[MCN] Adding heat to 1.5C and the future of forests

[Lance Olsen]

There’s “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place” today, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) insisted in a new report

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129912


Giving up on halting world heat to only 1.5C higher than 1880s level does not mean giving up. Greta Thunberg has got it right many times, and she got it right when saying,“Every tenth of a degree matters.” 

The effort has to continue or we’ll permit even worse outcomes including but certainly not limited to an ongoing world trend of forest death. 

Below, a report on the ongoing forest death in the western US. 

UM researchers cite evidence of this trend in Montana — so far, detected at low elevations. 

How much more of this do we want? As Thunberg has said, “Giving up is not an option.”


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Oregonian Nov. 25, 2022

Record number of firs dying in Oregon, Washington in what experts call ‘Firmageddon’

https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2022/11/record-number-of-firs-dying-in-oregon-washington-in-what-experts-call-firmageddon.html

EXTENDED EXCERPTS

Fir trees in Oregon and Washington died in record-breaking numbers in 2022, according to as-yet unpublished research conducted by the U.S. Forest Service.

“We’re calling it ‘Firmageddon,’” Daniel DePinte, who led the survey for the USFS Pacific Northwest Region Aerial Survey, told a gathering of colleagues in October. “It is unprecedented, the number of acres we have seen impacted. It’s definitely significant and it’s disturbing.”

Fatal factors

“When a drought event comes around it basically weakens the entire forest to a point where the insects and the diseases start to work in tandem and this pushes a tree over the edge and it succumbs to mortality,” says DePinte.

Although fir die-offs have been recorded as far back as 1952, when surveys began, this year’s Firmageddon dwarfs all previous records.


Which fir species impacted?

Die-offs were recorded for grand fir, white fir, red fir, noble fir and the hybrid Shasta red fir.

Although true firs are experiencing their worst die-off on record, Douglas fir is having a die-off of its own, though on a comparatively smaller scale.

The level of Douglas fir die-off within the areas affected isn’t considered “severe.” The USFS defines “severe” as 50% or more of the trees within an area having died.However, the extent of the die-off in terms of total area is concerning, according to DePinte.


—————————————————————————————
“The US economy is based on debt-financed overconsumption, while China’s is based on debt-financed overinvestment.”

South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
<<https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3040618/federal-reserve-prolonging-trade-war-keeping-biggest-financial>>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bigskynet.org/pipermail/missoula-community-news_bigskynet.org/attachments/20221203/06e10658/attachment.html>