esrosedotblog

The desert is the first line of serious damage to nature from climate change.

This wonderful article, full of photos, is from our local paper. Miraculously produced by a small town, usually second rate bunch of newsies, it is a complete and thorough enough summary of the status of desert warming that we are likely to find.

Struggle for Survival by Ian James.

I have to hand it to them. It is a superbly written and illustrated story of a slow motion train wreck.

I have spent enough time in the desert, walking and looking around, to have seen many of these animals or their traces. When we were first here I traipsed through all the parks and preserves. Not so much now.

It was amazing to realize how much life was in the desert. Little flowers, small plants. Scurrying sounds, animals fleeing my invasion. I have seen the horned toads and the little desert rat/mouse. No turtles except in preserves where they were being taken care of.

This turtle has a little green on his mouth. Grass stains. He is a vegetarian, eats plant food. He is living pretty well then. They don't look for much. But it is being denied them.

There are several preserves here that cater to the lost and damaged animals that are found. They have exhibits. The Desert Museum here had an outstanding collection but they moved it and put in all art. The stress of an artificial life was too much. It was an act of kindness to move the animals to a more natural place.

There has been over a one degree change in the average temperature here. A lot, actually. And a long protracted drought in all of California.

It is getting harder and harder to scoff at the statistics and the narratives of people who stalk and walk the deserts on a regular basis. They count, they observe, they despair at the losses they find. Empty turtle shells seem the saddest. These are prehistoric creatures after all and have made it this far.

Many animals and birds will be able to move north or to change their habitat. Not so the turtle. He moves very slowly and needs his food close by.

It is encouraging that there is clear desert all the way north for a very long distance before the mountains begin. But then, it is all uphill.

We have built highways and roads in so many places this puts a considerable burden on any ability any animal has to migrate.

Take a look at the interactive map. It is upsetting but shows what is going on more graphically. What we have is not so much moving habitat but more concentrated islands of survival. This can only mean a tighter and narrowing retrenchment until there is nothing left at all.

Labels: desert, global warming