globalwarmingsb.org

I love my phone, and could not live without it. Well, I obviously could, but I do not want to!

However, when I started thinking about the environmental impact that these 11.3 x 5.5 x 13.7 cm devices have, it is quite amazing. A mobile phone itself will get hot, and emit small amounts of heat. But then there are the chargers for them, and the accessories…

But more importantly, there are the telecom switches, the huge antenna, the satellites, and the air-conditioning to keep the places cool, and on top of this there ia the various other communications equipment that is needed to get it all going. PLUS the buildings and offices for the army of engineers and support staff that keep the mobile networks going!

The impact could be massive! And China alone has close to half a BILLION mobile callers – that’s a lot of heat!

I’ve been thinking about crop circles recently; I’m not sure if there are more of them happening, or if thet are just being reported upon more. Either way, I find them fascinating.

I’m not convinced people are not responsible for them, but at the same time I find it hard to believe something so intricate and large-scale can be the work of natural phenomena either. But they’re still pretty!

I was wondering that with temperatures rising, and crops suffering, would this mean we see less of the circles (and other assorted shapes that are cropping up!)? Or would we see more? Are floppy crops better to make circles? Or would Sully and his human friend Boo struggle to draw pretty pictures?

Thoughts on a postcard please!

With rising temperatures around the world, most people look to allieviate their own “sufferings” (increase in cost for more frequent use of the home air-conditioning, produce spoiling, greater emphasis on recycling, etc), but most people wouldn’t consider man’s best friend!

With warmer weather, various parasites (such as ticks, fleas, sand flies, stable flies and mosquitoes) are on the rise. And each of these creepy crawlies are capable of transmitting dangerous pathogens.

Dr. Xavier Roura, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, says that

Pet owners need to understand the severity of diseases such as leishmaniosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, hepatozoonosis and Lyme disease

because the ramifications are quite serious.

So, check for bugs on your pets and make sue you get them treated – we don’t want these things getting out of hand!

Spiders are not many peoples favourite critter, and most people would be happy to see them squashed and gone. However, the mild winters that the UK are experiencing may be keeping the numbers up!

According to Stuart Hine, an insect expert at the Natural History Museum, the numbers of the false black widow spider (official name is steatoda nobilis) are on the rise because of these warm winters. Since their arrival to UK shores over 200 years again in fruit crates, the numbers of these 8 legged beasties have been kept down by the cold weather – few could survive the cold, and so died off.

But the warmer winters are now resulting in more and more surviving – not a happy thought!

When the news papers and broadcasters talk about global warming, it is usually in reference to the affect it has on human life, not other creatures on the planet. We focus on what affects us directly, and are content with that being the most important thing.
However, recent studies have shown a massive growth in the amounts of fresh water fish being affected by new diseases, and this in turn is causing a drop in poopulation, increasing the liklihood of extinction and reducing the overall health of various species of fish.
How will this then affect human health? Will this push up the cost of fish? Or will it simply lower the quality? Will we see some kind of aquatic “mad cow” panic?
Who knows, the affects of pollution and global warming have far reaching consequences, and until it’s happened noonw can really predict what will happen. But there is one guaranteed way of preventing this – don’t pollute, recycle, etc etc – but who wants to “waste time” doing that?