From charismatic megafauna to insect pollinators, 2014 was a bad year for wildlife. The London Zoological Society updated the Living Planet Index and found that during the 40 years from 1970 to 2010, more than half of vertebrate species, and more than three-quarters of freshwater species, met their end.
Stanford biology professor Rodolfo Dirzo calls this mass-extinction event the “Anthropocene defaunation”. In the words of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, it’s “a sorry testament to the greed of the human race.”
If these trends continue – and there’s no reason to expect that they won’t – the next 40 years will see almost all vertebrate species extirpated.
2014 gave us a much clearer view of the scale of plastic pollution in the oceans: more than 5 trillion plastic particles weighing more than the entire biomass of the human species. And the irreversible meltdown of the cryosphere delivered a surprise: enormous concentrations of microplastics – at least 100 times greater than what’s in the ocean gyres – have accumulated in Arctic sea ice.
Global warming continued its dreary, inexorable rise, causing the usual record temperatures and flooding that we’re all becoming accustomed to. The chances of a record-cold year are now astronomically small; the last one was in 1909.
2014 put to rest any notion that global warming has “slowed down” in recent years, with 2014 almost certainly the hottest year ever recorded. A paper by Seneviratne, et al., showed clearly a continued increase in hot extremes over land during this so-called global warming hiatus.
New data brought the global freshwater depletion crisis into sharper focus. Since 2013, the U.S. West has lost 63 trillion gallons of groundwater to the mega-drought. Humans are drilling deep and depleting aquifers at an immensely unsustainable rate. James Famiglietti, a hydrologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, sounded the alarm:
From North Africa to the Middle East to South Asia, regions where it is already common to drill over 2 kilometers to reach groundwater, it is highly likely that disappearing groundwater could act as a flashpoint for conflict.
Human responses to these dire signals ranged from woefully insufficient to perverse. Australia repealed its carbon tax, causing its emissions to soar. Canada largely withdrew from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Afghanistan exploited new deep-well technology to use its groundwater for boosting opium poppy cultivation to a record high. Wealthy Californians trucked in water to keep their lawns green; in some places, residential water use exceeded 500 gallons per person per day.
The ballyhooed COP 20 conference in Lima kicked the can down the road to the 2015 meeting in Paris. The interim agreement may put developing nations in an even worse situation than before the talks.
Scroll down for more of the year’s doomiest data, and check out Desdemona’s doomiest posts of previous years:
2013 doomiest graphs, images, and stories
2012 doomiest graphs, images, and stories
2011 doomiest graphs, images, and stories
2010 doomiest graphs, images, and stories
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Elephant poaching rates and ivory seizures in Kenya, 1998-2012
19 August 2014 (mongabay.com) – Around 100,000 elephants were killed by poachers for their ivory on the African continent in just three years, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Between 2010 and 2012 an average of 6.8 percent of the elephant population was killed annually, equaling just over 20 percent of the continent's population in that time. Elephant deaths are now exceeding births, which on average are 5 percent annually.
"We are shredding the fabric of elephant society and exterminating populations across the continent," lead author George Wittemyer with the organization Save the Elephants told the BBC, noting that old elephants are often the first killed. Elephants are being killed for their ivory, which is then smuggled abroad to mostly to China, but also to Thailand, the Philippines, Europe, and the U.S.
20 percent of Africa’s elephants killed in three years – ‘We are shredding the fabric of elephant society and exterminating populations across the continent’
Ivory’s shocking toll: 65 percent of forest elephants killed in 12 years – ‘At least a couple of hundred thousand forest elephants were lost between 2002-2013 to the tune of at least sixty a day, or one every twenty minutes, day and night’
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Rhinoceros poaching rate in South Africa, 2007-2014
24 November 2014 (mongabay.com) – South Africa has surpassed last year's grisly record for slaughtered rhinos—1,004—more than a month before the year ends. In an announcement on November 20th, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs said that 1,020 rhinos had been killed to date. Rhinos are butchered for their horns, which are consumed as curatives in countries like Vietnam and China despite any evidence that rhino horn has medicinal properties.
New blood record: 1,020 rhinos slaughtered by poachers this year in South Africa
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Estimated annual offtake rates for bushmeat in the Ivorian town of Taï
(Tropical Conservation Science) – According to the IUCN, four of the nine anthropoid species found in Liberia are classified as either Vulnerable or Endangered and this number is likely to rise in coming years due to an increase in bushmeat hunting and a growing human population. Bushmeat hunting is the primary cause of primate loss in West Africa and current estimated offtake rates combined with habitat loss have placed four taxa endemic to Upper Guinea forests in danger of extirpation. […] Based on an estimated offtake rate of 2.76%, our preliminary analysis suggests that primates in Liberia’s Konobo District are likely being hunted at rates approaching unsustainable levels and are in danger of extirpation.
Graph of the Day: Annual species offtake rate for one bushmeat market in West Africa
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Declines in invertebrate abundance, 1970-2010
18 September 2014 (The Mind Unleashed) – According to a Stanford biology professor, Rodolfo Dirzo, the earth has begun its 6th mass extinction cycle – and it’s our fault.
Professor Dirzo is calling our time an era of “Anthropocene defaunation.” Human ignorance and greed are its causes. According to the study:
Across vertebrates, 16 to 33 percent of all species are estimated to be globally threatened or endangered. Large animals – described as megafauna and including elephants, rhinoceroses, polar bears and countless other species worldwide – face the highest rate of decline, a trend that matches previous extinction events.
Stanford Biologist warns Earth’s 6th mass extinction in progress
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U.S. managed honey bee colony losses, 2006-2014
15 May 2014 (USDA) – A yearly survey of beekeepers, released today, shows fewer colony losses occurred in the United States over the winter of 2013-2014 than in recent years, but beekeepers say losses remain higher than the level that they consider to be sustainable. According to survey results, total losses of managed honey bee colonies from all causes were 23.2 percent nationwide. That number is above the 18.9 percent level of loss that beekeepers say is acceptable for their economic sustainability, but is a marked improvement over the 30.5 percent loss reported for the winter of 2012-2013, and over the eight-year average loss of 29.6 percent.
Annual survey: ‘Beekeepers say losses remain higher than the level that they consider to be sustainable’
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Change in European honeybee stocks, 2005-2010
8 January 2014 (theguardian.com) – The UK faces a food security catastrophe because of its very low numbers of honeybee colonies, which provide an essential service in pollinating many crops, scientists warned.
"We face a catastrophe in future years unless we act now," said Professor Simon Potts, at the University of Reading, who led the research. "Wild pollinators need greater protection. They are the unsung heroes of the countryside, providing a critical link in the food chain for humans and doing work for free that would otherwise cost British farmers £1.8bn to replace."
UK faces food security catastrophe as honeybee numbers fall, scientists warn – Crop pollination via honeybees sinks to second lowest in Europe as study calls for greater protection of wild pollinators
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Declines in European bird abundance, 1980-2010
3 November 2014 (AFP) – Europe has an estimated 421 million fewer birds than three decades ago, and current treatment of the environment is unsustainable for many common species, a study released on Monday said.
The population crash is related to modern farming methods and the loss and damage of habitats, according to the study published in science journal Ecology Letters.
"This is a warning from birds throughout Europe. It is clear that the way we are managing the environment is unsustainable for many of our most familiar species," said Richard Gregory of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which co-led the study.
Graph of the Day: Estimated abundance of European bird species, 1980-2009
Europe has 421 million fewer birds than 30 years ago – ‘The way we are managing the environment is unsustainable for many of our most familiar species’
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Deforestation in the Kinabatangan region of Borneo, 2000-2013
20 June 2014 (mongabay.com) – In a recent study headed by Dr. Marc Ancrenaz from Borneo Future and Dr. Isabelle Lackman, president of HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project found that while orangutans have adapted to the island’s human-transformed landscapes better than expected, oil palm plantations are unable to sustain orangutan populations in the long-term. The researchers observed evidence of orangutans inhabiting small forest patches scattered among oil palm estates, but also observed evidence of starvation among those orangutans, as well as increased conflicts with humans.
When a forest is newly converted for agricultural use, orangutans and other wildlife lose not only a place to live, but also access to vital food sources. During the land conversion process, animals are either killed or take refuge in neighboring patches of intact forest. However, these small forest patches often become overcrowded and cannot produce enough food to support the new influx of animals.
The palm oil diet: study finds displaced orangutans have little else to eat
The last best place no more: Massive deforestation destroying prime chimp habitat in Uganda
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Drought in Brazil, 18 February 2014
25 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – With more than 140 cities implementing water rationing, analysts warning of collapsing soy and coffee exports, and reservoirs and rivers running precipitously low.
"The regions where we plant coffee today, especially the ones on lower elevations, will be getting hotter," Hilton Silveira Pinto of EMBRAPA, Brazil's government agency for agriculture, told NPR. "And many of the coffee plantations in these areas will probably have to be abandoned."
"By 2020, we will lose 20 to 22 percent of our soybean crop. It will also affect corn, cassava, many of our Brazilian crops."
Brazil’s epic drought a taste of the future – ‘Many of the coffee plantations in these areas will probably have to be abandoned’
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Decline of ocean wildlife: Clips from Mission Blue
15 August 2014 (TED) – Scientist Sylvia Earle (TED Talk: My wish: Protect our oceans) has spent the past five decades exploring the seas. During that time, she’s witnessed a steep decline in ocean wildlife numbers — and a sharp incline in the number of ocean deadzones and oil drilling sites. An original documentary about Earle’s life and work premieres today on Netflix. Watch it here.
Below, four ocean infographic gifs from the film.
Beautiful and sad GIFs show the ongoing destruction of the oceans
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Temperature and zooplankton volume in Gulf of Maine, 1992-2013
May/June 2014 Issue (Mother Jones) – Why would the veteran puffin parents of Maine start bringing their chicks food they couldn't swallow? Only because they had no choice. Herring and hake had dramatically declined in the waters surrounding Seal Island, and by August, Stephen Kress had a pretty good idea why: The water was much too hot.
Cold ocean water flows from Canada into the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf's normally cold waters have been unusually warm in the last decade, and the heat is wiping out the zooplankton that support its entire food web.
Disappearing puffins, stray whales, invading sailfish: The North Atlantic is in a bad way, and here’s why
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Cracks in sea ice funneling mercury to the Arctic surface, 21-26 March 2012
16 January 2014 (Scientific American) – Cracks in sea ice are funneling additional mercury to the Arctic surface, raising concerns about the toxic element seeping into the food chain of the delicate ecosystem.
The research, published in Nature, finds that channels of open water in Arctic ice, known as leads, are stirring up air so that mercury is pumped from higher in the atmosphere to air close to the surface. Warming temperatures are increasing the amount of seasonal sea ice that melts every summer, which in turn helps create the leads, said study lead author Christopher Moore, an assistant research professor at the Desert Research Institute.
"As more and more of that seasonal sea ice is around as the Arctic changes, then there is the potential that this mechanism can occur over a larger and larger area," said Moore. Environment Canada, the Desert Research Institute and NASA jointly funded the research.
Toxic mercury pollution rising with Arctic meltdown
Humans have tripled mercury levels in upper ocean – Pollution may soon overwhelm deep seas’ ability to sequester mercury
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Measured number of plastic items per square kilometer in the world’s oceans
10 December 2014 (The Guardian) – More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world’s oceans, causing damage throughout the food web, new research has found.
Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand suggest a minimum of 5.25 trillion plastic particles in the oceans, most of them “micro plastics” measuring less than 5mm.
The volume of plastic pieces, largely deriving from products such as food and drink packaging and clothing, was calculated from data taken from 24 expeditions over a six-year period to 2013. The research, published in the journal PLOS One, is the first study to look at plastics of all sizes in the world’s oceans.
Large pieces of plastic can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans.
This is problematic due to the chemicals contained within plastics, as well as the pollutants that plastic attract once they are in the marine environment. […]
“You put a net through it for half an hour and there’s more plastic than marine life there,” said Julia Reisser, a researcher based at the University of Western Australia. “It’s hard to visualise the sheer amount, but the weight of it is more than the entire biomass of humans. It’s quite an alarming problem that’s likely to get worse.”
Graph of the Day: Distribution of plastic pollution in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans
Full scale of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans revealed for first time – More than five trillion pieces weighing 269,000 tons are floating in our oceans
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Count of microplastic pieces found in sea ice at four Arctic sites
27 May 2014 (PhysOrg) – A team of researchers with Dartmouth College in the U.S. and the University of Plymouth in the U.K. has found that a massive amount of tiny bits of rayon, plastics and other man-made materials are embedded in Arctic sea ice. In their paper published in the journal Earth's Future, the team describes how they found evidence of the materials in core samples taken in 2005 and 2010 and note that as Arctic sea ice melts, the embedded material will be released into the ocean, likely causing problems for marine life.
These findings indicate that microplastics have accumulated far from population centers and that polar sea ice represents a major historic global sink of man-made particulates. The potential for substantial quantities of legacy microplastic contamination to be released to the ocean as the ice melts therefore needs to be evaluated, as do the physical and toxicological effects of plastics on marine life.
Global warming releases microplastic legacy frozen in Arctic Sea ice – ‘Concentrations of microplastics are at least two orders of magnitude greater than those in highly contaminated surface waters, such as those of the Pacific Gyre’
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Record low Arctic Sea ice extent for February
19 February 2014 (Climate Central) – Arctic sea ice growth has slowed dramatically in recent weeks, thanks in large part to abnormally warm air and water temperatures. Sea ice now sits at record low levels for mid-February.
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, as of February 18, sea ice covered about 14.36 million square kilometers in the Arctic. The previous low on this date was 14.37 million square kilometers in 2006.
The main culprit — in addition to the overall trend of global warming — is likely the rash of warm temperatures. With the polar vortex bringing cold air down to the U.S. this winter, warmer temperatures have been the norm in the Arctic. From February 1-17, temperatures were 7.2° to 14.4°F above normal for much of the Arctic. Some areas have been even warmer.
Graph of the Day: Arctic sea ice at record low for February
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Velocity of retreating glaciers in West Antarctica
12 May 2014 (LiveScience.com) – The biggest glaciers in West Antarctica are hemorrhaging ice without any way to stem the loss, according to two independent studies. The unstoppable retreat is the likely start of a long-feared domino effect that could cause the entire ice sheet to melt, whether or not greenhouse gas emissions decline.
"These glaciers will keep retreating for decades and even centuries to come and we can't stop it," said lead study author Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "A large sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has passed the point of no return."
Catastrophic collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet begins – ‘These glaciers will keep retreating for decades and even centuries to come and we can’t stop it’
Doubling of Antarctic ice loss revealed by European satellite – Continent shedding 160 billion tons per year
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Ice mass loss In Greenland, 2003-2013
25 November 2014(GRL) – We use Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) monthly gravity fields to determine the regional acceleration in ice mass loss in Greenland and Antarctica for 2003–2013. We find that the total mass loss is controlled by only a few regions. In Greenland, the southeast and northwest generate 70% of the loss (280±58 Gt/yr) mostly from ice dynamics, the southwest accounts for 54% of the total acceleration in loss (25.4±1.2 Gt/yr2) from a decrease in surface mass balance (SMB), followed by the northwest (34%), and we find no significant acceleration in the northeast.
Antarctic ice loss tripled in the last 10 years – ‘The mass loss of these glaciers is increasing at an amazing rate’
Greenland ice loss doubles from late 2000s – Greenland and Antarctica together are losing 500 cubic kilometers of ice each year – ‘To us, that’s an incredible number’
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Record land surface temperature anomalies in Alaska for 23–30 January 2014
4 February 2014 (Arctic News) – While much of the continental United States endured several cold snaps in January 2014, record-breaking warmth gripped Alaska. Spring-like conditions set rivers rising and avalanches tumbling. NASA Earth Observatory illustrates these words with the image above.
The above map depicts land surface temperature anomalies in Alaska for January 23–30, 2014. Based on data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, the map shows how 2014 temperatures compared to the 2001–2010 average for the same week. Areas with warmer than average temperatures are shown in red; near-normal temperatures are white; and areas that were cooler than the base period are blue. Gray indicates oceans or areas where clouds blocked the satellite from collecting usable data.
As continental U.S. freezes, Alaska gets record high temperatures
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Australia temperature forecast for 31 January 2014
3 February 2014 (The Advertiser) – Australia's stifling heatwaves are threatening to make summer Australia's deadliest season, experts have warned, as Adelaide sweltered through its hottest February day on record Sunday.
Sixty-six people affected by heat stress have presented to South Australian hospitals since Thursday and ten have been admitted for treatment during a stifling run of 40C-plus maximums, including Sunday's 44.7C at 2.30pm. The previous February record in Adelaide was 44.3C on 14 February 2004.
So intense was the heat blast that Mount Gambier, in the traditionally cooler South East, recorded it highest temperature of 44.9C.
The sweltering start to the month follows the hottest January in 13 years - the fourth-hottest on record - when bushfires raged across the state and more than 300 people presented at hospitals with heat-related illness.
South Australia sizzles through hottest February day on record – Scientists project global warming will make summer deaths more common
Australia experiences its hottest two years on record – ‘Climate change is here, it’s happening, and Australians are already feeling its impact’
Australia repealed its carbon tax, and emissions are now soaring
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Temperature anomaly for Africa, 2001-2010, relative to 1961-1990
(WMO) – The decade 2001-2010 was characterized by a record in global temperature increase since sufficiently comprehensive global surface temperature measurement began in 1850.
For global land-surface air temperatures as well as for ocean-surface temperatures this decade was the warmest on record.
This trend is confirmed at national level where 96% of the countries had their warmest decade in 2001 to 2010 and 4% in 1991 to 2000.
The rate of temperature increase was particularly high in the northern hemisphere.
Graph of the Day: Temperature anomaly for Africa, 2001-2010
Record warmth in Western Europe – Record cold and snow in Eastern U.S.
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January-October average temperature for California, 1900-2014
5 December 2014 (Bloomberg) – Record rains fell in California this week. They’re not enough to change the course of what scientists are now calling the region’s worst drought in at least 1,200 years.
Just how bad has California’s drought been? Modern measurements already showed it’s been drier than the 1930s dustbowl, worse than the historic droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. That's not all. New research going back further than the Viking conquests in Europe still can't find a drought as bad as this one.
To go back that far, scientists consulted one of the longest records available: tree rings. Tighter rings mean drier years, and by working with California’s exceptionally old trees, researchers from University of Minnesota and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute were able to reconstruct a chronology of drought in southern and central California. They identified 37 droughts that lasted three years or more, going back to the year 800.
None were as extreme as the conditions we’re seeing now.
California’s ‘Hot Drought’ ranks worst in at least 1,200 years
California breaks all-time heat record – Heat alerts declared; cooling centers to open
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Five-year global temperature anomalies, 1880-2013
21 January 2014 (NASA) – NASA scientists say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the warmest years on record.
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which analyzes global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated report Tuesday on temperatures around the globe in 2013. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience temperatures warmer than those measured several decades ago. The average temperature in 2013 was 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (14.6 degrees Celsius), which is 1.1 °F (0.6 °C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline. The average global temperature has risen about 1.4 °F (0.8 °C) since 1880, according to the new analysis. Exact rankings for individual years are sensitive to data inputs and analysis methods.
"Long-term trends in surface temperatures are unusual and 2013 adds to the evidence for ongoing climate change," GISS climatologist Gavin Schmidt said. "While one year or one season can be affected by random weather events, this analysis shows the necessity for continued, long-term monitoring."
Five-Year Global Temperature Anomalies from 1880 to 2013
IPCC Synthesis Report warns of ‘severe, widespread and irreversible’ effects of climate change
Global warming: No pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes
2014 set to be hottest year on record – Chances of record cold years now ‘astronomically small’
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Global sea level trends for the period 2003–2013
24 March 2014 (WMO) – Preliminary analyses indicate that the global average sea level reached a new record high in March. Some regions of the globe are experiencing greater sea-level rise than others (some are even experiencing declining sea levels) due to local variations in currents, land movements and ocean warming. The region of the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines has observed some of the highest rising sea-level rates over the past half century. This contributed to the enormous devastation in parts of the Philippine islands, when Typhoon Haiyan struck in November and caused a massive storm surge.
Graph of the Day: Global sea level trends, 2003–2013
Rising sea level in Miami is an enormous problem
As sea level rises in Jamaica Bay, New York, tidal flooding moves from occasional to chronic
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Poleward migration of the location of tropical cyclone maximum intensity (LMI)
14 May 2014 (MIT News Office) – Powerful, destructive tropical cyclones are now reaching their peak intensity farther from the equator and closer to the poles, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT scientist.
The results of the study, published today in the journal Nature, show that over the last 30 years, tropical cyclones — also known as hurricanes or typhoons — are moving poleward at a rate of about 33 miles per decade in the Northern Hemisphere and 38 miles per decade in the Southern Hemisphere.
“The absolute value of the latitudes at which these storms reach their maximum intensity seems to be increasing over time, in most places,” says Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor and co-author of the new paper. “The trend is statistically significant at a pretty high level.”
MIT study: Dangerous storms peaking further north, south than in past
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Map of rainfall totals across Europe, 11-17 May 2014
20 May 2014 (Climate Central) – The torrential rains and catastrophic floods that raged through parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia were unprecedented in the historical record of the region, going back 120 years. But extreme weather events like this one are something communities may have to contend with more and more as the planet warms, experts say.
The flooding event began on May 13 when an area of low pressure developed as warm, moist air from over the Mediterranean Sea clashed with colder air from the north. The low became cut-off from the jet stream, which would ordinarily usher the system across the region — instead, it remained parked over southeast Europe, dumping rain for several days.
Authorities in Bosnia and Serbia reported that about 4 inches of rain fell on May 14 and 15, with larger downpours in some locations. In just a few days, some areas received an amount of rain equivalent to one third of their annual total, said Steven Bowen, an associate director and meteorologist with the reinsurance group Aon Benfield.
“We’re looking at a pretty unprecedented event,” Bowen told Climate Central. It was at least a 1-in-100 year event for the region, he said.
The climate context for ‘unprecedented’ Balkans flooding – ‘We can see what is quite obviously a trend of extreme weather’
Floods