See OceanDiver's mystery of the turkeys post.
Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The most recent Spotlight can be seen here. More than 23,560 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
Carsick Planet, Part 1: Why the world needs FEWER not better cars—by
citisven: "With the upcoming 21st UN Climate Summit in Paris (COP21) this December promising to be a multi-lane highway
towards a low carbon society, it begs the question how this lofty aspiration squares with a 1.2 billion fleet of automobiles worldwide, projected to grow to 2 billion by 2035 and double to 2.5 billion in 2050. While the number of cars and trucks in the United States has plateaued at a chunky 253 million (that's 4000 pounds of steel, iron, rubber, plastics and aluminum for almost every man, woman, and child), global automobile sales are poised to soar to 127 million each year by 2035. If ownership in China catches up with the U.S. rate, there will be over a billion vehicles in that country alone. Take a seat in the ecomobile for a moment to let those numbers sink in."
Fire, Tranquility and Pain - A Photo Dairy—by Max Udargo : "Friday afternoon I drove up Highway 4, stopping to take pictures as I went, until I reached the Butte Fire as it approached the small town of Avery. I stood on a ridge for a couple of hours watching the flames crest the next ridge and then move down the mountain in my direction. These moments were strangely beautiful and serene. The sun was a blood-red dot behind a veil of smoke, and the lighting was unearthly. Ash fell gently from the sky, seeming to condense from the clouds of smoke above, like smoke rain, and every sound seemed a low-quality recording of itself. I stood there contemplating many things, old things that I saw in a new light. The fire changed the light, the air, the world—and from this altered place I arrived at new understandings."
A resident of Mountain Ranch argues with a California Highway Patrolman to be allowed to
go to her home in the fire zone, but, like everyone else who tried that, she was turned back.
What Exxon Knew About Climate Change And When They Knew It—by
Dartagnan: "InsideClimateNews is made up of journalists who don't have anything remotely comparable to the vast wealth of the Raymonds. In 2013 it won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, an award previously bestowed only two times on a web-based news service. This past Wednesday ICN unveiled the first of a multi-part expose which reveals the extraordinary depth of Exxon Corporation's knowledge about the impact of the oil industry on climate change and the successful efforts of Exxon, and in particular Lee Raymond, to cover up that knowledge. In preparing its report, ICN spent eight months interviewing former Exxon employees, scientists and federal officials, and combing through hundreds of thousands of internal company documents archived at the the University of Texas in Austin and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others.
The interviews they have conducted with retired employees and officials show that, as early as 1977, Exxon (now ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest oil companies) knew that its main product would heat up the planet disastrously. This did not prevent the company from then spending decades helping to organize the campaigns of disinformation and denial that have slowed—perhaps fatally—the planet’s response to global warming. The research effort conducted by Exxon was led by senior company scientist James Black."
Below the orange spill you'll find more excerpts and links to green posts.
Climate Chaos
The Pope on Climate Change: 'Thou Shalt not Kill'—by Eric Lotke: "What's so extraordinary about Pope Francis's Encyclical on climate change is how obvious it seems. The Pope simply applies timeless truths - claimed by many - to modern problems. 'Thou shalt not kill,' says the Bible. It's in the Old Testament and the New Testament. 'Thou shalt not kill' is believed by Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants, Muslims, Jews and plenty of people without religion. Different versions are in criminal codes all around the world. Pope Francis asks what the commandment '"Thou shall not kill" means when twenty percent of the world's population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive' (§93). Think a minute, says the Pope. Our present patterns of consumption (and excretion) are dangerous. We are killing people right now, and generations in the future. The Pope challenges us to reconcile our behavior with the Biblical commandment."
Get used to it. You're going to see a lot more of this headline in your lifetime: Hottest year ever—by Meteor Blades: "Reports that last year was the hottest on record, this year is likely to surpass that record and next year is likely to be hotter still generates the kind of knowledge that leads some people to despair. Combining the heat reports with news about accelerating melting in the Antarctic, stalling oceanic currents, bigger swarms of Arctic mosquitoes, starving polar bears and hints there will be soon be climate-forced migration of hundreds of millions of people can turn the despair into desperation. And that can lead to paralysis or an attitude of eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we fry. The antidote for this is stepped-up activism dedicated to abandoning the fossil-fuel economy and speeding up the transformation of our energy system and the economic ideology that underpins it."
No Mercy for the Pause: 2015 is Hottest Summer and Likely Hottest Year—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Two new papers debunking the “pause” mythology are out this week and the Washington Post has the story. One is published in Climatic Change and the other is in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Both support the conclusion that there was never a pause nor a hiatus, and build on the now-sizable literature pushing back on that particular denier talking point. While both papers are technical, drawing from complex statistics, an even more apparent indicator of warming is provided by NOAA, which has announced that this summer was the hottest on record. August was the warmest we've ever recorded, making it the sixth month in 2015 to experience record-breaking heat. Because there have been so many record-hot months this year, NOAA scientists have decided to figure out what the odds are that 2015 will eclipse 2014 as the hottest year on record. The result? There's a 97% probability that 2015 will in fact be the hottest year on record."
Is Climate Change Here?—by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse: "Heavy rains, floods, landslides, extremely low snowpack, wildfires, record-breaking temperatures, and Arctic sea-ice hits lowest extent for the year. We were warned years ago this would happen. [...]GOP response: 'Top Republican lawmakers are planning a wide-ranging offensive — including outreach to foreign officials by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office — to undermine President Barack Obama’s hopes of reaching an international climate change agreement that would cement his environmental legacy.' We need to fight back. Stronger. Harder. More United. Way past fusion time."
Polar Bears and Research Equipment in the Arctic Ocean: You’re Going to Need a Thicker Cable—by
MarineChemist: "The picture you are looking at was taken today by my colleague Dr. Kristin Orians of the University of British Columbia on the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen which is currently working in the Beaufort Sea. After arriving on station and beginning work the crew noticed three polar bears in the water together which swam around to the ship when our water sampling system was nearly 3500 meters below the surface. The ship was located far from sea ice and land. Indeed, Arctic sea ice extent was the fourth lowest on record this year and there has been speculation that this imposes stress on polar bears which rely on the ice to hunt. They tested out our cable (which is made of a synthetic fiber similar to kevlar that is used in bulletproof vests) with their teeth. Shouting and arm waving failed to scare them off and there were some tense moments as damage to the cable seemed inevitable. In the end it looks like the cable survived intact. We retrieved the equipment as quickly and safely as possible so the ship could move off and give the bears their space. Of all the worries a trace metal chemist has when going to sea the loss of equipment due to polar bear attack may have been near the bottom of our list. No longer I suppose. Interesting times in the Arctic Ocean."
Exxon Confirmed Climate Change in 1982 Before Attacking It in 1989—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Exxon: The Road Not Taken is a major investigative report from InsideClimate News, showing that by 1982 Exxon Mobil had already conducted enough climate research to inform corporate leadership that fossil fuels were causing climate change, with catastrophic events a possible result. ICN launches a series of stories today that delve into Exxon's transition from confirming to denying climate science, captured on social as #ExxonKnew. By combing through archives and interviewing employees, ICN's eight-month investigation reveals that Exxon leadership was briefed in 1977 by an external scientist, who said that there was "general scientific agreement" that fossil fuels were influencing the climate. Exxon then assembled its own team of researchers and began investigating. Their internal brain trust confirmed the initial assessment: carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels alters the global climate. But instead of using that information to justify pursuing alternative energy, Exxon began investing in lobbying efforts like the Global Climate Coalition to deny the link between their product and climate change. GCC, which began in response to the initial IPCC report, was one of the first industry front groups to begin injecting doubt into the public about climate science. Ironically, the first IPCC report was more conservative on the fossil fuel-climate change link than Exxon's own 1982 internal memo."
Top Exxon scientists began warning management about fossil fuels and climate change in 1977—by Jen Hayden: "Exxon management have had their head in the tar sands for a long, long time, despite warnings from their own scientists: At a meeting in Exxon Corporation's headquarters, a senior company scientist named James F. Black addressed an audience of powerful oilmen. Speaking without a text as he flipped through detailed slides, Black delivered a sobering message: carbon dioxide from the world's use of fossil fuels would warm the planet and could eventually endanger humanity. 'In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels,' Black told Exxon's Management Committee, according to a written version he recorded later. It was July 1977 when Exxon's leaders received this blunt assessment, well before most of the world had heard of the looming climate crisis.They didn't heed the warnings and doubled-down on keeping them a secret."
Meet Your Friendly Local Climate Change Denier—by SninkyPoo: "As I’ve followed the climate change conversation on Twitter and in the media, I’ve slowly been building up a mental picture of the average “citizen denier” (as opposed to the “professional deniers” in Congress, who are remunerated for their position on the issue). Recently I’ve begun trying to work out the components of citizen denial – because understanding may help me communicate better about climate change, but also because it’s fascinating to ponder what makes the people who tweet me such charming things tick. [...] It’s a multifarious blend – a thick, odiferous stew of ignorance, anti-government paranoia, mindless pro-capitalist boosterism, lack of education, grammatically challenged parroting of RWNJ talking points, fear, defiance, condescension, incredulity and Tea Party argle bargle. There’s sometimes a dash of racism, particularly in tweets that include reference to the president. A soupcon of hyper-masculinity infests the message challenging me to explain—NOW! in a tweet!—why climate change is worse than ISIL."
Deniers are Worse than the Satire Mocking Them—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "A new YouTube clip is making the rounds, and given the content, we just had to share! 'How Climate Change Deniers Sound to Normal People' delivers exactly what you'd expect—examples of denier logic applied to every-day situations. From red lights to house fires, it offers a silly look at this serious problem. With nearly 150,000 views, this Girl Pants Production is gaining traction, so please share it and see how widely it can go! As for a joke that is no where near as funny, but even more expository, there's been some drama down under after an overhead boom mic picked up a quip said by Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to (then) Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Dubbed #boomgate online, Dutton was caught making light of the fact that Pacific Island nations are dealing with the inundation of their countries. Dutton combines the racist stereotype that indigenous people are tardy and the fact that sea level rise is threatening the very existence of Pacific Island nations, saying, 'time doesn't mean anything when you're about to have water lapping at your door.'"
Paris Climate Conference—COP21
The Big Picture in Paris—by Michael Brune: "Nothing is reasonable about climate disruption. The hardship caused by rising temperatures won't be distributed fairly. In fact, many of the nations facing the worst consequences have contributed the least to the problem. Despite that inequity, though, global climate change remains an inherently shared problem for all humanity. The people of the earth must solve it together. That's why international climate negotiations matter, in spite of their mixed record of progress. Later this year, Paris, France, will host the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—COP21, for short. Leaders from 195 countries will attempt to agree on how to combat climate. The good news is that we've never had better reason to hope for progress internationally. The U.S. will arrive with its strongest-ever commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a proven record of success over the past decade, and with a Clean Power Plan from the EPA that can get us all the way to a 30 percent reduction in emissions and beyond. We're not alone, either. Major players from Europe to Asia are making serious commitments to reduce their use of dirty fuels and to promote clean energy."
Scuttling the Paris Climate Talks—by OutOnALimb: "Because it worked so well to scuttle the global agreement to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon (not), Republicans are trying the same techniques to undermine the Paris talks to combat climate change. Remember back in March when a group of 47 Morons, led by the head idiot, Senator Tom Cotton, wrote an 'open letter' to the leaders of Iran, informing them that Republican Senators were going to make common cause with Iranian hardliners in an attempt to block or undo any global agreement on limiting the Iranian nuclear program? Well, Republicans are at it again, once more attempting to undermine and interfere with the President’s Constitutional authority to negotiate agreements with foreign nations. This time, they want to prevent a global agreement to combat global warming. [...] Mitch McConnell’s office has been secretly contacting foreign officials and telling them Republicans will oppose and try to scuttle any agreement reached in Paris this year to limit greenhouse gas emissions."
Climate Change Trend Line Analysis—by rktect: "Most of us here, by now, recognize that Climate Change is increasing at a rate of increase which is increasing at an increasing rate. That means if it is getting graphed as a straight line instead of a curve its wrong. Here we see average global temperature as above 1° C in 2011. Much as I love the idea that we are all agreed that Climate Change is Anthropogenic or man made, we are not all agreed to the rate at which it is occurring. One reason may be the IPCC trying to achieve consensus on Anthropogenic warming by discarding anything controversial, not already fully understood and as a result giving the impression that Climate Change, if it is real and not a hoax won't be happening till the end of the century."
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
The Rolling Stone Article Everyone SHOULD Be Talking About—by DarkScholar82: "Over the past few days, everyone has been discussing the interview in Rolling Stone where Donald Trump insults Carly Fiorina and generally just behaves like Donald Trump. However, if you read the entire magazine, you will find a far more important article by Tim Dickinson about the recent wildfires in California, Washington, and Alaska. Although it does not feature any comments about Republican candidates' looks, it has actual relevance for the future of the United States and potentially the entire world. The article focuses on the links between climate change and this year's disastrous wildfire season. The droughts in California mark an obvious link, but even in places such as Washington where precipitation levels have been normal, changes in weather have increased the risk of fire. My Gut Reaction: I wonder if Republican presidential candidates would still think climate change is a hoax if their houses were burning to the ground."
Holy smokes! Watch this video showing residents escaping from California wildfire—by Jen Hayden: "The Valley fire in Northern California is raging out of control. Already 61,000 acres have been burned and it is only 5% contained. Lake County is just northwest of the Santa Rosa wine region. On Sunday, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Lake and Napa counties. He'd already declared a state of emergency for Amador and Calaveras counties on Friday."
When A Beautiful and Sacred Place Burns to the Ground—by Yohannon: "When I heard about the Valley Fire, I was in Vacaville visiting with a dear love of mine, who had spent some time there as well. She understood when I began to be worried about the location, especially when this was posted to Harbin's FaceBook wall: Harbin is currently closed. All residents and guests were evacuated by mid-afternoon, with the Valley Fire moving down from Cobb into our valley. At this point, reports of damage to our center are rumor, as everyone has left the area. However, the photos and videos from Middletown paint a very grim picture for our community. Send prayers. Prayers can only do so much in the face of physics; Brush and trees dry from years of drought, high winds, and fast moving flames. I kept holding out hope, when my ex-wife pinged me about a story in the LA Times saying that Harbin had "burned to the ground"."
CA Valley Fire: Devastation Grows: 400+ Homes Gone—by ca democrat.
CA Butte & Valley Fires: Devastation Grows: Hundreds of Homes Gone—by ca democrat:
Critters & the Great Outdoors
The Daily Bucket: Black Swallowtail Butterfly Newly Hatched—by
PHScott: "
Sept. 2015. I've been letting the parsley self-seed around my small garden. It does great along the fence and places like that where it gets extra water but doesn't need many nutrients to grow well. The parsley hosts Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterflies. I've seen them flitting by and landing eggs; I've seen the caterpillars and posted many pics; once in awhile I get to see the butterfly when it has emerged, can't fly and can barely hang on. This guy got a rough start this morning because I was cleaning up the last of the tomatoes and did not see the cocoon and the butterfly. But it was ok. It was able to climb up the fence and then tried various positions before settling on this one as it waited for the wings to work. That was a few hours ago, it's gone off now. My privileged-to-see-it yard observation today as part of the Daily Bucket."
The Way Forward—by johnnygunn: "Summer is hanging on in the high country,
But autumn is waiting patiently. On a bright, warm day I wonder where I will go.
I see a patch of golden aspens in the distance—With a red-gold glaze in the center.
The deer trail speaks to me, 'Come hither!' I stand on a ridge and peer into the distance.
Surely it involves just a little bushwacking, right? Only a few survivors remain of this aspen grove. The ground is littered with fallen trunks. But hundreds of new shoots speak of renewal. I tromp through the grasses of a wetland meadow—now dry. To do this in June would invite mud up to your calves, Yet as summer wanes it is blonde and cinnamon. [...]"
The Daily Bucket - baitball frenzy—by
OceanDiver: "
September 2015. Salish Sea, PNW. A baitball is a compact ephemeral mass of baitfish near the surface of the sea. Baitfish are small schooling fish caught by fisherfolk to use as bait to catch large charismatic fish like salmon. Forage fish is a better term, more descriptive of their role in the ecosystem, i.e. what large fish forage for as an energy source. But foragefishball hasn't caught on. Frenzy, in nature, is how creatures act when they are in panic over their survival. This mixed group of gulls and other birds I saw recently scrambling over a baitball is a good example of a frenzy. There have been baitball feeding sessions in the Salish Sea forever but these days both prey and predator populations are under stress. This impressive spectacle is serious business for both fish and birds."
The Daily Bucket - turkey and mink mystery—by
OceanDiver: "
September 13, 2015. Pacific Northwest. Mr O takes a daily cardio walk up the road and back. He often has interesting nature observations to report when he returns. Yesterday's was just outside our driveway. As he approached our driveway he saw our flock of local wild turkeys congregated in a tight group gazing fixedly at something. They paid him no heed as he went by, which is very unusual...these are wild turkeys, and though they wander through backyards, they are very wary of people. I went out immediately to see. The turkeys were beginning to look around as I approached, and started heading off down the road."
Bayer is suing Europe for saving the bees—by directional: "Bayer, BASF and Syngenta are suing the European Commission to overturn a ban on the pesticides that are killing millions of bees around the world. A huge public push won this landmark ban—and we can't sit back and let Big Pesticide overturn it while the bees vanish. Last summer, 37 million bees were discovered dead on a single Canadian farm. And unless we act now, the bees will keep dying. We have to show Bayer and Co. now that we won't tolerate them putting their profits ahead of our planet's health."
The Daily Bucket: Butterfly and Wildflower Balance—by PHScott: "Sept. 2015. It's nearing sunset on the other side of the hill, darkening on my side. I've been looking out the kitchen window at some wild plants that came up in a sunny spot. Or what counts for sunny when you are sandwiched between banks of trees. I see a Giant Swallowtail butterfly out there feeding. GSTs are as big as a small bird. It shimmers in the fading sunlight as it bounces around looking for pollen. Pollen at the moment is a Clustered Bushmint. The one I watch is 30' distance and looks big, about head-high. Lots of long thin branches with small flower heads at the ends. The GST has to beat constantly to get to each and every tiny bloom. These swallowtails are common in my yard."
The Daily Bucket: Some Ohio Turtles—by
Lenny Flank: "The Guam Kingfisher was never a very widespread bird, limited to the tiny Pacific island of Guam. But when a non-native snake was accidentally introduced to its habitat, the birds were devastated, and the population dropped to just 29 individuals. Today, the US Government is carrying out a massive effort to save the Guam Kingfisher from extinction. The Guam Kingfisher,
Todiramphus cinnamominus cinnamominus, is the largest of the three Kingfisher subspecies that are found in the Pacific. It is found only on the island of Guam, where it is known by the natives as the Sihek. Although they are brightly colored with blue backs (the males have cinnamon-colored bellies and heads while the females are cream-colored), the Kingfishers are shy birds who tend to spend most of their time on the ground at the edge of forests, hunting for small lizards and insects. Breeding pairs will nest in cavities that they excavate together in dead trees or in abandoned termite mounds. They are very territorial and will defend their area from other Kingfishers."
The Daily Bucket--The Lotus' Silky Petals, as Delicate as a Dream.—by 6412093: "One smoldering Summer afternoon, while my fellow golfers peered at their distant target and discussed possible yardages, my attention deficit disorder took command and I wandered off into the nettles and cattails to the edge of a pond. One more step brought me to a clearing where suddenly I could see soccer-ball-sized pastel colored yellow and pink flowers on long-stemmed, water plants, out on the pond. Dang those are pretty! They've been around since dinosaur days. Lotuses. The American lotus is a native, emergent aquatic plant, of the species N. lutea. American Indians may have carried it into North America as a food source, from its origins in the Southeast US and Central America. While Wiki states the local version is yellow, some of these lotuses are also pink."
Big Win for Whales: U.S. Navy to Limit Sonar Use—by
ericlewis0: "From The Guardian:
A federal court has ordered a settlement in two cases that challenged the United States navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Hawaii and Southern California. Environmental legal aid organization Earthjustice tells the Guardian that the settlement will secure 'long-sought protections for whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals by limiting navy activities in vital habitats.'"
Red Scythebill and prey (a giant waterbug)
Dawn Chorus - Open Thread—by
matching mole: "To start the ball rolling here are three birds (well four individual birds of three species) that don't have much in common except that all the pictures were taken on the same day just over two months ago in Porto Jofre, Brazil."
The Daily Bucket - Invasive Turtles with bonus Lynx—by enhydra lutris: "Scores of fierce-looking lynx roam the remote Colorado high country, 16 years after they were reintroduced to the state. But the elusive animals are rarely seen or photographed. Now state researchers have captured photos of lynx as they prowl the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. Using automated cameras mounted in trees, the researchers are studying where lynx live and how well they're doing, said Eric Odell, manager of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's carnivore conservation program. Odell estimates 200 to 300 lynx live in Colorado but no one knows for sure. He hopes to get several years' worth of data to track their range over time."
The Daily Bucket: Florida's Invaders--The Tilapia—by Lenny Flank: "There are over 100 species in the Tilapia group, found virtually throughout Africa. In appearance, they look something like an American sunfish, about a foot long with thick protrusible lips. They are an important food source for people who live near their lake habitats. (The name comes from 'Thiape,' the local South African native word for 'fish.') Since there are several species of Tilapia in the Sea of Galilee, they are sometimes known as 'St Peter's Fish.' The ancient Egyptians raised Tilapia for food in artificial ponds, a practice later copied by the Romans. Today, Tilapia are widely raised in captivity, in artificial ponds or tanks, and are heavily exported as food. They have been called 'aquatic chickens.' In the 1960s, 'aquaculture' was widely embraced as a sustainable method of providing high-quality protein food to people in poverty-stricken areas with few resources. And Tilapia, which eat a varied diet of aquatic plants, algae, and invertebrates, were the fish of choice for these artificial fish farms. As a result, the fish were exported to virtually every tropical area on earth. By the 1970s, it was realized what a mistake this was, as escaped or accidentally-released Tilapia established themselves in dozens of countries from Australia to South America, and became threats to native species. They are now listed as one of the '100 Most Invasive Species'."
Energy
Coal, Oil, Gas & Nuclear
Denial Growing Too Toxic For PR—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "The world's biggest PR firm, Edelman, has announced that it will no longer work with coal producers and climate change deniers. This is a huge win for the Climate Investigations Centre, which has been pushing PR firms to drop deniers for about a year now. Because of the public perception of deniers, the company has determined that working with these clients would present too high a risk to its reputation. "Greenwashing, fake front groups, anything like that is completely inappropriate," said Edelman Europe's chief executive Michael Stewart. However, this may not be such a clear-cut win. They're still accepting clients involved in Arctic drilling, as well as the Alberta tar sands. Both of those groups can likely be accused of greenwashing and/or deploying front groups, which means Edelman may still receive pushback. There's also the possibility that Edelman could simply create a spinoff group to take these contentious clients."
Radioactivity In Our Ocean: Fukushima & Its Impact On The Pacific—by MarineChemist: "The following presentation is for those interested in the most recent, scientifically rigorous, monitoring data related to the impact of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster on the health of North Pacific Ocean ecosystem and inhabitants of western North America. Last evening, Sept. 14, 2015 Dr. Ken Buesseler and I reported on monitoring efforts through the Fukushima InFORM and Our Radioactive Ocean projects at a public lecture hosted by the Vancouver Aquarium. The presentation was followed by a Question and Answer period and discussion. Link to the YouTube video is here in case of browser compatibility problems."
Radioactivity In Our Ocean: Fukushima & Its Impact On The Pacific - Watch the Live Stream Online—by MarineChemist: "The purpose of this diary is to bring to your attention a lecture hosted by the Vancouver Aquarium by myself and Dr. Ken Buesseler that will be live broadcast on YouTube tomorrow evening. This presentation will focus on results of the Fukushima InFORM and Our Radioactive Ocean projects thus far on the movement and implications of radionuclides released through the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant as they travel across the Pacific Ocean. We will also discuss how scientists are engaging citizens to help monitor radioactivity along the North American west coast. There will be a Question and Answer session after the presentation."
why more than halving the rig count has not diminished the oil glut—by rjsigmund: "Our crude oil inventories, which normally fall during the summer months, rose for the 2nd week in a row this week, but unlike last week, where we saw the glut was driven by increase in imports, this week saw a larger drop in refinery throughput than we've seen anytime this summer....our commercial inventories of crude oil, which are watched closely by oil traders and hence influence oil prices, increased by almost 2.6 million barrels in the week ending September 4th, from 455,428,000 barrels at the end of the last week in August, to 457,998,000 in the current report, following a jump of 4.7 million barrels last week, giving us the largest increase 2 week increase in inventories in 5 months....those increases lifted our crude oil in storage to a level 27.7% higher than the 358,598,000 barrels we had stored the first reporting week in September the last year, and the highest for any September in the 80 years that such records have been kept, which had never seen the 400 million barrel level breached before this year...news of that inventory build sent oil prices tumbling, with the near term contract for US crude oil closing the week at $44.63 a barrel, down from $46.05 a barrel last Friday..."
Renewables & Conservation
The German Energy Transition: Renewables vs Nuclear—by doomvox: "One of the things many environmentalists have seized on with excitement in recent years is Germany's announcements about phasing out nuclear power in favor of wind and solar. After beginning this 'Energiewende,' we immediately saw some years with high German CO2 emissions, though just recently, in 2014 there was a drop (and that was apparently due to a mild winter, leading to a reduction in use of coal for heating). Many pro-nuclear people like myself have been presuming the case in Germany is much like the case in Japan, where suddenly shutting down all of their nukes at once immediately jacked up their CO2 emissions. The German case, however is different in that they're still running a number of nukes, they're just planning on shutting them all down by 2022: this is a more gradual phase-out. And German CO2 emissions aren't dominated by the power-sector (which only make up around 20% of the total) though the announced figures CO2 emissions that you hear are typically for the country as a whole, not just for the power-generation."
Emissions Controls
It Could Be Worse: Thoughts on Obama's Clean Power Plan—by ClimateBrad: "At the beginning of August, President Obama unveiled with great fanfare the “Clean Power Plan,” a 'Landmark Action to Protect Public Health, Reduce Energy Bills for Households and Businesses, Create American Jobs, and Bring Clean Power to Communities across the Country.' Stripping away the poll-tested language, the president was announcing—after epic delays—EPA regulations for carbon-dioxide pollution from existing power plants, finally fulfilling a 2000 George W. Bush campaign pledge. The proposed rule’s compliance period will begin in 2022. From a policy perspective, the proposed rule is a perfect distillation of the Obama administration’s approach to governance: politically rational incrementalism that reinforces the existing power structures and is grossly insufficient given the scope of the problem."
Fracking
Activists Call for Fracking Ban As Amended Senate Bill 350 Passes—by Dan Bacher: "Those opposed to Governor Jerry Brown's avid support of the environmentally destructive practice of fracking have been birddogging him at events where he appears for the past couple of years. In the latest anti-fracking and pro-renewable energy action, a group of Los Angeles residents will greet Governor Brown when he arrives on Tuesday morning at the J.W. Marriot to deliver the keynote address at a U.S.-China Climate Summit hosted by Mayor Eric Garcetti in Downtown Los Angeles. 'Governor Brown’s participation in the talks comes just days after oil industry pressure led to the removal from SB350, the Governor’s climate change bill, language that would have cut petroleum use in the state 50% by 2030,' said Alexandra Nagy of Food & Water Watch. 'L.A. residents will urge the Governor to make good on his word – to use his executive authority to aggressively cut petroleum use in California – and to remind him that in order to be a real climate leader, he must keep all fossil fuels in the ground, beginning with a ban on all forms of fracking in order to transition California to a 100% renewable energy future.'"
Fracking - - Mitigated Disaster?—by T C Gibian: "I don't think anyone could accurately predict the future here, but the trends are clear. The petrochemical industry had planned to squeeze the last dollar out of the last barrel of oil at high profit margins, and as market trends continue they may not be able to sell their product at all. The recent price disruptions have perhaps upset their plans fatally. Fracking, despite the perhaps short term abundance it has produced, may ultimately be denounced and banned due to unacceptable environmental impacts, having spawned the forces which dragged all other producers down. This could leave a clean playing field for alternative energy sources. Did Obama know what he was doing? Personally, I think we have underestimated this man consistently. I think he is thinking so far outside of the box that there are no boxes where he lives."
Anti-fracking activists will greet Jerry Brown at U.S.-China Climate Summit—by Dan Bacher: "Those opposed to Governor Jerry Brown's avid support of the environmentally destructive practice of fracking have been birddogging him at events where he appears for the past couple of years. In the latest anti-fracking and pro-renewable energy action, a group of Los Angeles residents will greet Governor Brown when he arrives on Tuesday morning at the J.W. Marriot to deliver the keynote address at a U.S.-China Climate Summit hosted by Mayor Eric Garcetti in Downtown Los Angeles. 'Governor Brown’s participation in the talks comes just days after oil industry pressure led to the removal from SB350, the Governor’s climate change bill, language that would have cut petroleum use in the state 50% by 2030,' said Alexandra Nagy of Food & Water Watch. 'L.A. residents will urge the Governor to make good on his word—to use his executive authority to aggressively cut petroleum use in California—and to remind him that in order to be a real climate leader, he must keep all fossil fuels in the ground, beginning with a ban on all forms of fracking in order to transition California to a 100% renewable energy future.'"
Keystone XL & Other Fossil Fuel Transportation
Hillary Clinton to finally reveal her position on Keystone Pipeline 'soon'.—by hencexox : "Hillary seems to be doing a complete 180 again previously stating, 'If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question,' just a couple of months ago. It now looks like with her poll numbers falling we may get that answer a lot sooner. In New Hampshire while she yet again refused to take a position on the issue, expressed impatience with the Obama administration over the long running review of the KX pipeline project. If the the State Department doesn't complete its review in the coming months then she will reveal her position 'soon'. I'm sure the focus groups she will convene over the coming weeks will help her with finally formulating an position. She also said she doesn't want to 'second guess' President Obama which is strange since she has no problem doing so on foreign policy matters."
Candidates, DC, State & Local Eco-Politics
Hillary may be better on Climate than Obama—by Climate Coach: "Forcing coal companies mining in Wyoming and Montana's Powder River Basin to pay their fair share is a great way to reduce carbon emissions while at the same time, generating needed government revenue. While Obama, in his two terms in office, has not raised fees on coal companies mining on public lands, Hillary Clinton promised to force energy companies to pay higher fees for drilling and mining on public lands. One of the key sources of carbon emissions in the United States is coal mining in the Powder River Basin, which is the largest coal mining operation in the world. Keeping coal in the ground keeps it from being burned. Coal companies are ripping off the taxpayers to the tune of $50 billion a year by receiving cut rate deals on coal leasing on federal lands in Montana and Wyoming. The US government is currently subsidizing an activity that will have a detrimental effect on climate change. By forcing coal companies to pay their fair share, Clinton would increase federal revenue and decrease coal mining by making it more expensive. She could accomplish this by executive action."
You've Gotta Love Jerry Brown--Ca Governor Trolls Ben Carson In the Most Perfect Way—by Doctor Jazz: "So now, in the final years of his fourth term, after leading California triumphantly out of the Great Recession, along with fellow Jesuit, Pope Francis, the irascible and irrepressible governor has been leading the charge against climate change. In a move this entirely biased progressive patriot can only characterize as brilliant, Jerry Brown called would-be Republican presidential nominee Ben Carson's bluff on climate change. As most of us know by now, when Carson visited California last week he claimed he had never seen scientific evidence for man-made climate change. 'I know there are a lot of people who say ‘overwhelming science,’ but when you ask them to show the overwhelming science, they never can show it… There is no overwhelming science that the things that are going on are man-caused and not naturally caused. Gimme a break.' Governor Brown delivered the proof on a flash drive, along with a devastatingly concise cover letter that I believe will go down in history as an important turning point in the battle against climate change denial, because in a stroke of the pen it effectively removes not only Carson's, but all the other Republican candidate's cover of ignorance about the overwhelming scientific evidence—I told you I was an idealist. I absolutely love Brown's closing sentence."
California governor to presidential hopeful- 'Climate change is much bigger than partisan politics.'—by Jen Hayden: "Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson, who is a retired neurosurgeon, recently said there was no convincing evidence to prove that man plays a role in climate change. California Governor Jerry Brown, who's state is battling extreme wildfires, fueled by extreme drought and climate change did not care for the Republican candidate's comments and wanted to set the record straight. And did he ever! He sent Ben Carson a letter (you can read in full below) scolding him for his comments and a flash drive containing a UN report on climate change."
3 GOP debaters got 3 minutes to BS on climate change. Trump followed up with denial on Morning Joe—by Meteor Blades: "In the three grueling hours of Republican debate Wednesday night, three of the candidates spent three whole minutes talking about climate change. In doing so, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Scott Walker followed what has become a general Republican shift toward avoiding outright denial about the crisis we face. But they were adamant about not doing anything about it. Each of them offered some version of screw-regulation-Obama's-climate-policy-proposals-will-wreck-the-economy-and-kill-jobs. It fell to Donald Trump to spew the flat-out denier trope, but he had to wait to do it until Thursday morning in an appearance of Morning Joe."
No, the 11 Republicans who Put Forth a Handwaving Resolution on Climate Do Not Deserve a Gold Star—by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "Today, Chris Gibson (NY-19) led a group of 10 other House Republicans in putting forth a resolution on 'conservative environmental stewardship' that vaguely calls for climate action. Here is the core part of the resolution: Resolved, That the House of Representatives commits to working constructively, using our tradition of American ingenuity, innovation, and exceptionalism, to create and support economically viable, and broadly supported private and public solutions to study and address the causes and effects of measured changes to our global and regional climates, including mitigation efforts and efforts to balance human activities that have been found to have an impact. We don't need resolutions; we need legislation. As such, this resolution doesn't rise beyond handwaving. It also even seems to imply that we still need more research to determine what is causing climate change, which--in context--just seems like a typical deflection."
Will Evidence Soothe the Savage Supervillians?—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Ben Carson, one of many contestants for the GOP presidential nomination recently said that there was no convincing evidence for humans' role in climate change. He said that proponents of action often cite evidence, but never provide it. California Gov. Jerry Brown sprang to action, sending a letter to Carson with a USB drive containing the IPCC AR5 Synthesis Report. This report contains all the evidence that any rational person would need, and given Carson's background as a neurosurgeon, he should be capable of digesting a wonky, evidence-heavy text. But whether or not he will accept the science that he now has no excuse to ignore is another question entirely. Note that Carson didn't say there was no evidence for humans' role, just that there's no convincing evidence. Because the Republican fossil-fuel-funded campaign donor class is not going to support any candidate that's realistic on climate change, odds are slim that even a heavily researched report will be convincing enough. Instead, he's apt to appeal to the GOP denial status quo, which has now moved past sabotaging just domestic action. As Politico reports and Dana Nuccitelli expands on, some GOP operatives have moved to full-blown supervillian territory by attempting to torpedo international negotiations."
A taste of ashes—by RLMiller: "Inside California’s Capitol, the debate raged. A group of so-called moderate Democrats sought to block the passage of SB 350. This landmark climate bill would do three things: increase California’s building energy efficiency 50 percent by 2030, an excellent idea not drawing serious opposition; increase California’s use of renewable fuels 50 percent by 2030, an excellent idea drawing strong support from the cleantech industry, building trades, and many more; and cut petroleum use 50 percent by 2030, a most excellent idea cutting into the profits of Chevron and Occidental and OMG THE SKY IS FALLING WE ARE DOOOOMED THEY’RE COMING FOR YOUR MINIVAN, warn the deceptive mailers. Who are these moderate Democrats? The cynical among us might call them 'corporate Democrats' or 'oil-drenched Democrats.' Dan Morain at the Sacramento Bee explains: As near as I can tell, being a moderate has little to do with their stands on social issues, or their willingness to challenge the core of Democratic support, public employee unions; they aren’t. Rather, the definition seems to revolve around a willingness to accept campaign money from oil, tobacco or anyone else, and their malleability when donors come calling. I was one of throngs roaming the Capitol during the pressure cooker last week of session. Because no one knew my face, I Chevron lobbyist I was one of throngs roaming the Capitol during the pressure cooker last week of session. Because no one knew my face, I was able to photograph a Chevron lobbyist writing a thank-you note to an Assemblymember immediately after the Assembly voted against the related SB 32 (the bill failed that vote, barely survived a second vote, and is now on the shelf til next year)."
Now that the election is decided can we get back to solving problems like Global Warming?—by don mikulecy: "It seems clear that Bernie Sanders will be our next president. It is also clear that the grass roots movement he is helping us to build should be able to elect good people to the House and Senate. So now we need to plan for the way we are going to put the brakes on Global Warming and solve a whole host of other really important problems. Even before Bernie is elected we need to turn out in huge numbers to get the fossil fuel industry shut down for good. We need to make peace a real target for our our government not just a squeak by hassle. We need to plan for refugees on a large scale. We need to get clean water to everyone. We need to plan for the shift to universal health care. We need to totally restructure our way of producing and distributing food. It seems clear that if we can elect Bernie we can also get started on these important tasks."
Eco-Action & Eco Justice
Washington State Open Thread - Seattle Calls on Bill Gates to Divest From Fossil Fuels—by John Crapper: "As reported in the Guardian Wednesday, 9 September, 2015. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is facing fresh calls to move his charity’s investments out of fossil fuels from the community in Seattle where it is based, led by the city’s former mayor. The Bill and Melinda Gates’ Foundation is the world’s largest charitable foundation and funder of medical research. It had $1.4bn (£1bn) invested in fossil fuel companies, according to its latest available tax filings from 2013. Speaking to the Guardian, former mayor Michael McGinn said that Gates could not simultaneously 'hit the brake and the accelerator at the same time' in his approach to tackling climate change. The campaign launched this last Wednesday with a demonstration outside the foundation's visitor center under a sign which read 'Every person deserves the chance to live a healthy, productive life.' The protester's sign read 'Yes they do! Divest from fossil fuels now.' They plan to be there every day until the foundation makes a commitment to divest away from fossil fuels."
Consider signing the "Manifesto on the future of war and climate change"—by John Kaufman: "Join MIT professor Noam Chomsky, activist and author Helen Caldicott, author Naomi Klein and 9,975 other signers of a petition that urges the governments of the world to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them. We also propose that all governments of the world begin to convert those resources previously allocated to preparations for destructive conflict to a new constructive purpose: the mitigation of climate change and the creation of a new sustainable civilization on a global scale.' Sign the petition at the RootsAction website: http://diy.rootsaction.org/...."
OFF+ON: Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben and 350.org Ramp It Up—by lao hong han: "Thursday night I hit the 350.org OFF+ON Campaign roll-out event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Well over fifteen hundred people showed up to a program headlining Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben. [...] The Message. Here’s the message as I received it. (Your mileage may vary. Watch it here if you are so inclined.) Things are bad and getting worse. Though fossil fuel companies have reserves 5 times what can be extracted and burned without damaging the biosphere beyond repair, they are still spending hundreds of billions every year in exploring for more. People’s resistance is growing globally and has won significant victories—the 'done deal' Keystone XL Pipeline of a few years ago hasn’t been built, for instance. We are in a race between global warming and resistance, we aren’t winning yet, and every day counts."
Agriculture, Food & Gardening
Federal Appeals Court Rules Against EPA and its Approval of Chemical Found to be Toxic to Bees—by pierre9045: "In a much-needed victory for the environment, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revoked federal approval of sulfoxaflor, a widely-used insecticide that has been linked to declining bee populations. The court's ruling went against both the company that manufactures the insecticide, as well as the EPA itself, which the court said violated its own rules and regulations. The court said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave unconditional approval of the insecticide sulfoxaflor in 2013, even though it was clearly toxic to honeybees, and the manufacturer failed to conduct required tests of its impact on not just adult bees, but also brood and colony strength. The EPA violated its own rules and procedures, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision said. And in an unusual move, it took the added step of overturning the EPA’s approval because “given the precariousness of the bee populations,” leaving the insecticide on the market would create greater environmental risks than pulling it. In other words, by ruling against the EPA, the Court is doing the EPA's job for it."
Anti-Science, Genocide, GMO, and Nuclear Power—by gzodik: "Today's edition of the New York Times contains an important and disquieting piece, "The Next Genocide", by Timothy Snyder, on the danger of science denial, particularly the denial of climate change. Many are unaware of the role of science denial in Nazi ideology. Snyder observes: The war that brought Jews under German control was fought because Hitler believed that Germany needed more land and food to survive and maintain its standard of living — and that Jews, and their ideas, posed a threat to his violent expansionist program. The pursuit of peace and plenty through science, he claimed in 'Mein Kampf,' was a Jewish plot to distract Germans from the necessity of war." An important piece, but it is regrettable that Snyder was too timid to go after the anti-'GMO' hysterics who want to hamstring modern agricultural science, or the anti-nuke crowd who have Germany and Japan burning millions of tons of coal."
Imagine a jail teaching modern agriculture to inmates.—by enhydra lutris: "Once upon a time various bleeding hearts tried to promote the idea that prisons weren't really merely punitive, or shouldn't be at any rate, nor mere retribution. Oh no, they expounded, they should be (and some of the more deluded claimed they actually were) rehabilitative. For a while there were efforts made to actually infuse a tiny slice of rehabilitative endeavors into our jails and prisons. Then, since it was really fiction and wishful thinking, if faded and prisoners were again openly seen as merely suffering their just punishment, which included being used as a source of free or abysmally cheap labor. Perhaps that may be changing at least a little in at least one locale. As described here: Innovative program teaches Bay Area jail inmates farming skills - SFGate, the San Francisco County Jail, in San Bruno, CA, is teaching inmates aquaponics. This is a growing field and key to some types of urban agriculture. While no-doubt qualified for entry level jobs at local facilities, the classes at the jail are really preparation for further study and will pre-qualify inmates who complete them for further paid training upon graduation."
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging: Sunflowers!—by skohayes: "My love for sunflowers goes back a couple of decades, when I had my first volunteer pop up near the bird feeders. I loved the big yellow face that followed the sun, and the added benefit of free bird seed! The sunflowers of today are a staple of many flower gardens, with their variety in size, colors and habits. Let's jump below the tangled garden hose and check out the beauties that will fit in any sunny garden. Here's a few fun facts about sunflowers: Sunflower heads grow in a spiral. A sunflower actually tracks the movement of the sun across the sky. This is called heliotropism. Sunflowers can grow anywhere from 3 feet to 18 feet tall. The tallest sunflower ever grown was 25' 5.5" tall and grown in the Netherlands in 1986. Now, I love the big seed heads of the mammoth sunflower everyone is familiar with and the dozens of blooms on the Maximillian sunflowers above, but there are so many different types available these days, anyone can find a sunflower to fit in their garden."
Transportation & Infrastructure
Carsick Planet, Part 2: Reducing the fleet through personal, infrastructure & economic change—by citisven: "Let's first posit that the goal isn't to reach "zero cars," as such a drastic all-or-nothing approach is neither feasible nor necessary. There will always be a need for useful and necessary motorized transportation, from delivery, emergency, agricultural, and transit vehicles to serving residents in remote areas or people with limited physical mobility. As noted in the previous post, there are also existing suburban developments that will force its residents into car-dependence in the near term. (Whether these kinds of sprawl patterns are sustainable at all is another question). However, with almost 70% of the world's population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, there is a large pool of car owners living close enough to basic services that could be enticed to live car-free, given the right circumstances. What might an attainable reduction look like?"
Carsick Planet, Part 3: Get around. Not too fast. Mostly walk.—by citisven: "We're all familiar with the slogan "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." It's a good one for sure, as it doesn't deny the fact that we live and will continue to do so in a material world while at the same time laying out an easily understood list of priorities to guide us in becoming less wasteful (a fourth 'R' — Refuse — as the lead-off would be an appropriate addition). Similarly, the phrase 'Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants' coined by author Michal Pollan conveys a ranking of eating habits that connects personal well being with best practices for the planet in a non-dogmatic, progressive, and easy to digest (pun!) way. An equivalent motto for a realistic yet meaningful transportation transformation would be 'Get around. Not too fast. Mostly walk.' On both policy and personal levels, it acknowledges and honors our human desire for mobility (get around) while prioritizing modes of transportation that may be slower but are more sustainable (not too fast) and encouraging the most nimble and healthy way of moving about (mostly walk) whenever possible."
Sunday Train: Hobbling & Liberating Renewables with Markets—by BruceMcF: "A concept that has been percolating into debates over the feasibility or desirability of moving to an all-renewables, no/low carbon energy supply system is the ceiling on what percentage share of our total energy supply we can take from variable renewables. At The Energy Collective, in the second of a two part May 2015 series on Wind and Solar energy, Jesse Jenkins looked at the question of Is There An Upper Limit To Variable Renewables?. Now, as the Sunday Train has covered many times, there is an upper limit, and so an all-renewable no/low carbon energy system requires dispatchable renewables as well as variable renewables ... and all cost-optimizing models of all-renewable energy systems that I have seen confirm this. However, Jesse Jenkins proceeded to mis-characterize the policy question at hand, when he wrote: First, as a growing body of scholarship concludes, the marginal value of variable renewable energy to the grid declines as the penetration rises. Indeed, where renewable energy earns its keep in the energy market—and is not supported outside the market by feed-in tariffs—the revenues wind or solar earn in electricity markets decline steadily as their market share grows. Well, not so fast. There is a fundamental flaw in the assumptions behind this claim."
The EV Future is Here: 107-mile Nissan Leaf, 53-mile Chevy Volt + UPDATE—by Assaf: "Electric vehicles (EVs) suffer from extremely hostile media. When they get mainstream headlines, it's because a random bit of data has suddenly "proven" some preconceived anti-EV canard. Either that, or something about Tesla. Tesla's media prominence in itself reinforces one of those canards, of course. Meanwhile, away from the headlines, a simple and growing reality has taken root: Recently, in some 150,000+ American households, the main or only car has been a battery-electric (BEV) Nissan Leaf or an electric-with-gas-backup (EREV/PHEV) Chevy Volt, and on the whole these households are super happy about their choice. Unlike Tesla's offerings (to be clear: I admire what that company has done), the Leaf and Volt have targeted the midrange market from the start. They are now cheaper than they originally were, and rather affordable."
Eco-Essays and Eco-Philosophy
Yosemite National Park: the best of good government—by
MessagingMatters: "We have previously touted the benefits of “good government,” from Social Security to Superstorm Sandy relief. But perhaps no result of good government is more beloved than America’s fabulous national parks. And the first park land set aside in America by the federal government for public use—by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864—was the land that is now Yosemite National Park. A visit to Yosemite is a spectacular and wondrous experience. Famous sites such as El Capitan, Half Dome and the giant Sequoia trees live up to the many decades of hype. Amazingly, the nearly 1,200 square mile Yosemite is also meticulously maintained, including the smooth roads with their stone walls, the wooden fence posts, the bridges and walkways, etc. Many of the park’s roads (some over 9,000 feet in elevation), moreover, are engineering marvels, especially given the technology available at the time they were built. Yet, considering the vast number of people and vehicles that visit Yosemite, it seems incredibly unspoiled. Even the man-made structures in the park (Yosemite Lodge at the Falls, the historic Ahwahnee Hotel, the restaurants and gift shops, etc.) blend into their natural surroundings.
You aren't supposed to know, because if you did you might panic.—by rktect: "By now you know there is nothing you can do about it anyway so why panic. You have been cruelly lied to by everyone, led around by the nose by the media like a fool concerned with other issues while ignoring this one. All things considered burying your head in the tar sands like the energy companies and just not thinking about the imminence of this was probably the wise course. First the pleasure then the pain. Feel the Bern then, follow below the billows of orange smoke coming from the west coast as it burns."
Oceans, Water & Drought
Ocean animal population has been cut in half since 1970—by Walter Einenkel: "The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society announced yesterday that since 1970 the world's marine populations (mammals, fish, reptiles and birds) have been greatly reduced. WWF’s Living Blue Planet Report tracks 5,829 populations of 1,234 mammal, bird, reptile, and fish species through a marine living planet index. The evidence, analyzed by researchers at the Zoological Society of London, paints a troubling picture. In addition to the plummeting number of marine vertebrate species, populations of locally and commercially fished fish species have fallen by half, with some of the most important species experiencing even greater declines. The causes for this decline, says the WWF, are numerous. Over-fishing, damaged marine environments, pollution and climate change have all had parts to play in what the WWF calls an emergency."
Water Problem for Folks at Forks!—by nirbama: "In a small irony that illuminates the GIANT problem of climate change, the Seattle Times reported today that Forks, Washington, the setting for the Stephanie Meyers' 'Twilight' vampire and teen angst book and movie series, is facing emergency water restrictions. Meyers chose Forks, on the northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula adjacent to a rain forest, because she wanted to set her books someplace 'ridiculously rainy.' But this year's dry summer has put the city's wells at critical levels, and so there's to be no lawn-watering, car-washing or filling of swimming pools or hot tubs until rains come. City officials say it will take at least a couple of weeks of steady rain to replenish the local wells. But there's no global warming happening, because TODAY it started raining in Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula. Go suck on that, shimmering global warming vampires!"
Colorado Basin water levels & megadrought: Ask POTUS Candidates what they propose we do—by e2247: "New York Times reported 05 Jan. 2014 'Colorado River Drought Forces a Painful Reckoning for States' in which was explained the meanings of Ration Regime(s) and Pump Limits. As the publication date shows, the situation confronting the southwest now was foreseen last year. Learn from the situation of São Paulo water crisis, or 'hydric collapse,' that has left a 20 million person megacity in dire straits and consider the prospects for North American southwest megacities, especially should a mega-drought like this appear. The Research Article of 12 Feb 2015 is entitled 'Unprecedented 21st century drought risk in the American Southwest and Central Plains'."
Yurok Tribe Withdraws from Klamath Agreements—by Dan Bacher: "The Yurok Tribe, the largest Indian Tribe in California, has withdrawn from the Klamath Agreements, according to the following statement issued by the Tribe [...] The Tribe and DOI have invested countless hours discussing issues, exploring ways to restore the bargained for benefits in the KBRA, and attempting to develop mutually acceptable language for an agreement. Despite these diligent efforts and numerous concessions by the Tribe, the dispute was not resolved. In the absence of resolution, the Tribe is referring the dispute to the Klamath Basin Coordinating Council pursuant to KBRA section 6.5.3. The Tribe requests the Klamath Basin Coordinating Council expedite any attempt to resolve the dispute."
Groups Slam Sweetheart Settlement for Westlands Water District—by Dan Bacher: "Remember the powerful Westlands Water District, the organization that has sued the federal government every summer over the past three years in unsuccessful attempts to stop supplemental releases from Trinity Reservoir to prevent a massive fish kill on the lower Klamath River? Well, the same Obama administration that Westlands sued to block desperately needed flows for salmon and steelhead signed a binding agreement today with the powerful water district, located on the arid and dusty west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Conservation groups blasted the settlement for guaranteeing the district vast amounts of Sacramento and Trinity River water to keep irrigating toxic, drainage-impaired soils filled with selenium and other toxic salts."
Delta Tunnels Project—by menlo park: "California's Governor Jerry Brown has been promoting his Twin Tunnels project for several years now. This project would divert water from the Sacramento River around the Delta to provide water for Big Agribusiness in Southern California. The project is now in a public comment period, where the public may submit their thoughts on this $60 billion boondoggle. The following letter was submitted for the public record regarding the Delta Tunnels project. The last day to submit public comments about the proposed delta tunnels project is Oct. 30."
Aerial view of Delta marshes
Forests, Wilderness & Public Lands
The earth's forests have declined 3 percent since 1990 but there is good news—by Walter Einenkel: "Global forests have diminished by three percent since 1990. The total loss of forests would fit into an area the size of South Africa, so says the UN's Global Forest Resources Assessment: Total forest area has declined by three per cent between 1990 and 2015 from 4,128 million hectares to 3,999 million hectares -- a loss of 129 million hectares. Significantly, loss of natural forested area was double the global total at six per cent, while tropical forests took the hardest hit with a loss rate of ten per cent. This is not a good thing and much still needs to be done to stem the rate at which we cut, burn, and poison our earth's greenery. But there is hope as activism and education has shown promise: While the annual rate of net forest loss in the 1990s stood at 7.3 million hectares, it has since halved to 3.3 million hectares between 2010 and 2015."
Teddy Roosevelt: Wake Up....and Roar!—by PatJohnson: "Audrey Peterman's recent editorial in Huffington Post, entitled 'President Roosevelt Turning Over in His Grave' sizzled my brain. My entire nervous system is reeling with shock. I remain stunned. The skies over Olympic National Park—where I take my family to vacation every year—are about to be converted into a permanent 'training range' for Electromagnetic Warfare practice. WHAT?!? In school, I learned that the National Parks belong to all of us, the American People. When did THAT change? Is this no longer true?"
Mining
Legacy of Hard Rock Mining in the West - Death of a River, a Community's Response—by Michele Swenson: "A century and a half of hard-rock mining with no accountability, without consideration for environmental consequences or downstream neighbors has taken a heavy toll in the West. Metallic, acidic wastewater from mines have a long-term effect on agriculture, ranching, aquatic life, human and wild life, and aquifers. A 3 million gallon dump of mustard-colored toxic waste from Gold King Mine into the Animas River on August 5 raised the most recent alarm, even as the EPA estimates that the overall discharges from local abandoned mines amount to one Gold King mine disaster every two days. Colorado officials estimate that drainage from 230 abandoned mines in the state result in the failure of 1,645 miles of 105,000 miles (1.6%) of rivers and streams to meet Clean Water Act standards. Cited as the worst environmental disaster in Colorado history, the Summitville open-pit cyanide heap-leach gold mine sits at an altitude of 11,500 feet in the San Juan Mountains, southeast of the Gold King Mine and 40 miles west of the city of Alamosa, just east of the continental divide. The devastating fallout of this form of mining led one resident to lament that the San Juan Valley had become 'the poster child for how not to do mining.'"
Miscellany
Ryan Camero, Delta cultural activist, wins David Brower Youth Award!—by Dan Bacher: "Each year, Earth Island Institute (founded by environmental icon David Brower) recognizes six young activists from across North America, 'for their outstanding efforts to promote ecological sustainability and social justice.' This year, one of these winners is Ryan Camero, a youth activist and artist intern staffer at Restore the Delta, based in Stockton. 'I feel very grateful that my efforts are helping a larger community cause. These life-giving ecosystems are absolutely crucial to protect in the middle of this drought,' said Camero. 'The fact that these awards exist to connect and uplift youth working toward environmental and social justice gives me hope. Having lived along these waterways all my life, I continue to feel compelled to prevent them from being extracted and water being controlled by unsustainable industries like big desert farms and extreme energy. The largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas needs to not only survive, but thrive for the generations that come after us.'"
Requiem for National Geographic Magazine—by leftinhamlet : "According to Democracy Now: The National Geographic Society has sold the National Geographic Magazine and 'other media assets' to Rupert Murdoch. I am grieving as I write this intro. I am so shocked I can't even shed tears yet. This magazine was a respected and solid institution documenting the confluence of Nature, Science, and Culture. I will miss it for the rest of my life unless another form of it is miraculously resurrected within what remains of the National Geographic Society non-profit. [...] I feel like Jimmy Stewart, in Its a Wonderful Life, walking down the Main street of Bedford Falls as he experiences 'not being born.' Stewart (playing the character of George Bailey) sees nothing but the gaudy flash of competing commercial entities--only out to make a buck."