The U.S National Academy of Sciences has released a new 28-page illustrated booklet "Ecological Impacts of Climate Change." Available free as a downloadable PDF, the booklet shows in a visual way the accumulating impacts of climate change across the United States.
As temperatures keep rising we see a variety of changes: growing seasons and ocean currents shift, animals modify their migratory and breeding behavior, plants such as grape varieties grow in new areas and abandon old, and habitats such as the Arctic ice shrink and change the ecology of the north. All regions of the country are being affected.
The booklet is based on a 2008 report by the National Academies with the same title, "Ecological Impacts of Climate Change." (Lest we get confused.) This extended assessment is also available free as a PDF download from the National Academies Press website once you have registered.
The new Ecological Change booklet is a companion to "Understanding and Responding to Climate Change," which was updated in 2008 to include new information from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report.
Powerpoint slides for the new Ecological Change booklet are also available to download and use if you are so inclined. This to help educate or inform a local civic group, museum visitors, the kids at your neighborhood school, or even your peers at work. Climate impacts for each area of the U.S. are different and presentations are tailored for your region: Pacific Coast, Alaska and the Arctic, Western Mountains, Southwestern Deserts, Central U.S., Southeast, and Northeast.
Both booklets are part of an ongoing National Academy of Sciences study of climate choices ahead for the United States. A two-day summit was held the end of March, and webcasts of the sessions are available. The summit agenda is available here.
The changes we are seeing all around are going to be with us for a very long time, so we might as well understand and help others understand what is in store for our animal and plant neighbors, and ourselves. These materials from the National Academy of Sciences are a good place to start learning.
Washington Post review by Barbara King: "A Hot Topic: In "Heatstroke," an ecologist argues that we need to rethink conservation in an age of global warming."
.."Barnosky likes ecosystems just as much as the next scientist, but in "Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming," he argues brilliantly that conservation biology can no longer focus on saving them. The reason is simple: Thanks to global warming, the ecosystem we work to save today will have a different climate tomorrow. This means that many species will face extinction (or at least serious loss of genetic diversity), even if the land around them is protected from the logger's chainsaw and the developer's backhoe..."
Climate change is a myth. Just an excuse for a global tax. If you look back 400,000 years you will see the earth goes through climate change every 100,000 years. http://findmediafire.com
Posted by: James | September 10, 2010 at 05:20 AM