DICKEY COUNTY, N.D. (Valley News Live) – The North Dakota Department of Agriculture says a commercial turkey flock in Dickey County has highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The State Board of Animal Health and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture are working closely with USDA-APHIS and local officials in the response.
The area has been quarantined and the flock is being depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Domestic birds within about six miles of the affected farm are being contacted and monitored. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system.
The detection triggers the suspension of poultry/bird events in Dickey County. If no new cases emerge in 30 days, the suspension will be automatically lifted.
“Remember to restrict access to property, keep wild…
Donald Trumphas been talking about the end of the world an awful lot recently, and now he’s said he believes it’ll only take one thing to start World War III.
He even claimed that doomsday is coming if the US doesn’t bring him back into the White House, saying: “Hopeless Joe Biden is leading us into oblivion. We cannot let it happen. We have to take…
Update April 21, 2023: Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide levels averaged over 417 ppm in 2022, and even recently reached a daily reading of over 424 ppm. When this story first published in 2019, CO2 levels hovered around 412 ppm. They keep rising, relentlessly.
When Americans celebrated the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the planet’s atmosphere was markedly different than it is today. Fifty years ago, scientists measured Earth’s levels of carbon dioxide — the planet’s most important greenhouse gas — at around 325 parts per million, or ppm.
Now, five decades later, that number has shot up to around 412 ppm, nearly 90 ppm higher. It’s a change atmospheric researchers, geologists, and climate scientists call unparalleled in at least 800,000 years, though it’s likely carbon dioxide levels haven’t been this high in millions of years.
“The rate of CO2 increase since the first Earth Day is unprecedented in the geologic record,” said Dan Breecker, a paleoclimatologist at The University of Texas at Austin.
“No matter how you look at this it’s totally unprecedented,” agreed Kris Karnauskas, an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“It’s totally unprecedented”
“The last time CO2 levels were this high, the sea level was many feet higher than it is today,” added Matthew Lachniet, a climate scientist at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. This was a warmer geologic period on Earth called the Pliocene, spanning some 2.5 to 5 million years ago. Earth’s oceans were some 30 feet higher then, noted Lachniet, after the planet’s ice sheets melted into the sea.
Just how unprecedented are today’s CO2 levels?
Over the last million years, Earth’s CO2 levels have certainly fluctuated, but they’ve naturally wavered between 180 and 280 ppm, explained Jason Briner, a paleoclimatologist at the University at Buffalo.
But on Earth Day today we’ve “now exceeded” even the highest ceiling of natural CO2 swings by some 130 ppm. In short, it’s not normal. Especially over the last 49 years, since the first Earth Day.
“Dang,” said Briner. “87 ppm in 49 years.”
The CO2 rate isn’t just really high — it’s picking up steam
In the 1970s, after the first Earth Day, CO2 levels were going up by about 1 ppm per year. But in recent years the rate has increased to, on average, more than 2 ppm, said Karnauskas. That rate is unheard of over the last 800,000 years (Scientists have direct proof of Earth’s CO2 levels from as far as 800,000 years ago from air bubbles trapped in ancient ice.)
Previous rises in carbon dioxide levels have simply been more gradual events. “Past climate changes pale in comparison,” said Karnauskas.
Related video: Earth Day March this Saturday (WXMI Grand Rapids, MI)
in addition to raising awareness as to why we need
Normally, Earth can deal with this excess carbon. Over longer periods of time the planet absorbs the carbon into the oceans and the rocky ground. But today these changes are simply happening too rapidly. The planet just can’t consume the CO2 deluge.
When the rate of CO2 release is fast, like it is now, this carbon is gulped up by the oceans, explained Breecker. Today, about 31 percent of human-generated CO2 is absorbed into the seas. But at such a fast rate (especially since the first Earth Day), the ocean surface can only soak up so much carbon dioxide at once, while the rest stays in the air and heats the planet.
When Earth has more time to deal with CO2 increases — say on the order of hundreds of thousands of years — this carbon is also stored away in rocks, in a well-understood process called “silicate weathering.”
But today, there’s no time for these slow-moving natural processes to deal with historically high greenhouse gas emissions.
“The rate of CO2 emissions is very important,” said Breecker. “It affects how much of the CO2 that is emitted stays in the atmosphere and thus contributes to warming.”
How much warming is in store as more heat-trapping carbon amasses in the atmosphere? Fortunately, climate scientists now say we’re not on the worst “business-as-usual” warming track (the red line below) anymore, because nations have made efforts and pledges to cut emissions. But considerable warming can still occur.
This 4.3 F of warming is more in line with an “intermediate” emissions scenario (yellow line below) wherein global carbon emissions start really falling by around 2045. With fast cuts, the line will fall sooner.
The UN has made clear that society must radically decarbonize to spare the future from the worst consequences of climate change. “The next few years are probably the most important in our history,” Debra Roberts, an environmental scientist and a lead author of the UN’s latest climate report, said in a statement.
Yet with well over 400 ppm and counting, we’re already locked in for significant future warming. “The Earth will continue to warm for centuries in the future,” said Lachniet. “It takes the planet a while to catch up.”
“Scary times ahead.”
More heat promises more severe drought and extreme, pummeling weather. But limiting the planet’s carbon load — say, to under 500 ppm — will be a boon to children today, and to humanity beyond.
“The decisions we make or don’t make today will have an influence on climate 1,000 years from now,” said Lachniet. As things now look on Earth Day, the trends and magnitude of the CO2 increase since 1970 don’t bode well.
As a result of severe winter impacts, Game and Fish wildlife managers made significant adjustments to hunting season proposals in many areas of the state and proposed an overall decrease of 10,290 antelope licenses and 4,410 mule deer licenses.
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission met in Casper on April 17 and 18 to approve the annual hunting season regulations and quotas. After hearing season presentations and reviewing public comments, the commission passed the 2023 regulations and quotas.
As a result of severe winter impacts, Game and Fish wildlife managers made significant adjustments to hunting season proposals in many areas of the state and proposed an overall decrease of 10,290 antelope licenses and 4,410 mule deer licenses. The finalized season information will be available on…
The two dogs were wandering around all week and were thought to be black coyotes.
Andrew Sanville appears in court facing animal cruelty charges on April 21, 2023. (WJAR)
The owner tells NBC 10 they are part wolf.
She says she moved to Woonsocket and left the dogs with the couple now facing charges.
One of the hybrid dogs is captured by animal control in Warwick on April 20, 2023. (WJAR)
“I let the police know as soon as I went to my mom’s house and saw them on the news and I have seen them on the news and I was like those are not coyotes, those are my dogs,” said Amanda Ddmarais, the dog’s owner.
Hybrid wolf dogs are not legal in Rhode Island.
The dogs are being DNA tested and results are expected in a few weeks.
Sanville pleaded ‘not guilty’ to all the charges, and a judge ordered him to be held without bail.
He has a long list of priors, including third degree sexual assault and domestic charges
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A woman is also being charged for letting the dogs lose. She’s due in court next month.
ByKari Hall•Published April 19, 2023•Updated onApril 19, 2023at7:08 am
NBC Universal, Inc.Heat waves occur not only on land but also in the ocean. Warmer ocean temperatures have destroyed sea life, including the critical kelp forest, as the water becomes more acidic. Kari Hall reports.
Heat waves occur not only on land but also in the ocean. Warmer ocean temperatures have destroyed sea life, including the critical kelp forest, as the water becomes more acidic.
Scientists estimate 90% of the kelp forest off the coast of California has been lost. Kelp as well as ocean trees work to create about half the oxygen we breathe. So the less sea life we have, the less fresh air we’ll have available.
But there are organizations making sure climate change doesn’t choke us out. Michael Stewart of Sustainable Surf tells NBC Bay Area’s Kari Hall why the kelp population…
The UNFPA’s State of the World Population 2023 Report on Wednesday estimated India’s population at 142.86 crore (1.428 billion), nearly 29 lakh more people than China’s 142.57 crore (1.425 billion), by June-end.
In other words, India will soon overtake China—the country with the distinction of highest population as on date—to become the most populous country in theworld.
China should have been seen celebrating the event, or so one would have thought.
The risein the number of citizens means more mouths to feed, generate more employment opportunities and be ready for a bigger socio-economic stress—anxieties that countries can do without.
However, making remarks that can be interpreted as a…
Since late 2021, a deadly bird flu outbreak has been spreading in the United States. This highly pathogenic form of avian influenza (H5N1) has been decimating wild birds, severely impacting poultry, pushing up egg prices, and initiating fears that a new zoonotic pandemic may be just around the corner.
A team of scientists led by theUniversity of Maryland(UMD) has now tracked the arrival and progression of this deadly bird flu outbreak in North America in order to clarify how this outbreak is different from previous ones, and how public health authorities should attempt to manage it.NextStay
According to the experts, the severe toll on wild birds and a marked shift from seasonal to year-round infections signal dangerous changes in the nature of bird flu outbreaks. “We’ve been dealing with low pathogenic avian influenza for decades in…
The number of reports about human-bear conflict actually increased in some areas after a pilot bear hunt was reinstated
A sustainable level of black bear hunting doesn’t reduce the amount of conflict that humans experience from the predator, according to new research in Ontario. In fact, conflicts actually increase in some areas where hunting occurs.
Spring bear hunting in Ontario was banned in 1999. In 2014, a small pilot hunt began in eight wildlife management units in areas that had experienced high levels of human-bear conflict. There was likely more conflict in these areas because they were close to larger cities in northern Ontario like Thunder Bay, North Bay, Sudbury and Timmins.
Some wildlife managers believe hunting is a potential way to decrease conflict between humans and black bears (Ursus americanus). Joe Northrup, a…
VERNON PARISH, La. (KPLC) – A Louisiana man faces possible fines and jail time after he was accused of illegally hunting turkeys in Vernon Parish.
Noah K. Joffrion, 21, of Hessmer, admitted to knowinglyhunting turkeys over a baited area, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
An agent spotted Joffrion hunting in a ground blind near Gill Hunt Road on April 1, according to LDWF. Agents had found whole corn on the ground in the area two weeks earlier.
Hunting turkeys over a baited area brings a $250 to $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail.
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WXMI Grand Rapids, MI
Exposing the Big Game 