December 4, 2011

Tidbits from the global Oven

Glaciers melting

In Bolivia, the glaciers have lost 1/3 of their mass.

Fresh Water diminishing

In the densely populated North China Plain, the water

table is dropping at the rate of 1.5 meters a year.

Species disappearing

Some 5,000 species of frog have been described to date. Since

1985, 120 (2.4 percent) have become extinct. Of the frog species

we have today, 1,500 (30 percent) are at risk of extinction.

Wildlife Sanctuaries threatened

In spite of the variety and quality of habitats in Yosemite National Park,

three of the species it shelters have recently become extinct – the Brown

Bear, the California Condor, and the small, shy, secretive, silver-tongued

songbird, the Least Bell’s Vireo. To-day, 37 species in the Park are endangered.

Apex Predator Species malnourished

In Canada’s Western Hudson Bay, floating ice now melts 3 weeks

earlier than in 1980, thereby eliminating the platforms from which polar

bears hunt their last seals before retreating ashore for a summer

fast. Since 1980, both the total bear population of the area, and the

average weight of pregnant females, have decreased by 22 percent.

A whole Ecosystem dying

Warm seas, caused by the periodic El Nino Southern Oscillation

climate pattern, bleach and kill coral reefs. The 1998 El Nino killed

16 percent of the world’s reefs – 80 percent in the Province of Aceh,

Indonesia. Historically, corals have recovered between El Nino events.

But this time, there was no cool water in which to recover, and when

the 2010 El Nino hit, worldwide, coral mortality was on a massive scale.

The Young at Risk

Clownfish inhabit coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Their

larvae, even when just hatched, have an olfactory system which

enables them to distinguish the chemicals emitted by predator

species from those emitted by non-predator species. The larvae

avoid predators. In water with carbon dioxide levels slightly higher

than those of the ocean, however, the larvae lose this ability. They

even spend more time with predator than non-predator species.

Marine Life Incubators destroyed

The life now teeming in coastal lagoons is threatened by global

warming. In general, warm water increases the susceptibility of

marine life to invasive species. Also, warm water is less oxygenated

than cooler water. Lagoons retreat inland, as the level of the sea rises,

usually assuming a shape with narrower and steeper banks. The new

configuration increases water exchange with the ocean, thus raising

the salinity of the lagoon, and, due to the greater depth of the lagoon,

reduces light penetration to benthic (bottom dwelling) organisms.

Diversity eliminated

The Cuban tree frog is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, San Salvador, the

Cayman Islands, and a few other small surrounding islands. It is a

tree-dwelling, nocturnal frog, with a call as loud as the bark of a small

dog. At about 4 inches in size, it is the largest tree frog in North America.

The extreme adaptability of this species has made it highly invasive. It

rapidly eliminates all local frog species in the areas it overruns. In the

past 20 years, its range has expanded to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,

Florida, South Carolina, and even the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Rising

global temperatures will further facilitate its worldwide expansion.

Human Food Sources toxic

The warming of the Mediterranean Sea has greatly enlarged the range of

the dinoflagellate (marine plankton) Gambierdiscus toxicus, producer of

ciguatoxin, a chemical highly toxic to humans. The toxin accumulates in the

body of the fish which eats it, and becomes increasingly concentrated as it

moves up the food chain. Large predators, such as barracudas, snappers,

moray eels, amberjacks, parrotfish and triggerfish become highly poisonous.

Originally known only in the tropics, ciguatera poisoning now occurs in Crete.

Symptoms mimic multiple sclerosis, persist for years, and often lead to

long-term disability. The toxin is heat-resistant, and thus not detoxified by

cooking. It is difficult to test for in fish. There is no effective antidote or treatment.

Forests decimated

The present epidemic of mountain pine beetle in the forests of western United

States and Canada, precipitated by unusually warm and dry weather, is an order of

magnitude more severe than any previously known – with disastrous consequences.

Between 1997 and 2020, just the Canadian portion of the forests is set to emit

270 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, an amount equivalent to

40 percent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions from all sources, in 2009

(690 megatons). And, not only does the longer exposure of ground snow and

vegetation to dust and sunlight induce melting, and thus an earlier run-off, it also,

because of evapo-transpiration, reduces total run-off. The present reduction in

run-off is 1.0 billion cubic meters of water per year, double the water allocated

annually to Las Vegas, and a third more than that allocated annually to Los Angeles.

The Lungs of the World in Jeopardy

A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in the speed of the wind during a storm.

Usually, a strong upward wind at the leading edge of a region of cooling,

is followed by a strong downward wind. On January 16-18, 2005, a line

of squalls 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) long, and 200 kilometers (124 miles)

wide, crossed the whole Amazon Basin from southwest to northeast. (The

Basin is about the size of the 48 contiguous states of the United States, and

encompasses 40 percent of the South American Continent). Vertical winds

blew at 145 kilometers (90 miles) per hour, swiftly snapping and uprooting trees.

Some 552,000,000 (552 million) trees were destroyed, a loss which represents

a decrease in the capacity of the Amazon Rainforest to absorb carbon dioxide

equivalent to 23 percent of the average amount the Forest absorbs annually.

Global warming is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of such squalls.

. . .

Stop the Carnage

In the face of the destruction of life itself as we know it,

and of even the potential of Earth to sustain complex life,

concepts such as “ecosystem services,” “mitigation,”

“adaptation,” “restoration,” “management techniques,”

“carbon trading,” “job creation,” and “economic growth,” are

not only simplistic but also meaningless, reflecting only the

shallow, self-centered perspective of those who lack a soul.

References

Principal Reference:

Morhardt, Emil (Editor). 2011. Ecological Consequences of global Climate Change, 2011 – A Roberts Environmental Center annual Snapshot. Claremont, CA: Claremont McKenna College.

P. 23: “Dust-on-snow causes earlier Melt and decreased Water Run-off.” The after-dust-loading earlier exposure of vegetation and soils causes an estimated runoff loss of 1.0 billion cubic meters of water per year. Las Vegas is allocated only half that amount per year, and Los Angeles only two-thirds.

P. 60: “Responses of Crop Yield and Water Use Efficiency to Climate Changes in the North China Plain.” Groundwater levels are dropping about 1.5 meters per year.

P. 99: “Elevated Amazon Forest Tree Mortality associated with convective Storm Processes.”

P. 163: “The Effect of Climate Warming on Polar Bears in the Canadian Arctic.”

P. 176: “Invasive Cuban Tree Frog and its potential Distribution with Climate Change.”

P. 186: “The Effect of CO₂ on Species Development and Interaction.”

Pp. 188-190: “Increasing Sea Levels negatively impact Biodiversity of coastal Lagoons, and increase Susceptibility to Eutrophication.”

P. 192: “The Effect of Climate Change on the Mediterranean Sea.”

P. 261: “Climate Change will exacerbate California’s Insect Pest Problems.”

Other References:

Biological Diversity, undated. “Least Bell’s Vereo.”

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/350_reasons/california.shtml. Accessed 12/08/11.

Cable News Network (CNN), 2011. “Once nearly extinct, the California Condor nears new Milestones.” (Michael Martinez). April 26.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-26/us. Accessed 12/08/11.

Canadian Government, Environment Canada. 2011. National Inventory Report, 1990-2009 – Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada. Executive Summary, E.S. 2: “Summary of 2009 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals.”

www.ec.gc.ca/ges-ghg/default.asp?lang=En&n=83A34A7A-1. Accessed 12/10/11.

Table S-1: Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions for 2009, totaled 690 megatons carbon dioxide equivalents.

Digital Photography Review, undated. “Tips for traveling with single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras – Yosemite Park and Asia.”

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums. Accessed 12/08/11.

Harvard Environmental Law Review, 2010. “‘Stationarity is dead’ – Long Live Transformation.” (Robin Kundis Craig, Attorneys’ Title Professor of Law, and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs, Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida). February 23.

www.law.harvard.edu/students/org/elr/vol34_1/9-74.pdf. Accessed 12/10/11.

Quotes a study by Brian Hoyle, “Plight of the Pines.” April 24, 2008.

http://www.nature.com/climate.

Rainforests, undated. “The Amazon – The World’s largest Rainforest.” (Rhett Butler).

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon. Accessed 12/11/11.

The Amazon River Basin is roughly the size of the 48 contiguous United States, and covers some 40 percent of the South American Continent.

Regniere, Jacques and Barbara Bentz, 2008. “Mountain Pine Beetle and Climate Change.” United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Research Forum on invasive Species.

http://nrs/fs/fed.us/pubs/gtr-nrs-p-36papers/47regniere-p-3 6.pdf. Accessed 12/10/11.

Solon, Pablo, 2010. “Amy Goodman interviews Pablo Solon on WikiLeaks.” Toronto Bolivia Solidarity. Cancun, Mexico. December 28. P. 3.

http://t.grupoapoyo.org/node/ew. Accessed 12/08/11.

“We have lost one-third of our glaciers in our mountains.” [At the time, Pablo Solon was Chief Negotiator at the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (2010), and Ambassador from Bolivia to the United Nations (2009-2011)].

United States Government,

Environmental Protection Agency, undated. “Corals and other marine Calcifiers.”

http://epa/climatechange/effects/eco_coral.html. Accessed 12/10/11.

“Coral reefs harbor more than 25 percent of all known fish.”

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 2010. “Study finds Amazon Storm killed half a billion Trees.” (Alan Buis, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA). News. July 13.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/feathers/amazon20100713.html. Accessed 12/05/11.

Wikipedia, 2011. Accessed 12/08-10/11.

“Amazon Rainforest.”

“Benthos.”

“California Condor.”

“Ciguatera.”

“Ciguatoxin.”

“Clownfish.”

“Coral Reef.”

“Cuban Tree Frog.”

“Dinoflagellate.”

“El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

“Frog.”

“Human Impact on Coral Reefs.”

“Lagoon.”

“Mountain Pine Beetle.”

“North China Plain.”

“Polar Bear.”

The average weight of lone (and likely pregnant) female polar bears has decreased from 290 kg (640 lbs) in 1980, to 230 kg (510 lbs) in 2004. Between 1987 and 2004, the Western Hudson Bay population declined by 22 percent.

“Squall.”

“Yosemite National Park.”

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