a “murder” hornet

sports a pair of vicious mandibles that kill honeybees. They decapitate worker bees and feed the bee to their larvae,
destroying an entire hive in days. Sometimes a mob of bees will mount a defense against a hornet that enters the hive. They cover the hornet and then vibrating their wings which generates so much heat that the hornet is roasted alive. Honeybees in Europe and North America have not evolved this tactic and so are at the mercy of this predator.

 93% of the Great Barrier Reef is now undergoing coral bleaching. 
 7 % are not bleaching. Researchers are comparing the genes of algae that do well in higher temps to those of algae that did not. The heat-resistant algae turned on genes associated with stress resistance so they produced less toxins.

the risk of species extinction increases with every degree of warming.

coral are marine invertebrates. they form a hard, stony skeleton of calcium carbonate
which builds up over time to create reefs. coral animals are called polyps. colonies of polyps work together to create these massive structures. coral polyps feed on small organisms and have a symbiotic relationship with algae.

The U.S. faces an increasing risk of malaria due to climate change.
90% of the projected global population will be exposed to malaria or dengue fever in the next few decades if the current warming trends continue. 

Polar bears are the poster child for the impacts of climate change.
During the next few decades, we'll have a  nearly ice-free summer Arctic.
Polar bears rely heavily on sea ice for:
traveling, hunting seals, mating, resting, and maternal dens. 
Polar bears are highly K selective...long generation time with a low reproductive rate.

promise me...

promise each other,
promise yourself
you
will
vote

for the future of the next generation

staghorn coral colonies get their color from the algae that live within their tissue. antler-like branches angle up from a central trunk.
each coral colony is made up of multiple polyps that grow together.

some insects are thriving.
In 2020, east Africa suffered its worst plague of locusts in decades after rainfall 400% above average.
Hotter and wetter boosted locust numbers.
Skies full of locusts destroyed all the crops in their wake.

one-third of corals, freshwater mollusks, sharks, and rays
​ one-fourth of all mammals
 one-fifth of all reptiles
 one-sixth of all birds
​ are heading towards extinction.

polar bears
and
​staghorn coral

A warmer planet will increase insect pests and pathogens.
Three important crops = wheat, rice, and corn, will be lost to insects by 25% per degree C of warming.

Staghorn coral built the Caribbean coral reefs over the last 5,000 years forming dense groups called “thickets” in very shallow water and providing a critical habitat for other reef animals.

In 2021, there were 247 million malaria cases globally that led to 619K deaths.
77 % were children under the age of 5.

and others...

so when someone says to you its just some polar bears...

ocean warming causes the corals to release the algae that provides them food.

ocean acidification caused by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lowers  pH which makes it harder for them to build their skeleton.

Houseflies will
​ double
in numbers in a few decades causing
an increase in foodborne illnesses

staghorn coral

coral bleaching

The emerald ash borer 
is a beetle that bores into ash trees to feed, killing the tree. Mild winters  are allowing these beetles introduced via jump dispersal to America to migrate north, killing hundreds of million of ash trees across the US.

But what can I do?

I'm just one person...

Every minute, a child under five dies of malaria. 

climate change has been called a force multiplier when it comes to bees...
as pest issues increase, farmers apply more pesticides which kills more bees. Heavy rains mess with bees' foraging patterns.
Wildfires/floods destroy bees' habitat.

a warmer planet will trigger more outbreaks of dengue fever and malaria.
Mosquitoes are the most deadly animal when considering the number of people they kill via infection.

warming temperatures
is increasing pathogen persistence, prevalence, emergence, and transmission.

warming temps cause the photosynthetic algae to produce toxins like H2O2 which reduce the algae's photosynthesis and stress out the coral. the coral kicks out the algea. but this makes the corals more susceptible to disease and starves them. 

 The Department of Agriculture counted 2.7 million hives in 2024 compared to > 5 million in 1998. 
100 species of crops provide 90% of human's food.
71% of these crops are pollinated ​by bees.

people say...
so polar bears are dying. 
I've got bigger problems to think about.
 perhaps they're not the poster child after all...

great barrier reef

poster child