Glaciers have been melting for decades; one that disappeared in 2005 in Bolivia was estimated to be 18,000 years old. The highest ski resort in the world closed.
The rainy season on the western side of Ecuador is due to resume soon, though some of the deforested countryside looks like a desiccated apocalypse, our words when helping with an Audubon CBC in mid December. Humans continue to plunder and extract what they can from the earth, and plant the trending commodity. Dragon-fruits are the most recent - not only acres and acres of monoculture, but also the nocturnal illumination looks like small cities through a once-darkened nightscape.
Most who stay closely connected with nature are observing the subtle changes. Sometimes the changes are not so subtle, and when that happens, everyone pays attention. I remain baffled when people blame the government - we humans have done this! How can intelligent people ignore the science? The records? The easy-to-read graphs? But I'm preaching to the choir!
These disasters reflect that science, and there is not an easy fix.
The planet is sick, waving flags of distress, yet many humans still quarrel.
Fire suppression in the Jefferson National Forest has interfered with the growth of young oak trees, which are overshadowed by faster growing maples. The Forest Service is now conducting controlled fires to reduce the undergrowth. Thanks for raising awareness of the problem of non-native species promoting fires in California and Hawaii. It looks like we have better do a better job of controlling them.
Bad fires in SoCal at this time of year seem SO weird to me. When I was growing up there, we did have Santa Ana winds and lots of fires—in the Fall. But December-February usually brought rain, sometimes a lot of it. Weather patterns have certainly changed, and when they keep happening year after year, well, I guess that's Climate Change.
How did you fare with all the snow and cold in central Missouri?
Thanks for this post - and for the link, which I shared on Twitter: https://x.com/krassenstein/status/1877353913755603245
There are a lot of negative comments over there, which baffles me.
My friend Emma from Jamaica (Petchary) shared it on BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/petchary.bsky.social/post/3lfjfee53q22n
Oceans are cooking.
https://www.ecowatch.com/global-ocean-temperatures-record-high-2024.html
Temps are going off the scale.
https://berkeleyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-Global-Time-Series.png
Glaciers have been melting for decades; one that disappeared in 2005 in Bolivia was estimated to be 18,000 years old. The highest ski resort in the world closed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UOnokIwBR0
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38235094
Ecuador's drought continues on the western side, though the reservoirs on the eastern side that generate electricity are working again.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/world/americas/ecuador-hydropower-drought.html
The rainy season on the western side of Ecuador is due to resume soon, though some of the deforested countryside looks like a desiccated apocalypse, our words when helping with an Audubon CBC in mid December. Humans continue to plunder and extract what they can from the earth, and plant the trending commodity. Dragon-fruits are the most recent - not only acres and acres of monoculture, but also the nocturnal illumination looks like small cities through a once-darkened nightscape.
Most who stay closely connected with nature are observing the subtle changes. Sometimes the changes are not so subtle, and when that happens, everyone pays attention. I remain baffled when people blame the government - we humans have done this! How can intelligent people ignore the science? The records? The easy-to-read graphs? But I'm preaching to the choir!
These disasters reflect that science, and there is not an easy fix.
The planet is sick, waving flags of distress, yet many humans still quarrel.
Fire suppression in the Jefferson National Forest has interfered with the growth of young oak trees, which are overshadowed by faster growing maples. The Forest Service is now conducting controlled fires to reduce the undergrowth. Thanks for raising awareness of the problem of non-native species promoting fires in California and Hawaii. It looks like we have better do a better job of controlling them.
Bad fires in SoCal at this time of year seem SO weird to me. When I was growing up there, we did have Santa Ana winds and lots of fires—in the Fall. But December-February usually brought rain, sometimes a lot of it. Weather patterns have certainly changed, and when they keep happening year after year, well, I guess that's Climate Change.
How did you fare with all the snow and cold in central Missouri?