Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don't attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The most recent Saturday Spotlight can be seen here. So far, more than 19,830 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
UN climate talks to resume in Bonn—by
TierneySmith: "Hot on the heels of the People's Climate March and the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit, government negotiators are back in session in Bonn next week (20 Oct) to continue their vital work on a new global climate agreement. In a record-breaking mobilisation for climate action, last month, almost 700,000 people took to the streets in New York and across the world to call on governments to put climate change back to the top of the political agenda. This was quickly followed by the UN Climate Summit, where one head of government after another confirmed the need to end the fossil fuel era and recommitted to crafting a global climate agreement in Paris next year. [...] With crunch time upon us and the Paris deadline fast approaching, Bonn will be the first test of whether this building momentum and climate reality outside will be reflected inside the negotiating halls. The most recent UNFCCC session in June saw a new sense of cooperation emerging amongst countries on key issues, but this session is the time to transform this new tone into an agreement on the key planks of the global deal to be finalised next year.
GETTING TO ZERO: Why energy efficiency will not save us—by
Keith Pickering: "There are a lot of strategies for getting us to zero fossil fuels, and nearly every one of them features increased energy efficiency as a key component. The IPCC thinks so; the International Energy Agency agrees; efficiency is one of the famous "Climate Wedges" from Princeton; it's a key strategy of Amory Lovins' Rocky Mountain Institute; renewables guru Mark Z. Jacobson relies on efficiency for energy demand reductions of 30% to 40%, more than any other emissions strategy. And the list goes on. There's just one problem. They are all completely and totally wrong. Increasing energy efficiency does not, has not, and will not ever reduce overall demand for energy. This is not just an opinion; it has been demonstrated with the cold hard equations of physics, based on the second law of thermodynamics. Now don't get me wrong. Energy efficiency has obvious economic benefits, and those benefits are often enough to make such improvements worthwhile. It's not that we should stop being more efficient. It's just that we should not expect those improvements to reduce energy demand or carbon emissions. Because they won't do that."
The road to Paris, the Climate Equity Reference Calculator, and you—by
tomathanasiou: "It’s about 15 months now until the Paris climate showdown. The good news is that there’s quite a lot happening. The clarifying science, for example, is no longer easily denigrated. The IPCC’s 2°C carbon budgets, the new age of 'extreme weather,” the fate of the Arctic, these can no longer be cast as fervid speculations. Denialism—at least classic denialism—has peaked. This is a time of consequences, and we all know it. But what about Paris? Why do I even mention the international climate negotiations? Don’t we all know that the North/South divide is unbridgeable? Don’t we all know that the wealthy world will never provide the finance and technology support that’s needed to drive deep and rapid decarbonization in the emerging economies? Don’t we all know that the prospect for a meaningful breakthrough in the climate talks is nil? In fact, we do not."
You can find more rescued green diaries below the orange garden layout.
Climate Chaos
A hero has passed. He will RIP only if we take up his mantle.—by A Siegel: "You are likely aware that the Bush-Cheney Administration put a fossil-foolish lobbyist in a position to edit and change material like Federal government climate change reports. The man—the whistle-blower—who brought this to our attention: Rick Piltz. From 1995-2005 he held senior positions in the Coordination Office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In the spring of 2005, Rick resigned from his position to protest the Bush Administration’s political interference with climate change communication. His whistleblower documentation of politically motivated White House editing and censorship of climate science program reports intended for the public and Congress received front-page coverage in the New York Times and was widely reported in the media. Rick's value and contributions cannot be constrained to 'whistle blower', as important as that was to our national conversation. Despite the vicious attacks he received from the climate science denial world, he persevered. He was a powerful climate thinker and communicator. [...] Rick persevered in fighting for truth in climate science discussions and, based on that truthful understanding, for meaningful actions to address our challenges. My world is not better for Rick's passing. Our world is not better ..."
Reagan Never Looked So Good—by thefarleftside:
Official South Dakota motto: "Under water the people rule."
Climate Science Loses a Champion—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Over the weekend we lost Rick Piltz, a true hero with the courage to stand up and call out the Bush Administration's political interference with climate science. He will be remembered as 'a gutsy whistleblower' who showed the world that oil lobbyist Phil Cooney was significantly altering official climate science reports through his position at the White House Council on Environmental Quality under George W. Bush. Just two days after Rick blew the lid off the tampering, Cooney resigned and took a job at ExxonMobil."
Another debunking of another skeptic study—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "In the Guardian, John Abraham describes a new paper (.pdf) he co-authored that takes skeptic scientists Spencer and Braswell to task for having "made a number of basic math and physics errors" in an already weak study. Spencer and Braswell created a model claiming it shows how standard climate models overestimate the amount of warming carbon dioxide causes. While the standard models do their best to capture all the nuances of the Earth's complex systems, Spencer and Braswell took the opposite approach. They simplified the planet into one big ocean (as though land masses didn't exist) and then simplified the oceans (failing to capture how water flows within the ocean.) But even with all this (over)simplification, they couldn't get the math right! Abraham's post gets into the details, which are technical but by no means arcane or minor, and goes on to describe the situation as 'the sort of thing that could have been avoided by consulting any elementary textbook on heat transfer.' That Spencer has produced yet another shoddy study shouldn't be that surprising. This is because he is notorious for being half the duo that had to correct their satellite temperature measurements repeatedly through the '90s and '00s, mostly as a result of others calling out their errors. But in their defense, at least this paper wasn't so bad the journal's editor resigned,as was the case with a previous Spencer and Braswell study."
The secret to lower emissions and higher revenue is a carbon tax—by katedeangelis: "While the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Air Act 111(d) regulation did not explicitly allow a carbon price, it acknowledges the need to consider a carbon tax before the final rulemaking. Allowing states to implement a carbon tax as a means of complying with the rule makes economic and environmental sense. It is also within the EPA’s legal authority in implementing the Clean Air Act. Moreover, a carbon tax would fulfill the EPA’s requirements for state plans—as established in the proposed rule’s explanation of state plans (Section VIII). In the final rule, the EPA must clearly state that a carbon tax is allowed as a means to reduce power plant emissions. A carbon tax meets all of the EPA’s criteria for an acceptable plan"
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
Pahoa Versus the Volcano—by se portland: "The small rural town of Pahoa Hawaii is facing a slow motion catastrophe. Back on June 27th Kīlauea began a new lava flow that started flowing down the eastern slopes. The path of steepest-descent is aimed right at Pahoa – and it has been following that path. If the lava continues on its path, the town will be cut off from from Hilo. A new mostly dirt road is being built, but it will turn a half hour drive into something more like two hours or more. Pahoa, located on the Big Island about 20 miles south of Hilo, is a small town of less than a thousand people. The fertile valley is the home of small farms and ranches, along with a health spattering of retired mainlanders and people who choose to live off the gird. It is not a tourist destination. Much of the population have lived on the island for generations. I know the town because I use to provide point-of-sale and networking support for Pahoa Home Video. [...] Perhaps Pele determined that the villagers had become too comfortable and complacent, and decided to wake them up. Starting on June 27th a vent on Kīlauea, with only the quietest rumblings, started spewing lava toward the town. At first the flow was racing down the slopes, covering hundreds of yards per day, but then it slowed, and almost stopped, only to start again. It looked like it might stop altogether a couple of days ago, but I noticed this morning that the USGS maps shows renewed movement."
Energy & Conservation
I saw President Bill Clinton speak at an Energy Conference—by AdirondackForeverWild: "I have always enjoyed working for an energy efficiency utility, but this perk really took it to a new level. On October 1, President Bill Clinton himself gave the keynote address at the 2014 World Energy Engineering Conference in Washington, DC, and I was in attendance. This was, needless to say, the highlight of the conference. Every panel I went to after that referred to his speech—'as Bill Clinton said yesterday' and such. [...] One theme Mr. Clinton focused on was the challenge of financing non-fossil fuel energy projects. 'A lot of the things you all have been working for —solar, wind, building efficiency, geothermal ... — we're on the verge of being able to achieve, but we still have a hundred year old finance system holding back 21st century energy growth,' Clinton said to a group of energy and engineering experts. 'It's all in the financing. The reason we have not done more of this, is not enough companies are willing or able to self-finance, and the financial system looks at this as not a good deal,' he added."
Renewables
Open thread for night owls: Report says 19% of world's electricity could come from wind by 2030—by Meteor Blades: "You don't have to go back too many years to find experts forecasting that wind power wouldn't be a major generator of electricity for the next 50 or even 100 years. A few brave souls challenged these disappointing forecasts but they were mostly ridiculed. And the government's premiere forecaster in such matters, the Energy Information Administration, helped the pooh-poohers by making terrible forecasts for the spread of wind (and solar) power in the United States. For instance, in 2005, it predicted the nation would have 9 gigawatts of installed wind-generating capacity by 2013 and 63 gigawatts by 2030. By comparison, we are right now at 62.3 gigawatts and there are 13.2 gigawatts in 105 projects under construction. In 2012, the EIA made another bad forecast—that U.S. wind-generating capacity would only reach 87 gigawatts by 2040. There is good reason to believe that we will reach that figure before 2020."
Clothing retailer makes huge investment in green utility market—by Jen Hayden: "Patagonia is expanding beyond their clothing business and going all in on renewable energy: Patagonia plans to use state and federal tax credits to invest $13 million in the construction of solar panels on 1,000 homes in Hawaii, turning the eco-conscious retailer into the financial backer of a green electrical utility. They are hoping other companies will follow suit: With the announcement on Wednesday, Patagonia hopes companies across America will follow suit with similar efforts. 'Any U.S. public or private company who pays their fair share of taxes can use this strategy to speed up the development of new energy infrastructure,' Rose Marcario, Patagonia’s chief executive, said in an interview. 'And they can make money doing it and create jobs.'
Eco-Related Candidacies, DC & State Politics
Rick Scott brags about filling in wetlands, draining aquifers & polluting Florida's water & air—by VL Baker: "Rick Scott has eviscerated Florida's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) all the while lying and misrepresenting his actions as being for the benefit of Florida's environment. The non-profit Tampa Bay Times has exposed how, with stunning, blatant disconnect Rick Scott bragged before an audience at the DEP about his supposed accomplishments: One accomplishment Scott singled out: making it easier than ever to obtain a permit for filling in wetlands, pumping water out of the aquifer or pouring pollutants into the water and air. 'Recently Florida has successfully reduced its environmental permitting time down to just two days, and that's great!' Scott said. 'We take care of our environment, but when we know we're going to give a permit, give it to them quickly.' The Tampa Bay Times' thorough research lists the actual environmental results of Scott's tenure as Florida governor. [...]"
Rick Scott Doesn't Believe In Climate Change—by Armando: "Rick Scott does not say he believes in human caused climate change. And as a result, he does not discuss how to address the CAUSES of climate change. Instead he talks about dealing with the consequences. This is the proverbial finger in the dike approach to dealing with the problem and it simply will not work. The causes of climate change must be addressed, not just the consequences. By contrast, Charlie Crist gets it."
Texas Opposes Stronger National EPA Standards 'Cuz People Spend “90 percent of their time indoors"—by markthshark: "At various times in the past few years I was absolutely convinced that my state of Florida had the most evil state government in the entire country. This however, is not one of those times. The state agency responsible for protecting Texans against harmful chemicals said on Tuesday that it opposed federal efforts to lower smog levels because most people had air conditioners and spent '90 percent of their time indoors.' Let's not forget that the EPA has been slow at best in further tightening regulations on air quality in the U.S. But the agency has proposed tougher standards after a unanimous panel of scientists recently found that the current standard of 75 parts per billion was no longer acceptable. The newest proposal is expected to lower standards to 60 parts per billion by December 1st. It's not a big drop by any means. But overall, it's another step in the right direction. But as expected, antediluvian-minded Republicans in Congress oppose ANY toughening of air quality standards. And Texas has now officially joined them in the fight."
NY-SD-49 - State Sen. Hugh Farley: Fracking Opponents Are "Terrorists" (with video)—by Upstate Blue: "State Senator Hugh Farley (R - Schenectady County) has long maintained one of the most right-wing voting records in the New York State Legislature and has generally received poor scores from statewide advocacy groups supporting environmental protections. This 2010 YouTube video is perhaps the most interesting artifact of Senator Farley's long disregard for the environment, where he demonizes opponents of fracking and gas drilling as 'environmental terrorists.'"
The Republican Party continues its assault on science in the most insane way possible—by Walter Einenkel: "Meet Lamar Smith (R-TX). He authored the SOPA bill that everyone loved a few years ago. He's a climate denier with all kinds of science sense. While Smith admits to having studied some science in college, most of his science credentials come straight from Congress: he’s already served on the science committee for the past 26 years. His votes reflect a pattern of opposition to climate change and alternative energy efforts, sympathy to large industry in matters of copyright and patent law, deference to law enforcement on privacy issues, and moral policing of the internet. He continues his crusade to make America safe from science and its commie scientists. He's been sending staffers to pore through the National Science Foundation's (NSF) material related to projects that the NSF has funded over the past decade. They've been by 4 times this summer alone."
MI-06: Upton to MayDay donors: whining or intimidating?—by emorej a Hong Kong: "AP via local newspaper St. Joseph News & Observer: It's not enough that Fred Upton raises millions of dollars from the very companies he regulates, he then has the staff director of the Energy and Commerce Committee threaten the leaders of those companies when they support efforts to fix our broken campaign finance system,' Clements said in a statement. I don't know whether to be happier about Clements' story above, or Upton's story below: Upton acknowledged speaking with donors to the Mayday PAC and said they were surprised to see their money used to attack him. 'They are really ashamed,' Upton told the Kalamazoo Gazette. 'They are distraught. They said they were taken for a ride. It's too late. They bought the stuff. It came out of the blue.'"
The Climate Change Hypocrisy Act—by bondibox: "They are going to have it both ways. They are actively denying Global Warming, not just so that they can continue to profit from fossil fuels, but also because they are creating job security for the time when they decide to do an about face. It's the most despicable act of the modern era. Our government has many regulations and restrictions that dictate which companies are allowed to obtain government contracts. Anything from safety and ethics violations to doing trade with the wrong country can disqualify a company from government contracts. And of course the old conflict of interest is a big no-no. So it seems to me that it is well within the powers of Congress to declare that any company who denies the problem of Climate Change today shall be prevented from obtaining government contracts which seek to alleviate the problem of Climate Change in the future."
Eco-Essays and Eco-Philosophy
Climate: A Lot Can Happen in Two Generations—by LeftOfYou: "Sometime around 1907, my father's family posed in front of their rural, North Carolina cabin, dressed in their best, for a portrait by a photographer, almost certainly an itinerant, traveling the countryside by horse and wagon. [...] As I have posted recently, my spouse and are are planning to relocate soon after retirement next year to a newly green home in a 100+ yo residential historic preservation district. Anticipating that, as we prepare our present home for market, things we had forgot we had keep turning up, including the fuzzy image above. It particularly caught my attention that the people in the photograph occupied their charming rural cabin at the same time that a new American middle class was living a very different sort of life in the neighborhood to which my spouse and I now intend to move, a thousand miles West of that quaint country abode. Step out into the tall grass for reflections on two very different Americas, as they existed over a century ago, as they illuminate how much change, good or ill, humans are capable of making happen in just two generations. My father's home at the time of that picture was ignorant of the comforts of plumbing or electricity and lacked a daily connection with the outside world. No doubt Web knew stories of his immigrant grandfather, seventy years before, who came from Spain to start over in North America. Those are forgotten now, save for an oral history of a family connection to Basque country. No doubt his own father had stories to tell of the Civil War, but they are forgotten now, too."
Only 10% of Alpine Rivers are healthy enough to cope with climate impacts.—by
Pakalolo: "The Water Towers of Europe, the Alps, are the most important freshwater supply of continental Europe: Rhin, Po, Rhone and several tributaries of the Danube originate here. European citizens depend on alpine rivers for their drinkable water and food supply. Yesterday the World Wildlife Fund released the first comprehensive study on Alpine Rivers and the results are grim.
The high mountain ranges of the Alps function as water towers for 14 million people from eight countries. The rivers that drain these mountains provide household and agricultural water, food, fisheries, energy, jobs and recreation. The study, carried out with Vienna’s University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, assesses the current status of 57,000 kilometers of river and found 89 out of 100 Alpine rivers are already substantially harmed. Only 11 per cent of rivers are in pristine condition, with the rest having been redirected, altered or impacted by hydro-electric dams."
Oceans, Water & Drought
Water, Money, Taxes, Campaigns, and the Bond: The Resnick Farming Story—by Dan Bacher: "Do you wonder how billionaire corporate agribusiness interests ended up gaining so much control over our Water, Money, Taxes, Campaigns and the Water Bond? Then please read the following article by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla and various Associates. You can also read: this article. If you weren't sure how to vote on Proposition 1, this article about Stewart and Lynda Resnick should convince you to vote NO! The Resnicks, along with Westlands Water District are beyond doubt the 'Darth Vaders of California water politics.' Water, Money, Taxes, Campaigns, and the Bond: The Resnick Farming Story."
No on Prop 1: Where is the water to show for billions borrowed from previous bonds?—by Dan Bacher: "[O]pponents of Proposition 1 on October 20 released figures from recent water bond measures showing that $20 billion in taxpayer funding has done little to nothing to solve California’s water challenges - and said Prop. 1 would bring more 'ineffective and wasteful' spending. 'Since 2000, California has spent about $20 billion in water bonds and interest without solving our water challenges,' said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, No on Prop. 1 field director and executive director of Restore the Delta. 'The titles of these past bonds, like Prop 1, carry the promise of a safe, clean, and reliable drinking water supply. That is why we must ask: ‘Where is the water in this drought to show for all the billions borrowed?’ The bond pitch is always 'clean drinking water,' 'safe drinking water,' but it is never delivered, Barrigan-Parrilla said."
Hoopa Valley Tribe Opposes Proposition 1—by Dan Bacher: "The Hoopa Tribal Council agreed across the table to oppose California's ballot measure Prop. 1, Governor Jerry Brown's $7.5 billion water bond. Danielle Vigil-Masten, Chairwoman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe on the Trinity River, urges people to get out and Vote NO on Prop. 1. 'California—vote NO on California Prop. 1,' Vigil-Masten wrote on Facebook. 'This bill will kill the natural ecosystem and rivers and tributaries on the North Coast. This is for money to construct a dam in Maxwell or in that area. There has been no information provided about the damage this can cause to the environment, as well as to who will receive the benefit. It will also flood SACRED SITES of tribes,' she noted."
Critters & the Great Outdoors
The Daily Bucket--Brains Spilt from a UFO?—by
6412093: "During Fall clean-up time, I scrutinize the backyard for any out-of-place features. Some, like Corsican Mint volunteers, get to stay and are even encouraged. Others, like the following specimen of what appears to be a brain from the pilot of an alien spaceship, puzzle me. Near as I can tell, its some kind of fungus. Its spores appear to be sprouting along the sand margins that border each paving stone. I'd think the sand would have zero nutrients, but over a year, organic debris may become entrained in the sand; bits of leaves, spercks of dirt, bird poop, and so on. It feels firm to my touch. The bottom looks like the top when I pry it up. It sure looks different from a mushroom, but vaguely similar to the pale fungi I see tucked into the folds of trees on occasion. The big pieces are now in the compost pit. I'll leave the tiny spores and watch them for amusement. I really should get out more."
The Daily bucket: Seasonal Change at Mts. Baker & Shuksan—by RonK: "Last weekend appeared as if it might be last chance I could get up to Mount Shuksan and Mt. Baker National Forest before the snows set in. So, with grand kids again, I went up to see the Fall colors and what happened to the plants that I saw on my last foray a couple of months ago. This is largely a photo diary of Alpine scenery in the Mt. Baker National Forest and Wilderness Area. So follow along below the withered and drying Fragile Fern (Cystopteris fragilis) to see more of the majesty of the Cascade Mountains. As is apparent, it was mostly cloudy, rendering a muted and misty landscape, although the welcome sun peaked through from time to time."
Dawn Chorus: Atlantic Pelagic—by
matching mole: "This is is a summary of my bird sightings off the Atlantic coast of Florida three weeks ago today. I’ve discussed some non-bird aspects of the trip in two Daily Buckets, here and here. Pelagic birding, the seeking out of oceanic birds that are hard if not impossible to see from land, is a relatively new aspect of birding. Although I am not a hard core birder (and this is never more apparent to me than when I am around hard-core birders) I do admit to having a real love of going on these birding boat trips. My love stems back to 1997 when I went on a whale-watching boat tour out of Boston that took us out to the Stellwagen bank. Not only did I see a bunch of whales but also some really cool birds that I had never seen before. And quite a lot of them. It made me realize that all those petrels and shearwaters, several pages of birds in the field guide unseen by me, really did exist and there were, in fact, quite a lot of them."
Frogpocalypse—by
xaxnar: "It's been a good summer for the pond. Despite the arrival of a predatory water snake at some point, both goldfish and frogs managed to get at least a few survivors through to October. The water lilies have done so well, they were re-sectioned in the spring and some of the chunks were given to a friend with a pond where they took root and thrived. I've got two kinds, pink and red ones. Here's a look from a couple of months ago. The lilies, the water, and the lush growth around the pond (Iris, Day Lilies, Hosta, and assorted weeds) attract frogs. Any help with mosquitos is appreciated, and they're fun to have around. But, come the fall they have to be relocated. They'd like to overwinter at the bottom of the pond, but it doesn't seem to be deep enough or big enough for them to make it. So... Frogpocalypse!"
Daily Bucket - High Velocity Impact—by
Attack Gardener: "I was leaving for work this morning and caused the usual mass evacuation of birds at the feeders just by coming out the front door. This is a daily occurrence and generally not cause for concern. Most of our birds are regulars and avoid the danger of the large windows nearby. Today, though, one poor, new bird zigged when she should have zagged and face-planted into the window. Last night we had our first frost and it was still only 30 degrees when I walked out. I was almost to my car when I noticed the little powder puff of feathers sitting on the cold sidewalk. I approached it cautiously, looking for any evidence of injury but it seemed OK, just stunned. Now, in the normal course of things, I would have asked the Darling Spouse to keep an eye on it, perhaps get a few pictures and ventured off to work. This morning was just plain cold, though, and I felt bad leaving the poor, stunned feather ball sitting on freezing cement. The warmest place available was my own two hands so I gently scooped her up with one hand and covered her with the other. I tried to keep my hands loose so she didn't feel caged, just warm, and lifted the top hand after a few minutes. [...] And finally she flew away, a bit shaken but hopefully wiser in the way of windows!"
The Daily Bucket - record warmth—by OceanDiver: "I hadn't really noticed until I saw the numbers, but this fall has been unprecedented in the Pacific Northwest. We've are deep into a record-breaking Minimum Temperature Heatwave. Our local weather blogger Cliff Mass explains it in more detail, but the bottom line is that it isn't getting cold here at all this fall. Barely even a night dropping into the 40s! One effect of that is we have insects flying around that are usually long gone by now. I saw two Ladybeetles yesterday out on my deck. The one on the Cosmos flower looks damaged but it was flying ok. Another effect of this warmth is plants are still flowering. Not growing—daylight hours are limiting—but surviving. I've even pulled a few more late florets off the broccoli. Food out there for late insects too."
Daily Bucket: Out in Tampa Bay—by Lenny Flank: "While visiting the Tampa Aquarium recently, I spent the afternoon out on the dolphin tour boat. Some photos from my visit. [...] The only dolphin sighting we had—a dorsal fin in the distance."
The SS American Victory, a World War 2 cargo ship now docked as a floating museum.
Trash, Pollution & Hazardous Waste
Kelp Watch 2014 Update: No Fukushima Derived Radiocesium Detected in West Coast Kelp—by MarineChemist: "The most recent results of Kelp Watch 2014, a program dedicated to monitoring for the presence of Fukushima sourced radionuclides off our Pacific Coast, are reported in this diary. This diary is the latest contribution to a series dedicated to the dissemination of information about the impacts of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster on the North Pacific Ocean ecosystem and on North American public health. New results from the second sampling period (June to August 2014) of Kelp Watch 2014 were just released and can be found here. As with previously reported results here and here no radioactive isotopes from Fukushima were detected in kelp growing at sampling sites spread across the eastern Pacific coast. However, significant quantities of the short lived radioisotope 131-Iodine (half life ~8 days) continued to be found in Los Angeles County and San Diego in southern California. Rather than being transported across the Pacific these isotopes were likely released locally in waste water that carries significant 131-I because of its application in nuclear medicine to treat thyroid maladies. The absence of 134-Cs in kelp suggest that ocean transport of Fukushima contamination has yet to reach North American coastal water."
Miscellany
Scientists say vitamin B12 may be essential to combating pollution in the future—by Walter Einenkel: "File this under hopeful and why we love science. Scientists at The University of Manchester have spent the last 15 years researching and detailing the how a variety of natural organisms are able to lower the toxicity levels of certain known pollutants. This is just a step but it is an important one. Professor David Leys explains the research: 'We already know that some of the most toxic pollutants contain halogen atoms and that most biological systems simply don't know how to deal with these molecules. However, there are some organisms that can remove these halogen atoms using vitamin B12. Our research has identified that they use vitamin B12 in a very different way to how we currently understand it.'"
The Road to ** is Paved with Good Intentions—by hannah: "How does that happen? Mostly, it's the result of a mixture of hubris and inadvertence. Humans, stuck on themselves, think they know it all. Others are convinced 'all it takes is the idea' (the ExxonMobil slogan) and, as it was in the beginning, man says the word and nature is obedient. Fortunately, the age of electronics has made it possible to virtually eliminate inadvertence. We can look ahead and simulate what will happen, if we repeat the mistakes of the past. That's what James Holland is doing with the various projects at Cannon's Point in the marshes on the coast of Georgia. Holland is superimposing the planned erection of a monster dock in a little tidal creek to demonstrate how erosion will occur, just as it did before. The only difference is that when the site was a fish camp, people fished for a living. What's being proposed as the Cannon's Point Preserve is an eco-park for edu/tainment purposes. That's where the good intentions come in."