The spotlight is a weekly, categorized compilation of links and excerpts from environmentally related posts at Daily Kos. Any posts included in the collection do not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of them. Because of the interconnectedness of the subject matter, some of these posts can be placed in more than one category.
CRITTERS & THE GREAT OUTDOORS
The Daily Bucket - windy spring days by OceanDiver. March 27 & 28, 2024. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. They say March comes in like a lion (which it did) and goes out like a lamb (which it also did) but it was a near thing. Just before the month closed out we had a series of very windy days. Not cold: temps were in the 50s daytime, 40s at night. But it was really blowing. On Wednesday the 27th it was in the upper 20s (knots) and the next day even stronger, upper 30s and gusting well into the 40s. Southeast both days. Makes it tricky walking around, and taking pictures much less video, is marginal. Of course the wildlife handles wind and waves easily. The ducks were even grooming as they bounced around in the swells. Gulls soar without needing to flap much. There were two seals hunting fish on one day and they spent more time at the surface keeping each other in sight than seals usually do, in the troughs and crests of the waves. They also periodically caught their breath between dives by assuming the “safety position”, ie pointing their nose skyward, which they also do when sleeping.
Dawn Chorus: Dad’s Desert Backyard Birds by Senor Unoball. One good thing about traveling as a birder—is getting away from the normal habitat you’re used to. Different hills, fields, streets, and parks can bring out a variety of birds you’re not used to seeing. You might even come up with a lifer! I didn’t have any lifers on my recent visit with my father, who lives in Surprise, Arizona, which is a bit northwest of Phoenix. But, shhhhh…. don’t tell the managers of his community that Dad scatters feed on his patio deck and rocky landscape! Birdfeeders are not allowed, and they might not like seed scattering either. (And me? I’d have a hard time living in a place that doesn’t allow birdfeeders. Managers claim feeders attract pigeons, but I’m glad that Dad still throws seed out on the ground. He’s also pretty successful with suet and hummingbird feeders.)
Overnight News Digest: Migratory birds are running out of time to adapt to climate change by Magnifico. The Clock Is Running Out on Migratory Birds from The Atlantic: At a glance, the male western tanager looks like a little flame, its ruby head blending seamlessly into its bright, lemon-colored body. Females are less showy, a dusty yellow. The birds spend their winters in Central America and can be found in a variety of habitats, from central Costa Rica to the deserts of southeastern Sonora, in western Mexico. In the spring, they prepare to migrate thousands of miles to the conifer forests of the Mountain West, flying through grasslands, deserts, and occasionally, suburban yards. To fuel them on their lengthy journey, western tanagers fill up on insects and berries. Like most migrating birds, they eat enormous amounts of food. But as global climate change causes spring to start earlier, birds such as western tanagers are arriving at their destination after what’s known as “green-up,” when flowers begin blooming and insects emerge. According to a study published in early March in the journal PNAS, this kind of timing mismatch between migrants and their food sources, which is happening across North America, could have dire consequences for migratory birds’ survival. “In discussing climate change, we often focus on warming,” says Scott Loss, a professor at Oklahoma State University and a co-author of the study. “But the length and timing of seasons—like when winter ends and spring begins—are some of the most dramatic effects of climate change.”
Daily Bucket Friday Sequence -- Young Bald Eagles Do Battle by Clickadee. I’ve seen mature Bald Eagles dancing in the sky as part of pair bonding. And some territorial brush backs. But I’ve never witnessed young Bald Eagles clashing until recently. Pointe Mouillee State Game Area sits along northwestern Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Huron River and just south of where the Detroit River empties into the lake. There are a few Bald Eagle nests in the area. Given the frequency with which I’ve seen juveniles and subadults, the adults seem to be successful parents. So it’s not unusual to see what look to be family groups of Eagles. It was an entirely different story last week. There was a group of five youngsters, along with a couple Red-tailed Hawks and a flyby Peregrine Falcon. At first, they seemed if not peaceful, then at least everyone had their space.Then one or more juveniles started getting aggressive and the interaction turned into a relentless chase. I looked for explanations of why juveniles might fight.
The Daily Bucket: Early Spring Day at Franklin D Roosevelt State Park, Georgia by foresterbob. The area around Pine Mountain and Warm Springs in western Georgia features some of the most rugged terrain outside the mountainous northern part of the state. A high ridge runs for about 15 miles from the town of Pine Mountain on the west, to Manchester on the east. Much of the western two-thirds of the ridge is included in Franklin D Roosevelt State Park. FDR’s connection to the area began in 1924, when he sought therapy from polio in the pools at Warm Springs. He soon bought land nearby. Eventually he built the residence that came to be known as the Little White House. Today’s Bucket will focus on the landscape of the area. A future diary will feature the Little White House.
The Daily Bucket. Doldrums dissipated. One, two, a few of everything I could get. (No foolin'.*) by funningforrest. It didn’t look good for the morning, what with the fog and all, but I had to go out and try. Know what? I really need to get out more often when it doesn’t look good, I guess, because before I had even walked fifty yards and within fifteen minutes after entering the Leonhardt Ranch Learning Landscape walking path I had seen and photographed a dozen different species of birds. So! Doldrums dissipated, yeah? Oh, yeah. Until this morning I’ve been rather housebound with several past days of rainy weather. This morning it was my decision to take at least one photo of every single different species I saw, if I could. Canada Goose is always obliging, and I don’t take their presence for granted. If they ever disappeared from this valley during this time of year that sure would be a signal that something had gone very wrong with our local ecology.
An Early Spirit of Place by Desert Scientist. I fell in love with the wild country early. My first trip to Palm Canyon (my dad for all his faults liked to go out into the back country on Sundays) was when I must have been about 12 and I immediately loved the area with its sheer cliffs and palms hidden in steep side canyons. These were immediately captivating. My last trip there was about 1967-68, when I went with two professors at Arizona Western College. Most of my photos are from the late 50s and early 60s and so are in black and white. Taken with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera, if I remember right. The Kofa and Castle Dome Mountains were two of my favorite places back in the 1950s and 60s. I made the climb to the palms in the main canyon at least three times. It was very rough country and a fall was certainly very dangerous. But I was young and much more able to get around the rocks then I would be now. In the 1960s I was just getting interested in spiders and so I looked along the trail for what I could find. Under the rocks I found a very strange spider that looked like a cross between a wolf spider (family Lycosidae) and a running crab spider (family Philodromidae), but the eye arrangement was certainly not like the former’s. Several years later I was able to identify it as a Homalynichus in a family with only two species, the Homalychidae. This is a family so unknown that I could only turn up the reference www.biodiversitylibrary.org/…. I also found some neat Phidippus (family Salticidae) at the time, also under rocks.
ENERGY, EMISSIONS, TRANSPORTATION
4/2 Renewable Tuesday: The End of the Beginning by Mokurai. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”—Winston Churchill, speaking of the British victory at El Alamein. The end of our current climate struggle will be a world with 280 ppm CO2. The beginning of the end will be Net Zero, when atmospheric CO2 starts to trend downward. The end of the beginning is Peak Carbon Emissions, brought about by the growth of renewables and storage, and of products using them, including EVs, heat pumps, and much more. From Bloomberg: Electric Cars Pass the Tipping Point to Mass Adoption in 31 Countries By the end of last year, 31 countries had surpassed what’s become a pivotal EV tipping point: when 5% of new car sales are purely electric. This threshold signals the start of mass adoption, after which technological preferences rapidly flip. “Once enough sales occur, you kind of have a virtuous cycle. More EVs popping up means more people seeing them as mainstream, automakers more willing to invest in the market”
Oil Industry Methane Pollution Is Business as Usual, Not Accidental Leaks by Justin Mikulka. The oil industry is once again winning the messaging war to mislead the public about the true nature of its business. Methane is getting significant media attention these days due to the launch of a new methane-detecting satellite and new U.S. methane regulations that may require some companies to pay fines for major methane leaks. However, almost all of the media coverage is making the mistake of talking about methane “leaks” or “fugitive emissions” being the main problem, when that is far from the truth. Recent examples of this in headlines include “Fossil fuel firms must plug methane leaks to meet climate targets, warns watchdog,” and “Methane leaks from US oil and gas are triple government estimates” While this is certainly what the oil industry wants you to believe, the facts show that the majority of methane pollution from the U.S. shale oil industry is due to intentional venting and flaring of methane which are not accidents but part of normal oil field operations.
President Biden Expanded Public Transit for Those Who Need It Most: Boosting Biden Day 67 by GoodNewsRoundup. Public transportation is essential for the well-being of our planet and the economic health of the millions and millions of Americans who can’t afford cars. Biden knows this. And he has always been a supporter of public transportation. Since becoming president, he has really put his money where his mouth is. Last year Biden's Undersecretary of Transportation, Carlos Monje, pointed to the astonishing bottom line in an interview on the infrastructure bill: ”Biden has allocated more money to public transportation during his administration than in the entire history of the United States.” He continued, “We have $7.5 billion in funds to create vehicle charging stations, but at the same time, we have to reduce the number of [car] trips and move more passengers. More people on trains and buses. It does not happen out of the blue. It must be achieved by making investments at different levels and designing those plans.”
CLIMATE EMERGENCY & EXTREME WEATHER
Kitchen Table Kibitzing: Thursday, April 4 by boatsie. As futile efforts to maintain global heating at 1.5 degrees C give rise to the reality of an apocalyptic future, ideas of intervening in climate systems are being widely funded by governments, foundations, and universities . This week’s search for news on the climate crisis yielded two deep dives by the New York Times into geoengineering. The Times’ Buying Time series investigates the “risky ways” nature is being manipulated to combat global warming. In Warming Is Getting Worse. So They Just Tested a Way to Deflect the Sun, a San Francisco engineer is experimenting with a device which shoots particles hundreds of feet into the air to determine if it is possible to “consistently spray the right size salt aerosols through the open air, outside of a lab.” The end game is to change cloud composition, and thereby cool the earth’s temperature. Brightening clouds is one of several ideas to push solar energy back into space — sometimes called solar radiation modification, solar geoengineering, or climate intervention. Compared with other options, such as injecting aerosols into the stratosphere, marine cloud brightening would be localized and use relatively benign sea salt aerosols as opposed to other chemicals.
Ignore the Heat by Dooey. When it comes to an ice free pole, the reporting of false hope is greatest. Why? well — once we get to a “blue ocean event” we are done for as humans in very short order. A year, maybe 2 for the lucky. If you follow climate reporting to any degree you will be familiar with false calm. The headline will shock you — just enough — to click. the author will calm you down telling you “within the next ____ years” it will be really bad. Typically — the more popular the source the larger the window of time, and the greater the illusion. If I drop dead tomorrow — i will have died within the next million years. I could be dead in the next century. If i don’t change now there is a chance i will die younger than i expect… etc… I could post 1,000’s more links that couches the impending increases and inevitable extinction of humans in literary cocoons of “within” “may” “could” etc…
Climate Change and Inequality in America by javiinitiate. While the United States is not merely the richest country in the world, but therichest in human history, it is also one of the most unequal of the world’s wealthy countries. That inequality is increasingly reflected in the question of who bears the costs of climate change. It is affecting who gets to migrate where they want to, who gets to build where they want to, the affordability of insurance premiums, the damage sustained by houses in weather disasters, and in the future, it will be reflected in who gets to live a normal life. Inequality starts with greenhouse gas emissions. A recent study by the Carbon Majors Database found that, since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, 25% of greenhouse gas emissions were from investor-owned companies, with Chevron, ExxonMobil, and BP being the largest emitters; 38% were from state-owned companies, with Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, and the National Iranian Oil Company being the largest emitters; and 37% were from nation-states, with China and the former Soviet Union being the largest emitters. In fact, since 2016, just 57 companies have contributed to 80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Rather than a decline in emissions since the Paris Agreement, there has been an increase by a majority of companies in every region except for the United States. Although this suggests that the United States and Canada are on the right track, historically, the United States is the single biggest polluter. 59.7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to the United States, the European Union, and China. That’s 20% of the world’s population.
AGRICULTURE, FOOD, GARDENING
I'm joining Gardening Toad for a sustainable future by greenandblue. I first noticed comments from Gardening Toad calling for us to join them in I think reducing our carbon emissions maybe a year ago. I thought, OK, sounds good, why not? A few more times and then I thought, why don’t you join with us? I said as much in a couple of responses. Now, I know it’s the same either way. I’m joining with Gardening Toad building a resilient, regenerative, and equitable culture for all life. What does that mean? [...] My family of four lives in a ~2000 square foot home with a basement. We have two internal combustion vehicles. I myself have consistently driven about 8000 miles per year over the last 25 years. These days, we drive to work in investment homes, where we remove old appliances and dumpsters of waste, and renovate with significant amounts of materials and new appliances. I also drive to shop and go for walks with dog Busta. We regularly eat beef, chicken, pork and other meat. I’ve taken many plane flights, including this March to the UK. It is so easy to keep using energy and resources. Competing in current markets often requires using resources and energy. Will I ever live and work sustainably? Not if I don’t try. There are opportunities to improve seemingly everywhere.
Immigrants, birth rates, food, social security, all connected by nailkeg. In the agriculture sector, immigrants play a critical role in harvesting crops and ensuring food security. In Florida, immigrants are heavily involved in the citrus, vegetable, and sugar cane industries. Recently, one farmer saw his crop spoil in the field because of a lack of workers. (see videos of crops spoiling in the field). According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, immigrants make up a large portion of the workforce in these sectors. Their contribution ensures a stable food supply for the state and the country. In Nebraska, immigrants are essential in the meat processing industry. According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants make up a significant portion of the workforce in meat processing plants in states like Nebraska. Their labor is crucial in processing meat products that are consumed domestically and exported internationally. Without immigrant workers, the meat processing industry would struggle to meet consumer demand and maintain its competitiveness in the global market (Worker shortage concerns doom in immigrant-heavy meatpacking)
Some Food, Agriculture, and Climate Events in April 2024 by gmoke. A Gardener at the End of the World! Thursday, April 18, 7pm. Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
RSVP here. Supporting Indigenous-Led Sustainable Wildlife Management, Thursday, April 25,
12–1 pm. Tufts, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155. And online.
RSVP here. Managing Water for Combined Mitigation and Adaptation in Agricultural Systems, April 29, 11 am-12 pm. UCSB, PT1414 Bren Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5131. And online
RSVP here. Dr. McDermid will be presenting in person at Bren. Join us in Bren Hall 1414 or watch online (link TBA). Farming the Future: Livestock's Leap to Net Zero, Monday, May 6, 4 pm ET.
Online. RSVP here.
WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE
April 1, 2024: California Governor Declares San Francisco Bay Ecosystem Emergency! by Dan Bacher. Today Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay estuary and its Central Valley watershed, and vowed to provide relief in the form of increased freshwater flows and other benefits for the endangered species and habitats of the vast area covered by the estuary and watershed, and for the communities that depend on a healthy ecosystem. “When I extended the drought emergency declaration early in 2023 and encouraged regulators to relax environmental and water quality protections to benefit corporate agriculture, I was wrong,” said the governor. “After some painful soul searching, I’ve realized that It’s time to start listening to the scientists and concerned citizens who have been warning for years of the impending collapse of the Bay estuary ecosystem, the potential extinction of numerous unique native fish and wildlife species, the proliferation of toxic algal blooms and other challenges, the impacts on tribes, fisherfolk and other unique cultural communities, and the potential loss of one of California’s greatest natural treasures.’ As a result, I’m issuing an executive order to immediately implement new, more protective flow requirements that were adopted or proposed for the Central Valley and the Bay estuary in 2018 by the State Water Board. In the final analysis, our environment and the diverse communities that benefit from a healthy ecosystem have to take precedence over POM Wonderful.”
Governor promotes Delta Tunnel, Sites Reservoir as key components of updated California Water Plan by Dan Bacher. At a press event to celebrate the above average snowpack survey in the Sierra Nevada on April 2, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the state’s controversial updated California Water Plan to supposedly “protect California’s water supplies from the climate crisis” while boosting the state’s ability to capture and store water for when dry conditions return. The Governor highlighted several examples of what California has implemented since the last Water Plan, including: • creating a Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge program, capturing and spreading flood flows to recharge aquifers – boosting the state’s water capture and storage abilities. • Integrating climate science and research to help vulnerable communities defend against floods and drought. California’s other actions to “boost water supplies” cited by Newsom include: • Nearly $9 billion in water investments over the last three years. • Expanded water supply and storage through groundwater recharge and other projects by over 400 billion gallons. • Streamlining projects and limiting litigation delays to spur new and improved water infrastructure. However, the Governor said “more is needed to expand California’s water supplies.” And of course, that meant promote his pet projects—the Delta Tunnel and Sites Reservoir.
Climate Crisis -- What About Potable Water? by birches. This week’s question is What About Potable Water? My Potable Water Situation Is Not Great. Assuming we eventually get cut off from Hetch Hetchy (a good assumption as it’s 167 miles away), my ability to find local potable water in San Francisco is limitied. We live in an apartment. The closest true lake is not much above sea level and is the site of a former shooting range, so besides urban runoff and pollution, there’s Pb contamination. The Chain of Lakes in Golden Gate Park are artificial and not potable (one even produces mint green foam below a small waterfall). There are other lakes within a few miles but these also are not potable and are victims of historic dumping. We live in earthquake country, so we keep a water supply for a minimum of 3-days in our apartment and garage space. Our emergency water is in large glass jars, well-padded, in 3 different locations, and we replace the water every year. We probably have enough water for 5 days, depending on the type of emergency (for example, in a heat emergency the supply would be used up faster) and depending on how the emergency hits us (flooding, for example, would wipe out the 1/3 of our water supply in the garage space).
MISCELLANY & AGGREGATIONS
The Inoculation Project 4/7/2024: Texas STEM Contest, Georgia Ecosystems by belinda ridgewood. This week, we’re helping with materials for a Texas middle school class to get ready for a local STEM competition, and Georgia third and fourth grade classes to study the nature of ecosystems and the five regions of their state. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help by sharing or supporting our featured projects. PROJECT #2 Our Ecosystem Works!! Resources: Give students kits to learn about ecosystems and regions of Georgia.Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.Location: Cooper-Carver Elementary School, Dawson, Georgia. Total: $323.59. Project description by Ms. Valisa Mitchell: We are studying ecosystems and animals on the 5 regions of Georgia in Science and Social Studies. My 4th graders will use the ecosystem kits to learn how organisms work together in different environments. My 3rd graders are studying the 5 regions of Georgia. They will make dioramas of animals and plants in the different regions of Georgia. I have learned over the years that children learn and remember they learned when they are exposed to hands-on kits. These kits will be used to help them remember the information needed to understand the standard.
Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday, 4/7/24 by jck. We've had bird evolution all wrong. An enormous meteor spelled doom for most dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But not all. In the aftermath of the extinction event, birds -- technically dinosaurs themselves -- flourished.. Scientists have spent centuries trying to organize and sort some 10,000 species of birds into one clear family tree to understand how the last surviving dinosaurs filled the skies. Cheap DNA sequencing should have made this simple, as it has for countless other species. But birds were prepared to deceive us. In a pair of new research papers released today, April 1, scientists reveal that another event 65 million years ago misled them about the true family history of birds. They discovered that a section of one chromosome spent millions of years frozen in time, and it refused to mix together with nearby DNA as it should have.
Overnight News Digest for Weds April 3 (Fool Me Three Times edition) by jeremybloom. Potato News Today- Unprecedented weather conditions disrupt potato planting in Ireland and across Europe, market gap looms. Ireland’s agricultural sector faces significant challenges as extreme weather conditions continue to delay potato planting, a critical component of the national economy. According to the latest weekly potato report from the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), persistent wet conditions have not only hindered this year’s planting efforts in North Dublin and other regions but have raised concerns about a potential market gap in the near future. ...This developing story underscores the intricate relationship between agriculture and climate, highlighting the challenges that unpredictable weather patterns can pose to food security and market stability.
Caribbean Matters: Guyanese president spars with BBC host, goes viral by Denise Oliver-Velez. The BBC series “HARDTalk” and journalist Stephen Sackur both came under fire after a clip from Friday’s program went viral. Sackur’s interview approach, which many viewers saw as both aggressive and patronizing, was met by Ali with vociferous bluntness. Up first: The viral clip. In a key part of the much-longer interview, Sackur notes the economic potential of Guyana’s oil and gas reserves, then asks Ali if he’s considered the environmental impact. Ali fired back with facts about Guyana’s longstanding commitment to the environment—specifically its low deforestation and high biodiversity—before calling out the hypocrisy of the question.
Earth Matters: Kim Stanley Robinson & Michael Mann on doom; 33 green transition myths zapped by Meteor Blades. Over the past four decades, in an example with seriously malign consequences, some rich and powerful agents of disinformation have brought us to the precipice on climate with ominous potential for our species and millions of others, all for profit. And now that the cruder denial elements of that scheme have collided with climate reality on the ground, there’s been a shift from outright denial to an aggressive fight against the transition to a greener, decarbonized future. Disinformation now rife will soon be made worse by robot propagandists, one of AI’s inconveniences. Some of the lies are old, some new, but all are designed to delay the day when fossil fuels are actually left in the ground where scientists say they must remain if we’re to have any chance of keeping at least parts of the planet humanly habitable. To help combat anti-green disinformation, Jacob Elkin, Matthew Eisenson and other researchers at the Climate Law blog of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center have put together a helpful aid for when you’re arguing with somebody who’s been stuffed with what President Joe Biden might charitably call “malarkey.” It’s a data-rich report Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles.