Our Beautiful Earth as a 'Pale Blue Dot'

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

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"A better attitude leads to better actions and a better world..."

 

Shedding Some Light...and Warmth on the Arctic

Global warming is here. As a result of that, we tend get unstable weather conditions - hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts. But what about the areas we don't see everyday? I'm talking about the arctic areas, what's above us, our North Pole region. A place where there's cold weather and ice. But wait a minute. Isn't that where the problem lies? What used to be a really chill and glacier-filled polar region is now nothing but ocean and melting ice caps? What's really going on in the Arctic in relation to global warming?

Many research studies have suggested that the arctic region is suffering from global warming; broken glaciers, melting ice caps, polar bears and other species on the verge of extinction. Even though the Arctic is not a usual place for humans to live on, it plays an important part in our lives and the world at large. And in this blog, it just feels right to shine some light and get some information on what's really going on in the beautiful arctic region in relation to global warming.

Some facts about the Arctic:

• Arctic is north of Earth's arctic circle, the one that is on top of the Earth's spherical shape. There in lies the Arctic ocean, surrounded by Russia, Greenland, Canada and Alaska.
• Arctic makes up about 6% of the Earth's surface area.
• In contrast to Antarctica that is a land surrounded by water, the Arctic is composed of ice-filled ocean surrounded by land covered in snow and ice.
• In the Arctic or North Pole region, there is constant day for half of the year and constant night for the other half of the year. Summer in the Northern Hemisphere gives constant day while winter gives constant night.
• Summer temperatures in the Arctic averages at 0 centigrade. Winter temperatures averages around -30 centigrade.
• The arctic is home to few groups of indigenous people and animals, such as polar bears, wolverines, walruses, seals, caribous, musk oxes and arctic foxes among others.
• Arctic is abundant with natural resources like crude oil, diamonds, gold and industrial metals. Scientists believe arctic's natural resources go far beyond these.

How does Arctic region affects us as a whole?

•  Arctic affects our weather and climate. During winter, the cold air from the arctic leads to low temperatures, winds and snow in the mid-latitude areas. 
• Arctic's air circulation plays a role on how heat from the tropical areas is distributed. Given that the arctic deflects heat away from it because of long periods of darkness without sunlight during the winter and its high reflectivity of its snow and ice during the summer, Earth's atmosphere and oceans move the heat from the tropical areas to the poles, creating a more likeable and bearable temperature for the Earth.
• Changes in the arctic's landscape can lead to disturbances in heat distribution throughout the globe, ocean currents and weather conditions.

Impact of global warming in the Arctic:

The impact of global warming in the Arctic has not offered a clear cut answer. But over the last 30 to 50 years, the Arctic region has undergone through profound changes. There have been reports and published articles that Arctic is now becoming an open water. This finding is not always reliable because ice are regularly being shifted by the winds. However, what is increasingly becoming more clear and significant is the thinning of ice over the large surfaces of the Arctic region for the past 20 years.

Arctic Report Card's present analysis and updates on the Arctic region:

• Record low of snow and sea ice occurred last June and September 2012
• Melting duration of ice on Greenland's ice sheet was at its longest last Summer 2012
• Growth of shrubs (plants) are increasing, which signifies warming temperatures
• Rapid ice decline on the first half of July 2013
• Below average ice extent continues up to this day 

Increasing global warming prompts increasing attention on the Arctic. While there is still more to discover on this seemingly elusive yet beautiful region, there is no doubt that the Arctic is a very interesting and unique place that deserves to be preserved.

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"A better attitude leads to better actions and a better world..."

Grassland Butterflies are on the Decline

Isn't he or she beautiful? I have seen so many butterflies in my life, but never have I seen a butterfly as beautiful as this one. Its bluish color and flamboyant wings emit radiance that just captivate your eyes. This is a Grassland butterfly. They are commonly found in Europe. And unfortunately, they are on a rapid decline.

Since the 1990's, their numbers plummeted to nearly half of their original population, as reported in The Guardian. So what's causing their decline? Poor agricultural practices and pesticides.

Just like bees, which are also threatened by pesticides, Grassland butterflies pollinate plants and flowers. They play a huge role on why we get to enjoy the existence of flowers, plants and farmlands around us. They are also excellent food source to birds and small mammals. So, their rapid decline clearly has negative effects to the overall health of nature and wildlife.

Grassland butterflies make up the majority of butterflies in Europe. And Europe has a huge focus on agriculture that might perish sooner or later because of the absence of these beautiful creatures.

Grassland butterflies are strong indicator of how other insects fare on their environment. Now that they are sinking in population, chances are the rest of other insects are not doing so well either.

Europe needs to come to consensus in resolving their intensive farming and use of pesticides and other chemicals. Otherwise butterflies and other insects may face extinction, which would harshly affect our overall agriculture and ecosystem.

Now that European Union's environment watchdog is aware about the welfare of Grassland butterflies, hopefully this is the start of pivotal change that can turn things around for these butterflies creatures and other insects. Also, just because this is happening in Europe does not mean we can just sit and watch how things unfold. Even in our local communities, there is always room for improvement for every living thing around us.

We all have accountability to take care of each other and our planet. Butterflies and insects may be small creatures, but their role in keeping our beautiful world alive and healthy is quite large. They remind us that small things can make a big difference.

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"A better attitude leads to better actions and a better world..."

Dolphins Have Names and They Know It

Apparently, dolphins have names too and they know that. Though they may not come along the lines of Sam, John, Jessica, Carla or many other cool names that we, humans, use, they amazingly do. The recent study by Marine Biologists, Dr. Stephanie King and Dr. Vincent Janik in Scotland shines a new light on dolphins' learning abilities and communication that are not much different from humans.

From the study that is later published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, dolphins make 'signature whistles.' Just like how we have our personal names, each dolphin has his or her signature whistle, copied from family and friends, to which they respond to. Very cool, huh.

So how did they come to this finding? Researchers followed groups of wild dolphins where they took note of their signature whistles. They recorded various dolphin whistles and played them back in a computerized version. They found out that each dolphin only reacts to their own signature whistle and ignores the rest.

According to Dr. King, various animal signals exist to make distinction between predators and food. But unlike those inherent signals, they found that signature whistles from dolphins are rather learned, something quite unique in the animal kingdom.

This scientific finding makes dolphins the first case of naming mammals. Well, dolphins and possibly parrots. Because other research studies have also identified parrots’ amazing ability to learn sounds and use them to label things. But we’ll have a special discussion about parrots on a separate article where we can focus on their own uniqueness.

Whether it's listening to our name or a whistle, it's a matter of learning how to take in and respond to certain sounds. In other words, humans' and dolphins' form of communication overlap as we both have the capacity to acknowledge certain sounds, make meaning of them and respond.

With this new finding, don't you think dolphins just got so much cuter, adorable and valuable? This goes to show folks that these animals deserve more respect and recognition from us. There is just so much to learn about them just like the rest of our wildlife and the beautiful world we live in. Dolphins certainly deserve our love and affection and we can show them by protecting their habitat and continuously looking for ways to better understand them and empower their welfare. 

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"A better understanding leads to better actions that make a better world"