PEuT Episode 3 NATURE'S CALENDAR on today
- 4 Dec 06, 08:45 AM
Gabrielle and I coming back from a pond bursting with life in the interior of Fiji.
The third episode of Planet Earth under Threat is on today at 21.02 GMT FM & LW and streamed here on the 大象传媒 Radio 4 website. You can listen to it any time after broadcast here.
One of the first stories to break about global warming was the change in arrivals of migrant birds in Europe. And this posed big questions about timings - Nature's Calendar. Thanks to a world class data set held at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Monks Wood research station, questions could be asked and patterns could be seen. The study of the timings of life history events is not an exact science but this pile of observations comprising over a million records of animal and plant "behaviours", such as flowering, leafing, nesting, arrivals, emergence and of course temperature - has turned out to be a world leader and invaluable in our understanding of how climate change is affecting wildlife. In this programme we discover that there is real evidence of life history timings getting out of step with the environment.
Migrant birds are arriving at their breeding grounds too late for the peak in food abundance to feed their chicks.
Seabirds can't find ther food any more.
Butterflies are emerging too early for their preferred food plant.
Hibernating mammals are waking up too early, only to be hit by predators.
Plants are getting frost bite.
Ephemeral habitats are collapsing.
But interestingly,
Studies of non breeding Storm Petrels show that these birds have the ability to adjust their feeding behaviour to compensate for environmental change - and
There is evidence that the wheels of evolution are turning and some species are adjusting their biological clocks to synch with the changing seasons.
There's lots of theory in this programme - And evidence from all over the world.
It's a darn good one.
Listen out.
Update:
Comments Post your comment
In addition to species adjusting their biological clocks, has the research included habitat migration with particular relevance to species (that can't fly) coming-up against man's inrastructure of roads etc. - the ability of plants and animals to leap-frog habitats 'up the hill' in response to a change in climate?
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Hello David, yes that's in. Quite a bit in last weeks programme "Life on the Move" and it features in Episode 5 on Biodiversity, implied in Episode 6 about natural variation - And again in 7 which is about conservation. As you point out, it's the big issue. In the past habitats could move (after all, there were crocodiles in trafalgar square in the last inter-glacial - and it was under 1km of ice in the middle of the ice age).
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There are still quite a few sharks in Holborn. Julian, I think there is a bigger issue - don't you?
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In show 6 there's a contribution by Paleo Professor Mike Benton who speaks to us about mass extiction events. He talks of repeated volcanic eruptions (read anthropogenic global warming)of 100's of millions of years ago compounded by vast amounts of green house gas emissions, acid rain poisoning everything (read over exploitation of resources, habitat destruction). This caused a 95% extinction. Now, Mike wasn't making any connection with past and present, but we can. Many contributors are saying, including Lord May, that global warming acting in conjunction with other nasties is the big issue - which I think is implied in your comment Bob.
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Thanks Julian
I agree that we can do all sorts of things, but the one thing that is constantly and conveniently glossed over is the root cause of the imminent planetary crisis. There have been a number of mentions of Hardinian Taboo on these blog strands and my fear is that the current direction is going to prove to be yet another example. Yes, we can have a nice academic look at paleo / historical illustrations of non-AGW and its effects, and it is clearly important for us to do so. However, the current predicament is all about 'climate changers' and human destruction of habitats (including our own). When will the focus eventually shift to the big issue i.e. our population explosion, the implications and then possible solutions?
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For every purchase I make damage to the environment is done. The environment and humankind seem to be in a stalemate strangle hold but we are only slowly becoming aware of it.
Development of what is known of as the developed world was built on the supposition that money is beneficial and transactions are a win-win phenomenon. To move in a different direction so as to walk away from the mutual strangle hold we have to do engineering and design with a fresh mindset not looking at financial profit but at our responsibilities towards the world we have been give dominion over.
What we need is a hard look at what it would actually look like to live in a way that gives back to the environment rather than having a net damaging effect. People are already looking at ways to reduce the damage that we do but their simply might not be the time left to take this approach. I fear we can not walk out of the danger zone like this we have to catch a bus and that bus is to examine the end goal which is living creatively not more sustainable living, but in a way that is truly beneficial to the planet. There is a great deal of thinking, research and development to be done and it all has to start by addressing the question 鈥渨hat is the most attractive way we can live currently available to us, that would make a plus rather than a minus to the environment鈥. Is it crofting living in a stone or mud hut. Have we made any advances since the stone age in answer to this question. Mainly the question is what exactly does this lifestyle look like and what are the areas that we need to apply our science and expertise to address. What needs designing and developing in an environmentally positive sense.
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OK I've just listenned to the programme and it's all lovely stuff. I'm now listening to 'Start the Week' and I find this far more biologically relevant. The study of the shift to urban populations, of Cholera, John Snow and the Soho pump describes the root problem with a little more clarity. Bob Winston brings the right level of scientific insight - "Why the World no-longer fits our bodies", the irony doesn't escape me.
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Seabirds under threat? Yes, certainly. Adapting to change? Yes, some are, but I suspect that those adapting most successfully are urban gulls. Once confirmed migrants, almost one third of adult, urban Lesser Black-backed Gulls (even if they migrated in their early years) are nowadays dispensing with migration in favour of occupying territories earlier than those continuing to migrate. Interestingly, the urban Lesser Black-backed Gull wintering rate is at least twice that of Lesser Black-backed Gulls breeding in wild (rural) colonies (let alone the considerable migratory changes that have occurred in the last 10 years). In a changing environment, it appears that those Lesser Black-backed Gulls which have chosen to breed in town are adapting more effectively than those breeding in traditional colonies despite the fact that there is far more room for expansion in town than in traditional colonies.
The exponential growth in numbers of urban gulls in UK and abroad is, without doubt, a sign of their supreme adaptability. And if growth continues at this pace, they will outnumber those breeding in traditional colonies within the next five years - and the attendant problems of gulls breeding in town will increase proportionately. We live in interesting times!
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From a friend in Michigan
?
"This link takes you to
the six-minute video I did about our new geothermal waterfurnace. It
explains the science and shows what it took to install on our acreage.
The shift is the equivalent of removing two cars from the road
forever, in terms of reducing CO2. Heavy up front cost but it should
pay for itself long before the unit needs replacing."
-- Bonnie Bucqueroux
ed
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Julian,
What on Earth are you wearing on your head? I enjoyed the programme, as always, but I'm sympathetic to Bob's concerns. Raising awareness is a good think, but we must do more somehow.
The problem is twofold:
1. There are too many people, and we are adding a tsunami's worth daily.
2. One fifth of us are responsible for four fifths of the destructive activity.
On the positive side, that means we 'Westerners' are in a powerful position to change things, if we can be bothered.
Bob's article is worth reading, and can be found .
ed
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To Gabrielle: I hope that you and Julian did not have any problems in Fiji. Roberto.
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Thanks Ed - I really appreciate your feedback. This blog stuff is dead good - I feel I'm learning so much from the interaction and the links to sites I'd never normally read, (it's a welcome relief from the usual medical papers and pharma spin).
... more than can be said for the Government. I read in today's Evening Standard that a new government report supports the lifting of planning regulations and the effective doing away with the Green Belt. Economist Kate Barker says that with a rising population - new homes are desperately needed. She says that large swathes of our countryside on the "urban fringe" is often run down and should be used for housing anyway and that there should be a new tax on landlords who fail to develop their land. She says that not to do this would spoil the economy. As a matter of interest, I know that some groups - including Wiltshire Wildlife have deliberately purchased sensitive areas in a bid to try and prevent the JCBs moving in.
Can someone here please help me by constructing the inarguable case as to why the government should not proceed with this policy? I'll publish it.
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Ho ho - on my head, yes. Well, I've got a pretty good solar panel, combined with my shades - And yes, what is on my head!
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... is the answer - more than what's inside it?!
Julian, do you intend to answer the more important questions?
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And last night I heard how necessary increased air travel is to The Economy. So essential is it, apparently, that it was suggested we should do everything else with reduced emissions so that we could save all our emissions on flying!
As to taxes on land, I am of a Georgist persuasion (see Henry George, Progress and poverty) and believe land should be taxed on its bare site value excluding value added by the owner, but including value added by 'the community' (e.g. communications, sewage, public transport, proximity, etc.)
Again, we should remind ourselves that The Economy is not a diety.
IV. The "developed" nations had given to the "free market" the status of a god, and were sacrificing to it their farmers, farmlands, and communities, their forests, wetlands, and prairies, their ecosystems and watersheds. They had accepted universal pollution and global warming as normal costs of doing business.
--
ed
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It was meant to save all our emissions FOR flying about. Mea culpa.
xx
ed
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What would you rather save?
Your job - or the planet?
Maybe it's the job description that needs changing, but who's going to do that?
(Ed - I've shamelessly borrowed your Kentucky farmer quotes for the next copy).
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Bob,
B-b-b-but, can The Economy afford to save the planet? I'm reminded of a bit of bureauspeak encountered in a consultation:
It would seem that everything is up for discussion in consultation with the notable exception of "agreed economic objectives" which are obviously agreed elsewhere. That the perceived need to become competitive in the global market militates the minimisation of employment and maximisation of fossil-powered mechanisation with attendant emissions only emphasises the folly of continuing to build a global culture based on moving things and people around by burning carbon. Such thinking is not restricted to forestry or agriculture, but is visible everywhere in our heavy addiction to mobility.
Buried within the is a clue that Wendell wouldn't mind you borrowing:
I'll look forward to your next issue.
Yours Aye,
ed
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I have seen the massive areas of Scotland where the Forestry Commission have conducted strategic, large-scale habitat destruction. I refer of course to the 'right-angles to contour drainage and planting method'. As a result, when it rains the resultant torrent rips through the glens and then the river dies to a pathetic trickle.
Commuting into town today on the train I was chatting with a fellow passenger. It turned out that he was a salesman for a US manufacturer of oil control valves. He was on his way to their international sales meeting in central London. He said he was expecting a bumber bonus this year as a direct result of the massive demand now coming from India and China.
I'm sure that you'll join me in feeling jolly pleased for him and his company!
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