DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 12, 2016

Turn Out the Lights

So, last week we learned that half of the human race can no longer see the stars of the Milky Way.  Now we learn that someday soon the summer will devoid of the lights of the firefly.  We seem content to destroy all that is beautiful and wondrous about the natural world.

Blink and you’ll miss them this summer. Around the world, people are reporting that local firefly populations are shrinking or even disappearing.

The insect’s dilemma first came to the world’s attention at the 2010 International Firefly Symposium, where researchers from 13 nations presented evidence of firefly population declines and declared “an urgent need for conservation of their habitats.” Since then, additional conferences and several scientific papers have documented regional firefly disappearances, and at least two citizen-science projects are attempting to document the phenomenon, but the full scope of the problem remains to be uncovered, says firefly researcher Ben Pfeiffer, founder of Firefly.org, a website about the decline of the insects, also called lightning bugs.

The loss of fireflies, which are actually beetles, can have multiple effects on their ecosystems. For one thing, some firefly species—there are at least 170 in the U.S.—play a role in pollination. They’re not as essential as bees, but they help pollinate milkweed, goldenrod, wild sunflowers, and other species.

More important, however, firefly larvae are voracious predators that live in the ground and eat slugs, snails, worms, aphids, and other problem critters that would otherwise grow out of control. “I call them nature’s pest control,” Pfeiffer said. (On the other side of the dinner table, fireflies are also important food sources for species such as bats and spiders.)

Climate Changes Clouds

One effect of climate change is to shift the pattern of clouds both away from the mid-latitudes and higher above the earth.  The result of that climate change driven shift is more warming which drives even more extreme climate events.  It’s a loop folks and we need to stop it.

The distribution of clouds all across the Earth has shifted...

And moreover, it has shifted in such a way — by expanding subtropical dry zones, located between around 20 and 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres, and by raising cloud tops — as to make global warming  worse.

“As global warming occurs, there’s the expectation that the storm track will shift closer to the pole and the dry areas of the subtropics will expand poleward,” said Joel Norris, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and the study’s lead author. The work was conducted with scientists at Scripps, the University of California at Riverside, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Colorado State University.

Not just one but both of these changes to clouds are “positive feedbacks” to climate change — tending to make warming worse.

Moving cloud tracks toward the poles enhances warming because at higher latitudes, less solar radiation strikes the Earth — so white clouds are reflecting less of it away from the planet than they would if they were closer to the tropics and the Equator, Norris said. Meanwhile, he continued, higher cloud tops in effect thicken the total column of cloud, and that means more trapping of infrared or heat radiation that would otherwise exit to space.

Trump Could End the World (as we know it)

Is there anyone who doesn’t think Donald Trump would be a climate catastrophe?  Yesterday, we pointed out that U.K. prime ministerial hopeful Andrea Leadsom was close to the most egregious climate deniers in the U.S.  And, now she’s out of contention for the prime minister job.  Let’s see if it works on Trump.

To prevent climate change that floods large portions of coastal cities, dooms small island nations and turns whole regions into deserts, we need to accelerate the transformation of the world’s energy economy away from fossil fuels. Those who have crunched the numbers say this can still be achieved, but just barely. Hitting the brakes would send us over the cliff.

Over we go if Donald Trump wins the election and carries through on his campaign promises. The effects on the global climate will persist not only for the four or eight years of his presidency, but for generations.

Barack Obama’s fight against climate change centers on a plan to reduce the use of coal (the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions). Trump has vowed to cancel this plan, somehow revive the US coal industry and support domestic production of oil and natural gas.

He hasn’t been overtly hostile to solar, another major source, but the plummeting price (and hence growing competitiveness) of solar are largely driven by low-cost panels from China. Trump’s promised trade wars could end the days of cheap solar here.

If the US – historically the world’s largest emitter, with high per capita emissions – refuses to act, and if it withdraws from the Paris agreement and reneges on its pledge to help developing countries deal with climate change (as Trump has also promised to do), the leaders of India and other developing countries will face great political pressure at home to follow the easy path of using more coal.

Yes, More About Dogs (and conservation)

Namibia has the largest population of cheetahs in Africa.  As every apex predator, the cheetah is under incredible pressure.  In Namibia there is a vast array of programs and organizations working to protect cheetahs, while also protecting farmers whose herds are victims of cheetah predation.  Of course, dogs can help.

Cheetahs, the fastest land animals on Earth, have been disappearing almost as fast as they can run.

But in the African country of Namibia, the cheetah population has grown from 2,500 to 4,000 since 1994. And dogs are helping to keep those numbers rising.

Instead of trapping or shooting cheetahs that wander onto their property and kill livestock, some farmers are relying on Anatolian Shepherds and their fierce barking to scare away the predators.

“You may see in history that this dog can be responsible for saving the cheetah from extinction,” Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, told CBS News. “That is one heck of a story right there.”

You can help put more dogs to work in Namibia or contribute to other projects that are helping to protect and preserve cheetahs here.

CCF’s renowned Livestock Guarding Dog Program has been highly effective at reducing predation rates and thereby reducing the inclination by farmers to trap or shoot cheetahs. CCF breeds Anatolian shepherd and Kangal dogs, breeds that for millennia have guarded small livestock against wolves and bears in Turkey. The dogs are placed with Namibian farmers as puppies. They bond with the herd and us their imposing presence and loud bark to scare away potential predators.

Guard dogCCF has been placing dogs since 1994 and our research shows the dogs are highly effective, reducing livestock loss from all predators by over 80 and up to 100 percent. Farmers adopt CCF dogs and participate in education on how to train the dog. CCF does on site follow up visits to ensure the dogs have proper training and medical care, and are settling into their guardian role. Farmers have enthusiastically embraced the program, and there is now a two year waiting list for puppies. CCF had placed nearly 500 dogs by the end of 2013. CCF research shows that the people’s attitudes towards predators are changing as a result of this and other CCF programs.

Pure Blind Hate

Hatred of wolves is part of the DNA of many ranchers and politicians in the American West.  The Department of the interior walks a fine line supporting both wolves and ranchers.  And it is always the wolves that suffer in the end.

The investigation by the Department of Interior Office of the Inspector General, expected to be made public today, substantiates many of the allegations made by Catron County in a 2013 complaint – namely that the service protected “genetically valuable” wolves in the wild, even after they preyed on cattle, did not tell residents when wolves were near and did not fully compensate ranchers for cattle killed by wolves.

Ranchers in the area have long been against the reintroductions that began in 1998, since they are prone to losing livestock to wolf depredations. The report substantiates claims that ranchers were not fully compensated for their losses during the former coordinator’s tenure.

“Most said that they received compensation for only a small percentage of the cattle they lost,” the report said, adding that ranchers blame the difficulty of confirming that a missing or dead animal has been killed by a wolf as well as unresponsiveness and past interference in investigations by the field office.

To these ranchers and politicians no coexistence is possible, so when Federal officials tend to protect the wolves, they get slapped down.  While, it remains open season on wolves.

Wildlife officials are investigating the deaths of three Mexican gray wolves.

Authorities say one wolf was found in New Mexico and another two in Arizona but they’re not releasing details.

It’s another blow to the wolf reintroduction program run by the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service along with state agencies.

Over the years that program has been plagued by legal battles and illegal wolf killings.