The One Degree Factor is an excellent video on the quickly worsening problem of global warming. The three main areas discussed were shrinking numbers of Caribou, Krill and the ocean food web, and drought in the Sahara bringing dust to the Caribbean.
The rise in global temperatures of just one degree Fahrenheit is a global average. In the Polar Regions, the temperatures have risen an average of 11 degrees. This rapid temperature rise is making the arctic tundra a more hospitable place for mosquitoes and forcing caribou herds to higher elevations—where less food grows, to try to escape them. The Caribou are not spending enough time feeding during the summers, and rain in the winters is making it harder for them to access food as well as travel.
Krill in the eastern pacific thrive in cool waters that have recently returned as a result of normal fluctuations. The problem here is that because of global warming, when the next El Niño occurs temperature may be so high that the krill numbers will decline to almost nothing. Krill and other small marine organisms are extremely susceptible to fluctuations in water temp and are at the base of the food web. Losing these crucial species would be detrimental.
Rising temperatures in the Indian Ocean are affecting the North Atlantic Oscillation. This in turn is keeping air currents from the Sahara to the Caribbean steady, year after year. The dust is raising the number of children who have asthma in the Caribbean. The dust also contains pathogens that are attacking the sea fans of the area and other coral.
All these issue demonstrate how interconnected we are on this plant and how necessary it is that we as a species must act quickly to attempt to stop the continued warming and with enough time maybe a return to normalcy.
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