From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
A study in the journal PLOS Biology found that 65% of Antarctica’s plant and animal species, including penguins, will likely disappear by the end of the century if the world does not do something to decrease fossil fuel emissions.
The study also showed that the current conservation efforts in Antarctica are not working on the rapidly changing continent.
Researchers concluded that implementing an extra layer of cost-effective strategies, which they lay out in the study, could save up to 84% of Antarctica’s vulnerable biodiversity.
“Antarctica is not really contributing to climate change; there’s not a large-scale number of people living there, so the greatest threat to the continent is coming from outside the continent,” Jasmine Lee, lead author of the study, told CNN.
“We really need global action on climate change, as well as some more local and regional conservation efforts, to give Antarctic species the best chance of surviving into the future.”
Thursday’s study shows that disappearing sea ice will threaten emperor and Adelie penguins that rely on ice from April through December.
“These iconic species, like emperor penguins and Adélie penguins, are at risk and it’s really sad to think that Antarctica is one of the last great wildernesses on the planet and human impacts are being seen and felt there,” Lee said.
“It’s just incredibly sad to think that we could drive those kinds of species towards extinction.”
Lee said that more action is needed to save one of Earth’s vast, pristine biomes.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Lee said.
“We’re at this huge turning point now not just for Antarctica, but globally, when it comes to climate. We’ve got the opportunity to stop it and if we don’t do something now, then the impacts are going to be much, much worse than what they could be.”
There’s only one slight problem – the Southern Polar regions have barely got any warmer since 1980:
https://images.remss.com/msu/msu_time_series.html
People hate change. All must be constant and predictable. The delusion that we can “control climate”, by design or otherwise is a cultural failure to deal with death.
It is the delusion that we can eliminate risk and change and thus live forever.
It is the pyrrhic victory of life over entropy.
It’s incredibly sad the number of people who believe this kind of horse shit pseudo-science.
It’s not possible for me to believe that the scumbags pushing this agitprop actually believe it. What’s sad is that there are enough idiot true believers out there who seriously can’t think for themselves and are easy prey for these charlatans.
Rich,
We need to go beyond the old Marxist term “useful idiots!” With the modern de-education system in full swing, and “smart” phones dumbing down all their users, we really ought to start calling these idiots what they are; useful maroons!
The people who push this stuff, the ringleaders, don’t car at all if it’s true or not. They are after power, they want to control everybody else, and any means will do.
There are enough true believers that they are committing terrorist acts against the electric grid now.
So it seems. But the FBI think it is supposed to be right wing extremists.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11573437/3-Washington-state-electric-substations-vandalized.html
The FBI always think it’s right wing extremists.
Nope. The FBI always SAYS it’s right wing extremists.
Good point, Elliot.
I live less than 15 miles from where the eco-terrorists struck in Washington. There’s no shortage of cowardly antifa losers around here who want to cause trouble for normal people to compensate for their pathetic lives.
But people have offended Gaia, so any cute beastie is at risk! Send us more money to buy a carbon credit!
You know Tom, with the “Miraculous Great Greening^тм”, this should be a golden age for biologists and ecologists getting in on the ground floor of renewal of the earth’s bio-productivity that’s been in a swoon for several millions of years.
This is a huge opportunity for biologists to discover the dynamic dimension of the biosphere well known by geologists and seemingly lost over four generations of biologists who were turned into activists by marxist design.
To turn your eyes and minds away from this magnificent experiment, probably because it was courtesy of fossil fuel burning in activities of humankind, is beyond shameful for ones calling themselves scientists.
What about all those plants and animals that became extinct when Antarctica froze over?
John, you know you’re not supposed to ask awkward questions like that !!!
They’re still alive, in a state of suspended animation. When it all thaws out in a week or two, then they’ll be the new cc poster children.
Just like Floridian Snowbirds, the only things that could survive were things like penguins that wintered over there, but got their food from the sea. The food chain collapsed when ice covered everything. However, penguins are found elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. The Antarctic penguins probably evolved to withstand the bitter cold over thousands of years. It is likely that they could de-evolve and adapt to an ice-free continent, particularly if there were no terrestrial predators. They might even thrive with decreased infant mortality.
In a coastal cave on the south coast of New Zealand I came across a penguin moulting. It stood there shivering with no feathers. Not being a New Zealander, I thought it had been poisoned by bunker C or some chemical. When I spoke about it, they assured me it was normal.
Just a couple weeks ago a study was published about Greenland and the tremendous density and variety of species that lived there millions of years ago before it became a barren frozen wasteland, when the average global temperature was much higher than it is now.
Even the dumbest box of rocks that ever lived understands that frozen winters are the hardest season of the year for any species, plant or animal, to survive, and that temperate as well as tropic environments support the greatest density and diversity of life possible on this planet.
By the way, what are all those Antarctic plants that will disappear if it should begin warming? How many megatons of biomass will depart this planet forever as a result? Instead of the opposite occuring.
Take your pick…
Lichen
Moss
Pearlwort
Hair Grass
All of which are only found on the warmer Antarctic Peninsula and most north of the Antarctic Circle … something about needing daily sunlight to survive
Whenever the press start focusing on Antarctica you can be sure that the Arctic is doing fine.
Don’t look now but Arctic sea ice minimum for the last three years has been on a par with 2007 when Al Gore started making his baseless claims of possible ice free summers by 2013.
Just like Al’s ozone “hole”, coverage tends to shift with the seasons.
There’s only one obvious solution. An army of green croc shooters to guard and protect the penguins.
I could nt even get away from this stuff when I tried yesterday. I turned on the radio and what did I hear? But some winey Irishman pedaling climate fear. It was a Bloomberg Radio piece on taxing the first world to compensate Pacific Islanders for our causing the ocean to rise. Please!
“winey Irishman”
So he was just pished, then. Good thing he wasn’t whiney, that would have been unbearable! 🙂
My proof reader was on holiday
Plant and animal species going extinct on Antarctica is pretty much the norm since the Eocene, 50 million years or so ago, due to colder climate.
During the late Eocene, Australia and South America floated away from Antarctica, and the circumploar current isolated the continent…from both warm air and migratory animal species and plants that could survive the colder conditions…
graphic courtesy of that excellent info source:museum-fossilrecord.wiley-vch.de
You gotta love the precision. 65%! End of the century. “Likely” Communism will save 84%. Is that 84% of 65%? 54.60%?
Reality:
0-100% of the species will go extinct in the next 100 million years and nothing we do with fossil fuel use will have any significant impact.
How is this not tagged as Ridiculae?
That folder is full, but there’s a new one: “Absurdum“
Self-evident.
msn and upi? So just the same lies spewed by the same lie spewing liars. Got it.
Save the penguins!
YES! We must act quickly. They’re already extinct at the North Pole due to the Polar Bears dying off!
(Oh, wait … maybe I misunderstood something? No matter. Somebody out there would believe it.)
Slightly off-topic, and a rant, but … I get upset at this time of year with all the Christmas cards featuring penquins, and the yard displays with penquins perched upon an igloo. Clearly, there must have been Arctic penguins (based on the folklore), but they have gone extinct. (No, I’m not talking about Great Auks.)
They have been eaten by the Polar Bears. In the Antarctic, the Penguins won and ate all the Polar Bears which is why there aren’t any in the Antarctic.
There must be a way to blame Man.
Maybe it’s Batman’s fault?
P-p-p-pick up a Penguin!
(Those familiar with UK advertising will relate)
“Researchers concluded that implementing an extra layer of cost effective strategies,…could save up to 84% of Antarctica’s vulnerable biodiversity.”
How many here think that the researchers have a clue about what is cost effective?
How many think that the strategy is primarily to line their pockets?
Can I get a voice vote?
Aye!
We need to get a list of the 16% of doomed species that are a goner no matter what!
It only makes sense. There are so many plants and animals that can only thrive at double-digit negative temperatures, right? And we all know what happens to plants that are subjected to higher CO2 concentration.
All three of them!
Their idea of a “cost effective strategy” likely includes an in perpetuity grant (indexed to inflation, though I’m not sure they would understand such complex economics) to continue their “studies”.
I think all science should be crowdfunded. If you can find enough idiots to fund such drivel – fine. Else – do some honest work.
Donate money and we will keep on (holidaying }researching in the Antarctic summer .
Iceland is further north than the Antarctic peninsula is south but Iceland is warmed by a current from the tropics, and they farm in Iceland.
31 authors! A committee. Most if not all funded by the taxpayer. This is not a scientific paper and PLOS should know better than to publish policy submissions. Note there is no apparent list of specific species.
https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/wildlife/plants/
Apart from the Antarctic Peninsula, there are only microbial mats on the bottoms of the shallow lakes in Taylor Valley.
Pity we are not told who these scumbags are.
Edit above: Forgot to mention the Communist Party, the IPCC, The UN etc. etc.—: but which one? Could be a cartel of any of those brainwashed PhD pseudoscientists we have infesting the airwaves these days.
It’s just incredibly sad what has happened to science in the name of “climate change”.
Never in human history have so many received so much money to advance science so little!
But they are NOT advancing science, they are retarding it, & not just climate related science, the canker has permeated all branches of science.
Not retarding – regressing.
CliSy has advanced. They’ve stopped relying on crystal balls and tree rings and now use computer models to predict the future and unravel the past.
CliSciFi.
Please do not insult Science Fiction! SciFi has a fine old tradition of inspiring both young and old while making predictions about the future; many of which have become reality!
ClimateSeance has nothing to lend itself an air of respectability; it’s like an old hooker, out walking the streets, desperately seeking another customer! And they rarely get ANY of their climate porn predictions correct!!
I’m sure that if the situation was really that desperate Doctor Who would pop in in to fix it.
We really need global action on climate change
That’s the key statement. Global action is needed for any number of psuedo-problems, climate change, pandemic diseases, international conflict, higher education, child development, agricultural production, mining, etc. Solutions for these can only be found by the educated elites who operate with an international perspective. Think WEF.
1st- CO2 isn’t high at current levels and has room to grow. 2nd- as long as China burning coal it won’t go down 3rd- as CO2 goes down from here the earth will become more barren as trees and plant life dies and agriculture will be severely challenged 4th- the earth temperatures will drop 5th- more people die in cold than warm.
The vast herds of Ice Bison will roam no more, and the delicate Frost Flowers will go the way of all the other plants and animals that eat ice and grow in the snow. All because evolution stopped with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Surely people will wake up to this absurd alarmism.
“We really need global action”
This is the underlying motivation. The institution of a global technocratic government, run by the “Scientists” for the “greater good”. If they get this going, the damage will be immense, billions will be removed from the population.
Most biologists haven’t understood much about plants and animals for over 70 years. They erroneously believe that climate should be static to preserve current ecologies precisely as they are and to that end, they have been ideologically lobotomized in classrooms to become activists against there own species.
Do they know, for example, that:
https://www.discovery.com/nature/99-Percent-Of-The-Earths-Species-Are-Extinct.
Do they understand that humans weren’t even present for 98.99% of this chain of extinctions. Do they know that the warmer the world gets, the better for plants and animals? Here’s a former resident of Antarctica from the Mesozoic when it was nice and warm:
Do they understand that had we been there to preserve this ecology, those succulent penguins would never have gotten a foothold on Antarctica. It gets better. Since birds are decendents of the dinosaurs, the penguins would have not have evolved into flightless birds then. They would have bided their time until the comet hit and wiped out these dangerous predators and things froze up. Then they would have evolved into flightless birds!!
Ya see, biology is not just a permanent catalogue of the plant and animal kingdoms. It’s more dynamic than that.
That underfed critter obviously died of starvation.
Skin and bones with the skin all gone
The TLT is not the surface. The Southern Ocean is cooling at 0.6C/century over the satellite era.
The Southern Hemisphere is 1000 years into an 11,000 year summer cooling trend. The long tern trend for sea ice in the SH is up.
This is is tough for NASA to admit because it does not match its models:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/sea-ice-antarctic
This data proves CO2 does zip. It is the one virtue of models using CO2 as the control knob. They do not match reality so CO2 is not the climate driver.
Orbital precession drives climate trends on Earth.
If you left off Western Antarctica peninsula, the trend would be negative.
The referenced alleged study is asinine.
Some quotes from the study:
Absurd use of averages coupled with misinformation leading to a level of serious cognitive bias without basis as can exist in allegedly sane people.
No science or scientific method needed, expert opinions and ignorance are sufficient to create a mountain of worry without cause.
They should’ve included the note: ‘No animals, fish, mollusca or nematodes were harmed or physically seen harmed.
The word could is used to mean “might.”
It’s an important slight-of-hand word trick, since the negatives of “could” and “might” carry fundamentally different meanings.
“Could not” would mean it is impossible for something to happen.
“Might not” allows for the possibility that something could happen.
Just a semantic trap to watch out for . . .
Penguins are doing just fine on the Galápagos Islands on the equator!
The sky is falling!!!!!!!!!
The Antarctic midge (Belgica antarctica) at 3-6mm is the largest LAND animal in the antarctic. They manage to exist in these extreme conditions and I am sure they will adapt to whatever is thrown at them by Gaia.
Without CO2, earth would be a dead planet. Because life on earth is entirely composed of little carbon sacks of water we call cells. More CO2, up to at least 2,000ppm of the atmosphere, makes life greener, stronger, more drought tolerant, and abundant. Greenhouse growers routinely pay to add up to 1,600ppm CO2 to their operations to make their products greener, healthier, and more productive. Just like using coal, oil, and gas does for our atmosphere for free today. And today recycling more CO2 makes it easier to feed eight billion people than it took to feed 3.5 billion a century ago. How? With arguably, the most important and powerful aspect of life’s metabolism – photosynthesis. Whose formula is sunlight plus CO2 plus H2O, with the green enzyme chlorophyll, converting sunlight into the high-energy bonds of life’s carbon compound sugar. And as a bonus, also produces 100% of our atmospheric oxygen! While, as Dr. John Christy has clearly proven, CO2 is insignificant in climate. EVERY one of the over 100 CO2 driven climate model projections massively overestimates temperatures compared to actual weather balloon and satellite data. Our normal, natural ever changing climate has moved twice during human existence through 12°C cycles. 100 thousand year cycles driven by Milankovitch Eccentricity. And in the warmest 4°C portion of that massive normal, natural range of earth’s temperature, earth’s orbit is in its warmest, near circular shape. We call these warm periods interglacials. In our current interglacial, the Holocene, we invented agriculture and civilization. In our CO2 driven life on earth, warmer with more CO2 is always better.
Let me know when Antarctic sea water rises above -1.8 deg C all year, will you? Because that is the prediction this study must make. Otherwise the sea water will freeze just as it always has.