 Poster: A snowHead
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Conservation groups in the US filed two lawsuits today seeking protection of the American pika, or “alpine boulder bunny”. The rabbit’s survival is in danger from the effects of global warming, as falling snow levels have an impact on its native environment And its plight highlights the threat to the ski industry....Environmental law firm Earthjustice issued lawsuits to both the federal and California state governments, to force inclusion of the pika, or "alpine boulder bunny", on their lists of endangered species.
The pika, a small relative of the rabbit found in mountainous areas of Nevada and Colorado, is under significant threat from the effects of global warming on alpine environments. The species is adapted to cold alpine conditions; it is intolerant of high temperatures and can die from overheating when exposed to temperatures as low as 80°F for just a few hours.
See: http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/alpine-boulder-bunny-imperiled-by-global-warming.html
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Here's the average July temperature (deg F) for Boulder, Colarado (immediately beneath the mountains) for the last 110 years. It's not abundantly clear to me that the bunnies have a problem.
 (Click to enlarge)
Raw data here:
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/Boulder/Boulder.mm.html
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Honestly they are yummy..bunny pie delicious..
No wonder they are getting scarce..
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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laundryman, don't lets facts stand in the way of a good panic.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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OH MAH GAWD! NOT THE BUNNIES!!!!!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Its this bit that is the most important
"Global warming threatens pikas by shortening the time available for them to gather food, changing the types of plants that grow where they live, reducing the insulating snowpack during winter"
and not the dramatic heat death bit
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'Adapt & Survive' are two words that spring to mind to describe the way most species alive today have managed to preserve themselves for many times many millennia and through far more dramatic / extreme global temperature fluctuations. My bet is that enough of the fitter, smarter wee pikas will find something else to eat and evolve into superpikas, challenging polar bears for mastery of the universe come the next ice age. If not, they were always doomed anyway. 
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