Posts Tagged ‘extinction’

Ireland’s looming bird crisis

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Back in 2002, the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity set a target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.

It is now 2010, the declared UN Year of Biodiversity, and although some endangered species have been saved, notably within the EU, in general species of flora and fauna are being pushed into extinction at a faster rate.

There was really little hope of halting species loss in such a short time, even though the idea had its genesis as far back as 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio, though it didn’t get legs until the turn of the millennium.

But whatever hope there was then is now fast receding as climate change becomes the newest and most formidable driver of declines and extinctions. (more…)

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Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/species loss, Ireland focus, Sustainability, biodiversity | 1 Comment »

Where have all the fish gone? (we ate them)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

The world’s oceans are in deep, deep trouble. Industrialised fishing, in full swing since around 1950, has in essence waged a war against the marine ecosystem. And the bad news is: we’re winning. Species extinctions, population crashes and vast disruption to marine food chains are all the direct consequences of overfishing.

And that’s before you factor in ocean acidification, pollution and dramatic changes in ocean surface temperatures arising from global warming. All in all, the prognosis is grim. Nor is there some ready fix. “The recovery from the changes we’re making will probably take a million years”, according to Achim Steiner,  director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Steiner’s comments assume of course that we stop what we’re doing right now, in order to give the marine ecosystem some chance of recovery. (more…)

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Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/species loss, Media, Sustainability, biodiversity | No Comments »

Where will you be when the lights go out?

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Prices in Ireland have, mercifully, started to ease back from the highs of a year or two ago, yet some things remain extraordinarily cheap. The two things that contribute probably more than anything else to our overall well-being, comfort, security and physical health are electricity and safe drinking water on tap. Yet, the former is dirt cheap and the latter, for most people, doesn’t cost a red cent, no matter how much you use, or whether you leave the taps on 24 hours a day. (more…)

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Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear Power, Peak Oil, Sustainability | 1 Comment »

Ssssh, don’t mention the ‘E’ word

Monday, March 10th, 2008

There’s an episode of the 1970s comedy, Fawlty Towers, in which German visitors come to stay in the hotel. Basil Fawlty goes to great lengths to avoid any references to World War 2 (it was then barely 30 years after the end of the war).

Pandemonium ensues after he receives a blow to the head, and the concussed and now entirely uninhibited Fawlty goose-steps around the hotel in imitation of Der Fuhrer, to the consternation of his guests. So much for his plans that, at all costs, we “don’t mention the war”. (more…)

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Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/species loss, Ireland focus, Sustainability | 3 Comments »

A vision of beauty

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Nature is under relentless assault, entire ecosystems are being obliterated, an area of natural forest the size of Croke Park is burned or cleared every second. Around every 12 minutes, yet another species goes extinct.

The news is, to put it mildly, pretty bleak. Many of the postings on this blog are similarly downbeat. The waves of bad news seem to push further inland all the time.

Today, rather than battle with words, I’d like to let this short video clip below do the talking. The music, ‘Comptine D’un autre été’ is by French composer Yann Tiersen. This piece was made famous in the film ‘Amelie’.

It lasts barely two minutes and 12 seconds, and has been overlaid with some sublime aerial photography. The clip is from a Discovery Channel series called ‘Planet Earth’.

For me, it’s a moment of rare harmony between the overwhelming perfection of nature and man’s capacity to create, rather than destroy. Enjoy.

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Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/species loss, Sustainability | 2 Comments »

Under pressure

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Our closest living relatives on this planet are the 625 species of primates. We share over 98% of our DNA with them, so the similarities are more than skin deep. In the whole of the turbulent 20th century, not a single species of primate went extinct. Things now look a good deal less certain for our evolutionary first cousins.

In 1996, 15% of all primate species were listed as ‘critically endangered’. Four years later, this figure had risen to 20%, and by 2005, a shocking 162 species were on the critical list, that’s 26% of all primates. (more…)

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Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/species loss, Ireland focus, Sustainability | 2 Comments »