Tag Archives: Environment

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.

How ignorance and indifference are contributing to climate change

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Uganda:  In the current decade, features such as Namanve Forest have simply disappeared under unclear circumstances and turned into industrial parks and slums…

Photo caption:  A thick layer of algae paints Lake Victoria around Port Bell landing site in Luzira, Kampala (PHOTO/Maria Wamala).

Source: www.monitor.co.ug

GR:  Similar stories of human ignorance and developer disdain for nature are repeated for rivers, lakes, valleys, villages, cities, and nations around the world.

Pipeline breach spills oil into Yellowstone River

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Yellowstone RiverBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) 1/18/15 — “Montana officials said Sunday that an oil pipeline breach spilled up to 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana, but they said they are unaware of any threats to public safety or health.

“The Bridger Pipeline Co. said the spill occurred about 10 a.m. Saturday. The initial estimate is that 300 to 1,200 barrels of oil spilled, the company said in a statement Sunday.

“Some of the oil did get into the water, but the area where it spilled was frozen over and that could help reduce the impact, said Dave Parker, a spokesman for Gov. Steve Bullock” (Associated Press).

GR:  It is unfortunate that the safety of wildlife is not an instant concern for government and company representatives.

UN sends team to clean up Sunderbans oil spill in Bangladesh

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Thick tar clogging 350 sq km of delicate mangrove forest and river delta, home to endangered Bengal tigers and rare dolphins The United Nations said on Thursday it has sent a team of international experts to Bangladesh to help clean up the world’s…

Source: www.theguardian.com

GR:  In many instances, we can’t rely on local governments to clean up environmental impacts.  Perhaps the UN could play a larger role, become more of an emergency environmental disaster relief organization.

Squirrels and beavers contributing to global warming more than previously thought

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Arctic ground squirrels churn up and warm soil in the Tundra, releasing carbon dioxide, while beavers contributes 200 times more methane than they did 100 years ago

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

GR:  Lot’s of worthwhile comments for this one.  Here’s mine:  “Squirrels improve soils, beaver reduce flooding, and both species feed predators.  Dynamic balance occurs.  What can balance humans?”

Lockheed Aims for Commercial, Compact Fusion Reactor Within Ten Years

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Technology Saves the Earth?

oil on beachGR:  I once thought abundant, non-polluting energy could be the solution to all our problems. Having looked closely at the ways that we humans use and change our environment, I am no longer sure there is a solution. I proposed Immediacy, the philosophy of consequences. However, the proposal explicitly recognizes that humans aren’t smart enough to adopt such an ethos.

The Center for Biological Diversity is handing out condoms. There is no money for “no-breeding-checks” (Vardarac in the comments on this article). Is it nonsense to hope we might ever achieve wise landuse and control over our desire for reproduction? I’m beginning to suspect that new technological innovations will only add to our ability to destroy Earth’s biosphere.

Thanks to Robert Scribbler for this article and to his readers for their comments.

Butterfly Indicators of Ecosystem Change

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Butterfly Canaries in the Earth Ecosystem Coalmine

Two-tailed Swallowtail

Two-tailed Swallowtail

Guest post by Leslie Olsen

Predicting the effects of climate change and other human impacts on Earth ecosystems is a critical goal for policy makers, scientists, and environmentalists. Some effects, such as weather extremes and biodiversity decline are becoming clear to everyone. One group of species, the butterflies, is especially sensitive to environmental change, and scientists are using the group to gauge the effects of the changes on other species.

Like canaries in a coalmine, butterflies can serve as valuable indicators of significant changes. Butterflies are easy to see. Moreover, their metabolism and short life span make their numbers an especially sensitive gauge of environmental changes. When a butterfly population falls, other species may follow. Fluctuations in temperature patterns, temperature extremes, droughts, floods, and severe storms affect butterfly populations throughout North America. Studies on the impact of climate changes on insects and butterflies are particularly rare, but recent data and observations are spurring research.

Changes in butterfly emergence, range, life cycle, feeding habits and diversity can indicate harmful environmental changes are occurring. For example, butterfly life cycle stages are tied to the availability of certain plants; even subtle changes in plant species abundance is reflected in butterfly health, color, and number. The animals and birds dependent on butterfly populations are directly affected.

Monarch (Danaus Plexippus)

Monarch (Danaus Plexippus)

A familiar butterfly, the Monarch, migrates almost three thousand miles every year and has suddenly declined because of pesticides (first two references below) and forest thinning in its winter home territory in Mexico.

Another butterfly, the Poweshiek skipperling, once plentiful across the Canadian prairies had declined to fewer than 200 individuals, most of them in Manitoba (Toronto Star).
Last year, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced the extinction of two butterfly species, the Zestos skipper and the Rockland grass skipper.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia, the Université de Sherbrooke and the University of Ottawa, in a study of more than 200 species of butterflies and weather data from 130 years “found butterflies possess widespread temperature sensitivity, with flight season occurring an average of 2.4 days earlier per degree Celsius of temperature increase” (UBC. 2013).

Heather Kharouba, lead author noted that butterflies “provide an early warning signal for how other wildlife may respond to climate change” (UBC). The impact of warmer temperatures causes butterflies “to emerge and start their active flight season earlier in the year, and if they emerge too early, they could encounter frost and die. Or they might emerge before the food plants they rely on appear and starve” (Ibid).

As more researchers begin studying butterflies, the links to other species and whole ecosystems will become clearer and will help guide nature conservation plans and policies.  Thus, our floating jewels not only add grace and beauty to our lands, they are on the front line of our battle to save Earth’s wildlife and ecosystems.

Butterfly References

The Second American Revolution Is Brewing in Oregon

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Materialism Dominating World Governments

GR:  The materialism that is dominating world governments is destroying the health of Earth ecosystems.  I believe this is because Human limitations make it impossible for members of our species to see beyond our fears and appetites. A close inspection of all the political candidates for whom I can vote in the next election shows that they will all continue the same blind materialism.  Of personal concern to me, none of them is interested in protecting natural landscapes and wildlife.  Others are reaching the same conclusion.  Why vote we ask when no group we can elect will improve our government.  Even those who are not yet concerned about wild plants and animals are feeling the loss of the natural world, and they are realizing that the quality of their and their children’s lives is fading. It is gratifying and evokes a glimmer of hope to learn about responses such as the one described in this post.

The following is from truth-out.org.

In Oregon, the capture of local government by the timber industry results in the destruction of the natural world and the poisoning of the populace, but a Josephine County ballot initiative would ban tree spraying by corporations and government entities.

Source: www.truth-out.org

EPA staff recommends significantly lower ozone standard

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff said Friday that the nation should tighten smog rules significantly, a step that would improve air quality in California but force costly new requirements on government and industry.

Source: www.latimes.com

GR:  This story is typical of the lag of requirements behind reality.  Extinctions and permanent reductions in habitat quality are the costs we face.  In a global state of emergency, it is prudent to call on government and industry to contribute.  Enforceable requirements are only necessary if they refuse.