Just a reminder......

new numbers from the Global Warming Project that are saying at least 3 degrees C by 2100 and maybe as high as 5.4 degrees C. The later would be 10 degrees Fahrenheit.


Paul

I hope all of us are driving less to do our part...no more traveling to wildlife hot spots and just sticking to the backyard. Just kidding, it really is too big an issue for the individual to do much unless voting for representatives who support the idea of climate change.

Mike in O wrote:... it really is too big an issue for the individual to do much unless voting for representatives who support the idea of climate change.

Unless we all do our small part then the bigger changes we need will never result. Thinking hard about driving X-miles for another tick is just a small part of the necessary behavioural changes that we all have to make.

Climate change is not just driven by big industry and the Chinese, it is the inevitable result of all the cars on our roads and the fossil-fuel powered electricity generators and thinking that walking around our houses in temperatures that permit T-shirts in the middle of northern winters is acceptable.

Nobody said it was going to be easy, but it can become acceptable if we gradually all take personal responsibility for our carbon emissions. Buying offsets doesn't do it either, we really have to reduce total emissions and start doing so soon. 

baldsparrow wrote:

Mike in O wrote:... it really is too big an issue for the individual to do much unless voting for representatives who support the idea of climate change.

Unless we all do our small part then the bigger changes we need will never result. Thinking hard about driving X-miles for another tick is just a small part of the necessary behavioural changes that we all have to make.

Climate change is not just driven by big industry and the Chinese, it is the inevitable result of all the cars on our roads and the fossil-fuel powered electricity generators and thinking that walking around our houses in temperatures that permit T-shirts in the middle of northern winters.

Nobody said it was going to be easy, but it can become acceptable if we gradually all take personal responsibility for our carbon emissions. Buying offsets doesn't do it either, we really have to reduce total emissions and start doing so soon. 

Very well put

There is little hope.

1. The world is not even talking about the fact that 277,000 new people are added to this planet EVERY DAY! Here is a supporting reference:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/prog ... _counting/

2. At this point, we have spread so many exotic species (plants and animals) around the human-populated regions of this planet, that it seems hopeless that we can possibly remove these exotics and re-establish the natives. But if we do not do this, the terrestrial systems that have evolved here, will inevitably become extinct. And they are getting closer to it. As they get closer to extinction, their pace of degradation increases. You see, these exotic plants that most of us are now becoming familiar with in our various regions, have no insect enemies in their new homes (as we spread them around the populated world)........while our native plants have all evolved with a huge suite of insect enemies....but there has always been enough diversity and the web has always been so complex, that the insect enemies are unable to completely eliminate any species that they feed on.

That is changing. As we spread these exotics around, and they become established, the natural species diversity continues to decline.

Effectively, we are setting back evolution at least a good million years. Actually, who knows how far back?

It started at least 3 decades ago (initially not perceived) and it is now moving at a very fast pace toward the collapse of terrestrial systems.

Consider this: CITIES CONTRIBUTE NOTHING ALL TO NATURAL SYSTEMS (ZERO!); CITIES CANNOT EVEN SUPPORT THEMSELVES. CITIES DEMAND A CONSTANT FLOW OF ENERGY FROM THE OUTSIDE INTO THEM.....THAT IS PROVIDED BY NATURAL SYSTEMS. Where this is headed I do not know. But it is certain disaster.

3. Most people still do not believe that we are in the midst of one of Planet Earth's 7 great extinctions of life. And this has only taken us (humans) the time since the Industrial Revolution began (what?.....well shorter than 200 years ago) to set this extinction into motion.

4. And the people who the masses are allowing to make the decisions for us........do not even acknowledge that we are in the midst of a great extermination of life. Capitalism drives "the world". And human population drives capitalism. But it is driving the natural world to death. If you are thinking that I am against capitalism, that is only an assumption you made. My point: We are not regulating human pop growth (WE DO NOT EVEN TALK ABOUT THIS), nor are we properly regulating the negative spin-offs of capitalism.



And do not accuse me of being negative, because this is all the utter truth. Chilling, is it not?

In a recent posting, SantaFe Joe provided me with perhaps the most chilling environmental fact I have seen to date: It can be seen at the Altered Oceans website: There are now 150 dead zones in our oceans....zones that are entirely devoid of oxygen!

There is little hope.

With all that negative said...I am heartened by this march that took place. I did not attend but I did sign the petition.

Aren't you fed up with the mess too?

The problem is very complicated and sometimes we look for others to blame. When we say the Chinese are a large part of the problem, we don't take into account that much of the pollution created in China is due to the demand on our part for cheap products (many of them are our electronics). The environmental controls are not up to this countries standards, so they can afford to make cheaper products. We are the consumers and we don't think twice about buying cheaper products without thinking of why these products are less expensive than those made in a country where environmental regulations are stronger. The health of the citizens of China can't be good when everyone seems to wear masks when walking down the street. We are much to blame here in the USA.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Chinese ... d=0CCgQ7Ak

The masks most of them wear cannot protect them from what is probably the most unhealthy airborne pollution.

 I posted this link in another thread about plastics:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/enviro ... thing2.htm

It shows how the Chinese do business environmentally.

Joe

If just 3000 people get together unified to a cause, then a ball will get rolling and all others will follow believing there was an answer because so many seemed to believe it. That's what Hitler knew and despite all the negative and his eventual downfall......... he was right. 

This has nothing to do with Hitler, but our problems will not be solved by any politicians themselves as they are so not going to handle any hot potatoes such as population growth or what we eat and how we drive. They just don't touch those issues. Unless a few thousand people who do actively, solidify their efforts, politicians will not have the moxy to respond, in fear of being voted out. They rather rely on reading us to determine what they should do next.

Despite the facts that I have locked antlers with baldsparrow and santafejoe  more than one occasion, I stand by their side in the belief that WE OURSELVES must take the bull by the horns and wrestle down the problem. In the 60's and 70's when rivers were burning, and acid rain was melting our ancient stone sculptures, being activated in grass root movements was the answer. Once politicians realize that this is what we want, they will be empowered to act in political circles within the government.

All of us must communicate and be heard on this omnipotent and potential total devastation problem........


If we move on the problem by the tens of thousands....believe me when I say....the rest of the world WILL follow.........


We all must seek deeper meanings..... We must listen to the heartbeat of our mother planet Earth......



Paul

If this warming trend does indeed continue, it will certainly result in a change in the types of wildlife photos we are able to take. Some existing opportunities and species will undoubtedly disappear, while new opportunities develop. I guess the lesson to be learned is that whatever good opportunities we have now, we'd better work 'em for all they're worth, and get all of the quality images we can, because they may not be here in a few years.