WILL THE CEDARS OF LEBANON BE EXTINGUISHED?

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Climate Change Is Killing the Cedars of Lebanon   https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/18/climate/lebanon-climate-change-environment-cedars.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

BAROUK CEDAR FOREST, LEBANON — Walking among the cedars on a mountain slope in Lebanon feels like visiting the territory of primeval beings. Some of the oldest trees have been here for more than 1,000 years, spreading their uniquely horizontal branches like outstretched arms and sending their roots deep into the craggy limestone. They flourish on the moisture and cool temperatures that make this ecosystem unusual in the Middle East, with mountaintops that snare the clouds floating in from the Mediterranean Sea and gleam with winter snow.

But now, after centuries of human depredation, the cedars of Lebanon face perhaps their most dangerous threat: Climate change could wipe out most of the country’s remaining cedar forests by the end of the century.

As temperatures rise, the cedars’ ecological comfort zone is moving up the mountains to higher altitudes, chasing the cold winters they need to reproduce. But here in the Barouk forest, part of the Shouf Biosphere Reserve, south of Beirut, there isn’t much farther up to go. If the climate warms at the rates expected because of the continued rise of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, some scholars say that by 2100 cedars will be able to thrive only at the northern tip of the country, where the mountains are higher.

In the north, though, there are different problems. Lebanon’s densest cedar forest, the Tannourine Cedars Forest Nature Reserve, has lost more than 7 percent of its trees to insect infestations unknown before 1997. They are directly tied to a warming, drying climate.

Throuhout  history, the cedars of Lebanon have been prized for buildings and boats, chopped down for temples in ancient Egypt, Jerusalem and beyond. So while climate change did not start the assault on the cedars, it could be the death blow.

Many thousands of square kilometers of forest once spread across most of Lebanon’s highlands. Only 17 square kilometers of cedars remain, in scattered groves.

The country’s most famous cedar patch, sometimes called the Cedars of God, has been fenced off for preservation since 1876.

Some believe that patch was where the resurrected Jesus revealed himself to his followers, said Antoine Jibrael Tawk, an author of books on the cedars.

The Lebanon cedar, a distinct species known scientifically as Cedrus libani, grows mainly here and in Turkey. The trees germinate in late winter because they need a freeze, preferably with snow.

This year, winter was mild. Omar Abu Ali, the ecotourism coordinator for the Shouf Biosphere Reserve, Lebanon’s largest protected area, pointed to evidence on the ground in the Barouk forest.

It was early April, and cedar seedlings were beginning to pop up from the soil. Normally the seedlings don’t come up until early May. Earlier, they risk dying in cold snaps and are more vulnerable to insects. “This is early germination,” Mr. Abu Ali said. “They can die.”

ONE-THIRD OF UK SUPERMARKETS PLASTICS ARE NOT EASILY RECICLABLE

Reproduced from The Guardian/Environment

Almost a third of plastic packaging used by UK supermarkets is either non-recyclable through standard collection schemes or difficult to recycle, according to a new analysis by a consumer group. 

Which? is urging the government to introduce compulsory “clear and simple” recycling labelling on all plastic packaging as its new research reveals “huge inconsistencies” involving myriad different schemes and with some items not labelled at all.

Its analysis of the packaging used for 27 everyday own-brand items at 10 major chains found that Lidl had the lowest proportion of widely recyclable packaging – at 71%. Iceland (73%), Ocado (74%) and Sainsbury’s (75%) were also close to the bottom of the pile. Overall, the analysis found that up to 29% of plastic packaging was not widely recyclable. 

The best performer was Morrisons with easily recyclable packaging for 81% of its tested products. For example, Morrisons’ chocolate cake was in a widely recyclable plastic box, while Lidl’s cake came in mixed packaging comprising a non-recyclable film within a widely recyclable box with a non-recyclable window.

The plastic on M&S and Waitrose apples was labelled as non-recyclable, yet the type of plastic they are wrapped in actually is recyclable at supermarket collection points. Other products had labels that were only visible once the food was unwrapped. 

“Which? believes a lot more can be done to increase the amount of recyclable packaging and the way it is labelled so that consumers know what can be recycled and how to recycle it” said Nikki Stopford, director of research and publishing at Which? “The plastic pollution crisis makes it more crucial than ever that the government, manufacturers and supermarkets do the best they can to banish plastic that cannot be recycled and promote the use of less damaging packaging.”

The analysis highlighted black plastic trays and “orange nets” as items that remain a huge challenge. The latter are not only non-recyclable, but they can also cause huge problems if they wrongly end up in a recycling sorting plant and risk getting caught in the machinery. 

It also found that a significant proportion of packaging – as much as 10% of Waitrose’s goods – could only be recycled at supermarket collection points rather than at the kerbside. 

Plastic waste has recently become an emotive issue in the UK, with programmes such as Blue Planet exposing its impact on the oceans, and regular media coverage exposing the dangers of a global plastic binge.

In April, in response to a growing public backlash against the huge volumes of plastic rubbish, Aldi, Asda, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose all signed up to support the UK Plastics Pact – an industry wide initiative which says it aims to transform packaging and reduce avoidable plastic waste. That includes an aspiration that by 2025 all plastic packaging can be reused, recycled or composted.

A Lidl spokesperson said the company had recently launched ambitious plastic reduction targets. “We are in the process of conducting a comprehensive review of our entire packaging footprint, and estimate that the vast majority of our packaging is widely recyclable under the industry standard scheme.”

RATS AND PLASTICS: THESE ARE, MAY BE, THE TWO BIGGEST THREATS TO CORALS

Reproduced from  BBC News - Environment

RATS
But scientists studying reefs on tropical islands say the animals directly threaten the survival of these ecosystems.
A team working on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean found that invasive rats on the islands are a "big problem" for coral reefs.
Rats decimate seabird populations, in turn decimating the volume of bird droppings - a natural reef fertiliser.
How do rats harm coral reefs?
The Chagos Archipelago provided a large-scale natural laboratory to answer this question; although the islands are uninhabited by humans, some of them are now home to invasive rats, brought by ships and shipwrecks. Other islands have remained rat-free.
"The islands with and without rats are like chalk and cheese," said lead researcher Prof Nick Graham from Lancaster University.
"The islands with no rats are full of birds, they're noisy, the sky is full and they smell - because the guano the birds are depositing back on the island is very pungent.
"If you step onto an island with rats, there are next to no seabirds."
By killing seabirds, this study revealed, rats disrupt a healthy ecosystem that depends on the seabird droppings, which fertilise the reefs surrounding the island.
On rat-free islands, seabirds including boobies, frigatebirds, noddies, shearwaters and terns travel hundreds of kilometres to feed out in the ocean. When they return to the island, they deposit rich nutrients from the fish they feed on.
"These nutrients are leaching out onto the reef," explained Prof Graham.



PLASTICS
One third of corals entangled with plastics
More than 11 billion items of plastic were found on a third of coral reefs surveyed in the Asia-Pacific region.
This figure is predicted to increase to more than 15 billion by 2025.
Plastic raises by 20-fold the risk of disease outbreaks on coral reefs, according to research. Plastic bags, bottles and rice sacks were among the items found.
"Plastic is one of the biggest threats in the ocean at the moment, I would say, apart from climate change," said Dr Joleah Lamb of Cornell University in Ithaca, US.
"It's sad how many pieces of plastic there are in the coral reefs ...if we can start targeting those big polluters of plastic, hopefully we can start reducing the amount that is going on to these reefs”.
It's thought that plastic allows diseases that prey on the marine invertebrates that make-up coral reefs to flourish. Branching or finger-like forms of corals are most likely to get entangled in plastic debris.
These are important habitats for fish and fisheries, the scientists say.
"A lot of times we come across big rice sacks or draping plastic bags," said Dr Lamb, who led the study.
"What we do find is these corals with a lot of complexity like branches and finger-like corals will become eight times more likely to be entangled in these types of plastics."
In the study, published in the journal Science, international researchers surveyed more than 150 reefs from four countries in the Asia-Pacific region between 2011 and 2014. Z

HURRICANES IN 2018: NOBODY HAS A CRYSTAL BALLL, BUT...

https://www.usgs.gov/news/usgs-hurricane-response-met-challenges-2017-prepares-2018

An average hurricane season produces 12 named storms with winds of 39 miles per hour or higher, including six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes of Category 3, 4 or 5. For 2018, the NOAA forecast calls for 10 to 16 named storms, including five to nine hurricanes and one to four major hurricanes.

The forecast comes in the wake of the challenging 2017 hurricane season, when the U.S. Geological Survey mounted a months-long effort to gather scientific information that helped protect lives and property. Not long after Hurricane Nate – the last hurricane of 2017 to make a U.S. landfall — disintegrated over Alabama on October 8, the agency’s coastal storm response leaders began preparing for the season that starts now.

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Access the link on top, for a broad outline of NOOA hurricanes prediction.