Global average temperature 1850 - 2020

 

A few letters and articles in the press of late prompted some research into the temperature records for 2020.

NASA said 2020 was essentially equal with 2016 as the hottest year on record.

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, said last year came in a close second or third as the hottest ever.

The European Copernicus group also called 2020 an essential tie for hottest year, with 2016 warmer by an insignificant fraction.

Japan's Weather Agency put 2020 as warmer than 2016.

The World Meteorological Organization, the UK Met Office and Berkeley Earth's monitoring team, all had 2016 just ahead of 2020.

All the monitoring agencies agree the six warmest years on record have been the six years since 2015.

The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2005.

Earth has now warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times and is adding another 0.2 degrees Celsius each decade.

The science surely is irrefutable?

 

A couple of earlier FoDT blog posts on the topic:

20/07/2019, Trees and climate change – it’s complicated

04/11/2019, Tackling climate change

 

Drouin bird surveys - October 2020

Birds can live in almost any habitat – wetlands, forests, deserts, alpine, coastal, urban, grassland, etc.

Information from a simple species list can play an important role in indicating the health of the local environment and provide clues to what may be going wrong, or indeed what is being done right!

Records of bird populations in parks and gardens or wetlands can, over time, provide useful data to monitor such things as the local effects of climate change or changes in land use. And, simple bird surveys can indicate those areas rich in species that may deserve special protection.

Part of Bellbird Park wetland and bush - very precious

The Friends of Drouin’s Trees have been conducting two surveys a year, April and October, since 2018. Covid and a run of inclement Wednesday mornings throughout October this year have delayed analyses a little. Finally, some basic results have been determined:

·       82 species were recorded over 12 sites in and around Drouin

·       More than 40 species were recorded at both Bellbird Park Wetlands and the Drouin sewerage ponds

·       More than 30 species were recorded at six other sites

·       The usual introduced/pest species – Blackbird, Common Myna, Starling, Spotted Dove, etc – were most common

·       The most common native species included – Noisy Miner, Magpie, Eastern Rosella, Grey Butcherbird and the Grey Fantail.

·       New or unusual sightings included – Song Lark, Greenfinch, Blue-billed Duck, Richard’s Pipit and Rufous Fantail.

It is worth noting that some small ‘bushland’ birds – Brown Thornbill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Superb Fairy-wren - appear to be maintaining their populations within our very urban environment. 

The Eastern Yellow Robin can still be seen in several places in urban Drouin

Also however, the following were among the missing or severely declined – Crimson Rosella, Black-shouldered Kite, Boobook, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Great Egret and Musk Lorikeet although it is dangerous to make assumptions on such little data and basic procedures.

Raft of Pink-eared Ducks at Drouin Sewerage Ponds

All in all, while the unrelenting development of Drouin continues, it seems that some localities within our town and nearby, are becoming places of refuge for many avian species – but for how much longer? Drouin has at least six wetland places of significance and there are five localities at least where remnant tree ferns are present. It is incumbent of us to save these places for our avian friends and for our own good health and well being.

 

If trees could speak

 “Many people do not see us. They walk past us every day and sometimes sit in our shade.

“They eat our fruit, pick our flowers, smell our leaves. People climb us, cut our branches for firewood, pulp us into paper. We are often cut down to make room for houses and sometimes to just improve a view.

“And yet, they do not see us.

“People cut us into timber to make homes, furniture, musical instruments. They write poems and sing songs about us.

“And still, many do not see us.

“People have become disconnected from us, insensitive to us. Many have stopped caring about us.

“We give people clean air to breathe, shade to cool them down. We provide food and shelter for many animals. We store carbon, soak up ground water and stop erosion. We help to keep people healthy.

“We are old. We know the past. We have much to give for the future.

“Next time you walk by one of us, pause a moment and listen, we may whisper to you in the wind.”

 

Paraphrased from the transcript of a talk given by novelist Elif Shafak October 2020.