Category Archives: Human Impact

Biosecurity Protects Islands

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“Without island biosecurity pests will rapidly recolonize islands from which they have been eradicated, or worse still colonise islands for the first time. Only with a rigorous audited biosecurity programme can pest-free status be maintained. The gold standard in New Zealand is Nature Reserve islands like Antipodes Island, where quarantine occurs before, during and after arrival, surveillance occurs pre and post border, and incursion response strategies are in place. The New Zealand Department of Conservation operates a robust island biosecurity programme to protect their conservation investments, but it was reported in the news today that last year numbers spiked, including mice, rats, cats and stoats all making it out to islands. Stranger critters such as ferrets and even otters have reached New Zealand’s offshore islands in the past. Unlike the original pest eradications which cleared these islands, and were years in the planning, a response to an incursion must, as DOC manager Andy Cox points out, be as rapid as if a forest fire had broken out. Pest incursions are the biological equivalent of chemical spills, only the agent can keep reproducing.”  Sourced through Scoop.it from: voices.nationalgeographic.com

GR:  Biosecurity is another term for nature conservation.  It is a relevant concern planet wide.  This article focuses on invasive species, but there are more things people do that are affecting  biosecurity on land and sea.

My lineup for the worst human impacts on nature are:  Greenhouse gases (global warming, ocean acidification), habitat destruction (construction and farming), invasive species (includes disease), resource use (fishing, gathering, grazing, hunting, recreation, and water diversion), and toxic wastes (other than greenhouse gases).  Behind them all looms the great instigator, human population growth.

Global Warming Is Wiping Out the Bees

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Bumblebees, a linchpin of the global food supply, are vanishing across huge swaths of North America and Europe as a result of climate change, a new study says.  Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.usnews.com

GR:  Earth’s lands, like its oceans, can’t take anymore. Though many species are better adapted to warming than bumblebees, none will escape human impacts unchanged.

It’s Not Just Sao Paulo — Much of South America and Caribbean Swelters Under Extreme Drought

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The map shows that no country in South America is unaffected.

robertscribbler's avatarrobertscribbler

In Sao Paulo today, a Latin American megalopolis that is now home to 20 million people, public water supplies are cut off for as long as three days at a time. But despite this draconian rationing, the Cantareira Reservoir sits at 9 percent below dead pool. A level so low that utility managers had to install new pipes into the reservoir bottom to tap water supply dregs. A controversial policy due to the fact that drawing water from so low in the pool both results in fish kills and in much more polluted water going into rivers (like the foaming Tiete) and the drinking and bathing supply.

Cantareira Reservoir bone dry

(The Cantareira Reservoir has been bone dry for more than a year and a half now. Severe water rationing has managed to keep levels about steady for the time being. Image source: UOL.)

At least the dramatic cuts in…

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Time to Think — Tomorrow is National Trails Day

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Frisco resident Leigh Wadden hikes along a trail in the Eagles Nest Wilderness in the Gore Range, part of the White River National Forest in Colorado.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: summitcountyvoice.com

GR:  Please don’t disturb the wildlife.  Now is the time to stand guard over wild habitats, not tromp through them.  Wild animals are struggling and dying.  Every bit of stress they must endure from our presence reduces their chances for reproduction and survival.  Visit wild habitats after we have reversed the great biodiversity decline.

Speak for Wolves

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On August 7-9 2015, Americans of all-walks-of-life will meet in West Yellowstone, Montana to tell our elected leaders that we need to reform wildlife …  Source: www.speakforwolves.org

GR:  We could choose to maintain intact ecosystems.  There are so many species threatened now that it’s hard to decide where to spend efforts.  Wolves are a pretty good choice.  For them to flourish much will have to change in the ways that people live with the land.  To prevail on behalf of wolves will benefit many other species.  The gathering in West Yellowstone concerns all wildlife species.  Let’s go.

See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News

Eleven new species found in Madagascar

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Madagascar is home to extraordinary biodiversity, but in the past few decades, the island’s forests and associated biodiversity have been under greater attack than ever.  Source: phys.org

GR:  The Wildlife Conservation Society and others such as those listed by the Lemur Conservation Network are working within Madagascar to preserve wildlife.  However, as elsewhere, those who wish to harvest the land have power and influence.  Perhaps we should all visit, spend a little money, and express our concern.

See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News

Groundtruthing the Westside Timber Sale

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While the Klamath National Forest finalizes its Environmental Impact Statement, and prepares to auction off our public forestlands to the highest bidder, citizens are beginning to organize and get out on the ground to explore the land that is targeted for what could be the largest timber sale in Klamath National Forest history. The Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion is rich with biodiversity, hosting more conifer species than any other temperate forest in the world. The region is considered an area of Global Botanical Significance, and is proposed as an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.

Most of the timber units proposed in the Westside project include Late Successional Reserves that are set aside for the development of old growth forests, and many of the units are within riparian reserves, and Wild and Scenic river corridors which are intended to protect water quality. The Klamath National Forest admits that the Westside project would negatively affect water quality and cause more sedimentation in the Klamath River, and with recent data foreshadowing that a major fish kill in the Klamath River is likely, this is no time to inflict additional impacts to these watersheds.

Source: www.wildcalifornia.org

GR:  Private citizens must oppose this proposal.  Like all significant U.S. Forest Service management actions, the plan benefits corporations and politicians, not the forest.

See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News

Evils of the Livestock Industry

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The following is by Rosemary Lowe: Thinking Beyond the Animal Factories to Save This Planet    Those out there who are concerned about this planet, the wildlife, the wild places, really need to understand how very destructive the Livestock Industry… Source: exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com

GR:  Full acceptance of Leopold’s land ethic requires that we consume a fully vegan diet, release all imprisoned animals, and do what we can to preserve and protect wildlife and wildlife habitat.  Sometimes called biocentric ethics, Leopold’s land ethic, that I prefer to call the Earth Ethic, is the only sensible behavior for our species.  Anything else will lead to eventual decline and extinction of life on our planet.

IUCN – Human development and biodiversity conservation can go hand in hand, study finds

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For A development scenario involving reduced meat consumption and crop waste, as well as less energy-intensive lifestyles can help us reach global development goals while also protecting biodiversity, according to a new study.  Source: www.iucn.org

GR:  What are our global development goals?  Total annihilation of nature? The Trantor of Asimov’s novel?  The words “development” and “progress” are words that are used by those that seek to profit from human desires and fears.  Let’s look closely at our desires and think about making them lasting and beneficial for all–including our fellow Earthlings.