline stray? The answer is no!

I am a lucky winner at online match making. I tried the all promising, “total match compatibility”. Forget it. I matched 100% with a 26 year old in New York City. The problem was I was a 56 year old in Seattle Washington! After a very few sorted coffee dates with tedious small talk, I found exactly what I had hoped. A sweet wonderful man who far exceeded my expectations physically and mentally. I am perhaps rare in the big scope of things. Why? I looked at this phenomenon as a possibility and not as a direct solution. I knew what qualities I was looking for at the core of a person. I did not judge by someone’s photo nor their typing skills. I looked beyond to realize it would all come down to how I felt when I was in close contact to that person.

I looked at internet dating as nothing more than a dating store. It allowed me to shop until I dropped so to speak with endless possibilities. Not only did I not have to buy, I could try it on as well. Money back guaranteed. It was the door opener not the promise of happily ever after. It saved me from getting all dolled up and parading myself in front of a group of eligible bachelors. I never have liked the thought of feeling as if I was in a beauty competition and I truly believe in time management. Online shopping allowed me a heavy dose of time management. Pick and choose, that’s what it is all about. You can pick and choose until you find exactly the right one. It reminded me of being a kid with a box of chocolates, taking a little nibble out of some of them until I could find the prized chocolate in the middle. Toss the rest in the trash.

From my research as a writer, I knew that chemistry isn’t necessarily a stock portfolio nor size of someone shoe. It is far more greater than that. Chemistry is simple about chemicals. Chemicals that arouse our senses to get those pheromones going. It is not about logic, it is about love. And in reality can anyone ever figure out what love really is?

In conclusion, I think internet dating is a good thing. It allows us a grander marketplace for finding that right person. But remembering, the right person might even be called, the right “people”. Is there really happily ever after in a world of rapid changes? What is happily ever after for a 55 year old when you can see that shorter span in front of you, then the longer span you have already lived. Or for a 21 year old when the marriage statistics say that one in every two marriages will fail? Love and your love life in the millennium sadly might be about chapters and not about one complete romance novel. Seeing the internet for what it is and no more than that, could possibly help those who have these wild eyed fantasies about finding one perfect love. Look at it as the Sears catalog ofpotential and not as the end result of a probability. If you do you, might find that magic will happen.

The Look of Love, Nope Its in the Smell

The Look of Love, Nope Its In The Smell
From the article
This Crazy Little Thing Called Love
www.Selfpublishingnews.com
Also available in the book
A Crazy Little Thing Called Love
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Since beginning of time, man has tried to express himself in song and verse to how he feels about love. Unfortunately, there isn't a class called "Love 101" in neither school nor college that can teach us how to understand this powerful emotion, especially when we are caught in its grasp?Medical science has proven with the use of MRI that our brain activity is more active when in a pleasure state. Blood pressure goes up, our cheeks flush. Yes being in love is magical. Endorphins don't just come along when love is in the air, they are also present during battle, stress, or running a marathon. The heart may play the role songs and sonnets but it's really the brain that is enjoying all this activity.Increase blood flow to the brain, the brain is one happy camper.So in reality -- love is a drug for the brain. Unfortunately like any drug, there are diminishing returns. Pheromones hold the key. A quick whiff can carry our euphoria from eighteen months to three years. At this time our passions are the highest. This love drug is called PEA or phenyl ethylamine. Its effects are similar to speed. When youfreefall, PEA is heightened. By comparing freefalling tolove, suddenly I am seeing the risk of ogling over Prince Charming. Both can be deadly. In a nasty trick of nature along come those pesky little endorphins. They, like morphine tends to calm the pain, dampen the feeling we experience from our love bite. Things are not looking up. Research has shown that at about four years, love starts to wane and that this is a critical time for divorce rates. How can we describe pheromones? Anyone who has a male dog will know that he urinates over his territory to mark his scent and discourage other dogs from his "territory". Well even if you have a nurtured dog, the principle still carries on. It's in the genes.These little scent marks actually contain pheromones. Androstenol are pheromones that can be found on the mouth of a pig. When the male pig puts his mouth on the snoot of a female pig, she become receptive to sex. I guess this is equivalent to a kiss as we know it. Fortunately for human women, it takes a little longer for some of us to prop ourselves into the mating position! And speaking of pigs or eating like pigs, researchers have found that when mice are given the MCH hormone, they have an increase in appetite. Human participants in a program given MCH became hungry for a pizza when they were not hungry before that point.

Yes, there is a connection in falling in love and feeling hungry. Just when things are looking up about love, now we have to think about eating like pigs. Going back to Relationships 101, since 50% of all marriages end in divorce and perhaps 80% of live-ins don't last, why wouldn't we want to get educated to correct these statistics? What red-flags do we need to know before entering into a relationship, love bug or no love bug? Do we want our hearts broken if we know the love affair will not work? What is too much too soon?In the day and age of the internet and personals, the words "I love you" can happen before you even meet the person you are emailing. How do we recognize control freaks, power trippers, gold diggers? How do we seek the truth about the person we want to love? Of course if you have Relationships 101 you might need a follow-up class called Breakups 101.I, like most people, want perfect endings. In the reality of life, happy" beginnings" do not always mean happy endings and that life sometimes isn't fair nor is it a fairy tale. Most of us have a fear of giving our heart completely. It leaves us venerable to the pain and disappointment down the line. We feel like a thief in the night has taken something inside us when we get disappointed in love. Let's face it, love can physically hurt. So what is love anyway? Definitions of love basically say it's a deep feeling of affection toward a person, place or thing. "Thing" might include your pet cat, bird, or even your goldfish.

Love, or what we might call love can also be a feeling of desire and attraction toward a person. Perhaps we should call this lust, not love. Freud saw romantic love negatively. He commented that falling in love was a "craziness, an illusion, a blindness" to what the loved person is really like. On a cheery note, he also saw the positive side of love, at least that of non-erotic love. There is evidence that human pheromones exist, babies show a clear preference for pieces of clothing that has been worn by their mothers. Research suggests that men and women chose their mates in partby sniffing out compatible immune systems.

The bad news is that science has found we are losing our ability to excrete pheromones by the evolutionary process. Are we doomed? No, research is working on substitutes. The problem is that pheromones are characteristic to individual people. Pheromone based perfome has been touted as a miracle, however the reality is that perfumes and scents only cover up the natural process, it doesn't help create the natural excretion.

The delusion of love at first sight may have to be adjusted to love at first whiff. It has nothing to do with the 12 billion dollars that Americans and Europeans spend each year in the perfume industry. It has nothing to do with cosmetics or after shave we buy to attract a mate. The emotions of the heart are really the sensations of the brain and the nose.
Not very romantic I must agree, but it is the reality of science. Personally I think that being in love brings calmness to our world. Make love not war? It is amazing when we are in love, our aggression subsides. We are happy. If we are all in a continual state of love, would it change the world? Perhaps.

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

This Crazy Little Thing Called Love
By Kathleen Mary Andersen
Reprint from: Opinion Magazine
Exerpt from A Crazy Little Thing Called Love
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To win or lose at the game of love. As the song goes, love hurts. Or was that love stinks? Either way what often begins as joy, happiness and lust, turns into anger, distrust and hate. I pondered about these two strong emotions and how closely they are related. We start by loving a lot of things about another human being, then somehow along the way, that love can turn to hate. How is it possible to love someone and yet hate them as well? Can we feel both at the same time for the same person? I had to look at the source of both to find an answer.

Webster's dictionary lists "love" as "an intense longing or craving".
This explanation can hardly give me a clue. No wonder why we can't get it right. Its the mystery that has plagued scholars and philosophers since the beginning of time. If Webster cant give us an answer than who can? We can start by going back to our birth. I, like many people, find a lot of love in babies. They arent really always beautiful when they are born. I looked at my own pink and shriveled son in wonderment when I first saw him. I did overlook all of that and saw the love of the Pureness of a new soul, one that had been untouched with the baggage of lives experience. I dont think we are born into this world full of hate, loathing andresentment. I think us, as individuals create it. Life throws us scenarios, we respond back with feelings and emotions that fall into the spectrum of love on one end and hate on the other. The quagmire of Life can help us create disillusion, disappointment and apathy or it can give us the ability to turn it to understanding, hope and love. In otherWords, we can make lemonade out of lemons or muck it up with mud.

Love and hate are born from ourselves. It is internal. They reside inside our Soul and we are given a choice in life what to do with them, how to apply them to our perception of how we view things. They form our attitude not just Toward each other but toward everything that comes across our path. Love and hate. One can be looked at as the positive and other, the negative. One might be considered a high and one might be considered a low. A ying and a yang. The sliding scale like a rainbow, an array of emotions in between that forms our personality and helps us mold our outlook into a unique and individual fingerprint. It is really our responsibility to paint the canvas using these emotions. We can either be heavier on the loving, caring, nurturing category and light on the Cynical, devious, maniacal side or visa versa. Its our choice.
Why is it that when we experience love, everything seems alive? We notice The sky is bluer, flowers smell sweeter, we want to sing, our whole mood Seems to resonate and we throw off love to everything like candy kisses in A parade. Love equates to being happy. On the other hand, when we are Hit with hate and disappointment, we allow another group of emotions to rise: Misery, irritability, jealousy, anger, envy. Our happy mood changes to sad and mad. Hate unfortunately seems to carry far more weight than love. It eats at Our physical body likes a virus. Life isnt so grand anymore. We can clearly see the duality of love and hate. For many, hate will live many more minutes in Their life span than the minutes filled with love.
Wisdom tells us that when we experience love and hate, we need to look at the source of its existence. If someone angers me, does it truly belong? To the person who evoked it or is it something I am projecting from myself Onto that other person or object? We all interpret the interaction with other human beings differently. Did you ever yell at a perfect stranger in the car? Next to you because they didnt let you cut in front of them? Are we really Angry at them or are we angry at ourselves for not getting our way. Did you ever See anyone throw something down when they got anger in a store? When my mother was alive and she said to me "I think Youve put on some extra pounds", I didnt get angry. I overlooked it, For after all, she was my mother and I loved her and I knew it was just Either her opinion or she was only saying it to help me. But if my husband Had made the comment about any weight gain I might have taken it personal, made counterclaims, made excuses or worse case, cried because I thought it might have affected his love for me. This is the reality of life. We all do it. I am guilty of attaching love to exterior conditions versus conditions of the soul.
Love and hate needs an object to attach itself to for its survival. We toss It out to the screen of our choice. For example, the deepest love can turn into the deepest hate when the object of that love we give is not given back in return. Its an emotion coming from us, floating around until it anchors itself onto a destination. You cannot experience love or hate unless its directed at an object, human or inhuman. Love and hate are both natural emotions that help us become unique and different from other human beings. How many people have killed for? Love and how many people have killed for hate? Crimes of passion carry higher statistics than crimes of robbery. Wars are fought for love and for hate. We stay in relationships because of love and despite our feelings of hate. People are killed because they love too much. Aids is a death sentence often times because of love. Control And domination is often mistaken for love but it is born of hate.
In our everyday life we must determine what boundaries love and hate will take. I really hate lobster. Its ok, sometimes hate or dislike has a place In our lives. I love fudge brownie ice cream. Unfortunately that kind of love Isnt always good for me. We think we love someone but in reality is it that We need their approval for our self esteem. We need their validation that I am ok? Our society has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Men were loved for being providers and mates for the procreation of life. Women have progressed in the job ranks to be self sufficient on their own income. They dont need to fall in love for someone to provide for them. And as harsh as it sounds, anyone can select a set of genes At the fertility bank these days to produce an offspring. Do these now Play an important factor in whatwe think and feel is "love".
If we are really honest we can see that love sometimes is very shallow and fickle. It is sometimes miscast as "I feel incomplete and inadequate on my own and I am hoping that if I get connected with you, l will feel complete and worthwhile." Hate on the other hand is strong, rooted and destructive. We are taught from the time we are children that love is good and hate is bad. It is wrong to hate and right to love. Realistically I think both have a distinct purpose in who we are. We just have to learn where the boundaries are. I am an animal lover. I think animals were put on this earth to give us Lessons in unconditional love. I recently spent the holiday with my sister and her three dogs. One is one years old and one is 8 years old. They play once in a while but the older dog gets testy and loses his patience with the younger dog. But together, they forge a team of defense when anyone tries to come into the yard. Its just a natural flow of teamwork. Theres no big dog, little dog, old dog, young dog, you take the front, I take the back routine. No egos here. She just took in a puppy that someone dropped off in the neighborhood...
The poor little guy had obviously been beat. When you raise your hand, he is frightened of being hit. He is responding nicely to love. Someone Did their best to make this dog learn hate but in the end, love stepped in. In exchange for her love, they love back. They dont care what she looks like When she gets up in the morning, how old she will be on her next birthday, or Even if she comes home late from work. They will unconditionally love her and Protect her domain, working as a team of three now without question. The "I" of life, our ego, plays an important part in the drama of love and hate. We often hate due to fear. We hate because our self esteem or ego is being attacked. Sometimes we think people say things to be malicious and Hateful to us when in reality they may be acting out their ignorance, fear and hurt They have experienced themselves. We often take it as hate. We anger back because it gives us the illusion of feeling better, having control. One thing about love and hate, its free. Its energy that we can create instantly, doesnt have a time schedule and its not owned by a corporation. It exclusively belongs to us. We throw it out and then become entangled in its web. I have to take a hard look at love and hate. I have to address my own attitude. I might always keep my loathing of the color chartreuse green and my adoration of chocolate truffles. I can live with those loves and hates. But I do feel a need for all of us to look at our usage of love and hate in our daily lives. Is it acceptable to love someone for their age, their looks, like money?
Or what they own? Or is this type of love that represents a shallow extension of our Ego? A false representation of love that hides the inner soul? Is love just a give thing and not a take thing? Does love mean not finding the perfect person but By seeing an imperfect person perfectly? Buddha said, "Everything that is alive is deserving of love." I think so. Understanding the difference, the boundaries, the acceptable application are the hard part. We are not given a road map to love and hate when we are born. The Bible says no matter how angry we are at someone, we should always still love them. That is a tall challenge I must admit. As I glide thru the mysteries of life, trying to get it right I have to look around. I believe mostly everyone on this planet wants to love and be loved. I dont believe we are born wanting or looking to hate.
I think we acquire it. How many will actually get the brass ring Of love is the question. How many will be victims buried in the flood of hate Is another. As in Ecclesiastes, "To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven." "A time for love and a time for hate, a time of war and a time of peace". The challenge we face is determining How to balance both as we wake each day. How to juggle the forces that Love and hate can take in our hearts, our minds and our attitude as well.

Vampires in America -
Have you been bitten?
By Kathleen Mary Andersen
reprinted from Opinion Magazine
Vampires are alive and well in America. Believe it. They are here. You could be one of them and not even know it. They could be your co worker, your boss; they could be your in law, your neighbor or, yes the worst you can imagine - you could be in love with one. Don’t laugh, I am not kidding. Before you conjure up images of Bella Lagosi or you run out in your yard looking for a wooden stake, let’s take a look at the vampires I am referring to. Vampires exist in corporate America. Vampires have always existed in business, but lately, it seems that business cannot survive in the millennium unless it hires vampires. Unfortunately, for us, vampires make wonderful bosses. They feed and are motivated by one goal - company profit. They never look in the mirror because as you know a vampire will never see a reflection of who they really are. You might remember how it starts. At first your job is enjoyable. You are new, you don’t have many obligations.
Ground work. This is the ground work that is needed to take you in. Gradually your enthusiasm is converted into the pressure called "company loyalty". Do it for the company so they say. "Hey", I ask, what about for the pay!" In today’s weakened economy and high jobless rate, fueled by global competition most companies are forced into one purpose and one purpose alone -- to make money and make money now. The dark foreboding castle on the cliff of yesterday where Dracula lived has been replaced with a store front. After all, this modern day vampire has to survive and it does with your hard work. The corporate vampire boss is caught up in titles, promises of future promotions and power and so they don’t mind selling your soul "to the company store" as Tennessee Ernie Ford sang in "Sixteen Tons". Vampires in corporate America are an epidemic. If you don’t take the bite, you are in today’s terms, "history".
Circle of Victims. Now let’s go home circle and family vampire. Yes, each time you move, you risk living right next door to a vampire. In all the years I moved around the country, I canremember a few times my neighbor turned out to be a vampire. Who knew? It’s only after you are bitten that you realize what has happened. The neighborhood vampire is the kind person and often times the first person to greet you to their social circle. They welcome you with open arms, introduce you to everyone on the block, and entice you by bringing over a plant, some home-baked cookies or even a wonderful casserole. You see, vampires really do have charm and panache. It always starts with kindness. Once you have your defenses down, they pry on every detail of your life and your background so they can focus in for the kill.
When I was younger, I had a beautiful woman who became my neighbor. She was charming, funny, and couldn’t do enough to help me feel at home in the neighborhood. Her husband was always out of town on business. She must have seen me coming. I was a trusting soul. Little did I know I was being courted by a vampire. For this she-devil didn’t really want my friendship; she wanted what I had, and what I had was a husband who was home all the time. Hers was out of the country, so mine would do in the meantime. It took me about six months to finally catch on, and I eventually did. It was a painful lesson of the bite from a neighborhood vampire. I later found out she ran off with another neighbor’s husband. Perhaps I was the lucky one to escape her clutches.
Neighbors who are vampires are not always promiscuous women looking for love with your spouse. They can be the vampire of words. The queen of the neighborhood gossip mill. These are insecure people who live in your neighborhood and get their sustenance for survival on "gossip". In order for them to get it, they must inch their way into your life and find out every small detail, so they can collate the information to their priority and pass it along to others in the neighborhood. Gossip is power, and those who know the most about the personal lives of others hold the audience in the palms of their hands. We trust these people, for often these vampires are friendly, willing to offer you help when you need it, making us drop our guard, and going along for the ride. It’s when you laugh at something they might have told you about someone else in the neighborhood that it becomes a horror of realization that "you" are the brunt of her jokes when your back is turned.
Gossip vampires don’t take pity on you. Talking about others is their drug. If someone talks incessantly about others, the odds are they are talking about you as well. If you know someone like this, think again. You may have a mark on the side of your neck! The guidelines of the neighbor vampire are synonymous with those of the co worker vampire. Anyone who has ever worked in an office knows that those friendly, smiling souls who seem so concerned with how you are each day may just be a vampire in disguise. It gives them power to keep a bag of tidbits about everyone and offer you one when you need it, those days when it’s more enjoyable to hear about someone's else’s problems than deal with your own. After all, it makes us feel just a little better when you know someone else’s life is more screwed up than yours.
Other neighborhood vampires, but sometimes called the "not so dangerous" vampires, could be the down to earth - guy next door. It might start out that Charlie wants to shoot the breeze about the recent baseball game or talk about his recent tune-up. With all vampires, it always starts out as subtle and easy. That is part of the ritual, and that is usually why we cannot see them coming. Maybe there is some common sense that to the idea that fictional vampires first flutter into your life as small bats. Chatting over the fence becomes borrowing a hammer or a screw driver, minor things that aren’t an inconvenience. And they return them so that you keep your guard down at all times. It all appears harmless. The next thing you know, they come over one day and ask if they can borrow your lawn mower, skill saw but, hopefully, not your car or your wife. Maybe this is all starting to make sense.
Home Circle of Vampires. Let’s come a little closer into our home circle and family. The rules of neighborhood vampires apply also to in-law vampires. Family gossip and relatives who borrow things fall into the same category, and we all have them in our life at one time or another. Unfortunately, in-law vampires we inherit so are harder to get rid of than our neighbor. They come with the territory called love. They can attach themselves into your personal life as painfully as a carbuncle on the side of your neck. It’s the material for mother-in- law jokes. Your vulnerability to protect yourself from these vampires isonly weakened by your mate’s attachment to their advice. When anything in your relationship goes wrong, they run to this vampire and feed the fire with more information that the vampire needs to use against you. You in exchange become a victim.
Dating Vampires. I was inspired to write this article as I had a friend who had an encounter with the worst vampire in not just America, but the entire universe! He is what is called the "love" vampire. It is a bite that you might not recover from. In coming to understand the persona of the vampire of famous novels, they don’t necessarily fly in the window and bite their victims on the neck. Vampires are charming, good looking creatures that smolder with sexuality. In real life, that is what happened to her. Her vampire didn’t flutter his wings and land at the foot of her bed. This one knocked on the door and waltzed into her life and before she knew it, he captured her soul. She knew her life would never be the same no matter how long he is gone. The bite of a love vampire can be terminal.
When she first saw this vampire, she looked into his eyes and was mesmerized by a lucid, azure pool. It was the eyes of a tormented soul who she thought was crying for love and affection. She fell right in. She was hypnotized. That is what vampires sometimes do. Little did she know that some vampires can present themselves as Prince Charming one moment and turn into Ivan the Terrible when they get you. Emotional vampires are skilled and educated. They are charismatic, and know you better than you might know yourself. These vampires are born with the ability to look over a situation quickly and summarize the weakness right at the beginning. Membership in Mensa does not qualify someone from recognizing a vampire. Think I’m kidding? Love vampires are also known as emotional vampires, and they are the subject of many studies and analysis of psychologists. They can be male or female and once they steal your heart, the rest is history. This vampire whisked her off my feet within weeks, he succeeded in killing her off from her friends and relatives and she was his. This was after, of course, he got rid of the last victim…his wife.
She was there at the castle, stunned like a deer in the headlights, she threw away any practicality. Vampires are like chameleons because they can change quicker than you can say abracadabra. Either way, once she was there wrapped in the cape it is not easy to escape. It’s a game and the vampire then moves on to the next victim, sometimes before the body is even cold. This story just doesn’t apply to female victims. It can happen to a man as well. Do you know anyone who has met a sweet woman, only to find out later that Snow White and the wicked witch are really one in the same once they have you? Those first little things they do for you because they "love" you vanish faster than a rabbit in a magic act. Not only that, you find the situation reversed, and you are doing double the duty to keep them happy. The comments of "I love your shirt, your dress, how you look" changes into "you aren’t going out of the house dressed like that, are you"?
The emotional vampire lives on what they can take from your emotions. It’s about control; and vampires, whether it is in real life or in that fictional account of Count Dracula, live on control. Control over you. They are people who have no self esteem or control over their own life, so they must feed on yours. In reality, we are all emotional vampires in one way or another. To fall victim, do we have be insecure to fall into this trap, or was are we sometimes just not educated to recognize human psychology when it bites you in the neck? Love vampires play on our emotions but capture our essence and sometimes our soul. Isn’t that what the underlying theme of all the vampire movies are about?
The lesson here is not just to recognize a vampire in your life but to stop yourself from being a vampire. It’s a chain of creation from one bite to another. It’s easy to become bitter, lose your self esteem, become like them after you’ve had the very life sucked out of you. Perhaps vampires are children of vampires. Their childhood forces them to go through life looking for what is missing in themselves. Don’t despair, there is hope. Understanding that this is what human nature is about is one step to a healthier future. Protecting yourself by not taking part intheir activities can be more potent than a necklace of garlic around your neck.
No matter how old we are, we must get to the stage that we can laugh at the lessons we have learned when dealing with vampires. The evil Count Dracula of the past can be replaced in the future by the funny George Hamilton Dracula as in the movie First Bite. Make no mistake, take a look around you, vampires are alive and well in America.