Humans Plague Earth, Declare War on Plastics

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FIRE-EARTH Presentation: Humans Must Be Stopped From Killing Life On Earth

Prepared and presented by FIRE-EARTH Science and affiliated scientists.

• Details are available via FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

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Quarter of Europe’s Orthoptera Driven to Extinction

European Red List of Grasshoppers, Crickets and Bush-crickets

Nearly 26% of European  Orthoptera species  [and 28% of EU 28’s] are assessed as threatened, according to UCN Red List report on Orthoptera.

However, the exact proportion of threatened species is uncertain… the best estimate of the threatened share of Orthoptera species is thus 28.5% in Europe and 30.6% in the EU 28. Further research on DD species to clarify their status is therefore critical. A further 13.9% (149 species) and 13% (128 species) are considered Near Threatened in Europe and in the EU 28, respectively.

The Western Banded Grasshopper (Arcyptera brevipennis) has a disjunct distribution in south-western and south-eastern Europe and is found in steppe-like Mediterranean vegetation and rocky grassland or shrubland habitats. This Vulnerable species is threatenedby changes in the grazing regime (particularly by abandonment) and afforestation. ©Florin Rutschmann. IUCN Red List report on Orthoptera.

“By comparison, the best estimate of threatened species of those other groups that have been assessed comprehensively in Europe is 58% of freshwater molluscs, 40% of freshwater fishes, 23% of amphibians, 20% of reptiles, 17% of mammals, 16% of dragonflies, 13% of birds, 9% of butterflies and bees, 8% of aquatic plants and marine fishes and 2% of medicinal plants. Additional European Red Lists assessing a selection of species showed that 22% of terrestrial molluscs, 16% of crop wild relatives and 15% of saproxylic beetles are also threatened. No other groups have yet been assessed at the European level.

“Looking at the population trends of European Orthoptera species, 30.2% (325 species) have declining populations, 7.6% (82 species) are believed to be more or less stable and 3.2% (34 species) are increasing. However, the population trends for the majority of species (59%, 634 species) remain unknown.”

Download IUCN Red List report on Orthoptera

Suddenly, everyone and their aunts become extinction experts

Was it something we said?!

[STOP FISHING FOR INFORMATION! You are regurgitating what we’ve said and throwing it back at us! We’ll tell you ONLY what we intend to, on the need to know basis, but NOT a word more. STOP trying so hard, you’re making it too obvious! Besides, we don’t care WHO claims the credit because they won’t be there to collect. Get it?]

Earth ‘entering new extinction phase’ – US study

The Earth has entered a new period of extinction, a study by three US universities has concluded, and humans could be among the first casualties.

The report, led by the universities of Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley, said vertebrates were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal.

The findings echo those in a report published by Duke University last year.

One of the new study‘s authors said: “We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33209548

Related Links

• The 6th Great Extinction: Sooner Than Expected
• Tidal Surge of Global Change 26 Times Faster in 21st Century: FIRE-EARTH
• Critical Overload Threatens Planet
• Nature’s Warnings Exponentially Intensifying
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

“Largest Extinction Event” Caused by “Acid Oceans”

Earth’s “worst die-off” caused by “drop in ocean pH” —Report

Massive amounts of carbon dioxide released during colossal volcanic eruptions in Siberia may have turned the world’s oceans dangerously acidic 252 million years ago, causing a global environmental catastrophe that killed more than 90 percent of all species, according to a new study published Thursday.

“The largest mass extinction in Earth’s history occurred at the Permian-Triassic boundary 252 million years ago. Several ideas have been proposed for what devastated marine life, but scant direct evidence exists,” says the study.

“Now, locked in limestone that was formed in shallow seawater offshore of the supercontinent Pangaea, scientists [say they have] have found an isotopic signal to support a sharp drop in pH,” according to a report summary.

The volcanoes spewed trillions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, some of which was dissolved in the oceans, lowering the pH and dangerously acidifying the water and weakening marine creatures’ ability to form calciferous shells.

“It appears that, although the oceans buffered the acidifying effects of carbon release from contemporary pulses of volcanism, buffering failed when volcanism increased during the formation of the Siberian Traps. The result was a widespread drop in ocean pH and the elimination of shell-forming organisms.”

The eruptions, thought to be the most powerful explosions occurred over the past 500 million years, lasted for a million years, spanning the boundary between the Permian and and Triassic Period, and resulting in the extinction event that occurred over a period of 60,000 years, said the researchers.

Permian-Triassic extinction event supposedly exceeded even the K-T extinction [officially, Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event] that occurred 66 million years ago and that allegedly erased the dinosaurs and many other animals, i.e, 75% of all species.

‘Ocean acidification and the Permo-Triassic mass extinction’

Abstract

Ocean acidification triggered by Siberian Trap volcanism was a possible kill mechanism for the Permo-Triassic Boundary mass extinction, but direct evidence for an acidification event is lacking. We present a high-resolution seawater pH record across this interval, using boron isotope data combined with a quantitative modeling approach. In the latest Permian, increased ocean alkalinity primed the Earth system with a low level of atmospheric CO2 and a high ocean buffering capacity. The first phase of extinction was coincident with a slow injection of carbon into the atmosphere, and ocean pH remained stable. During the second extinction pulse, however, a rapid and large injection of carbon caused an abrupt acidification event that drove the preferential loss of heavily calcified marine biota.

M. O. Clarkson, S. A. Kasemann, R. Wood, T. M. Lenton, S. J. Daines, S. Richoz, F. Ohnemueller, A. Meixner, S. W. Poulton, E. T. Tipper
Science 10 April 2015:
vol. 348 no. 6231 pp. 229-232
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa0193

Disaster Diary – April 30, 2013

3 varieties of butterflies native to south Florida now extinct

An entomologist who surveyed butterflies native to south Florida for six years says three varieties of the lepidopterans have become extinct.

“These are unique butterflies to Florida. This is our biological treasure. Each unique species that we lose, we won’t ever get that back again,” Marc Minno, who conducted the survey for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, told Reuters.

The extinction of butterflies is an indication of the degradation of south Florida’s environment, he said.

“It’s indicating there are major problems, environmental harm to Florida. And this is an indication that quality for people is also degrading and people should be worried about that,” Minno said.

Miami Blue, Hemiargus thomasi, basking on twig (dorsal view of male)
Photo by David L Lysinger. Image source: Miami Blue Chapter

Additionally, two other native butterflies have left Florida for the Caribbean, and two more face extinction, he said.

• The three extinct varieties are the Florida Zestos Skipper, the Rockland Meske’s Skipper, and the Keys Zarucco Skipper, Minno said.
• The two that have moved from Florida to the Caribbean are the Bahamian Swallowtails and the Nickerbean Blues.
• The other two that are expected to become extinct are Shaus’ Swallowtail and the Miami Blue.

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

Severe flooding in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Floods and landslides triggered by extreme rain events have killed at least a dozen people, displacing tens of thousands of others and affecting about 1/2 million people in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

• More than 12,000 hectares of farmland have been devastated by floodwaters and hundreds of houses destroyed, Xinhua reported.

0O0

Israel plagued by hundreds of wildfires

Numerous wildfires have raged across Israel since Saturday forcing the authorities to evacuate hundreds of people.

“We have been putting out over 600 fires that have erupted since Saturday,” the Fire Fighters’ department told Xinhua.

“The cause of these fires are mainly the combination of extreme heat, strong winds, a problematic humidity situation and bonfires held as part of the holiday.”

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Syria

A bomb killed at least 13 people and injured more than 70 others in central Damascus on Tuesday

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Iraq

At least two dozen people were killed and more than  100 others injured in car bomb attacks across Iraq on Monday.

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DISASTER CALENDAR – April 30, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,047 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,047 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

Global temperature tied with 2005 as record highest for September

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,243 Days* Left 

[October 16, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016. 

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,243 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Symbolic countdown to the ‘worst day’ in human history began on May 15, 2011 ...

*Countdown has been revised

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Global Disasters/ Significant Events

Global temperature for September 2012 tied with 2005 as the warmest on  record: NOAA

“The globally-averaged temperature for September 2012 tied with 2005 as the warmest September since record keeping began in 1880.” NOAA reported.

• Combined average temperature over land and ocean surfaces for September was 60.21°F (15.67°C) or 1.21°F (0.67°C) above the 20^th century average.
• September 2012 was also the 36^th consecutive September and 331^st consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20^th century average.
• 2012 January-September period was the warmest first nine months of any year on record for the contiguous United States, with the national temperature of 59.8°F, which  was 3.8°F above the 20^th century average.
• “The October 2011-September 2012 period was the warmest such 12-month period on record for the contiguous U.S., with an average temperature of 56.2°F, 3.2°F above average. This 12-month temperature average tied the June 2011-May 2012 period as the 3^rd warmest of any 12-month period. The six warmest 12-month periods have all ended during 2012.” NOAA said.

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

GLOBAL WARNING

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!

WARNING: Global Disasters – June 21, 2011

***PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY***  

WARNING: About 20 percent of the global population could perish by 2016

FIRE-EARTH’s population model shows mass die-offs resulting from human impact on the planet and the planetary response to the anthropogenic harm  could occur by early 2016.

• RANDOM. The mass die-offs would occur randomly.

• UNSTOPPABLE. Once triggered, the chain-reaction created by the dynamics of mass die offs would burst out of control.

On May 15, 2011 symbolic countdown to the ‘worst day’ in human history began...

FIRE-EARTH Climate Models show climate change forcings and feedbacks switching global weather patterns onto “primordial tracks.”

The extreme weather events triggered by anthropogenic climate change have a four-prong impact on humans over the next 50 months. FIRE-EARTH models forecast:

Food production:

• Average decline of 22% in the global agricultural output
• Loss of topsoil and worsening of soil quality
• Increases in the size and occurrence of dead zones
• Large decline in marine food sources

Spread of Disease

• Substantial increases in the spread of diseases
• vector borne
• Air borne
• water borne
• food borne
• Increase in the spread of human immunodeficiency
• Significant decline in air quality (and corresponding increase in chronic respiratory diseases)
• Worsening of water pollution

Physical Safety

Major increases in the number of deaths and injuries, as well as large scale displacements due to the loss of shelter and livelihood caused by extreme weather and geophysical events including:

• Tornadoes
• Hurricanes
• Storms and Extreme Weather
• Flash Flooding
• Drought and Deluge
• Extremes of Temperature
• Wildfires
• Loss of “Seasons”
• Earthquakes*
• Tsunamis*
• Volcanic activity*

The Combined Effect

Social upheaval, regional conflicts and wars caused by mass migrations and scarcity of basic resources resulting from the combined effects of the above.

[June 21, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,730 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

Related Links

• Back to the Primordial Future
• China Floods: Deaths, Displacement & Climbing Food Prices
• About

Buffet the Climate!

More Serious Pollution Anyone?

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates reportedly visited the $9 billion Canadian Natural Resources Horizon oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Monday. Horizon Oil is scheduled to start operations October 2008.

The visit by two of the world’s richest persons [and biggest producers of CO2] pushed up Toronto stock market by almost 300 points as speculators snapped up energy stocks.

Horizon Oil Sands Project, Alberta, Canada

Construction site being cleared for the Horizon Oil Sands Project. (Source: hydrocarbons-technology). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Horizon Oil Sands will begin operations October 2008. (Source: hydrocarbons-technology). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

“IF”

In a news conference held in Madrid, Spain ( May 21, 2008), Warren Buffet declared:

“If the world were falling apart I’d still invest in companies.”

Related News Links:

• Gates, Buffet to invest in massive climate change?
• Buffet, Gates tour Canadian oil sands operation
• Energy stocks rise after Buffett, Gates tour oil sands

Related Links:

• If the world were falling apart!
• Buffet the Poor