If you haven't already heard, California is definitely on fire. It is now the fourth-largest fire in California history. The cost of fighting it is coming up on 75 million dollars, and 8,000 firefighters are currently actively working to contain it. The fire is threatening Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and one firefighter has already died, as well as an unconfirmed number of people dead from smoke inhalation and accidents in the traffic caused by evacuations. 900 homes have been razed to the ground, as well as other structures. Gov. Jerry Brown had declared a state of emergency, and we're literally all going to die.
Half of the reason we're all on fire is the droughts, so all the trees are dead and we've basically just turned into one giant tinderbox. A little bit of fire is supposed to be good for forests but this is just ridiculous. On that note, the flood of refugees from the LA area have been welcomed with open arms by those in northern Cali, so at least the fires have helped to foster a sense of community, if little else. From tragedy comes heroism, or something like that. Like that man who saved the bunny. He may not be the hero Gotham needs, but he is the hero Gotham deserves.
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For many years, scientists named the bedrock that lies underneath the coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevadas as the ecosystem's primary source of nutrients. However, new data from the University of Wyoming proves that this is incorrect. The primary source of nutrients for the pine trees that cover the area is derived from the dust that blows in. This was discovered via biochemical "fingerprints" taken from pine needles from the trees. And there is more. Not only is this process true in the Sierras, but it is also thought to take place in mountain ranges such as the Appalachians and western Europe.
Scientists are debating how long this process has been the primary source of nutrients for the trees in these forests. It is still not known whether it has always been this way or if this is the trees adapting to depletion of nutrients from the bedrock/some other kind of ecological change. At any rate, this development gives scientists new things to take into consideration when measuring the health of the forests, as changes in the climate would affect wind patterns that blow the life-giving dust into the mountains. A new study finds that Ethiopia, the world's fifth-largest coffee producer, could lose up to 60% of its suitable farming land because of climate change. Rainfall is less and temperatures are higher, which is not an ideal climate to grow coffee beans in. According to a report from World Coffee Research, the demand for coffee will have doubled by 2050, but the suitable land to grow it on will be cut in half. This will also affect the quality of the coffee itself. In general, the colder the area the coffee grows in the better quality of the coffee. Climate change reverses this entirely.
Of course, coffee quality/quantity is not the most important reason to protect the environment. But if one person who might otherwise have been apathetic is spurred to the action under the threat of lesser quality coffee, by all means, they should go for it. A rallying cry is a rallying cry. Even if that rallying cry is coffee. |