“Too Furious For Human Intervention” — Climate Feedbacks Spur Out of Control Wildfires From Indonesia to Brazil

Posted on October 23, 2015 by GarryRogers

A sad situation that will get worse.

There is “no way human intervention can put out the fires,” Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, to the Australian Broadcasting Company on the issue of Indonesian wildfires in a recent Weather Channel Report.

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Outbreaks of Equatorial wildfires. It’s something that can happen during strong El Ninos. These periods of warming in the Equatorial Pacific can set off a chain of events leading to dangerous heatwaves, droughts and wildfires breaking out all over the Earth’s mid-section.

But put a strong El Nino into the context of the overall human-forced warming of the global environment by 1 C hotter than 1880s values and you start to get into some serious trouble. The added heat amplifies the warming already being set off by El Nino conditions, it worsens droughts, and it provides an environment for some ridiculously intense wildfire outbreaks. Outbreaks of a…

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Nature News Digests

Posted on October 10, 2015 by GarryRogers

Nature News Digests:

Conservation policy and the measurement of forests

Posted on October 5, 2015 by GarryRogers

This report defines the disparity between various satellite-based measurements of global forest cover. www.nature.com

GR: Remote (satellite) sensing has been unable to reach a consensus on the extent of Earth’s forests. Far better methods of forest mapping are available. On-the-ground surveys using the 1970 UNESCO vegetation classification would give us maps at much less cost, and the maps would include far more information than the satellite maps. Moreover, who minds strolling through the woods with a clipboard? NASA, park the rockets and buy some hiking boots. Do it now.

The Illegal Timber Trade Is Destroying Myanmar’s Forests and Wildlife

Posted on September 27, 2015 by GarryRogers

Myanmar’s ancient and biodiverse forests are once again under threat. A new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency has found that millions of dollars’ worth of trees are illegally chopped down every year and then trucked across the border into neighboring China.

This illegal trade has been around for decades but had slowed for several years. Now it is surging again, according to EIA.
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Julian Newman, EIA campaigns director, said one reason for the increase in illegal activity is demand for two species of trees called rosewood, which is carved into intricate and expensive traditional Chinese furniture called hongmu. China’s wealthy buy hongmu furniture as status symbols, and EIA investigators expressed fears that the two rosewood species are at risk of extinction in as little as three years. From: www.takepart.com

GR: Regulations that aren’t, or can’t be, enforced are useless. Forests are under threat from climate-change, logging, livestock grazing, and poaching. It’s time for solid protection programs.

Forests and CO2 — Don’t Ignore the Scientific Background

Posted on September 27, 2015 by GarryRogers

“Loss of nitrogen a key factor in forest equation

“Forests may grow faster as atmospheric CO2 increases, but that doesn’t mean they’ll absorb more of the heat-trapping gas. Instead, a shortage of nitrogen means plants won’t be able to fix as much carbon as projected by some climate models.”

From: summitcountyvoice.com

GR: No news here, but the story is a good reminder that we can’t ignore science and put simple ideas into practice just because they sound good.

Global warming: Are trees going on strike?

Posted on September 24, 2015 by GarryRogers

“Trees, crucial absorbers of climate-harming carbon dioxide gas, may finally be balking at an ever-earlier spring season brought on by global warming, researchers said Wednesday.

“Over the past several decades, trees across central Europe have been steadily sprouting their spring leaves earlier in response to warmer temperatures, they said.

“As a result, forests absorbed more carbon dioxide in a longer growing season—a boon that has been worked into global warming projections.

“But a study published in the science journal Nature said trees have slowed their pace of seasonal advance—raising fears it may stop altogether.

“The slowdown “suggests a current and possible future weakening of forests’ carbon uptake due to the declining temperature sensitivity of (trees),” lead author Yongshuo Fu of Peking University in Beijing told AFP.” Read more at: phys.org

GR: This is one of those “point of no return” stories. If forests indeed begin absorbing less CO2, preservation and reforestation will have less benefit than hoped. This will accelerate global warming. Nevertheless, forests are the essential homes of many of Earth’s plant and animal species. We must continue lobbying for the end of deforestation.

See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News

Forestry Goal 15: Life on land

Posted on September 21, 2015 by GarryRogers

Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss

“Human life depends on the earth as much as the ocean for our sustenance and livelihood. Plant life provides 80 percent of our human diet, and we rely on agriculture as an important economic resource and means of development. Forests account for 30 percent of the Earth’s surface, providing vital habitats for millions of species and important sources for clean air and water; as well as being crucial for combating climate change.

“Today we are seeing unprecedented land degradation, and the loss of arable land at 30 to 35 times the historical rate. Drought and desertification is also on the rise each year, amounting to the loss of 12 million hectares and affects poor communities globally. Of the 8,300 animal breeds known, 8 percent are extinct and 22 percent are at risk of extinction.

“The Sustainable Development Goals aim to conserve and restore the use of terrestrial ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, drylands and mountains by 2020. Promoting the sustainable management of forests and halting deforestations is also vital to mitigating the impact of climate change. Urgent action must be taken to reduce the loss of natural habitats and biodiversity which are part of our common heritage.

“Conserving forests and other ecosystems is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. An integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals.” Sourced from the United Nations Development Program: www.undp.org

GR: Sustainable development is an oxymoron, a combination of contradictory terms. The human population is so large that its consumption of Earth’s resources is destroying those resources and the creatures that depend on them. Those who wish to profit from harvesting resources use the term together with the “progress—growth—development” mantra to disguise and falsely justify the damage they do. If foresters got together and reached a proper conclusion, they would declare a moratorium on logging, grazing, and harvesting of fruits, bark, and sap. These same foresters would then lobby for human population and pollution reduction while they stood guard at the edges of the forests.

Native tribe fights to save Boreal forest in Quebec

Posted on September 8, 2015 by GarryRogers

Mandy Gull holds back tears as she steps off the helicopter in northern Quebec. “I’ve never seen anything so sad,” says the young woman whose aboriginal tribe is seeing its ancestral lands eroded by logging.

“If my grandfather knew,” says the deputy leader of the Cree tribe, one of 11 indigenous ethnic groups present in Quebec.

The flyover of the Boreal forest, pockmarked by clear-cuts, both saddens her and toughens her resolve to end deforestation in the region.

“We don’t own this land… as Cree, we know that we’re stewards of the land, (and) we’re here to protect the land,” she said. Sourced through Scoop.it from: phys.org

GR: Faced by rapacious loggers and their government representatives, defenders of the forests have many roadblocks to success, not the smallest being personal danger of injury and incarceration.

Record-Breaking Wildfires, Greenland Melting and Earth’s Hottest Month Ever

Posted on September 3, 2015 by GarryRogers

Humans have some advantages over other animal species, but like the animals, we can’t control our urge to reproduce and our desire for the security of material wealth. Sentient but not sapient, sensitive but not wise, our advantages have let us to eliminate competition, disease, and danger. Thus, nothing can stop our booming population and our world-destroying “environmental footprint.” (ACD = anthropogenic climate disruption)

Exposing the Big Game

The following article from Truthout.org covers all that I was going to go over in Part 2 of Global Warming: the Future is Now, so here’s this instead:

Dahr Jamail | The World on Fire:

The US is now officially in the worst wildfire season in its history, as almost 7.5 million acres across the country have burned up since spring.

Articles about ACD’s impacts are now being published in more mainstream outlets, carrying titles that include verbiage like “the point of no return,” and it is high time for that, given what we are witnessing.

A recently published study by the UK-US Taskforce on Extreme Weather and Global Food System Reliance revealed that “major shocks” to worldwide food production will become at least three times more likely within the next 25 years due to increasingly extreme weather events generated by ACD. One of the coauthors of the report…

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