Welcome to my site! This site is dedicated to my life. You’ll find my personal biography, pictures of my friends and I, as well as page dedicated to my hobby, photography.
About Me:
I was born on March 19th 1975 in San Jose, CA. So far I’ve spent my entire life in San Jose, CA. During my high school years I was captain of the chess team and most valuable player. We traveled to China for the Chess Finals and placed 2nd world wide.
After high school graduation I went on to attend San Jose State University on a full scholarship. I was awarded the scholarship from the National Association of Chess Players. My major was Computer Science, Programming. Granted, it was a tough four years with all the partying I did and the significant lack of sleep; however, I managed to graduate with honors.
Currently I am working for a major telecom firm, as a systems software engineer. The work is alright, but the money is better.
Well, that’s pretty much my life.
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HOME PAGE
The book.
The book I am writing is called, "The Sixth Extinction". I am writing it for the sharks and cetaceans and in truth for all of the world. For the issues faced by sharks and cetaceans are a primary key factor in the question of whether or not any of you reading this will be alive in the next 40-100 years. Our children could well be the last humans on the planet, and it all hinges on the choices we make today regarding sharks and efforts to protect them.
Most people cannot even fathom the truth about what is happening right under their noses and what it means to between 87-93% of all life on planet Earth. If bears or owls or elephants die off it affects their local Eco-systems, but not the world as a whole.
But if sharks die off, then WE ALL DIE! and that is not conjecture or myth, it is a scientific fact! If sharks vanish it is not "we all suffer" or "things get a little sadder" it is "WE ALL DIE!" Because without sharks we will loose our breathable atmosphere.
Whoa Erik! Wait just a second! What kind of nonsense are you trying to sell us here? How can shark extinction possibly lead to the death of humanity, and 87-93% of all life on the planet? Is that even possible in any way?
It is not only possible, it is happening right now! We are rapidly moving into the Sixth MAJOR world extinction event. Of the 5 that preceded it, only the Permian-Triassic extinction of 251 Million years ago, will rival the number of life forms killed off. And by the way, that includes ALL humans! The new Extinction is called the "Elasmobranchii-Cetacea Extinction Event" and people are seeing it's many symptoms and mistaking the symptoms such as global warming, for problems in and of themselves. But they fail to put they big picture together!
At the heart of this issue are 3 Life forms locked in a morbid battle and a game of annihilation! Elasmobranchs ( Sharks, Skates, and Rays ), Cetaceans ( Whales, Porpoises, and Dolphins ), and Homo Sapiens ( Fishermen, corporations, criminals, profiteers, pirates, smugglers, mafia, corrupt governments, whalers, dolphin hunters, longliners, longnetters, and many foolish members of Humanity. )
So before we go any farther Erik, would you please prove to us that you are not some vegan gone nuts, or religious zealot predicting doom and gloom, or some disgruntled conservationist trying to scare the masses into conservation efforts?
Of course. I will give you the very simplest explaination of what is happening. My book goes into far greater depth. So here we go.
Sharks and Cetaceans are appex predators ( meaning that they are at the top of the food chain ). They eat massive amounts of small fish and crustaceans. They have been doing it for around 340 MILLION years. ( BTW when species are around that long virtually unchanged it means that they are not only a success story in nature, but that they play a VITAL role in the food chain ).
Now these small fish and crustaceans eat the green plants, algae, and phytoplankton which produce Oxygen and absorb and control carbon dioxide! How much?
The oceans produce around 70% of our oxygen, and control/absorb over 80% of harmful carbon gas. So when the numbers of sharks and cetaceans plunges low enough ( sharks and cetaceans of most species are down by 90% ) then there will be a population explosion among the prey species which will then consume our life line!
When that happens O2 ( Oxygen ) levels will drop, and CO2 ( Carbon Dioxide ) levels will rise. This will increase the "Greenhouse" affect and cause increased temperatures on the planet. And if we are able to ignore the fact that without O2 we cannot live, we can jump right ahead to looking at what will happen when the polar seas experience a 2-3 degree temperature increase,... it is a hidden danger that will ultimately join in with the dying atmosphere to help finish us off. Methane Hydrate.
Vast reserves of Methane Hydrate are housed and trapped as a liquid that is slightly heavier than sea water in cold places, especially off of Norway, Greenland, and down in Antarctica. A 2-3 degree increase in sea temperature will cause the Methane Hydrate to switch from a liquid to a gas state, and it will then rise and be released into the atmosphere "en mass"!
Methane gas in such huge volume will then destroy and strip away our ozone layer. And without an ozone layer UV radiation from the sun will kill off the vegetation on the planet! Herbivors and carnivors will both suffer and die. And even those that survive for a short while will have the rapidly toxifying atmosphere to deal with as it suffocates humanity and all other major life forms!
The primary key in this whole problem is the Shark! Even if you hate these magnificent creatures, and if you hate conservation. You should still be most concerned with sharks! Because we cannot survive without them!
Get involved. Visit the Eco-News pages of my website ( www.erikbrush.com/ ) to find out more, or visit the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society site ( www.seashepherd.org/ ) To learn more, or visit Sharkwater at ( www.sharkwater.com/ ) .
I am also including a link to my newest site SHARKS FOR LIFE based on the SHARKS FOR LIFE Group on the Sea Shepherd forums. The website address is ( http://sharksforlife.homestead.com/index.html ).
I hope you like this overview. The site will give you a taste of things to come, both with the book content, and future goals as the movement to protect Elasmobranchs and Cetaceans expands. And after all, protecting them also protects us! Have a great day and thanks for your visit. Read on.
Special thanks to Sarah Burkett for the use of her amazing poem!
My Judgment Day
As the skies are filled with fire,
The oceans with blood,
Will you be there?
When the forests burn,
The air becomes poison,
Will you be there?
When the end comes,
Will you be there,
Or will you just fade away?
- By Sarah Burkett
Chapter 1.
The End is just beginning, or is it?
March 19th 2049;
The haze never leaves the air. I thought that this might have been some sort of catastrophe that was the proverbial icing on the cake, something extra that was a by product of the anarchy of a few years ago, but it turns out that it is part of the neural illusion that is afflicting my eyes just as it does the rest of the few people that I still find alive. The burning in my lungs is a great labored burn. It has a pressure behind it like being up at a high elevation. But I am not very high above sea level. My eyes feel dry all the time and yet I am hydrated well enough. I remember how back in the last decade the animals up high began to die off. Birds forced into lower migratory flights thanks to the thinning air. Many succumb to the carbon dioxide that had been increasing steadily and making the atmosphere dangerous. Of course soon jets began having flight problems. Partially due to new migration routes of these birds and partially due to engine stalls and cut outs. Seemingly inexplicable at first.
But the FAA had been testing these crashes and running analysis after analysis of the problems and soon discovered that a lack of oxygen had been killing the jet engines. This was going on globally and people were more and more afraid to fly. Of course scientist were pressed by governments and the atmosphere became a huge concern. Perhaps they could have done something? Hard to say back then. The debates had raged and everyone had a theory as to what was happening and why. But the best scientists around the globe were not arguing. They were investigating and testing their findings to be absolutely sure that what they had found was correct. They were in agreement and the great industrial nations seemed baffled and stunned. Planet earth it seemed was on the threshold of a new mass extinction event. The cause seemed to strike these nations blindly out of the blue. Scientists were calling it the beginning of the Elasmobranchii-Cetacea Extinction Event.
They reported that in the history of life on this planet the world had undergone five major mass extinctions. The Ordovician-Silurian extinction, the Late Devonian extinction, the Permian-Triassic extinction, the End Triassic extinction, and the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. The Permian-Triassic extinction about 251 million years ago had been the worst. It had killed 95% of all species.
But this new extinction was not from an ice age, or a mass volcanic eruption, or an asteroid impact. It had not come from a war, or a virus, or changing weather and global warming. It had come from humanity breaking one of nature’s prime laws. A law which states that you must never destroy any key elements in the chain of life for doing this to any of the foundation blocks will destroy the chain. A chain critical to life.
But we had done just that, broken the chain. What on all earth could have caused us to do it? How had we done it? Nature is resilient and rebounds, even from the likes of humanity doesn’t it? But she had not and could not stop the onslaught. We had stolen from her two of her oldest keys to life. And in turn she had done what nature always does, flows through the paths of least resistance to the inevitable.
As I lay here looking around me I cannot hear much wheezing or coughing any more. Movement is painful and there is a burn in my muscles that I understand comes from lactic acid and a lack of oxygen. The area reeks with death. Insects are still thriving. So gross seeing them all over. They have been unchecked for about four years now, maybe more. They are having a feast and breeding without animals to stop them. I saw a snake a few days ago. Not a big snake, a little ring neck snake. So small and still thriving. I heard that alligators and crocodilians are still doing okay. But I am doubtful that even the big crocodilians can breath in such a thin atmosphere. Hard to say, they do have a lower respiration rate.
About 6 years ago everyone tried to go “green”. People went plant happy. They thought if we could plant enough plants and trees that we could supplement the failing oxygen levels. But it was not enough. What few folks wrote or reported about the chaos of those years called it the Green Wars. Fools scrambled to get plants and seeds. Reports that certain plants produced more oxygen made people frantic to get their hands on those types of plants. They actually fought over plants of all things! It was like some weird post apocalyptic science fiction movie. Some plants were more valued than gold or currency. It was a futile effort. Many governments experimented with O2 separation plants. Big industrial plants where distilled water in huge vats were given a catalyst and then electronically stimulated to separate the hydrogen molecules from the oxygen molecules. But at full capacity they could not product enough to change the balance. Perhaps it might have worked if they had started it soon enough. But it had all happened too late.
As my head grows heavy and the painful migraines continue to wrack me with an almost insanely torturous pain, I can barely think straight. My lungs burn! I feel so weak and tired. I wonder how many are left? Can’t be too many. The world is dying, and my last breaths are faint and weak. The light is fading. Is it getting dark? No it is still too early in the day for that. The darkness is mine. The darkness is closing its fist on all of us. The end of most life. I wonder how long the insects will last? I wonder…
Sounds like some sort of Science fiction story doesn’t it? One of those melodramatic whoa is me, Armageddon tales right? But it is not science fiction. Oh yes, I added some artistic license with regard to the date and the reflections, but it is not science fiction and this is not a far-fetched idea. It is a science fact and it is an event that threatens us all. I wanted to get the reader’s attention because I need you to understand what the problem is and how we can prevent it now while there is still time and hope for us all. I am not an alarmist type person either so please do not mistake this for a religious viewpoint, or some chronic alarmist idea. This is a real event. It is beginning to take place right now, and it is in full swing under our noses. The alarms have not yet sounded out in full. People are distracted by some of the symptoms without yet noticing the big picture. I am here to help put that picture into focus. I will let you decide what to do after that.
So lets discus the beginning of the Elasmobranchii-Cetacea Extinction event shall we? First of all what the heck does that even mean? The event is named after the two key groups of creatures that will trigger it. Elasmobranchii is the sub-class of fish better known as sharks and rays, and Cetacea is the order of mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Two groups of animals that share several common traits and factors.
While these two groups are far apart from each other physiologically and even in their mental capacity, both are very alike in their history and their role in the ocean eco-systems. Sharks are one of the oldest living animal groups and have ruled the oceans and helped shape the evolution of their prey species for over 430 million years. During that time they have remained virtually unchanged. They are a success story in evolution and a highly efficient predatory species. Most sharks and rays are fish and crustacean eaters and have very specialized roles to play in controlling fish populations. Contrary to the accounts of human legends and folk tales sharks are not the avowed man-eaters that myth likes to play them up to be. Only a few types of sharks even prey on marine mammals and reptiles and these are specialized in the prey species that they take.
While sharks have killed and eaten man it is a rare occurrence and very few of the reported shark bites each year result in fatality. Most shark attacks are actually shark bites. A mistaken Identity in cloudy water and a shark making an exploratory bite to see if it has a prey item in it’s mouth. For it is with the mouth that sharks explore their world. Most of these so-called “attacks” happen in water less than 3 feet deep and most of the victims suffer minor damage from the bite. As terrifying as it may seem, they are still simply a case of mistaken identity. And given the number of bathers and swimmers that are increasingly in the water near shark feeding and hunting grounds it is quite remarkable how few “attacks” there are worldwide. If only one could say the same for mankind toward the shark. We are hunting them down and fishing them out. The shark populations around the world are plummeting. They are down by 90% and we are killing over 100 million a year. Shark populations cannot sustain this onslaught. As the sharks vanish their prey species begin to boom. The population explosions of these creatures are a nightmare waiting to happen.
Humans it seems cannot figure out the reality without having it pointed out. The prey of sharks and cetaceans are the predators of phytoplankton, algae, and green plants that control dangerous carbon gasses and release oxygen. Almost 70% of the world’s oxygen comes from the planets oceans. Over 80% of carbon gasses are controlled by the oceans.
Nature balances herself out if allowed to function as she always had throughout history of the life on earth. But now mankind has changed all that. A new exploitation is going on and it is an exploitation that affects all living things. It is an exploitation that is already triggering the inception of the newest mass extinction event. It is no accident that sharks have survived and ruled 2/3rds of the planet for the last 430 million years. Like the cetaceans, they are there for a reason. It is a reason that we cannot afford to ignore.
You might think of it as a cake. The world at large and its various life forms. The cake has a certain taste and a lot of ingredients. Much like a baking recipe one can alter or remove a few of the ingredients and it will not dramatically affect the taste and consistency of the cake. But if you remove the flour and the liquid, be it water or milk, then the cake would not work. The cake will in fact fail without these primary ingredients! So the same holds true of nature, if we remove any of it’s primary ingredients, it too will fail!
TEASER
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Each page is expanding, more content soon! Hope you enjoy the site!
