How forest management and deforestation are impacting climate

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“Two new studies reveal how altering the composition of trees in forests is influencing not only the carbon cycle, but air surface temperatures to a significant degree as well. The results highlight how human-made changes to forests hold more severe consequences than previously believed. Worldwide, reforested areas are increasingly prominent; for example, in Europe, 85% of forests were managed by humans as of 2010. Strong favoritism of foresters to plant more commercially valuable trees — such as Scot pines, Norway spruce and beech — has resulted in reforestation of 633,000 square kilometers of conifers at the expense of broadleaved forests, which decreased by 436,000 square kilometers since 1850.”  www.sciencedaily.com

GR:  Another look at this story.

AZGFD.gov Sunday is last day to hunt Arizona’s quail

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PHOENIX — “With nothing but sunshine and spring-like temperatures in the weather forecast for this weekend, there’s really no excuse for hunters not to get out in the field and chase quail one last time.
“The season for the state’s three main species – Gambel’s, scaled and Mearns’ – ends Sunday, Feb. 7. The general bag limit is 15 quail per day in the aggregate, of which no more than eight may be Mearns’ quail. The general possession limit is 45 quail in the aggregate, of which no more than 15 Gambel’s, scaled or California quail in the aggregate may be taken in any one day. The 45-quail possession limit may include 24 Mearns’ quail, of which no more than eight may be taken in any one day.”  azgfd.net

GR:  Many of these beautiful birds will die over the next 72 hours.  Shouldn’t killers be given psychiatric treatment rather than living targets?

Arizona Game & Fish Department – Off Highway Vehicles

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“Off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation is one of the most popular recreational activities taking place on public and state lands in Arizona. Please obey the laws, stay on designated open roads and trails, and ride safely and responsibly.”  www.azgfd.com

GR:  The sights and sounds of humans on foot and on wheeled vehicles are disruptive to wildlife.  Numerous studies have shown their harmful effects on foraging and reproductive success.  So why would a wildlife management agency promote such behavior?  Why in the midst of the great mass extinction of life on Earth would a government agency promote activities harmful to wildlife?  Oh, wait a minute, is it for money?  Crazy.  Will voters ever come to respect wildlife and require their management agency to dedicate its efforts to protection?

New report assesses impacts of drought on US forests

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A new U.S. Forest Service report, edited in partnership with Duke University, projects that drought will have far-reaching impacts on U.S. forests and grasslands in coming decades. phys.org

What about logging, grazing, roads, transmission corridors, and recreation?

Cause for hope: Secondary tropical forests put on weight fast

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How fast tropical forests recover after deforestation has major consequences for climate change mitigation. A team including Smithsonian scientists discovered that some secondary tropical forests recover biomass quickly: … phys.org

Hope?  Perhaps we would have hope if we reversed population growth and greenhouse gas emissions today.

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Mali’s Desert Elephants Face Extinction in 3 Years

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“DAKAR, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Mali’s elephants, one of just two remaining desert herds in the world, will be gone in three years unless the government does more to protect them, a conservation group said on Thursday.

“Poachers have taken advantage of the chaos from a growing Islamist insurgency and other unrest in the lawless north to step up ivory trafficking – a trade that the United Nations says funds militants.

“Sixteen elephants have been killed so far this month, adding to more than 80 slaughtered in 2015, said Susan Canney, director of Mali Elephant Project for the WILD Foundation.”  www.scientificamerican.com

GR:  These great animals indicate the consequences of our lack of concern for other species.  Instead of protecting our fellow creatures, we eat up their habitats and harvest their body parts.

Climate, disease, and Human Population Control

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The Future of Population Control?

Population -- People massWe humans will eventually solve our population problem–not voluntarily–but by our own actions.  Here are some of the human-caused factors responsible for reduced births and longevity:

  • Insect vectors for human diseases are moving to new places as climate changes.
  • Disease organisms are developing immunity to antibiotics.
  • Heatwaves and lethal storms are increasing.
  • Radioactive isotopes and other toxic materials are spreading through Earth environments.
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem stability are declining.

In the post below, Scribbler reviews some of the diseases related to climate change.

Zika and the New Climate Dystopia — Human Hothouse as Disease Multiplier

“As of today, authorities in Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, El Salvador and Venezuela were urging women to avoid getting pregnant… It is unthinkable. Or rather, it is something out of a science fiction story, the absolute core of a dystopian future.” — Bill McKibben in a recent statement on global warming and the now pandemic Zika virus.

“There are a plethora of diseases out there. Diseases we don’t know about. Diseases locked away in far-off, rarefied corners of the world. Diseases that operate in small niche jungle environments. Diseases that live in only cave systems or within a single species. Diseases that were locked away millions of years ago in the now-thawing ice. Diseases that, if given a vector — or a means to travel outside of their little rarefied organic or environmental niches — can wreak untold harm across wide spans of the globe.

Countries with Reported Active Zika Transmission

“(Countries with reported active Zika transmission. Until recently, Zika flare-ups had been isolated to Central Africa and French Polynesia. Now the virus is a global pandemic with World Health Organizations authorities concerned infections could top 4 million. Image source: The CDC.)” –Robert Scribbler.

Nuclear history – theme for January 2016

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GR:  People react slowly or not at all to the chronic action of toxic pollutants that escape our control or, more often, are simply cast away. It’s easy for the polluters to deny the danger. One day, there will be statistics to show how Earth’s plants and animals were harmed and what this did to their health and life span. Will people say, “Why didn’t someone do something?”

Christina Macpherson's avatarAntinuclear

The start was America’s Manhattan project – developing the atomic bomb. Then came the horror of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then came – the shock and guilt, and the attempt to turn the nuclear project into something good – “atoms for peace’ “electricity too cheap to meter”.

Of course the costing for “cheap” nuclear energy did not include the health and environmental toll of uranium mining, which, as always, was to be paid by indigenous people. Costing also did not include the virtually eternal toll of the cleaup of radioactive trash. And of course, there would be no accidents, (no Chalk River, Rocky Flats, Windscale, Mayak, Lenin icebreaker, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Tomsk, Hanford, Fukushima Daiichi)

Meanwhile, the military-industrial complex continued its production of nuclear weapons. Other countries adopted the “peaceful nuke”, so that they could develop nuclear weapons. The nuclear arms race was underway.

skull nuclear world

FROM THE…

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Save Hundreds of Thousands of Squirrels From Being Murdered

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Target: European Union Director-General for Environment, Daniel Calleja Crespo

Goal: Stop the planned taxpayer-funded cull of grey squirrels.

Hundreds of thousands of squirrels will be killed in 2016, thanks to recently approved legislation by the EU. Under this new EU law, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy must organize and carry out the slaughter of grey squirrels from next year onwards using methods that include bludgeoning, poisoning and shooting the animals. This cruel practice will be funded by taxpayer money from all EU countries.

Moreover, the cull will continue into the time of year when female squirrels are nursing their young. Thus, the mass murder of nursing females will cause hundreds of thousands of baby squirrels to starve to death. This practice is therefore illegal, as starving animals is considered torture and is in breach of the animal welfare standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health.  From: forcechange.com

Please sign the petition.