http://www.fern.org/
http://www.wrm.org.uy/
http://www.sinkswatch.org/
Wild Earth Guardians
Groups Focusing on Forests, Climate, & Carbon Offsets
Ecosystem Protection/Preservation, & Restoration
THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
Concerned scientists the world over have developed what is known as the Precautionary Principle. The Precautionary Principle states that, in the face of scientific uncertainty, humyns must take precautionary action. Shift the burden of proof onto the perpetrator. With any proposed course of action (or inaction) that may engender any possible harm to Life, 3 questions must be critically and thoroughly addressed:
-Is this harm preventable?
-Are there any alternatives?
-Do we know enough to act?
If these crucial questions cannot be definitively answered-then we should NOT move forward with the proposed action!
The mission of this working group is to join in all efforts everywhere to preserve, protect, and restore ecosystems and integrated complexes of ecosystems everywhere on Earth in an attempt to stabilize climate and mitigate the effects of climate change that are thus far unavoidable. Too little discussion has been forthcoming regarding the critical role that healthy, fully-functioning natural ecosystems play in influencing, stabilizing, and interacting with local, regional, continental-and ultimately global-climate regimes. Industrial/commercial roadbuilding, clearcutting, mining, drilling, livestock grazing, overharvesting, acid rain, paving, pollution, ozone depletion, urban sprawling-and the subsequent species extinctions-impact climate and weather on all spatial and temporal levels at least as much (if not more so than) “greenhouse gas” emissions. Many of the world’s women and Indigenous Peoples have recognized this fact for many decades (if not centuries)-and more recently so have many farmers, scientists, workers, and activists.
(more…)
Boreal Forests Shift North, Exacerbate Warming
Posted May 16th, 2008
Science News
May 15th, 2008
<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/32207/title/Boreal_forests_shift_north>
Boreal forests shift north
By Janet Raloff
Advancing greenery could further heat the already warming climate
For the Arctic, green is the new black.
People frequently say “green” to mean
“environmentally friendly.” But conifer forests -
really big greens - encroaching on Arctic tundra
threaten to further accelerate warming in the far
North.
Temperatures at these high latitudes already are
climbing “at about twice the global average,”
notes F. Stuart Chapin of the University of
Alaska in Fairbanks.
10 National Parks Most Threatened by New Coal-Fired Power Plants
Posted May 16th, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2008
2:00 PM
CONTACT: National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
Andrea Keller Helsel, National Parks Conservation Association,
202.454.3332
National Parks Conservation Association Names 10 National Parks Most Threatened by New Coal-Fired Power Plants
Parks Group Calls on Administration to Abandon Effort to Permit More Power Plant Pollution Near National Parks By Weakening Clean Air Regulations
WASHINGTON, DC - May 15 - The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), today called on the Administration to halt its efforts to rollback clean air protections for national parks, citing 10 national parks at risk from pollution from new coal-fired power plants.
“Americans expect and deserve clean air when they visit our national parks,” said NPCA Clean Air and Climate Programs Director Mark Wenzler. “Instead of opening the door to more pollution in national parks such as Shenandoah, Great Basin, and Zion, the Administration should be working to secure a legacy that preserves America’s national treasures for our children and grandchildren.”
NPCA’s new report, Dark Horizons, identifies the 10 national parks most at risk from pollution from new coal-fired power plants as Shenandoah (Va.), Great Smoky Mountains (Tenn./ N.C.), Mammoth Cave (Ky.), Theodore Roosevelt (N.D.), Mesa Verde (Co.), Capitol Reef (Utah), Zion (Utah), Great Basin (Nev.), Wind Cave (S.D.), and Badlands (S.D.).
NPCA is calling on the Administration to halt its efforts to weaken clean air protections for national parks. Despite objections from its own scientists and the National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to finalize a rule that weakens pollution standards and makes it easier to build new coal-fired power plants near national parks. NPCA warns that national parks such as Shenandoah will suffer greater pollution, and wildlife and scenic views in national parks such as Great Basin, which is largely unaffected by air pollution, will be harmed.
Echoing NPCA’s concerns, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA-30th), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has written several letters to EPA Administrator Johnson about this rulemaking and its potential affect on national parks, calling for it to be withdrawn.
——————————————————————————————–
Brazil Minister Accuses Groups of Exploiting Amazon
Posted May 16th, 2008
Brazil minister accuses groups of exploiting Amazon
Thu May 15, 2008 5:25pm EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - International concerns expressed after Brazil’s environment minister quit this week show that some groups are fronts for exploiting the Amazon’s resources, the country’s justice minister said on Thursday.
“There are parts of the international community that defend the Amazon as if it was not Brazilian but a territory of humanity,” Tarso Genro told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.
“This is a front for economic interests in the Amazon as a global reserve for big multinationals and for other countries to have control over Brazil’s territory,” he said.
US Lists Polar Bear as Threatened But Balks at New Protection
Posted May 16th, 2008
Published on Thursday, May 15, 2008 by Environmental News Service (ENS)
US Lists Polar Bear as Threatened But Balks at New Protection
by J.R. Pegg
The Bush administration reluctantly declared the polar bear a threatened species yesterday, concluding that the loss of Arctic sea ice has put the future of the iconic species in peril. But the administration also took steps to ensure the decision will not require new efforts to tackle global warming or put new restrictions on oil and gas development in polar bear habitat.
The announcement ends a three-year legal dispute over whether the polar bear should be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of the impact of global warming on its Arctic habitat. Three conservation groups first filed a petition requesting the decision in 2005.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service missed a January deadline to issue a decision and was under a court order to finalize its decision by Thursday.
U.S. Trusting Oil Companies to Safeguard Arctic Wildlife
Posted May 16th, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2008 9:53 AM
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337
U.S. Trusting Oil Companies to Safeguard Arctic Wildlife
Industry Permit Plans Not Subjected to Required Peer-Review or Monitoring
WASHINGTON, DC - May 15 - Federal agencies issued permits for oil exploration in vast areas of the Arctic Ocean without verifying industry claims or imposing required safeguards against damage to wildlife, according to agency e-mails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Intense political pressure to speed Arctic leasing coupled with tardy industry submission of any data resulted in official rubber-stamping of permit applications without review or plans for follow-up.
Global Wildlife Populations ‘Plummeting’
Posted May 16th, 2008
Friday, 16 May 2008 03:31 UK
Wildlife populations ‘plummeting’
Over-fishing and demand for their fins as a delicacy have hit shark numbers
Between a quarter and a third of the world’s wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London.
Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says.
Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year, and one of the “great extinction episodes” in the Earth’s history is under way, it says.
Pollution, farming and urban expansion, over-fishing and hunting are blamed.
Major Study: World’s Environment, Wildlife Already Impacted by Climate Change
Posted May 16th, 2008
Published on Thursday, May 15, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
World’s Wildlife and Environment Already Hit by Climate Change, Major Study Shows
by Ian Sample
Global warming is disrupting wildlife and the environment on every continent, according to an unprecedented study that reveals the extent to which climate change is already affecting the world’s ecosystems.
Scientists examined published reports dating back to 1970 and found that at least 90% of environmental damage and disruption around the world could be explained by rising temperatures driven by human activity.
Big falls in Antarctic penguin populations, fewer fish in African lakes, shifts in American river flows and earlier flowering and bird migrations in Europe are all likely to be driven by global warming, the study found.
Prince Charles-Again: “Preserve the Rainforests!”
Posted May 15th, 2008
Page last updated at 15:31 GMT, Thursday, 15 May 2008 16:31 UK
Charles urges forest logging halt
Prince Charles said there needed to be rewards for preserving the rainforest
The halting of logging in the world’s rainforests is the single greatest solution to climate change, Prince Charles has said.
He called for a mechanism to be devised to pay poor countries to prevent them felling their rainforests.
The prince told the BBC that the forests provided the earth’s “air conditioning system”.
He said it was “crazy” the rainforests were worth more “dead than alive” to some of the world’s poorest people.
The world’s forests store carbon in their wood and in their soils.
Southeast Asian Rainforests, Black-Market Timber, U.S. Consumption
Posted May 15th, 2008
———————–
“Mekong forests are also home to a range of endangered animals,
including the clouded leopard, tiger, and Malayan sun bear.”
—————————
NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/NEWS
U.S. Major Importer of Illegal Asian Timber, Study Says
Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News
May 13, 2008
Vietnam has become a hub for processing Asia’s
illegally logged timber, much of which is sold in
the United States as outdoor furniture,
conservationists say.
In a report released in March, the U.K.-based
nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency
(EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak warned
that the illegal timber trade is threatening some
of the last intact forests in Southeast Asia,
especially in Laos.
Wildfires: Cost of Building Homes in Harm’s Way
Posted May 14th, 2008
As the climate warms, there will be more, larger, hotter forest fires…&
they won’t distinguish between public & private lands…
ASW
—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Cost of building homes in harm’s way
From: “Lance Olsen” <lance@wildrockies.org>
Date: Wed, May 14, 2008 10:26 am
To: “cmcr-outreach” <cmcr-outreach@vortex.wildrockies.org>
————————————————————————–
————————-
“Big price to protect homes
“Suppressing wildfires in the wilderness-urban
interface accounts for 85 percent of firefighting
costs in the United States, according to the
report.”
—————————–
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/14/2008 12:16:43 AM MDT
Growing focus on fires leaves other
Forest Service programs withering
By Steve Lipsher
The U.S. Forest Service plans to spend $1.9
billion - nearly half of its annual budget - to
prevent and fight wildfires this summer.
Fire-Free Forests Store Less Carbon
Posted May 14th, 2008
Note the US Forest Service official’s quote at the end: smells like something’s afoot…
ASW
———————————————
“The findings run contrary to expectation. It was
thought that more trees meant more carbon being
drawn from the atmosphere. ‘If you suppress fires
and lots of little trees show up, then you ought
to store more carbon,’ says ecologist Richard
Houghton of the Woods Hole Research Center in
Falmouth, Massachusetts.”
—————————————————————
Nature
14 May 2008 doi:10.1038/news.2008.818
News
Forest-fire management ‘raises carbon emissions’
California study suggests fire-free forests store less carbon.
Quenching forest fires leads to more carbon in
the air, says new research carried out in
Californian forests. The discovery suggests that
forests spared from fire may release more of the
greenhouse gas into the air than they absorb.
Decades of suppressing natural fires has
increased the number of surviving trees in
California’s forests. But this growth has been at
the expense of larger trees, which are less
resilient to drought and other stresses than
smaller, younger trees, resulting in a decline in
the total amount of carbon stored in these
forests.
“Significant Changes” in Natural Systems Already Ongoing
Posted May 14th, 2008
————————————————–
The new study is written by many of the people
who wrote the so-called Working Group I report,
the first of a trio of major assessments released
last year by the IPCC.
It concludes “significant changes” are already
occurring among natural systems on all
continents, with the exception of Antarctica, and
in most oceans.
—————————————————
Alalam News (Tehran, Iran)
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
‘Significant’ Climate Change Occurring
<http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.aspnewsid=032060120080514111031>
PARIS, May 14–A wide-scale study published
Wednesday has strengthened warnings, spelt out
last year by UN scientists that climate change is
already on the march.
The paper, published in Nature, goes beyond the
scope taken by a landmark report issued by the
UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) in February 2007.
Forests: More Than Carbon Sinks
Posted May 14th, 2008
Good article-but this person also forgets that-even just in terms of climate stability-forests are more than carbon sinks. They serve as sponges, slowing the hydrological cycle & cooling the planet. Biodiversity itself also contributes to climate stability…
We need to connect ALL these dots-especially where ecosystems are concerned…some of us KNEW the damn timber beast was going to start arguing for liquidation of old-growth stands as a “green” capitalistic false solution…
Selective logging in old-growth stands as acceptable? Maybe-i have my doubts…but if it is to happen, we don’t need to big timber firms to move into Brazil, Indonesia, or Cascadia to do it.
ASW
—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Indonesia: more than just a carbon sink
From: “Lance Olsen” <lance@wildrockies.org>
Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 3:25 pm
To: “cmcr-outreach” <cmcr-outreach@vortex.wildrockies.org>
————————————————————————–
—————–
“They must not convert good-quality natural
forest into tree plantations. …. Natural forest
stands in conservation forest areas must be
preserved …. Forests have many functions, one
of which is preserving biodiversity. In our rich
natural forests exist a great multitude of living
things.”
————
JAKARTA POST
May 13, 2008
Opinion
Indonesian forests should be more than just carbon sinks
Wiryono, Bengkulu
In the last five decades, environmental awareness
among people has increased worldwide, but the
focus of attention has shifted from time to time.
In the 1960s and 1970s, pollution got the most
attention from the public, especially in Western
countries.
Spain Importing Drinking Water; Reservoirs Drying, Ruins Emerging
Posted May 14th, 2008
Medieval church re-emerges as Spain ships in water
Wed May 14, 2008 11:14am EDT
Barcelona ships in water supplies
By Martin Roberts
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Perhaps the most striking image of Spain’s drought, so severe it has forced Barcelona to ship in water, has been that of the underwater church which emerged from a drying dam.
For most of the past four decades, all that has been visible of the village of Sant Roma has been the belltower of its stone church, peeping above the water beside forested hills from a valley flooded in the 1960s to provide water for the Catalonia region.
This year, receding waters have exposed the 11th-century church completely, attracting crowds of tourists who stand gazing around it on the dusty bed of the reservoir.
Neighboring Vilanova de Sau is enjoying a tourist boom, its mayor Joan Riera says.
International Paper Threatens to Violate Own Policy by Expanding Into Indonesian Rainforest
Posted May 13th, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2008 5:40 PM
CONTACT: Rainforest Action Network
Sam Haswell, Communications Director
(415) 659-0519
Cameron Scott, Communications Manager
(415) 659-0541
Nell Greenberg, Communications Manager
(415) 659-0557
media@ran.org
International Paper Threatens to Violate Own Policy by Expanding Into Indonesian Rainforest
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - May 12 - Rainforest Action Network and ForestEthics today condemned a proposal by U.S.-based International Paper to build a pulp mill and establish 1.2 million acres of plantation forest in the heart of the Indonesian rainforest. The groups urged International Paper, which is holding its Annual General Meeting today, to not violate its own paper policy and to abandon its plans to expand into Indonesia, a global warming and biodiversity hot spot.
Rough Season for Wildfires Anticipated in U.S. West
Posted May 11th, 2008
Fire managers predict bad year for blazes
Sat May 10, 2008 2:37pm EDT
By Laura Zuckerman
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - U.S. fire managers are forecasting a grim year for blazes in drought-plagued Western states, just weeks after a premature start to the Southwest’s wildfire season.
This comes even as the U.S. Forest Service, the lead agency for fighting fires on vast swaths of public and private lands, is reassessing a years-old model that sought to contain all blazes at all times.
Environmental and financial strains paired with demographic changes have made that strategy ineffective in an era of record-size fires sweeping across the West, experts say.
2 Articles: Sahara Dried Slowly-Not Abruptly, May Be Green Again
Posted May 9th, 2008
Sahara dried out slowly, not abruptly: study
Thu May 8, 2008 5:46pm EDT
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - The once-green Sahara turned to desert over thousands of years rather than in an abrupt shift as previously believed, according to a study on Thursday that may help understanding of future climate changes.
And there are now signs of a tiny shift back towards greener conditions in parts of the Sahara, apparently because of global warming, said the lead author of the report about the desert’s history published in the journal Science.
The study of ancient pollen, spores and aquatic organisms in sediments in Lake Yoa in northern Chad showed the region gradually shifted from savannah 6,000 years ago towards the arid conditions that took over about 2,700 years ago.
Wildlife: Great Tits Cope Well With Warming
Posted May 9th, 2008
Great tits cope well with warming
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Food for hungry mouths
At least one of Britain’s birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food.
Researchers found that great tits are laying eggs earlier in the spring than they used to, keeping step with the earlier emergence of caterpillars.
Writing in the journal Science, they point out that the same birds in the Netherlands have not managed to adjust.
Understanding why some species in some places are affected more than others by climatic shifts is vital, they say.
First-Ever Comprehensive Global Map of Freshwater Systems Released
Posted May 9th, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008
12:02 PM
CONTACT: World Wildlife Fund / The Nature Conservancy
Virginia Cramer 804-225-9113 x 102
World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy Release First-Ever Comprehensive Global Map of Freshwater Systems
WASHINGTON, DC - May 8 - Over a decade of work and contributions by more than 200 leading conservation scientists have produced a first-ever comprehensive map and database of the diversity of life in the world’s freshwater ecosystems. The map and associated fish data – a collaborative project between World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy — are featured in the May issue of the journal BioScience.
Public Overwhelms Interior Dept. With Opposition to Latest Proposed Oil & Gas Project in Utah’s Famed Nine Mile Canyon
Posted May 8th, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2008
12:29 PM
CONTACT: Environmental Groups
Stephen Bloch, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, (801) 486-3161 x.3981
Pam Miller, Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, (435) 650-2900
Johanna Wald, Natural Resources Defense Council, (415) 875-6100
Suzanne Jones, The Wilderness Society, (303) 650-5818 x.102
Thomas Kleinschnitz, Utah Guides and Outfitters, (800) 423-4668
Public Overwhelms Interior Dept. With Opposition
to Latest Proposed Oil & Gas Project in Utah’s Famed Nine Mile Canyon
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - May 7 - Last week tens of thousands of Americans from across the nation called on the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reject a Denver-based gas company’s plans to drill more than 800 new natural gas wells in eastern Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon region, an area world-renowned for its fragile rock art sites. Local and regional businesses and conservation groups also have asked the Interior Department to go back to the drawing board and not approve the West Tavaputs full-field development project offered by Bill Barrett Corporation and supported by the BLM.
Chinese Wildlands Face Multiple Threats
Posted May 8th, 2008
By Phil Chapman
BBC
China is a country that in some peoples’ minds has become synonymous with industrial pollution, rigid political control and spectacular economic expansion.
But behind this image lies another world which is the real, essential China - a place of vast shifting deserts, tropical coral reefs, steaming jungles, snow-capped peaks, evergreen forests and smoking volcanoes.
And surviving, tucked away within this incredibly diverse landscape, is a wealth of animal and plant life.
Burma, Mangrove Forests, and the 2008 Cyclone
Posted May 6th, 2008
Do you eat shrimp imported from Asia? Do you vacation there?
Lance
——————————————–
“… large-scale conversion of mangroves into
shrimp and fish farms were among the main
destructive drivers.
“Other pressures included new development to
accommodate the growth in the tourism sector and
rising populations.”
———————————————-
BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7385315.stm
Published: 2008/05/06 17:30:25 GMT
Mangrove loss ‘left Burma exposed’
By Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left
coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of
the weekend’s cyclone, a top politician suggests.
ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said
coastal developments had resulted in mangroves,
which act as a natural defence against storms,
being lost.
At least 22,000 people have died in the disaster, say state officials.
Forest Carbon Accounting Tricky Business
Posted May 6th, 2008
There is more to the climate-forest relationship than carbon.
ASW
——————————————
“The plain truth is that eucalypt forests are periodic emitters of
carbon and excluding fire from our forested landscape is neither
realistic nor ecologically justifiable. Factoring eucalypt forests
into the carbon economy is not for the faint-hearted.”
———————————————-
The Australian
May 07, 2008
End the forest wars
David Bowman, Peter Kanowski and Rod Keenan
THE bushfire smoke that blanketed the sky above Hobart late last
month graphically marked an abrupt turn in the public debate about
forest management.
Environmentalists were quick to make the link between forest
regeneration burns and carbon emissions, and to argue that old growth
should be saved to serve as carbon stores.
Indeed, this debate was anticipated in February at a conference in
Hobart on management of the world’s old forests; by co-incidence that
week Government adviser Ross Garnaut released his interim report on
Australia’s possible response to global change.
Climate Change Threat to Australia’s Koalas
Posted May 6th, 2008
By 1990, there was evidence that rising CO2
levels reduce nutrients in plants. So, even while
elevated CO2 levels can speed growth of plants,
the plant-eaters have had to eat more plant
tissue to gain the same nutrition.
This effect is independent of CO2’s capacity to
retain heat that would have escaped into space,
but the combined two effects will plausibly be
greater than either one alone.
The research on CO2 and nutritional content of
plants has continued for these past 18 years, and
now includes implications for domestic livestock,
humans, and wildlife. Evidence based on koala
research is just the latest finding in a
longstanding topic of interest.
Lance
—————————————–
“This change will mean eucalypt species with high protein content will become
unbeneficial to the koala as the so-called
“anti-nutrients” such as tannins bind
the protein making it unusable.”
—————————————–
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia)
May 6, 2008 - 11:49PM
climate change threatens koalas: expert
The koala is under threat from climate change,
according to new research which shows rising
carbon dioxide levels are killing nutrients in
the plants they eat.
Climate-Related Water Concerns Heat Up
Posted May 6th, 2008
Climate Wire www.eenews.net 5/5/08
WATER: Climate-related water concerns heat up (05/05/2008)
Christa Marshall, ClimateWire reporter
Eighteen million Southern Californians may be rationing water this summer for the first time in years. The region’s water distributor is preparing to ask customers to stop using water supplies outdoors one day a week for activities such as washing the car and running sprinklers.
Meanwhile, the impact of carbon capture and sequestration of CO2 from coal-fired power plants on water supplies soon will be studied by a leading drinking water research foundation. It wants to determine whether storing the gas in underground geological formations could unleash dangerous runoff by dissolving rock.
“We have to be careful we don’t create a problem by trying to solve a problem,” said Robert Renner, executive director of the Awwa Research Foundation, the study’s instigator and sponsor of a Friday briefing on Capitol Hill on the global impact of climate change on drinking water.
Appearing with Renner were three Australian, British and American experts who described how rising temperatures have dried up rivers and reservoirs, increased costs and raised the likelihood of pathogens and salt water creeping into drinking water sources.
Sinking Without a Trace: Australia’s Other Aboriginal Climate-Change Victims
Posted May 6th, 2008
Published on Monday, May 5, 2008 by The Independent/UK
Sinking Without Trace: Australia’s Climate Change Victims
Like Kiribati and Tuvalu, the islands of the Torres Strait are slowly being submerged. But unlike their Pacific neighbours, the plight of their inhabitants is being overlooked.
Ron and Maria Passi, who operate Murray Island’s only taxi, were out driving the night the king tide struck. Neighbours flagged them down, asking for help, and so it was not until some time later that they saw their own grandchildren standing in the road. “They were shouting ‘Granddad, stop the car, the water is coming in the house’,” says Ron. “I just slammed on the brakes.”
The couple’s son, Sonny, was outside his fibro shack with his five children, watching the monster surf, lashed by north-west winds, rise ever higher. In the commotion, everyone had forgotten that Sedoi, the baby, was still inside. They heard her crying and found her in her cot, covered in sand. Water had surged in after a wave picked up a big wooden pallet and flung it through the front wall.
Climate Change Could Hit Tropical Wildlife Hardest
Posted May 6th, 2008
Climate change could hit tropical wildlife hardest
Mon May 5, 2008 5:15pm EDT By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Polar bears may have it relatively easy. It’s the tropical creatures that could really struggle if the climate warms even a few degrees in places that are already hot, scientists reported on Monday.
That doesn’t mean polar bears and other wildlife in the polar regions won’t feel the impact of climate change. They probably will, because that is where the warming is expected to be most extreme, as much as 18 degrees F (10 degrees C) by the end of this century.
But there are far fewer species living in the Arctic and Antarctic and in the temperate zones than in the tropics, said Curtis Deutsch of the University of California at Los Angeles.
Climate Models and Living Species
Posted May 6th, 2008
———————————————————————————
“We have to try to model an immensely complex
system all the way from the tropical rainforest,
the oceans, the northern hemisphere forests, the
soil - and we have no fundamental equations to do
that with,” he says.
“When we are modelling the physics of the oceans
and the atmosphere, we do have some fundamental
equations.
“We don’t have those for the living parts of the system.”
———————————————————————-
BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7381250.stm
Published: 2008/05/06 08:12:52 GMT
Climate prediction: No model for success
By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News
Pier Luigi Vidale smiles fondly as he gazes at
the image unfolding on his screen.
It is a rare and beautiful view of Planet Earth.
Curlicues of cloud formations swirl around the
Antarctic at the bottom of the screen as if
captured by time-lapse photography.
The image resembles a view of the Earth from space, stretched full frame.
But a small yellow ball scudding along the bottom
of the screen hints at another story.
The ball is the Sun, heating the surface as it
passes and provoking a daily puff of cloud from
the Amazon rainforest in this computer-generated
climate model.
The animation comes from research led by Dr
Vidale at Reading University’s Walker Institute.
It is designed to provide long-term data to help
scientists distinguish between heating trends and
natural climatic fluctuations.
Victory! BLM Withdraws Proposed Energy Leases in Southern Colorado
Posted May 5th, 2008
Something to Celebrate!
BLM Withdraws Proposed Energy Leases in Southern Colorado
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 05/02/2008 04:45:41 PM MDT
DENVER—Federal officials are withdrawing most of the proposed oil and gas leases up for sale in a May 8th auction.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Friday that it will defer offering leases on 144,000 acres out of the original 175,430 acres. The parcels withdrawn are in the Rio National Grande Forest in southern Colorado.
BLM officials say the parcels could be auctioned later. They’ll go over the analysis of the sites with the Forest Service
Climate Change, Gardening, and Eco-Restoration
Posted May 4th, 2008
——————–
“If you are planting long-lived plants like trees then you might want
to choose a species that can cope with hotter, drier, summers and
warmer, wetter, winters,” said Vicky Pope, the Met Office’s head of
climate change. The decision to take the message to gardeners
reflects concern among researchers that the public has still not
understood the threat of climate change.”
———————————
Times Online
From The Sunday Times
May 4, 2008
Park the mower: climate change to kill off lawns
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor
THE Met Office is to warn gardeners to plan for a
warmer climate by cultivating drought-tolerant
plants such as palms, olives and Mediterranean
herbs and to resign themselves to the death of
the traditional lawn.
It believes this year will be one of the hottest on record.
China Logs, Mines, and Farms the World
Posted May 4th, 2008
International Herald Tribune
China farms the world to feed a ravenous economy
The Associated Press
Sunday, May 4, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/04/asia/AS-FEA-GEN-China-Farming-the-World.php
CHALEUNSOUK, Laos: The rice fields that blanketed
this remote mountain village for generations are
gone. In their place rise neat rows of young
rubber trees - their sap destined for China.
All 60 families in this dirt-poor, mud-caked
village of gaunt men and hunched women are now
growing rubber, like thousands of others across
the rugged mountains of northern Laos. They hope
in coming years to reap huge profits from the
tremendous demand for rubber just across the
frontier in China.
As Beijing scrambles to feed its galloping
economy, it has already scoured the world for
mining and logging concessions. Now it is turning
to crops to feed its people and industries.
Chinese enterprises are snapping up vast tracts
of land abroad and forging contract farming deals.
Climate Change and Global Food Production
Posted May 4th, 2008
Farmers face climate challenge in quest for more food
Sun May 4, 2008 4:10am EDT By David Fogarty
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say.
In a warmer world beset by greater extremes of droughts and floods, farmers will have to change crop management practices, grow tougher plant varieties and be prepared for constant change in the way they operate, scientists say.
“There certainly are going to be lots of challenges in the future. Temperature is one of them, water is another,” said Lisa Ainsworth, a molecular biologist with the United States Department of Agriculture.
Declining Timber Industry IV/False Solution
Posted May 4th, 2008
Remember when it was environmentalists who got blamed for lost jobs
in the logging industry?
Lance
——————————————–
“It is projected that close to a million repossessed houses will be
on the market this year. For each house that is repossessed there is
one that won’t be built, and consequently, lumber that won’t be
needed.
“According to Dingwall, Jamestown Lumber is not the only mill to
suffer from the troubled market. Of the seven integrated sawmills in
the province only two remain open.”
—————————————————————-
http://www.thepacket.ca/index.cfm?sid=119727&sc=368
Last updated at 4:08 PM on 24/03/08
Mill shuts down
Global economic events force local business to close
GAVIN SIMMS
The Packet
It’s not the Christmas present Bob Dingwall wanted to give his employees.
His business was expected to resume operations following the usual
holiday break. Instead, workers were told there was no more work at
Jamestown Lumber.
The mill, which used to operate all year-round, is facing a major
quandary. The decision not to reopen the plant was based on a number
of reasons, but three in particular.
“The opportunity to ship lumber to the states has come to an end due
to the equal value of the Canadian dollar, so there’s an immeasurable
amount of lumber trying to find a home in a relatively small domestic
Canadian market,” explains Dingwall.
Declining Timber Industry III
Posted May 4th, 2008
Banks are also in layoff mode, slashing jobs that
were once devoted to pumping up the home
construction boom in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Recently, many in the business and financial
community have said that the bust of this boom
was predictable, and many were indeed predicting
it before it hit.
Were job losses in the logging industry equally
predictable???? And why are they reported as if
they were separate trends??
Lance
—————————-
” … feeling the effects of the decreased demand for lumber,
plywood and other residential construction materials.”
——————————————————————-
Arkansas Online
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Housing slump taking whack out of logging
Fuel expenses, mill closures double-team timber industry
By Nancy Cole
LITTLE ROCK - As Arkansas sawmills close their
doors in response to the U.S. housing-market
meltdown and chaos in the nation’s mortgage
markets, the ripple effect has spread well beyond
the mill workers.
Loggers, logging-equipment dealers, timberland
owners, and many retail and professional
businesses in south Arkansas also are feeling the
effects of the decreased demand for lumber,
plywood and other residential construction
materials.
Declining Timber Industry II
Posted May 4th, 2008
Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Shutdowns, layoffs hit largest West Coast forest company
Western Forest Products closes most of its logging operations as demand drops
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=1d0dc9b6-3c22-41d5-9e48-911c8fb29257
Gordon Hamilton
The West Coast’s largest forest company, Western
Forest Products, announced Tuesday it is shutting
down most of its logging operations and laying
off more than 800 loggers and contractors as
demand for wood products continues to tumble
world-wide.
Logging is to shut down at the end of next week
so the forest company can bring its log
inventories in line with its lumber orders,
Western’s chief operating officer Duncan Kerr
said Tuesday.
Declining Timber Industry I
Posted May 4th, 2008
A binge of lending fed a housing boom that has, unsurprisingly, gone
bust. A binge of logging also fed that same boom.
Now the bust has affected the lending industry. It should be little
surprise that the logging industry is also taking hits from its own
excesses.
Many in the business and financial community have said, obviously
enough, that the exercise of restraint by the lending industry could
have prevented the current economic crisis. Because the lenders were
unable or unwilling to restrain themselves, many now say that
government has to do it for them.
While none seem to have seen it (yet), similar restraint by the
logging industry would have done the same thing, because houses can’t
be built with money, but require an equally important input from
wood. In the final analysis, the forests may as well have fallen on
the banks. The speed of their felling certainly brought the logging
industry into trouble, but the story going untold is that lending and
logging are players united on a common stream of money, and can’t
realistically be treated as if they were separate and independent.
Lance
Wall Street Journal
May 2, 2008 9:12 a.m. EDT
Weyerhaeuser Posts Loss Amid Weak Housing Demand
By MIKE BARRIS and ADAM MANZOR
Rain and Snow Help Great Lakes Water Volume Recovery
Posted May 3rd, 2008
Rain and snow spell relief for Great Lakes
Fri May 2, 2008 1:26pm EDT By Jonathan Spice
TORONTO (Reuters) - Twice as much autumn rain and early winter ice helped Lake Superior, the biggest of North America’s Great Lakes, bounce back from record low water levels reached last year.
The deep, cold lake on the Canada-U.S. border — the largest freshwater body of water in the world by surface area — rose about 31 cm (1 foot) in seven months, with half of that in April alone as the spring thaw melted heavy winter snowfall that arrived late in the season.
The turnaround in the uppermost of the Great Lakes could literally trickle down to its four lower cousins, spelling relief for shippers who use the major waterway and residents concerned over shallow channels and receding shorelines.
Fire in the Tundra
Posted May 2nd, 2008
————————–
“… a conversion of tundra to boreal forest as temperatures increase.”
—————————————————–
ECOLOGY: Fire in the Far North
Andrew M. Sugden
Paleoecological data sets contain historical
records of biotic responses to changes in
climate. Currently, high-latitude regions are
suffering a particularly aggressive regimen of
climate change; hence, an understanding of past
vegetation dynamics in these regions is
especially pertinent. Higuera et al. have
analyzed pollen records from north-central Alaska
and find that a combination of drier climates and
shrubbier tundra during the late glacial period
14,000 to 10,000 years ago led to regular fires.
Given present-day increases in shrub biomass and
temperature, tundra fire activity might increase
again, with consequences for vegetation dynamics
and carbon cycling. Tinner et al. have analyzed
pollen and other records from the past 700 years
(a period that includes the Little Ice Age of
1500 to 1800 CE) in southern Alaska, and find
that temperature fluctuations of 1° to 2°C,
together with changes in moisture balance, led to
conversions between boreal forest and tundra with
concomitant alterations in fire regimes. Taken
together, these findings are consistent with
models predicting a conversion of tundra to
boreal forest as temperatures increase. — AMS
PLoS ONE 3, e0001744 (2008); Ecology 89, 729 (2008).
———————————————————————————–
Warming May Starve Oceans of Oxygen Supply
Posted May 2nd, 2008
Global warming could starve oceans of oxygen: study
Thu May 1, 2008 2:31pm EDT
Natural changes may offset global warming briefly
30 Apr 2008 By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming could gradually starve parts of the tropical oceans of oxygen, damaging fisheries and coastal economies, a study showed on Thursday.
Areas of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with low amounts of dissolved oxygen have expanded in the past 50 years, apparently in line with rising temperatures, according to the scientists based in Germany and the United States.
And models of global warming indicate the trend will continue because oxygen in the air mixes less readily with warmer water. Large fish such as tuna or swordfish avoid, or are unable to survive, in regions starved of oxygen.
Arctic Sea Ice Forecast: Another Record Low in 2008
Posted May 1st, 2008
Arctic sea ice forecast: another record low in 2008
Arctic ice seen melting faster than anticipated
Thu May 1, 2008 1:43am EDT
24 Apr 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arctic sea ice, sometimes billed as Earth’s air conditioner for its moderating effects on world climate, will probably shrink to a record low level this year, scientists predicted on Wednesday.
In releasing the forecast, climate researcher Sheldon Drobot of the University of Colorado at Boulder called the changes in Arctic sea ice “one of the more compelling and obvious signs of climate change.”
Federal Judge: Bush Admin Has 16 Days to Decide Polar Bear Listing
Posted May 1st, 2008
Published on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
Bush Has 16 Days To Decide Whether Polar Bears Are Endangered
by Elana Schor
The Bush administration has 16 days to decide whether polar bears are now an endangered species because of climate change, a California judge ruled today.
The US court handed a victory to three environmental groups that sued to protect polar bears threatened by melting sea ice, rejecting a plea by the government to postpone its decision until June 30.
An agency of the US interior department was supposed to have ruled by January 9 on whether to designate the polar bear an endangered species. But the agency failed to act, angering green activists who attributed the delay to the Bush administration’s sale of oil and gas drilling leases near polar bear habitats in Alaska.
Scientists: World’s Largest Lake Warming Rapidly
Posted May 1st, 2008
World’s largest lake warming rapidly: scientists
Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:46pm EDT By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Siberia’s Lake Baikal has warmed faster than global air temperatures over the past 60 years, which could put animals unique to the world’s largest lake in jeopardy, U.S. and Russian scientists said.
The lake has warmed 1.21 degrees Celsius (2.18 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1946 due to climate change, almost three times faster than global air temperatures, according to a paper by the scientists to be published next month in the journal “Global Change Biology.”
Energy Transmission in Biological Systems
Posted May 1st, 2008
Excerpts from George M. Woodwell’s “The Energy Cycle of the
Biosphere,” Scientific American, September 1970.
******************************************************************************
“It is solar energy that moves the rabbit, the deer, the whale, the
boy on the bicycle outside my window, my pencil as I write these
words.”
“Only about a tenth of 1 percent of the energy received from the sun
by the earth is fixed by photosynthesis …. about the equivalent to
the annual production of between 150 and 200 billion tons of dry
organic matter and includes both food for man and the energy that
runs the life support systems of the biosphere, namely the earth’s
major ecosystems : the forests, grasslands, oceans, marshes,
estuaries, lakes, rivers, tundras, and deserts.
“Poison Ice” and Global Warming
Posted Apr 30th, 2008
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Salon: “Poison ice” and global warming
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:17:57 -0700
From: Fred Heutte <phred@SUNLIGHTDATA.COM>
Reply-To: Fred Heutte <phred@SUNLIGHTDATA.COM>
To: OREGON-LEADERS@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
My friend Elizabeth Grossman, a very talented and wide-ranging
writer (her books include “High Tech Trash,” about e-waste;
“The Undamming of America” and a Sierra Club Travel Guide,
“Adventuring Along the Lewis & Clark Trail”) has now turned her
attention to the Arctic and has a good piece below published
by Salon today . . .
This is the result of research she’s doing for a book on
bioaccumulative chemicals generally but the Arctic plays a big
role in it.
fh
——————————–
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/30/arctic_pollutants/
Poison ice
By Elizabeth Grossman
April 30, 2008 | ARCTIC OCEAN — Over 300 miles north of the Arctic
Circle, in the polar dark of a December morning, University of
Manitoba Ph.D. student Jesse Carrie is out on the frozen Beaufort
Sea, collecting ice samples to measure for mercury and pesticides.
Lowered by crane from the deck of the icebreaking research vessel
the CCGS Amundsen, and accompanied by a rifle bearer who keeps
watch for polar bears, Carrie extracts ice cores and vials of
frigid water. Carrie is part of a $40 million International Polar
Year scientific expedition, the first ever to spend the winter
moving through sea ice north of the Arctic Circle. The expedition’s
labor-intensive work is essential to understanding the impacts of
global warming.
Killing Asian Forests for Food and Fuel
Posted Apr 29th, 2008
EXCHANGE MORNING POST : Business, Economics, Education, Entrepreneurs,
Environment, Science and Technology
April 29, 2008
http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morningpost/2008/week18/Tuesday/042809.html
Asia’s Rainforests Vanishing As Timber, Food Demand Surge: Experts.
“Asia’s rainforests are being rapidly destroyed,
a trend accelerated by surging timber demand in
booming China and India, and record food, energy
and commodity prices, forest experts warn.
The loss of these biodiversity hot spots, much of
it driven by the illegal timber trade and the
growth of oil palm, biofuel and rubber
plantations, is worsening global warming, species
loss and poverty, they said…at the Asia-Pacific
Forestry Week conference in Hanoi. …
Nevada Public Lands Threatened by Massive Fossil-Fuel Drilling Operations
Posted Apr 29th, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2008
1:10 PM
CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Rob Mrowka, Center for Biological Diversity, (702) 249-5821
Federal Proposal to Open 1.7 Million Acres of Nevada Public Land to Oil and Gas Development Would Worsen Global Climate Change and Imperil Species
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - April 28 - Today the Center for Biological Diversity submitted comments urging the federal Bureau of Land Management to scrap its proposal to open 1.7 million acres of public lands in Lander and Nye counties to oil and gas development because the drilling would exacerbate global climate change and further threaten imperiled species.
At the heart of the Center’s complaint is the Bureau’s failure to analyze or even acknowledge the environmental impacts from the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the development and consumption of oil and gas produced from the area, despite the National Environmental Policy Act’s mandate to fully disclose the environmental impacts from federal actions.
Warming Shifting Crop Zones Northward
Posted Apr 28th, 2008
Warming shifts gardeners’ maps
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Every gardener is familiar with the multicolor U.S. map of climate zones
on the back of seed packets. It’s the Department of Agriculture’s
indicator of whether a flower, bush or tree will survive the winters in
a given region.
It’s also 18 years old. A growing number of meteorologists and
horticulturists say that because of the warming climate, the 1990 map
doesn’t reflect a trend that home gardeners have noticed for more than a
decade: a gradual shift northward of growing zones for many plants.
The map doesn’t show, for example, that the Southern magnolia, once
limited largely to growing zones ranging from Florida to Virginia, now
can thrive as far north as Pennsylvania. Or that kiwis, long hardy only
as far north as Oklahoma, now might give fruit in St. Louis.
Brazil to Control Access to Amazon
Posted Apr 27th, 2008
Plans to control access to Amazon
By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo
The Brazilian government is wary of bio-piracy
Brazil’s Congress is to be asked to consider a law which could require foreign visitors and workers in the Amazon region to have a permit.
The legislation is designed to prevent outside interference and illegal use of the rainforest’s resources.
Those in the region without a permit would be fined up to $60,000 (£30,000).
But some scientists have warned that if passed the measure could have a negative impact on research, and would force experts to look elsewhere.
Brazilian Soy Mogul Pushing Deforestation as Solution to World Food Crisis
Posted Apr 27th, 2008
Brazil “soy king” sees Amazon as food solution
Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:45pm EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - More of the Amazon rain forest should be cut down to make way for farmland to help ease the global food crisis, the governor of a big Brazilian farming state was quoted on Friday as saying.
Blairo Maggi, the governor of Mato Grosso state and Brazil’s largest soy producer, was quoted in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper as defending deforestation.
Forests, Rainfall, and Landslides
Posted Apr 25th, 2008
Science Findings, issue one hundred one / march 2008
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw
At the website, look for publications, find Science Findings, and go
to issue 101.
“Debris flows are common events that can shape stream habitat in
mountainous regions around the world, particularly in the rainy
Pacific Northwest. “A landslide, once in a stream, can create a
debris flow — a slurry of mud, rocks, and organic material that
scours sediment and wood along steep headwaters streams — and then
deposit this downstream in lower-gradient fish-bearing channels,”
explains Burnett. “But not all landslides enter streams and not all
debris flows travel to streams containing fish.”
New Zealand’s Largest Glacier Rapidly Shrinking
Posted Apr 25th, 2008
NEW ZEALAND
Largest glacier shrinking quickly
WELLINGTON — New Zealand’s biggest glacier is melting at its fastest pace in recent history, Massey University glacier expert Martin Brook said Thursday. The Tasman Glacier on South Island was 18 miles long in 1990, with virtually no lake at its front edge.
New measurements last week showed the glacier was 14 miles long, Brook said.
Meanwhile, a lake that has formed next to the glacier is now 4.4 miles long, 1.2 miles wide and 800 feet deep, he said.
————————————————————————————
Climate Change to Drive Trees, Forests Northward
Posted Apr 25th, 2008
Bears will see varied influence of changing distribution of trees.
For example, although the implications may not be perfectly clear,
polar bears will be shifting southward off the ice and onto the land
at the same time that spruce will be shifting northward, plausibly
shading the ground enough to select for or against the understory
species that might be polar bears’ future food base.
Lance
————————————–
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203090131.htm
Climate Change Predicted To Drive Trees Northward
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2007) - The most extensive and detailed study
to date of 130 North American tree species concludes that expected
climate change this century could shift their ranges northward by
hundreds of kilometers and shrink the ranges by more than half. The
study is by Daniel W. McKenney of the Canadian Forest Service and his
colleagues. Ranges may decrease sharply if trees cannot disperse in
altered conditions.
Climate Change and the Arctic Musk Ox
Posted Apr 25th, 2008
From AAAS EurekAlert : Atmospheric Science
http://www.eurekalert.org/bysubject/atmospheric.php
Go to the URL above for lengthier, more detailed versions of the blurbs below:
Public Release: 24-Apr-2008
Are Ice Age relics the next casualty of climate change?
The Wildlife Conservation Society recently
launched a four-year study to determine if
climate change is affecting populations of a
quintess