"Plants and animals race for survival as climate change creeps across the globe..."

[panzerfaust]

"...Global warming creeps across the world at a speed of a quarter of a mile each year, according to a new study that highlights the problems that rising temperatures pose to plants and animals. Species that can tolerate only a narrow range of temperatures will need to move as quickly if they are to survive. Wildlife in lowland tropics, mangroves and desert areas are at greater risk than species in mountainous areas, the study suggests...

...They found that mountainous areas will have the lowest velocity of temperature change, meaning that animals will not need to move very far to stay in the temperature range of their natural habitat. However, much larger geographic displacements are required in flatter areas such as flooded grasslands, mangroves and deserts, in order for animals to keep pace with their climate zone. The researchers also found that most currently protected areas are not big enough to accommodate the displacements required..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/23/global-warming-spreading-quarter-mile-year


Oh. Right. Sorry.

Keep forgetting that climate change is just a left-wing conspiracy & that everything is fine. Nothing to we need to be listening to...

[Xipe Totec]

1. In mountains animals will not need to move very far to stay in the temperature range,

Except if they're already at the top of the mountain. Then they're screwed.

[elocs]

2. Climate change has become hard to deny, but now the denial is that it's "man-caused".

Big gamble. What if in the future it becomes clear that climate change was man-made, man-caused and nothing was seriously done to address the calamity? What do the deniers then say to their grandchildren--"sorry kids, guess we screwed up, but it was ok for us and that is what really matters".

That is really the Republican, the freeper attitude: as long as I get mine future generations are on their own. I once heard a guest on public radio who was a denier and posed our obligation to be good stewards of the Earth as a moral question: "what do we really owe to future generations? They will have better technology and can solve the problems." His attitude was that since future generations live downstream, how we pollute the water now is their problem to solve.

There is a short-sighted attitude where I live in WI. I saw a program on public tv from the University of Wisconsin about climate change and its impact upon Wisconsin living species. It showed a prediction that in 50 years our winters would be like those of southern Iowa and in 100 years it would be like that of Arkansas. The upside would be that the summers would not be as hot as in those states. There would also be native trees that could no longer grow in the warmer climate and the corn belt would move north (one might hope that in 100 years we would have moved away from "King Corn"). But there are people here, even though they won't be living in 100 years who say "warmer winters in Wisconsin, great!"

[BeFree]

3. Right on.

The freepers now admit that climate change is underway. "Yep, sure is."

They just won't admit they had anything to do with it. "Its natural."

"It was like this 4,000 years ago."

Personally, read the book: "The End of Nature" many years ago and gawd what a head-banger that was. The course we are on was set many years ago and there is no diverting from it now. The best that can happen is.... adapt or die.

[Heidi]

4. Recommended.

:kick: