The drought no one is talking about, Californian tree die-off, and incoming cat.

Americans are very insular. Very. No one seems to be discussing the sub-Saharan drought that has been going on since the El Niño event of 2015-2016. Still the drought continues. The Christian Science Monitor seems to be the only US based major paper that has been covering this most devastating weather event. I almost used 'climatic' as it seems to be linked to climate change due to the warming of the Pacific Ocean's surface water, but I will leave that for others. The others have already labeled the drought an artifact of climate change.

The human toll has been devastating, and in typically ironic fashion, those that contribute the least to climate change feel it the most.

Since I am first a defender of biodiversity, I am most saddened and concerned that the Congo rainforest(2nd largest in the world) is under siege not only from logging operations, agriculture, and the current drought, but again, from climate change generally. There is a small video at the link that shaws the 'browning' of the Congo, and outright rainforest loss in West Africa. Current totals are a roughly 90% loss.

I grabbed the map below from NOAA. The map displays conditions through mid Feb. 2016. The drought has persisted since then.

(stupid CSS padding won't allow me to ctr image precisely..I am not messing with the template)

As you can see the Congo rainforest is under tremendous stress. I would have highlighted the area, but since you have already seen the NOAA data, you know where to look, right? ;)

At any rate, the Congo rainforest has a tremendous amount of biodiversity found nowhere else.

The Congo rainforest is home to some 11,000 plant species and in excess of 10,000 species of vertebrate life. This includes an astonishing 700+ species of fish, and ~1,000 types of birds. For the armchair lepidopterist fully 900+ species of butterflies and moths are known. I have no idea about beetles, but if typical biodiversity counts from other areas hold, there may well be as many species of beetles as all other insect and vertebrate life combined. Honest!

If you take nothing else away from this, please remember that the big fauna of the Savannah is vital to our well-being as humans, but even more important are the rainforest denizens. This is the home to the Mountain Gorilla, Bonobo, and Chimpanzee, as well as Leopard, Tanzanian cheetah, Masai lion and several species of giraffe.

From the small to the iconic of African wildlife, it can all be found in the Congo rainforest. No, I am neither tour guide, nor travel agent :)

It is ALL important. Let us save what we can.

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California dead trees.

Perhaps you haven't heard but given California's 5 year drought, there has been a massive die-off of trees. Just since May(05.2016) an estimated 36 million trees have perished, bringing this year's total to 62 million, and the drought to date total stands at 102 million dead trees. The rate is accelerating, and of course, much like climate change, there is a lag time between stressor(s) and effect.

I have stressed trees; and I almost certainly will lose more plants great and small before our drought relents.

Incoming cat is in holding pattern. Dobby has a conjunctive eye. He's getting put right as rain as I type. The handsome bloke is pictured below.

He only looks unhappy in that shot. He's a happy boy.