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Link, the Hero of Time
Vice Admiral
Joined: 15 Sep 2001
Posts: 5581
Location: Kokori Forest, Hyrule
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 Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:42 am |
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And another reason drilling there would be bad, can we say Global Warming?
The C02 emissions from the oil drilling and burning, Especially in the tundra, will radically increase the melting of arctic glaciers.
and since some people only respond to images, These are the animals that this drilling would impact. though I couldn't find any pictures of baby seals, which will feel the impact more then the adults.
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OIL DEVELOPMENT, GLOBAL WARMING AND ARCTIC WILDLIFE
OIL DEVELOPMENT, GLOBAL WARMING AND ARCTIC WILDLIFE
Extracting oil from the Arctic Refuge will not only have direct impacts on arctic wildlife from disturbance, fragmentation and contamination, it will contribute to the slow degradation of arctic ecosystems that has already begun. The burning of oil pumped from the Arctic Refuge would release a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming, with profound effects on the arctic tundra, the Porcupine Caribou herd and polar bears.
The oil and coal industries have waged a tremendous mis-information campaign, trying to debunk the impacts of global climate change. But they cannot hide the consensus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of 2500 scientists from around the world, that has found climate has changed and will continue to change as a result of human emissions of green-house gases. And they can�t hide the ice that is already melting at high elevations and high latitudes!
The coverage of sea ice in the arctic regions has decreased 6% between 1978 and 1996. How much is that? The arctic sea ice covers an area about equal to the size of the U.S. and each year an area roughly twice the size of New Jersey disappears. The average thickness of arctic ice has also thinned, shrinking from 10.2 feet in 1960, to 5.9 feet now - a reduction of 42% in only the last 40 years! Inland glaciers all over the world, an important source of fresh water in some areas, have also been shrinking at an accelerated rate. Should this rate continue the volume of ice in the world�s glaciers would be halved. It is this melting of ice that provides the �extra� water that may lead to large-scale coastal flooding.
Polar Bears
Changes in sea ice are slowly killing polar bear populations. In Hudson Bay, Canada, researchers here have noted that polar bears are 10% thinner and have 10% fewer cubs than 20 years ago. Canadian researchers have been gathering data on the polar bears of Western Hudson Bay for well over thirty years. Polar bears hunt their prey, predominantly ringed-seals, from the ice. Because the ice in this region melts completely each summer, the bears have adapted a strategy of coming ashore near Churchill, Manitoba at the end of July and fasting until the ice again freezes in November. To overcome these months of fasting the bears must have accumulated an adequate reserve of fat prior to break-up. Break-up is now occurring an average of 10-14 days earlier than 20 years ago (this past season break-up was 4 weeks earlier). The bears are arriving onshore about 20 lbs. lighter for each week earlier break-up occurs. This is most critical for females nursing new cubs because they simply don�t have enough fat reserves to produce enough milk for their offspring to survive. Stirling and his colleagues have found not only an increase in cub mortality but also a decrease of 15% in birth rates. For these slow reproducing, long-lived animals this can quickly spell trouble.
Weather data shows that temperatures have been increasing by about � a degree per decade since the 1950s and models of the current trends predict that the area will be 3-5 degrees warmer within 50 years. They estimate further that each degree warmer roughly translates into about 1 week earlier break-up. Clearly these polar bears may soon have a serious problem and their options are limited, moving further north requires that they compete with the polar bears that are already residents there and remaining in the south quickly brings them into conflict with the human population.
Because these polar bears are at the southern limit of their range they can serve as an indicator of things to come for the remaining polar bear populations. As the ice continues to shrink throughout the arctic regions we may soon begin to see similar results the world over.
Shrinking ice isn�t the only problem. Studies have shown that warming causes plants important to wildlife to sharply decline. These changes in the tundra plant community will likely impact many aspects of community structure in the Arctic Refuge. Species impacted may include populations of arctic hare, caribou, muskox, gray wolf, brown bear, and golden eagles, all vital components of the coastal plain tundra of Arctic Refuge.
The tundra itself is under threat. Global warming allows tree species to migrate northward, displacing current species. One set of climate models predicts that by 2100, if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, the tree-less tundra will disappear from the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.
There is particular concern over the fate of the Porcupine caribou herd as global warming progresses. Traditionally, the herd migrates to the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to give birth, leaving in early July for wintering south of Brooks Range. With the arctic already warming, spring has been arriving earlier on the coastal plain. Caribou are shifting their migration pattern to try to accommodate this change; on average, the herd is leaving winter and summer grounds a month earlier than usual, likely in response to changes in plants. Even by changing their behavior, caribou may not be able to take advantage of maximum plant growth and the initial nutrition of new shoots. This was evidenced in 1990, the earliest spring on record. The primary forage species for caribou had already gone to seed by the time the animals reached the coastal plain to calve.
The Porcupine caribou herd traditionally gathers on the lands slated for oil development. There are fewer predators and fewer biting flies than in other regions of the coastal plain, making it a preferred nursing area.
As global warming pushes the tundra farther north, the caribou herd will move closer to the coast, precisely the area where development would be concentrated if the Arctic Refuge is opened to oil exploration.
The combination of changes in forage species induced by global warming along with the development of the coastal plain proposed by oil companies would be devastating to the Porcupine caribou herd.
Defenders of Wildlife recently asked a group of graduate students at the University of Maryland to investigate how climate change would affect our National Wildlife Refuges. Read the complete document (99 pages) now, or learn more about global warming.
Read the following articles on global warming:
* Grist Magazine
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/arctic/oildevelopment.html |
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:42 pm |
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Sure, that shows that global warming is affecting the situation, but they are innacurate in pointing out that it is humans who are ruining the earth and its habitat, etc. The situation is not nearly as big as this group claims.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Beta6
Commander
Joined: 02 Jan 2005
Posts: 475
Location: ~*City Of Angels*~
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 7:47 pm |
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Maybe I just don't understand.. Alaska is so small... How much oil are they planning on getting out of this? I don't think it is worth destroying alaska. I think Alaska is soooo beautiful.
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 1229
Location: The Other Side
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 7:54 pm |
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Why do people persist in the false belief that the proposed drilling will "destroy" Alaska?
More rainforest is bulldozed by the Brazillian government in one year than has EVER been "destroyed" by oil drilling there, even without modern techniques or environmental protections.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Alaska is HUGE. Look at a "political" globe (not a map, flat maps distort the shape of stuff).
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"History is made at night! Character is who you are in the dark." (Lord John Whorfin)
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:09 pm |
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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LightningBoy
Commodore
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 1446
Location: Minnesota, U.S.A.
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:38 pm |
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From what I understand it to be.
Are we hurting much?
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IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:42 pm |
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Just look at the horror!
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"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
-Wuthering Heights
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:47 pm |
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| IntrepidIsMe wrote: | Just look at the horror!
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Yn wir!
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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