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Galapagos Island Volcano Erupts After 33 Years, Threatening Fragile Ecosystem

Posted by samzenpus on from the when-the-volcano-blows dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Wolf volcano in the Galapagos islands has erupted for the first time in more than 30 years, sending lava flowing down its slopes and potentially threatening the world's only colony of pink iguanas. The Galapagos National Park says that currently there is no risk to tourism operations, but the Environment Ministry is notifying tourist operators to take precautions. A tourist boat passing by took an amazing picture of the eruption.

6 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Photo? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's a freakin' volcano erupting and all we get is a Reuters article without any photo and a link to lame-ass Facebook which doesn't even work?

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    1. Re:Photo? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It seems the problem is that I don't have a Facebook account. If you call that a problem.

      Shame on samzenpus for thinking everyone is a lemming, especially on Slashdot.

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  2. Seems to me that the volcano... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    would be PART of the ecosystem, no?

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  3. Why would I want a Facebook account? by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Found the problem, you have to be logged in to Facebook to see it.

    And why on earth would I want to do that? Facebook has nothing of value to offer me that I care about and I sure as hell do not trust the company. I do not have a Facebook account and don't expect to get one any time soon. I'm certainly not going to sign up to get some random news article that undoubtedly will be available elsewhere.

  4. You realize... by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...if humans save these pink iguanas, we are interfering with nature. Can't have it both ways, by saying our actions that make stuff go extinct is bad, and actions by nature that makes stuff go extinct is bad, too.

    1. Re:You realize... by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ...if humans save these pink iguanas, we are interfering with nature.

      Yes. And?

      Can't have it both ways, by saying our actions that make stuff go extinct is bad, and actions by nature that makes stuff go extinct is bad, too.

      Can't have what both ways? The premise is that things going extinct is universally bad. Yes, even when its entirely due to natural causes its still in our bests interests to preserve it. Biodiversity is objectively valuable; because we can learn from it.

      Letting a species go extinct is like shredding the last copy of a book. The more interesting and unique the species the greater the loss to science.

      Finally, and perhaps tangentially, its also rational to put higher value on the larger / famous species -- the extinction of some obscure spider or toad is perhaps just as much a loss as the extinction of tigers scientifically. But tigers are culturally significant in addition to being scientifically significant. So the extra awareness and priority to them is warranted.