‘Life-saving’: EPA tightens US pollution controls on soot
Biden’s tireless work on the environmental problems that most directly affect people will definitely be noticed by voters in November. This is good policy and good politics.
From The Guardian:
The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized long-awaited new limits on soot, the tiny air pollution particles emitted by sources as varied as power plants, factories, car exhaust and wildfires. “Today’s action is a critical step forward that will better protect workers, families and communities from the dangerous and costly impacts of fine particle pollution,” the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, told reporters on [February 6th].
Also known as fine particle pollution, soot is one of the nation’s most widespread air pollutants. It is also one of the most dangerous, causing an estimated 85,000 to 200,000 excess US deaths annually; the tiny particles can become lodged in human lungs and sometimes even enter the bloodstream, triggering asthma attacks, cancer, and heart and lung disease.
The strengthened pollution controls, unveiled on [February 7th], will lower the annual soot standard to 9 micrograms per cubic meter of air, down from the previous standard of 12 micrograms.
In 2032 – the first year that regulators expect compliance with the standard to be required – alone, the new rule will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths, the agency estimates. It will also result in health benefits valued at $46bn, including 290,000 lost workdays averted, 800,000 asthma symptoms avoided, and thousands of emergency room visits prevented, the agency says.
“The Biden administration is taking life-saving action to protect people and rein in deadly pollution,” Abigail Dillen, president of the legal and environmental advocacy non-profit Earthjustice, said.
Local congressman Maxwell Frost honors Parkland victims, introduces new gun legislation
Maxwell Frost is not only the youngest member of Congress, he’s the most impressive freshman Congressman we’ve seen in years. Let’s elect more Gen Z Representatives!
From WESH [Orlando, FL]:
Feb. 14, 2024, marks six years since 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Local congressman Frost held a news conference and introduced a new bill alongside Reps. Jared Moskowitz to honor all the lives lost in Parkland and other gun violence attacks.
The bill is called the Identify Gun Stores Act, which prevents states from prohibiting credit card companies from establishing and implementing codes that track suspicions gun and ammunition purchases. Frost said this could've prevented the mass shooting that occurred in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the Orlando Pulse Club.
"If we were able to allow credit card companies to flag these sorts of purchases and track them, we could have probably prevented the Pulse nightclub massacre. The Pulse nightclub shooter walked in there with an assault weapon and murdered and killed in cold blood, 49 angels due to armed bigotry and armed hate," Frost said. "He spent $26,000 in the days leading up to the shooting to accumulate all of his ammo and weapons. Something like that would have been flagged by the credit card company using the merchant category code and could have potentially saved lives."
The bill would override state bills, like the one in Florida that currently prevents credit card companies from using a separate 'merchant category code' for sales at gun businesses.
* * * * *
🍿 Raucus Revolting Republicans Rushing to Ruin 🍿
Mike Johnson needs a cognitive test
This is hilarious and spot on.
By Dana Milbank in The Washington Post (not a gift link, because I’m running out of them and also because I’ve excerpted all the parts of the article I most wanted to share):
On Wednesday morning, House Republicans attempted to explain away the loss [of NY 03]. … [According to the Republicans,] the loss had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that House Republicans, after 14 months in the majority, had produced nothing but mayhem! To judge from House GOP leaders’ message at their Wednesday morning news conference, the only thing they had to do differently was to call President Biden senile more often. ✂️
...Speaker Mike Johnson, leaning as the others did on the medical expertise of special counsel Robert Hur, a Republican lawyer, opined: “A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office.” To emphasize the point, Republicans invited to the microphone Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.), who as the White House physician was known as the “candyman” for his liberal dispensing of pills. “We need a cognitive test,” the doctor ordered.
But if there is anybody in public life whose actions scream out for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, it is Johnson. A couple of weeks ago, the Louisiana Republican got Israel and Iran mixed up in a “Meet the Press” appearance. Now he seems to be forgetting what he did just last week.
On Monday, Johnson issued a statement rejecting out of hand an emergency foreign aid package that was sailing through the Senate en route to passage by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 70-29. “House Republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of discussions that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognize that national security begins at our own border,” he wrote.
Apparently, he just plum forgot that he was the one who, a week earlier, had killed a bipartisan border security bill — the toughest in a generation — that he had originally demanded but now called “dead on arrival.” He had earlier said that congressional action was indispensable but now claimed Biden already had “all the tools and the executive authority necessary” without legislation.
Mr. Speaker, please remember these words: Person. Man. Woman. Camera. TV.
* * * * *
The media messing up
Critical readers are increasingly furious about the way political journalists are doing their jobs
The chorus of outrage is getting louder, but are the pundits listening? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
By Dan Froomkin in Press Watch:
An ever-expanding pack of press watchers is expressing anger about mainstream media political coverage as the nation enters a make-or-break period for democracy. Writing for magazines, in opinion columns, and especially in newsletters, these media critics are particularly upset at how political reporters continue to use the same both-sides constructions that served them in the distant past — effectively normalizing the anti-democratic extremism of Donald Trump and the modern Republican Party. They express concern that the mainstream media is underestimating and underreporting the threat to democracy.
They were particularly triggered by last week’s extraordinary overreaction to a special counsel’s gratuitous comments about President Biden’s mental acuity. ✂️
Will Bunch, the national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, scolded the “flailing news media” for failing “to put Biden’s occasional slips into any meaningful context.”
Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan helped cement the idea of a president as performer-in-chief, when that’s really not the job. The person in the White House is CEO of an outfit with a cadre of whip-smart top aides and cabinet secretaries overseeing nearly three million federal employees. They implement policies set by what is in the president’s heart, not the speed of the neurons in his brain. No one is going to drop a bomb on Norway instead of Syria because POTUS said the wrong word in the Oval Office. ✂️
Paul Waldman, a former Washington Post political columnist who now publishes a newsletter called The Cross Section, dissected the “absolute nuclear freakout” by top editors over Hur’s comments — and argued that there were a lot of other ways they could have covered the story:
They could have framed Hur’s statements about Biden’s age as a story about partisanship and the weaknesses of the special counsel process. Or they could have treated it as a real but not particularly important story, something you’d assign one reporter to write one article on, then move on to more pressing news. Instead, they reacted as though a) something new had been revealed about the president, and b) it was one of the most important stories of the year….
While there has been pushback from the White House and some other Democrats to Hur’s report, I haven’t seen reporters ask what the hell Robert Hur is supposed to know about Joe Biden’s cognitive state that we couldn’t have learned from innumerable better-informed sources, let alone why Hur’s opinion is of anything more than incidental news value.
* * * * *
Good news from my corner of the world
Seeking to Keep Their Seats, GOP Senators Toss Hail Mary
I know a lot of you have been interested in the continuing saga of the Republican State Senators in Oregon who staged a six-week walkout last year and ran afoul of a new law forbidding any Oregon legislator with ten or more unexcused absences from running in the following election. Ahead of this year’s elections, they’ve been whining and trying to twist the language of the law to find a loophole. After losing decisively at the Oregon Supreme Court, they’re now trying a desperation play at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s unlikely to work.
From Willamette Week:
Attorneys for Republican state senators disqualified from seeking reelection because they racked up more than 10 unexcused absences last year (a result of Measure 113) appeared Feb. 9 before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Despite drawing the best possible panel—including two of the few conservatives on the famously liberal 9th Circuit bench—Elizabeth Jones, arguing for Sens. Dennis Linthicum (R-Klamath Falls), Brian Boquist (I-Dallas) and others, got batted around like a pickleball.
Judge Jay Bybee, who as a U.S. assistant attorney general wrote a 2002 memo justifying torture for President George W. Bush, struggled at times to control his skepticism at Jones’ argument that senators should not be held accountable because they were simply exercising their First Amendment rights. “Your clients want all of the power but none of the downside,” Bybee told Jones.
The court is expected to rule before the March 12 filing deadline for the May primary.
The state senators are down to their last venue (at least for now) after losing a case in the Oregon Supreme Court, where they unsuccessfully argued that Measure 113′s language didn’t bar senators from seeking reelection until 2028.
Homeless youth in Oregon rebuild their lives with $1,000 a month support
I was delighted to learn that this enlightened pilot program is in place in my state. May it succeed and spread nationwide!
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
...last year [young adults who have experienced homelessness] started receiving no-strings-attached cash payments of $1,000 a month through a statewide pilot program, called Direct Cash Transfer Plus. In addition to the $1,000 a month for two years, young people also have access to a one-time $3,000 “enrichment fund.” ✂️
Oregon is one of a handful of places in the nation experimenting with giving cash without restrictions to homeless youth. Besides qualifying as a young person who has experienced homelessness, Oregon’s only other requirement is for participants to confirm they received the money each month. That’s it — no budgeting or accounting for how the money is spent is required.
The pilot program, which is entirely funded by the state’s general fund, is one of several recent investments in Oregon’s Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program. Including the cash payments to young people and administration costs, the direct cash transfer pilot costs just over $4.4 million to operate in the current biennium.
The state partnered with the nationwide homeless youth nonprofit Point Source Youth to bring direct cash transfers to Oregon. Anjala Huff, a senior director at PSY, said many of the government funding streams that go towards ending youth homelessness have tight rules regarding how the money can be spent. The process can be further complicated by sending money through community based organizations. That’s not so with direct cash transfers. “What we decided to do is look at cutting out the middle person,” said Huff. “The cash is taken from the funding source and given directly to young people. They’re able to use it as they deem necessary.”
Oregon lists southern resident orcas as endangered species
It’s excellent news that the southern resident orcas will get the extra protections guaranteed by being listed as endangered.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
Southern resident orcas are now listed as endangered under Oregon law, providing additional protections to their struggling population. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday unanimously voted to protect the whales under the Oregon Endangered Species Act, exactly a year after conservation groups petitioned the state. The commission was required to make a determination within a year.
Southern resident orcas are a distinct population of killer whales that travel between southeastern Alaska and central California. There are just about 74 left after one of three calves disappeared in December.
The federal government listed the orcas as endangered in 2005, following Washington in 2004 and Canada in 2001.
During a presentation Thursday, Oregon wildlife staff said the mammals’ main survival threats include lack of prey, noise pollution and environmental contaminants like oil spills. Southern resident orcas almost entirely rely on salmon, particularly Columbia River Chinook salmon, which make up more than half of their diet when they’re in coastal waters. Like other varieties of salmon, overfishing, dams and loss of habitat decimated their numbers in Oregon and Washington.
Oregon’s orca listing comes with a list of guidelines for state agencies to follow to ensure human activities don’t hinder the whales’ survival. For instance, they require state officials to assess noise pollution when considering projects within the orcas’ habitat off the coast.
* * * * *
Good news from around the nation
Hospitality workers’ wages get unprecedented boost with 30% wage increases
Some surprising benefits have emerged from the nationwide impact of the pandemic lockdown. The positive impact on the lives of hospitality workers has been especially dramatic. The statistic that impressed me most in this article was this: “...earnings for the bottom 10 percent of earners have grown more significantly than those for the top 10 percent since 2019. This favorable change has already reversed almost 40 percent of the income inequality that had grown since 1980.” Wow!!
From Optimist Daily:
In an unexpected turn of events, the hospitality industry, long associated with some of the lowest-paid occupations, is undergoing a wage revolution. Over the last four years, salary raises in the industry have pushed hospitality workers’ wages up by almost 30 percent, a significant increase that defies long-standing income disparity patterns in the US.
A recent Stateline analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics quarterly data suggests a significant shift in income patterns. The lowest-paid industry in each state, which encompasses restaurants, bars, and hotels, saw an average wage increase of 29 percent between mid-2019 and mid-2023 for its employees. This gain outpaces the average 20 percent increase for the highest-earning category in each state, indicating a significant turnaround in income inequality.
Nationally, a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research underlines that earnings for the bottom 10 percent of earners have grown more significantly than those for the top 10 percent since 2019. This favorable change has already reversed almost 40 percent of the income inequality that had grown since 1980. Wage dynamics are changing, and lower earners are seeing a considerable increase in earnings.
The unanticipated shift in income disparity is linked to a tighter labor market, in which demand for labor exceeds supply. Increased competition and labor scarcity force companies to raise pay, creating a more advantageous climate for low-wage workers. Economist Arindrajit Dube observes that “tightness drives out low-wage jobs by creating better-paying ones,” emphasizing the importance of market conditions in modifying income dynamics.
National Geographic names drag queen & climate activist Pattie Gonia Traveler of the Year 2024
This is well-earned honor for Pattie Gonia, who has done so much good in promoting “adventure, education, and climate justice through an inclusive lens” and doing it with wit and joy.
From GoodGoodGood:
Pattie Gonia is more than a drag queen; she’s an environmentalist who is introducing the magic of nature to a new generation. And she just topped the list for “nine game changers” that were featured in National Geographic’s 2024 Travelers of the Year.
In addition to Pattie Gonia, the magazine also highlighted the global work of disability access advocate Vasu Sojitra, sustainability manager Susanne Etti, iconic singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, and more. ✂️
In the article, the magazine recognizes Pattie Gonia’s work as the co-founder of the nonprofit organization Outdoorist Oath, which promotes adventure, education, and climate justice through an inclusive lens. “Every year my community fundraises to send 10 queer youth on a fully scholarshipped backpacking trip,” Pattie Gonia told National Geographic. “One of the attendees told me and the group around the fire, ‘Being on this trip has helped me reclaim a childhood I didn’t get to have.’ That’s everything to me.”
Pattie Gonia fearlessly pursues intersectional activism in her advocacy. For years, she has been creating a space for LBGTQ+ youth in the great outdoors and engaging in environmentalism with humor and joy.
* * * * *
Good news from around the world
Netanyahu faces growing opposition at home amid mass protests
Let’s hope that the protests will finally do the trick of dislodging this horrible, horrible man.
From Daily Sabah (Turkey):
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure within the country as thousands of people protested [on Saturday] against the policies of [his] right-wing religious government. … Many demonstrators called for new elections. Others spoke out in favor of a cease-fire in the Gaza war and a swift deal with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas for the release of further hostages. ✂️
Netanyahu has seen his popularity plummet in opinion polls since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that sparked the devastating war in Gaza.
Anti-government protests that shook the country for much of 2023 have largely subsided during the war. Still, demonstrators again took to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday night calling for new elections, which are not scheduled until 2026. The crowd was much smaller than last year's mass protests, numbering a few thousand, according to local media. ✂️
...dark clouds were hovering over Netanyahu's political future well before Oct. 7. Experts and critics contend that the premier's plan to weaken the Supreme Court and ensure less judicial oversight of politicians' policymaking is solely an attempt to protect himself from ongoing cases of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. Now, months into Israel's deadly assault on Gaza, Netanyahu seems more adamant to do anything to save his skin, as the hovering clouds have become darker than ever. Experts believe that, at the moment, Netanyahu's political career is simply hinging on support from his current allies. ✂️
[Israeli academic Neve] Gordon said Netanyahu has pushed through in the past despite wide resistance to his rule, but it is uncertain whether he can see out the current storm of "ongoing failures" and "corruption." With the contentious judicial overhaul having failed, "the noose around Netanyahu is slowly closing," he said.
A two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians might actually be closer than ever
A well-reasoned and thought-provoking piece that’s well worth reading.
By Benjamin Case (Postdoctoral research scholar at the Center for Work and Democracy, Arizona State University) in The Conversation:
As the war in the Gaza Strip enters its fourth month, on the surface it might seem like possibilities for long-term, peaceful solutions are impossible. Even before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by Hamas-led forces from Gaza, many analysts were already declaring the idea of a two-state solution dead. ✂️
As a scholar of political violence and conflict, I think the unprecedented scale of violence in Israel and Gaza is creating equally unprecedented urgency to find a solution, not just to the current violence, but to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Few, if any, historical conflicts neatly compare to the one between Israelis and Palestinians. But there are similarities in the fall of apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990s, when growing international pressure and an intensifying war focused attention on an unsustainable system – and pushed people to find possibilities for peace that previously seemed impossible. ✂️
I think that [the] violence [in the Israel/Gaza war], along with the threat of a wider war breaking out, is upending the once-remote idea of significant change in the region. … With Houthi militants in Yemen entering the conflict and threats from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, the U.S. is wary of being pulled into another war in the Middle East. Pressure is growing internationally for a cease-fire – and a two-state solution. ✂️
Pressure is mounting in Israel as well, as people continue to protest for the Israeli government to make a deal and bring 130 hostages still captive home alive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval ratings are tanking. Israel’s economy is shrinking. And the Israeli government is increasingly divided over the war effort, with Netanyahu losing support in his own far-right party.
There remain large obstacles to realizing a two-state solution. There is also growing international consensus that a two-state solution is the only acceptable outcome of the current violence. In my view, the conditions unfolding in Israel and Gaza are beginning to reach a breaking point, similar to the conditions in South Africa that formed prior to apartheid’s defeat.
France’s composting mandate, ‘compost obligatoire’—a transformative environmental policy
Good for France!
From Optimist Daily:
France implemented a bold waste management policy known as the ‘compost obligatoire’, which went into effect on January 1, 2024. This innovative legislation requires the recycling of organic waste, indicating a big step towards sustainability.
With financing from the government’s Green Fund, local governments are entrusted with supporting efficient bio-waste segregation for citizens. This category comprises food scraps, vegetable peels, expired food, and garden debris. Households and companies must dispose of organic waste in specially designated containers or at municipal collection locations, providing an environmentally beneficial alternative to chemical fertilizers. ✂️
In 2018, only 34 percent of the EU’s bio-waste was collected, resulting in a startling 40 million tonnes of potential soil nutrients lost. France, which generates an estimated 82 kilograms of biodegradable garbage per person per year, sees itself as a pathfinder in addressing this issue, setting a precedent for the worldwide community’s pursuit of sustainable waste management. ✂️
Fines for noncompliance are not currently in place, as the emphasis is on education and integration. As facilities are built, citizens are encouraged to adopt the ‘compost obligatoire’ laws effortlessly. However, speculation abounds about possible tighter enforcement in the future, emphasizing the collaborative effort required for this revolutionary journey toward sustainability.
* * * * *
Musical break
Tracy shows off her blues chops and channels Big Mama Thornton in this performance of “Hound Dog,” honoring Buddy Guy when he won a Kennedy Center award in 2012.
* * * * *
Good news in medicine
Hand-held Test for Breast Cancer Uses Your Saliva and Gives Accurate Readings in 5 Seconds
This is an astounding breakthrough. Just wow.
From Good News Network:
Do women prefer a mammogram to test for breast cancer? Or would they rather place a tiny sample of saliva on a test strip and get the results in under five seconds?
A new hand-held portable device is not only extremely quick and easy to use but very cost effective, say scientists from the University of Florida and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The device itself, about the size of your hand, uses common components that cost just five dollars and uses widely available glucose testing strips costing just a few cents each.
The biosensor works by using paper test strips treated with specific antibodies that interact with the targeted cancer biomarkers. When a drop of saliva is placed on the strip, pulses of electricity are sent to electrical contact points on the biosensor device.
Compared to the costly alternatives of mammograms, which expose women to radiation—or MRIs and ultrasounds which require expensive equipment—researchers called the device revolutionary. The team believes their device, which uses the open-source hardware-software platform Arduino, can help people in remote areas to detect breast cancer early on.
Stem Cells in Menstrual Blood Have Thrilling Potential for Health, Including Diagnosing Endometriosis
I think that as medical science continues to take a closer look at the unique aspects of female physiology, more discoveries like this will be made. The possibility that the stem cells that are abundant in menstrual blood could ultimately be used to regrow tissue is truly thrilling.
From Good News Network:
Long overlooked, menstrual stem cells could be the source of important medical applications.
Roughly 20 years ago, a biologist named Caroline Gargett went in search of some remarkable cells in tissue that had been removed during hysterectomy surgeries. The cells came from the endometrium, which lines the inside of the uterus. When Gargett cultured the cells in a petri dish, they looked like round clumps surrounded by a clear, pink medium. But examining them with a microscope, she saw what she was looking for — two kinds of cells, one flat and roundish, the other elongated and tapered, with whisker-like protrusions. Gargett strongly suspected that the cells were adult stem cells — rare, highly valued, self-renewing cells, some of which can become many different types of tissues.
She and other researchers had long hypothesized that the endometrium contained stem cells, given its remarkable capacity to regrow itself each month. The tissue, which provides a site for an embryo to implant during pregnancy and is shed during menstruation, undergoes roughly 400 rounds of shedding and regrowth before a woman reaches menopause.
But although scientists had isolated adult stem cells from many other regenerating tissues — including bone marrow, the heart, and muscle — “no one had identified adult stem cells in endometrium,” Gargett says.
Such cells are highly valued for their potential to repair damaged tissue and treat diseases such as cancer and heart failure. But they exist in low numbers throughout the body, and can be tricky to obtain, requiring surgical biopsy, or extracting bone marrow with a needle. The prospect of a previously untapped source of adult stem cells was thrilling on its own, says Gargett. And it also raised the exciting possibility of a new approach to long-neglected women’s health conditions such as endometriosis.
* * * * *
Good news in science
New Spiral-Shaped Lens is Massive Improvement for Eyewear: ‘Potentially Revolutionizing Ophthalmology’
This is very cool.
From Good News Network:
Ophthalmologists have developed a spiral-shaped contact lens that maintains clear focus at different distances and in varying light conditions.
The new lens works much like progressive lenses used for vision correction but without the distortions typically seen with those lenses. It could help advance contact lens technologies, intraocular implants for cataracts, and miniaturized imaging systems.
The inspiration for the design came when the paper’s first author, Laurent Galinier, was analyzing the optical properties of severe corneal deformations in patients. This led him to conceptualize a lens with a unique spiral design that causes light to spin, like water going down a drain.
This phenomenon, known as an ‘optical vortex,’ creates multiple clear focus points, which allow the lens to provide clear focus at different distances.
“Creating an optical vortex usually requires multiple optical components,” Galinier told Optica. “Our lens, however, incorporates the elements necessary to make an optical vortex directly into its surface. Creating optical vortices is a thriving field of research, but our method simplifies the process, marking a significant advancement in the field of optics.”
Chameleons inspire new multicolor 3D-printing technology
More amazing science!
From Phys.org:
Inspired by the color-changing ability of chameleons, researchers have developed a sustainable technique to 3D-print multiple, dynamic colors from a single ink.
"By designing new chemistries and printing processes, we can modulate structural color on the fly to produce color gradients not possible before," said Ying Diao, an associate professor of chemistry and chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. The study appears in the journal PNAS. ✂️
In this study, Diao and her colleagues present a UV-assisted direct-ink-write 3D printing approach capable of altering structural color during the printing process… "Unlike traditional colors which come from chemical pigments or dyes that absorb light, the structural colors abundant in many biological systems come from nano-textured surfaces that interfere with visible light. This makes them more vibrant and potentially more sustainable," said Sanghyun Jeon, the lead author and a graduate student in the Diao Lab.
The researchers can produce structural colors in the visible wavelength spectrum from deep blue to orange. While an artist might use many different paints to achieve this color gradient, the research team uses a single ink and modifies how it is printed to create the color gradient.
* * * * *
Good news for the environment
The 3D-Printed Affordable Housing of the Future Will Be Recyclable
I love this idea, and I love the photo of the sample home. Oregon produces a lot of “wood residuals,” so this technology could create a whole new industry in Oregon as well as in Maine.
From Reasons to Be Cheerful:
When you imagine a 3D-printed home, you probably picture a boxy concrete structure. As 3D printing’s popularity has grown in the construction industry — thanks to its efficiency when it comes to time, energy and cost — carbon-intensive concrete has become the go-to building material.
But a project in Maine has set its sights on something different: a neighborhood of 600-square-foot, 3D-printed, bio-based houses crafted from materials like wood fibers and bioresins. The aim: a complex of 100-percent recyclable buildings that will provide homes to those experiencing houselessness.
In late 2022, an initiative between the University of Maine and local nonprofit Penquis unveiled its prototype — BioHome3D, the first 100-percent recyclable house. Now, the pioneering project is working toward completing its first livable housing complex. It will be fully bio-based, meaning all materials will be derived from living organisms such as plants and other renewable agricultural, marine and forestry materials. As the materials are all 100-percent recyclable, so become the buildings. The materials are also all renewable. And thanks to its natural composition, the home acts as a carbon sink, sequestering 46 tons of carbon dioxide per 600-square-foot unit.
The materials for this project will mainly come from wood left over by local mills. “The wood fiber material that’s used in the mix is essentially waste wood here in Maine,” says Jason Bird, director of housing development for Penquis. Bird is referring to what’s known as wood residuals: materials that, he explains, “pulp mills or other sawmills either landfill, discard or set off to the side and rot.”
After Mojave Fires, Camels Help Restore Iconic Joshua Tree Groves in the Cherished California Desert
How perfect to use camels for this delicate work. As the article says in a section I didn’t quote, “Their wide and soft feet allow them to pass across the desert wilderness without disturbing the sandy soil and vegetation.”
From Good News Network:
Following wildfires in 2020 and 2023, the National Parks Service undertook a massive project to breed Joshua trees in nurseries and pack them into the high desert country, and a team of volunteers are using camels to do it.
Camels...would have been present on the North American continent during the last Ice Age thanks to the [Bering] Land Bridge, so their presence isn’t a total disturbance. ✂️
The germination rate [for Joshua trees] is now extremely low, so the NPS knew the only way to ensure the Joshua tree forests remained as robust as possible was to start a reforestation program for them—setting up a nursery in the Mojave Wilderness Area right on top of the burnt scar from the fires in 2020.
Being that the Mojave is a National Wilderness, there are no roads, no tracks, and no ICE vehicles are permitted inside, so volunteers with the NPS were reduced to hiking hours to the Cima Dome reforestation site with a few seedlings, the cages to protect them, and water to nourish their growth, before having to walk back to the nursery. Nance Fite, a longtime volunteer at the Mojave National Preserve, realized she had the perfect solution to the arduous task and called up her friend Jennifer Lagusker.
“The job was to pack them and have them carry these things into wherever the park service had us go,” Lagusker told LAist. “When Nance told me about this, I thought, ‘Well, what better way to advocate for the camel than to show the world, hey, they can pack, they really like it, and honestly, they need that kind of a job.'” … Since 2021, Lagusker and her three camels, Herbie, Sully, and Chico, have been doing most of the restoration work at Cima Dome, a remote area scorched by the wildfires, but after a second round of fires in 2023, the Cima Dome project was considered finished after 3,500 seedlings were successfully planted. … This year the caravan is off to another area, where reforestation work on the Joshua trees will carry on for a long while yet.
* * * * *
Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rosy, Rascal, and the spirit of lovely Nora.
A dog on your lap at the dentist? ‘Yes, please.’
Rosy would love this job!
From The Washington Post (gift link):
Debbie Zaiger hates going to the dentist. She puts off her appointments as long as she can. “My level of anxiety at the dentist is really high — so much so that I need laughing gas just to get my teeth cleaned,” she said. Then last month, she learned about Ollie.
When Zaiger, 61, showed up for her hygiene appointment in downtown Minneapolis, she reclined in the dentist’s chair and Ollie, a fluffy, 80-pound English goldendoodle, hopped into her lap and sprawled across her legs.
Zaiger said she was able to relax, this time without nitrous oxide. “While my teeth were being cleaned, I was petting Ollie and rubbing his head and ears, and he fell asleep on top of me,” she said. “He’s such a good boy, and he was really calming. I’m surprised at how much he helped.”
Ollie belongs to hygienist April Kline. She started bringing the sweet-natured 4-year-old canine to work with her at J & D Dental from time to time last year, thinking he might help comfort nervous patients.
Studies have shown that petting dogs can relax people and reduce stress, and also that dogs benefit from the interaction as well. About 36 percent of Americans have dentophobia — a fear of going to the dentist, with 12 percent having an extreme fear, according to the Cleveland Clinic. ✂️
“He’s a very chill dog,” [Kline] said. “Patients tell us that having him with them made it the best appointment of their lives. They feel like they’re wearing a warm weighted blanket.
Condors are coming back to the Pacific NW
Rascal finds condors a little intimidating, but he’s happy that they’re going to be living again in northeastern Oregon.
From Columbia Insight:
[After submitting] a grant proposal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a condor viability assessment in the Snake River Basin...the Nez Perce Tribe—or Nimíipuu—[won the grant in 2016, which put them] on a path that could lead to the first reintroduction of condors north of California since they disappeared from this region about 160 years ago. If all continues to go well, the tribe will release their first group of captive-raised birds in a yet-to-be-determined location within five to seven years.
While there’s no living memory of condors among the Nimíipuu people, this largest land bird of North American—which are called qú?nes in the Nimíipuu language—appears in tribal origin stories, languages and cultural histories throughout the region. The Nimíipuu’s Ananasocum—also known as Joseph Canyon—roughly translates as “the canyon where condors nested”… ✂️
[The Fish and Wildlife Service] reports that by 1982, there were only 23 condors left worldwide, and in 1987, the remaining condors were captured for a breeding program in hopes of saving the birds from extinction. Since then, the population has been rebuilt to more than 500 individuals, more than half of them living in the wild. Currently, there are six active release sites—four in California, one in Arizona, one in Baja, Mexico. The most recent reintroduction effort was spearheaded by northern California’s Yurok Tribe, in partnership with the National Park Service. ...the Nez Perce Tribe has been following the Yurok’s model. ✂️
Recently, the tribe won a three-year America the Beautiful planning grant for its project titled, Camas to Condors: Biocultural Restoration Planning for Ananascum.
While restoring condors to the Joseph Canyon area is at the center of the effort, the grant also focuses on other ways to create and maintain a critical wildlife corridor from the Blue Mountains to the Bitterroot Mountains. The project involves getting the location designated as a new National Heritage Area, and an economic analysis of the impacts of reintroducing condors—which could boost tourism.
* * * * *