This is the 515th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the July 26 Green Spotlight. More than 27,455 environmentally oriented stories have been rescued to appear in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
terrypinder writes—Like most everything else, his "trillion dollar infrastructure plan" is probably a f**king scam: “Everything this regime does is a mean-spirited scam. The bones of this particular scam are a bunch of managementese gobble-te-gook: ‘we’re going to spend $200 billion over 10 years to leverage $800 billion in private money’ and some odd bullshit—things that don’t mean anything (oh, and we’ll return to the $200 billion in just a second). The other parts of the scam are ‘asset recycling,’ which is its own scam---basically if a government wants to build something and get money for it, they have to sell something it owns off to pay for it. This is practiced in parts of Australia (which seems to have a weird relationship with its infrastructure—they rejected asset recycling in 2014 only to bring it back—they seem to have killed it again according to this opinion article in the Guardian from early June). Here’s a glowing report on how it allegedly works and I link this particular site not as approval of the concept—I might believe infrastructure doesn’t need to be the money-pit that the US treats it as, but I certainly don’t believe we should be selling everything off like some kind of yard sale. I link as a ‘know your enemy’ type of thing.”
Sorry, it’s another weekend without categories in Green New & Views
because of the relatively small number of posts.
Sylvanus Prince writes—The Daily Bucket: City Nature: “Well, no. I am not kidding. When you live in the city, as I currently do, and you don’t drive, finding opportunities to enjoy and photograph nature can be complicated. But just turn away from this sign a little to your left and you can see this very beautiful river, the Truckee River: The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is 121 miles (195 km) long. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great Basin. Its waters are an important source of irrigation along its valley and adjacent valleys. [...] The Truckee River also serves as habitat to myriad flora and fauna. Although I didn’t find any Great blue heron (Ardea herodias) or Canada goose (Branta canadensis) on the river today I have seen them here. One lady I spoke to while I was doing my photography told me that both the American mink and the American beaver have been spotted here on the river recently. And that's just a beginning to all the natural plants and animals that can be found along the Truckee River environs.”
Pakalolo writes—Privileged pricks identified as the culprits in dragging death of shark in viral video: “They’ve been well-known animal abusers for a long time. A ton of animal groups, from no-kill shelters to Save the Tarpon have been after them for years,” she said. “Someone needs to dig into it, why they keep getting away with it, and why are their parents defending them? If I did something like this, my parents would never talk to me again.” Activist Courtney Martin of Save the TarponA video showed up on social media recently when a text message video of a tethered shark being dragged behind a high speed boat was sent to Mark ‘The Shark’ Quartianoa, a famous sport fisherman who specializes in shark fishing. Quartianoa, based in Miami, says the video and a image of the aftermath of the sharks body torn to pieces stated that it was intended to impress him. Instead, he was disgusted and stated ‘I've never seen a more horrific video as far as an animal is concerned in fifty years of shark fishing.’ Apparently there was a texting back and forth and Quartianoa was called a ‘hater’ by the perpetuator. He posted the video to Instagram and contacted the ‘Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators. They asked him to leave the post online, hoping to generate tips. The video was shared and commenters on social media were able to identify the four men in the video’.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket; The Jesus Bug and the Energy Vortex: “Three years ago, I dug up my side yard and put in a small pond and shallow creek, with a waterfall. I wanted frogs to live there and have tadpoles, so I did not add fish. We called it the Frog Mitigation Area. With Salmon Woman, my mate, we planted the area extensively the first year with lemon thyme and spots of Irish and Scottish mosses. Early the next Spring, dozens of half-inch-long Western Chorus Frogs came to the fishless pond, bred and laid eggs. Over 100 native chorus frog tadpoles hatched and morphed into frogs by the middle of July. The next year, We had another bumper wave of tadpoles, perhaps 1000 hatched, and well over 100 survived into froghood. Oddly, most of the frogs did not morph until late July and early August, a full month later than the year before. [...] The winter of 2016 set records for Portland Oregon, for several measurements of shittiness. A year’s worth of rain in 6 months. Months when it rained every day. Hard. Snowstorm after snowstorm. An unauthorized creek abruptly appeared, flowing through my backyard. The moss gave it up, too. I hurriedly opened a field plant hospital and transplanted any moss with a pulse, but 90% of it rejoined the carbon cycle. However, the chorus frogs loved the massive rains. They showed up again in late February, croaked louder than a garage rock band, and mated their way into parenting perhaps 1400 tadpoles. Over 1200 tadpoles hatched in the lower pond, and over 200 hatched in the new upper pond.”
AmericaAdapts writes—Teens Adapt to Climate Change! “In episode 46 of America Adapts , it’s a two segment show. First, Doug talks with Charlie Abrams and Jeremy Clark, two 13 year olds from Portland, Oregon about their amazing climate change activism. The second segment is our third edition of Australia Adapts with Dr. Johanna Nalua, where she talks with Dr. Jean Palutikof, the Director and Founder of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility based in Queensland, Australia.”
Dan Bacher writes—Joe Ferreira Retires After 24 Years With California's Fishing In The City: “The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s “Fishing in the City” program, now in its twenty-fourth year in the Sacramento area, is the best and most needed project that the Department has ever initiated, in my opinion. Created to improve angling opportunities for the growing urban population in the nation’s most populous and most diverse state, much of the success of the program is due to the hard work, persistence and good nature of Joe Ferreira, the coordinator of the Program in Sacramento since it started up at Southside Park in the summer of 1993. I was present at the Joe’s first fishing clinic at Southside - and I couldn’t miss his final day as coordinator. You see, after 39 years with the CDFW, Joe officially retired on Thursday, July 6.”
jonischmidt writes—Boycott Nestlé, but don’t stop there: “In the wake of the massive lead crisis that left the city of Flint without drinkable water, Michigan is once again facing a ballooning controversy over how it manages its public waters. This time around, the controversy centers on how the world’s biggest food company is seeking to suck out more spring water from Osceola Township’s White Pines Spring. Nestlé, a corporation that’s been involved in more than its fair share of scandals and has faced accusations of misconduct, is profiting from an admittedly sweet deal in which it pumps out water for free and sells it throughout the Midwest under the Ice Mountain brand name. The company already pumps about 250 gallons per minute and wants to ramp up to 400 gallons per minute, for a whopping 210 million gallons every year. Not surprisingly, the company’s application to sell public goods for private profit has faced massive opposition since it came out. While Nestlé has claimed that its extractions would have no significant impact on stream flow or wetland habitats, the local Sierra Club and other groups have countered that it’s impossible to trust their self-reporting on a resource that takes years to accurately study.”
Dan Bacher writes—California Governor accuses opponents of Big Oil's cap-and-trade bill of 'political terrorism': “Brown, not known for handling criticism of his stances and policies well, accused opponents of the legislation from both the left and right of ‘political terrorism’ in interviews on public radio stations. In an interview last week with CapRadio's Ben Adler, Brown defended Republican Assembly Minority Leader Chad Mayes after he joined with Democrats on the cap-and-trade vote, incurring criticism from Republicans. In that interview, Brown characterized those criticizing the legislation as wanting to bring the ‘political terrorism’ of Washington to California. www.facebook.com/… Then on July 25, Brown criticized AB 398 critics of practicing “forms of political terrorism that are conspiring to undermine the American system of governance” in an interview with David Greene of NPR (National Public Radio) http://bit.ly/2eLu3g6.”
plan9pub writes—Seriously, they are still fighting about light bulbs? “According to Bloomberg: Congressional Republicans renewed their effort to save the traditional light bulb, passing a measure to block federal energy standards that have come to symbolize government overreach for many consumers but are largely embraced by manufacturers as the cost of the newer bulbs has plummeted. [...] This is beyond stupid. I have undertaken two projects in the last two years, replacing incandescent lights with LED bulbs, one in my home and one in a commercial building. In both cases the energy savings were substantial. Home savings can be hard to measure as not all lights are on in your house, all the time, and depending on the time of year, even the lights you use frequently will vary as to how long they are on.”
Lefty Coaster writes—TransCanada Corp backs away from building Keystone XL Pipeline as financial rationale has dried up: “Great news about piping the world’s dirtiest oil across the Great Plains to export terminals on the Gulf of Mexico. It may not happen any time in the foreseeable future. Developer might not build Keystone XL pipeline, by Timothy Cama: A TransCanada Corp. executive told investors Friday that it is still assessing interest in Keystone among the oil companies that would pay to use the Canada-to-Texas line, as well as seeking remaining regulatory approvals, and it will likely decide in November or December whether to build. The disclosure means that one of President Trump’s signature energy policy promises — to approve Keystone and get it built — may fall victim to commercial pressures and not get done. Low oil prices have made extracting and transporting the expensive to produce oil from Canada’s Tar Sands un-competitive on world markets.”
Rebekah Wilce via EXPOSEDbyCMD writes—“Poison Papers” Snapshot: HoJo Transcript Illustrates EPA Collusion with Chemical Industry: “The world of independent chemical testing has a shiny veneer. The public is reassured that chemicals they’re exposed to on a daily basis are certified by technicians in spotless white lab coats who carefully conduct scientific studies, including on animals in neat rows of cages. But a federal grand jury investigation that ended with convictions in the early 1980s discovered that Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (IBT), the largest such lab in the United States, conducted trials with mice that regularly drowned in their feeding troughs. The dead animals would decompose so quickly that ‘their bodies oozed through wire cage bottoms and lay in purple puddles on the dropping trays.’ IBT even invented an acronym ‘TBD/TDA’ for its raw safety data, later discovered to mean ‘too badly decomposed.’ That was just one of a host of problems uncovered at IBT which conducted an estimated 35 to 40 percent of all the toxicology tests performed in the United States including for FDA regulated products and EPA regulated pesticides and chemicals.”
Ojibwa writes—Public Lands: The Dillon Falls Day Use Area (Photo Diary): “While many people view the national forests as a source of timber to be harvested by private companies, the national forests also provide recreational activities for many people. Shown below are photographs of the Dillon Falls Day Use Area on the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon. This is an area managed by the Deschutes National Forest.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
enhydra lutris writes—The Daily Bucket - July 2017 Yard Report: “This month is a bit abridged because it is July. Things are mostly bloomed out, the Apricots, Pears and Beans are picked, critters are raiding the tomatoes and so are we, etc. So here we go: This is all late July.”
Merry Light writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging: Summer Tomatoes: “I usually start seeds for some vegetables and flowers in April, but this year I got a late start and didn’t get anything planted until Memorial Day weekend. Late starts notwithstanding, some very nice tomato seedlings grew into healthy big plants and they are now fruiting nicely. Except one, which I discovered had been infested with stink bugs. (Not the one pictured above). Little b*stards will hide if they see you coming, although I’m pretty fast at catching them. They have spread to only two other plants, but I’ve hand—picked about a dozen bugs and drowned them in soapy water. I’ve also discovered the soapy water spray, which is just dish soap (non-antibacterial) and water. 1 to 2 tsp dish soap to 32 oz water. Be sure and spray them directly top and bottom thoroughly. It kills by by clogging their breathing, which is through their skin. Most of the ‘mater plants seem healthy so far and are growing like little weeds. They like this late summer weather, now that our summer monsoon has finally broken after 33 rain-free days. Even if it doesn’t rain, it gets cloudy and cools things down a bit.”
Rei writes—Tesla Model 3 officially unveiled today! “Versions: 2 (small and large battery pack). Base price per version: $35k / $44k. (No taxes where I am in Iceland as the law is today, but we don't know how it will be next year… In the US there’s a $7500 credit, but it’ll be slowly phased out over the next couple years) Range: 220mi / 310mi EPA cycle. Roughly corresponds to 70mph driving in moderate conditions. Greatly elevated range at lower speeds, correspondingly decreased at higher speeds. Winter weather usually costs 10-20% of range, and more can be lost if e.g. driving through snow or in high headwinds. [...] From Motortrend: ‘... What’s blanching, though, is the car’s ride and handling. If anybody was expecting a typical boring electric sedan here, nope. The ride is Alfa Giulia (maybe even Quadrifoglio)–firm, and quickly, I’m carving Stunt Road like a Sochi Olympics giant slalomer, micrometering my swipes at the apexes. I glance at Franz—this OK? “Go for it,” he nods. The Model 3 is so unexpected scalpel-like, I’m sputtering for adjectives. The steering ratio is quick, the effort is light (for me), but there enough light tremble against your fingers to hear the cornering negotiations between Stunt Road and these 235/40R19 tires (Continental ProContact RX m+s’s)’.”