NASA — World Just Had Seven Months Straight of Record-Shattering Global Heat

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Perhaps vengeance is ours after all.

Climate: Why a half-degree matters

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GR:  The temperature increases discussed in this article have drastic consequences for terrestrial species. Because temperature declines with altitude, a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius is equal to a 500 ft increase in altitude. The change increases the optimum altitude for many plant and animal species. Making the climb in decades or even centuries is not possible for most plants and the animals that depend on them.

Soda Fire Recovery Not Going as Well as Portrayed in the Media

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Last week a Associated Press article proclaimed that the rehabilitation taking place after the Soda Fire, which burned 225,953 acres along highway 95 on the Oregon/Idaho border in August, was going well. Not so fast. According to a report from Roger Rosentreter, a retired PhD botanist who worked for the BLM for 38 years, things aren’t going so well. Dr Rosentreter submitted his report to the BLM on April 25th after attending a tour of the Soda Fire recovery area sponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration on April 12th. The tour was attended by staff from the USGS as well as the BLM. The tour consisted of stops at three areas, the Wilson meteorological/erosion station, the Blackstock drill seeding area, and the Upper Blackstock area.

At the beginning of the report, Dr. Rosentreter states:

“Based on observations at these sites is possible that BLM caused more damage than good on the Soda fire rehabilitation. Many of these actions caused damaged forbs and biocrusts. These disturbances destabilized the soil and will encourage the colonization by invasive species including cheatgrass.”

Large areas of the Soda Fire have been replanted with Siberian and crested wheatgrass, a non-native grass species that ranchers like for its livestock forage value. It has little value as wildlife habitat and is difficult to get rid of once it has been established. In one unburned area visited by Dr. Rosentreter, the BLM had used rangeland drills to disturb the soil and plant seeds. According to Rosentreter, this area did not need rehabilitation but, unfortunately, the drills overturned the soils in the unburned area and little was growing in the newly disturbed soils. These disturbed soils are now prime habitat for cheatgrass and medusahead rye, another invasive annual grass that has gained a foothold in this area and that is just as bad for fueling fires but even less palatable for wildlife than cheatgrass.

To summarize, Dr. Rosentreter says:

“The BLM project personnel may not have consulted with a broad cross section of their own experienced resource personnel and, instead, relied on less ecologically knowledgeable fire, operations, and local range staff for planning this apparently ill-fated rehabilitation operation. An oversite review by BLM soil scientists, botanists and more experienced wildlife personnel could have provided valuable recommendations for adaptive management. Future review by non-agency scientists might help to improve future fire rehabilitation plans and actions. This rehabilitation did not utilize the knowledge gained from recent science on fire rehabilation nor on the vegetative needs of sage grouse.”

From: www.thewildlifenews.com

GR:  BLM often tries to assist ranchers without regard for the long-term stability of rangeland ecosystems.  Here’s another excellent example of the disastrous consequences.

Global 2040 Forecast Sees Only Slight Fall in Fossil Fuels

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Despite the urgency to cut greenhouse gas emissions as climate change bears down on the globe, fossil fuel use is not likely to change much in the coming decades. Though renewable energy will grow quickly though 2040, gasoline and diesel will still move most of the world’s vehicles, and coal will still be the largest single source of carbon emissions.

Those are the conclusions of a forecast released by the federal government on Wednesday for how the world will use energy and what its carbon dioxide emissions will be over the next 25 years.

Gasoline and diesel will likely remain the globe’s biggest transportation fuels in the coming decades.
Credit: Michael Kappel/flickr

Here are five things to know about the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s World Energy Outlook 2016 and what it might mean for the climate:

Global carbon emissions from energy consumption are expected to grow at an average rate of 1 percent per year between 2012 and 2040, growing a total 34 percent in that time as fossil fuels provide the world with more than three quarters of its energy.

“With existing policies and regulations, worldwide energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will go from about 32 billion metric tons in 2012 to something like 43 billion metric tons out to the year 2040,” EIA administrator Adam Sieminski said.
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Fossil Fuels to Dominate World Energy Use Through 2040

Developed countries are expected see their carbon emissions increase about 9 percent through 2040, but in the developing world, those emissions will spike 51 percent.

That’s because developing countries, particularly China and India, are likely to continue to rely mainly on fossil fuels for their energy. Those countries alone account for 59 percent of the growth in global carbon emissions.

Unless there are unexpected changes in global climate policy over the next 25 years, coal will still be the world’s king of carbon emissions in 2040.

Coal is expected to account for 38 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2040, down from 43 percent in 2012. Annual growth of coal use by that time is expected to be about 0.6 percent. In 1990, coal was responsible for 39 percent of global carbon emissions. Natural gas, by comparison, will account for 26 percent of global carbon emissions in 2040, up from 20 percent in 2012.

China is the world’s leader in coal consumption. With recent announcements that the country will reduce its use of coal by closing down power plants and shuttering mines, the EIA expects the country’s coal use to peak by 2025 thanks to the its economic slowdown and pledge to cut emissions.

From: www.climatecentral.org

GR:  The growth in renewable energy is FAR TOO SLOW! The forecast described in this article is a prediction of global disaster.  As pointed out in the Guardian this morning our time is about to run out (https://garryrogers.com/2016/05/11/worlds-carbon-dioxide-concentration-teetering-on-the-point-of-no-return/).

World’s carbon dioxide concentration teetering on the point of no return

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Future in which global concentration of CO2 is permanently above 400 parts per million looms

From: www.theguardian.com

Satellite images map forest-fungi relationships

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Even in the desert, fungi and other soil surface microorganisms are critical to ecosystem stability. They capture moisture and nutrients, block invasive species, and prevent soil erosion. Too bad that most have been destroyed by the hoves of grazing livestock and the movements of people on foot and in vehicles.

Groundwater a huge factor in sustaining Colorado River flows

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Urban population growth and demand for food could spark global unrest, study shows

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A population explosion in urban center around the world is expected to fuel an unprecedented demand for food that – if not met — could trigger economic. . . . (From: www.latimes.com).

GR:  Joe Bish of the Population Media Center commented on the LA Times article:
“The following article was published by the L.A. Times late last week, and reports out on a new report titled “Growing Food for Growing Cities: Transforming Food Systems in an Urbanizing World.” This lengthy study was issued by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and weighs in at around 100 pages. The report continually cites population growth as a major factor in pressuring food supply chains. For example: “Explosive population growth, both rural and urban, will require 50 to 60 percent increases in global food production by 2050 in order to meet projected demand,” says the introduction. Overall, the word population is mentioned 67 times. Unsurprisingly, but nonetheless regrettably, the report fails to offer a shred of advice to policy makers regarding family planning information and services or universal, unrestricted access to modern contraception. The report’s priority recommendation is for the US government to “Pass legislation committing the United States to a long-term global food and nutrition security strategy.” This would have been a perfect spot to share and emphasize best-practice interventions on family planning. The key question about the failure to do so may be whether it was a failure of the report’s author — or the failure of population advocates and communicators to effectively and widely engage professional experts outside our silo?”

Discover how UNEP is setting the global environmental agenda in its annual report #UNEP2015

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United Nations Environment Programme.  From: www.unep.org

GR:  The loftiest goals, the finest presentation, for the glossiest oxymoron: “sustainable development”. We must keep in mind that population control is the key issue. Population control is not mentioned in the UNEP Annual Report, and in fact, most of the sustainable development goals will increase population. It is an artful deception to praise development for its contributions to humans and nature. Development is the term used to describe human use of the Earth.  It encompasses all those things we do that have led to overpopulation and overuse.  The whole plethora of processes it involves must be ended or reversed now if we are to save the majority of wild plants and animals.  I say “must” for it seems to me that without nature’s complexity, our environment and our existence become tedious and tenuous.