Mother Earth

1.       Asian stink bug wreaking havoc on mid-Atlantic crops

A foul-smelling invader is marching across the U.S., already posing as a major threat to agriculture. The brown marmorated stink bug is believed to have “hitchhiked” with a shipment of goods from Asia and was first spotted in Pennsylvania in 2001. It has since rapidly spread to infest thirty-three states from coast to coast. When threatened, it releases a pungent odor; it is its voracious appetite for almost any edible substance which makes it a major threat to farmers. Last season, mid-Atlantic apple farms lost about eighteen percent if their crops from that bug! Solution: the USDA is pinning its hopes in a wasp that has proven to be an effective predator against the stink bug in China, Japan, and Korea. Since predators that feed on native U.S. stink bugs are going after the new Asian cousin, it may become necessary to breed and release sterilized swarms if the Asian wasps to control crop damage. I don’t know about the Asian wasps, but hope that by incorporating this species into the western’s biosphere populations, the other species within it won’t become greatly affected by it. I say this because sometimes in order to cure something, or to make it better, negative side effects become unintentionally evident and mostly unavoidable along with the cure. Hopefully this theory doesn’t pertain to the initiation of the Asian wasp into the western hemisphere.

Terre

1.       Weather extremes may be the new normal

Dramatic swings between very wet, dry, and catastrophically stormy weather are likely to be the norm from now on, according to scientists who point to an overall warmer global climate as the source of the new meteorological reality. Manmade change: while it’s impossible to point to climate change as the cause of any single event, such as the devastating tornados in Mo., scientist K. Hayhoe says that the pervasive background of a warmer global change now has an impact on every storm heat wave and windy chill. She and other scientists joined with business leaders in a teleconference to highlight the toll from manmade climate change. Overall, don’t keep freaking out that the weather patterns are so irreagular; get udes to it cause it’s the worlds new norm. it is interesting and a little hesitant to see whether or not the natural  events will become more drastic with the more extreme weather, and if there will be more common natural disasters because of the increased effects of drastic changes in climate.

Erde

1.       One of the longest La Ninas declared to be at an end

Australian meteorologist declared the La Nina ocean cooling of the past year finally over, and that the U.N. says it is not likely to come back later this year. Climate Changes: weather shifts triggered by the huge pool of cool water in the equatorial Pacific brought by vast flooding in eastern Australia, severe droughts in Texas and Southeast Asia and a winter rainy season that  has seemed to never end in the western U.S. and Canada. This is a great explanation for the never ending rain we seem to have here in good ol’ northeast Ohio. Since La Nina is not likely to come back again, I predict that we are going to have a very hot, clear of storm clouds summer this year. It’s an interesting fact that while we are getting huge amounts of rain, Texas and Southeast Asia are experiencing threatening periods of droughts from these weather shifts. It puts the idea of real power in perspective when we are at the mercy of a weather patterns.

Gaia

1.       Strong storm steers clear of landfall

Typhoon Songda formed from an area of distributed weather swirling around the Micronesian island of Yap. It steadily gained strength while taking aim on the central Philippines; despite eventually attaining Category 4 force, Songa veered to the north, remaining well off the coast of that country’s central and northern islands. It was expected to eventually affect Japan’s southernmost islands as a much weaker storm. A scary threat to hear about, again depicting the mercy humans are under when describing the weather. It is a blessing to the people of the Philippines that the typhoon missed them, but Japan still worries about the weaker storm to come; there is already so much devastation in Japan, it would be hard to fathom what another storm could lead to in these next months. So, just because Japan is no longer on the front page of the newspaper, doesn’t mean that all their problems are solved over there, they still need support and help to rebuild from all parts of the world- make it evident that you care, don’t just pretend when everyone else is talking about it.

Tierra

1.       Icelandic volcano ash disrupts European air traffic

Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano erupted with a massive plume of ash that soared high above the North Atlantic a year after ash from nearby Eyjafjallajokull caused major disruptions to global air travel. Aviation officials briefly closed airports across Scotland, Norway, and other northern European countries after volcanic debris was detected blowing into their air routes. Heavy Ash: while the Grimsvotn eruption was for larger than that of its notorious and nearly unpronounceable neighbor in the spring of 2010, its ash was heavier and fell into the ocean at a faster rate. Just like in its eruptions of 1998 and 2004, Grimsvotn ceased spewing within a few days. I tried researching what the effects of the ash falling into the ocean were, but there was no credible information to derive an answer. So, I am still wondering if the amount of ash with a heavier mass compared to most volcanic explosions has any negative effects toward the oceanic ecosystem as pollution does.

Earth

1.       Earthquakes felt around the world

Just over 2,000 homes were rendered uninhabitable in parts of western Turkey by a 5.9 magnitude temblor that killed three people late on May 19^th. Two of the fatalities and many of the nearly 200 injuries around Kutahya province were blamed on shoddy construction. It would be frustrating and very nerve racking to realize that the area where you live is overall not safe due to the construction of the town which is out of your hands. Hopefully, with the new technology in architecture throughout the world, the reconstruction in Turkey will be more positive for the safety of the people. Elsewhere: Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand’s Christchurch aftershock zone, southern Sumatra, the northern Philippines, northeastern Japan, Rwanda and the San Francisco Area. Hopefully, people are aware of the natural disasters throughout the world and thus come together to help people in need. Be aware of the amount of earthquakes and also from this information be prepared for anything.

My Fans

Sorry for the hold up, my email has been down for quite a long time, and gmail would not allow me to login into my blogger account without resending a confirmed email. Sorry, my whopping two followers, I just wanted you to know that I did not forget about you. Blog on.