350 Reasons: new web site promotes species protection from climate change

In anticipation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meetings to be held in December at Copenhagen, the Center for Biological Diversity has launched a new web site: 350 Reasons.

The site provides information on 350 species of flora and fauna subject to decline or extinction due to climate change. The significance of the number "350" is that it ties in with the level of atmospheric CO2 emissions (350 parts per million) that has been proposed by many leading scientists as the goal we all should be striving for. Currently, we are averaging 387ppm and it's increasing.

The web site allows you to look up specific species or families - or you can select your home state or region on a map and see what species are at risk.

The web site is all part of an effort to bring more awareness to the importance of the December meetings. You can review the site and sign a petition to President Obama, urging him to follow the proposed 350 ppm guideline as an international objective and mandate in climate change policy.

Check it out here.

Marine Life & Climate Change: possible species invasion & extinction

Seaweb.org recently reported on a study published in the journal Fish and Fisheries which provided projections as to marine species invasion and extinction due to climate change, specifically the increasing ocean temperatures. The projections were based on climate change models including those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The results of William Cheung and his colleagues at Canada's University of British Columbia were also presented at a recent Chicago meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

What the report postulated was that with increasing ocean temperatures, many marine species would migrate towards the temperate to sub-polar regions. Extinctions would occur in tropical regions because of a species inability to migrate, while species in colder waters would be faced with both the same negative impact due to temperature increase plus the impact of invasive species (increased predation and competition). Semi-closed bodies of water (ex: the Mediterranean, the Red Sea), could experience high levels of extinction because of the species' inability to migrate due to geography.

The study pointed out the rate of extinction would be much lower than for terrestrial animals, the theory being that marine animals have a higher dispersal ability and can more easily migrate to suitable habitats. However, the impact by and to human populations can also enter into all of this in the form of decreased fishing in low income tropical economies - economies that depend on seafood on a very basic subsistence level, and in decreased fish populations in colder waters due to industrialized fishing for moderate to high income economies.

We often look to the Arctic and Antarctic for critical signs of climate change, indicators of profound changes. But we must realize it is a worldwide change which challenges all of nature, including man, on many different levels.

New Data on Greenhouse Gases: time to act . . . now

Many of you who read this blog are already concerned and committed marine conservationists and so you are familiar with issues regarding greenhouse gas output and the effect it has on our climate. Here's some more disconcerting news . . .

Yesterday, international researchers from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released new numbers indicating that the level of carbon emissions/greenhouse gases is increasing ahead of projected levels. It was anticipated that levels might decrease due to the economic downturn's impact on energy use over the past few years. Unfortunately, data shows that carbon dioxide output rose 3% from 2006 to 2007.

"Things are happening very, very fast," Professor Corrine Le Quere, University of Anglia, told the Associated Press. "It's scary." "We should be worried - really worried," Richard Moss, World Wildlife Fund, told the Washington Post. "This is happening in the context of trying to reduce emissions."

The new data also shows that the forest and oceans, which absorb carbon dioxide, are having less impact. The rising level of emissions is exceeding the ability of these ecosystems to take in carbon dioxide - they are simply being overloaded. The trees and oceans can't do it all; they can't save us from ourselves.

China is currently the largest polluter, with the U.S. in second. Developing countries like India and Indonesia are rapidly increasing their emissions as these nations develop more energy-intensive industries. New data continues to come in and with it the situation continues to become more dire. We need to take more decisive action - all of us, consumers, industry, and governments.

Here's a start: the Ocean Conservancy has a form you can fill out online and send a message to your government officials. Just a first step but we all have to start somewhere.