Climate change, the memory effect
Posted on 26. Aug, 2009 by annied in RSPB
With the nationwide climate protests today, the news from last night that 350.org’s position has been endorsed by the IPCC’s lead climate scientist it seems appropriate to bring the global back to the local by reflecting on how climate change has already begun to alter our lives:
“This is a loss of human meaning which is new,” says Michael McCarthy whose new book Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo takes a unique look at species extinction: the emotional and spiritual connection between humans and wildlife. The human characters in McCarthy’s book mark their lives by the coming of Cuckoo. One woman, her daughter’s birthday, another the years he and his wife have spent together.
More than that birds have a place in literature, poetry, and even song in every culture throughout the world. “We’ve seen an awful lot of… species lost, a loss of animals… That a wildlife loss is beginning to become a cultural loss,” says McCarthy, “And this hadn’t really happened before but will increasingly happen.”
McCarthy spoke at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, explaining the domino effect that climate change in one part of the world has on species all over the world: Oak trees leaf earlier causing caterpillars that feed on Oak leaves hatch earlier. In turn, birds that feed on caterpillars nest earlier. Since birds are migratory by nature, and changes in climate differ in severity by geographic regions, climate change can be devastating to certain species. McCarthy goes on to explain, birds in Africa have no way of knowing that nesting is happening earlier in Britain. When these species migrate north to nest and give birth they may miss the caterpillars to feed their young. This will “rather precipitously” alter the population of migratory song birds in Africa (not to mention Britain).
1,222 bird species are listed as threatened by the IUCN (Table 1 2008). In addition to habitat alterations from climate change, urban expansion has changed the ease of migration for many bird species. Traffic is a major killer of bird species whose migratory path takes them through urban spaces. Many migratory bird species face urban predators that they haven’t before– both mechanized and mammal.
“These are the creatures that demand for the change in the seasons,” McCarthy laments, “this is a thing no bigger than a box of matches… the achievement of that is absolutely wondrous… they signal the rebirth of the year and to lose that is a great loss in our lives.”
For a complete guide to how climate effects birds and their habitats go to the RSPB website.
Want advice about how to help birds? The RSPB can help you there too!
The IUCN keeps a complete guide of vulnerable and endangered species on their website.
For a cultural view of the sparrow, check out “The Great Sparrow Mystery” from our friends at the RSPB.
Like this film? Want to see more about preserving bird migratory patterns? Check out what’s on green.tv:
Watch the Whitley Award winners from Bulgaria, preserving the ecosystem of the Danube.
Watch “Bullybirds,” a film which creatively explains the importance of biodiversity.
Or take a listen to a tune about a sparrow.