wolfyvegan

joined 1 month ago
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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

For those who prefer to read the information:

https://www.albartlett.org/articles/art_forgotten_fundamentals_overview.html

 

Global temperature leaped more than 0.4°C (0.7°F) during the past two years, the 12-month average peaking in August 2024 at +1.6°C relative to the temperature at the beginning of last century (the 1880-1920 average). This temperature jump was spurred by one of the periodic tropical El Niño warming events, but many Earth scientists were baffled by the magnitude of the global warming, which was twice as large as expected for the weak 2023-2024 El Niño. We find that most of the other half of the warming was caused by a restriction on aerosol emissions by ships, which was imposed in 2020 by the International Maritime Organization to combat the effect of aerosol pollutants on human health. Aerosols are small particles that serve as cloud formation nuclei. Their most important effect is to increase the extent and brightness of clouds, which reflect sunlight and have a cooling effect on Earth. When aerosols – and thus clouds – are reduced, Earth is darker and absorbs more sunlight, thus enhancing global warming. Ships are the main aerosol source in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. We quantify the aerosol effect from the geographical distribution of sunlight reflected by Earth as measured by satellites, with the largest expected and observed effects in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. We find that aerosol cooling, and thus climate sensitivity, are understated in the best estimate of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Global warming caused by reduced ship aerosols will not go away as tropical climate moves into its cool La Niña phase. Therefore, we expect that global temperature will not fall much below +1.5°C level, instead oscillating near or above that level for the next few years, which will help confirm our interpretation of the sudden global warming. High sea surface temperatures and increasing ocean hotspots will continue, with harmful effects on coral reefs and other ocean life. The largest practical effect on humans today is increase of the frequency and severity of climate extremes. More powerful tropical storms, tornadoes, and thunderstorms, and thus more extreme floods, are driven by high sea surface temperature and a warmer atmosphere that holds more water vapor. Higher global temperature also increases the intensity of heat waves and – at the times and places of dry weather – high temperature increases drought intensity, including “flash droughts” that develop rapidly, even in regions with adequate average rainfall.

Polar climate change has the greatest long-term effect on humanity, with impacts accelerated by the jump in global temperature. We find that polar ice melt and freshwater injection onto the North Atlantic Ocean exceed prior estimates and, because of accelerated global warming, the melt will increase. As a result, shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is likely within the next 20-30 years, unless actions are taken to reduce global warming – in contradiction to conclusions of IPCC. If AMOC is allowed to shut down, it will lock in major problems including sea level rise of several meters – thus, we describe AMOC shutdown as the “point of no return.”

We suggest that an alternative perspective – a complement to the IPCC approach – is needed to assess these issues and actions that are needed to avoid handing young people a dire situation that is out of their control. This alternative approach will make more use of ongoing observations to drive modeling and more use of paleoclimate to test modeling and test our understanding. As of today, the threats of AMOC shutdown and sea level rise are poorly understood, but better observations of polar ocean and ice changes in response to the present accelerated global warming have the potential to greatly improve our understanding.

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Climate models have a history of underestimating the cooling effect of aerosol pollution.

Related: Will Brazil’s President Lula wake up to the climate crisis? (commentary)

 

Tropical deforestation was found to cause large reductions in precipitation using a range of observation-based datasets1. However, the limitations of satellite-based space-for-time statistical analysis have hindered understanding of the roles of reshaped mesoscale atmospheric circulation and regional precipitation recycling at different scales. These effects are considered nonlocal effects, which are distinct from the local effects governed by deforestation-induced reductions in evapotranspiration (ET). Here we show reversed precipitation responses to Amazon deforestation across wet and dry seasons. During the wet season, deforested grids experienced a noteworthy increase in precipitation (0.96 mm per month per percentage point forest loss), primarily attributed to enhanced mesoscale atmospheric circulation (that is, nonlocal effect). These nonlocal increases weaken with distance from deforested grids, leading to significant precipitation reductions in buffers beyond 60 km. Conversely, during the dry season, precipitation decreases in deforested grids and throughout all analysis buffers, with local effects from reduced ET dominating. Our findings highlight the intricate balance between local effects and nonlocal effects in driving deforestation-precipitation responses across different seasons and scales and emphasize the urgent need to address the rapid and extensive loss of forest in the Amazon region.

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  • A rare population of leucistic, or partially white, purple-faced langurs near Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja Forest Reserve has attracted ecotourism interest, even as monkeys in general are perceived by farmers as crop-raiding pests.
  • Unlike albinism, leucism causes a partial loss of pigmentation, and researchers have documented around 30 white langurs in the area.
  • The unique langurs have helped transform the village of Lankagama into an ecotourism hub, benefiting the local community and conservation efforts.
  • The presence of white monkeys across Sri Lanka, including rare cases of albino primates, highlights the island’s rich biodiversity and the need for further research and protection.

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  • Cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire began in the 1950s in forests bordering Ghana, and progressively shifted west as trees were removed and soil exhausted. Côte d’Ivoire lost 217,866 hectares of protected forest from 2001 to 2014 to monocultures of it.
  • Now, the region where cocoa can be grown is shrinking due to climate and rainfall patterns: agroforestry is the sole way ensure that it can continue as the mainstay crop of the economies of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, so it’s time to ‘go big’ on implementing it widely.
  • Agroforestry cools the microclimates on farms and increases climate resiliency and biodiversity, but is a complex, time consuming technique that varies by region.
  • Careful selection of tree species and spacing are critical to maximize yields, which is a key problem to solve toward wider adoption of agroforestry-grown chocolate.

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  • Bats are one of the most diverse orders of mammals and represent an important component of ecological balance. They may make up a large portion of the mammal diversity — including in countries like Rwanda where much of the natural forest and savannah habitats have been lost, changed or degraded.
  • Researchers recently discovered two rare bat species in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, and the IUCN lists 54 species of bats as occurring in the country.
  • Research shows that killing bats to control zoonotic diseases can make things worse.
  • Several studies show that bats are important predators of insects and are, therefore, a natural asset for agrarian productivity, suppressing pest populations.

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  • Bats are one of the most diverse orders of mammals and represent an important component of ecological balance. They may make up a large portion of the mammal diversity — including in countries like Rwanda where much of the natural forest and savannah habitats have been lost, changed or degraded.
  • Researchers recently discovered two rare bat species in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, and the IUCN lists 54 species of bats as occurring in the country.
  • Research shows that killing bats to control zoonotic diseases can make things worse.
  • Several studies show that bats are important predators of insects and are, therefore, a natural asset for agrarian productivity, suppressing pest populations.

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  • The recent “Assessment of the Ecological Health of the Gulf of California” report shows a decline in several populations of animals throughout the narrow sea flanked by the Mexican mainland and Baja California.
  • The report was compiled by the Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers (N-Gen) in the U.S. in collaboration with Prescott College’s Kino Bay Center field station in Mexico, and draws on long-term monitoring studies.
  • Many of the assessed groups, such as seabirds, whales, giant squid, crabs, starfish and fish, are in decline.
  • Basic primary productivity, which nurtures species diversity and abundance in the Gulf of California, remains stable.

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Does anyone else find it ridiculous when people claim that a particular non-native plant is part of the "traditional diet" or "traditional medicine" of a particular culture? For example, I've heard many times that sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is the main staple in the "traditional" Okinawan diet, or that aloo gobhi (potato and cauliflower curry) is part of "traditional" Indian cuisine. If "traditional" is arbitrarily defined as going back only to the start of the use of the plant rather than the start of the culture, it seems to lose its significance. "Our culture has used this plant ever since our culture began to use this plant" does not convey anything meaningful. If people like to eat/use a non-native plant, fine, no problem at all, but to claim that it's a cultural tradition seems disingenuous.

The way that I see it (as a plant nerd), the only case in which this would make sense is if the founders of a particular culture brought the non-native plant with them when they first permanently settled the place. Does this resonate with anyone?

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

You have a ton of potential in South Florida! (Until sea level rise floods everything, of course.) Will you add more fruit trees? The nurseries in your area have some amazing options. Which mangos and avocados do you grow? I'm curious about the quality of 'Monroe' and 'Oro Negro' avocados.

It's strange what's happening with your avocados. Do you know if the bloom timing of avocados in your area has changed at all? If they were previously getting pollinated by trees that now bloom at different times, then that could explain the lack of fruits.

If it's a choice between banana and grass, I recommend banana 100%. Pine Island and Excalibur both sold Dwarf Namwah last I checked, and that should be very productive. Excalibur also sells FHIA-18, which doesn't taste so much like banana. I recently posted about it here, though the linked PDF is in spanish.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 weeks ago (4 children)

Off to a good start! Do you know what else you want to add? Forelle pear might be worth considering for your area, but do your own research.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Sounds like you've got a great thing going! Maintaining fertility by mulching with cut vegetation and composting "waste" is really important. How big is your fruit forest? Do you plan to diversify further and fill up the field? How small do you plan to keep the trees? I've found that pruning tall trees with a pole saw is really tedious and exhausting. Do you have a particular method that's easier?

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 3 points 4 weeks ago

Not surprising. I remember reading that (some of) the ancestors of Home sapiens sapiens in East Africa first started regularly using fire about 400,000 years ago... to cook starchy tubers. Apparently that population didn't start eating animals for another ~300,000 years, and others didn't even leave the forest and start using fire until ~250,000 years ago or later. History is not an ethical guide in any case...

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 weeks ago

If Iceland can grow bananas, then oil palms don't seem like much of a stretch. But whether they are grown outdoors in the lowland tropics or in a greenhouse somewhere else, that's land that cannot be native forest. At least in the tropics, it's possible to implement an agroforestry system that includes both oil palms and native trees, but in a greenhouse somewhere cold... nope. Even if the yield would be greater than that of more cold-tolerant oil crops, more energy would be needed for heating in the winter, so intuitively, it doesn't seem practical except where there would be large amounts of "waste" heat anyway, like near geothermal vents or power plants.

Fortunately, palm oil is not essential for nutrition, and many industrial applications could use (e.g.) hemp oil if palm oil is not available, so it's not necessary to increase production of palm oil. About half of world production goes to "livestock" feed anyway.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

Solving world hunger, improving banana access... In practice, it's largely the same thing. But yeah, if there were crops that grew well year-round in Iceland, then that would be great. But if that were the case, then they probably wouldn't be building geothermal banana greenhouses in the first place.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

When asked why he doesn’t irrigate his crops to increase yields, Dr. Johnson simply replies: “Well, then what would we pray for?” Hopi farming is a testament to his faith. And faith is tied directly to water. That’s what makes Hopi agriculture so resilient–it’s faith-based. This means it can withstand droughts, seasons with minimal growth, and the cycles of life. It's important to Dr. Johnson to continue this practice, and part of that practice means not bringing man-made lines to irrigate crops. Hopi seeds, or what he refers to as “hardy” seeds, would not know what to do with all the extra water. They have been adapted to grow within an unmanipulated environment—a quintessential trait of Hopi farming: raising crops to fit the environment, rather than manipulating the environment to fit the crops.

I'm all for rational and scientific approaches to agriculture and to engineering problems in general, but these faith-based farmers who have learnt to grow and eat the crops that do well in their environment make the people growing bananas in Iceland look pretty foolish. Imagine what could be achieved with a scientific approach to working with natural systems instead of trying to overcome them. (And imagine what could be achieved if those banana growers in Iceland simply moved to the tropics.)

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

a berry pie without any sugar but what’s already in the berries shouldn’t be too bad.

Wolves have been observed to subsist on almost exclusively blueberries during the height of the season in Yellowstone, so I'd say the glyphosate residue in the flour is much more of a risk than whatever fruit is in the middle.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

THIS is the actual definition of Veganism, directly from the people who coined the term:

That definition is from 1988, so it's questionable whether it came "directly from the people who coined the term" in 1944. Here is a re-publication of the 1951 Leslie Cross definition:

“The object of the Society shall be to end the exploitation of animals by man” and “The word veganism shall mean the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals.”

Allegedly someone read The World Peace Diet (by Will Tuttle) to Donald Watson on his deathbed, and Donald Watson said that the book encompassed everything that he intended when he founded the Vegan Society. Make of that what you will.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

Probably 'Silk', AKA Latundan, from the Philippines.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Not all, but yes, some components are inevitably lost in the drying process. There's a reason that dried fruit is often treated with sulphur dioxide as a preservative. Of course, preserving the colour doesn't prevent the loss of large amounts of essential nutrients like vitamin C. Fresh is best whenever possible.

[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

Convert the pasture lands to syntropic food forests and native forests, and then the birds and other native animals will have a place to live again.

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