Ian
priscilla 1Scary Truths About Our World
December 1st 2010 06:17
Recently there are some very disturbing environmental issues rearing their ugly head. What caused them and what do they mean for the future?
TheDailyGreen takes a look. Click on the link above to read the full article.
As of August, 2010 was as hot as the hottest years the world has witnessed since record-keeping began about 130 years ago. Every month (all 306 of them) has ranked above-average, compared to the 20th century average, since chilly February 1985.
The overwhelming consensus among credible scientists who study the climate is carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, pumped out of our tailpipes and smokestacks, are building up in the atmosphere and driving the warming trend. (By one measure only five scientists have published peer-reviewed scientific papers questioning that consensus view.) What's more, even if the increase in the world's or the U.S.'s emissions were to stop today, the long-lived nature of these gases in the atmosphere means we can expect to see continued warming for decades to come.
One of the hardest things to comprehend about climate change – and one of those things that can send sceptics into fits – is that scientists predict both severe droughts and historic floods will be a consequence of global warming. How's it possible? In short, the climate is a complicated system, and what it can give with one wind, with another it can taketh away. As weather patterns shift, some areas will be starved of moisture, while in others, warmer air will hold additional moisture that it will unleash in fiercer storms.
The U.S. Southwest, for instance, is in the midst of a prolonged drought that climatologists say is consistent with the predictions of a world altered by climate change; the record summer heat waves that affected much of the Eastern U.S. this summer, and intense wildfires in past years (and this year in Russia) also align with predictions. On the other hand, the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan is an example of massive deluges that are expected to hit more frequently, not only in Southeast Asia, but across the world, including in parts of the U.S. As Gavin Scmidt, a NASA climate scientist recently told The Daily Green, "Things that used to be one-in-100-year events maybe now are one-in-25-year events."
At least half of our favourite food fish and as many as 90% – tuna, salmon, cod and sea bass among them – are at risk of overfishing. Further, the historic shift from wild-caught fisheries to farmed fisheries (most Atlantic salmon at the fish counter is farmed now) has depleted smaller fish at the bottom of the food chain, since in many cases, it takes several pounds of wild-caught little fish to make one pound of farmed fish.
One in three amphibian species is at risk of extinction, with as many as 500 species of frogs, salamanders and the like so near to the end that experts think their only hope is to live in zoos - not the wild. Meanwhile, in caves throughout North America, as many as 90% of bats hibernating are dying of emaciation, with a mark of death in the shape of a white ring around the nose.
In both cases, a previously unknown fungus is largely to blame (though with frogs, habitat loss is as big, or bigger a threat). In both cases, the march of death has been startlingly swift. Both appear to be cases of emerging diseases, with origins that are mysterious, but whose spread may well be abetted by human trade and travel.
While frogs and bats may not seem like the most essential creatures, both play important roles in the ecosystem (and bats actually eat lots of mosquitoes and farm pests); without them, the world would be decidedly different, in ways we can't necessarily predict.
Viruses and bacteria were on Earth before humans, and they'll be here after us. It's a fact of life. And unfortunately, that's because they are quick to evolve to changing conditions – including changes in the environment or changes to the drugs we use to fight them.
Whether it's drug-resistant salmonella in eggs, or E. coli in ground beef, the food supply (especially the industrialized portion of the food supply) is increasingly falling prey to tiny pathogens that were virtually nonexistent a generation ago. Meanwhile, three-quarters of new infectious diseases emerge from wildlife, but affect humans. Think SARS and bird flu, both of which originated in domesticated flocks of poultry that had been infected by wild birds before they started infecting humans.
When animals are kept penned up in unnatural numbers in close proximity to people, as is the case with our food system worldwide, the chances grow for new diseases to outsmart us and either infect our foods or jump from wild lungs to our own.
TheDailyGreen takes a look. Click on the link above to read the full article.
It's Hotter Than It's Ever Been
The overwhelming consensus among credible scientists who study the climate is carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, pumped out of our tailpipes and smokestacks, are building up in the atmosphere and driving the warming trend. (By one measure only five scientists have published peer-reviewed scientific papers questioning that consensus view.) What's more, even if the increase in the world's or the U.S.'s emissions were to stop today, the long-lived nature of these gases in the atmosphere means we can expect to see continued warming for decades to come.
It's Getting Drier (Except Where It's Getting Wetter)
The U.S. Southwest, for instance, is in the midst of a prolonged drought that climatologists say is consistent with the predictions of a world altered by climate change; the record summer heat waves that affected much of the Eastern U.S. this summer, and intense wildfires in past years (and this year in Russia) also align with predictions. On the other hand, the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan is an example of massive deluges that are expected to hit more frequently, not only in Southeast Asia, but across the world, including in parts of the U.S. As Gavin Scmidt, a NASA climate scientist recently told The Daily Green, "Things that used to be one-in-100-year events maybe now are one-in-25-year events."
There Really Aren't More Fish in the Sea
At least half of our favourite food fish and as many as 90% – tuna, salmon, cod and sea bass among them – are at risk of overfishing. Further, the historic shift from wild-caught fisheries to farmed fisheries (most Atlantic salmon at the fish counter is farmed now) has depleted smaller fish at the bottom of the food chain, since in many cases, it takes several pounds of wild-caught little fish to make one pound of farmed fish.
Fungus Is Killing Frogs and Bats
One in three amphibian species is at risk of extinction, with as many as 500 species of frogs, salamanders and the like so near to the end that experts think their only hope is to live in zoos - not the wild. Meanwhile, in caves throughout North America, as many as 90% of bats hibernating are dying of emaciation, with a mark of death in the shape of a white ring around the nose.
In both cases, a previously unknown fungus is largely to blame (though with frogs, habitat loss is as big, or bigger a threat). In both cases, the march of death has been startlingly swift. Both appear to be cases of emerging diseases, with origins that are mysterious, but whose spread may well be abetted by human trade and travel.
While frogs and bats may not seem like the most essential creatures, both play important roles in the ecosystem (and bats actually eat lots of mosquitoes and farm pests); without them, the world would be decidedly different, in ways we can't necessarily predict.
Deadly Viruses and Bacteria Outsmart Us
Viruses and bacteria were on Earth before humans, and they'll be here after us. It's a fact of life. And unfortunately, that's because they are quick to evolve to changing conditions – including changes in the environment or changes to the drugs we use to fight them.
Whether it's drug-resistant salmonella in eggs, or E. coli in ground beef, the food supply (especially the industrialized portion of the food supply) is increasingly falling prey to tiny pathogens that were virtually nonexistent a generation ago. Meanwhile, three-quarters of new infectious diseases emerge from wildlife, but affect humans. Think SARS and bird flu, both of which originated in domesticated flocks of poultry that had been infected by wild birds before they started infecting humans.
When animals are kept penned up in unnatural numbers in close proximity to people, as is the case with our food system worldwide, the chances grow for new diseases to outsmart us and either infect our foods or jump from wild lungs to our own.
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