Habitat loss, not poison, better explains grassland bird decline

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This article on Eurekalert.org explains how loss of habitat, rather than pesticide use, is behind the decline of grassland birds worldwide:

Habitat loss has impacted grassland bird species worldwide. (Image credit)

Habitat loss has impacted grassland bird species worldwide.
(Image credit)

Last year, a pair of researchers linked the drop in the populations of grassland bird species, such as the upland sandpiper and the Henslow’s sparrow, to insecticide use, rather than to a rapid decline of grasslands, a more commonly accepted theory. However, after re-examining the data, Penn State and U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers now believe that the loss of habitat continues to be the best explanation, said Jason M. Hill, a postdoctoral research associate in ecosystem science and management, Penn State.

“Many people think of grassland loss as something that happened long ago in North America, but the amount of grassland lost since the 1980s is absolutely staggering, whereas the insecticide use greatly declined prior to the 1990s,” said Hill.

The researchers cited earlier studies that documented a loss of approximately 97,000 square kilometers — an area larger than the stats of Indiana — of grasslands in the U.S. between 1982 and 1997 primarily due to the expansion and intensification of agricultural practices.

(Break)

“Grasslands and grassland-obligate species are declining not just across North America, but across the globe,” said Hill.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Habitat loss, not poison, better explains grassland bird decline

Satellite photos show Indonesia’s disastrous forest damage

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This news article by the Korea Herald details the effects of deforestation on Indonesia’s richly biodiverse rainforests:

God's New Message advocates that half of the world's forests should be protected. (Image credit)

God’s New Message advocates that half of the world’s forests should be protected.
(Image credit)

Satellite images have found that Indonesia’s ancient forests, a cradle of biodiversity and a buffer against climate change, have shrunk much faster than thought, scientists said on Sunday.

Between 2000 and 2012, Indonesia lost around 6.02 million hectares of primary forest, an area almost the size of Sri Lanka, they reported.

(Break)

The researchers found that primary forest loss accelerated during the period under review, reaching an annual 840,000 hectares by 2012 ― nearly twice the deforestation rate of Brazil, which was 460,000 hectares in the same year.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Climate change and forest fires synergistically drive widespread melt events of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This scientific paper published on the PNAS website discusses how carbon sediment from forest fires looks set to cause increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet over the next century. As stated in the abstract:

Forest fires, which are expected to become more frequent due to climate change, are speeding up melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which threatens to raise sea levels. (Image credit)

Forest fires, which are expected to become more frequent due to climate change, are speeding up melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which threatens to raise sea levels.
(Image credit)

In July 2012, over 97% of the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced surface melt, the first widespread melt during the era of satellite remote sensing. Analysis of six Greenland shallow firn cores from the dry snow region confirms that the most recent prior widespread melt occurred in 1889. A firn core from the center of the ice sheet demonstrated that exceptionally warm temperatures combined with black carbon sediments from Northern Hemisphere forest fires reduced albedo below a critical threshold in the dry snow region, and caused the melting events in both 1889 and 2012. We use these data to project the frequency of widespread melt into the year 2100. Since Arctic temperatures and the frequency of forest fires are both expected to rise with climate change, our results suggest that widespread melt events on the Greenland Ice Sheet may begin to occur almost annually by the end of century. These events are likely to alter the surface mass balance of the ice sheet, leaving the surface susceptible to further melting.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Exhaustion of cheap mineral resources is terraforming Earth – scientific report

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This two-page report in the Guardian discusses the growing decline the world’s industries’ ability to extract the mineral resources needed to run human civilization:

A new landmark scientific report drawing on the work of the world’s leading mineral experts forecasts that industrial civilisation’s extraction of critical minerals and fossil fuel resources is reaching the limits of economic feasibility, and could lead to a collapse of key infrastructures unless new ways to manage resources are implemented.

(Break)

Its latest report, to be released on 12th June, conducts a comprehensive overview of the history and evolution of mining, and argues that the increasing costs of mineral extraction due to pollution, waste, and depletion of low-cost sources will eventually make the present structure of industrial civilisation unsustainable.

Extraction of mineral resources from the earth is becoming more difficult as time goes by. This will lead to economic contraction in the future and a focus on sustainability will have to take precedent if human civilization is to have a future. (Image credit)

Extraction of mineral resources from the earth is becoming more difficult as time goes by. This will lead to economic contraction in the future and a focus on sustainability will have to take precedent if human civilization is to have a future.
(Image credit)

Much of the report’s focus is on the concept of Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI), which measures the amount of energy needed to extract resources. While making clear that “we are not running out of any mineral,” the report finds that “extraction is becoming more and more difficult as the easy ores are depleted. More energy is needed to maintain past production rates, and even more is needed to increase them.” As a consequence, despite large quantities of remaining mineral reserves:

“The production of many mineral commodities appears to be on the verge of decline… we may be going through a century-long cycle that will lead to the disappearance of mining as we know it.”

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Climate change will cost big business dearly, report warns

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This article discusses how the economy in the US could be affected by the changing world:

Rising sea levels threaten many coastal towns, both in the US and around the world. (Image credit)

Rising sea levels threaten many coastal towns, both in the US and around the world.
(Image credit)

The report says the U.S. southeast will likely be affected both by sea-level rise and extreme temperatures, with the latter leading to 11,000 to 36,000 additional deaths per year.

Crop yields will be most impacted in the Midwest, declining by 19 per cent by 2050 and by 63 per cent by the year 2100.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.newmessage.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Climate change will cost big business dearly, report warns

May 2014 was the hottest ever recorded

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This article by the Daily Mail illustrates the changing trends of world temperatures:

Driven by exceptionally warm ocean waters, Earth smashed a record for heat in May and is likely to keep on breaking high temperature marks, experts say.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Monday said May’s average temperature on Earth of 59.93 degrees Fahrenheit (15.54 degrees Celsius) beat the old record set four years ago.

Warm ocean currents are largely behind May's record-breaking temperatures. A warming Earth is one of the changes affirmed in the Great Waves of Change. (Image credit)

Warm ocean currents are largely behind May’s record-breaking temperatures. A warming Earth is one of the changes affirmed in the Great Waves of Change.
(Image credit)

Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb and other experts say there’s a good chance global heat records will keep falling, especially next year because an El Nino weather event is brewing on top of man-made global warming.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

North Atlantic ecosystem being affected increasingly by the changing world

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Jim Brennan

This article by the Plymouth Herald discusses how wildlife habitats in the North Atlantic are being affected by climate change:

A study led by Jason Hall-Spencer, professor of marine biology at Plymouth University, found that rising temperatures, acidified seawater and increased storminess are driving “profound changes” in the ocean.

Climate change is having an increasing effect on the North Atlantic's wildlife habitats. (Image credit)

Climate change is having an increasing effect on the North Atlantic’s wildlife habitats.
(Image credit)

Scientists fear that the changes will lead to the uncontrollable spread of invasive species, widespread changes in critical marine habitats and damage to shellfish and finfish fisheries.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on North Atlantic ecosystem being affected increasingly by the changing world

World’s energy systems vulnerable to climate change

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Jim Brennan

A recent news article illustrates how vulnerable the world’s energy systems are to the effects of the changing world:

Many large plants are particularly at risk from droughts, because they need water to cool their facilities, and floods, because they lack protection from sudden storms. Electricity distribution networks are also likely to be affected.

The vulnerability of energy systems to natural shocks was shown starkly when the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan had to be closed down following the 2011 tsunami, which prompted governments around the world to review their nuclear policies.

The world's energy systems will continue to be vulnerable to the changes in the world and new methods of power generation will have to be discovered and implemented. (Image credit)

The world’s energy systems will continue to be vulnerable to the changes in the world and new methods of power generation will have to be discovered and implemented.
(Image credit)

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on World’s energy systems vulnerable to climate change

US military funding social science research to prepare for future civil disorder

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Jim Brennan

One of the consequences of the effects of the changing world will be civil disorder in many places. It should come as no surprise, then, that one of the world’s most powerful militaries is funding research into the potential future consequences of this disorder, as this article from the Guardian illustrates:

Launched in 2008 – the year of the global banking crisis – the DoD ‘Minerva Research Initiative’ partners with universities “to improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the US.”

The US military is planning for climate change-related civil unrest in the near future. (Image credit)

The US military is planning for climate change-related civil disorder in the near future.
(Image credit)


Among the projects awarded for the period 2014-2017 is a Cornell University-led study managed by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research which aims to develop an empirical model “of the dynamics of social movement mobilisation and contagions.” The project will determine “the critical mass (tipping point)” of social contagians by studying their “digital traces” in the cases of “the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the 2011 Russian Duma elections, the 2012 Nigerian fuel subsidy crisis and the 2013 Gazi park protests in Turkey.”

In 2013, Minerva funded a University of Maryland project in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to gauge the risk of civil unrest due to climate change. The three-year $1.9 million project is developing models to anticipate what could happen to societies under a range of potential climate change scenarios.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.newmessage.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on US military funding social science research to prepare for future civil disorder

Drought in California threatens US food supply

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Jim Brennan

The recent drought affecting the US state of California is likely to have an impact on the US food supply, as this news article illustrates:

Walk into any grocery store in America and there’s a good chance the fresh produce you see there was grown in California. Up to half of the nation’s fruit, nuts and vegetables are grown in the Central Valley, one of the planet’s most fertile growing regions, between Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Now, for the first time this century, the entire state is in severe to exceptional drought.

(Break)

Errotabere says his farm is in uncharted territory and on the verge of catastrophe. Thirty percent of his fields have been fallowed this year, and if these conditions continue, more growing operations could be shut down.

“If we have one more year like we had these past two years, it’s going to be devastating out here. … We’ll probably have 60 to 65 percent of our production out next year.”

The consequences are staggering near towns like Mendota. Dried-up fields blow dust into the sky. River beds and canals, once full of water, are now full of dead weeds and rattlesnakes. Fruit orchards along Interstate 5 look like burned piles of firewood. Workers who used to make a living picking fruit and working machinery now stand in government supported food lines to feed their families. No water means no jobs.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Drought in California threatens US food supply