In the article referenced below, the New York Times writer investigates one of the animals on the endangered species list according to NOAA fisheries: the sperm whale. The population of the sperm whale has declined 70 percent in the last 150 years. Although the article’s intention is not to highlight this fact, I think it is worth noting due to our recent time spent studying the red list and other life forms that are in peril because of depopulation. In this case with the sperm whales, the cause is due to the amount that have been killed by humans for food and oil. In this article, however, the objective is to investigate the intellect and social capabilities of sperm whales. The process that is under investigation by the free diving scientists is the practice of coda clicks by which the whales communicate. Objectively, at first exposure, the sounds seem primitive and unintelligent in nature, but upon further investigation by the team, there have been much more intricate and elaborate parts found within each basic sounding click. The interesting part of each click is found “when the clicks are viewed on a spectrogram, a visual representation of an audio signal, each reveals a remarkably complex pattern. Inside these clicks are a series of shorter clicks, each lasting a few thousandths of a second”. The most fascinating part, in my opinion, is the potential that these clicks have in terms of communication. While socializing, the sperm whales very possibly could be communicating in a much more complex and intellectual way that previously thought. Even more interesting is the possibility that arises if we are able to decode these clicks and use them to converse with the whales.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/16/opinion/sunday/conversation-with-whales.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/sperm-whale.html

One of the most rare and endangered species is the yellow-eyed penguin that resides in New Zealand. This species of penguin is very shy to humans and is hard to be spotted because they are always hiding under thick shrubbery when humans approach. This penguin is the most rare and just 10 years ago the population was around 6,000; and today the population is around 2,000. One of the leading factors for this penguin to be endangered is that only 18% of the babies survive their first year of life. As we learned in Module 11 of class, the main reason for the continued trouble for the bird is caused by humans. The largest human impact is farmers are bulldozing their habitats to create areas to raise cattle and sheep. The farmers didn’t realize the damage they were doing to the penguin’s habitat. Another factor causing deaths of these penguins is cats and dogs are preying on the animals and taking out young penguins before they have a chance to grow up and reproduce. The leading cause of death for baby penguins is heat stress, which is becoming worse and worse with increasing temperatures from the global climate change.

The increasing climate change and human impacts will continue to cause problems for the yellow-eyed penguin and other animals around the world. It will be interesting to see how animals and humans adapt to the increasing concerns of endangered species.

Haenen, Marcel. “A New Zealand Penguin, Hard to Spot, Is Harder to Preserve.”The New York Times. The New York Times, 2016. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/science/a-new-zealand-penguin-hard-to-spot-is-harder-to-preserve.html>.

As reported by the New York Times in the article “Climate Change Hits Hard in Zambia, an African Success Story”, the country has been affected by climate change due to droughts but environmentalists report that the Kariba Dam remains steady. The dam is known to be of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams that provide the country with electricity.

The Kariba Dam has contributed to the country’s economy and political stability becoming as they continue to be one of the fastest growing economies in the continent. Unfortunately, due to droughts, the water levels have hit record lows. In the past, the Kariba even provided electricity to neighbor countries but the reserves are not enough for Zambia. This has affected the stability of the country and they are now struggling to pay their civil servants.

Due to power cuts, companies such as Good Time Steel, the biggest steel maker in the country, lost a third of its production capacity. Jacky Huang, a manager at the company, explains that the company has recently abandoned new projects due to the conditions of the country.

Zambia is only of the many countries in Africa whose economic stability is being affected by climate change. Many say the continent is not ready for the climate changes and Africa is expected to warm up faster than the rest of the world. Zambia is starting to see the economic damage as small and large business are being affected due to the Kariba Dam shortages.

Why is much of the tropics considered as a biodiversity hotspot?

Well the term hotspot is any place with at least 1500 types of vascular plants that are uniquely occurring in that area. https://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=9&secNum=4 Tropical plants can’t thrive in places that aren’t tropical. Palm trees can’t grow in Detroit. Tropical rain forests have the distinction of having thousands of different plants and tens of thousands of different animals that don’t occur in other parts of the world. That and the diversity in plant life would satisfy the definition of a biodiversity hotspot. http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150650/ All the animals in the tropics have adapted to live in the tropics, they can’t transplant to Fargo, North Dakota and survive there. Many of them, such as the poison dart frog need to keep their skin moist through the humidity of the rain forest and will die without it. Evolution has permanently affixed these animals and plants to living in this one biosphere.

Polar bears, which depend on seasonal sea ice which they use as a platform to hunt mammals after their summer fast, are declining in number really fast. There are less than 25,000 polar bears left and its population will decline by 30% by 2050 due to the loss of their habitat. The amount of sea ice at its lowest point each year has shrunk at a rate of 14% per decade.  Thus, annual ice-free periods of five months will spread hunger among polar

The ice is freezing later in the fall, but its is the earlier spring ice melt that is especially difficult for the bears since they have a narrower timeframe in which to hunt during the critical season when the seal pups are born. That has direct impact on the average bears weight, which has dropped 15% causing reproduction rates to decline. Also, remaining ice is farther from shore making it less accessible. These larger gaps of open water make the bears’ swim more hazardous

The shrinking polar ice cap will also cause a decline of seals. Thus, polar bears are started to display cannibalistic behavior due to longer periods of hunger, instead of killing others for dominance or so they can breed with the female.

However, warming temperatures are not the only threat polar bears face; human invasion, pollution and resource exploitation add to this negative spiral.We should start taking action before it is too late to help prevent potentially catastrophic consequences.

References:

• Neslen, A. (2015, November 18). Climate change is ‘single biggest threat’ to polar bear survival. Retrieved April 11, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/19/climate-change-is-single-biggest-threat-to-polar-bear-survival
• Global Warming and Polar Bears – National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2016, from http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Global-Warming/Effects-on-Wildlife-and-Habitat/Polar-Bears.aspx
• Becker, R. (2015, September 4). 4 Ways Polar Bears Are Dealing With Climate Change. Retrieved April 11, 2016, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150904-polar-bears-dolphins-seals-climate-change/

The article “Climate Change is a Massive Threat to Food Security and Agriculture” talks about the impact of climate change in Australia for the future. It starts by alerting the Australian people that they can expect climate change to make food scarcer as well as expensive in the near future. The fact that the earth is getting warmer and warmer every day is having a significant impact on crop yields in southern Australia. Another fact that is also contributing to this impact is the low rainfall that Australia is suffering lately due to climate change.

The bad news is that these negative factors will only become bigger in the future and therefore crop yields will continue to be affected and in a larger scale. It is important to note that some extreme weather events such as droughts, cyclones, and bushfires will end up leading to a significant decrease in productivity regarding the agricultural sector in Australia. This is a really big issue in the country since agriculture is responsible for $50 billion of the country’s GDP, which represents about 2.4%. Besides that, Australia exports a big number of agricultural products, and suffering from the decrease in production will lead to less money coming into the country. These factors discussed previously will also cause Australia’s strong food security characteristic to become less strong.

Some farmers have started to change their way of production in order to try to escape from this severe issue. They count on the young generation of farmers that seems to be more knowledgeable regarding this topic. Australia definitely needs to make changes in its agricultural culture in order to be able to adapt to climate change, otherwise the country will suffer severely from food security as well as in economic power.

Reference: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/10/06/climate-change-massive-threat-food-security-agriculture

As explain in the New York Article, “Climate-Related Death of Coral Around World Alarms Scientists”, researchers have found devastation in coral around the world, specifically in the Kiritimati Island. As Kim Cobb, a marine scientists, reports there is substantial devastation even 30 feet underwater with “red-brown fuzz” covering the entire reef.

Scientists believe that the heat stress created by weather events have affected the coral reefs. While some may not know the importance of the reefs, coral provide food and shelter to many marine species. Consequently, this affects the human population as many marine species feed over a billion people. Also, millions of people depend on fishing as their main income around the world; In the Philippines alone, more than a million people are in the fishing industry.

Bleaching is a consequence of high heat and bright sunshine which recently has been out of control. Bleaching refers to the acceleration of the algae metabolism which can create toxins. Scientists explain that even if temperatures to drop and the corals recover, many will remain vulnerable to disease and if the temperatures continue to rise, the corals will starve to death.

Scientists recently found the largest bleaching at the Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with only four sectiong of of 520 individual reefs with no signs of bleaching. Australia is not the only region affected, other dying reefs include Réunion, East Flores, Guam, and many more. As temperatures continue to increase, Kobb worries about the future of corals. Most recently, water temperatures were reported to be 10 degrees warmer than average which does not allow coral to recover.

Innis, Michelle. “Climate-Related Death of Coral Around World Alarms Scientists.” Http://www.nytimes.com/. N.p., 9 Apr. 2016. Web.

In a 2014 report, researchers for NASA concluded that sea levels could rise as much as two feet by 2050, and more recently a study concluded that sea levels could rise as much as six feet by the end of the century. Seeing as two thirds of NASA’s $32 billion worth of structures are within sixteen feet of mean sea level and much of it coastal, this will have huge impacts for the leader in space exploration. NASA reports that coastal flooding at Johnson Space Center in Texas could double in frequency, flooding at Kennedy Space Center in Florida could as much as triple in frequency and flooding at Ames Research Center in San Francisco could increase as much as ten-fold. NASA uses their status as the leader in space exploration to spread information and raise awareness about global warming and change and how it impacts the rise of sea levels and other aspects of our planet. Astronaut Scott Kelly, while aboard the ISS for a year, took numerous photographs of the planet. These photographs show increases in pollution in Asia and India. The smoke from the California wildfires is visible all the way to Chicago. Smog above Mexico City can be seen clearly. Storm systems are occurring in unexpected places. NASA and their astronauts attribute these storm systems to the increased pollution and the fragile atmosphere. Satellite pictures taken by U.S. and international satellites show a clear rise in sea level that NASA believes is linked to the melting of the polar caps from this increased pollution and global warming.

Unless global warming is addressed in a serious manner, this could end up costing NASA billions of dollars in repair, moving and environmental rebuilding.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/science/nasa-is-facing-a-climate-change-countdown.html

Sea level rise is a prolific topic in climate change that I have written about a few times this semester. This week brings a new victim to be threatened by the rising tides: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Besides leading the world in space exploration, NASA also contributes a great deal of research on climate change and its impacts, making it ironic that they should be among those expected to be most immediately effected. Furthermore, I would have expected NASA to be among the most prepared groups, as they work on some of the nation’s most sophisticated technology. However, about two thirds of NASA’s facilities lie within 16 feet of sea level and along coastlines [1], making them exceptionally vulnerable to storm surges coupled with rising sea level. Couple the billions of dollars of investment and low elevation with an expected increase in the magnitude of hurricanes going forward, and you have a recipe for disaster. The Kennedy Space Center in Florida will likely be the first to experience these effects, as their beaches are already showing signs of major erosion, but the centers in Houston and San Francisco will likely also begin to see these changes by the end of the century. While retreat from the shorelines may be a slow, expensive, and difficult process, it will likely become necessary in the future. For this reason, and as with all issues related to climate change, it is best to begin investing in that solution now before the problem becomes too large and exceeds our ability to cope.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/science/nasa-is-facing-a-climate-change-countdown.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fearth&action=click&contentCollection=earth&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

There is plenty of evidence that the sea flooded the interior of continents in Earth history. About 12,000 years ago, the valleys of Western Montana lay underneath a lake nearly 2,000 feet deep. It was then when the failure occurred. The water pressure caused the glacier to become resilient and the water began to escape under the ice dam. Water reached a maximum height at an elevation of 4,200 feet that debilitated the glacial block until water burst through in a devastating flood that raced across Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Huge waves and pieces of ice ripped away soils and mountainsides, deposited massive ripple marks and carved the Columbia River Gorge. At that point, Glacial Lake Missoula was as big as Lakes Erie and Ontario combined and the flood waters ran with the force equal to sixty Amazon Rivers.

Harlen Bretz and Joseph T. Pardee were the two geologists that studied this event to find the causes of the features in eastern Washington. They realized that these features must have been formed by enormous scale flooding of devastating proportion. It took several years for the geologic community to accept their interpretation but thanks to the clues to the puzzle provided by these two geologists we have been able to discover one of the most unbelievable events in history.

References:

• Robbins, J. (2014, August 24). Ice Age Floodwaters Leave a Walkable Trail Across the Northwest. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20040824tuesday.html
• United States. National Park Service. (n.d.). Ice Age Floods Alternatives Study: Final Report. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from https://www.nps.gov/iceagefloods
• Glacial Lake Missoula and the Ice Age Floods. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.glaciallakemissoula.org/

Sea level rise will obviously have a direct impact on certain coastal areas.  Do you think that the burdens of dealing with this problem should be the responsibility of all countries, or just the countries with the impacted coastal areas?

Examined from a practical standpoint do I think the world is going to aid every nation where a coast line will be affected by sea level rise? Is Saudi Arabia going to aid Israel if massive flooding happens there? Probably not in this particular universe. Is the U.N. going to show up and help in Bangladesh if they get flooded out? That’s sort of what they exist to do.

In our collective unconcious we can only really see past our massive differences through the empathy of tragedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious Flooding is easy to relate to for most countries because most of them have rivers that flood.  It’s why the movie “Independence Day” has one of the best speeches in any movie ever about the fourth of July no longer being an american holiday, because we can all empathize with fighting aliens, even though we’ve never actually done that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t1IK_9apWs

But if the question is will any country put the well being of people they’ve never met before over the needs of their people, even if they really don’t want to meet those same needs. You ever met a politician who ran on a platform of, “Let’s help those people over there with that thing”? I didn’t think so. This is probably gonna be a country by country solution.

The International Energy Agency released preliminary data from 2015 regarding countries’ respective GDP and CO2 emissions, noting that even in China and the US, GDP has increased as reported CO2 emissions have decreased (1). Although, the IEA must rely on voluntary emissions reporting, and many Chinese firms have allegedly intentionally understated their CO2 emissions, so that the data may not be entirely accurate (2). Likewise, the IEA’s report solely measures CO2 emissions, but methane accounts for about a quarter of current global warming. As countries continue to replace coal with natural gas, methane emissions are projected to increase even as CO2 emissions decrease (3). Politically, the IEA’s report is great news, since the seemingly unfounded fear among many politicians is that the economy must suffer in order to regulate GHG emissions, but I wish the IEA’s report measured CO2 equivalent instead of just CO2.

1. http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/pressreleases/2016/march/decoupling-of-global-emissions-and-economic-growth-confirmed.html?referrer=justicewire
2. https://www.edf.org/energy/rhodium-group-report-global-oil-gas-methane-emissions?_ga=1.124289551.444806405.1460316108
3. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-power-emissions-idUSKCN0UV0XS

Sea level rise will of course change the appearance of landscapes that have been known and treasured by many, but the effects of sea level rise far surpass the nostalgic emotions of a changing place.  I took this opportunity to do some research into a place that I have loved since I was a child, and a landscape that I treasure.  Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, has been the inspiration of novelists and poets, including Mary Oliver.  It is home to a national park: the Cape Cod National Seashore, which was set aside by President Kennedy as a place that he also treasured.  Like many places, it is drastically changing.

A report by the U.S. Geological Survey warns that sea level will rise about 8 inches.  I have watched the water wash away the land and convert grassland to marshland.  Alongside this rise in sea level comes a correspondingly larger rise in storm surges and the potential for flooding.  If water were to rise 10 feet above its normal levels during a storm, it would cover route 6 and cut off Provincetown from the rest of the Cape.  If a 4 foot rise occurs as the result of a storm, nearly 5,000 homes would be destroyed.

A digital tool, created by the Cape Cod Commission, further shows the effects of hurricanes on the coast of Cape Cod.  A category 4 Hurricane would eliminate much of Wellfleet Harbor (where my house is) and would flood the town of Provincetown on the tip of the cape. The inner cape would also be affected by hurricanes and large storms, as flooding would reach the towns of Dennis and Harwichport.

As I stated, however, it is not just the change in landscape and flooding of homes and businesses that are at risk with a rising ocean.  Cape Cod home prices are being affected by climate change and rising ocean levels now.

The Boston Globe reported on housing prices in Truro, the town between Wellfleet and Provincetown on the outer edges of the Cape.  Sotheby’s International Realty, one of the largest realtor’s on the cape, employs an individual to produce SLOSH flood maps for clients and educate them on the quickly eroding sand on the ocean side of the Cape.  Houses have to routinely be moved further from the shore – a fascinating process of lifting a structure and moving it 10 feet backward that I have observed countless times.

Ultimately, rising oceans will change landscapes all over the world, but looking at each of these places as unique and special may help to convey the gravity of the situation to individuals who do not see it.

Sources:

Click to access 10_Thieler-Future-SLR-and-Coastal-Change-on-Cape-Cod.pdf

http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20140425/NEWS/404250341
http://www.capecodcommission.org/sealevelrise/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/real-estate/2014/09/13/climate-change-concerns-weigh-cape-home-buying-decisions/SnTafe2lwWiOsLt5AtezHK/story.html

In class we have discussed many different effects and cycles of pollution of the world and atmosphere by gases such as carbon dioxide. The atmosphere is the initial receiver, but it passes the negative effects onto the life forms of earths surface and waters. Similarly, light pollution has recently changed the way things work dramatically in the ecosystem. Like CO2, it is only very recent in the relative history of the earth that humans have been producing artificial light and the production was increased exponentially, in the same way that CO2 byproducts were and still are. The effects of light pollution are certainly less extreme, but they do disrupt the natural cycle of life in many respects. The article mentions the timing of coral spawning in the The Great Barrier Reef being out of sync since the process is dependent on the full moon. Artificial light in some places is easily confused with that of the moon, and therefore the spawning is mistimed and less effective. With reproduction on the decline, the coral that contributes so much to the life of the ecosystem could dramatically affect every other life form above it in the food chain. Another major effect of light pollution is found in the diminishing population of sea turtles. When sea turtles hatch on land, they know to travel to the farthest glow on the horizon (i.e. the moon), but again, the confusion with a nearby developed area in addition to the added light for predators to see by, results in many more baby sea turtles are not making it to the safety of the ocean. There are multiple other consequences of light pollution in our ecosystem including that which affects humans’ circadian rhythm by decreasing the production of melatonin.  Although these side effects are not as impending as those from CO2 pollution, they should receive attention especially since they are already affecting humans directly.