In The Dark
Not only is light pollution keeping us from seeing the glory of the night sky, it appears to be
confusing plants and insects, too.
We often talk about
all types of pollution, but light rarely gets the spotlight. Most cities are
very bright in the night, and this light can cause significant adverse effects
on both human and animal bodies. However, the biggest sufferers could actually
be the ones who rely on light the most: plants.
If trees are exposed
to light every night, then they start blooming faster, and this triggers a
whole cascade of other effects. Many creatures base their lifecycles on trees.
This isn’t exactly
unexpected news, but it once again shows that we don’t truly understand the
effects of light pollution. Of course, switching lights off when they’re not
needed is generally a good idea, but researchers also suggest that using other
wavelengths could make a big difference.
Another Reef Disaster
Australia is facing another reef disaster. Not as
dramatic as the Great Barrier reef bleaching, but as damaging to marine life
and human economy.
You probably haven’t
heard of the Great Southern Reef, which receives far less media attention than
its ill-fated neighbor to the north, the Great Barrier Reef. But the Great Southern
Reef is an equally important ecosystem for humans and marine life alike.
Fringing some 71,000 square km (27,000 square miles) of Australia’s rocky
southern coastline, this “biological powerhouse” harbors thousands of species
of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and other marine invertebrates found nowhere
else on Earth. It also contributes $10 billion to Australia’s annual economy
through fishing and tourism.
Thomas Wernberg, a
marine ecologist at the University of Western Australia, first noticed signs of
stress in the Great Southern Reef after an unprecedented 2011 heatwave, which
saw sea surface temperatures off Australia’s western coast soar up to 6 degrees
Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above average…
Over the next few
years, La Niña kept temperatures high as Wernberg and his colleagues conducted
a detailed ecological survey of the Great Southern Reef. Overall, the two year
heat wave triggered kelp forest die-backs across 2,300 square kilometers of
reef and “functional extinction” along the northernmost 100 kilometers. Rather
than recovering after the ocean cooled off, this dead kelp forest was replaced
with seaweed mats and an odd assortment of invasive subtropical species.
It’s the most rapid
and catastrophic kelp forest die-off ever seen anywhere on Earth.
Goats the New Dogs
According to
researchers from Queen Mary University of London, goats have the capacity to
communicate with people like other domesticated animals such as dogs and
horses.
Working with goats
from Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent, United Kingdom, the scientists
found, for one thing, that goats respond to people by gazing pleadingly at them
when faced with a problem they cannot solve alone; and they alter their
responses depending on how the behavior of the human. (Read: They have puppy
dog eyes!) This is a trait found in dogs and horses – animals with long
histories of companionship and working closely with people – but not wolves.
(Cats fail to perform well in this type of experiment, notes the study, and
barely look at humans, "potentially owing to their rather solitary
lifestyle.")
Dr. Christian Nawroth,
first author of the study, says, "Goats gaze at humans in the same way as
dogs do when asking for a treat that is out of reach, for example. Our results
provide strong evidence for complex communication directed at humans in a
species that was domesticated primarily for agricultural production, and show
similarities with animals bred to become pets or working animals, such as dogs
and horses."
How to Let Go of the World
Available on HBO and You Tube. Watch it.
How do we come to
terms with the reality that our atmosphere is becoming damaged beyond the
tipping point? Documentarian Josh Fox returns to the Sundance Film Festival
(where his Academy Award–nominated documentary, Gasland, premiered in 2010) to
take on this question with personal passion and global reach.
When Fox realizes,
after much soul searching, that the answers for how to respond to the degradation
of our environment cannot be found in his own back yard, he travels the world
to connect with communities that are already facing grave effects of climate
change. What he finds is a complicated mix of tragedy and inspiration in the
various ways climate change is affecting our value systems. How to Let Go of
the World delivers a sobering portrait of the state of climate change, and
takes stock of what makes humans survivors, and our societies so creative and
resilient.
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