A changing climate has the potential to cause extinctions in a majority of the world’s especially valuable ecosystems. Depending on a species responses to those changes, especially their ability to migrate to new sites, habitat change in many ecoregions has the potential to result in catastrophic species loss. Research has shown that Woodland salamanders are shrinking in the Appalachian Mountains; the long-billed, Arctic-breeding red knot is producing smaller young with less impressive bills leading to survival difficulties. Marmots and martens in the Americas are getting bigger due to longer growing seasons which lead to increased access to foodstuffs, while the alpine chipmunks of Yellowstone National Park have actually seen the shape of their skulls change due to climate pressure. And while many species are undergoing genetic changes, this does not mean they are successfully adapting to our warmer world. I have a particular interest in natural disasters and insurance in light of climatic changes but that’s a topic for another day. Art is a great way to keep global concerns in the public eye.
Here is a recent lino cut entitled ‘Extinct’ I created, in a series of climatic-change pieces I’m currently working on. Climate change is putting many tropical high altitude beetles at risk of extinction as well as almost one-fifth of Europe’s wood beetles are at risk of extinction due to a widespread decline in ancient trees – See https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/05/a-fifth-of-europes-wood-beetles-at-risk-of-extinction-as-ancient-trees-decline and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171017114338.htm