On
reflection, I think it's time to retire the metaphor of canary in the
mine, at least in our assessment of environmental well-being. I
nominated honey bees for that role a couple of days ago, and their
disappearance is dramatic and ominous. But any review of the range of precipitous
species decline and destruction offers so many other candidates for
that grim distinction that I imagine a mine more full of innocent
birds and beasts than miners. Consider only the birds. I don't know how canaries are
faring, but Audubon Society research published in 2004 says 70 percent
of grassland bird species, 36 percent of shrub-land birds and 25
percent of forest birds are declining.