Tag Archives: Die-offs

Animals

Another Major Extinction

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Originally published on Greenpeace International

Earth’s living community is now suffering the most severe biodiversity crisis in 65 million years, since a meteorite struck near modern Chicxulub, Mexico, injecting dust and sulphuric acid into the atmosphere, and devastating 76% of all living species, including the dinosaurs. Ecologists now ask whether or not Earth has entered another major extinction event, if extinctions are as important as general diversity collapse, and which emergency actions we might take to reverse the disturbing trends.

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Environment

Responses To Cortes Island’s Algae Bloom Problem

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By Roy L Hales

The global phenomenon of algae blooms has reached British Columbia. The BC Northern Health issued an advisory for Prince George area last summer. Severe outbreaks have been reported at St. Mary and Cusheon Lakes on Saltspring Island, and Village Bay Lake on Quadra Island. The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) recently published a monitoring report. I recently interviewed the author, Rex Weyler, about responses to Cortes Island’s algae bloom problem.



“Hague and Gunflint Lakes are typical lakes and the challenges we are having there are also typical when you have a human community that lives around a body of fresh water … The problem is human septic and livestock concentrating nutrients and then passing that into the water table, which then drains into the lake. Those nutrients are feeding the algae booms,” says Weyler.

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Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Forcing EPA To Protect Salmon

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By Roy L Hales

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There have been salmon die-offs since the mid-1990s. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was on the verge of addressing this issue more than a decade ago. Vested interests objected.  The idea was shelved until last year’s drought. After water temperatures rose 4 degrees above the lethal ceiling (68 degrees F), 96% of the returning adult sockeye died before they could pass beyond the Lower Granite dam. Now a coalition of environmental groups  is forcing EPA to protect salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers.

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Disaster

Overshooting Our Planet’s Resources

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By Roy L Hales

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Rex Wyler spoke of a wolf pack that found a valley full of deer. Initially, they flourished and grew plentiful. Only they were too successful. They eventually ate all the deer and there was no food left for the wolves. Humanity is in a similar situation, overshooting our planet’s resources.

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Cost of Climate Change, Water

Mega-Sized Drought Coming To BC

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By Roy L Hales

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Though British Columbia’s hydrologists have fifty years of stream flow data to formulate its’ responses to climate change, a recent study from the University of Victoria shows this is not enough. Tree ring data shows that, since 1658 AD, there have been 16 droughts exceeding anything evidenced in the instrumental record. The most recent and severest of  these events took place in 1958. According to one of the study co-authors, Bethany Coulthard, “It was a cool time and yet we still saw these extreme natural droughts.” Add problems like urbanization, deforestation and rising Global temperatures into the equation and we can expect a mega-sized drought coming to BC.

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