### Report on the Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth: Environmental and Human Factors

#### Introduction
The extinction of the woolly mammoth (*Mammuthus primigenius*) is a complex event influenced by both environmental changes and human activities.

Understanding the interplay between these factors provides insights into how species become extinct and highlights the impact of human actions on prehistoric ecosystems.

#### Environmental Factors: Climate Change
Climate change played a significant role in the decline of the woolly mammoth population.

As the last Ice Age ended, global temperatures began to rise, leading to dramatic shifts in climate patterns.

These changes resulted in:
- **Habitat Loss**: The warming climate caused the retreat of the cold, dry steppes that mammoths depended on for food.

As these grasslands disappeared, they were replaced by forests and wetlands, which were unsuitable for mammoth grazing.

- **Vegetation Changes**: The shift from grasslands to shrublands and forests reduced

### Report on the Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth: Environmental and Human Factors

#### Introduction
The extinction of the woolly mammoth (*Mammuthus primigenius*) is a complex event influenced by both environmental changes and human activities.

Title:

Content: Climate change means seeing more rainbows in the future
According to a new study by researchers from the University of Hawaii ’ i at Mānoa, one of the unexpected consequences of extreme climate change is that by 2100, the frequency of rainbows worldwide will increase by up to 5% compared to the beginning of the century.
While seeing more rainbows may not be a great consolation in the face of large-scale droughts and heavy flooding, the research team wanted to highlight just how much our natural world is changing — and should be considered — because of climate change.
Rainbows have been an important part of human culture throughout history and around the world; they are aesthetically pleasing and express different things in multiple cultures around the world; for example, they are a symbol of hope because hope comes in the form of rain coming.
Rainbows are formed when sunlight is refracted by water droplets in the air, so sunlight and rainfall are essential components of rainbows, but human activities such as burning fossil fuels overheat the atmosphere, altering rainfall patterns and amounts and cloud cover.
More rainbows.
According to the study published in November in Global Environmental Change, the researchers, drawing on crowdsourced imagery, global climate data and a computer model, found that as a result of global warming, 21 to 34 percent of land areas will see fewer rainbows, while other regions, representing 66 to 79 percent, will see an increase in rainbows.
Kimberly Carlson, the lead author of the study who now works in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University, says, “When I lived in Hawaii I was grateful, because amazing rainbows were part of my daily life, and wondered how climate change could affect the chances of seeing rainbows. ”
According to Science Daily, the question caught the attention of Camilo Mora, from the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and was put to be the focus of a graduate course project.
We often study how climate change directly affects people ’ s health and livelihoods, but few researchers have studied how climate change can affect the aesthetic qualities of our environment, and no one has bothered to map the rainbow as well as climate change.
To answer that question, a team of students at the University of Hawaii in Manoa examined images uploaded to the social platform Flickr, on which people post images, and then sorted tens of thousands of images taken around the world with the word "rainbow", to identify rainbows caused by the refraction of light by raindrops.
Next, the scientists trained a rainbow color prediction model based on the location of rainbow images, rainfall maps, cloud cover, and the angle of the sun, and then applied their model to predict future rainbow states to all regions of the world.
History of Humanity with the Rainbow
According to the press release published on the university ’ s website, the researchers found that regions with smaller populations in the upper highlands and at higher latitudes such as the Tibetan Plateau would notice an overall increase in the number of days that would see the rainbow.
The islands will be one of the best places to see rainbows in the coming years, in particular, and islands like Hawaii — recently dubbed the “rainbow capital of the world ” — will remain a rainbow hotspot because of its topography.
Highly populated areas, where smog abounds, as well as areas expected to experience more drought and less rain, such as the Mediterranean, are also expected to see fewer rainbows.
On the other hand, the study ’ s researchers didn ’ t get too far into discussing how such changes in rainbow frequency might affect our attitudes or well-being, but they did point to humanity ’ s long history with rainbows and shared human culture across the globe stretching back to ancient times.
They noted that the relationship that natural phenomena – such as the rainbow, mirage and auroras – create between humankind and nature must be taken into account, and that part of the challenge of successfully tackling the climate crisis is to get people to care enough about their natural surroundings to protect it.
Facts about Rainbow
According to National Geographic, the rainbow is in the form of multiple colors and is formed by the refraction of light on the spray of water.
However, it is an optical illusion, because it doesn ’ t really exist in a certain spot of the sky.
The most common rainbow is produced when sunlight hits raindrops, but rainbows can also be seen around fog, sea spray, or waterfalls.
The rainbow sequence consists of 7 colors and never changes.
The seven colors within the rainbow spectrum include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
The appearance of a rainbow depends on where you stand and where the sun shines or any other source of light and the source of light is usually behind the person who sees the rainbow.
The primary center of the rainbow is the opposite point of the sun or the imaginary point exactly opposite the sun.
Rainbows formed by sea spray are smaller than rainbows formed by rain, because salt water has a higher refractive index than fresh water.
The angle between the beam of light entering and the beam coming out of the raindrops is 42 degrees for red and 40 degrees for violet.
Although we see a rainbow in the shape of an arc, true rainbows are full circles but we cannot see them full when we stand on the ground.
Airline passengers and high-altitude climbers can see the rainbow in its full form, because they can see below the horizon.
One of the most fascinating facts about the rainbow is that no two people can see the exact same rainbow, everyone has a different point opposite the sun.
The center of the rainbow you see is on an imaginary line that runs from your eye to the sun.
Because your eyes and the eyes of everyone else — even the person next to you — can ’ t be on the same line in space, you can ’ t both see the same bow.
Rainbows can also occur at night, and the evening rainbow is called the "moon rainbow".
"Moon arcs" arise when the light reflected from the moon hits water droplets in the air.
Source: Science Alert + Websites

Title:

Content: Climate change, military conflicts and the resulting famine will lead to the migration of hundreds of millions of people to more prosperous and cooler countries in the next few years.
To resettle these migrants, receiving states will have to sacrifice the well-being of their own citizens, because resources for all are not enough even now, and global warming leads to their further reduction in most countries (except for high-latitude regions).
NEWS.ru has found out whether Europe is turning into a place where its inhabitants want to escape to Africa.
The great migration of peoples that is taking place before our eyes has no precedent over the past 1,500 years, because several “migratory ” factors converged at one point at once, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Antonio Vitorino stated on Wednesday.
The main such factors, he called war, terrorism, climate change and poverty.
Vitorino participated in the conference “The Future of Hope ” held in Portugal in early September.
It focused on how the unfavorable changes taking place in the world affect the fate of the younger generation, which comes into life, where these people are not welcomed with open arms.
The vast majority of migrants are young people.
And in those countries where they will arrive, they will also have to communicate primarily with young people.
Unfortunately, we predict that the current migration crisis will last for a long time.
And we need to think about how to provide all migrants with food, water, energy, a roof over their heads, money...
And not once there in the future, but right now, because winter is just around the corner, ” he explained the priorities that face the IOM.
At the moment, the main headache for European countries, both for governments and for residents, is created, however, not by “climatic ” and not even economic migrants, but by refugees from Ukraine.
Unpredictably, their large flow (according to the UN, more than 5 million people) led to a revision of the migration policy usual for the European Union.
If before the start of the exodus of refugees from Ukraine, Poland and Hungary directly sabotaged orders from Brussels on quotas for migrants, then since the spring of 2022, these two countries are setting an example to “colleagues ” in terms of how to receive involuntary guests.
Photo: shutterstock
As noted by Antonio Vitorino, the crisis in Ukraine has led to the fact that in one knot tied all the causes of mass migration, which in a number of other situations and countries arise separately.
It is the fact that in this case these reasons manifested themselves as a “package ” that led to a rapid“ domino effect ” in regions that have no geographical or political connection with Eastern Europe.
As a result, food shortages threaten countries thousands of kilometers away from the war zone in Africa, and hunger will inevitably lift millions more people from their places there, who will have nowhere to flee except to the same Europe.
Europeans in the current migration crisis is not just worried, but causes a natural panic that the resources of their countries are obviously not enough not only to feed migrants, but also themselves.
The past summer, with its extreme weather events, primarily drought and floods, caused damage to the agriculture of European countries (especially southern ones), from which they will not recover for several more years - and then on the condition that in the coming years such cataclysms will not continue.
But unlike Ukrainians and Africans, Spaniards, Greeks and French have nowhere to escape.
Therefore, the IOM, as well as the UN Food Programme, sees the way out not so much in creating acceptable conditions for refugees in European countries (which indirectly only encourages migrants to go there), but in creating such conditions in their native places.
The size of humanitarian aid has its limits, in any case.
In addition, its size is greatly limited by political conditions such as sanctions and other restrictions, including by the governments themselves, as is the case in Afghanistan.
Therefore, the international community has to develop long-term strategies for alleviating humanitarian crises, while current tasks have to be addressed in a targeted manner, the head of IOM laments.
Everything goes to the fact that in a couple of decades, if not earlier, a situation may arise that never before (at least after the Second World War) simply could not have imagined: the Europeans themselves will begin to think about emigration.
Natalia Eremina, professor of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, said that such a break in the template is possible.
Natalia Eremina [Professor of the Department of European Studies, Faculty of International Relations, St. Petersburg State University]
For several years, there has been a process of re-emigration when residents of European countries who came there from somewhere else begin to return to their homeland, because the standard of living in these countries is equal to the level of those countries from where they once left in search of a better life.
Even refugees from Ukraine, and those in the last month or two, too, have reached back.
If we talk about the indigenous inhabitants of Western Europe, the process of resettlement from depressed countries from the Baltic States, Greece or Southern Italy to relatively prosperous ones is in full swing.
Formally, this does not fall under the concept of “immigration ”, because it takes place within a single economic space, but from a demographic point of view it is not much different from the migration of Syrians or Africans to the same countries.
This year, a phenomenon that has not been observed before has arisen, when “walls ” against refugees, physical or legal, begin to be erected not only by European countries.
This week, the Turkish Iyi party said that illegal migrants should be isolated in special camps and sent to where they came from, without any sentiments.
Photo: shutterstock
However, the leader of the Iyi party Meral Aksener only reinterpreted the statement of the official Turkish Foreign Ministry, which in July announced that there could be no question of “turning ” Turkey, which for the past eight years has received the most refugees in the world, into a“ refugee camp ”.
However, this approach of the Turkish side is not much different from the plans of the penultimate British government (resigned this week) to expel illegal immigrants to Rwanda.
It is these plans that the Turkish Foreign Ministry referred to, stressing that any assumptions that Turkey can conclude a similar agreement with the UK have no basis.

Title:

Content: The sixth mass extinction on Earth begins.
Warning of "devastating" negative effects on humans
2023-09-24 | 04: 45
Alsumaria News - Miscellaneous
In a new study, researchers warn that the sixth mass extinction on Earth has already begun and is accelerating dramatically, noting that the rate of extinction among animals will be significantly higher than it has historically been, adding to similar studies that warned that the Earth is not in good shape.
The new study, published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the study is important because it sheds more light on how humans affect Earth's trajectory, usually negatively.
According to the study, animal species will be extinct at a rate 35 times faster than historically recognized during the past million years, and the researchers highlighted the role of humans in this phenomenon, noting that animal species that became extinct during the past 500 years would have taken about 18,000 years to extinction in the absence of humans.
But habitat destruction, illegal trade, and climate disruption will likely continue to accelerate the pace of extinction over the next decades.
Gerardo Ceballos, the lead author of the study, says that the mass loss of animal species means the loss of a record of the Earth's evolutionary potential and history, adding that "there is life on this planet thanks to plants and animals, including wild animals and plants, and the ecosystem that forms them."
Ceballos noted that the crops used by humans, the combination of atmospheric gases that make the Earth habitable, and the active compounds used in medicines all depend in one way or another on plants and animals, and that when we lose whole branches of species, “we lose the planet ’ s ability to sustain life in general, and save life in particular. ”
The new research builds on a number of studies that have warned of a mass extinction event in recent years, and scientists have previously warned that up to a million species are threatened with extinction, and that some of them could be lost within a few decades.
A separate study published in the journal Biological Reviews earlier this summer suggested that the current sixth mass extinction event was the first mass extinction “to occur as a direct result of the actions of one species: humans. ”
In June 2023, researchers proposed the start of a new era that reflects the impact of humans on the planet, but not all scientists are convinced that the current loss of wildlife represents a sixth mass extinction event.
Stuart Beam, a professor of conservation at Duke University, told MEE: "We have no idea how to determine the sixth mass extinction event," but he stressed that disagreeing with the sixth extinction hypothesis does not mean denying the fact that the Earth is experiencing loss of wildlife, at a faster pace than in the past millions of years.
While Ceballos says the debate about whether or not the sixth mass extinction will occur “doesn ’ t really matter, ” he said, adding that the Earth is already suffering from a significant loss of biodiversity, climate change, and environmental poisoning — regardless of the label.
It is noteworthy that the Earth has experienced 5 mass extinctions, namely:
The Ordovician Silurian Extinction – 444 million years ago
Late Devonian extinction – 383 to 359 million years ago
Permian – Triassic extinction – 252 million years ago
Extinction of the Jurassic Triassic – 201 million years ago
The Cretaceous and Paleogene Extinction – 66 million years ago
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Content: Climate change report ‘ damning proof of failure of global climate leadership ’
28 February 2022
UN scientists on Monday issued a stark warning about the impact of climate change on people and the planet, saying ecosystem collapse, species extinctions, heatwaves and deadly floods are among the "multiple unavoidable climate risks" the world will face over the next two decades due to global warming.
Hoseng Lee, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said: “This report is an urgent warning about the consequences of inaction. ”
It shows that climate change is a serious and growing threat to our well-being and to a healthy planet.
“Our practices today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to growing climate risks, ” he said, adding that half-measures are no longer an option.
According to the report, human-induced climate change is causing serious and widespread disruption to nature, affecting billions of lives around the world, and despite efforts to reduce risks, people and ecosystems that are least able to adapt are the most affected.
The report, the second in a series of three by top UN climate scientists, comes just over 100 days after the UN Climate Action Summit in Glasgow (COP26) agreed to step up action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and stave off the worst effects of climate change.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the first report, released in August, a “red symbol of humanity ” and said:“ If we join forces now, we can avert a climate catastrophe. ”
© WMO / Kompas / Hendra A Setyawan
A woman carries her daughter during floods in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Climate change strikes. ”
His view of the latest report is equally stark: Mr. Guterres laments that the evidence presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change bears no resemblance to anything he has ever seen, calling it “an atlas of extreme human suffering and an unequivocal indictment of leadership failure to address the climate crisis. ”
Fact-by-fact, the report focuses on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, revealing how people and the planet are being “hit ” by climate change.
“Almost half of humanity now lives in the danger zone.
The degradation of many ecosystems is irreversible.
Obscene carbon pollution is slowly driving the world ’ s most vulnerable to destruction. ”
Unsplash / Appolinary Kalashnikova
Clean energy, like wind power, is a key component in reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Photo of the wind power plant in Montenegro.
Waiver of leadership.
Mr Guterres said the world ’ s biggest polluters were responsible for setting fire to our only home.
In the face of such alarming evidence, it is important to meet the targets of limiting global temperatures to 1.5 ° C, and science shows that this requires the world to reduce emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
“But according to current commitments, global emissions will increase by almost 14 per cent over the current decade.
This threatens disaster, and will eliminate any chance of keeping (the target) within 1.5 ° C. ”
This threatens disaster, and it will destroy any chance of keeping the 1.5 ° C target alive.
One of the most striking facts the report shows is that coal and other fossil fuels are suffocating humanity, and he called on all G20 governments to abide by their agreements to stop coal financing abroad, and also urgently do the same within their own countries and dismantle coal fleets.
Moreover, he said private sector workers who continue to finance coal production must be held accountable, noting that this warning also includes oil and gas giants and their guarantors.
“You can ’ t pretend to be environmentally sensitive while at the same time undermining your plans and projects to achieve zero emissions by 2050 and ignoring key emissions reductions this decade.
People don ’ t get caught up in this scam. ”
Instead of slowing the decarbonization of the global economy, it is time to accelerate the transition to energy use and renewable energy in the future, he said, adding that fossil fuels of all kinds are not good for our planet, humanity or economies.
He called on developed countries, multi-sector development banks, private financiers, and others to form coalitions to help emerging economies end coal use.
© UNICEF / Inti Ocon / AFP-Services
Hurricane Iota caused devastation and flooding in Nicaragua, leaving thousands of people homeless.
Adaptation saves lives.
The other important thing the report found is slightly better news about investing in adaptation work.
“As the climate fallout gets worse – and will get worse – scaling up investments will be important for survival.
Efforts to adapt to and mitigate these effects must be pursued with the same vigor and urgency.
That ’ s probably why I pushed for 50 percent of all climate finance to be devoted to adaptation. ”
Referring to the Glasgow Commitments on Adaptation, he said that funding has not been sufficient to meet the challenges faced by people on the frontlines of the climate crisis, he said it also pushes for the removal of obstacles that prevent small island states and least developed countries from accessing much-needed funding to save lives and livelihoods.
We need to put in place new systems to meet the conditions for access to finance to deal with this new reality.
But procrastination means death. ”
He said he takes inspiration from everyone on the front lines of the battlefield with the climate and fights by finding solutions, adding that he knows that people everywhere are feeling anxious and angry at the same time.
He said, “I feel that too.
Now is the time to translate anger into action.
Every particle of temperature has its value.
Every sound can make a difference.
Every second counts. ”
Viviane Rakotoarivony for OCHA
People head to their homes in Bihala, the Amboisari region of Madagascar ’ s Grand Sud, which is experiencing a historic drought.
Urgent action to address risks
The report notes that heatwaves, droughts and floods exceed the tolerance thresholds of plants and animals, leading to massive numbers of deaths in species such as trees and coral reefs.
This climate extremes happen simultaneously, and they cause fallout — increasingly difficult to manage.
It has exposed millions of people to acute hunger and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South Asia, the small islands and the Arctic.
To avoid further loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious and accelerated action is needed to adapt to climate change, while rapid and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are being made.
The new report finds that progress on adaptation has been uneven so far, and there are growing gaps between actions taken and what is needed to deal with rising risks.
These gaps are the largest among low-income populations.
Elham Ali, one of the authors of the report for the Mediterranean region, said: “The Mediterranean basin is one of the most vulnerable areas to many of the risks of climate change, and the most vulnerable areas are low-lying areas, especially those suffering from landslides as they are more threatened by floods – sea level rise as well as saltwater intrusion, all of which, individually or collectively, affect agriculture activities. ”
“This report recognizes the interdependence between climate, biodiversity and people, and integrates the natural, social and economic sciences more strongly than previous assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. ”
IMF / Raphael Alves
A lake within the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian city of Manaus.
Protecting nature is key to securing a livable future
According to the report, there are options for adapting to a changing climate.
This report offers new insights into nature ’ s potential not only to reduce climate risks, but also to improve people ’ s lives.
Hans Otto Portner, co-chair of IPCC Working Group II, said: “Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and provide vital services for life such as food and clean water. ”
By restoring degraded ecosystems and effectively and equitably preserving 30 to 50 per cent of land, freshwater and ocean habitats, society can leverage nature ’ s ability to absorb and store carbon, and we can accelerate progress towards sustainable development, but adequate funding and political support are essential.
Scientists point out that climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, increasing urbanization, social inequalities and loss and damage from extreme and pandemic events, putting future development at risk.
Working Group II Co-Chair Debra Roberts said: “Our assessment clearly shows that addressing all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector and civil society – working together to prioritize risk reduction, as well as equity and fairness in decision-making and investment. ”
World Bank / Scott Wallace
Although the world needs a 6% cut in fossil fuels to avoid the worst global warming, coal mine production is expected to increase by 2%.
Cities: Hot Spots for Climate Risks; Crucial to Solution
The report provides a detailed assessment of climate change impacts, risks and adaptation in cities and urban areas, where more than half of the world ’ s population lives.
“Growing urbanization and climate change together create complex risks, especially for cities that already suffer from poorly planned urban growth, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and a lack of basic services, ” Roberts said.
But cities also offer opportunities for climate action – green buildings, reliable supplies of clean water and renewable energy, and sustainable transport systems that connect urban and rural areas can all lead to a more inclusive and just society, she added.
Quickly close the work window
Overall, the report, which provides extensive regional information to enable climate-resilient development, underscores the urgency of climate action, with a focus on equity and justice.
Adequate financing, technology transfer, political commitment and partnership lead to more effective adaptation to climate change and emission reductions.
Hans Otto Portner said: “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet.
Any further delay in coordinated global action will miss a short, fast-closing window to ensure a livable future. ”
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Title:

Content: ADVERTISING

TECHNOLOGY

CIA wants to revive prehistoric species such as the woolly mammoth

The CIA is funding a project that aims to revive iconic species like the woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger, but it’s not good news.

The CIA has become the latest investor in Colossal Biosciences, a genetic engineering company that wants to revive iconic species of the past, such as the woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger. According to LiveScience, reports indicate that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is funding research into the ‘resuscitation’ of extinct prehistoric species.

Through a venture capital investment firm called In-Q-Tel, which is funded by the CIA, the government agency has made a financial commitment to Texas-based Colossal Biosciences. The latter’s official website explains that its goal is to “see the woolly mammoth thunder over the tundra once again” by combining “genetic science with the business of discovery.”

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According to the In-Q-Tel blog, investing in the project will help the U.S. government “set the ethical standards” for genetic engineering technology and keep the country at the forefront of nations that may also be interested in engineered genetic code modification research.

Reviving prehistoric creatures

Colossal Biosciences appears to be interested in bringing back various prehistoric animals, such as the woolly mammoth that inhabited Arctic regions from North America to Siberia and became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene due to the disappearance of its natural habitat.

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But the interest in reviving species also includes others such as the Dodo bird, which disappeared from the Earth at the end of the 17th century due to human causes. The Tasmanian tiger is another animal that Colossal has its sights set on; this species became extinct in the 20th century, also due to anthropological causes.

Is it feasible to bring the species back?

Genetic engineering has been used in the past for nature conservation, but only cloning has been used as a measure to prevent species from becoming extinct forever. Genes have been taken from captive-bred specimens for cloning and then reintroduced into the wild.

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So far, genetic modification using the CRISPR addition technique, which is used to ‘copy, paste and replace’ specific gene sequences in DNA, is not a tool that has been used for nature conservation, and many have warned about the dangers this would bring.

The woolly mammoth, for example, lived in the ice age when temperatures were much lower than they are now. It became extinct due to climate change that wiped out its natural habitat, so the thought of reviving it brings with it an inherent ethical debate that cannot be ignored.

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In any case, the large amounts of money that the CIA intends to invest in resuscitating the woolly mammoth and other ancient species could be used for the conservation of species that are currently in danger of disappearing. However, it seems that beyond an animalistic objective, the agency seems to have a special interest in genetic modification, an area that is increasingly growing and completely lacks ethical and professional guidelines.

Story originally published in Spanish in Ecoosfera

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How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

How did humans contribute to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

How did humans contribute to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

How did humans contribute to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

How did humans contribute to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

How did humans contribute to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

Understanding the interplay between these factors provides insights into how species become extinct and highlights the impact of human actions on prehistoric ecosystems.

Title:

Content: International scientists and academics sound the alarm.
Climate change and natural disasters.
Terrifying scenarios that threaten the world
T + T - normal size
“No corner of our planet is immune to the devastating effects of climate change, ” according to the United Nations, which notes that“ rising temperatures are fueling the direct cause of environmental degradation, natural disasters, extreme weather conditions, food and water insecurity, along with economic disruption, conflict and terrorism. ”
The link between natural disasters and the climate crisis is inextricably linked, given the manifestations of climate change and the consequences of extreme weather and climate events that have made disasters more frequent and severe, including extreme heat waves, droughts, devastating hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other disasters for which the world is paying a heavy bill.
According to United Nations data.
The number of natural disasters caused by bad weather has increased fivefold in half a century.
Between 1970 and 2021, there were 11,778 disasters caused by climate-related extreme events (more than 2 million deaths).
From 2000 to 2020, 7,348 natural disasters were recorded worldwide (killing 1.23 million people), with eight of the 10 most disaster-prone countries located in Asia.
By 2030, the number of natural disasters could reach 560 (1.5 per day).
While other drivers of natural disasters, along with the consequences of the climate crisis, are linked to the policies pursued by some governments in terms of their reliance on unsustainable development projects.
However, the climate factor remains firmly established as a key driver of these current and future disasters, requiring faster progress in crisis reduction and commitment to the 1.5 ° C goal to save the Earth, including the energy transition and increased funding for mitigation measures.
In this context, international scientists and academics, in separate statements to Al-Bayan, explain the link between climate change and natural disasters.
They also provide insights into the severity of potential crises more broadly than the world is currently experiencing, as well as specific scenarios of measures needed to prevent such catastrophic scenarios.
Possible exacerbation
"We expect to see more extreme events."
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Disaster Preparedness Center at Columbia University ’ s Columbia Climate School, opens his talk with Al Bayan about this future dimension associated with a possible exacerbation of natural disasters due to the climate crisis and other factors.
"The exact effects of these extreme events will be mixed, but in general, we can expect events such as more intense and longer-lasting heatwaves, more powerful storms, as well as floods," he said.
At the same time, some areas will also experience long-term drought, with ripple effects on agriculture, power generation and various other aspects of society.
We can expect to see more of what we ’ re seeing now, with “worse and more ” impacts in areas that may have been historically affected by these types of disasters.
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch added: “We are seeing measurable impacts as a result of climate change, particularly in terms of increased rainfall in some storms, as well as heatwaves and wildfires.
“Areas already prone to disasters will be the worst (in terms of vulnerability), especially coastal areas facing sea level rise. ”
However, we must also acknowledge that climate change is only one aspect of the causes of such disasters, but the role of national policies and development projects cannot be overlooked.
“There are governments that blame climate change for what is essentially land use or water management policies.
“The impact of disasters will continue to be made worse by unsustainable development practices that leave many people in harm ’ s way. ”
He believes that reducing emissions will contribute in the long run to overcoming these challenges, “but we need significant investments in climate change adaptation now.
“Building codes, new building types, and assistance to the most vulnerable and impoverished communities will be essential to reduce the risk of loss of life. ”
New strategies
This could include new strategies for managing water runoff, the use of fire-resistant building materials in forest areas, and planning for evacuation routes and early warning systems.
Greater attention to disasters will also be required in non-disaster management debates, such as planning for economic development and infrastructure, and even how to educate people, with a focus on disasters and climate literacy.
Drought and hurricanes
Professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, Peter Nimitz, said: “Rising temperatures are expected to increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters. ”
"The world will see a continuation of this trend, which is manifested in droughts, floods, hurricanes and excessive heat that threaten to make some parts of the world uninhabitable by the end of the century."
These areas may include parts of South Asia.
It is believed that one of the biggest threats, along with mass migration, will be the threat to global food supplies, due to the worsening climate crisis.
“These measures will take time, including a faster transition to renewables, increased funding for mitigation measures such as moving populations away from low-lying areas, stricter building codes and emergency measures in times of disaster, ” he said.
He also talks at the same time about the size of the reliance associated with the Conference of the Parties (COP28) held in the UAE, explaining that «..
"The crucial issue is the degree of responsibility that developed countries have towards developing countries, as how to address their problem will be very important from a global perspective, and we are counting on strong and fruitful discussions at COP28 to draw conclusions that protect the planet from the consequences of climate change."
The world is expected to move to radically rethink how risk is managed and funded.
Severe consequences.
John J. Klage, editor of Natural Hazards, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Canada, told Al Bayan that rising temperatures are affecting the cycle of the Earth ’ s oceans and atmosphere, with dire consequences and disasters.
A hotter atmosphere is capable of capturing more water vapor, which could lead to an increase in intensity and duration of heavy rainfall, which in turn could lead to more catastrophic flooding than we have seen in the recent past.
“If extreme summer temperatures continue to rise in India, Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa, we can expect significant loss of life and increased food insecurity, especially in poor and war-torn countries. ”
Warming the atmosphere and oceans also cause glaciers and ice sheets to shrink, causing sea level to rise slowly.
Many major coastal cities are expected to experience flooding later this century.
Moreover, hotter subtropics are capable of producing more severe hurricanes than in the past.
There are some questions about whether the number of hurricanes will change as the world warms, but it is likely that the land trajectories of these hurricanes will take different trajectories from those of the past; for example, hurricanes may extend further up the Atlantic coast of North America than was common during the last century.
Hurricane trajectories may also change and perhaps their intensity, as hurricanes in the central United States begin to move eastward into densely populated areas.
The constant increase in population means that the risk of natural disasters is increasing in most parts of the world.
At a time when the number of people living in areas prone to climate-related disasters is increasing, a large part of this growth is accompanied by an increase in vulnerability.
Consider, for example, the recent catastrophic floods in Libya, where the risk of severe floods and storms is increasing in most countries, but especially in countries that do not have the resources to deal with the problem.
Necessary measures
According to Professor Simon Fraser University ’ s Department of Earth Sciences, the measures needed to counter these potential repercussions are to reduce our global dependence on fossil fuels and move to an economy based on renewable resources.
Such a shift would be costly and would therefore be to the disadvantage of developing countries.
But until we achieve this transformation, we can expect a continued increase in costly climate-related disasters.
Other measures are related to the assumption that climate-related disasters will increase in number and severity.
A range of actions can be taken to manage these crises, including educating local populations about the risks they face from climate disasters, protecting critical infrastructure from the expected impacts of these events, developing and funding robust preparatory evacuation plans, and preparing and funding emergency response plans.
Two main features
Adam Rose, a research professor at the University of California ’ s Sol Price School of Public Policy, and director of the University ’ s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies (CREATE), told Al Bayan that climate change has two main manifestations: a long-term trend toward global warming and conflicting weather patterns in terms of temperature extremes and precipitation.
In this context, he talks about the link between the manifestations of climate change and natural disasters, pointing out that the climate crisis has repercussions on the increase in the intensity of hurricanes, the increase in the number and intensity of heat waves, as well as the increase in the number of vector-borne diseases.
As well as an increase in the number and intensity of forest fires (exacerbated by increased rainfall, periods of time, droughts, etc., providing further intensification of these fires), as well as an increase in the number of floods caused by melting ice and snow (as well as by hurricanes).
“Most experts suggest that higher temperatures will be felt more in mid-latitudes (near the equator); however, more damage and losses will also be experienced in highly vulnerable areas elsewhere in the world that are prone to drought, in the path of hurricanes, and near floodplains, ” says Rose.
On actions that can be taken to address disasters linked to climate change, the director of the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies at the University of California, points out that reducing greenhouse gases is the most important countermeasure.
He also talks about different patterns of carbon capture (planting trees, injecting carbon dioxide into depleted oil and gas wells and into the deep ocean), as well as efforts to adapt to the consequences of climate change, such as building sea fences, improving forest management practices, and eliminating breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects.
Expensive bill.
Natural disasters usually have a significant economic cost.
The World Bank estimates that since 1980, more than 2.5 million people have lost nearly $6 trillion to disasters caused by natural hazards globally.
Total damage increased by about 350 percent, from $52 billion a year in the 1980s to $207 billion a year in the last decade and $232 billion over the first three years of the 1920s.
According to data from Swiss Re, the global economy suffered losses of $202 billion in 2020, $270 billion in 2021, $275 billion last year and $120 billion in the first half of this year due to natural disasters.
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3D printing community in southern Canada completed at the end of the year, each unit sold for more than 970,000 yuan
iPhone 15 overheating Apple recognized the iOS 17 vulnerability will be updated as soon as possible
British study: Three factors hit 250 million years after human extinction reptiles dominate the earth
The New York Times reported that 250 million years ago, reptiles evolved into mammals; the same 250 million years later, under the influence of the hot sun, the large deformation of the land, and the continuous increase of carbon dioxide, mammals, including humans, may not be able to continue.
A research team led by paleoclimatist Alexander Farnsworth of the University of Bristol in the UK, based on various research data computer simulations of the future of the Earth, published in the journal "Natural Geosciences" on the 25th.
Astronomers have speculated that after 7.6 billion years, the Sun will “expand ” enough to swallow up the Earth, but the life on Earth can ’ t wait that long, and it has long been“ smothered ” by the overheated atmosphere – the water vapor of the oceans and land will evaporate, and the water vapor may become a strong greenhouse gas, “circling ” more hot air over the Earth.
In about two billion years, the sea will be hot enough to boil.
According to the history of the Earth's continents, Pangea, which formed between 330 and 170 million years ago, will form a new "supercontinent" 250 million years later.
The new supercontinent can be called the “ultimate continent. ” He explores how life on Earth will adapt to the new supercontinent and finds that climate change is even more frightening.
According to the historical rule that the Sun releases 1% more energy every 110 million years, the Earth will be much hotter when the “Ultimate Continent ” forms than it is today.
As the six continents gradually become a "supercontinent," the temperature of the interior will increase rapidly.
Because the "interior" is so large, the current interaction between rain, carbon dioxide and minerals, that is, the minerals on the slopes of mountains and hills are washed into the ocean by rivers and fall to the bottom of the sea, will become very slow.
When ancient continents formed, the land was full of volcanoes, spewing carbon dioxide, causing the temperature of the atmosphere to soar, the team said.
In addition, humans burn fossil fuels, burning more than 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. If this "unnatural" amount of carbon dioxide continues, biologists believe that more and more species will become extinct on Earth, and humans, because they cannot withstand high heat and humidity, will eventually become one of the "extinct species".
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Content: Science and Technology
Study: Wildfires may have caused the biggest mass extinction event
Study: Wildfires may have caused the biggest mass extinction event, now with details
Researchers believe the Permian mass extinction event 248 million years ago that wiped out nearly every species on Earth may have been due to large-scale wildfires, where greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes, rising temperatures and dry landscapes led to wildfires in areas that were previously wetlands.
As wetlands no longer capture carbon from the atmosphere, this in turn has led to further warming.
Chris Meese, a lecturer in paleontology at University College Cork (UCC) and lead author of the study, says that coal abundance reached a prominent peak at the top of the last coal strata in the Permian, indicating a significant but short-lived increase in wildfires, followed by coal decline over the next three million years of the early Triassic.
The fossil and plant charcoal records of the Sydney and Bowen Basin in eastern Australia and Antarctica provided information to researchers that wetlands are disrupted by regular wildfires.
However, the researchers noted that warming climate and increased fire activity during the extinction event seemed to push all plants, including those that tried to adapt, to a breaking point, and it took millions of years for the planet ’ s ecosystem to recover after this extinction event.
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Content: Climate change: an environmental scourge almost completely defeated by humanity
Human beings and nature complement each other and destroy each other. After the industrial revolution, human survival and development activities have caused damage to the environment and also suffered the consequences of environmental retaliation.
Conspiracy after a crisis, began to find ways to remedy and reverse man-made environmental disasters.
Global warming remains one of the major threats to humanity ’ s survival, but as in the past, humanity is beginning to join forces to deal with it.
The biggest joint action to date is the climate summit COP26 in Glasgow.
What experiences have we had to overcome environmental hazards, and are there still lessons to be learned, such as the once-infamous acid rain, and the hole in the ozone layer that shields off deadly ultraviolet rays, which is now almost legendary?
BBC environment correspondent Helen Briggs has this to say:
Acid rain: 1970-1990s
In the 1980s, acid rain occurred on the earth, and fish and shrimp were killed in the waters of the Upper Creek Lake on the Scandinavian Peninsula, and once lush forests became mottled, and after a storm, trees became withered and bald.
North America was not spared either.
Some of the Great Lakes have become burial grounds for fish, shrimp and other aquatic creatures, and the waters have a strange translucent indigo color.
The reason is now well known, because the rain clouds are full of sulfur dioxide, and the sulfur dioxide that returns to the earth with the rain comes from coal power stations. The burning of coal to generate electricity and heat creates acid rain, which destroys the ecology of forests, grasslands and rivers and lakes.
One of the key figures in the headlines about the causes, harms and ways to deal with acid rain is a Swedish scientist named Peringe Grennfelt.
“In the 1980s, the biggest environmental problem people thought of as history was it (acid rain), ” he said.
Acid rain on the front page people are used to. There are confusion, ambiguity, denial, denial and diplomatic confrontation between countries around the environmental scourge of acid rain.
Many countries have signed international agreements to control pollution sources and gradually reduce the use of fossil fuels, the source of acid rain, which releases harmful substances to pollute the air.
Several leading countries and regions have also enacted their own legislation, formulated rules, and established corresponding regulatory and enforcement agencies.
The Clean Air Act (Clean Air Act) was introduced to guide and encourage industrial and mining enterprises to reduce sulfuric acid and nitric acid emissions, stipulating emission caps and trading systems, allowing enterprises to trade surplus quotas in the system.
Moreover, the emission cap is lowered annually until harmful acid gas emissions are substantially reduced.
Acid rain has largely disappeared in Europe and North America, mostly in textbooks, databases, and historical documents, but remains a major environmental hazard in Asia and elsewhere.
However, Canadian scientist John Smol believes that in many ways, the human fight against acid rain should be seen as a success story because it shows that countries can work together to solve international problems.
He added: “If pollution is not clearly priced, people will continue to pollute regardless. ”
This is the lesson we have learned. "
Ozone Layer Hollow: 1980s
In 1985, another pressing environmental issue made headlines.
Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have warned the world that there is a huge hole in the ozone layer above the South Pole, and it is growing.
The main culprit for this void was chlorofluorocarbons, the so-called greenhouse gases, a more familiar name for CFC, which was widely used in aerosols and refrigerants at the time.
BAS polar scientist Anna Jones points out that the ozone layer, which shields everything on Earth and humans from the destructive ultraviolet rays, is rapidly thinning. “It ’ s breaking with a sudden bang, and it ’ s dropping dramatically. ”
Ozone over Antarctica has been decreasing since the 1970s, but it is little known and is not a cause for concern.
British scientists sounded the global alarm. The destruction of the ozone layer has become a major international event.
In 1987, world leaders in Canada signed the Montreal Protocol, one of the most successful environmental treaties of all time.
Subsequently, ozone-depleting chemicals were phased out and the industry transitioned to a “CFC free ” aerosol tank welcomed by green consumers.
“It ’ s a global problem, and industry, scientists, and policymakers came together … They moved quickly and adopted a mechanism that allowed for a constant tightening of the terms of the agreement, ” Jones noted.
This is a very important model, very effective. "
The Montreal Protocol was both a success and a setback.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), developed as alternatives to ozone-depleting chemicals, have been found to be a potent greenhouse gas.
In addition, the CFC once mysteriously soared and was tracked to China.
These two things lead to further movement.
Now the ozone hole is “recovering ”, that is, slowly shrinking, but the chemicals that deplete the ozone layer will stay in the atmosphere for a long time, which means that the repair will be a long and slow process.
Leaded petrol: 1920s - 2020s
For decades, we ’ ve used leaded gasoline as a fuel — because companies have added lead additives to help gasoline burn more efficiently.
Lead-containing gasoline releases lead particles into the exhaust of an inhalable car, causing a variety of health problems, including heart disease, stroke, and impaired mental development in children.
After a long struggle among scientists, regulators and industry to reach a consensus around health risks, rich countries banned leaded gasoline from the 1980s.
However, since this fuel is cheaper to produce than unleaded gasoline, its use in developing countries continues.
After a long campaign by NGOs, industry groups and governments, the last drop of leaded gasoline was injected into car tanks months ago under the protection of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Although the world has officially eliminated leaded fuels, lead pollution is still present in dust and soil in the environment and will persist for a long time.
Lesson learned
With climate change increasingly dominating the international agenda and news agenda, news of environmental disasters such as acid rain and the ozone hole is rarely mentioned.
However, there are similarities between climate change and these issues that have emerged and are largely defeated.
Acid rain has long been a source of international conflict, with some denying its existence, while the fossil fuel industry is at odds with environmentalists.
Is this pattern familiar?
Professor Smoll said that the debate and discussion around acid rain was training on the more complex issues of climate change. “The first lesson I learned was that the results must be disseminated in a timely and effective manner, not only to other scientists, but also to policymakers and the general public. ”
"Once there is an information vacuum, it will immediately be exploited by vested interests," he said.
The big difference, of course, is that with the development of social media and the spread of misinformation, today ’ s situation is more complicated.
Commenting on international efforts to eliminate leaded fuels, Rob de Jong, head of the UN Environment Agency ’ s Sustainable Transport Department, said a valuable experience was a coordinated approach.
"The whole campaign has invested heavily in raising public awareness, in social and community level action, and in raising awareness of the impact of leaded petrol on children."
The measures taken by the international community to reduce ozone-depleting chemicals show, to a lesser extent, the framework and forms of cooperation needed to tackle global warming.
“The climate change issue is much more complex than the ozone issue because we don ’ t have direct alternatives to fossil fuels like CFCs, ” Jones said.
However, this is not a reason for inaction – the problem is too big and needs to be addressed on an ongoing basis.
“In the past, when industry and government worked together, an environmental problem that threatened the world was solved; now they need to prove that they can do it again. ”

#### Environmental Factors: Climate Change
Climate change played a significant role in the decline of the woolly mammoth population.

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Content: Opinion: Startup to recreate mammoths, toilet for cows and epidemics due to warming
25.09.2021, 21: 28, Miscellaneous
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1.
American geneticists promise to develop GMO elephants equivalent to mammoths in just a few days.
The furry creatures will be released into the tundra to trample and eat it to the state of the tundra steppe, thereby saving the planet from global warming:
https: / / nplus1.ru / news / 2021 / 09 / 14 / resurrection-of-mothers
Biologist George Church and entrepreneur Ben Lamm announced the creation of a company Colossal, which will be engaged in the “resurrection ” of mammoths – obtaining genetically edited frost-resistant elephants with signs of mammoths.
So far, the startup has received $15 million in funding.
Specialists of the company expect to get the first cubs of such elephants within 4-6 years.
The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct member of the elephant family, whose closest modern relative is the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).
Scientists have been discussing the possibility of reviving mammoths for many years and even making some progress in this direction.
For example, Japanese and Russian researchers forced the nucleus of cells from mammoth tissues to divide.
Harvard geneticist George Church and American entrepreneur Ben Lamm announced the creation of the company Colossal, whose activities will be aimed at the return of woolly mammoths.
To do this, they plan to use the CRISPR / Cas system to edit the genome of the Asian elephant.
The company ’ s website states that a genetically edited Asian elephant embryo will be carried by a female African elephant to eliminate the extra burden on the population of the Asian elephant, whose conservation status is Endangered.
Colossal experts intend to return mammoths to the Arctic expanses, restoring with their help the disappeared tundra steppes - this should prevent the melting of permafrost, which releases a large amount of methane - a greenhouse gas.
The company also believes that the technologies that will be developed for this project can be used to return other extinct species and to save endangered organisms.
The Colossal website also states that the animals that the company is going to get are more correctly called not mammoths, but “frost-resistant elephants with all the main biological features of a woolly mammoth. ”
Russia will be glad to continue warming, because it brings us more pluses than minuses.
But still, the American development should be supported, it is also necessary to immediately engage in its import substitution.
We are interested in the revival of mammoths.
Tundra makes up 10% of the territory of Russia, and if with the help of polar elephants it is possible to turn it into a more biologically productive and liveable tundra steppe, it will be a great help for our agriculture and tourism.
Just imagine: obese herds of elephant mammoths graze on snow-covered fields, and joyful tourists roam between them on safari jeeps.
This is more interesting than reindeer digging moss out of an impassable swamp.
2.
Western environmentalists have come up with another way to save the world.
To do this, you just need to force livestock to use the toilet carefully.
Moreover, the daring experimenters did succeed – they accustomed the cows to the pot!
https: / / nplus1.ru / news / 2021 / 09 / 14 / cows
German and New Zealand biologists have proven that cows can be taught to urinate in the same place.
This is good news for the environment, because the urine of free-grazing cattle pollutes the soil and water bodies, and also contributes to climate change.
If cows from one herd begin to relieve themselves in a certain specially equipped room, it will be easier for farmers to collect and dispose of waste.
The results of the study were published in an article for the journal Current Biology.
Animal husbandry is the cause of many environmental problems, one of them is waste.
Cattle urinate and defecate abundantly, which leads to pollution of soils and water bodies, as well as emissions of significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
The worst situation is where animals are kept in free grazing.
One of the possible solutions to this situation is to teach cows and bulls to relieve themselves in certain places, so that it would be easier for farmers to collect and send the urine of their wards for processing.
Theoretically, this is possible: the excretory system of cattle has no fundamental differences from that of species that can go to the toilet in specific places, for example, domestic cats.
However, attempts to develop this idea in practice have so far had limited success.
The team, led by Jan Langbein of the Leibniz Association Institute for Animal Biology, decided to start the process of raising cows from a young age.
The researchers selected 16 five-month-old female Holstein calves and placed them two in a room equipped with a cow toilet with a floor covered with plastic grass.
Before the start of each experiment, the animals were injected with diuretics.
At the same time, after each urination in the toilet, the calf received a treat through an automatic dispenser.
This phase of the experiment had a dual purpose.
First, the researchers wanted the animals to understand that the toilet is a place to cope with natural needs.
Second, the authors tested whether cow urination could be controlled with rewards.
It turned out that this is possible: shortly after the beginning of the experiments, 10 of the 16 calves began to urinate, turning or moving in the direction from which the delicacy appeared.
The remaining six learned this a little later.
At the next stage, all the same calves were taught to pass from the corridor to the toilet and urinate there.
In order to enter, they had to activate the gate.
Individuals who did everything right received a treat, after which the gate opened automatically and released them into the corridor (the course of the experiment you can see in the video below).
However, if the calf urinated in the corridor, instead of a reward, it was exposed to an unpleasant stimulus - it was sprayed with water for three seconds.
As a result, 11 of the 16 individuals quickly learned to restrain the urge and urinate in the designated place.
At the same time, calves that learned poorly urinated as often as their more trained relatives.
Well, the experiments are inhumane, of course, but it's better than cow muzzles with gas traps:
https: / / olegmakarenko.ru / 2160373.html
We look forward to the new achievements of Western geniuses.
3.
Doctors frighten us with all sorts of epidemiological misfortunes due to global warming.
As if Russia could turn into a kind of tropical Africa with its many unpleasant diseases:
https: / / lenta.ru / news / 2021 / 08 / 30 / virusi _ i _ klimat /
Climate change leads to the fact that on the territory of Russia, the emergence and spread of diseases characteristic of warmer regions are increasingly recorded.
About this “Tape.ru ” told the doctor-therapist, clinical pharmacologist Andrei Kondrakhin.
In 10-15 years, epidemics of such dangerous diseases as malaria, yellow fever and others can become a serious problem for the country, the expert predicts.
Rospotrebnadzor earlier reported that in the fall in Russia may appear mosquitoes that are carriers of West Nile fever.
According to Andrei Kondrakhin, the climate in Russia is becoming increasingly suitable for insect carriers of dangerous viral diseases.
Despite the fact that in the cold season they often die, in the summer they are often brought by travelers, after which mosquitoes and flies quickly multiply in the Russian regions.
“Everything goes to the fact that dangerous viral diseases we will become more and more, — said the doctor. — It would seem that where is the West Nile, and where are we?
But insects get to us quite easily: in the suitcases of travelers, they are transported by warm air currents - it is not difficult at all.
And, despite the fact that in the winter so far they die in our country, in the next season the situation repeats itself.
The warmer the climate becomes, the milder the winters, the more favorable conditions will be for insect carriers of diseases, gradually they will begin to assimilate. ”
Kondrakhin is confident that over time, such a severe tropical disease as malaria will become routine for Russia.
The same, for example, with yellow fever, a virus of Japanese encephalitis that causes inflammation of the brain, the doctor believes.
“And yet this will not be observed throughout the country, ” the expert reassured. – For mosquitoes, not only a warm, but also a humid climate is extremely important, so most likely, the epidemic will not reach the same Moscow as other large Russian cities. ”
He added that since climate change and the emergence of new diseases on the territory of Russia are inevitable, it is necessary to prepare now to repel possible epidemics.
“We ’ ve had our own problems before, like ticks that carry encephalitis and Lyme disease.
Now they wake up earlier.
In 10-15 years, flies can be added to this, carrying typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery and other diseases that previously seemed exotic to us, ” Kondrakhin concluded.
Perhaps it is necessary to prepare in advance for such threats.
Countermeasures have already been developed, it remains to take them into service.
These are gene drive technologies that reduce insect populations, as well as special antimosquito fungi:
https: / / lenta.ru / articles / 2019 / 01 / 25 / genetic _ weapon /
https: / / lenta.ru / news / 2019 / 06 / 03 / mosquitos /
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Content: People love stories about the end of the world.
But in describing the possible demise of civilization, we have become excessively fascinated by science fiction.
Today, the word “apocalypse ” for fans of the genre is tantamount to an alien invasion or a zombie virus pandemic.
Both options seem incredible so the apocalypse doesn ’ t scare anyone anymore.
In fact, if there is someone intelligent in the universe, he is unlikely to fly through endless space for one tiny planet in a small galaxy.
With the zombie virus, the situation is similar: in theory, it is possible to invent a disease like in The Walking Dead, but this makes no sense - we already have COVID-19.
And while we talk about movies and TV shows, civilization is slowly but surely moving towards extinction.
Some researchers even talk about the onset of a new ice age – it turned out that warming can lead to cooling, writes Hi-News.ru.
Change for the Worst
Three years ago, few people could have imagined how much the world would change.
The first blow was caused by a pandemic, the second – the aggravation of military conflicts.
Today, the very existence of nuclear weapons is alarming.
Agree, this is the situation.
The new IPCC report on climate change adds fuel to the fire.
To put it simply, we have not been able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Moreover, we have increased them, and the consequences will be catastrophic.
Thus, an increase in the average temperature on the planet may bring a new ice age closer.
The main problem with global warming is that all changes come slowly.
For this reason, as such, there will be no “X Day ”, instead we will witness a humanitarian catastrophe against the background of fires, droughts, floods and cooling.
In 2004, the disaster film “The Day After Tomorrow ” was released, in which part of the land was frozen due to the stoppage of the Gulf Stream.
Of course, “The Day After Tomorrow ” is a fantastic blockbuster, but some of the problems are described in the film quite well.
Thus, the results of the conducted studies indicate a serious slowdown in the Gulf Stream.
The Ice Planet
Since the climate on Earth has always changed, after the heat often comes cooling.
For example, in the early 14th century, the cold period led to glaciation in the mountains and the expansion of some areas of sea ice (as well as crop failures, hunger and disease throughout Europe).
In other words, the usual summer was replaced by a harsh winter, and the rivers simply froze.
The reason for this has not been answered for a long time.
Scientists explained the cooling by an increased level of volcanic activity and a decrease in solar activity.
Now, researchers from the University of Massachusetts have discovered new data according to which the temperature of the seas and oceans is critical.
“Surprisingly, the cooling appears to have been caused by an unusually warm episode, ” write the authors of the new scientific paper.
The rapid rise in sea temperature is a key factor explaining why the temperature on Earth has fallen to its lowest value in the last 10,000 years.
According to researchers, this problem has not been noticed in the past.
Water temperature
Meanwhile, a previously published study has developed a reconstruction of sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic about three thousand years ago.
The results revealed a sudden shift from very warm weather at the end of the 13th century to unprecedented cold at the beginning of the 14th century.
These changes occurred in just 20 years.
Using various sources to obtain detailed data on sea temperatures, the team found that at the end of the 13th century there was an anomalous transfer of warm water to the north, which peaked in about 80 years.
“When warm water from the tropics flows north along the coast of Northern Europe, it reaches higher latitudes and meets cold Arctic waters, ” the paper says.
During the encounter, the water loses heat and becomes denser, sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
This deep-sea formation then follows south along the coast of North America and continues to circulate around the world.
But at the end of the 13th century, there was more warm water, and the transition of the current to the north led to the rapid loss of Arctic ice.
As a result of the changes, a huge amount of ice was in the North Atlantic.
The additional ice not only cooled the waters, but also diluted their salinity, which led to a stoppage of the flow.
It was his stop, according to scientists, was the cause of further cooling.
But can something like this happen today?
Solar activity
According to scientists at the University of Massachusetts in a paper published in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the same atmospheric situation occurred shortly before the Little Ice Age.
To find out if this is actually allowed... the trees.
Comparing the results with new solar activity data detected using radiocarbon isotopes preserved in tree rings, scientists found that at the end of the 13th century there was an unusually high solar activity.
At the same time, there were fewer volcanic eruptions on Earth, which means there was less ash in the air.
The "clean" atmosphere meant that the planet was more sensitive to changes in solar energy.
"Consequently, the effect of high solar activity on atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic was particularly strong," the authors explain.
But could the Little Ice Age now come today?
The authors of the study point to the amount of Arctic sea ice, which is much less today due to the climate crisis.
Therefore, an event similar to what happened in the early XIV century, associated with the transfer of sea ice, is unlikely.
However, it is necessary to monitor the accumulation of fresh water in the sea north of Alaska, which has increased by 40% over the past two decades.
Glaciers are also rapidly disappearing.
But if more fresh water enters the North Atlantic, it could potentially lead to the weakening or collapse of the AMOC, the current system in the Atlantic Ocean that moves warm water from the tropics to Greenland and northern Europe.
Spots on the Sun
Another possibility of cooling comes from sunspots, or rather from their number.
Since the Sun is in an 11-year cycle of rising / falling temperatures, the unusual solar minimum may turn out to be cold, which correlates with lower temperatures in some parts of the planet.
According to estimates, we are at risk of witnessing a 7% decrease in solar activity and heat.
A similar large minimum occurred around the middle of the 17th century and led to the freezing of the River Thames as well as the Baltic Sea.
The first “frost fair ” on the River Thames in Great Britain was held in 1608 and was held almost annually until 1814.
The exact timing and intensity of the disaster are being discussed, but available data indicate that the situation will peak around 2050, but could occur as early as 2030.
The cooling effect of a large minimum is only a small part of the warming caused by the growing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
It turns out that solar activity and AMOS stop can really lead to cooling and a small ice age.
Fortunately, humanity has 10 years to reduce the amount of harmful emissions and the atmosphere.
But if the situation does not change, you and I will have to watch the slow end of the world, in the hope of, for example, an alien invasion or the fall of the moon.
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According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

As the last Ice Age ended, global temperatures began to rise, leading to dramatic shifts in climate patterns.

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

These changes resulted in:
- **Habitat Loss**: The warming climate caused the retreat of the cold, dry steppes that mammoths depended on for food.

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Content: Cave lions in Europe and mammoths in the United States.
Scientists have told what the Earth would be without Homo sapiens
The researchers say that in general, the planet could be an exciting place, which would be inhabited by representatives of megafauna.
Scientists believe that without humans, the Earth would be a more wild and fertile place, in which giants such as ostrich moa birds with a height of 3.6 meters still lived.
They lived in New Zealand for millions of years, but disappeared 750 years after their land was invaded by man, writes LiveScience.
The vanished giant moas and eagles of Haast, whose wingspan was 2.6 meters or more, are a small example of how human activity has changed the planet.
The survival of such large animals is crucial in thinking about what the Earth would be like without humans, as such giants have a crucial influence on landscapes.
Senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Seren Forby, says humans have played a crucial role in the extinction of many large mammals.
Forby led the study, published in the journal Diversity and Distributions.
It said that without humans, the Earth would resemble an ecoregion in East Africa, the Serengeti, teeming with life.
In such a scenario, extinct animals, along with elephants, rhinos and lions, would live throughout Europe.
For example, the African lions (Panthera leo) would still be replaced by cave lions (Panthera spelaea), a larger species that lived in Europe about 12,000 years ago.
At the same time, America would be home to larger relatives of elephants and bears, as well as unique species such as the glyptodon – car-sized armadillos and giant sloths.
“In a world without humans, there would be a lot more different species of large mammals, as well as a much more open habitat, ” says Forby.
Elephants or other species of large animals do not tolerate obstacles in their search for food.
In such cases, the territory acquires a less wooded appearance.
The world would be brighter
During the last Pleistocene Ice Age (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), the Earth was rich in megafauna.
Much of it went extinct after the end of this ice age or millennia later.
A 2021 study from the journal Nature found that climate change had wiped out woolly mammoths as well as other Arctic megafauna, but humans also put additional pressure on these species by hunting them.
Christopher Doughty, an ecologist at the University of Northern Arizona, modeled how large animals, among other things, affected ecosystems by moving seeds and nutrients during eating and defecating.
The expert found that the movement of elements such as phosphorus, calcium and magnesium, which play a crucial role in life, decreased by almost 90% along with the disappearance of megafauna.
The researcher emphasizes that without human intervention, all the necessary elements would be evenly distributed throughout the landscape.
Thus, the soil would be more fertile and productive.
Agriculture and zoning make land less fertile compared to systems in the wild.
Such increased fertility means that the Earth would be much richer in crops and colors, the planet would definitely be brighter without humans.
Without humans, the climate would be different.
Human induced global warming is known to have raised the average temperature by 1 degree Celsius since the early 20th century.
Consequently, the weather on the planet would be cooler without humanity.
A 2016 study in the journal Nature found that current warming delayed the onset of the ice age by at least 100,000 years.
But this should not have happened for another 50,000 years, so it is unlikely that without humans there would be another ice age on Earth right now.
People are inevitable
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) were not always the only hominins on the planet.
The disappearance of Homo sapiens could open up new perspectives for Neanderthals.
There is no single answer to the question of why the Neanderthals died out about 40 thousand years ago.
There were probably several reasons for their disappearance, and Homo sapiens are the main suspects.
Professor Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum in London believes that the competition between Neanderthals and humans was one of the reasons for the disappearance of the former.
“If Homo sapiens hadn ’ t come to Europe about 45,000 or 50,000 years ago, I think Neanderthals and their descendants would still have lived on Earth, ” Stringer says.
The expert notes that Neanderthals led a complex life in Europe, they faced climate change, were a small group with low genetic diversity.
“Neanderthals probably were already in distress when modern humans came to their lands, and this factor could be the last, ” the expert notes.
But humans could have influenced the survival of more than just Neanderthals.
At least there is another relative of Homo sapiens who shared land with humans and Neanderthals: the Denisovans.
This line is closer to Neanderthals than to modern humans in terms of genes and appearance.
Judging by a number of studies, people interbred with Denisovans, because modern people continue to find the DNA of Denisovans.
It is assumed that Denisovans had a wider range of habitat than Neanderthals.
They may also have more genetic diversity than Neanderthals.
"Perhaps the Denisovans were even better species for survival than the Neanderthals," Stringer said.
In general, Denisovans and Neanderthals could pave the way similar to H. sapiens, moving from hunting and gathering to the development of agriculture.
"There is no obvious reason why Neanderthals or Denisovans would not have evolved if they had the time to do so," he said.

Title:

Content: WomenDraiv.ru
Science and technology
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What happens to the planet if all the insects disappear?
Without insects, our world will plunge into chaos, and human civilization will disappear from the face of the Earth.
Honestly, I don ’ t like insects.
Especially spiders, and others are not particularly pitiful, even butterflies scare me at times (have you seen their antennae?)
But no matter how we treat these tiny creatures, without them, life on our planet would be simply impossible.
Insects are needed for pollination of our crops, processing of manure, maintaining soil health, pest control - all you can not list.
Moreover, they are a source of nutrition for many animals, such as birds, frogs and fish.
Yes, what is there, even wildflowers rely on insects for pollination.
Meanwhile, most of us live in cities, which means that since childhood we practically do not see insects, except for domestic flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches - in fact, that's why we do not favor them.
Insects are often called "creepy creeping creatures" - unpleasant, running, dirty creatures living in darkness and spreading disease.
Therefore, few realize how important these creatures are to our own survival.
Researchers believe that as insects become smaller, our world will gradually sink into chaos.
The Inconspicuous Apocalypse: A World Without Insects
I will be frank - there is little good news for scientists for you and me.
Take, for example, the latest study of coronavirus, rapid climate change and the state of the Earth ’ s ecosystems – wherever you look, the situation is critical.
Mutations of SARS-CoV-2 continue despite vaccination, and the results of a very recent study, according to The Washington Post, and did show that vaccinated people can infect the unvaccinated with the Delta variant.
But back to the insects.
Scientists call what is happening an unnoticed apocalypse: their number is rapidly declining - 41% of insect species face extinction.
“If this mass insect death continues, the consequences will be catastrophic, ” said Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex in the UK and author of the report on insect decline.
“Three-quarters of our crops depend on pollinators.
The crops will begin to disappear.
About strawberries, for example, you can forget, ” he said in an interview with CNN.
Without insects, the familiar to us simply cannot exist.
See also: Insects and spiders are rapidly disappearing from the face of the Earth.
What does that mean?
In addition to their role as food, insects perform many other vital functions in ecosystems.
For example, 87% of all plant species require animal pollination, most of which is delivered by insects.
The colorful petals, fragrance and nectar of flowers have evolved to attract pollinators.
Without pollination, the wildflowers would not produce seeds, and most of them would eventually disappear.
But the lack of pollinators will have far more devastating environmental consequences than just the loss of wildflowers.
About three-quarters of the crop species we grow also require insect pollination, and if the bulk of plant species could no longer produce seeds and become extinct, every community on Earth would suffer.
We cannot feed nearly 8 billion people without insects.
Reduction of insect population
An interesting study has shown that land - use changes in agriculture are the main cause of the decline in the number of insects in the world.
“The industrialization of agriculture in the second half of the 20th century included agriculture on a significantly expanded scale, monoculture, the use of increasing amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, and the elimination of intermittent hedges and other wildlife habitat fragments.
All these methods contribute to the death of insects and reduce biodiversity, ” write the authors of the scientific work.
We do not often think about this, driving away an annoying fly, but the death of insects can destroy us and you.
It is important to understand that the problem of insect death is widespread – currently about 11% of the Earth ’ s area is used for growing crops, and another 30% is used for grazing livestock.
The authors of the study are particularly concerned about the effects of agricultural activities in tropical regions where deforestation is widespread to clear land for agriculture.
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"Given that the vast majority of insect species live in the tropics, deforestation there is undoubtedly among the greatest threats to insect biodiversity in the world," the study said.
Since scientists estimate that less than 15% of insects in the tropics have not yet been discovered by humans, this means that many species will die out before we know they exist.
This can make it difficult to understand the impact of their loss on forest ecosystems as a whole.
Another study showed that the climate crisis contributes even more to the dangerous decline in insect populations than the direct effect of land-use change.
“From invasive species to habitat loss, pesticides and pollution, the Anthropocene stressors are numerous and multifaceted, but none are as geographically distributed or as likely to interact with all other factors as climate change, ” the study said.
The destruction of insects has far-reaching consequences for entire ecosystems, experts warn.
The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the literature based on the results of long-term monitoring of insect populations and found many cases of decline in their numbers.
For example, in the mountains of California, rising average daily minimum temperatures have led to a sharp decline in some butterfly populations, especially in the arid years, as warmer climates disrupted their mating schedule and access to nectar-producing plants.
The same was true for moths in warmer temperatures in Finland and the UK, where there were problems maintaining optimal body temperature.
This is interesting: What bacteria and insects are lurking in your bed linen?
What to do?
In a forward-looking paper that combines the findings of 11 studies, scientists outline key ways in which world leaders could achieve insect reduction.
These efforts should include closer monitoring of the health and abundance of insect populations, as well as stress factors, from rising temperatures to pesticide use.
In addition to creating a new monitoring, the authors call for more resources to be used to analyze existing data, many of which are hardly analyzed or not considered at all.
Comment

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

What aspects of climate change contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

What environmental factors contributed to the wooly mammoth extinction?

As these grasslands disappeared, they were replaced by forests and wetlands, which were unsuitable for mammoth grazing.

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
pastures becoming swampy
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
pastures becoming swampy
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

According to most recent research, what is the primary cause of wooly mammoth extinction?

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

restricted habitat
shrank grassland
pastures becoming swampy
food sources disappearing

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?

- **Vegetation Changes**: The shift from grasslands to shrublands and forests reduced

How did climate change affect mammoth' habitat?

What are the causes of the wooly mammoth extinction?