Marine life on a warming planet

Humans’ continued pumping into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide – sometimes by the stupidest of chores like driving to the mailbox rather than walking there – is damaging the future of marine life. You can read more.

Oklahoma, where the denial comes right before the drought

I lived in Oklahoma, a half-hour’s commute from Tinker Air Force Base, where I was assigned, for nearly three years in the 80s. When I saw and read this article, I just had to share it here. So read it and then remember that Oklahoma is represented by denier-in-chief James Inhofe in the U.S. Senate. Whatta champ. Well isn’t he?

Plants will be hard put to handle greenhouse gases, scientists say

Another telling bit of evidence is outlined in this newspaper narrative: http://azstarnet.com/news/science/plants-will-be-hard-put-to-handle-global-warming-gas/article_e106b776-6d2c-551d-ae01-65f0feda0485.html

The quote of the week

“If you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know who you are.”

– Wendell Berry; farmer, poet, essayist, conservationist

Appeal filed over Blair Mountain strip mining in W.Va.

A coalition of historic preservation, labor history and environmental protection groups filed a legal appeal Thursday morning, continuing their fight to restore the Blair Mountain Battlefield to the National Register of Historic Places.

The groups include: the Sierra Club, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Friends of Blair Mountain, West Virginia Labor History Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Arch Coal wants to strip mine the spot, never mind the historical legacy, wild nature and more. Read this to get the whole picture, then get mad.

Dr. James Hansen: Climate change is happening now

Another warning – and a stark one at that – from the scientist who first put the problem of climate change before the American public – of what awaits if no action is taken to stem the carbon tide.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/29/climate-change-carbon-price?fb=optOut

The pledge of wildlands

Jose’s pledge:

I am for wilderness.

I’m for protecting the places close to my home and close to my heart.

I’m for rugged mountains and pristine forests.

I’m for cleaner air and water.

I’m for protecting wildlife habitat and species.

I’m for keeping our wild heritage alive.

Wilderness makes me happy, helps my community and protects the environment — and I want a better future for the wild places I love.

I am for wilderness. Are you?

– Jose Arroyo

Prairie dog disease confirmed in South Dakota

It’s hard not to think of situations like this only worsening in the future.

NASA: Ice sheet decline at both poles increasing

An international team of experts supported by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has combined data from multiple satellites and aircraft to produce the most comprehensive and accurate assessment to date of ice sheet losses in Greenland and Antarctica and their contributions to sea level rise.

In a landmark study published Thursday in the journal Science, 47 researchers from 26 laboratories report the combined rate of melting for the ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica has increased during the last 20 years. Together, these ice sheets are losing more than three times as much ice each year (equivalent to sea level rise of 0.04 inches or 0.95 millimeters) as they were in the 1990s (equivalent to 0.01 inches or 0.27 millimeters). About two-thirds of the loss is coming from Greenland, with the rest from Antarctica.

To me, these findings spell big trouble, especially for folks living on that once-beautiful oceanfront spread. Think: Miami, Fla., Virginia Beach, Va., Wilmington, Del., Portland, Maine, and many, many other places in North America alone. You can read all of NASA’s release.

An area of Arctic ice bigger than the U.S. melted this year

The evidence continues to mount, and still the deniers in Congress won’t tackle the issue.