*[Enwl-eng] The Finders

[ecology]

In a world where so much life is vanishing, these nature-loving obsessives 
bring us much-needed good tidings.

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                                News of the world environment


                                 NEWSLETTER | JULY 25, 2025

























                                The Finders

                                LAST YEAR, the slender-billed curlew was 
declared extinct — the first documented extinction of a bird species 
(Numenius tenuirostris) whose range extended from mainland Europe to North 
Africa and West Asia. So too the Orkney charr (Salvelinus inframundus), the 
Taiwanese swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon sylvina), and a host of 
other plants and animals. Their fate is an indicator of a grim future for 
biodiversity. In fact, according to the International Union for Conservation 
of Nature, more than 47,000 species currently face the threat of extinction, 
including a quarter of all mammals and freshwater fish, a third of tree 
species, four in ten amphibian species, and nearly half of all reef-building 
corals.

                                But beyond that parade of horribles, that 
litany of gloom and doom, is a bit of good news: the continuing discovery of 
previously unknown species by dedicated researchers who love the living 
world. These discoveries are often made by nature-loving obsessives, whose 
dedication, patience, and persistence can be hard to understand. I call them 
Finders.

                                “When we look at scientists, they have this 
intrinsic passion or curiosity for a particular subject, and it was not 
crushed out of them,” clinical psychologist Edward Hoffman, an adjunct 
faculty member at Yeshiva University and my longtime friend, told me when I 
asked him what drives Finders. That passion “was nurtured and encouraged by 
parents and teachers and mentors,” explained Hoffman, who is a leading 
researcher in positive psychology. “We know people who are highly creative 
in the sciences tend to be optimistic; they tend to enjoy challenges and 
solving problems. They tend to have a need for novelty. They get bored 
quickly if this passion is not fed in their lives.”

                                How long can that depth of passion, that 
excitement, that thrill of the quest last?




                                READ MORE

                                Photo courtesy of Rob Gandola.






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                                SUGGESTED BROWSING

                                A Better Foodway

                                In America’s Broiler Belt — which stretches 
from eastern Texas, through Arkansas, and into the Southeastern states 
before extending north to Maryland and Delaware — some farmers are getting 
tired of being trapped in a system that prioritizes profits above all else. 
(Bitter Southerner)



                                There's Something About the Texas Sky

                                Generations of Texans and Texas transplants 
have tried to cage the expansive Texas sky in words or pictures. This author 
sets out to attempt the same. (Texas Highways)




                                Poor Advantage

                                If you think you can buy your way out of 
plastic pollution harm, here’s a fun fact: wealthy people have more PFAS — a 
“forever chemical found in many plastic products — in their body than 
lower-income people. And that’s probably linked to buying. (The Atlantic, 
gift link)



                                Garden Therapy for ‘Trad Trans’

                                There’s a long tradition of marginalized 
people, specifically trans and left-leaning and queer people taking to the 
countryside, to the hills, to the woods — for similar reasons a 
right-leaning folks. (Eater)









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            From: Editors, Earth Island Journal
            Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2025 3:45 AM
            Subject: The Finders




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