The Last Frost

Gnarly…

Black widows swarm onto Romanian shores. Cause? Global Warming. – [Environmentalgraffiti.com]

Kurt Vonnegut, who is one my long time idols has passed away today. It makes me incredibly sad but so it goes. What does this have to do with Global Warming and our planet? Here's the last piece of writing Kurt Vonnegut had published at the end of his book A Man Without A Country.

Requiem

The crucified planet Earth,
should it find a voice
and a sense of irony,
might now well say
of our abuse of it,
"Forgive them, Father,
They know not what they do."

The irony would be
that we know what
we are doing.

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
"It is done."
People did not like it here.

- Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007) 

A memo sent to The New York Times seems to show an obvious attempt to control the flow of information regarding climate change and polar wildlife by this administration. It was circulated at the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service and require a "spokesman" be named before any trip is conducted for the sake of climate change. The idea being that only people who agree with a certain view will be allowed to speak out on the issues.

Certainly sounds like a roundabout way of gagging federal employees who don't agree with the current administrations view, disturbing stuff.

Memos Tell Officials How to Discuss Climate [New York Times]

Nobel laureate Steven Chu has turned his attention to Termite guts in order to find a carbon neutral fuel source. Termites have a knack for converting cellulose into liquid ethanol. Most of the matter that makes up plants is cellulose, so this would mean we could tap nearly unlimited sources of ethanol by simply feeding a bio-reactor of some sort, rubbish plant matter. Imagine turning Fall leaves, lawn clippings, downed trees or even organic household rubbish into liquid fuel. It would be pretty revolutionary.

Chu left his current job to work for Lawrence Berkeley Livermore Labs to kick start an inquiry into the possibility.

'Termite guts can save the planet', says Nobel laureate – [Physorg.com]

Record breaking temperatures in the Netherlands this Autumn has resulted in a strange phenomenon. Hundreds of wild and cultivated species of flowers have begun blooming months later than normal. Also noted was that leaf fall occured two-three weeks later than normal this year as compared with the average during the first half of the 20th Century.

So not all global warming effects are bad, but it is a disturbing sign of the current state of affairs. 

Extreme autumn temperatures cause unseasonable flowering in the Netherlands – [Physorg.com]

The oceans naturally absorb carbon dioxide, one of the primary greenhouse gas emissions. As the carbon dioxide dissolves, it creates carbonic acid which in turn increases the acidity of the water, which is then dangerous to sea life.

This will come around and bite us if we don't do something to solve the problem. Human activities are altering the chemical makeup of our world in ways that will alter or end the lives of the creatures that depend on the stability of those systems, including us. It's a flaw in our civilization that may prove fatal for life as we know it. 

Expert Says Oceans Are Turning Acidic » [Physorg.com]

An increase in global temperatures may result in an insect population boom. The warmer temperatures may increase the metabolism of the creepy crawlies causing them to reproduce more frequently. It could lead to an increase in insect transmitted diseases like malaria and lyme disease. More importantly perhaps is that it could lead to a decrease in crop production due to an increase in pests, which would of course lead to an increase in pesticide use which hurts everyone. 

Anyway, it's not good, even if you are an entomologist.

Global Warming Could Trigger Insect Population Boom » [LiveScience.com]

This blog is just so dang serious all the time, that I'm going to try to find at least silly article a week just to shake it up a bit. Here's the first installment courtesy of the good folks at the Onion. You just gotta love 'em over there, well you don't have to, but is there a reason not to? 

Bush Urges Expanded Drilling Of Alaskan Wildlife » [The Onion]

One of the more interesting indicators of climate change is the migration of animals North of their 'natural' habitats. The circumpolar community of Kuujjuaraapik (try spelling that from memory!) has been getting increasingly frequent sightings of some interesting critters that are normally quite rare in their wintery locale.

Skunks and moose are migrating to more northern latitudes allegedly due to increasing temperatures. These visitors although not entirely unwelcome, just suprising, are not the only problems that the residents of this community are dealing with due to rising temps. The melting permafrost is also weakening structures causing irreparable damage. 

Climate change lures skunks, moose to the Arctic » [Nunatsiaq News]

A research group has come to the conclusion that the Amazon rainforest cannot withstand more than two years of consecutive drought without the ecosystem breaking down. In a world of uncertainty due to climate change this is not a good thing. Losing the Amazon rainforest would be catastrophic to life as we know it.

We would pretty much be in deep shit, so let's just hope this doesn't come to pass.

Amazon rainforest turning to desert, triggering ‘Irreversible’ global warming! » [GreenDiary.com]