Sky High Islands of America

How can you consider something an Island if it not surrounded by water? The Sky Islands of North America established this rare classification.

The Sky Island region covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico. The "island" consists of landlocked mountain peaks which provide a home to a wide variety of animal life.

 The animal list consists of bears and wolves to parrots and jaguars.

The ecosystem breaks down like this: the north-south line consist of temperate forests and subtropical landscapes. The east-west portion is mostly desert-like area. This unique grouping explains the jaguars and bears.

                                                 The convergence of habitats known as the Sky Island region                                                            blends together to create a rare mix of ecosystems. There are very                                                    few places on Earth with this much Bio-diversity and those rarities                                                  are being threatened by global warming.(picture courtesy                                                                of http://www.terrain.org/articles/21/skroch.htm)

The issues facing the Sky Island region are not unique. The increasing threat of global warming threatens to extend droughts longer than they already are. A prolonged drought to an ecosystem so complex can have dangerous consequences. 

There is also the issue of Homeland Security and border patrol. Because the Sky Island region spans over two US states and one Mexican city, there are geopolitical concerns, mainly immigration.

According to the Sky Island Alliance, the Department of Homeland Security has waived at least 30 environmental laws in order to speed up the construction of a 670 mile-wide fence along the US-Mexico border.

The Alliance claims the construction of the fence would damage the unique habitat of the Sky Island region.





 Sources:

http://www.livescience.com/29569-8-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-places.html

http://www.terrain.org/articles/21/skroch.htm

http://www.walden.org/About_Us/WW_Project_Awards/2014_Challenge_Awards/Sky_Island_Alliance

http://www.skyislandalliance.org/CIR%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/02/nation/na-fence2

Borneo: A broken record

At this point, i sound like a broken record. Yet another rainforest in danger due to deforestation in the name of economic growth. This time it is the Borneo rainforest, which is located between Indonesisa, Brunei, and Malaysia.

The narrative of the Borneo rainforest really no different than that of the everglades or the amazon. According to Livescience.com, deforestation has caused the decline of forest land to the tune of 1.21 million hectares a year from 1997-2000. One Hectare is equivalent to about 2.5 acres.

But there is one dark element that is unique to the Borneo land, illegal trade of endangered animals. It is not the illegal trade that is unique as much as the animal being kidnapped.

The Bornean orangutan is unique to the Borneo rainforest. According to the World Wildlife Fund, over 60 percent of the orangutan population has disappeared due to loss of habitat and hunting.

The orangutans are used for anything from pets to artifacts. An orangutan can go for as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.

                           The Bornean orangutan is unique to the Borneo rainforest. The species has a                                low-birthrate which is troubling since they are often hunted or captured for                                  pets. Their habitat is also disappearing due to deforestation. (Picture courtesy                             of http://savenaturesavehuman.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-bornean-                                                 orangutan.html)

According to the World Wildlife Fund 56 percent of (protected) lowland tropical rainforest in Kalimanten were cut down between 1985 and 2001. The equivalent land mass of the country of Belgium. 

Sources:

http://www.livescience.com/29569-8-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-places.html

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_forests/borneo_deforestation/#hunting

http://borneoproject.org/borneo/overview-of-current-threats

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/24/borneo-indonesia-rainforest-illegal-logging

Madagascar

Madagascar is not as happy and chipper and the Dreamworks cartoon depicts. It is, in fact, a disappearing wonder of our world.

Madagascar is an island off the southeast coast of Africa. Much like the Everglades, Madagascar has a very unique ecosystem. This unique landscape provides a home to rare and unique animals. 

Much Like the Amazon, Deforestation and a growing population of people is causing the Madagascar forests to disappear at a rapid rate. 

A tradition in Madagascar is called Tavy. Tavy is when a family burns down a portion of rain forest to begin planting rice. This rice will provide for the family. Tavy is widely used in the island country, often considered one of the poorest countries in the world. 

According to PBS, about 80 percent of the population are subsistence farmers. At that rate it is now wonder the land forest is disappearing. Any time the survival of people hinge on the death of a forest, the forest does not stand a chance. 

In the 1980's however the Malagasy Government recognized the long-term dangers that tavy can cause to their rain forest. 

They created The National Environmental Action Plan. The project is designed to develop protected areas in order to save the unique wildlife that resides in Madagascar such as the red-ruffed lemur, only found on the Masoala Peninsula. The Masoala Peninsula is home to a 3000 square kilometer park, which protects the lemur and other rare species native to the island. 

                                          The Masoala Peninsula is home to the first major project of the                                                       National Environmental Action Plan. The project is aimed to                                                           protect precious forest land from farming and deforestation. (Picture                                             courtesy of http://www.domani.ch/masoala/en/index.html)

To make issues worse, there is political instability in Madagascar. In 2009, there was a coup to take over the existing government. Natascha Paddison, acting deputy representative for UNICEF, said, "Following the coup all aid to Madagascar was suspended. That is catastrophic for a country where foreign aid accounted for 70 percent of the national budget."

Sources:

http://www.livescience.com/29569-8-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-places.html

http://www.pbs.org/edens/madagascar/paradise.htm

http://www.wildmadagascar.org/conservation/threats.html

http://www.unric.org/en/madagascar/27072-madagascar-the-untold-crisis

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tlbolton/world_forestry/

http://web1.cnre.vt.edu/lsg/GEOG3104S10Web/Group1/Caitlin/Introduction.html

The Amazon

So far we have covered the coldest  area in Antarctica to the most diverse in the Everglades. Now we turn to another "popular" endangered area, The Amazon rain forest.

The Amazon rain forest is more culturally popular than Antarctica. Since the birth of real environmental activism, the Amazon has been the prime suspect in the fight against deforestation.

The Amazon rain forest has been the subject of movies such as Fern Gully and Avatar. Although the issues have been spelled out over the imagery of the Hollywood big screen, the problems are very real.

                                         Pictured above is the war between the activists and the logging                                                        companies. Greenpeace, an environmental activist group, discovered an                                          illegal logging site and decided to let the world know about it. (Picture                                            courtesy of www.greenpeace.org)

The narrative here is simple. The rain forest is clashing with economic needs of people. When this happens, the economy wins most of the time. The logging industry is vast. Even with protection, illegal logging site pop up. 

Deforestation is problematic for two reasons. The cutting down of trees is problematic because trees help to stabilize the environment, mainly the greenhouse effect. First, the trees adsorb gases and sunlight that, if they were not there, would increase global warming to an unprecedented pace. 

Secondly, you have to tear down trees, to be able to tear down trees.  This is an underrated aspect of logging. You must clear a path to process the timber. The damage is twofold. 

According to National Geographic, the world has lost more than half of its rain forests to date. The worlds rain forest used to cover 14 percent of the land on Earth. Now they only cover 6 percent. 

Sources:

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-most-endangered-places-in-the-world/

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/why_amazon_important/

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/rainforest-threats/

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/the-amazon-rainforest/

Antarctica

Perhaps the most mainstream endangered area in the world, Antarctica remains a poster for global warming.

Oddly enough, Antarctica is not known, like many other places we covered, for its biodiversity. For the most part it is a cold and nearly uninhabitable block of ice. Unfortunately, this block of ice is melting fast.

As with any area on the blog, Antarctica holds a unique and crucial place in the story of our world. As a consequence, its disappearance would spell the end for millions of people.

                                       An iceberg/glacier in the Pleneau Bay in Antarctica. Forget the practical                                        importance, the sheer beauty of these ice formations should be held in                                            deep regard. (Picture courtesy of http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/)

Antarctica holds 90 percent of the earths freshwater. The ice sheets in the north are the largest mass of ice in the world. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if the caps were to melt, the result would be a 200 feet rise in sea level. 

How do ice caps melt? The Ice caps melt because of rising ocean water temperatures. The warmer sea water pushes itself above the ice and melts it. according to Nasa.gov, the weight of the land ice pushes the continental shelf land inward. This creates a slide for the warm water to slide all the way down. 

A recent study of the Pine Glacier Ice shelf, one of the critical ice mass in Antarctica, shows that the ice shelf is melting at a rate as high as 2.36 meters per day. 

Sources:

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-most-endangered-places-in-the-world/

http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/antarctic_ice_sheet.htm

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/warm-ocean-rapidly-melting-antarctic-ice-shelf-from-below/#.VIU-w2NnC0Z

The Everglades National Park

The Everglades National Park is a uniquely positioned national park. The process of the fresh water from the Everglades swamp mixing with the salt water of the local mangrove creates a rare ecosystem.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, this diverse landscape provides a home to over 20 rare, threatened, and endangered species.

Because of the diverse landscape the Everglades is able to sustain hundred of different species of animal. The site provides a breeding ground for over 400 species of birds.

                                         The Everglades National Park contains vast wetlands as well as vast                                                dry lands. Its unique ecosystem makes it unlike any national park in                                                the country. (Picture courtesy of http://www.npca.org)

The Everglades is the only area in the United States that is deemed a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. 

In order to be considered a World Heritage site, the area must meet certain criteria, ten to be exact. UNESCO considers a World Heritage Site to, "Be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of the ten selection criteria." (http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/)

                                        The Everglades is the only World Heritage Site in the United States. It                                           holds national and universal value.                                                                                                       (Picture courtesy of http://sofia.usgs.gov)

The Everglades is important not only to the animals that live there but to community that surrounds it. The land is often used by Universities to research the lives and habitats of rare and endangered species. 

The fresh water everglades is the main sources of freshwater for Miami and much of south Florida. 

Sources:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/

http://www.nps.gov/ever/naturescience/sfnrc.htm

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/everglades-national-park/

http://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/everglades-national-park

The Swiss Alpine Glaciers

If the current weather trends continue the glaciers in the Swiss alps will be completely gone by 2050.

The largest Swiss alpine glaciers, the Aletsch, has receded more than 2 kilometers over the course of the 20th century. 

                                         The Aletsch is the largest glacier in the Swiss Alps. Due to recent                                                      weather trends the glacier is rapidly melting. If the glacier melts, it                                                  could cause major flooding to the surrounding towns. 

Roland Psenner, a fresh water scientist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, says that about 3 percent of the glaciers ice is lost each year. According to National Geographic, in 2003 and 2006, the glaciers lost a total of 17 percent of its ice. 

This is a troubling trend to the residents who rely on the glaciers for natural lakes.

Another dangerous event is taking shape as the glaciers melt and its not just flooding. The permafrost, which acts as a glue to hold the mass of the mountains together, is failing; as a result large chunks of the mountain is falling apart.

The Ice from the glacier provides pressure on the mountain. Without that pressure, large pieces begin to fall.

                                         This chart shows the annual mass loss to the alpine glaciers due to                                                  global warming. The glaciers are rapidly disappearing, causing large                                              pieces of mountain to fall apart and roll down the mountain.

                                          The Feegletscher or Fairy Glacier. Signs of melting snow show a grim                                              picture of the future of the glacier. What was once full of fluffy                                                        white is not missing large chunks of snow.

Pictures courtesy of: 

http://icons.wxug.com/hurricane/chrisburt/alpinegraph.jpg

                                                                              http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Aletschgletscher_mit_Pinus_cembra2.jpg

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-trail-swiss-glacier-climate-action.html

Sources:

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2012/07/26/worlds-most-endangered-destinations-places-amazon-venice-dead-sea-sumatra/#!slide=aol_1245723

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070123-alps-glaciers.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/world/europe/in-swiss-alps-glacial-melting-unglues-mountains.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-trail-swiss-glacier-climate-action.html