A brief summary of depressing tidbits in the news this week:
· Here’s a rather logical conclusion from the climate science world: Wildfires are linked to global warming. When it gets hot, things catch on fire. According to researchers, data analysis going back to 1970 indicates fire increased “suddenly and dramatically” in the 1980s, but according to Billy Joel, it’s been “ever burning since the world was turning.”
· Along with forests, polar bears, the Burgundy wine region, and humans, add coral reefs to your list of things it sucks to be when the globe is warming.
· Water levels in North America’s Great Lakes are in decline, causing ships to run aground and threatening the viability of many of Chicago’s famous Mafioso to continue “sleeping with the fishes.”
· Reuters reports that despite all the enthusiastic jaw-flapping among world leaders about global warming at the G-8 summit one year ago, climate change has evaporated from the G-8 agenda like so much water from a North American Great Lake.
· A massive growth in development in the Persian Gulf could spell the end of many endangered species. If only the white-collared kingfisher had as much clout with the royal families as the wealthy oil tycoons building luxury resorts in the mangroves.