It has been a hard winter here in Northern California with the rains and flooding but the hardness came as a blessing because of the drought. We have enough water now to not have to worry at least for this next year. But worries never cease with the new President and Congress taking over and destroying decades of work by both Republican and Democratic Parties and the world in regards to our environment and global warming, the earth's climate change. Education has been disbanded federally, and the take down of our clean air, water, federal protections for lands and habitats, animals, plants and places of endearment to the American people are being sold off to greedy corporations who only want to profit themselves. It has been a difficult time for those of us who work on the front lines of environmental causes. God bless us all and may he protect us as this time goes by. I believe in miracles so I hope maybe he will have a few to shower us with this Spring as Easter approaches. The love He showed us over 2,000 years ago in the sacrifice of his son for forgiveness of our sins so our admittance into heaven will be there at the gate, and also to enjoy his earth in better ways is still in force. Please pray for our country and the protection of the life here and in that way you will be praying for the protection of the life of the entire world. Amen
What do you want to know about climate change? CNN's John Sutter is going to spend the rest of the year telling the story of one number -- 2 degrees -- and he needs your help do it! World leaders agree that if the world warms more than 2 degrees Celsius, we'll see disastrous consequences. Ask your questions here and they'll inspire Sutter's reporting. This is a rare opportunity for you to shape the way CNN covers a critically important topic. Thanks for participating! #2degrees Posted by CNN on Friday, April 17, 2015
“This will probably be the highest number of stranded sea lion pups on record,” he told ThinkProgress on Friday. “The last three years have been particularly high, and it looks as though that this year, 2015, will the highest ever recorded.”
More than 1,450 baby sea lions have washed up on California beaches this year, a huge number that’s been putting animal rescue centers in a frenzy. The phenomenon has been reported widely, but was particularly magnified in a Thursday New York Times story that delved into specifics about the animals’ plight.
“Many are sick with pneumonia, their throaty barks muted to rasping coughs,” the story, written by Times correspondent Jack Healy, reads. “Parasites have swarmed their digestive systems. Some are so tired that they cannot scamper away when rescuers approach them with nets and towels and heft them into large pet carriers.”
Why is this happening? The Times story cites a rapidly changing environment driven by “unusually warm waters,” which are driving away food sources for sea lion moms. Because the moms can’t find food, they’re either abandoning the pups, or not getting back to them in time to feed them.
Trites, for the most part, agrees with that assessment.
“When you get warm ocean surface waters that replace cool nutrient rich waters, animals do starve,” said Trites, the director of the Marine Mammal Unit at the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries Centre. That’s because the fish sea lions like to eat — anchovies and sardines, to name a few — tend to prefer cool, nutrient-rich water. If the surface waters are warm, the anchovies swim deeper, making it harder for sea lions to dive and find them.
“Unfortunately, the young animals pay the price,” Trites said. “If the food is short, mothers can prove enough to keep themselves going, but can’t eat enough to produce the extra energy to make milk.”
It is certainly true that sea surface temperatures have been on the rise in the last hundred years. In fact, more than 90 percent of human-caused warming goes into the oceans, while only 2 percent goes into the atmosphere. Those increases have manifested in sea surface temperatures, as the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change graphic below shows.
CREDIT: 2013 IPCC
The rising sea surface temperatures themselves aren’t the only side effect of human-caused climate change that could be contributing to these unusual sea lion strandings. Increased extreme weather events driven by a weaker jet stream could also be increasing the likelihood of warm ocean waters, Trites said. That’s because during storms, wind drags on the ocean surface, pulling together and concentrating large bodies of warm water together.
That, however, is just a theory. It would be difficult to prove that this particular stranding was the result of a climate-driven weather event. But still, Trites said, it’s suspicious.
“Weather patterns have an element of randomness, but what’s so clear is that we’re seeing more extreme storms,” he said, noting the risk of concentrated warm waters is increasing with climate change. “This could well be that, just like a homeowner is dealing with [increased risk] on a daily basis, sea lions and other marine life also have to deal with that as well.”
Trites said more research is needed to figure out exactly what’s causing the strandings. In the meantime, people need to figure out their own responsibilities to the struggling animals. Do they save them? Or do we sit by and let nature take charge?
Trites, himself, isn’t sure.
“No one likes to see any animal suffer,” he said. “But it’s quite a predicament. This may well be just the start.”
from Emily Atkins, Climate Progress, March 13, 2015
Been reading Bill McKibben's book The Comforting Whirlwind and drawing understanding from the roots of environmentalism in this country. There are wonderful passages about John Muir and his journey and re-thinking of the faith he was abused with by his father as he explored wilderness areas. It is a mental and emotional renewal as well as spiritual for me. Also seeing in Forbes that California is listed as the #1 state to live in with global warming has done wonders for my self esteem which has been battered over the last 2 years by opponents of our global waming bill and water bill and offshore drilling bans. I am refreshed in my life direction and happier even though the realization that our tipping point of CO2 emissions is past and life isn't going to get easier in the natural world.
Thank you God for what we have as we struggle to keep it.
At last Silicon Valley is getting the rain we need. It all comes at once for a few months and then nothing until same time next year. So our water supply is filling up right now. It is quite chilly too but going into the seesaw weather of spring with very warm and chilly temps off and on. I look at the news and see Chicago in the 80's and I am shocked and snow in warmer climates. Well it is finally snowing in the Sierra Mountains here too which is the other part of our water supply. When the snows melt the runoff adds to the resevoirs and wherever else water is held.
Wacky weather! That is what the headline somewhere, I can't remember, online said about what most saavy people by now know as climate change or global warming. 80+ degrees in Chicago at St. Patrick's Day? I've never heard of it! I can remember living in downstate Illinois in high school and in Evanston just north of Chi town in the 60's and the wealthier girls were outside freezing in swimsuits, laying out in their backyards to get their skins ready for deep tanning in Florida over the spring break next month. Later on these girls and younger ones following them would come to school with raw faces from sitting under sun lamps waaayyy too long. I never participated in these rituals, waiting until warm late May and finally June to be out in bikinis in the sun. Now I stay out of the sun quite a bit because the atmosphere is very thin and burning is easy causing possible skin cancer. I still get a deep tan every year, wouldn't miss it!
So this is 2012 and the weather is the most turbulent so far! This is the year scientists call the tipping point where we reach the point of no return as far as global warming is concerned. This strange weather is only beginning to ramp up.
For now though, it is a time of rainbows where I live. I don't live where the wind is very wild for a reason. It causes wild fears in me to rise. Earthquakes seem milder to me than the cyclonic storms racking back East. Happy spring!
Now President Obama has some leadership when he arrives in Copenhagen with a pledge of financial aid to nations suffering from global warming, our 17% reduction in emissions promise (+ our own surprising decrease by 2+% from our own efforts (hybrids, evs, renewable energy sources, meatless days, sustainable farming, recycling, conservation of energy, etc.).
I haven't been able to write much since my mother fell ill in July from a uro-sepsis infection. It's been non-stop care for her until now, at last, things are slowing down and she has stabilized. The caring world around illness especially for seniors has been an education for me. I've also learned alot about Medicare, secondary providers, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and the symptoms and presentations of several new diagnosed illnesses, one after another presenting themselves to her new doctors as she fought for her life over the last few months. A wonderful seniors social worker introduced herself and her services to me when I was treading in the deep water of living facilities and Mom is now happily living in a small facility which is a wonderful house not far from me in a terrific neighborhood. She is saying good-by to her home care nurse who helped diagnose skin cancer and get her blood sugars down and stabilize her blood pressure. She has round the clock care just in case she crashes again. Her cardiologist is finishing up blood clot searches with a carotid ultrasound this month and it should be smooth sailing into the holidays ahead.
Somewhere I read earlier last summer about the death rattle. It happens just before expiration and that is what I witnessed in my mother this last July as she nearly bled out right in front of us at the ICU. 4 times she nearly died within 24 hours. I watched as teams of code blue professionals worked intensely to save her life, a life she was giving up on. Several times I received calls from the nursing home she went into after her hospital stay or frantic looks and conversations from her concerned roommate that she was taking a turn for the worse and would go back to the hospital. My months of end of summer August and September were on edge, never knowing what the phone ringing would mean. All plans for business expansion trips went on hold. I only lived a mile away so I could get there easily, the nursing facility was right across the street from Good Samaritan Hospital.
My family has had a couple of reunions between us, step-brothers and sisters to rally around for her (and me) and to help straighten out her home and yard. It is so wonderful that we all have a great sense of humor! She has finally decided she could live here in San Jose (it was too hot before) because, Wow! what wonderful people are here! My step-brother from Palm Springs is a real estate agent and has listed her property. We only need an estate sale now and to move a few belongings here.
So my lessons have been deep in caring for an aging parent. It had been so easy up to now, with traveling for business expansion to different parts of the Sanctuaries, going to museums in San Francisco, movies and cultural events in Carmel, and getting together for the holidays. Mom is an octogenarian, her mom was a centenarian and it was just unexpected that a catastrophic illness could knock her down so far. Accepting that and coming back maybe with less strength has been the big lesson for us all.
The one thing that has helped me throughout this ordeal and deep life lesson immersion besides the amazing care-givers, concerned family members, and new found friends has been the Sierra Club and their involvement in global warming issues. The activities and new found friends have buoyed me up through some very dark experiences. This organization has kept me in touch with my business needs and goals which had to go to a low-key level while I stayed on call for my mother. My blog will be devoted to issues around what I have been doing and what the Sierra Club is doing in terms of educating our population to global warming issues. The far reaching effects in lifestyle changes in my city of San Jose, my county of Santa Clara in Silicon Valley, in California, in the US and we are hoping for the whole world are taking place right in front of me.
Like almost losing my mother, slipping away slowly or dramatically in front of me was very close to how I felt about the condition of our environment in the world. I was almost at acceptance of a desolate future, one with no hope but only of watching the destruction coming on by our wasteful energy. I was giving up as well. But through so many good people that have come together with really quite simple ideas and a bond that we can change, I have renewed hope for the future of our world. That is how my holidays are beginning to look...as we experience the world darkening for winter, a wonderful new light is shining, in the forests, out at sea, in the cities, on ranches and farms, in the deserts, and from continent to continent. We need to listen and understand and please...believe. Don't give up hope!
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