Climate Change: this time disappearing animals
According
to the International Energy Agency, China is a significant culprit in CO2
emissions (combustion
of coal, natural gas, oil, and other fuels, including industrial
waste and non-renewable municipal waste on the
globe (30%), and the United States is in second place with 16%.
Anthony
Barnoski, executive director of Stanford University's Jasper
Ridge Biological Preserve,
and a global expert on extinction said three
years ago
“that we humans have, at the very most, 20 years to change the way
we treat nature, or we will bring about the sixth mass extinction
event in the entire history of Earth.”
Climate
Disasters. Climate Change. Global Warming..not much difference in
definition as we humans are murdering the air we breathe, the water we
drink, the soil for planting, creating shipping disasters and assisting in the extinction of many
of our animals. The devastating drought in Zimbabwe has seen over 200 elephants die, zebras grazing grounds being decimated as the
severe drought continues, and puts hippos at grave risk
for dehydration. Scientists worry coral reefs will mostly vanish by
2050 because humans keep pumping fossil fuels into the
atmosphere, warming up the oceans and making them more acidic, and
making life hard for coral. Amazon Rain Forest, California fires and
mudslides, Australia's wildfires, Hawaii's volcanos, these are all
happening at the same time, which means NOW.
When
rising temperatures force
populations northward to remain in cool climates, and spring flowers
bloom earlier than normal,
this leaves
less time for BUMBLE
BEES
to pollinate. We may lose all the plants that bees pollinate, all of
the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain. We are
losing bees at an alarming rate. Some reasons include the loss of
flower meadows, climate change, and the use of pesticides.
Colony
Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been devastating to the U.S. Honey Bee
population since early 2006. The mysterious disorder causes honey
bees to disappear from their hives. Think about this - bees keep
plants and crops alive. Without bees, humans wouldn't have very much
to eat. If bees do not have enough to eat, we won't have enough to
eat. Guess what bees pollinate? Apples, Almonds, Blueberries,
Cherries, Avocados, Cucumbers, Onions, Grapefruit.
Asian
Elephants are also on the list. Can't say enough about the need to punish China for
the devastating decline in the Asian Elephant population. How do you
kill an animal just for its tusks? You don't eat it, or wear it or
use its parts to build, you just murder it for its tusk.
Whales
-As
climate change causes its migration patterns to shift, the whale is
more at risk from collisions with ships as well as lethal
entanglement in fishing gear.
Monarch
Butterfly - due
to habitat loss, increased use of pesticides and loss of milkweed
populations, all related to climate change caused by humans.
Giraffes
- Habitat
and food loss, illegal hunting, and human-caused climate change are
causing today's 40% decline in giraffe populations. Today, giraffes
are listed as “vulnerable to extinction” on the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species.
Great
Apes are
in jeopardy of extinction due to climate change with nearly 75% of
forest cover at risk of deforestation.
Due
to climate change’s accelerated loss of sea ice, Polar
Bears are more likely to
come ashore to their den...IF they don't get hit by a car or
snowmobile. Since 2008, polar bears have been listed as globally
threatened.
According
to Jacob Carter, a Research Scientist at Union of Concerned
Scientists, “Extinction is forever (and) we don’t get a second
chance to save a species once it’s gone. That means that all the
benefits that species provided to our world are lost forever as
well.”
Take a
little time to enjoy the view – it might be gone tomorrow.
What can
you do?
Merry
Christmas.
JoAnn
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