Canadian researchers are using satellite photos to show how climate change is prompting vegetation from southern Canada to creep into the tundra, possibly threatening the northern ecosystem. Areas that were normally occupied by herbs, for example, are becoming occupied by shrubs. The tree line is migrating northward. These changes have implications on wildlife and the people who depend on wildlife in the North.
Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.
There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.
Educating Public About Biodiversity Loss
This is where education of the public around biodiversity loss issues becomes so critical:
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/whats-wrong-with-biodiversity/
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/getting-biodiversity-onto-the-cultural-radar-screen/
This is much much better
This is much much better than Glaciers creeping down onto the bushes and herbs. Lets get some priorities straight.
Bushes creeping in on Herbs....gives me the Heebee Jeebees that anybody is concerned about it.
Maybe your favorite Herb is being threatened?
Maybe too much of the Herb yourself???
Maybe the Herbs are just working northward into new areas.
Ya Think?
Oh no! - the useless frozen
Oh no! - the useless frozen barren wasteland is starting to show signs of life! We can't have that.
Hmmm
If you regard the tundra as "useless frozen barren wasteland", you haven't been paying attention. It is an ecosystem that supports unique forms of life and a human culture thousands of years old. It also forms a critical holding tank of frozen methane, as pointed out by SMStreetcar, below. Just because land isn't under crops, business parks, highways or endless rows of houses doesn't mean it isn't serving an important function.
Fern Mackenzie
Rick
Rick:
The problems are two-fold, and here's why scientists and some politicians are concerned.
The first is that the vast frozen tundra has been that way for millennia, but if it melts, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Of course, should the arctic start thawing, we'd expect to to eventually see a surge in methane emissions.
Many nations are working hard to control their methane emissions, and that seemed to be working fairly well, for the level of methane released into the atmosphere had been static for almost 15 years. That is, until 2006, and again in 2007, when methane emissions surged by more than 20 million metric tons. (See NOAA). Scientists can't say for sure that thawing tundra is responsible for the sudden increase, but this result has been predicted for years.
And if the tundra thaws, it could become a tipping point; a little more heat, and the arctic could release billions of tons of methane, and that could cause global warming to start spiraling out of control. (The IPCC gave a range of possibilities, and we'd move into extreme range that could see global temperatures rise by 11° C).
Will it happen? No one knows. But a sudden increase in methane levels has been predicted by global warming scientists, and it's another piece in the puzzle. When I first heard about the surge in methane, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
The second problem with the tundra is that what it means for other areas in the world. In Canada, the tree line moves north. In the Himalayas, the glaciers retreat (this too, has been measured, and they are retreating). And while that might make it easier to get to Mount Everest, those glaciers also feed some of the most populous regions in the world. Some articles that I've read suggest that about two billion people in these areas won't have enough water for even basic needs if the climate warms another degree, as expected, in the next 20 years or so..
The tragedy at Darfur began as a tribal fight over water. The number of environmental refugees has increased dramatically in the last two years as marginal lands can no longer support life. Skirmishes over scarce resources are increasing.
Global warming is about to hit the poorest of the poor very hard. That's why I'm devoting the rest of my days to fight to buy us time.
Gary's answer
I'll save Gary that trouble of replying to my post. Here's what he will say.
Your whole post is stupid. Global warming isn't happening.
Get over yourself.
Correct me if I'm
Correct me if I'm wrong....but I believe the Artic has melted before as evidenced by frozen remains that have been uncovered below the ice. So...If the Arctic has melted before, then your disasterous Methane has been loosed upon the word already in the past. We are still here...therefore it was not of global concern or consequence.
There we go...a lifetime of research cost saved for the American Taxpayer.
Somebody just had to say it.
Worthless research performed by tax dollar bloodsuckers doesn't prove anything but greed.
I'm sure we all agree on this.
Have a nice day.
You're wrong.
You're wrong.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/5/23/93829/4280
Well the time frame of 1998
Well the time frame of 1998 to 2008 is alot shorter timeframe than the one I was speaking of, so your "proof" is worthless. But even if it should turn out to be true, the earth needs some more warming as it has been cooling since 1998 according to the only records that can be trusted....Satellite temperature measurements.
Good try VJ, but no cigar or Cupie doll for you today
Get back on your teeter totter and contemplate your navel while cogitating tipping points.
OOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........
False and offensive.
False and offensive.
So apparently the poster Kirk = Foreverskeptic.
Right you are VJ. Good
Right you are VJ. Good catch!
But how many others?
If you are a bunch of sock
If you are a bunch of sock puppets you should be banned.
The entirety of Climate
The entirety of Climate Science is, IMO, one big Opinion Piece, as neither side can really prove anything.
In that sense my opinion is as true as any other opinion as it truly is my opinion.
With respect to the offensive, I was expecting a much thicker skin on your part as comments on this site can get quite salty.
If I have offended you sensitivities, I apologize.
Now...Toughen up sparky
If you want anyone to
If you want anyone to respect your opinion, you must first educate yourself and demonstrate that you have thought about the issues. But that's hard work.
Apology noted; you will not gain anything by trying to belittle other people. You're not in kindergarten.
11,000 years ago
we didn't have millions of people living in areas vulnerable to sea level rise & nowhere for them to go because the other 6 billion of us are occupying the rest of the planet's habitable zones. You can't relocate people from a river delta to thawed-out tundra (much of it peat bog). And there was no food supply crisis or national boundaries, you could follow the food wherever. But I'm wasting my breath here, aren't I? Nothing anyone says will ever convince you that any of this actually matters.
Fern Mackenzie
If we're at some kind of
If we're at some kind of methane global warming turning point now, then there is no hope that scattered individuals shouting into the wind will make any difference. Fossil fuel burning is going up and it's going to keep going up and no one on Earth can change that. It's just a fact.
So your answer would be
do nothing? or worse, continue to accelerate the rate of warming, and it's just too bad for those who come after? That's not how I define stewardship. It's become a cliche, but it bears repeating: we don't inherit the land from our parents, we borrow it from our children.
Fern Mackenzie
This article proves that
This article proves that when the ground unfreezes, things will grow...BRILLIANT.
That was worth scads of research money, now wasn't it?
Wait....what is that? Does
Wait....what is that?
Does anyone else here Violins?
Or is it just me?