Five days ago marked a rather gloomy realization in terms of the disastrous effects that climate change is having on this planet. On September 14th, photos were released by the Aerial Surveys of Arctic Marine Mammals Project (ASAMM) which captured an increased number of walruses congregating along Alaska’s coastline in an area known as Point Lay. Scientists are so perturbed by this occurrence due to the fact that the walruses normally assemble on blocks of sea ice located away from the shoreline where there are abundant amounts of mollusks available to eat.
Unfortunately, because of the heightened amounts of greenhouse gases which are being emitted into the atmosphere, there has been an incredibly large reduction in the sea ice expanses which are commonly found in the Arctic Ocean. The newly released Arctic Species Trend Index gives evidence to the disruptive effects climate change is having in that area by explaining that there has been over a 20% decline in the number of Arctic wildlife since 1970.
The fact that sea ice is melting at an alarmingly fast rate is causing severe concern as exampled by the walruses and their inability to feed in the more favorable areas. With the steady decline in the Arctic’s mass and the amount of animal species present within, there certainly needs to be more done to significantly reduce the heavy amounts of carbon dioxide being emitted into the air. Hopefully, this type of pollution abatement will positively impact the habitats of animals not only in the Arctic region but in all parts of the Earth.