338
of the myriad strategies employed by ecto- and endothermic species endowed with
behavioral capacities of torpor and other forms of hibernation, protective scales,
density of feathers, rapid fat accumulation, “counter-current heat exchangers” in
elk, up to 30% weight loss in grizzly bears, and so on.
12
Alas, “For any ectotherm, even brief exposure to subzero temperatures carries
the risk of irreparable injury or death. Cold impairs cellular functions by rigidifying
membranes, slowing ion pumps, inducing oxidative damage, denaturing proteins,
and altering energy balance,” writes Jon Costanzo.
13
Most dogs, left outside at 20
degrees Fahrenheit or less, are likely to perish. Dogs also risk severe heatstroke if
left confined in an ambient temperature exceeding 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Even the
notion that indigenous birds are perfectly adapted to the onset of brutal Winter
months has long proved false. Miami was hit by snow in 1977. The storms affected
much of eastern North America. Researchers examined 20 species of birds in the
aftermath and found that “at least 80% of brown thrasher, winter wren, eastern
towhee and junco” as well as “northern flicker and red-bellied woodpecker”(s) had
died of the cold.
14
The numbers across every swath of science fail to achieve their intended target,
save for all the passing residua, either cold and algebraic or emotional. That is
because our intentions are not mathematical. We are not made of numbers, statistics,
or calculus. Our biology is an ambassador for vast assemblages of individuals whose
combinations we have designated with the jargon of population science. But we
should tread carefully here, as if a cease-and-desist warning had been upended and
the consciousness caught in the crosshairs of some distant feeling, issued by reason,
otherwise lost in a stubborn white-out of the multitudinous, regained reason, just in
time. Just short of that dehumanization, that nameless, numberless “mass man”
about whom/which José Ortega y Gasset so trenchantly speculated.
15
But what of the calculations that must swarm the mind as we thrill to an icy firmament of near-infinite stars or stand back in horror at the gates of a slaughterhouse? The ecological sciences are guided but must ultimately stand stunned behind
the veneer, the unheroic cover, of that which we believe, however inadequately, we
can count. And having counted, are content to do nothing (Fig. 38.1).
12 See “How Yellowstone’s Wildlife Adapts to Winter,” https://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/connect/yellowstone-hot-spot/how-yellowstones-wildlife-adapts-to-winter/. Accessed
January 15, 2020.
13 See “Extreme Cold Hardiness in Ectotherms,” By: Jon P. Costanzo (Department of Zoology,
Miami University) © 2011 Nature Education, Costanzo, J. P. (2011) Extreme Cold Hardiness in
Ectotherms. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):3, https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/
library/extreme-cold-hardiness-in-ectotherms-24286275/. Accessed January 15, 2020.
14 “How Blizzards and Extreme Cold Impact Birds,” by Joe Smith, Cool Green Science, February
13, 2017, https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/02/13/how-blizzards-and-extreme-cold-impactbirds/. Accessed January 24, 2020.
15 See “The Dehumanization of Art: Jose Ortega y Gasset and Ad Reinhardt,” by Peter Halley, The
Brooklyn Rail, https://brooklynrail.org/special/AD_REINHARDT/artists-on-ad/the-dehumanization-of-art-jose-ortega-y-gasset-and-ad-reinhardt, n.d., Accessed July 14, 2020.
38 The Last Numbers of Emptiness
of the myriad strategies employed by ecto- and endothermic species endowed with
behavioral capacities of torpor and other forms of hibernation, protective scales,
density of feathers, rapid fat accumulation, “counter-current heat exchangers” in
elk, up to 30% weight loss in grizzly bears, and so on.
12
Alas, “For any ectotherm, even brief exposure to subzero temperatures carries
the risk of irreparable injury or death. Cold impairs cellular functions by rigidifying
membranes, slowing ion pumps, inducing oxidative damage, denaturing proteins,
and altering energy balance,” writes Jon Costanzo.
13
Most dogs, left outside at 20
degrees Fahrenheit or less, are likely to perish. Dogs also risk severe heatstroke if
left confined in an ambient temperature exceeding 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Even the
notion that indigenous birds are perfectly adapted to the onset of brutal Winter
months has long proved false. Miami was hit by snow in 1977. The storms affected
much of eastern North America. Researchers examined 20 species of birds in the
aftermath and found that “at least 80% of brown thrasher, winter wren, eastern
towhee and junco” as well as “northern flicker and red-bellied woodpecker”(s) had
died of the cold.
14
The numbers across every swath of science fail to achieve their intended target,
save for all the passing residua, either cold and algebraic or emotional. That is
because our intentions are not mathematical. We are not made of numbers, statistics,
or calculus. Our biology is an ambassador for vast assemblages of individuals whose
combinations we have designated with the jargon of population science. But we
should tread carefully here, as if a cease-and-desist warning had been upended and
the consciousness caught in the crosshairs of some distant feeling, issued by reason,
otherwise lost in a stubborn white-out of the multitudinous, regained reason, just in
time. Just short of that dehumanization, that nameless, numberless “mass man”
about whom/which José Ortega y Gasset so trenchantly speculated.
15
But what of the calculations that must swarm the mind as we thrill to an icy firmament of near-infinite stars or stand back in horror at the gates of a slaughterhouse? The ecological sciences are guided but must ultimately stand stunned behind
the veneer, the unheroic cover, of that which we believe, however inadequately, we
can count. And having counted, are content to do nothing (Fig. 38.1).
12 See “How Yellowstone’s Wildlife Adapts to Winter,” https://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/connect/yellowstone-hot-spot/how-yellowstones-wildlife-adapts-to-winter/. Accessed
January 15, 2020.
13 See “Extreme Cold Hardiness in Ectotherms,” By: Jon P. Costanzo (Department of Zoology,
Miami University) © 2011 Nature Education, Costanzo, J. P. (2011) Extreme Cold Hardiness in
Ectotherms. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):3, https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/
library/extreme-cold-hardiness-in-ectotherms-24286275/. Accessed January 15, 2020.
14 “How Blizzards and Extreme Cold Impact Birds,” by Joe Smith, Cool Green Science, February
13, 2017, https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/02/13/how-blizzards-and-extreme-cold-impactbirds/. Accessed January 24, 2020.
15 See “The Dehumanization of Art: Jose Ortega y Gasset and Ad Reinhardt,” by Peter Halley, The
Brooklyn Rail, https://brooklynrail.org/special/AD_REINHARDT/artists-on-ad/the-dehumanization-of-art-jose-ortega-y-gasset-and-ad-reinhardt, n.d., Accessed July 14, 2020.
38 The Last Numbers of Emptiness