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Ecological doom-loops: why ecosystem collapses may occur much sooner than expected–new research
Ecological doom-loops: why ecosystem collapses may occur much sooner than expected–new research Across the world, rainforests are becoming savanna or farmland, savanna is drying out and turning into desert, and icy tundra is thawing. Indeed, scientific studies have now recorded “regime shifts” like these in more than 20 different types of ecosystem where tipping points have been […]
Chronicling Ecosystem Collapse from the Tropics to the Antarctic
Chronicling Ecosystem Collapse from the Tropics to the Antarctic “We assessed evidence of collapse in 19 ecosystems (both terrestrial and marine) along a 58° latitudinal gradient for which major signals of change have been reported.” Combating ecosystem collapse from the tropics to the Antarctic A better title would have been “We aren’t Combatting Ecosystem Collapse from the Tropics […]
Have tipping points already been passed for critical climate systems? (5) Coral Reefs: A death spiral
Have tipping points already been passed for critical climate systems? (5) Coral Reefs: A death spiral Great Barrier Reef bleaching 2016 Ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangroves and kelp forests in Australia, are degrading fast as the world’s sixth mass extinction gathers pace.Coral polyps are invertebrates similar to minute jellyfish, which build limestone structures, and live […]
Fifth Of Countries Worldwide At-Risk Of “Environmental Shocks” Collapsing Ecosystem
Fifth Of Countries Worldwide At-Risk Of “Environmental Shocks” Collapsing Ecosystem A new report via insurance firm Swiss Re warns that one-fifth of countries worldwide are at risk of their ecosystems collapsing because of a decline in biodiversity. The reinsurer said more than half of global GDP, equal to about $41.7 trillion, is highly dependent on “high-functioning […]
Abrupt Ecosystem Collapse
Abrupt Ecosystem Collapse A new study in Nature (April 2020) casts a disturbing light on the prospects of abrupt ecosystem collapse. The report analyzes the probabilities of collapsing ecosystems en masse, and not simply the loss of individual species. (Source: Trisos, C.H. et al, The Projected Timing of Abrupt Ecological Disruption From Climate Change, Nature, April 8, 2020) […]
“Which species are we sure we can survive without?” Revisited
“Which species are we sure we can survive without?” Revisited Two years ago I asked the question in the title of this piece. Now comes a wide-ranging study that suggests we are about to test that question in a major way. The study predicts that at the current rate of loss of insect species, 40 percent could be […]
CO2 on Track for Largest Rise in 62 Years
CO2 on Track for Largest Rise in 62 Years Around the world, atypical climate change grows increasingly threatening to all life on the planet, principally because of excessive CO2 emissions. Paradoxically, this is happening on the heels of the Paris 2015 climate accord among nations of the world. But, didn’t almost all of the countries […]
Collapsing Rainforest Ecosystems
Collapsing Rainforest Ecosystems Photo Source A.Davey | CC BY 2.0 The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report on the status of arthropods in rainforests (Bradford C. Lister and Andres Garcia, Climate-Driven Declines in Arthropod Abundance Restructure a Rainforest Food Web, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1722477115). The report’s shocking analysis […]
The New Politics of Climate Change
The New Politics of Climate Change As climate change accelerates, the political environment will start to boil. It’s happening already. More and more ordinary people are beginning to connect the dots between extreme weather, rising climate related death tolls, collapsing ecosystems, refugee/resource crises, and other grave anomalies. The political outcome of all this will either […]
Three Climatic Monsters with Asteroid Impact
Three Climatic Monsters with Asteroid Impact Continuing from Part 1: Monster #2 Greenhouse Gases (“GHG”) alter ecosystems. The biggest impact of anthropogenic GHG hits the oceans. There is no doubt about the importance of the oceans as a great sink, 2/3rds of the planet. After all, the oceans have saved humanity’s butt ever since industrialization […]
Conflict Over the Future of the Planet
Conflict Over the Future of the Planet On this Earth Day, it is difficult to look at the state of the planet and the current political leadership and see much hope. In “Junk Planet”, Robert Burrowes writes a comprehensive description of the degradation of the atmosphere, oceans, waterways, groundwater, and soil as well as the […]
The Great Acceleration Death Trap
The Great Acceleration Death Trap The Great Acceleration, post WWII humanity forcing the earth system, is charging ahead at exponential speed, including record temps year-after-year-after year-after year and on and on it goes, relentlessly. Fatally, many parts of the world become uninhabitable with a 2°-4°C increase in temps, too hot for human physiology. Under the […]
The Impending Ecosystem Collapse
The Impending Ecosystem Collapse Climate change/global warming is the main protagonist on the worldwide stage of collapsing ecosystems. The ecosystem is a combination of living organisms in harmony with nonliving elements like air, water, and mineral soil interacting as one whole. But, what if the living and nonliving elements stop interrelating as “one harmonized whole”? […]
