https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/science/polar-bears-global-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fspotlightcollection%2Fclimate-casualties&_r=0
In Kaktovik, Alaska during the fall, polar bears are everywhere roaming the village to find food. At night, the bears steal into town, making it dangerous to walk outside without a firearm or bear spray. They leave only reluctantly, chased off by the polar bear patrol with firecracker shells and spotlights. The bears coming here are refugees because the sea ice they rely on for hunting seals is receding. The arctic is warming twice as fast as the whole planet, causing the ice cover to retreat. As the Arctic ice continues to melt, bears are arriving in poor condition and are staying longer in Kaktovik, even as the number of tourists increases. This means more human and bear interactions which can cause them stress and us danger.
The biggest threat to the polar bears is the unregulated release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Some other risks are oil spills, pollution, and over-hunting also have some risks but don't compare to the loss of sea ice.
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170405144428.htm
Africa produces around 70% of the World's cocoa, growing output that requires carving more than 325,000 acres of new farmland from forests every year. The cocoa is affecting sub-Saharan Africa's tropical forests, second in size only to the Amazon. The are many possible solutions like avoiding land tenure conflicts and encouraging shade cultivation of crops like cocoa to conserve the forests.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/fall-2015/articles/sea-turtles-and-climate-change
Thanks to global warming, the hawks-bill sea turtles are forced to live in a habitat with extreme heat. The sea surface temperatures in the Gulf can reach up to as high as 98 degrees Fahrenheit. When the temperature is that hot, the turtles migrate to cooler waters until the temperature drops again. There are new studies finding evidence that these sea turtles are evolving their behavior in order to cope with the warmer temperatures.
We need to protect these sea turtles and help them migrate to cooler places in order to keep them well.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/penguin-populations-are-changing-dramatically/
With the temperature warming around the world, animals are started to notice the effect. The warmer weather is making a significant impact on the amount of sea ice, with the ice-forming period in the winter months now about 90 days shorter than it used to be. The penguin species are facing rapid warming on the southern pole, the impacts of the environmental changes vary from region to region though. As temperatures continue to rise, there are concerns that without stricter protections on krill fishing, the industry could expand and put more pressure on the penguins. Krill fishing is highly concentrated in one specific area at the northwestern tip of the peninsula.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/channeled-scablands/
In the middle of Eastern Washington, Dry falls, a desert that barely gets any rain each year, in what geologists call the Columbia Plateau. Spread over 16,000 square miles are hundreds of other dry waterfalls, canyons without rivers that might have carved them, mounds of gravel as tall as skyscrapers, deep holes in the bedrock that would swallow entire city blocks, and countless oddly placed boulders. It seems as though the flood and floodwater is what caused the shape of it. Research indicates that 80 or more floods damaged it near the end of the last ice age.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/california-desert-anza-borrego-super-bloom/
The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southeastern California is experiencing a "super bloom." A super bloom is when the spring bloom of wildflowers, starts growing past the normal bloom. The Anza-Borego Desert has not seen a bloom like this since around 2005. The major rain we had this last fall and winter is what helped this super bloom occur. The cold winter helped lock the moisture from the rain into the ground. Since the park saw alone 7 inches of rain this last season.
The super bloom that has occurred at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is absolutely beautiful. When you think of a desert, the first thing to come to mind isn't usually wildflowers blooming everywhere, so to see the two together is a view I'd love to go visit.
http://www.livescience.com/57936-climate-change-extreme-weather-health.html
Although many believe climate change is not real, it is evident that it is with the extreme weather events that have occurred or are to occur. Experts in climate change predict that extreme weather events will increase in either frequency or severity, and these events are a very serious public health burden. The climate change can affect our health. For example, extreme heat can increase the risk of death from heart disease, respiratory diseases, kidney diseases and other illnesses.
Our world needs to take climate change more seriously. Although it may not directly affect our generation, we need to consider how it will affect the future generations.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/feathered-dinosaur-tail-amber-theropod-myanmar-burma-cretaceous/
The tail of a 99-million-year-old was found preserved in amber. These feathers are evidence that dinosaurs had feathers and give us a push to a better understanding in evolution. with current study, it is believed that although they had feathers, they were not capable of flying. The tail can be seen by the naked eye. This discovery builds on a stack of existing research that supports evidence for feathered dinosaurs and can lead to more discoveries.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/african-wild-dogs-snares-poaching/
In the savannas, african wild dogs known as African painted dogs, are hunted by bush-meat poachers. When one dog is caught in a trap, the whole packs goes to help it causing them to also get caught in the deathly trap. These african dogs used to roam freely around 39 African countries but are now listed as endangered and their population has decreased by 90%. There are now less than 7,000 in only 5 of the countries. The traps that choke ,around their neck alost always kill them. But now there is a new solutiona snare- proof collar. This collar is designed to catch the wire before getting the dog's neck allowing them to escape. The prototypes have been tested to be more than 80% efficiant. If they work once tested in the wild, by the spring of 2017 100 dogs will be collared to help 20% of the population in Africa.
The collars made to help prevent the wild dogs from being killed by poachers is genuis. I hope to see someday a bigger population of the dogs to have the collars and prevent more deaths.
The current President of the COP22 climate summit begs President-elect Trump to join the fight against global warming. Mezouar said, “We count on your pragmatism as well as your commitment to the spirit of the international community, in a huge struggle for our future, for the planet, for humanity and the dignity of millions and millions of people,” he said. A total of 48 nations have promised to cut down on their carbon emission and move to a 100% renewable power. But so fair the US has only donated $500 million to the $3,000,000,000 promised donation to the global climate fund.
Since Donald Trump believes climate change is a hoax, it is hard to tell if the US will have that much of a push work on cutting down on our nation's carbon emission. I personally do not believe we will see much of a change during this presidency.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/18/poor-nations-pledge-deep-emissions-cuts-at-marrakech-climate-change-summit
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