We all know how some people love animals more than — well than real people. Even conservatives and Republicans have a soft spot for their pets and songbirds (Mitt Romney excluded). Yet, a warming climate caused by our continued reliance on fossil fuels will lead to the extinction of hundreds of species of birds. (link to the published study is here).

There are about 10,000 bird species globally and most of them live on land. Based on the middle range of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s projection of warming—3.5 degrees Celsius or 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100— 534 to 800 tropical land bird species could become extinct, out of a total of 7,565 species. Worldwide, of all of the 8,500 or so land bird species, as many as 600 to 900 could disappear.

Of course, there will be those who say, so what? Well, when you change the climate to kill one species it effects many others. A lot of birds eat insects. Fewer birds, more bugs. Some birds are beloved by hunters. Again, fewer birds, less hunting (unless you are rich as Dick Cheney and afford to go to a place that breeds birds so you can slaughter them at will, as well as get a shot off at one of your fellow hunters in the bargain).

The truth of the matter is that every species in earth is connected to every other. An effect to one will have consequences. An effect that causes hundreds of species to go extinct will have larger consequences. And many of the same conditions that cause birds to become extinct will also effect other plants and animals. Birds after all are peculiarly able to adapt because they can simply migrate to places more suitable to them. Imagine all the creatures and plants for which such a strategy is simply not possible.

But if you don’t give a damn about other species other than our own, consider this. Biologists study every species and often their research can lead to drugs or therapies that can cure diseases. The fewer species of all types, the less we will benefit from these future discoveries, like the accidental discovery of penicillin from a mold. Many medicines and medical treatments are derived from plants, many of which will also go extinct as our earth continues to warm and our climate changes dramatically.

One in 10 species could face extinction by the year 2100 if current climate change impacts continue. This is the result of University of Exeter research, examining studies on the effects of recent climate change on plant and animal species and comparing this with predictions of future declines. […]

Co-author Dr Robert Wilson, also of the University of Exeter, said: “By looking at such a range of studies from around the world, we found that the impacts of climate change can be felt everywhere, and among all groups of animals and plants. From birds to worms to marine mammals, from high mountain ranges to jungles and to the oceans, scientists seem to have been right that climate change is a real threat to species.

I suspect that study errs on the side of being too conservative, as have many climate models and the IPCC reports. We are already experiencing sea ice loss and extreme weather events that were not supposed to happen for another two to five decades according to past models of climate change. Rick Santorum speaks of God’s directive that humankind should take “dominion” over the earth. I ask you, what good is such dominion of it results in the loss of much of the earth’s biodiversity, and risks killing billions of plants and animals?

By the way, that death toll will include human beings as well, through drought, floods, disease, famine and war. Scientists have been publishing studies about just such scenarios since the 1980’s. The World Health Organization stated in a 2010 report that in excess of 140,000 people die of diseases per year as a result of climate change since 1970.

Past instances of plagues and famines have resulted in millions of deaths. It isn’t hard to predict that chronic droughts and famines resulting from global warming will kill many more millions of people this century than in the past, if simply because there are so many more of us alive today.

The current drought in the Horn of Africa is emblematic of what we are seeing today. Not fifty years down the road but today:

The current drought conditions have been caused by successive seasons with very low rainfall. Over the past year, the eastern Horn of Africa has experienced two consecutive failed rainy seasons. According to surveys of local communities, this is part of a long term shift. Borana communities in Ethiopia report that whereas droughts were recorded every 6-8 years in the past, they now occur every 1-2 years. […]

Attributing the current drought directly to climate change is impossible, but in the words of Sir John Beddington, the UK government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, in a talk at Oxfam last week, ‘worldwide, events like this have a higher probability of occurring as a result of climate change.’ Moreover, unless something is done, the current suffering offers a grim foretaste of the future – temperatures in East Africa are going to rise and rainfall patterns will change, making a bad situation worse.

We’ve seen this same pattern in the American Southwest, where the length and intensity of drought conditions have increased over the past 100 years. We also know that periodic decadal oscillations over the oceans -La Nina, La Nino, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and others have been affected by rising global temperatures caused by the emission of greenhouse gases.

Yet, the Republican candidates insist the mountains of evidence for climate change is a hoax, and that we should extract and use more oil,natural gas and coal. They claim it is our right – no our duty – to make use of these resources to the fullest extent possible. The consequences of their energy policies they either ignore or deny outright. Meanwhile, all across the globe species are going extinct, and more will go extinct in the decades to come. Plants and animals, including those beautiful creatures we see in our skies and marvel at: Birds.

I don’t think even Rick Santorum’s God will be happy about that.

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