Consequences of Climate Change: Future Spain Could Turn Into a Desert as Global Warming Continues

  

Warning! A new study reveals that much of the Mediterranean region, including Spain, could dry up and its forests could be replaced with deserts as global warming continues.

According to the study published in the journal Science, the city of Seville in Spain and Lisbon in Portugal, which currently have temperate climate,would be smack in the middle of a desert by the end of the century.
The researchers came up with this result by analyzing historical data of the Mediterranean region in the past 10,000 years and computer models based on the agreed targets from The Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming by 2 degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius, Bloomberg reports. The researchers also used pollen records to determine how future temperatures will affect plant life in the region.
"That doesn't seem much to people, but we wanted to see what the difference would be on a sensitive region like the Mediterranean," said Joel Guiot, one of the study's authors told Nature.
Results showed that there will be four possible cases that may happen to the Mediterranean depending on the concentration of greenhouse gases. Researchers found out that if temperature increased by 2 degrees Celsius, Spain, North Africa and the Near East would have drastic changes, such as expanding deserts and coasts (which could even go up to the mountains).

“Everything is moving in parallel. Shrubby vegetation will move into the deciduous forests, while the forests move to higher elevation in the mountains,” Guiot reveals.
Patrick Gonzalez, principal climate-change scientist at the US National Park Service, notes that the study shows "the vulnerability of many ecosystems" and paves a way for policymakers to help these ecosystems adapt to the rapid climate change.

 

Warming Arctic Could Disrupt Global Nitrogen Cycle

  

A new study revealed that the warming temperatures in the Arctic could disrupt the flow of the global nitrogen cycle, altering the natural balance between nitrogen sources and nitrogen removal.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, showed that sensitive areas in the Arctic plays a larger role in the global nitrogen cycle as previously thought. Despite accounting to only one percent of the world's continental shelf, Arctic accounts for about five percent of the global ocean nitrogen removal.

"The role of this region is critically important to understand as humans put more nitrogen into the ocean via fertilizers, sewage and other sources," explained Amber Hardison, an assistant professor of marine science at The University of Texas at Austin and co-author of the study, in a statement. "The Arctic is also undergoing dramatic changes linked to climate change, including a rapid decline in sea ice. As sea ice shrinks, it disrupts the natural functioning of the ecosystem, including potentially limiting the vital nitrogen removal process."

For the study, the researchers measured different processes that can remove nitrogen in the Chukchi Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean adjacent to the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. The researchers found that the shrinking sea ice in the Arctic could negatively influence bacteria involved in the denitrification process.

 

 

The depleting sea ice could alter several marine ecosystems, including animals living in and on the seafloor, in not yet known ways. These animals, such as worms and clams, make tubes and burrows in the seabed, creating a prefect space for bacteria to engage in denitrification. The global nitrogen cycle has been well maintained by the oceans in the past. However, increase human activities, causing fertilizer and sewage runoff into the oceans, have tilted the balance. Nitrogen is essential for the survival of all living things. But excessive nitrogen can harm both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Large concentration of nitrogen could promote the growth of algae that are harmful to marine life.

World’s largest marine reserve hailed as diplomatic breakthrough

Antarctic agreement follows years of failed discussions and represents the first major conservation effort in the high seas.

  

It is a milestone for ocean conservation and Russia’s relationship with the rest of the world. After almost six years of unsuccessful talks, 24 nations and the European Union agreed on 28 October to create the largest marine reserve in the world, around twice the size of Texas, in the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica.

The international deal takes effect in December 2017 and will set aside 1.55 million square kilometres of the Ross Sea, a deep Antarctic bay 3,500 kilometres south of New Zealand, from commercial fishing and mineral exploitation. It is the first time that countries have joined together to protect a major chunk of the high seas — the areas of ocean that are largely unregulated because they do not fall under the jurisdiction of any one nation.

Signed by members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) amid cheering and applause at a meeting in Hobart, Australia, the deal became possible because of assent from Russia, which had long blocked the agreement. “Russian support of any agreement is a very positive signal in the current political situation,” says Peter Jones, a specialist on marine environmental governance at University College London.

Scientists hope now to see an acceleration of international marine-protection efforts around the globe, in particular, other ecologically precious regions around Antarctica. The designated reserve is a “first dent into the notion that we can’t do anything to protect the high seas”, says Daniel Pauly, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, who has long sounded the alarm over the state of the world ocean and declining fish harvests.
Russian U-turn

Members of the CCAMLR had discussed the Ross Sea proposal since it was initiated by the United States and New Zealand in 2010. Observers think that Russia’s change of heart might have been the result of intense, behind-the-scene discussions on the issue in recent months between US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

In politically turbulent times, Russia is “pleased to be part of this collaborative international effort”, Sergei Ivanov, special representative on ecology to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the BBC.

Although still relatively healthy, the Ross Sea has experienced a growth in fishing, which has begun to decimate stocks of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni), a predator. Also in decline is the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a shrimp-like crustacean that is one of the largest protein sources on Earth and a key creature in the marine food web off Antarctica.

The deal includes some compromises. These might have been necessary to winning the support of Russia, which operates a large fishing fleet in the region, says Jones. Most of the reserve — 1,117,000 km2 — will be closed to all commercial marine activities. But a further 322,000 km2 “krill research zone” will allow controlled fishing, known as “research fishing” and another 110,000 km2 will be a "special research zone” open for limited fishing of both krill and toothfish. This means that although the total area of the marine reserve is bigger than the next largest — Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument near Hawaii — the area that is completely restricted is slightly smaller.

And for now, a ‘sunset clause’ specifies that the designated zone expires in 35 years, meaning it would not fully qualify as a marine protected area (MPA) under the strict rules set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. “We do regret this,” says Mike Walker, project director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, a campaign group, in Washington DC. “But we are confident that decision-makers will come to realize that the best way to conserve the ocean is to protect it forever.”

Pollution and Pollutants: Classification, Causes, Effects and Sources

 

Classification of Pollution and Pollutants:

Pollution is defined as the presence of impurities or pollutant substances in sufficient concentration levels, causing harmful effects on human beings, animals, plant life or material resources when exposed for a sufficient duration of time, thus reducing the quality of life in the environment.

Pollution is the effect of undesirable changes in our surroundings that have harmful effects on plants, animals and human beings. Pollutants include solid, liquid or gaseous substances present in greater than natural abundance, produce due to human activity, which have a determined effect on our environment.

The nature and concentration of a pollutant determine the severity of its detrimental effects on human health. Impurities released directly from the source of origin are known as primary pollutants, for example, CO, SO₂, NO. When contaminants like HC, NO, O₃, combine in the atmosphere (moisture, sunlight) to form new products like PAN (peroxy acetyl nitrate), petrochemical smog, formaldehyde, which are known as secondary pollutants.

From an ecological perspective, pollutants can be classified as degradable, slowly degradable and non-degradable. The Degradable or called as non-persistent pollutants can be rapidly broken down by natural process. For example domestic sewage, discarded vegetables, Slowly-degradable or persistent pollutants are pollutants that remain in the environment for many years in an unchanged condition and take decades or longer to degrade.

For example, DDT (pesticides) and most plastics. The Non-degradable pollutants cannot be degraded by natural process. Once they are released into the environment they are difficult to eradicate and continue to accumulate: For example, toxic elements like lead or mercury, and nuclear wastes.

Causes:

The ultimate cause of pollution is human activity itself. Pollution is a human contribution to nature. Human activities mainly include: industries for various human needs both directly and indirectly, agriculture for food production and industrial needs, health care for health of human beings and animals, transport for mobility of human beings, dwelling for settlement in city or villages, energy for various direct human and industrial needs.

All of these activities contribute to pollution in one way or other and therefore causes miseries. All of them are aimed to be part of human welfare programmes. Along with welfare, all of them have brought the maladies of pollution.

A vast array of industries can cause pollution contrary to popular perception that only a chemical industry can cause pollution. The nature and intensity of pollution may be different in different industry. In others, it may be invisible, indirect or negligible. In such a broad sense, no industry is free of pollution.

Effects of Pollution:

Pollution produces physical and biological effects that vary from mildly irritating to lethal. The more serious of the two are the biological effects. The physical effects of pollution are those that we can see, but they include effects other than actual physical damage. Oils spills, killing fish birds, coal produce sox, particulates etc., are considered as physical effects. Air pollutants speed the erosion of statues and buildings, which in some instances, destroys works of art.

The most serious result of pollution is its harmful biological effects on human health and on the food-chain of animals, birds, and marine life. Pollution can destroy vegetation that provides food and shelter. It disrupts the balance of nature, and, in extreme cases, can cause the death of humans. Pesticides, which include herbicides and insecticides, can damage crops; kill vegetation; and poison birds, animals, and fish.

Most pesticides are non-selective; they kill or damage life forms other than those intended For example, pesticides used in an effort to control or destroy undesirable vegetation and insects often destroy birds and small animals. The biological effect of water pollution is its danger to our water supplies. Water pollutants are also dangerous to all forms of marine life.

Sources of Pollution:

Nature contributes to pollution by eroding the soil casing silt to build up in streams and by volcanic eruptions that pollute the atmosphere. However, people cause most pollution problems in the world. The main sources of pollutants are agricultural, industrial, municipal and transportation operations. Agricultural pollutants include insecticides, herbicides, pesticides, natural and chemical fertilizers, drainage from animal feedlots, salts from field irrigation, and silts from uncontrolled soil erosion.

Industrial operations produce a wide variety of pollutants. Industrial pollutants include acids from mines and factories, thermal discharges from power plants and radioactive wastes from mining and processing certain ores. Industries create pollutants by producing food, chemicals, metals, petroleum products, and poisons, as well as countless other by-products of our country’s technology.

The primary municipal pollutants are raw or inadequately treated sewage. Other municipal pollutants include refuse, storm-water overflows and salts used on streets in wintertime. Transportation pollutants include emissions from aircraft, trains, waterborne vessels, and cars and trucks. Motor vehicles create most of our air pollutants through their release of unburned fuel vapours (hydrocarbons).

 

Why should we save the giant panda?

  

We should do everything we can to save the giant panda because we are the ones that have driven it to the edge of extinction. And because we can.
But pandas also play a crucial role in China's bamboo forests by spreading seeds and helping the vegetation to grow.
So by saving pandas, we will also be saving so much more. We will be helping to protect not only these unique forests but also the wealth of species that live in them, such as dwarf blue sheep and beautiful multi-coloured pheasants.
And we will be providing a lifeline for a host of other endangered animals, including the golden snub-nosed monkey, takin and crested ibis that share these magnificent forests with the panda.
The panda’s habitat is also important for the livelihoods of local communities, who use it for food, income, fuel for cooking and heating, and medicine. And for people across the country.
The panda's mountains form the watersheds for both the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which are the economic heart of China – home to hundreds of millions of people. Economic benefits derived from these critical basins include tourism, subsistence fisheries and agriculture, transport, hydropower and water resources.
So by protecting pandas, we’re helping to safeguard the broader environment, which so many people and animals depend on.
Pandas themselves are also economically and culturally valuable. They are the national symbol of China and generate significant economic benefits for local communities through ecotourism and other activities.

We should do everything we can to save the giant panda because we are the ones that have driven it to the edge of extinction. And because we can.

But pandas also play a crucial role in China's bamboo forests by spreading seeds and helping the vegetation to grow.

So by saving pandas, we will also be saving so much more. We will be helping to protect not only these unique forests but also the wealth of species that live in them, such as dwarf blue sheep and beautiful multi-coloured pheasants.

And we will be providing a lifeline for a host of other endangered animals, including the golden snub-nosed monkey, takin and crested ibis that share these magnificent forests with the panda.

The panda’s habitat is also important for the livelihoods of local communities, who use it for food, income, fuel for cooking and heating, and medicine. And for people across the country.

The panda's mountains form the watersheds for both the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which are the economic heart of China – home to hundreds of millions of people. Economic benefits derived from these critical basins include tourism, subsistence fisheries and agriculture, transport, hydropower and water resources.

So by protecting pandas, we’re helping to safeguard the broader environment, which so many people and animals depend on.

Pandas themselves are also economically and culturally valuable. They are the national symbol of China and generate significant economic benefits for local communities through ecotourism and other activities.

 

 

How can we help save the panda?

 While the panda's future remains precarious, its numbers are slowly increasing in the wild. There are now more panda reserves than ever before and more projects to help people sustainably coexist with them.

This is all thanks to the efforts of the Chinese authorities and local communities, and the support of WWF and people like you!

The Importance of Natural Science Collections

Natural Science Collections provide a valuable resource for helping us to understand the world in which we live.

Apart from being hugely popular with the public, natural history collections play a vital role in our understanding of biodiversity, evolution, population genetics and the environmental impacts of climate change, pesticide use and so on. This is because historical collections provide base-line data against which modern observations can be compared and to produce predictive models.
The most fundamental role of natural history collections is safeguarding type specimens. These are preserved specimens of the individuals that were used to describe and name a species, providing the basis for taxonomy.
Every plant, fungus and animal you see in your garden has a scientific name that comes from such a description and each new proposed species needs to be compared to the preserved types of other similar organisms in order to ensure that it is in fact different to anything already described. Obviously the life in your back garden is quite well known by now, but there are still parts of the Earth that have not been thoroughly investigated and new species are coming to light all the time – particularly in the oceans and tropical forests.
Beyond the important type specimens, museums also hold voucher specimens [pdf], which are examples of organisms collected during biological recording and other research. These specimens are physical proof that work has been conducted and that species have been described accurately. Most importantly, they have good information about where and when the specimens were collected.

The value of specimens

Every natural history specimen with good data provides a physical snapshot of a species or community at a particular point in time and space. It is this physical record that makes museum collections so valuable –- you can’t extract DNA from a photograph and you can’t test a written description for pesticide residues, but a physical specimen can provide a wealth of unexpected information.
Specimens collected before DNA was even known are now able to provide information about how populations have changed over time and how that might influence conservation of threatened species. This kind of study is of particular interest where populations have suffered dramatic decline and face genetic bottlenecks, as with several beleaguered bird species from New Zealand [link opens pdf] and tumorous Tasmanian Devil.
But it’s not just preserved DNA that can be useful. Much of the research that led to tighter controls on pesticide use in agriculture (including the banning of DDT) came about by comparing the thickness of eggshells in museum collections from the 19th-20th Centuries [pdf review and related research on British Thrush eggs].

 

Challenges facing natural history collections

For research to be possible, museums need to be able to care for their collections and make the associated information as accessible as possible to researchers. The Internet provides a fantastic medium for access, but unfortunately many museums are struggling to get information onto databases due to the volume of data and lack of staff.
The museum sector is undergoing a period of substantial change in which priorities and models of work are being reassessed in light of funding cuts. Social Enterprise has been embraced by some museums [pdf] and may provide some good opportunities, particularly if the development of partnerships can increase collections access. However, change also brings the potential for considerable threats, particularly if focus shifts away from long-term collections care, access and development. An additional danger, particularly for hard-hit regional museums, may be the loss of the specialist staff needed to identify appropriate partners and develop the relationships needed to survive the uncertain times ahead.
Natural history collections are demonstrably important –- not just for education and cultural reasons, but for wider environmental reasons too. If we want to maintain our biodiversity and understand changes in our environment we need to sustain our natural history collections. In the words of Suarez & Tsutsui, 2004:

Nothing will ever replace the taxonomic knowledge and training that museums provide; funding in this area should become a national priority. Otherwise, knowledge of this planet’s biodiversity, and of all the potential benefits therein, will be lost.

'Building Walls' Will Worsen Coming Climate Crisis, Top General Warns

 

Global warming has the potential to "completely destabilize" the planet, cautioned a top military leader, as nations increasingly respond by erecting "walls and fences" rather than seek out a "global solution" to address the coming tide of climate refugees.

The stark warning came from Major General Munir Muniruzzaman, chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council On Climate Change (GMACCC), a panel of current and former military leaders who study the security implications of climate change, whose latest publication was presented earlier this week at the Hague Roundtable on Climate and Security in the Netherlands.

Among the group's findings, Muniruzzaman explained to the U.K.'s Independent, are that the risks of climate change are becoming "all-pervasive," with the impacts "becoming so severe they hold tremendous conflict potential."

As evidence, Muniruzzaman pointed to events, such as India and Pakistan's ongoing row over water rights and the drought and crop failures that helped fuel the Syrian civil war, as well as estimates that as many as 30 million Bangladeshis could lose their homes by 2050 as a result of sea level rise.

Painting the climate crisis as a global problem that warrants a global solution, Muniruzzaman admonished western governments that have responded to the current refugee crisis by erecting barriers, which he derided as "narrow nationalistic instincts," to restrict populations in need of food, water, and shelter.

"I'm very strongly of the opinion that walls are never a solution," he continued. "You cannot build walls to stop people when they want to go to safety."

"What has become more difficult now is we have boxed ourselves into the Westphalian system of states," he said. "That is in conflict with nature, with the movement of people...we need to find a common ground."

"People have moved before. Environmental changes have forced people to relocate themselves historically," Muniruzzaman continued.

"We need leaders with vision...we have to have a global solution to the problem, this is a civilizational problem," he added. "If we want to solve [these problems] with narrow nationalistic instincts, we will be adding more problems, not solving them."

The comments were made just weeks before global leaders are set to meet at the United Nations climate summit in Marrakech, Morocco, where Muniruzzaman indicated he wanted to see more "action" from signatories in regards to pledges made under the Paris climate agreement.

"I would like to warn everybody we are way behind schedule to trying to find a solution to the problems we can see. In most cases we have been shying away from the problems we can absolutely identify and see," he said. "For a long time, we have been talking about the issues, but on the ground we don't see much action. As a soldier, I have a more action-orientated approach."

Climate change rate to turn southern Spain to desert by 2100, report warns 

Mediterranean ecosystems will change to a state unprecedented in the past 10,000 years unless temperature rises are held to within 1.5C, say scientists

Coastal landscape seen from Cape Formentor, Mallorca. Climate change could see Mediterranean vegetation replace deciduous forests in Southern Spain. Photograph: Daniel Pavon/Aix Marseille University/Science

 

Southern Spain will be reduced to desert by the end of the century if the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, researchers have warned.

Anything less than extremely ambitious and politically unlikely carbon emissions cuts will see ecosystems in the Mediterranean change to a state unprecedented in the past 10 millennia, they said.

The study, published in the journal Science, modelled what would happen to vegetation in the Mediterranean basin under four different paths of future carbon emissions, from a business-as-usual scenario at the worst end to keeping temperature rises below the Paris climate deal target of 1.5C at the other.

Temperatures would rise nearly 5C globally under the worst case scenario by 2100, causing deserts to expand northwards across southern Spain and Sicily, and Mediterranean vegetation to replace deciduous forests. 

Even if emissions are held to the level of pledges put forward ahead of the Paris deal, southern Europe would experience a “substantial” expansion of deserts. The level of change would be beyond anything the region’s ecosystems had experienced during the holocene, the geological epoch that started more than 10,000 years ago.

“The Med is very sensitive to climatic change, maybe much more than any other region in the world,” said lead author Joel Guiot of Aix-Marseille University. “A lot of people are living at the level of the sea, it also has a lot of troubles coming from migration. If we add additional problems due to climate change, it will be worse in the future.”

He said that while his study did not simulate what would happen to production of Mediterranean food staples such as olives, other research showed it was clear the changes would harm their production. Climate change has already warmed the region by more than the global average – 1.3C compared to 1C – since the industrial revolution.

The real impact on Mediterranean ecosystems, which are considered a hotspot of biodiversity, could be worse because the study did not look at other human impacts, such as forests being turned over to grow food.

“The effect of the human is to deforest, to replace with agriculture and so on. You change the vegetation cover, the albedo, the humidity in the soil, and you will emphasise the drought when you do that. If you have the [direct] human impact, it will be worse,” said Guiot.

The researchers fed a model with 10,000 years of pollen records to build a picture of vegetation in the region, and used that to infer previous temperatures in the Mediterranean.

They then ran the model to see what would happen to the vegetation in the future, using four different scenarios of warming, three of them taken from the UN’s climate science panel, the IPCC. Only the most stringent cut in emissions – which is roughly equivalent to meeting the Paris aspiration of holding warming to 1.5C – would see ecosystems remain within the limits they experienced in the Holocene.

“The main message is really to maintain at less than 1.5C,” said Guiot. “For that, we need to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gases very quickly, and start the decreasing now, and not by 2020, and to arrive at zero emissions by 2050 and not by the end of the century.”

He said the main limitation of the study was the relatively simple model at its heart, but this was offset by the fact it was used consistently, to reconstruct the past and to forecast future vegetation.

10 Ideas: It's Easy Being Green

Care for the environment takes our commitment to a godly legacy to a new level of responsibility and conscientiousness. 

 Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, it’s hard to miss the much-needed “green” trend that’s swept the world. This has a special importance for us as Christians as we seek to obey one of God’s first commands to humanity: to "fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28), mimicking God’s caring, careful rule of us.

The Proverbs 31 woman is only one of many scriptural examples of our power over our home and its use. As stewards—and teachers—of our family’s living patterns, we have unique opportunities to flesh out careful biblical stewardship in our own homes.
This stewardship can demonstrate lessons to our children with a far wider scope than the environment: an eternal scope. Jesus illustrates this in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:23, “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” 
Environmental stewardship can teach our children:

• Financial management principles as they learn to reuse or repair, and innovatively make the most of what they have. 
• Ethical guidelines and decision-making skills that look beyond “me” as they choose justice and compassion, purchasing items that treat unknown, yet poorer members of another country fairly. Or, as they look to the future of our world and its resources, learning to be “givers” more than “takers.” Their dollars and their decisions do matter.
• Our interdependence in our “small world,” as well as a basic knowledge of and appreciation for where things come from.

Care for the environment takes our commitment to a godly legacy, in our own families and around the world, to a new level of responsibility and conscientiousness.
Here’s a small list of not-so-hard ways to get greener. Bonus: Most of these save cash, too.


1. A lot of detergents, soaps, and cleansers are hard on the environment and our families, even causing the development of more dangerous germs that respond to chemicals harsher than we need. Consider purchasing “green” versions of laundry detergent, fabric softeners, and other cleansers. They’ve become much more accessible and affordable.  I make my own cleansers (recipes abound on the internet) because I find them so much more convenient and cost-effective … not to mention all of us breathe easier (literally) with less danger for our young children around.


2. Hang your laundry to dry. Or throw a couple of tennis balls in your dryer, setting the heat down a little. The tennis balls cut down drying time by about 25 percent.


3. What makes heat typically takes more energy. You’ll save about five percent on your bill for every degree lower your thermostat goes in the winter (try programming it lower for nighttime). Take shorter showers, and install water savers in your showerheads. When possible, cook in your toaster oven rather than your conventional oven (saves on air conditioning in the summer, too). Wash clothes in the coolest water possible.


4. Use reusable shopping bags. Most stores offer them very reasonably—as in $1-3. Recycling plastic ones, though safer for animals than not recycling them, actually takes more energy. Reusable bags also carry about three times more groceries, which means less trips to the car.


5. Consider cloth diapers. This option has really improved—no rubber pants, no swishing in the toilet—and they’re put on as easily as disposables, with snaps or Velcro. Once you’ve paid for the initial cost—about six months of disposables—you’ll be saving about $40 a month. (Weigh this carefully if you live in an area where water is more precious than landfill space. Either way, solids from any diaper go in the toilet by law.) Reusable wipes are also available (great for children with sensitive skin), made of flannel or bamboo, a very rapidly renewable resource.


6. If every home replaced just one regular lightbulb with an energy-saving bulb, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent the release of greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. Plus it saves you energy costs that exponentially outweigh the cost of the bulb (from www.energystar.gov).


7. When it’s time to water your lawn and garden again, water at night. You’ll need far less because the sun won’t quickly evaporate the water, which will instead soak the soil all night. As an added benefit, the sunlight’s reflection off the water won’t scorch your plants.  


8. Wait to run your washer or dishwasher till they’re full. Shut off the faucet when you’re rinsing dishes, or while you’re shaving or brushing teeth.


9. Buy recycled, local, or organic items (including produce that’s in season in your area—less gas for transportation). Toilet paper, copier/printer paper, and many other products are priced competitively and can be found even at large chain stores. The Mennonite cookbooks More with Less and Simply in Season offer solutions in the kitchen.
Keep in mind that when you’re investing in fair-trade goods or organic goods, you’re often investing in products and people who aim to be responsible not just in business practices, but in ways that use people and resources with justice, compassion, and/or an eye on the future. (I have to ask my cheapskate self, isn’t the extra $.20 for this brand of fair-trade tea worth even the possibility of upholding “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy 5:18)? Those decisions acknowledge our God-given responsibility to “Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4).)


10. Drive more efficiently. Check tire inflation (a significant gas-waster), unload your trunk, and ease off the accelerator (cruise control helps); your dashboard’s mileage calculator may be a good reminder. Reconsider carpooling or mass transit—and a possible ministry opportunity as you get to know coworkers, neighbors, or schoolmates and their parents. (See www.fueleconomy.gov or http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-economy/ten-green-driving-tips.htm for more ideas.)
For more energy-saving ideas, there’s a free booklet to view online from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Many Christians argue that this world is passing away—and thankfully, it is. God will soon make all things new (Revelation 21:1-5). But that doesn’t excuse us from loving people here, whether through goods, promoting justice, or leaving our children a godly legacy … and as little of our messes as possible. We wouldn’t allow our children to trash our home, to use its resources selfishly, or to leave their waste for others to clean up. Eternity also doesn’t excuse our fulfillment of God’s command to care for what He created, reflecting the fullness of His love to the world. We must think globally––think eternally––and act locally

Bella Bella Oil Spill Called 'An Environmental Disaster'

BELLA BELLA, B.C. — A report says two tanks containing oil or contaminants from a submerged tug west of Bella Bella, off British Columbia's central coast, were either torn open or severely damaged when the vessel ran aground.

Despite bad weather that has complicated salvage efforts, divers were able to check the bottom of the Nathan E. Stewart on Sunday, as it rests in nine metres of water in a channel about 500 kilometres north of Vancouver.

A joint situation report issued by the American tug owner and federal, provincial and First Nations groups says divers found the lube tank torn and pumped out nothing but water on Sunday from the severely damaged bilge tank.

When the tug ran aground on Oct. 13, the lube tank contained about 2,400 litres of oil. The bilge tank was believed to have held nearly 3,700 litres of water, oil, sludge and other engine-room and ship's contaminants called dirty bilge.

 

The report says about 1,200 litres of a lube oil and seawater mixture has been removed while the hydraulic oil and gear oil tanks have been pumped, but it does not mention any further recovery of the thousands of litres of diesel oil still believed to be aboard.

Gale force winds hampered salvage efforts over the weekend, breaking apart a boom surrounding the tug on Friday, but the report says replacement booms have held since then.

Tug owner Kirby Offshore Marine hopes to drain the vessel's fuel tanks and use a crane to lift it onto a barge for removal from the area off the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest.

 

Contaminants from the tug prompted an almost immediate closure of bivalve shellfish fisheries in Seaforth Channel and Gale Passage.

The Heiltsuk First Nation has described the situation as an environmental disaster that has severely harmed its economy because they depend on harvests from clam beds.

Chief Marilyn Slett has said her community is in a state of shock over the latest setback involving the broken booms and questioned why more seaworthy booms weren't installed after the tug boat sank.

Five Good Things About a Hurricane

Hurricane Felix over the coast of eastern Honduras. Credit: NASA via Universe Today.

 

Tropical cyclones are important rainmakers, providing 25 percent or more of available rainfall to places like Japan, India, and Southeast Asia—not to mention Texas, which desperately needs a dousing ASAP.

 

In the course of a year, low latitudes gain more heat and high latitudes loose more heat. Tropical cyclones help transport heat from the equator towards the poles. Credit: NASA. 

2. Tropical cyclones help maintain the global heat balance by moving warm tropical air away from the equator and towards the poles. Without them, the tropics would get a lot hotter and the poles a lot colder... A typical tropical cyclone releases heat energy of about 50 to 200 exajoules a day. That's equivalent to 70 times our worldwide energy consumption. 

 

Long Island, New York, with multiple barrier islands. Credit: NASA.

3. Paradoxically, fragile barrier islands need hurricanes for their survival—especially now, when sea levels are rising. Although hurricanes erode beaches on the ocean side of barrier islands, they build up the back sides of the same islands by depositing new sediments via winds and waves. This dynamical process keeps barrier islands alive. 

 

Global thermohaline circulation, aka the ocean conveyor belt. Credit: Avsa via Wikimedia Commons. 

4. Tropical cyclones stir up the ocean and drive the process of upwelling, thus playing a part in the thermohaline circulation—another important transport mechanism distributing heat between the equator and the poles and keeping the earth's temperature in better balance.

 

Credit: Bruno de Giusti via Wikimedia Commons. 

5. By stirring the ocean, tropical cyclones also cycle nutrients from the seafloor to the surface, boosting ocean productivity and setting the stage for blooms of marine life.

10 Ways to Improve the Environment

 

How to work toward 'green' goals in everyday ways. 

 

 

 

The earth faces numerous environmental crises caused by pollution and other impacts from human beings. Here are suggestions for steps you might consider to help improve the environment.

 



1) Talk the talk: Make ecological awareness part of our social fabric and culture as Americans. The more you learn about the complex relationships between living things and their environment, the better. Talk to your family and friends about the things you know and learn.
Join groups such as Greenpeace or the Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club where you can have fun while learning more about the issues and how to solve them by the most effective means.

2) Walk the walk. Instead of driving a car, walk or ride a bicycle to the grocery store or anywhere else. If the destination is too far, consider other means of transportation. The traditional gasoline car is the worst polluter. New electric cars are affordable for many and completely free of toxic emissions. Consider the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt or the Tesla or any one of the new, "green" cars.

3) Recycle: This is the most common and, in most cities, the easiest, most accessible thing we can do for the environment. Most cities in Los Angeles County provide separate containers for trash, recyclables and garden clippings as well as convenient pickup. We can recycle many household items, including computers, printer cartridges, aluminum cans, paper, plastic bottles, milk jugs, batteries, steel containers, glass and much more.

4) : No longer can we take clean water for granted. A third of the world’s population does not have access to clean water. Only 1 percent of Earth’s water is safe and available for humans to use. Minimize your use of toxic chemicals and use them with caution as they tend to end up in the groundwater. 

5) Use renewable energy at home and work: Use renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal; rather than nonrenewables such as oil and natural gas. Many new American technologies are available, such as solar panels and solar shingles.

6) Vote 'green': Select the elected officials who are most likely to deliver environmentally sensitive solutions such as more parks, bike paths and all sorts of government oversight and industrial guidance and incentives aimed toward renewable energy, slowing population rates and conservation. Consider these tips about our government.

7) Buy locally: Buy produce at the farmers market or at grocery stores that buy local produce and meats, poultry and fish. Farmers markets operate in almost every neighborhood of Los Angeles, including Encino. You'll get food that is fresher and brought to market with less pollution because it is transported much shorter distances than products often found in chain stores.

8) Create more, consume less. More people are learning that life becomes more fulfilling when they create a gratifying lifestyle with friends, loving relationships, and passionate careers. In doing so, they tend to lose the urge to consume wasteful products. Consider the book by Erich Fromm, To Have or To Be.

9) Do your part to control human population: Is it necessary to breed? Today, many people choose not to procreate and find fulfillment in their careers and communities of friends. Many people find their purpose and joy of life by developing themselves through the arts, sciences, sports or other domains. Humans already reproduce more than our planet can sustain. Consider the sobering facts about population.

10) Keep learning and building habits: Little by little, develop simple, practical, daily habits that impact our environment in positive ways. Most any religion tells us that we humans are part of the eco-system and responsible for the earth. Consider how ancient wisdom of the various religions teaches us this simple view, as referenced in the links below.

New method of estimating biodiversity based on tree cover

Stanford researchers discovered that in agricultural areas of Costa Rica, increased tree cover corresponds with increases in biodiversity. Credit: David Spangenburg

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-10-method-biodiversity-based-tree.html#jCp

 

Historically, conservationists have protected species by placing large swaths of land into preserves and parks. However, only 13 percent of the world's land area is located in protected natural land. Most of the planet's species live in ecological gray areas, located within a gradient where one end is pristine wilderness, the other a parking lot.

Protecting species in these gray areas is a challenge because there's no way to measure biodiversity without time-consuming field surveys. With no way to estimate biodiversity, making decisions for protecting habitat and species is difficult. Researchers at Stanford, through extensive observations, mapping and analysis, have now generated a method of estimating biodiversity based on tree cover. The results can be used by policymakers to help protect biodiversity and endangered species.

"We've created a framework for counting something previously uncountable," said Chase D. Mendenhall, a postdoctoral research fellow in biology at Stanford. Mendenhall is a lead author in a new study, to be published Oct. 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that has created a quantitative measure of biodiversity across agricultural and urban landscapes.

 The key: trees

Over a series of three- to six-month field sessions across 10 years, Mendenhall's team of 15 researchers hiked across the hilly tropical agricultural landscape of Coto Brus, an area in Costa Rica. In an ecological gradient from protected forest to treeless pasture, the team made a total of 67,737 observations of 908 species, comprised of understory plants, non-flying mammals, bats, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

The scientists then plotted their plant and animal observations on detailed, fine-scale maps from Google Earth aerial photographs.

When they analyzed the results, the importance of tree cover became clear. For four of the six species groups (plants, non-flying mammals, bats and birds), scientists saw a significant increase in the number of species with increasing tree cover visible on Google Earth maps. At a single point, Mendenhall's new model predicts biodiversity in the region within a 30- to 70-meter radius and demonstrates how the number and kind of species change as trees are added to plots of land.

"All the animals agreed: trees are great," Mendenhall said.

The analysis showed adding a single tree to pasture could boost, for example, the species number of bird species from near zero to 80. After this initial sharp increase, adding trees continues to add new species, but more gradually. As the stand of trees approaches 100 percent cover within the area of interest, endangered and at-risk species like wildcats and deep forest birds begin to appear. 

 

  Birds like this orange-collared manakin are more common in areas with increased tree cover. Credit: Chase Mendenhall

"This is a win-win situation for planting trees and reforestation. One tree will increase the number of species quickly and planting a forest that fills in 100 percent of the area brings in the really charismatic species most at risk of extinction," Mendenhall said.


While the researchers found strong relationships between trees and species in Coto Brus, the question of greater applicability remained. To address this, Mendenhall and his colleagues compared their results to 90 similar studies across Latin America.

All the other studies were in line with what Mendenhall found in Costa Rica, demonstrating similar relationships between biodiversity and tree cover. The comparison across Latin America showed that the team's results were applicable throughout tropical agricultural landscapes.

A win for biodiversity

There are two general ways to value biodiversity: the total number of species and the number of at-risk or rare species. This study shows that planting single trees or regenerating large tracts of forest increases both values of biodiversity – both rely on adding more trees to the landscape.

"Biologists all work with different animals. Some view the world through birds, some through bats. I'm trying to get a consensus that one thing all biologists can recommend to policymakers interested in halting climate change, protecting water, and safeguarding biodiversity is to plant, preserve and regenerate trees in the warm, wet areas of the world where most biodiversity exists," Mendenhall said.

In practice, farmers can achieve a significant increase in biodiversity just by planting a few trees in their fields. Additionally, a reforestation project leader can use the model to figure out how many trees to add in order to bring back a rare or endangered species.

"We're giving people a way of measuring biodiversity, so that they can place their own value on it," Mendenhall said.

The model produced by the study could eventually be used in policymaking. Biodiversity can be factored into land use decisions, adding another variable to ecosystem services. Along with securing clean water and removing carbon from the atmosphere, the ability of trees to support life could be included in planning decisions.

"We know that planting trees along rivers protects water and sucks up atmospheric carbon. Now we're also showing how many species you can add in the process," Mendenhall said. 

How tree cover can offer shortcut to estimating biodiversity  

A research team from Stanford University has developed a more efficient method to measure and quantify the level of biodiversity across landscapes from wilderness to urban centers.

The study, which was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the density of tree cover is the best indicator of the level of biodiversity in a given area. The researchers hope their results will inform policymakers attempting to protect biodiversity and endangered species.

"We've created a framework for counting something previously uncountable," Chase Mendenhall, a postdoctoral research fellow in biology at Stanford who led the study, said in a statement.

Over the course of ten years, Dr. Mendenhall led a series of three- to six-month field expeditions across Coto Brus in Costa Rica. The team of researchers hiked across the hilly tropical landscape from the deepest wilderness to open pastures making observations of a total of 67,737 living things from 908 species, including understory plants, non-flying mammals, bats, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The researchers plotted the locations of understory plants, as well as non-flying mammals, bats, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, onto Google Earth photographs to determine the landscape features that lead to a greater biodiversity.

The researchers found that trees were the most important indicator of biodiversity for four of the six species groups studied: plants, non-flying mammals, bats, and birds.

"This is a win-win situation for planting trees and reforestation,” Mendenhall said in a statement. “One tree will increase the number of species quickly and planting a forest that fills in 100 percent of the area brings in the really charismatic species most at risk of extinction.”

According to the team’s model, the addition of a single tree to a treeless pasture can increase the number of bird species from near zero to 80 – although this increase drops off as additional trees are added to increase more gradually. The model also shows how different types of species will respond as trees are planted.

"Biologists all work with different animals. Some view the world through birds, some through bats,” Mendenhall said. “I'm trying to get a consensus that one thing all biologists can recommend to policymakers interested in halting climate change, protecting water, and safeguarding biodiversity is to plant, preserve and regenerate trees in the warm, wet areas of the world where most biodiversity exists.”

Being able to quantify the current state of biodiversity without conducting an extensive survey of the particular area, and also accurately predict how planting trees will affect biodiversity can help streamline environmental protection policies concerning everything from clean water and land use to carbon dioxide removal, Meadenhall says.

"We're giving people a way of measuring biodiversity, so that they can place their own value on it," he said in a statement. "We know that planting trees along rivers protects water and sucks up atmospheric carbon. Now we're also showing how many species you can add in the process.”