by Moisha Blechman
For much of last year, the “fiscal cliff” was the big media story. It forced everyone to focus on the economics of government. But banking, budgets and money themselves are abstractions.
This is not true of the laws of nature. They are absolute. Ignoring them, as we did in 2012, puts us in grave danger. We have been very dangerously distracted by the fiscal cliff, which is orders of magnitude less important than the “climate cliff.”
The climate cliff is the story of the century, and the news of 2012 coming in from all over the planet tells us that Earth’s life-giving systems are in disarray. Can we accept that we are in crisis and that it needs our undivided attention? Can we recognize that we are effectively planetary outlaws?
A sampling of recent climate news, below, shows that we are on the verge of free-falling from the climate cliff.
• Record-setting heat. The year 2012 was the hottest on record, period. The temperature was 1°F above the previous warm record. Records were broken everywhere and this had many consequences. NOAA predicts more record-breaking weather for the near future.
• Arctic ice changing. New records have been set for snow extent, sea ice extent, and ice sheet surface melting, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports. It notes that “multiple observations provide widespread, sustained change driving environmental systems into a new state.”
What NOAA is really saying is that this year made it clear that we no longer have an Arctic as civilization knew it.
• Arctic habitat disappearing. The extent and depth of sea ice melt are much greater than the best models predicted. This means Arctic habitat that the polar bear, the walrus, and many, many other animals depend on is rapidly disappearing.
• Sea levels rising. For the first time, at the height of the summer, 97 percent of the Greenland land mass surface was melting or awash in water. Unprecedented, huge and powerful amounts of water were gushing into the sea.
It is predicted that both the Greenland and glacier melts will raise sea levels from one to three meters by century’s end. LaGuardia Airport, for example, will be permanently under water.
• Permafrost is now termed “permamelt” and is releasing rapidly increasing amounts of methane all across Alaska, Canada and Siberia.
• Reduced solar reflectivity. The loss of huge expanses of Arctic ice reduces solar reflectivity, which is essential for radiative balance. This will affect the weather systems in North America, boosting chances of extreme weather. Arctic ice is a controlling factor in U.S. weather.
While the U.S. was seeing three or four weather events each year, 2011 had 14 such events. They were in every major category of extreme weather.
• Old growth die-off. The mighty old trees are dying worldwide in every type of forest. This is a serious loss of animal and bird habitat, food, the ability to sequester CO2 (old trees do a better job), and produce oxygen. Old trees are better for cooling, and provide copious seeds for future trees.
• Stressed forests. Climate change is drying out soils quickly, thus stressing trees. It is taking a severe toll on the forests of the world.
• Crop losses. There were extensive crop failures throughout the world. Most of the U.S. experienced drought during the past growing season. In the U.K., continuing torrential rains caused flooding, and fields were too soggy for wheat seeds to germinate. For the first time, the U.K. will have to import wheat. Crop failures in the U.S., Black Sea region, and U.K. will increase prices everywhere, leaving the poor hungry in places such as India.
• Desertification. Dry areas now cover 40 percent of the global land mass. They are home to 2.5 billion people and that number is growing rapidly.
• Dry forests in the U.S. West resulted in millions of acres of burning forests last summer. Climate models project an increase in forest fires.
Soil is the life blood of any civilization and its fertility is dependent on many factors, especially moisture. Soil is alive with millions of bacteria and other tiny organisms necessary for plant growth. Drought kills these organisms, reducing fertility until fertility is gone.
• Shellfish collapse. The news from Maine is that significant shellfish populations of clams, mussels and scallops will collapse off the coast of that state in the next three to five years. This is due to the combination of ocean warmth and a predator, the Japanese crab. In the past, a period of cold every winter was enough to keep the Japanese crab at bay. That cold is no longer materializing.
• Ocean acidity. In the Northwest, baby oyster farms experienced death as a result of ocean acidity. The infant shellfish, or larvae, cannot tolerate the new acidity of the oceans.
The oceans have absorbed half of the man-made CO2 and are absorbing 22 million tons per day. As a consequence it has made the oceans 30 percent more acid. For tens of millions of years, Earth’s oceans maintained a stable acidity level.
For many species, the new ocean chemistry is similar to our trying to breathe air of a different and hostile composition. All marine life is affected by the imminent collapse of the food webs due to calcium-dissolving acidification of the oceans.
• Vanishing reefs. Coral reefs are dying due to both the increased warmth of the water and its new negative chemical composition. Many important marine species are dependent on the coral reefs. Their demise could trigger the demise of other animals who eat those species. Shellfish have to work harder to produce shells. As a result, they have less energy to find food, to reproduce, or to defend against predators or disease. Pterapods have entered a life-and-death struggle.
To a significant extent, that includes humans. Lost food webs lead to substantial changes in fish stocks, threatening protein supply and food security for millions of people.
Considering these threats to our security on many levels, what is the U.S. doing to mitigate or correct the consequences of burning fossil fuels? While President Obama is quoted as saying we need “...to ensure our children grow up unafraid of the destructive power of a warming planet,” he is either doing little or blocking the ability of other nations to act to curb climate change. Obama continues to call for industrial economic growth when only shrinking that economy would reduce emissions. The subsidies to fossil fuel industries are five times greater than climate aid to nations suffering from U.S. fossil fuel use.
At Copenhagen and Durban, the U.S. blocked important global action and failed to honor pledges. At Doha, the U.S. was acutely criticized for failing to take the lead on planet protection, especially in light of its standing as the largest historical contributor to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Indian environmental representative called the U.S. “..the most obdurate bully in the room.”
Even the devastation of Sandy has not shifted Obama’s policy position. The interests of the corporate world have been put before our very survival.
Moisha Blechman is a member of the Chapter Executive Committee and chairs the Publications Committee.