Our Crowded Planet

The Amazon deforestation, the oceans, droughts, famines, fires, pollution, endangered species… I could write a blog on each of them. They are all linked to something few seem to talk about these days: Overpopulation.  Is this such a moral landmine that we ignore it – to our peril?  Population multiplies all of these problems.  The current global population has crossed 7.7 billion and is heading upward; growth is exponential as are the demands  our limited resources: water, land, trees, food and fossil fuels.

Here’s what Jane Goodall has to say:

“In order to slow down climate change, we must solve four seemingly unsolvable problems. We must eliminate poverty and change the unsustainable lifestyle of so many of us. We must abolish corruption. And we must contain our growing human POPULATION. There are 7.7 billion of us today, and by 2050, the UN predicts there will be 9.7 billion.” It is no wonder we despair but she ends with “I’m still optimistic…. about the resilience of nature, our intellects, social media and the power of young people.”
🙂 

 

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Mitigating population growth would have more impact than virtually any other climate policy! Women, given the resources and the choice, will opt for smaller families. Let’s promote female empowerment, especially in the developing world. Reproductive rights are an environmental as well as a social issue.

 

  

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Let me end with some pictures of our beautiful world.

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  Redbud by Merced River

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  These are called “spider” lupins – note their leaves

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  A macro of Dendrobium

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  Baby Gaston

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  Swan family

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A planet worth saving.

Belize Wildlife, Part 1 of 2

Resplendant Quetzal

I remember seeing some of these wonderful birds on a hike in Belize. Also in Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama – the rainforest is a treasure trove I had to write about. I have to reblog Jet Eliot’s post ( click link below)!

Motmot

 

reblogging from Jet Eliot via Belize Wildlife, Part 1 of 2

Where There’s Smoke…again

Last year California had record breaking fires – that record held for almost 100 yrs. Now we’ve broken last year’s record for the most destructive fire ever. Normally we would have had rains by now and “fire season” would be over – and acres of land and homes – not to mention lives, would not have been lost. We haven’t had any rain since early spring and the land is very dry. ( In October, San Francisco had weeks of temperatures breaking 80 degrees and in November it was in the 70’s – until the fires darkened the skies.)

Plume from the Camp Fire in Butte Co. on Nov 9.

Another larger view from NOAA shows the plume covering an extensive region and shows the Woolsey Fire in southern California as well. (I can’t find a date on this image, but it was 2-3 days later).

https://abc7news.com/time-lapse-how-camp-fire-smoke-plume-choked-northern-california/4694952/

The town of Paradise is Paradise no more, in fact very little is left of it. People have died and many more are homeless in this area… because of global warming. Think about that.

Although we live 180 miles south-southwest of the big Butte Co. fire, we are being advised to stay indoors with windows closed. Public schools are closed from Butte Co to well south of  San Francisco; even the Cable cars shut down, as we now have the dirtiest air in the world. The skies vary from hazy to a dirty orangey color and are predicted to continue this week to plague us.

Taken at noon – smoke blocking the sun.

We can hardly see our nearby hills where my husband hikes almost every day. Today they have “disappeared.” (photo taken 2 days ago)

It has been 8 days now since that fire started (there are others). Yesterday it was announced it was only 40% contained; today they say they are making progress.

In the first days, the sun’s rays were sometimes bent to cast an unusual gold-red glow that was ironically pretty. It reminds me of the shadows we saw during an eclipse. Smoke particles filter sunlight, scattering short wavelengths and leaving the longer reddish wavelengths of the light spectrum behind. This allows more orange and red colors to pass through the smoke.

unretouched color

I have a cough and sore eyes, but the bigger picture is… that smoke is coming from people’s lost homes. There are horror stories of people running from the flames into swimming pools and creeks, but you read the news. My heart goes out to the thousands affected.

Planting WILDFLOWERS could help Feed the World

photo from Conservation Magazine, Feb.2016

Well, being a wildflower aficionado,  I love this idea – beauty and agriculture producing enough food for the growing, global population. I’ve written about the problems with mono-cultures (large tracts of banana  and coffee crops in Latin America succumbing to diseases) and increasing biodiversity is the clue to healthy crops and environment.

Central California supplies most of the nations produce. (Lupins and poppies; photo by CC MacKinnon)

 

 

The  information below is from Conservation Magazine at the University of Washington:

“Many studies have shown that planting strips of wildflowers amidst croplands can increase species of insects and birds that act as an all-natural pest control, reducing or eliminating the need for pesticides.” In Switzerland many “farms that have implemented wildflower strips as part of a government subsidy program that aims to boost biodiversity on farm lands.”

POLLINATORS (Allen’s hummingbird, photo by A.Ryan)

A sweat bee lands on an aster next to a metallic green bee (Photo by C.Bolt)

Swallowtail butterfly pollinates wildflowers. (Photo by CCMacKinnon)

In a study published recently in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment they found that the presence of nearby species-rich wildflower strips increased winter wheat production by 10 percent as compared to control fields.  The paper did not take into account any losses in yields that farmers would incur if they set aside arable lands for wildflower strips (however my guess is that the balance of nature would at least balance out the yield as 10% is a big  effect).

 

Save these landscapes. (Arvin, CA photo by CCMacKinnon)

What do you think… win win? (Like this post? Share it on your favorite social networking site.)

 

The full article can be found here:
http://conservationmagazine.org/2016/02/planting-wildflowers-could-help-feed-world/