Thursday, October 2, 2014

Climate Change has devastating effect on Arctic Wildlife.


That capitalist politicians and scientists in the pay of corporations deny climate change should not surprise us.  The same forces denied that cigarette smoking had anything to do with cancer for years, that certain chemicals in our communities were having a negative affect on health or that they poisoned drinking water and many other such truths.  They argue that climate changes naturally anyway.  But we have the ability to regulate and control how we interact with nature to produce the necessities of life.  We can determine what is a necessity and what isn't, what is harmful to our short and  long-term health and what is not; what degrades the environment and what doesn't.  But to do that, we have to eliminate the power capital and the market has over our lives.  We can change the way we live for the better of humanity and the natural world, but not as long as the capitalist mode of production rules.

Production under capitalism is for profit, not need. This is the problem, it's that simple.  The image and comments below are from Mother Jones Magazine.

If These 35,000 Walruses Can't Convince You Climate Change Is Real, I Don't Know What to Tell You

By
Thu Oct. 2, 2014 11:36 AM EDT

This an image from a NOAA research flight over a remote stretch of Alaska's north shore on Saturday. It shows approximately 35,000 walruses crowded on a beach, which according to the AP is a record number for this survey program.

Bear in mind that each of the little brown dots in this image can weigh over 4,000 pounds, placing them high in the running to be the world's biggest climate refugees.
Why are so many walruses "hauled out" on this narrow strip of land? Part of the reason is that there's not enough sea ice for them to rest on, according to NOAA.

On September 17, Arctic sea ice reached its minimum extent for 2014, which according to federal data is the sixth-lowest coverage since the satellite record began in 1979.

"The massive concentration of walruses onshore—when they should be scattered broadly in ice-covered waters—is just one example of the impacts of climate change on the distribution of marine species in the Arctic," Margaret Williams, the managing director of WWF's Arctic program, said in a statement.

If you've ever seen these blubbery beasts duke it out, then you know there's some serious marine mammal mayhem in store. Thanks, climate change!

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