Wild animals dying for a drink in drought-stricken West

Posted on May 9, 2015 by GarryRogers

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/wild-animals-dying-for-a-drink-in-drought-stricken-west/article_fa032acf-0c5e-5090-8cb5-91feae4747de.html

For the giant kangaroo rat, death by nature is normally swift and dramatic: a hopeless dash for safety followed by a blood-curdling squeak as their bellies are torn open by eagles, foxes, bobcats and owls.

They’re not supposed to die the way they are today — emaciated and starved, their once abundant population dwindling to near nothing on California’s sprawling Carrizo Plain about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, where the drought is turning hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland into desert.

Without grass, long-legged kangaroo rats can’t eat. And as they go, so go a variety of threatened animals that depend on the keystone species to live. “That whole ecosystem changes without the giant kangaroo rat,” said Justin Brasheres, an associate professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of California at Berkeley.

Endangered kangaroo rats are just one falling tile in the drought’s domino effect on wildlife in the lower Western states. Large fish kills are happening in several states as waters heated by higher temperatures drain and lose oxygen. In Northern California, salmon eggs have virtually disappeared as water levels fall. Thousands of migrating birds are crowding into wetland shrunk by drought, risking the spread of disease that can cause massive die-offs. Source: exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com

GR: Human-caused global warming is adding another force to the mindless human destruction of a billion years of slow uncertain evolution of life on Earth.

Monthly carbon dioxide levels hit new milestone | NOAA Climate.gov

Posted on May 7, 2015 by GarryRogers

For 800,000 years before the twentieth century, carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere never exceeded 300 parts per million. In March 2015, the monthly average went above 400 ppm for the first time. Source: climate.gov

GR: Emissions appear to be increasing despite all that’s been said.

From the article: “In addition to the cascade of climate impacts from this global warming—rising sea level, more extreme rain events, insect pest population explosions, increasing coral bleaching—the extra carbon dioxide is also changing the pH of the ocean. Carbon dioxide is mildly acidic when it dissolves in water (think of your favorite carbonated beverage). The ocean’s rising acidity has harmed oysters and other marine creatures by weakening their shells.”

Time to Switch to Solar Power

Posted on May 2, 2015 by GarryRogers

Solar Energy Can Replace Fossil Fuels Very Quickly

Sun Collecting and storing solar power is not a new concept. In the 1960’s, more than 50,000 solar water heaters were sold in Florida alone. When I bought this house 18 years ago, it had a 20-year old heated-water solar power collection and storage system. Unfortunately, heated-water systems are not too efficient and they need lots of maintenance.

My main objection to solar power collection projects has been the loss of habitat shaded by the collectors and bulldozed for transmission routes. In the video below, Elon Musk points out that the total land area needed to collect enough power to replace fossil fuel in the U.S. is quite small. Moreover, most of it can be from rooftops requiring no further land loss. Okay, if that’s true, I’m sold.

With improved photovoltaic cells and batteries, solar power becomes a practical replacement for fossil fuel generation. This zeros out CO2 production and let’s us turn our attention to other critical issues: population, invasive species, toxic pollution (e.g., pesticides and plastic) and land lost to construction, farming, and harvest (logging and grazing). The video is Musk’s simple presentation of how the sun’s power can replace fossil fuels now.

Here’s the link to reserve your Powerwall. The site includes the information needed to add up your power needs. I expect that Solar City and other installers will soon add estimated costs for power inversion, solar panels, and wiring to their websites.

https://youtu.be/yKORsrlN-2k

Why invasive plants are second biggest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss

Posted on April 19, 2015 by GarryRogers

As experts gather in London for a major conference addressing the often overlooked threat of invasive species to biodiversity, Carrie Madren gets a briefing from those on the frontline in the battle against ‘pest plants’…Source: www.theecologist.org

GR: I reached the same conclusion about invasive plants, but as the symptoms of global warming grow stronger, I am shifting my central focus to another lost cause–leaving fossil fuels in the ground. The photo shows a barren area carpeted by invasive plants. Ninety percent of the native shrubs are gone.

Unprecedented Early Start to ‘Perma-Burn’ Fire Season — Deadly Wildfires Rage Through Siberia on April 12

Posted on April 14, 2015 by GarryRogers

The ecological consequence of frequent fires is permanent vegetation change to reduced diversity and productivity.

robertscribbler

Permafrost. Ground frozen for millennia. An enormous deposit of organic carbon forming a thick, peat-like under-layer.

Forced to warm at an unprecedented rate through the massive burning of heat-trapping gasses by human beings, this layer is now rapidly thawing, providing an amazing source of heat and fuel for wildfire ignition.

Joe Romm over at Climate Progress has long called this region ‘Permamelt.’ But, with a doubling of the number of wildfires for the high Arctic and an extension of the permafrost fire season into early April this year, we may well consider this to be a zone of now, near permanent, burning — Permaburn.

* * * * *

(Massive outbreak of permafrost wildfires in Russia this week have left up to 34 villages in smoldering ruins. Image from Khakassia, Russia via The Siberian Times.)

For Khakassia, Russia the story this week has been one of unprecedented fire disaster.

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Greater sage-grouse face serious global warming threat

Posted on April 11, 2015 by GarryRogers

Greater sage-grouse may lose ground to global warming. Photo courtesy USGS. Source: summitcountyvoice.com

GR: Of course, the overwhelming threat to the sage-grouse and the other members of nature began with human development and progress. The things we desired, warmth and safety, have filled the air with pollutants that are threatening all life, sage-grouse included.

New ocean energy plan could worsen global warming

Posted on April 5, 2015 by GarryRogers

GR: Unintended consequences lurk behind many of our ideas and our practices. Reducing our population and learning the equality of other species are the ultimate solutions. Anything less is only temporary.

By Tim Radford

“An apparently promising way of producing energy from the world’s oceans in fact risks causing catastrophic harm by warming the Earth far more than it can bear, US scientists say.

“One of renewable energy’s more outspoken enthusiasts has delivered bad news for the prospects of developing ocean thermal energy. His prediction is that although the technology could work for a while, after about 50 years it could actually exacerbate long-term global warning. Source: www.climatenewsnetwork.net

Dead Zones: Massive Loss of Ocean Biodiversity From Warming May Take Millennia to Recover

Posted on April 4, 2015 by GarryRogers

Image from the Washington Post.

“. . . the effects of the current rise in temperatures of our oceans is worse than you or I could have imagined. It’s so bad that it may take thousands of years for ocean life to recover. That’s a recovery time measured in millennia, for those who prefer polysyllabic Latinate words:

“A study has found that it might take thousands of years for the ocean to recover from climate change. Researchers studied more than 5,400 fossils from a 30-foot-long core sample taken from the Pacific Ocean floor near Santa Barbara, California, and found that it can take millennia for ocean ecosystems to recover after periods of deoxygenation and warming waters. […] “In this study, we used the past to forecast the future,” Peter Roopnarine, curator of invertebrate zoology and geology at the California Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “We don’t want to hear that ecosystems need thousands of years to recover from disruption, but it’s critical that we understand the global need to combat modern climate impacts.”

“Here is what the article posted at Science News regarding this research study has to say about its importance to our understanding of the impacts of global warming on Ocean ecosystems and biodiversity (Source: www.dailykos.com).”

GR: I agree with the author “News like this should be cause for all of us to be running around screaming with our heads on fire.”

When one of the Coldwater Farm ponds developed a heavy algae bloom that began killing fish, I felt the same urgency that comes when you watch a newborn on its first search for a teat. I aerated and filtered desperately, but in the end all the fish died.

Are we as helpless to save our ocean ecosystems? Probably, but let’s watch for opportunities to urge our leaders to apply the Earth Ethic to our marine ecosystems.