The quote below from Chief Arvol Looking Horse was regarding the BP Oil Spill but I believe his words are also applicable to climate change. We are out of sync with our mother, our father, our earth.
""My Relatives,
"Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their Leaders. I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together from the Spirit of your Nations in prayer.
"We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World; we are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing their sacred color, which have been signs for us to pray for the sacred life of all things. As I am sending this message to you, many Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations, eventually all will be affect (sic) from the oil disaster in the Gulf.
"The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill, which looks like the bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make.
"I ask, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in prayer with the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these serious issues will continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our Ancestors have warned us of in their Prophecies.
"I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united prayers for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I believe we as Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our thoughts and prayers to allow the healing of the many wounds that have been inflicted on the Earth. As we honor the Cycle of Life, let us call for Prayer circles globally to assist in healing Grandmother Earth (our Unc’I Maka).
"We ask for prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That the winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be guided in repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live in harmony, as we make the choice to change the destructive path we are on.
"As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And that what we create can have lasting effects on all life.
"So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer....
"Onipikte (that we shall live),""
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
I am watching
As you cut down the trees my children play in
As you mow down the fields where they learn how to hunt
As you fill in the stream where my family drinks
As you blacken the air my children breath
As you tear down my house to build yours
I am watching with tears in my eyes
Number of Snow Leopards Declining; Impact of Climate Change
Scientists who work for the WWF have determined that on our current greenhouse gas emission trajectory about thirty percent of the snow leopards’ habitat in the Himalaya will be lost forever.
As the tree line moves higher and the leopards preferred alpine habitat becomes warmer and wetter.
Added to this, the direct threat from habitat loss, the study notes that as tree lines rise and snow leopard habitat gets reduce, it may also bring them increasingly into contact with humans.
This would tremendously increase the retaliatory killings when the leopards prey on livestock. On the whole, it is going to create a lot of havoc.
Effects of climate change on polar bears
Polar bears are a highly specialised species living primarily by catching seals from the sea ice. At the same time, polar bears are opportunists when it comes to their diet and they have the ability to wander across huge geographical distances in order to find good hunting grounds. A substantial reduction in the extent of the sea ice during the summer will undoubtedly have a negative impact on polar bears. Based on extremely conservative forecasts about the future extent of the sea ice, scientists have estimated that two thirds of the polar bear population could become extinct by 2050. If the sea ice continues to retreat at the speed witnessed during the last few years, the situation will become even more critical.
Climate Change: Prime Time for Parasites
The latest symptom of climate change has wriggled onto the radar of a team of WCS researchers.
In northeastern Argentina, an increasingly muggy climate is creating better conditions for fly larva to infect baby birds. In a recent study, WCS field veterinarians and biologists found an elevated number of parasitic maggots of Philornis torquans burrowing into the skin of more than 20 species of nesting chicks. Being large in comparison to their unfortunate hosts, the parasites can sometimes kill the birds or cause them to grow abnormally.
I trusted you
To take care of my air
To take care of my forests
To take care of my oceans
To take care of my home
I trusted you
To love our home as I do
To honor our mother, our father, our earth
To have respect for the whole
To give something back
I trusted you
And you let me down
Climate Change and Wildlife
Amphibians
The Golden Toad from the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica is probably the first documented casualty of human induced climate change. This species, which is unique to the area, is thought to have been extinct since 1990. It is believed that the Golden Toad was wiped out by a fungus, chytridiomycosis, which tends to prosper in cool, moist weather. Allthough the bulk of the increased temperatures of the region occurred at night, the days were cooler due to increased
cloud cover. Perfect conditions for the spread of the disease.
Butterflies
Butterflies are being seen as an indicator of climate change. In Ireland species such as the Small Skipper have been discovered for the first time. Other species such as the Holly Blue are becoming more common and are spreading northwards.
Krill
Since 1980 there has been about an 80% decrease in the number of krill, a small crustacean, in Antarctic waters. The Krill feed on algae growing on the underside of sea ice and as this ice has melted due to a temperature increase of about 2.5ºC over the last 50 years, the numbers of krill have declined. This in turn has led to a decline in the number of krill dependent predators such as whales, seals, penguins and other seabirds. This will also have implications for tourism. Fishing will also be affected as the krill is also prey to a number of commercially fished species.
In 1997, Kenneth Coale, of Moss Landing Marine Laboratory stated that "Some people view krill as the canary in the coal mine of global warming," It would appear that people above ground are a lot slower than miners in heeding warning signs.
Jellyfish
As a result of an increase in water temperature off the the Irish Coast there has been an increase in jellyfish, such as the mauve stinger jellyfish and even the portuguese man of war, and algae. This in turn has attracted exotic warm water species swuch as the Ocean Sunfish and the leatherback turtle. Other species attracted by warmer waters include tuna, triggerfish, slipper lobster and the chinese mitten crab.
The Daily Green
It's amazing how a relatively small rise in temperature can alter an animal's life. Sea turtles are affected throughout their lives by climate change: their sex is determined by the temperature of the sand in which eggs incubate (cooler sand produces males, too-hot sand produces females only); and some rely on coral reefs, which themselves are already succumbing to climate change. Then there's the issue of nesting beaches for turtles. They're increasingly disappearing beneath rising seas.
I am here
I am alive
I am all around you
I have no voice
I am in your trees
I am in your air
I am in your fields
I am in your oceans
I am in your world
I have no voice
I am a mother
I am a father
I am a protector
I am a soul
I have no voice
I can walk
I can crawl
I can sing
I can fear
I have no voice
You must be my voice
And lest we forget, there is one other creature who will be impacted by our inaction on climate change...