Lab 8

Part 1: Climate Change

1.  What portion or portions of this information do you accept as sound science? State a thoughtful reason for accepting. What portion or portions, do you question? State a thoughtful answer for questioning. You must have an answer for each part.

At the request of Congress the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) compiled a “National Security Implications of Climate –Related Risks and a Changing Climate” report.  This report includes security risks for all sectors of the Combatant Commands and strategies to deal with the effects of climate change.  This report states that global climate change will have a vast effect on the U.S. and other nations in terms of sustainability, national security and international security.  The DoD projects that these changes will further exaggerate existing issues-“such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions—that threaten domestic stability in a number of countries” (DoD 3).  The report goes on to state that global climate changes are a security risk due to the impact it has on human security and the individual governments ability to meet the needs of their populations.  Global climate certainly has a direct affect on global resources!  The greenhouse effect in our atmosphere is warming the Earth causing the oceans temperatures to rise.  This is leading to warming of the poles and causing less ice to form and melting the icebergs.  Less ice equates to less ocean brine being dispersed throughout the oceans by ocean currents.  This cold dense brine cools the oceans and helps create the oceans currents.  These changes are leading to a global climate change resulting in a decrease in atmospheric pressures that form storms that release life sustaining water and other nutrients, e.g. nitrates, to our Earth.  The altering of climates around the globe will result in changes in habitats and will shift the location(s) where plants and animals (including humans) can survive.  If these life sustaining cycles shift rapidly it will lead to a tipping point in the functions of those systems and our renewable resources cannot be renewed or will renew at a rate that is not life supporting.    

Some may question how all of this has an impact on national and international security.  After minimal research one will discover that resources cause a lot of instability as well as national and international wars.  All of the above DoD climate change statements and the effects global climate change has on humanity have been seen in Africa and in the Middle East where drought and desertification has caused civil wars due to scarce resources.  For instance, the Sudanese people of North and South Sudan have fluctuated between fighting and working together to survive off of their resources since they gained independence from British rule in 1956.  However, a series of droughts eventually led to continuous disputes over land between non-Arab sedentary farmers and Arab Janjaweed nomads.  Other tensions such as religious and political disputes aggravated their conflicts. The country’s weak political institution led by the ineffectual leader, i.e. the president Omar al-Bashir, utilized the existing tensions between the North and South to help him gain control of the South and its resources, e.g. oil.  He did this through funding, arming, and instructing the Janjaweed in the North to kill all of the people in the South of Sudan.  Many people have been displaced or died in the mass genocide of South Sudan!  What the DoD states is unfortunately true- climate change that affects resources directly affects national and international security.    

Another less severe example of climate change affecting a state or country and its population is the Chinook King Salmon crisis off the coast of California.  The Chinook Salmon population has become extremely scarce and scientist have yet to figure out the cause however they suspect that it has to do with climate change.   Despite not knowing the cause of the salmon issue the salmon are still not migrating to the coast of California and into the Sacramento River.   According to the Smithsonian U.S. officials cancelled all commercial salmon fishing off the coast of California in 2008 and some areas are still closed for commercial fishing today.  In response to this disaster our government had to send in disaster relief funds into the areas where the local economies relied on salmon fishing.  It is unfortunate that even developed countries are vulnerable when it comes to our resources and sustainability of those resources and sustainability of our economies.  The more climate change affects our renewable resources the more our government is going to have to step in to supply aid.  How far and for how long can any government support its population if resources are not being renewed?!  This pattern will probably eventually lead to total collapse of humanity (not our Earth) unless we come up with preventative methods or a negative (corrective) feedback loop that will change the direction in which our global climate systems are moving.    

1.  What are three places can find answers to the parts you question?  

The EPA.GOV, the USDA.GOV, UN.ORG, U.S. DoD or Defense.gov, and NASA.GOV or any government website has a tremendous amount of information on global climate and/or national or international security issues. 

2.  Answer this question: Does having a background in Environmental Biology help you make decisions about what information about the environment you will accept? Explain in some detail and include something about what you know now that you did not know at the beginning of the class.

Gaining knowledge in this class about how solar energy, chemical cycling and biodiversity all work together to sustain life on Earth has helped me make decisions about what to believe and what to question when I am reading articles or reports about the environment.  Prior to this course I did not understand the importance of ocean brine and its effects on ocean temperatures and currents and its effect on global weather systems.    

Works cited

Department of Defense. “National Security Implications of Climate –Related Risks and a Changing Climate.” archive.defense.gov: 1-14.  U.S. Department of Defense. 23 July 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015

Tucker, Abigail.  “On California’s Coast, Farewell to King Salmon.” smithsonianmag.com Oct. 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2015  

Part 2: Biotic Communities

General location: Western Arizona

Associated community or Biome:  Interior Chaparral 

Resource link:

http://databasin.org/maps/new#datasets=e8e241e869054d7e810894e5e993625e