On Thursday,
July 7, 2016, I wrote a blog alert quoting Lawrence Soloman’s article in the Financial Post: “Hooray! There’s reason
to celebrate that CO2 levels are rising.”
What’s to
celebrate? Recent finding from NASA and the University of Otago, New Zealand
provide us with the first global picture of the seasonal change in the patterns
of vegetation – known as phenology,
the timing of leaf emergence and how CO2
is altering the cycle. The planet is getting greener. Plants love CO2. But……….!
Earlier leaf
emergence moving out of synch with the life cycles of birds, pollinators and
mammals will have a significant impact on the ecosystem and could lead to
higher extinction rates of species dependent on leaf cycle.
Are these early
warning indicators of catastrophic ecosystem changes? NASA is sending up three
missions to investigate the role of plants in the breathing earth’s carbon and
water cycle.
Edward O.
Wilson's book, Half Earth: Our PlanetsFight for Life, proposes an achievable plan to save our imperiled
biosphere: Devote half the surface of the Earth to nature. It’s a
good start.
