The life of seabirds and mammals are being altered by climate change

Everywhere animals are paying the price while we (most of society) sit back and do nothing.

Have a look HERE at what is happening in Antarctica (informative videos of the crisis at that link as well). Yes, we have heard over and over what is happening there but we can never read it enough. Everything is off balance, the humpback whales are currently thriving there but the penguins are dying from lack of sea ice, tons of leopard seals are killing them off. Soon the leopard seals will be gone when there is no sea ice for them to rest on or animals to eat. The humpbacks will lose the krill that will die from warming temperatures that the whales are hunting so successfully right now in  open water from the sea ice loss. With more sea ice loss, more ship traffic will increase which will create more oil spills and more whales being killed by vessels. Rain from warming temperatures are killing the penguin chicks causing them to freeze to death as well. Over-fishing in the waters around Antarctica is causing huge havoc to all species that depend on fish stocks.

I hope that society finally understands that what happens in Antarctica will affect us all far removed from there. Just as what is happening in the Arctic in North America that we continually ignore will soon affect the western cities in a way that seems to be currently incomprehensible to most.

You can watch a great short 360 degree film by National Geographic on Antarctica below. It seems to be only through visual displays that we can show people how vital it is to change our own behaviors to curb the impact on these innocent creatures.



In BC to save wild salmon stocks people are suggesting we kill 80,000 seals and sea lions (see HERE) but there is no talk of closing the fishery and stopping our over-consumption which would let the salmon have a chance at recovery. There is little discussion about the other real problem which is human caused climate change and the ways we can curb it and stop pollution and pipelines. Removing the power from the 5 big fossil fuel companies is the only true solution. Right now Nationalism is running amok worldwide; consumption and greed is rampant....sometimes I wonder what is happening to this world. It is so disappointing but we can't give up the fight or our hope even if at most times it seems hopeless.

We need to stop blaming others, especially other animals when most environmental problems are sadly human caused. We have seen so many culling programs that only backfire. This has been the case with wolves which got reintroduced in several areas in North America after major culls. In the aftermath this only caused everything to be even more off balance.

You can see what the potential consequences are of simply culling harbour seals HERE.

A UBC /Cornell study just came out stating we have lost 60% of the world's wildlife since 1970 and talks about how climate change is decimating Mountain Birds because they are losing their habitat.

Take a look at this video at Global News by scrolling to the timestamp 18:22. It discusses how soon Stanley Park will no longer have an intertidal zone and no birds because they can't feed there.

We have done so much damage to our planet but there is still hope to make a positive change before it's really too late.

Comments

  1. LonelytravellerOctober 29, 2018 at 8:35 AM

    Thanks for sharing this information really informative

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bryony AngellOctober 29, 2018 at 4:31 PM

    I feel your despair and share in it. Keep fighting! My bandwidth is to fight locally and share with my children my alarm and concern, because this is their future! Drawing in new audience to birding as a pastime is part of my effort too, because if you never notice it, how will you care about conserving it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melissa HaftingOctober 29, 2018 at 9:43 PM

      thanks for your support bryony with more people like you in the world we can make a difference

      Delete

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