„The health of the world’s soils hinges on the abundance and diversity of the microbes and fungi they contain, and environmental changes including from global warming will undermine their ability to support humans and other species, according to two new studies.”

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/soil-productivity-cut-by-climate-change-making-societies-more-marginal-studies-20160128-gmfykc.ht

The recent study in the journal Soil Systems lays out the case for the worldwide decimation of earthworms. This new report offers a stark assessment of the health of Earth’s agricultural soils. Farmers around the world have killed off four out of five worms that once lived on farms. In effect, they have been turning verdant fields into subterranean deserts.

https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8789/2/2/33

„Soil needs thousands of years to form, but the current rate of its loss often exceeds the speed of its formation. This means that it is a non-renewable resource: when it disappears, it will not recover anymore.” Professor Richard Bardgett, ecologist at the University of Manchester

„Insects will be at the heart of worldwide crop losses as the climate warms up, predicts a US study. Scientists estimate the pests eat 10-25% more wheat, rice and maize across the globe for each one degree rise in climate temperature.”

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6405/916

„Climate change is happening faster than many species can adapt to − and climate is changing between 3,000 and 20,000 times faster than many grassland species can respond. Since the grass family includes wheat, corn, rice, sorghum, oats, rye, barley and many other plants that underwrite human survival, this is serious news. Humans gain at least 49% of their calories directly from the cereals developed from wild grasses.”

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0368

The devastating results of the study were too optimistic. The researchers considered a linear, gradual rate of climate change. We’ve already entered its abrupt, exponential phase:

„In 1990 the United Nations Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases warned about them. Its members stated that the warming of the planet – as compared to the pre-industrial baseline from 1750 – mustn’t be allowed to exceed 1°C because it would 'elicit sudden, unpredictable and NON-LINEAR responses that could lead to extensive ecosystem damage.’ This absolute upper limit has already been crossed by a wide margin.”

„We are now in a time where the damage has been done. We are simply waiting for the Earth to fully express all of that damage.”

„The positive feedbacks reinforce themselves and each other. We are already off the cliff.”

„No real change will happen. Global political leaders are all lobbyists for the corporate powers behind them. International climate and biodiversity agreements are just papier-mâché facades. Their function is to preserve the status quo.”

I sympathize deeply with those who mourn the loss of the web of life on this beautiful planet.

(My apologies for not being able to write this in Polish. )