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Climate change behind Africa's worst locust invasion in decades
Locusts by the millions are nibbling their way across a large part of Africa in the worst outbreak some places have seen in 70 years. Is this another effect of a changing climate? Yes, researchers say. An unprecedented food security crisis may be the result.
The locusts "reproduce rapidly and, if left unchecked, their current numbers could grow 500 times by June," the United Nations says.
[...] "A typical desert locust swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer," the East African regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, has said. "Swarms migrate with the wind and can cover 62 to 93 miles in a day. An average swarm can destroy as much food crops in a day as is sufficient to feed 2,500 people."
[...] Heavy rains in East Africa made 2019 one of the region's wettest years on record, said Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker. He blamed rapidly warming waters in the Indian Ocean off Africa's eastern coast, which also spawned an unusual number of strong tropical cyclones off Africa last year.
Heavy rainfall and warmer temperatures are favorable conditions for locust breeding and in this case the conditions have become "exceptional," he said.
Even now rainfall continues in some parts of the vast region. The greenery that springs up keeps the locusts fuelled.
So already in the 2020s we have a massive viral pandemic with millions of people facing quarantine, gravity waves hurtling towards earth from the black hole at the center of the galaxy, massive forest fires so large they start their own thunderstorms and thereby "self-reproduce", Betelgeuse about to go supernova, Sol going quieter than it has been in 200 years (which is a harbinger of a little ice age) and now giant locust plagues that threaten to consume all the crops on an entire continent!
Can't wait to see what the rest of this century has up its sleeve!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:00AM (11 children)
Was climate change responsible for locust invasions in previous decades?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:20AM (1 child)
If the climate was changing, and then *it* happened, whatever "it" is, then it is technically correct to say it was caused in part by climate change.
It is a meaningless/trivially true claim.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday January 30 2020, @06:24PM
They're trying to blame the Coronavirus outbreak on "climate change" and warn that melting ice could release superbugs the likes of which we will ever see! So to avoid this, we need to get rid of all the power sources that provide energy independence and pay more taxes! Not the real shithole polluters like China and India, though, they don't count for some reason.
Well, there is a bright side to all this. Globalist shitbags want everybody eating bugs, so think of all the bug-burgers which could be made from harvesting the locusts!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:55AM (5 children)
Yes, I'm explaining your joke-not-a-joke by spelling it out, sorry, as nuance and subtlety will be wasted in a topic like this.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:06PM (2 children)
By "way cooler", you mean a fraction of a degree? Just "spelling things out." Climate changed decades ago too.
Nypost and a bunch of Africans who are trying to get money are not the most reliable sources of information.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:37PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:52PM
Hmm. I guess you didn't spell it out clearly enough. Or your ideas of irony and sarcasm are less universal than you assume.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:59PM (1 child)
Just for the sake of disagreement, I'll point out that the locusts didn't swarm like this when the wooly mammoth and wooly rhino roamed the earth. So, yes, global warming is responsible of the locusts. We need to go back several thousand years and start over. And, just think - wooly mammoth probably tastes a lot better than some old cow.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @07:00PM
You'll point out? Where are you pointing? The fairyland that is your brain, what with the fungal infection sprouting all those fairy rings?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday January 30 2020, @12:21PM (2 children)
Wasn't it God (or Yahweh)? I guess he is a force of nature ... of sorts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:16PM
That's the name for the entity/object at the center of the galaxy hurtling gravity waves at earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @08:13AM
Maybe God's "Send Locusts" button has started working again:
https://imgur.com/gallery/B03IDJF [imgur.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:18AM (2 children)
The list fails to include the coming solar micronova that will turn the moon molten red and coinciding magnetic pole shift.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:21AM (1 child)
It also doesn't include the death of God Emperor Trump the Orange. It's bound to happen this century, you know?
Long live God Emperor Trump Jr. after.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:38PM
Doesn't Donald the Loud descend from William the Silent of the House of Orange?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:24AM (8 children)
Can't people eat the locusts?
Can we eat the "mini ice age is coming!!" people*? (can't eat the anti-vaxxers, no idea what diseases they've got!)
*no, it isn't [theguardian.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:46AM
I'll gladly bet 50/50 on a little ice age coming in the next decade.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:55AM (6 children)
I suppose they theoretically can.
In the practical sense, however, given the sheer number of locusts and the briefness of the locust season, I don't think the amount of locusts those people can eat would make much of a difference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:38PM (5 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 30 2020, @08:31PM (4 children)
For 3-4 days, maybe. Then it's starvation for the rest of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday January 31 2020, @10:10AM (3 children)
"And on the 4th day, god looked down and was displeased with their over-indulgence..."
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 31 2020, @11:01AM (2 children)
Based on your signature and the above, I started to have this nagging feeling you are low in worshipers and, would an opening for a God position be created, you won't say no. (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday January 31 2020, @11:24AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 31 2020, @11:32AM
At my age i'm pretty sure I can't manage 72 whores, but I might get through 72 Bloody Marys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:20PM
«Can't wait to see what the rest of this century has up its sleeve!»
https://xkcd.com/2261/ [xkcd.com]
So, is this a hint that we are living in a simulation and an upgrade is undergoing? :D
CYA
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:20PM (17 children)
Pray to St Greta the Grumpy, asking that she sail to Africa and glare at the locusts until they stop.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:05PM
Is there a St. Greta the Grumpy newsletter?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:15PM (15 children)
Daily reminder that a teenage girl is giving you shit aneurysms, not least because she's correct. And you call yourself a man?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:46PM (1 child)
Haha. Only stupid people follow semi-retarded teenagers that are still going through puberty.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @01:56AM
Only stupid people shoot the messenger when they don't like the message.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:26PM (12 children)
You're assuming the gender of the Anonymous Coward. For all you know, it could be a bot.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:30PM (11 children)
In my experience, the vast majority of people who have a problem with Ms. Thunberg are men and self-identify as such :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:38PM (10 children)
Yes of course, when us men decide to follow children for insights we definitely prefer them to be boys. They're only 99.99% as ignorant and deluded as teenage girls.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @06:58PM (7 children)
Since she is simply repeating the advice of experts in the field it isn't following a teenagers insights.
Pretty hilarious how upset she makes you climate deniers. Woops, sorry, I assumed your intelligence level my bad.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @08:10PM (6 children)
Good luck with your experts. Experts said witches were to blame too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:50PM (2 children)
You're right, I'll go with my gut. I FEEL like you're a total dumbass, and my feelings are directing me to mock you mercilessly for promoting intentional ignorance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:52AM (1 child)
Have fun feeling better than people who know more than you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @09:08PM
I do, every day! I wake up some mornings though and the weight of responsibility and problems in the world can get me down.
Then I think to myself, at least you're not Runaway, Ethanol-Fueled, or The Mighty Buzzard! Then I realize how good I have it, but next I realize those people are still shitting up my country.
So in all being better than you is a mixed bag.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday January 31 2020, @02:31AM (2 children)
No, that was priests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @04:25AM (1 child)
Yes, those were the top "experts" informing governments of their day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum [wikipedia.org]
Future generations will look back on the current politicized climate research with the same disdain.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 31 2020, @11:41PM
No they won't. Know why? Because there was zero repeatability or scientific method behind the witch trials. Those were, in fact, the precise opposite of critical thought. That you compare the two says a lot about you, none of it good.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 31 2020, @11:43PM (1 child)
Genetic fallacy again. The source of information does not matter; whether the information comports with observable reality (which it does, in this case) is what matters. You don't get to disregard the message because you don't like the envelope it came in.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 01 2020, @08:50PM
Maybe we should wave around a "letter", not let anyone read it, then use a pallet of blank paper to stuff some manilla folders and say we have the best evidence right here.
I do believe that is the pageantry these trogs deem acceptable.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:49PM (2 children)
Locusts happen from time to time, gee, all the way back to biblical times. There's no particular evidence that this swarm is any different from earlier ones, i.e., triggered by the right weather conditions.
As far as a food crisis, we need to keep in mind that the population of Africa is exploding. First, population has increased dramatically in past decades, with no corresponding increase in food production. Second, look at that population pyramid. Unique on the planet: Africa's population is set to continue exploding. Starvation and warfare, as well as massive migration pressure, will be the result.
The root of this evil are all the well-meaning people who have worked to reduce infant and child mortality, without making essential changes to reduce the birthrate. African women have no choice about bearing children, for a variety of reasons: birth control, education, and most importantly, culture. The kind of people who work for NGOs in Africa are the same ones who don't dare criticize other cultures. As a result, we're in for an interesting few decades.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:51PM
Somehow forgot the link. Here, you can see the African population and the population pyramid [populationpyramid.net]
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:31PM
Blind leading the blind. People saw a correlation between reduced child mortality and reduced fertility so assumed surely if African kids would stop dying, mothers would stop having a dozen kids. They just kind of hand-wave away the fact that this correlation didn't even exist until extremely recently, and has happened alongside a bazillion other changes in societies including skyrocketing mental disorders, skyrocketing obesity, skyrocketing suicides, plummeting testosterone, plummeting IQ.
Idiots.
When I was younger I was always reluctant to say such things. I'm well aware of Dunning Kruger, and surely there is some greater insight or explanation? But life experience tends to make you realize most people - at all levels of society are indeed just indeed extremely irrational creatures who will convince themselves that 2+2=5 if that's what's needed to argue in support of whatever behavior their biases predisposition them towards engaging in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:22PM (7 children)
150 million locusts per square kilometer? That's like 15 locusts per square foot. Grab a net and feast.
And like the article mentions, they reproduce crazy fast. It's probably bullshit scare mongering but if they can multiply 500 times over in 5 months, why in the world aren't people worldwide munching down on locusts? I've eaten fried grasshoppers before and they were actually pretty tasty. It's simple. Locusts eat your food, locusts become your food.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday January 30 2020, @06:02PM (6 children)
Thermodynamics says that even if you eat all the locusts that ate your food, you end up with fewer calories. And that kind of efficiency is impossible.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @06:53PM (4 children)
Thats what I thought but then someone told me electricity from solar panels produces no waste heat.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:53PM (2 children)
Haha, you truly are science illiterate huh? Never said no waste heat, said using solar would reduce the total waste heat if we replaced every coal and gas plant with solar. Shall I explain it again or do you prefer pretending that your opinions are scientifically valid?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @12:54AM (1 child)
Still repeating the same fallacies I see. Every watt produced becomes waste heat eventually. The source is irrelevant.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @09:06PM
You are correct of course, but I don't think humanity needs to worry overly much about the impending heat death of the universe. That is the time when your prediction becomes true.
As I said, you're just scientifically literate enough to get yourself in trouble.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday February 07 2020, @01:52AM
Without the solar cells, all the sunlight will torn to waste heat. Except for the sunlight beaming into my windows in midwinter, when the heat is much appreciated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @08:22PM
It's not all bad news.
The locusts are quite efficient at producing nutritious animal protein from a rather protein-diffuse plant diet.
The problem is really one of food preservation, rather than capture.
What Africa might do well with, is mobile locust capture/canning groups.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @07:14PM
uhm ah ... one could argue that locust swarms are a way of this planet to "shed" energy.
the locust eat sunshine energy, that is plants.
they are born .. errr ... created, mass wise, as tiny speks.
if they survive, the process of liberating themselfs from the soil (height = 0) and flying into the air, liberates energy in form of not just heat but work: they obviously rise above the original height, doing work against gravity, then feast on more solar ..uhm ..err ... vegetable energy and vigorously move air molecules around (generate heat?).
once they are too old to chomp their mandibles, they starve and fall back to the ground (height = 0) to become fertilizer.
now the question is, since we cannot kill all locusts, how to go about this, cooling effect?
i propose to NOT plant mono-cultures, so they have to flap their wings vigorously to fly far and far distances helping the planet to radiate more energy then it received?
there's a program in locusts, for sure ... let's use it to cool the planet. ofc the human tummy takes precedence. so there: a extra difficulty for you all scientists to figure out.