One-quarter of the Great Barrier Reef suffered from severe bleaching throughout the summer,
in the third mass bleaching in five years and its most severe ever.
2020 is fucking with us: New Ozone hole discovered over the North Pole.
That's probably due to this year's unusual polar vortex.
The formation of an ozone hole requires the existence of a stable polar vortex, and this normally doesn't happen in the Arctic as all the continents and warm ocean currents hack it up. This year we've seen an unusually stable polar vortex that has allowed the formation of an ozone hole.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanYou’re looking at it the wrong way, there’s no permanently solving the issues, there’s no great fix and an end screen that says we’ve won and planet earth is safe.
No matter how much we improve things and limit our pollution we can always do better, likewise no matter how bad things get or how much damage has been done, we can always mitigate harm a bit more, we can always improve things slightly.
There is neither a victory screen or a game over screen, there is simply the continuous challenge of making things better.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranYou’re going to have to define “full shitty”. Look, any work we do will help, it will save lives and build a better tomorrow, that makes it worth it regardless of if we do or do not cross certain arbitrary boundaries.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranWorst case is that we totally screw up our environment, humanity and a lot of other species go extinct, the planet has a bad time for anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand years, and then it's back to normal, with no pesky evolved apes screwing things up. This sort of thing has happened before, quite a few times (though never through willful actions by "intelligent" beings).
If another sapient species evolves and starts digging around, they'll find a mass extinction event and a very weird sedimentary layer with lots of refined metals, plastics, and radioactives; plus evidence of an abrupt carbon-induced warming cycle. If they put two and two together, they'll learn about us, get an idea of how we screwed things up, and maybe not repeat the mistake.
In a few hundred million years, all plant life will die as the Sun heats up; in a billion years all water on the surface will boil off; in 4.5 billion years the Sun will expand to a red giant barely inside the Earth's orbit; a billion years later it will expand again, engulfing the Earth and vaporizing it completely.
You have to look at this in perspective. The Earth will be fine. We're the ones stuck with the problem we created... that and all the species we kill along the way.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 29th 2020 at 6:09:21 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"The Hidden Toll of Lockdown on Rainforests
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, economic pressures combined with reduced government enforcement have lead to an increase in illegal logging and mining activity in tropical nations.
From the article:
Destruction of the rainforest will have severe ramifications. For indigenous and other communities who live there, it means a destruction of their way of life and may lead to conflict with the criminals who encroach on their territory. Studies have also shown that destroying rainforest ecosystems raises the odds of new pathogens making the jump from animals to humans. It also harms our ability to deal with climate change, as tropical forests are a key component in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Edited by Pseudopartition on May 24th 2020 at 7:24:57 AM
So, the Amazon may be producing carbon now instead of storing it: here
This is the worst news I've heard recently, and nowadays it seems like everything's bad news.
So do you guys think that Root sprout chestnuts are worth recording for the American Chestnut foundation?
The saplings I saw looked relatively healthy and blight free, but stump sprouts and suckers like this rarely survive long enough for flowering and nut production.
Edited by megaeliz on Jun 6th 2020 at 10:53:24 AM
African pangolins are being slowly reintroduced to areas where they went extinct.
Russia races to clean up massive oil spill in Siberia.
Apparently the decimation of whales had a minor effect on worldwide climate
.
More than 360 elephants die from mysterious causes in Botswana
Reasons unknown...doesn't seem like poaching either...poisoning?
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Botswana? Doubt it. The major areas for elephants are well-protected game reserves.
Elephants are the main attractions: if they need to regulate the population, they either perform official culls... or tranq small families and ship them to other countries. Like Addo does.
Zimbabwe and Zambia have the bigger poaching problem (which can cause friction along, say, Botswana's border), and even they manage to limit it. Mostly.
No. That number dropping dead? We're not the only ones with a pandemic problem, probably. -_-'
Edited by Euodiachloris on Jul 3rd 2020 at 4:18:42 PM
Nature, one of the forefront magazines on environmental science, has published an article
that is one of the best news I've heard in a while.
It states that by using basalt dust and placing it on the crops of farms in the US, Brazil, China and India, Co 2 emissions equivalent to the yearly emissions of Germany and Japan combined can be absorbed and taken out of the ecosystem. Not only that, but this method would also bring better crops, making it a win-win situation for literally everyone. Because basalt is such a common by-product of the mining industry, it's extremely easy to come across too.

Court Strikes Down Dakota Access Pipeline Permits in a Victory for Standing Rock Tribe