Needlenose

In the very beginning of the Judeo-Christian bible, God allegedly grants humanity

“…dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

And so it came to pass.  And speaking of creeping things that doth creepeth, it seems the creeps have inherited the Earth, creeps that seem intent to stomp every creeping thing over which they have dominion into extinction (and don’t forget the permanent snuffing the fowl of the air).

You’re probably wondering why I’ve decided to bum you out tonight.  I’m blue because of these new bummer tidbits, the massive die-off and looming extinction of nine species of shark due to the charming practice of ‘finning’ the poor critters for shark-fin soup while tossing the still alive but mutilated shark back into the ocean to effectively die slowly from blood loss and asphyxiation.

I can’t tell you how depressed I get knowing that over the course of my lifetime I’ve watched the biggest species die-off since the disappearance of the dinosaurs.  Except for a few modest successes (think a few species of whales, wolves, American bison), people world-wide seem driven to destroy as many habitats and species as rapidly as possible, whether through global warming, deforestation, desertification, strip mining, urban sprawl, polluting and increasing the acidity of fresh and salt water, overfishing, poaching and just polluting the air and land in general.  Is the game to see how many of them we can take with us before our fossil fuel runs out and civilization collapses?

In the case of creatures like pelagic sharks or other deepsea fish, we’re looking at the classic tragedy of the commons writ large.  Unless some modern day, environmentally-motivated Captain Nemo decides to take matters into his own hands, it’s pretty much all she wrote for these poor creatures.  Wouldn’t hurt to have some more (and less gentle) Bruno Mansers on land as well.

There might be a bit more hope for the poor vaquita which recently lost funds for protection due to the economic downturn.  Rather than watch it follow the Yangtse River Dolphin, perhaps a campaign funded by private donations run by a group such as the WWF could make up the shortfall?

The only thing that depresses me more than the actual mass extinction event underway is how people seem to care so little about it.

I don’t know why I bother to keep posting these global warming bits…each story seems to follow much like the others.  “Unprecedented.”  “Greater than expected.”  “Positive feedback loop.”

Today’s depressing tidbit is the loss of a Texas of ice from the Arctic.  You know it’s bad when they don’t use Rhode Island as the unit of measure.  Of course while we are on the subject of losing polar ice in units of New England states, scientists are predicting a Connecticutt of ice will calve from Antarctica in the near future.

Previous studies have shone an increase in the acidity of the worlds oceans due to increased uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Scientists speculated that the higher levels of acid would affect the trillions of little critters at the base of the food chain that have calcium based shells or other protection, such as coral.  Sadly, a recent study confirms the adverse impact of higher acidity levels on ocean life.

It seems like every news story involving global warming involves the phrase “faster than previously expected,” and this latest bleak update on the accelerating loss of Antarctic ice is no exception.  Too lazy to read the article?  Here is the bleak bit:

A 2007 IPCC report predicted a sea level rise of 7 to 23 inches (18 to 58 centimeters) by the end of the century, which could flood low-lying areas and force millions to flee. The group said an additional 3.9 to 7.8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) rise was possible if the recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues.

Summerhayes said the rise could be much higher.

“If the west Antarctica sheet collapses, then we’re looking at a sea level rise of between 1 meter and 1.5 meters (3 feet, 4 inches to nearly 5 feet),” Summerhayes said.

You’d think that about 10 years after Kyoto, Al Gore’s award-winning powerpoints, and a European Carbon market, carbon dioxide emissions should be decreasing.  You’d be wrong.

What with the election & new administration and all, as well as more work required to keep gainfully employed, I’ve been neglecting posts on ‘green’ subjects.  It’s depressing anyway, as some of the latest news reflects.

Although the chorus of ignoramus global warming doubters continues unabated, the news from the fact-based community is very bleak: scientists have confirmed that the Antarctic is warming significantly, its ice sheets melting far more rapidly than expected, a trend that will most likely kill off the Emperor penguins much as the established trend in the Arctic is doing in the polar bears.

The warming-driven acidification of the oceans is now demonstrably adversely affecting coral growth, a horrible development as coral reefs are critical to nurturing grounds for numerous oceanic species (including many already depleted commercial fish).

Arctic temperatures are at record highs.  And just for the record, the McCain/Palin ‘solution’ to global warming?  Drill, baby, drill!

It has become clear to all but stubborn reactionaries that the world has been steadily warming due to emissions of greenhouse gases.  With every year producing some new record that signifies the increasing disaster, such as record temperatures or record lows in the polar ice caps – would you think that people would respond by increasing greenhouse gas emissions? People do.

News stories about new, unexpected inputs of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as a result of global warming that will lead to more global warming are sadly coming more frequently. In this case, science has had another ‘golly gee’ moment over a study that indicates that there are massive methane deposits trapped beneath the (rapidly melting) polar ice sheets that could be rapidly released into the atmosphere and trigger catastrophic climate change. It seems to have done that earlier in Earth’s history:

An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from ice sheets that extended to Earth’s low latitudes some 635 million years ago caused a dramatic shift in climate, scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) report in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The ocean is sucking up massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Great news, right? Not really, the carbon dioxide is transformed into carbonic acid, turning the ocean corrosive:

In surveys from Vancouver Island in Canada to the tip of Baja California in Mexico, scientists reported finding the first evidence of acidic sea water in large quantities along the continental shelf, the shallow zone where most marine creatures live.

In some areas the water was corrosive enough to dissolve the shells of clams, coral and tiny creatures that are crucial to the food chain.

And sadly, as usual, the science world utters yet another “golly gee” as “…what’s happening in the natural world seems to be happening much faster than what our climate models predict.”

We’re fucked.