7 American Species Threatened By Global Warming (SLIDESHOW)

Global warming is already starting to have a severe effect on our environment. The Environment Defense Fund has picked seven "ambassador species" -- living plants and animals - who are already struggling to survive. Climate change is affecting their natural habitats and the EDF fears that without action
there's a good chance these species won't make it past our lifetimes.

Here are the seven ambassadors:

• • • • • • •

Sugar maple

Comments

[Richard2]

"Polar Bears threatened by Global Warming...."

The average Arctic temperature reading today is still below 0 degrees C. June 25th is the latest calendar day over the last 50 years that has an average Arctic temperature below 0 degrees C.

A 50-year low temperature reading for this date, in the Arctic, is not an indicator of Global Warming.

[Richard2]

Why didn't the Environmental Defense Fund include the Canadian Goose in its list?

In the northern Canadian town of Churchill, it is reported that Canadian Geese will not be able to reproduce successfully this year, due to the cold arctic weather (or global cooling?).

www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/big-chill-in-churchill-47992231.html

[realpolitic]

Richard, did you read your article.....

"According to NOAA scientists, although the Arctic is warming, more frequent annual oscillations in temperature are likely to occur, often resulting in late springs.

"Such major oscillations are part of a bumpy ride toward global warming," said Thomas Karl of the National Climate Center. "For awhile at least this will be the shape of things to come."

Vegetation is also impacted upon by late Arctic springs, with green-up about three weeks late this year. Consequently, herbivorous animals have delayed breeding

"People often confuse climate with weather, and this spring is a weather phenomenon," said an Environment Canada spokesperson."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/big-chill-in-churchill-47992231.html

[Richard2]

Oh, now I remember. If the weather is colder than normal in the Arctic, it must be a weather phenomenon. If the weather is warmer in the Arctic, it must be a climate phenomenon.

This approach is illogical, which is why more and more educated persons doubt Global Warming.

Mr. Karl's spin sounds very lame.

[jimrs6]

The climate is getting much better here in PA. Keep it coming.

[Lemmy]

The polar bear's global numbers have actually doubled, from an estimated 8,000–10,000 in 1965–1970 to 20,000–25,000 today.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Part of the process of the planet warming overall is something called climate shift. Some areas will actually get cooler (temporarily). Overall though, the planet is getting warmer. The far north latitudes are clearly getting warmer as is the southern pole. The southern US is recording record heat and droughts. In Africa, India and Asia they are seeing areas once called the rain belts fall into drought while other areas are experiencing rain as never before.

Cherry picking information to suit your theory is not science. I suggest you do some more comprehensive reading.

[realpolitic]

Great post! thanks!

[lbrty 2112]

Jack, perhaps you can tell us the particular research you personally undertook to arrive at your conclusions?

"Cherry picking your reading materials to suit your bias is not science"

[realpolitic]

There is a scientific consensus on climate change and everything he says is easily verified for the interested, pretending there is no consensus does not make it true. You can stay in fantasyland if you like, but government policy, public opinion, and science has long since moved on.

[Richard2]

If there is something called "climate shift" then it would follow that this climate shift can work in two directions. If there is global warming, one shift occurs. If global cooling occurs, a different shift occurs.

This is the problem the Canadians have. Their wheat growing regions are having colder weather, and their crop estimates are declining. Global cooling would make it more difficult each year to produce grains in the farming regions.

This kind of shift over time can be seen in "tree line studies" in mountains around the world. Historically, tree lines have shifted both up and down the mountains over time. The current tree line levels around the world are typically lower than the highest historical tree lines. Whether the tree lines shift up or down in the future will depend on whether we experience global warming or global cooling.

[realpolitic]

Richard, instead of engaging in endless speculation, why not just read what the scientists say. Speculation is a fun game that can be played all day! Canadian scientists say...

Glacier cover - widespread retreat since late 1800s in western Canada, since 1920s in Arctic;
glaciers in BC are currently retreating at rates unprecedented in the last 8000 years;
estimated loss of ice mass in Canadian Arctic of 25 km3/a for period 1995–2000.

Snow cover –10% decrease in extent in Northern Hemisphere for period 1972–2003;
decrease of 20 days in duration of snow cover in Arctic since 1950.

Permafrost conditions - most significant warming in western Arctic;
1°C increase in surface permafrost temperature since 1990 in northern Quebec;
increase in summer thaw penetration in the 1990s.

Plant phenology – events occurring earlier-26-day shift to earlier onset of spring over the past century in Alberta;
5–6 day advance since approximately 1959 in the onset of phenological spring in eastern North America.

River and lake levels - decline in summer and fall runoff in Prairies, leading to lower lake and river levels at those times;
trend towards earlier spring runoff.

"There is also strong evidence that climate change has been a contributing factor to a number of other environmental, social and economic issues. These include the unprecedented outbreak of mountain pine beetle in British Columbia, which encompassed over 9.2 million ha of forest in 2007."


http://adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca/assess/2007/synth/impact_e.php

[Nyland8]

Is one of the endangered species people who can comprehend English?

[JackRusselTerrier]

That's a funny statement coming from someone who can't write a proper sentence.

[Squeezer55]

I worked in the Arctic for several years , from Inuvik to Baffin Island and I spent many hours discussing the
polar bear issue with the Inuit I worked with in camps. Many of them would shake their heads in disagreement while I read magazines from the south wailing about the plight of the poor polar bears. Many of them disagreed that polar bears would disappear because they found polar bears had no problem following seals as they returned to the shoreline in summer. Given the fact that 10,000 years ago all of Canada and northern U.S. were covered in ice 1 kilometer thick and it wasn't man that caused it to recede, I remain skeptical about the "science" of global warming and it's causes.

[ScapeGoat]

Just because the polar bears may not be endangered does not mean the global warming is not happening. Look at the the glaciers that are melting and disappearing. You think this is happening because there is no warming trend?
That all the carbon that was sequestered for millions of years and is now being pumped back into the atmosphere is having no effect?

[Nooooorm]

So we've pumped all this CO2 into the atmosphere, yet arcti?c sea ice has increased since 2004?

How is this possible?

What flawless climate models predicted this?

http://www.nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/index.html

Overview of conditions

Sea ice extent averaged over the month of May 2009 was 13.39 million square kilometers (5.17 million square miles). This was 81,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) above the record low for that month, which occurred in May 2004, and 21,000 square kilometers (8,100 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average.

[Radarman]

Yes and when the glaciers melted they revealed ancient tree stumps, road beds, stone bronze and iron age tools, all relics of the civilizations that lived there before the glaciers came.

Why did the glaciers move down onto those areas?

Was it a good thing that those parts of the world became covered with ice thousand of feet thick? Destroying the lives of the people that lived there in the process.

Was that the first time in earths history that those areas became covered in ice?

Since large parts of the earth were once not covered with ice and people lived there, perhaps thriving and living well, only to have their life style destroyed by the advance of the ice,why is it a bad thing that the glaciers are moving off again?

Why didn't civilization end the last time the glaciers retreated ?

http://www.livescience.com/environment/071030-tree-stumps.html
http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2008/09/15/polar-news-notes-melting-glaciers-reveal-climate-history-and-life-in-earlier-ages/

[Richard2]

It is possible that all of these animals and plants have ways to adapt to climate shifts. They have adapted to warming climates and cooling climates in the past. All of them survived the four ice ages that have occurred in the earth's past, which must have been a greater challenge than today's relatively stable climate. The earth's temperature has been stable to only slightly cooling over the last ten years, with 1998 being the warmest year in the last couple of decades.

If on this date the polar bears, the pikas and the others are really not endangered, why are they treated as if they are endangered? Isn't telling falsehoods unethical?

[realpolitic]

Well, the problem is the bears do return to the shoreline in the summer when the ice disappears, but then can not catch seals again for several months until the ice forms again. They often lose a third of their body weight or sometimes starve entirely waiting for the ice to reappear. It is documented that polar bear weights are decreasing and several of the sub-populations are declining.

[realpolitic]

Another denier website said that the Inuit are seeing more bears so how could the population of bears be decreasing? It turned out that they were seeing more polar bears because the bears could not get out to sea with a lack of ice. So the bears were hanging around the garbage dumps looking for a meal.

[fumes]

bull twinkies

[Radarman]

So you would have a more accurate picture of the polar bear population than the people who live there.
Try this link:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1ea8233f-14da-4a44-b839-b71a9e5df868

[fumes]

ok..

bear twinkies!

[elmerfude]

Is a twinkie what a bull releases just before his fumes?

[dandypuddin]

Anyone watch Letterman last night? Nature Conservancy scientist--it is not too late, but soon will be. We still have time to act. Letterman thinks it is already too late since if the entire planet stopped driving cars today, we'd still be heating up for the next 60 years. Where is Obama on this? I realize he has a zillion Bushfires to put out, but he needs to start getting vocal and loud on this planetary crisis of unparalleled magnitude.

[realpolitic]

I like your word "Bushfires." Very true!

[kareemachan]

Yup. I think people have a problem with the concept that global situations and problems can't be solved or comprehended except on a long-term basis. Not by looking at things on a year-by-year basis, but more like century-by-century - or even more long-term.

[mergina]

I thought we weren't calling it global warming any longer?

[dandypuddin]

Is this all you are concerned about? Semantics?

[Radarman]

You are correct it is now Global Climate Change. They had to change the name because every time they tried to have a conference on Global Warming they had to cancel it for a snow storm.

[Nooooorm]

If there is a flood somewhere...

a drought....

a hurricane...

a tornado....

if arsons start fires in Australia...

it's global warming and climate change.

Global warming is so powerful, that it is capable of causing both increasing and decreasing winds at the same time in the same place!

http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=58549&CultureCode=en

As a result of stronger winds caused by global warming, seeds and pollen are being carried over longer distances. An increase in temperature of only a couple of degrees may increase the dispersal of plants in Northern forests and the spread of plant species into forest clearings after felling or forest fires.

University of Helsinki researcher Anna Kuparinen headed the international research into the impact of global warming on seed and pollen dispersal. The goal was to learn whether global warming would accelerate the dispersal of plant populations in forests.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090610/us-sci-diminishing-winds/

WASHINGTON — The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming _ the very problem wind power seeks to address.

[realpolitic]

Noorm is not uniques to those on the right who care about nothing as long as it is not affecting them.

[elmerfude]

What is missing here in this wonderful conversation? Fumes! Where are you?

[fumes]

golfin'

[whocan]

Oh you of the tinfoil hats...... the climate has been changing without mans input for millions of years and is doing so now..... It is that big giant flaming orb that we revolve around along with that molten core way beneath the soil...

[elmerfude]

Wow! Thanks for the first grade science lesson.

[JackRusselTerrier]

No need to insult first graders. Whocan couldn't pass a first grade science test.

[elmerfude]

The black death may have influenced the climate. William Ruddiman has speculated that the black death that wiped out a large chunk of the human population may have led to less agricultural activity and natural reforestation. The trees dropped the carbon dioxide levels triggering the Little Ice Age. Sediment cores support the idea that reforestation contributed to the Little Ice Age.

[Radarman]

So to reduce global warming all we need to do is kill half the worlds population? Good solution.

[kareemachan]

The Little Ice Age was in the 1800's. The Black Death was in the 1300's. It may have taken that much time for the Plague to have an impact on the climate, I dunno. The climate is definitely a long-term, slow-changing condition, so I just bring this up as a discussion point....

[realpolitic]

Wow, I am sure scientists never considered those ideas! You deserve a Nobel Prize!

[Danster]

Need a Plan:
The long term trend from the end of the little ice age in about 1865 until now is a 1 degree per cenrtury warming. The variation up from the 70's to the 90's was not out of line with the long term trend. (Neither is the cooling we have been seeing the last several years) The polar ice caps advance and retreat and always have. Google pictures of U.S. subs at the North Pole for proof. They are there with 0 ice as early of the 1950's and buried in ice in the 1980's. The warmest decade of the 20th century was the 30's. To any who bother to read this the key is do not let yourself be lied to, do the research and discover the truth for yourself. There are real problems facing our world, Global warming?climate chnage is not one of them. ban plastic bags and containers and do some real good.

[elmerfude]

I agree climate chnage is not a problem.

[dandypuddin]

The planet does not care one iota what you believe.

[joebaggadonuts]

"Google pictures of U.S. subs at the North Pole for proof. They are there with 0 ice as early of the 1950's and buried in ice in the 1980's."

Um, Google has pictures of U.S. subs at the North Pole showing zero ice in the '50's???? OK I did. Here's a sample of what one of the submariners said about it:
"The Ice at the polar ice cap is an average of 6-8 feet thick, but with the wind and tides the ice will crack and open into large polynyas (areas of open water), these areas will refreeze over with thin ice. We had sonar equipment that would find these open or thin areas to come up through, thus limiting any damage to the submarine. The ice would also close in and cover these areas crushing together making large ice ridges both above and below the water. We came up through a very large opening in 1958 that was 1/2 mile long and 200 yards wide. The wind came up and closed the opening within 2 hours. On both trips we were able to find open water. We were not able to surface through ice thicker than 3 feet.”"

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/26/ice-at-the-north-pole-in-1958-not-so-thick/

Seems to me that open ice in small polynyas that close over in two hours with a wind are not the same thing modern scientists are talking about.

[kareemachan]

I don't know what they are being compared to, but having worked in Barrow, I have a close relationship with polynyas. They happen all the time - to the extent that bowhead whales use them as a method of survival during the winter, before the times when the the pack ice opens up to form leads along the northernmost coastlines for the bowheads and belugas to traverse to the Canadian Arctic, where they give birth and breed. The sea ice is variable enough that we oftentimes had to retreat posthaste from the edge of the lead because the pack ice would move onshore, demolishing the areas of shore-fast ice where we (and Inuit whalers) were camped out, looking for whales.

[realpolitic]

It is so strange that deniers are full of misinformation, but never change their point of view when corrected!

"The year 2007 tied for second warmest in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005, in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) analysis. The ten warmest years all occur within the 12-year period 1997-2008."

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2008/


"The linear warming trend over the 50 years from 1956 to 2005 (0.13 [0.10 to 0.16]°C per decade) is nearly twice that for the 100 years from 1906 to 2005."

http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf

Danster, you are the one who should take the time to discover the truth instead of repeating right-wing misinformation.

[lbrty 2112]

Well said Danster! It really doesn't rank up there with world hunger now does it.

[JohnIII]

This is just natural selection at work. Yes, humans are a part of nature. Maybe not a pleasant one all the time but a part of it, never the less.

If animals can't adapt, they die out. It's happened for millions of years. And one day, we may die out and be replaced by something else.

[kareemachan]

And once again, it needs to be pointed out that before humans came along with their technology, change and adaption WAS something that happened slowly over millions of years. Of course, the exception is an event like a comet or asteroid hitting the earth, causing a major disaster. Of course, then you are spot on. When this happened, the vast majority of species died out, and it took millions of years for Earth to recover from the calamity. No problemo with the Earth, but a real bummer for Homo sapiens....

[needaplan]

While the earth's temperature may have been stable over the last 10 years, the long term trend tells a completely different (and much more alarming) story. It's important to look at the complete picture and not just one season or one region to make a decision on global warming. If you need proof of what is happening, NOAA just issued a very detailed and thoroughly researched report today about the impacts global warming will have on the US. Very sobering stuff. So Richard2, please do educate yourself on what is actually happening. And regarding the Pika, the species you think "should be doing well", of the 25 pika populations studied in the Rocky Mountains, more than one-third have gone extinct in recent decades.

[jordan3189]

You id iots won't be happy no matter what.

[elmerfude]

Thanks for the comment jordan--so original and penetrating. It takes my breath away.

[Nooooorm]

How is it possible that the earth's temperature has been "stable" over the last 10 years when, as a species, we have pumped more CO2 into the atmosphere over the last 10 years than the previous 20?

What global warming model predicted 10 years of stable temperatures?

[realpolitic]

The earth's temperatures are increasing!

[realpolitic]

Richard does not care what the actual facts are. They usually just get in the way of his denier talking points. His mission is to just suggest the science is unsettled.

[Richard2]

Regarding the Pika, how is it doing in the Canadian Rockies? The Canadian Rocky Mountains would seem to make excellent habitat for the Pika. So how are the various populations in Canada doing? Also, the Canadian weather has been unusually cold this year, with June snow falls in the much of the area around Calgary. Seems like a more favorable environment for the Pika than further south.

[realpolitic]

Does your computer have the magic google button? Did you ever consider perhaps looking it up?