Download 4/28

•W 4/30 “Nobelity”
•M 5/5 Field Trip to Wildflower center- 2pm
•Bonus #3 due W 4/30
•Final Reviews TBA
Carbon cycle
CB 54.17
http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html
CO2 and other greenhouse gases keep heat
from radiating back into space
http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html
Ecological Restoration and Global
Climate Change
J. Harris, R. Hobbs, E. Higgs, and J. Aronson
Restoration Ecology Vol. 14, No. 2, pg. 170–
176 June 2006
Mismatches – an example
• Great tit (relative of
the chickadee)
• Common in Europe
• Studied in detail
since the 1950’s by
scientists at the
Netherlands
Institute of
Ecology.
Information: Grossman, D. 2003, Spring Forward, Scientific American, 85-91.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20030723/a106_1511.jpg
• Tits lay eggs at the same time that they did in 1985 –
mid-spring (~4/16 to 5/15)
• Since ~1985 spring temperatures have risen about 2oC
• Tits primary food is the winter moth caterpillar (below)
• Caterpillar production is 2 weeks earlier in 2002 than in
1985
Grossman, D. 2003, Spring Forward, Scientific American, 85-91.
Grossman, D. 2003, Spring Forward, Scientific American, 85-91.
Restoring a disturbed ecosystem to historical
conditions may not be valid as ecosystems
change.
It is increasingly likely that the next century
will be characterized by shifts in global
weather patterns and climate regimes.
precipitation
changes
Some species
can adapt to
changes,
while other
may not.
CB 55.2
A key attribute of
ecosystems required
to ensure resilience
and adaptability is that
of genetic diversity
among and within
species.
The past is no longer a prescriptive guide for
what might happen in the future.
precipitation
changes
Human Population Growth
If everyone on earth consumed at the rate
of the average American, we would need
6 planet earths to supply the resources.
http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/
CB 52.22
CB 54.11
Energy is lost in each consumer: the 10% rule
Human impact:
As consumers
CB 54.14
Use of agriculture in the U.S.
About 1/2 of water and ~80% of agricultural
land is used for raising animals.
Fossil Fuels:
Producing beef consumes over 100 times more
fossil fuel than producing potatoes.
The typical American could save almost as
much gas by going vegetarian as by not driving.
http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/beef.html
The connection between resources and armed
conflict: Darfur
http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details.php?content=2005-11-25&page=1&menupage=Sudan#top
Changes in precipitation 1900-2000
Environmental Degradation as a Cause Of
Conflict in Darfur:
•Conflict in Darfur: Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives
•Natural Resources Management for Sustainable Peace in
Darfur
•Combating Desertification: Experience from Umm
Kaddada District in East Darfur
•Land Tenure, Land use and Conflicts in Darfur
•Indigenous Institutions and Practices Promoting Peace
and/or Mitigating Conflicts: The Case of Southern Darfur
•Environmental Degradation and Conflict in Darfur
From a conference of the University for Peace, UN charted university
Drought in the northern part of Darfur forced
nomadic groups to immigrate southwards in
search of water and herding ground, which
resulted in conflict with sedentary tribes.
Nomadic herders
Farmers in Darfur
http://www.usaid.gov/stories/sudan/ss_sudan_crop.html
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor-hotline/20050802.cfm
The extent of the drought forced many Darfurian
tribes to change their Nomadic lifestyle and seek
settlement in lands considered by other tribes as
their Dar or homeland. The decades of drought
led to migration of more nomads into Darfur in
search of water and grass.
The population of Darfur is generally divided
into Arabs and non-Arabs. The separation
along such lines is probably more based on
cultural heritage than on true ethnic separation.
Although what is called Arabic tribes may
have some Arabic roots, generations of
immigration and intermarriage have rendered
such separation almost meaningless.
"Militia talks could reshape conflict in Darfur"
by L. Polgreen
The New York Times (April 15, 2007)
Adam Shogar, a commander of the Sudan
Liberation Army, the non-Arab rebels at the
center of the Darfur conflict, stretched a coalblack arm at Yassine Yousef Abdul Rahman,
his copper-skinned, brown-eyed counterpart
from an Arab insurgent group, studying him
carefully with midnight eyes.
The struggle in Darfur has often been
portrayed as one between Arabs and black
Africans, nomads and farmers, with the former
bent on slaughtering the latter. But the conflict
has never been that simple.
There is an essential need to address the root
cause of the problem – competition over
dwindling natural resources.
The nomads and farmers have depended on
each other for centuries to survive on some of
the world's most forbidding terrain. Farmers
allowed herders to traverse their lands, and the
herders brought milk and meat. They also
transported farm goods to markets, and traded
durable goods not usually available in remote
farming villages. The farmers bartered those
items for vegetables and grain.
Solutions to the violence in Darfur must consider
the environmental factors behind the conflict.
•W 4/30 “Nobelity”
•M 5/5 Field Trip to Wildflower center- 2pm
•Bonus #3 due W 4/30
•Final Reviews TBA