As we Pagans are celebrating the Vernal Equinox and the promise of life renewed, scientists are reporting that some forms of life on this planet may soon cease to exist - due to the effects that global warming is having on nature's harbingers of Spring.

AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein writes:

The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in nearly every state.

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The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze.

According to Borenstein's article (which I found at SFGate.com.), tree swallows and robins, who are now laying eggs and appearing much earlier than in years past, may starve as Spring cold snaps kill the insects upon which they depend to survive. Shifts in rainfall patterns cause butterfly larvae to die when the plants upon which they develop dry up too soon. From a shamanic point of view, it saddens me to consider the spirits who may be leaving this Earth, taking their lessons and their medicine with them.

In addition to threatening certain plants and animals with extinction, the list of effects from the early onset of Spring goes on and on. Allergy season begins earlier and stretches on painfully longer because pollen-producing plants appear earlier every year. Honey changes taste because bees are producing their peak amount of honey weeks earlier and the plants available to them are different now.

For those of us who consider Nature to be the very essence of our spirituality, the effects of global warming may not be startling news. But I, for one, who spent my Ostara morning navel-gazing, took this news item as a big wake-up call. It's all well and good to think about burgeoning Spring as a metaphor for a soul fulfilled, but we should remember to include Mother Earth in our prayers for healing and renewal, as the threat to her health is all too real.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:01 PM