This is the 517th 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 August 2 Green Spotlight. More than 27,495 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
Sylvanus Prince writes—The Daily Bucket: Frustration, success, and (scary) Surprise! "I am new to this madness hobby of nature and wildlife photography, in that for the first time in my life, having recently retired, I now have the time and opportunities to frustrate myself to the point of insanity pursue and enjoy it. However, since I live in Reno, Nevada, and I don’t drive I have to give my excursions a bit of forethought and planning. There are limits to the when, where and how of getting there and back. Fortunately, Reno is right on the eastern edge of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains and there are places I can get to “on foot”, as it were. The Mt. Rose Wilderness is one of them. That being the case, I recently made what was intended to be a two-night backpack trip up the Jones-Whites Creek Loop Trail to Church’s Pond. My primary intention was to get some photographs of nature and wildlife worthy of the Daily Bucket. Secondarily, I just enjoy backpacking and the adventure of it all. You never know what you might see. You never know just how you might be surprised. All that said then, let’s go! Taking off Monday morning July 31, by city bus and then a relatively short taxi ride I was soon up on the trail.”
Assaf writes—Pruitt Forces EPA to Undermine Tribal Sovereignty on Clean Water: “The Federal government was moving towards letting Native nations set their own clean water standards within their reservations. This move is still documented on the EPA website. It was all said and done but for the finishing touches - and then the man-made catastrophe named Trump fell into the White House.Trump appointed as EPA head one Scott Pruitt, who unlike most *45’s appointees seems reasonably competent at what he does. Unfortunately, what he does is mostly to destroy the EPA from above, and to sacrifice the environment at the feet of narrow financial and political interests.In this vein, EPA professionals were recently told to put the Native American clean-water sovereignty process on hold, and instead to contact county governments overlapping with these reservations and invite them to provide input on the process. Sounds deceptively innocuous, but 1. County governments have no business interfering with this, it's outside their juridsiction and over their heads. States are the ones setting water standards, so they might have a valid say, maybe - but not counties. 2. Most sizable Native American reservations are in remote areas, very often surrounded by rural Whites who as a rule skew heavily to the right and have many direct conflicts of interest with Native Americans, in particular over land and water.”
TulsaGal writes—Observations on the Oklahoma Earthquakes: 2011 - Present: “I read Walter Einenkel’s recent article on the latest spate of earthquakes centered around Edmond, Oklahoma, on what appears to be a NEW fault, with interest, and resignation. Now, queue a big old sigh, signifying, ‘oh lord, not again’. Yep. Again. We hate this, but it is what it is. The tradition has always been, in Oklahoma, that oil and gas interests call the shots traditionally, and it’s been taking to extremes under GOP guidance in the governor’s mansion and the state legislature. Hence, our earthquake problems. And OH JOY, the state’s conducting an investigation, because, apparently, a NEW fault has been activated. Yippee. [See also www.yahoo.com/…].I ’m back in Tulsa these days, and the accursed things are a daily (sometimes hourly) nuisance now. I have family in Edmond who are dealing with being at the epicenter this go-round. This includes one badly frightened three year old boy, his mama (my brother’s youngest), her sister, who just PCSed back to the States from Italy and is stopping over on her way to her new duty station in Texas, and their mother.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: Egret Ballet: “Took a hike in the woods and around the large pond at the John Heinz NWR in Philadelphia, PA. Very nice weather and light for photography. Plus lots of people in the woods just walking, or looking for warblers among other things. [...] While standing/sitting on a small observation deck on the edge of the pond I watched one Great Egret repeatedly chase another one around the north end of the pond. I thought this surprising since the egrets seemed less territorial than the Great Blue Herons in terms of allowing other egrets to fish in the same general area they were in. [...] So here was one egret that seemed upset about the other one. It would squawk at it, and then start flying towards the other. Who, in turn, would take off and flee away from the first one. Eventually both would land for a short period and then the process would repeat. (Once the chasee landed close to a third egret who then also started squawking in a hostile manner as well.)”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - cool shells on a smoky day: “The tide this day was very high so the beach was just a narrow strip of sand. Lots of shells but mostly immersed in water. It was a very hot day, mid-afternoon, and the air heavy with wildfire smoke. I waded ankle-deep to cool off, admiring the look of shells underwater, with gentle waves riffling the surface, creating graceful flickering refractions. It felt cool and clean, such a contrast to the thick hot hazy air above. [...] It’s cooling off verrry gradually in the Pacific Northwest today, but temps are still 10-15° above normal for August. We haven’t had a drop of rain since mid-June — ground is parched, grass is crunchy. The sky is very hazy with wildfire smoke, and worsening, so thick I can barely see neighboring islands across the water. You can taste the residue, it burns your throat and feels oppressive. There’s an eery light out all day. This isn’t the first summer we’ve been blanketed with wildfire smoke, and the reality is that Global Warming has increased wildfires in the West in the past few decades (www.earth.columbia.edu/...). It will get worse...we can expect incidents like this more often.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
John Crapper writes—Climate Change and My "I-Pad List" I Will Not Surrender: “I care a lot about climate change. I spend a lot of my time researching the issue and trying to spread the word about its seriousness. But, when I’m honest with myself there are limits to what personal actions I’m willing to take to help mitigate it. Let me explain. I spend a lot of time on both my I-pad and computer researching climate change. It is something I’m interested in. Then it dawned on me. Because of these new electronic tools, I now spend a lot more hours every day reading from an electronic device rather than turning the pages of a book. My reading activities now use electricity. There is hardly a day that passes that I don’t plug my I-Pad and computer into the wall socket for a re-charge. Before it was invented the energy it takes to run them were not being used. But these devices have become indispensable for me. I will not give them up to save energy. My wife on the other hand couldn’t care less about an I-pad or a computer They are not on her list of indispensable items. She would have no problem if they were not produced any more. For me, the same is true of commercial flying. I’m not going to give up my travels. It is on my personal ‘I-Pad’ list.”
NATURAL PHENOMENA
Aleurophile writes—Nature's total awesomeness, "One People, One Sky," (plus don't forget your eclipse shades!!) “Trump Fatigue is a Thing. So let’s take a little break and talk about the ECLIPSE! Happening on August 21. You have to be directly on its path to see it as a full eclipse, but if you’re within a few hundred miles, you can see a partial eclipse. The American Astronomical Society has a lot of good info., including charts of its path and how much of it you can expect to see within certain distances. They also give the full skinny on eye safety: in brief, do NOT rely upon regular sunglasses alone, no matter how dark they are. You need either to make a pinhole projector to view the eclipse indirectly, or use properly rated eclipse glasses or solar filters to look at it straight on. But caveat emptor: there are knock-offs, and using them can lead to permanent eye damage. The AAS lists reputable brands and vendors; among them is Astronomers Without Borders, which is a non-profit dedicated to advancing interest in astronomy. They have a lovely motto: ‘One People, One Sky.’”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Angela Marx writes—Coal Country could be Solar & Wind Country. Why won't the R Senators & Guv'nrs make it so? “Why do Republican politicians keep on lying to voters in coal country about the reality of coal — what’s left in the ground is likely to stay there — and fail to point the way to the obvious answer to the great pain in families left in the Rust Belt region, now decimated by the shift in energy production here in the United States? On ‘All in with Chris Hayes’ on MSNBC in a one-on-one interview with Chris, the former Vice President and climate change cassandra, Al Gore, said that last year (2016) that renewable energy production made up 75% of all new production. Coal made up Zero percent. Gas was the filler in that sandwich. Zero percent coal. That’s the future of coal in America and the wider world, too. It has no place there. What about all of the families who’ve lost their way of life along with their jobs in the Rust Belt and other former manufacturing areas across the United States? What are they supposed to do, go look for a greeter job at Walmart? They need real jobs to replace the one now long gone and not coming back. The trick is in how to make those new jobs appear in the right places.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
Walter Einenkel writes—Oklahoma hit with 4.2 magnitude earthquake and five others over the past 24 hours: “The U.S. Geological Survey has given the preliminary magnitude at 4.2, but the final number could be a bit higher. If you haven’t been following earthquake news in former Attorney General-turned EPA head Scott Pruitt’s state—it’s been sort of insane. And even though it has been known for a few years now that the rise in earthquake activity in Oklahoma is connected to the fracking industry’s waste water injection practices, and while there has been moves to regulate that side of the business, the head of our EPA has already shown a history of his ambitions far outweigh the environmental protections he should be enforcing.”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Taxes
Dan Bacher writes—Big Oil lobbyist/former MLPA Initiative chair praises Governor Brown's cap-and-trade bill: “Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create faux ‘marine protected areas’ in Southern California, issued a statement praising Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial cap and trade bill after it passed through the legislature last month. ‘The bipartisan cap-and trade package passed this week is the best, most balanced way for California to comply with state law requiring reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,’ said Reheis-Boyd.She also claimed, ‘This significantly reformed cap-and-trade program presents the best available path forward for our industry in the toughest regulatory environment in the world.’ However, Reheis-Boyd failed to mention that the ‘visionary’ legislation was based on a WSPA and Chevron wish list that gives loopholes and tax breaks to corporate polluters that could actually result in more, not less, emissions.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
ban nock writes—Missouri River Breaks National Monument to Remain Untouched: “Department of Interior Secretary Zinke recommended no changes to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument today. While this is great it’s certainly no surprise. The people in Montana are mostly all in for this monument. Zinke is from Montana. My prediction… All the other monuments will be left as is too, except….. there will be a couple token chunks out of Bears Ears and Escalante to assuage Utah sensibilities and that will be about it. Won’t even be done without congress. Anything worth extracting was left out of Bears Ears to begin with, what’s in Escalante is not worth mining. There might be some changes to trails or rules for the ATVers who got cut out of the deal on Bears Ears. Both Monuments did not much to change cattle grazing. If anything Escalante Monument has been transformed into a grazing protection and enhancement society. If I were king… I’d hire a lot more law enforcement to protect what’s there. The raison d’etre are the archeological and natural features of the area. To protect them you need some enforcement and some education. I’m a heck of a lot more worried about us tourists than I am where some line on a map is. But then I’ve experienced the abomination that Moab is.”
ban nock writes—No Changes for Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument: “This isn’t ‘the’ Grand Canyon, it’s just downstream of it, and the monument is commonly called Parashant. Sec of Interior Zinke who serves at the pleasure of the president has been conducting a review of all Monuments that have been designated since the days of Clinton the guy. The review is to see if they want to fight to make the monuments smaller or maybe it’s just to piss people off or who knows why they do anything in this admin. This one was made in the last days of Bill Clinton’s Presidency. Today I’m announcing that Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument’s review process has concluded and I am recommending no changes be made to the monument,” said Secretary Zinke. “The land has some of the most pristine and undeformed geological formations in North America, which show the scientific history of our earth while containing thousands of years of human relics and fossils.’www.doi.gov/… At some million acres this monument isn’t exactly small. West of the Grand Canyon, east of Lake Mead, this monument is a big green blob on google maps, the Colorado River roughly follows the southern border of the monument. The part I liked hearing the most is that there are no paved roads into the Monument and no visitor services, sounds like my kind of place, even if it’s a little far south of my regular stomping grounds.”
Ojibwa writes—Public Lands: The Big Eddy 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 Big Eddy Day Use Area on the Deschutes River. This is an area managed by the Deschutes National Forest.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
mahdalgal writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging: Results of Neglect and Climate Change: “[L]et’s direct attention to what happens after months of never-ending rain (and neglect) to a beautiful landscape procured by 25 years of hard work. Oh, and um, some info on the solar power system you may have spotted. After a long historic period of drought everywhere in Texas and devastating wildfires in parts of the state, Dallas has seen record-breaking rain and flooding for the last 30 months. This year, June/July (actually all this year) — have been another real eyeopener when compared to normal/average rainfall. June recorded 8.4” (normal 3.8”) and July so far has 4.12” (normal 2.0”); more predicted. Raining today (7/23/17). July 2017 is the 3rd wettest in the history of record keeping as of 7/28/17. August is off to a good start with rain predicted for the next 7 days. Something else is truly unusual. Weeds in general were listed as allergens on our daily forecast for about a month. The weathermen said they’d never seen that before. Well imagine that.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
JGD writes—ELECTRIC CARS... The REAL Cost Per Mile (From Ed Owens) Rebuttal with Actual FACTS: “The reason there is a push for EV'S is because they are automatically 50% to 75% more efficient than gasoline engines. The most efficient modern gasoline engines have a maximum thermal efficiency of about 25% to 50% when used to power a car. In other words, even when the engine is operating at its point of maximum thermal efficiency, of the total heat energy released by the gasoline consumed, about 50-75% is rejected as heat without being turned into useful work, i.e. turning the crankshaft.) Baglione, Melody L. (2007). Development of System Analysis Methodologies and Tools for Modeling and Optimizing Vehicle System Efficiency (Ph.D.). University of Michigan. pp. 52–54. (This means less than 1/4 to 1/2 of your gasoline energy is used to power the wheels. The rest is used to heat the air and most of the energy goes right out the exhaust!!!)”
Walter Einenkel writes—Trump's infrastructure budget attacks the railway systems for tons of his voters: “With Trump’s Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao already admitting that their plan for our country’s infrastructure includes making travelers pay tolls to private corporations instead of states, it is no wonder that this administration’s budget proposals for infrastructure are terrifying. Trump himself, as well as the many billionaires and wanna-be-billionaires on his staff, don’t like trains. Most of them haven’t taken a train in a very long time—if at all. Trump’s budget proposal is a disaster for most Americans in all sorts of ways, but no more obvious than its attempts to force our railway system into uselessness for almost half of our country’s population. The Guardian has elaborated on some of the less publicized work to advocate for our railway system being done by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (Narp).”
PeninsulaProgCHS writes—Stop the CARTA Transit Starvation Budget- SC: “Charleston, SC- We shouldn't wait another ten years for better transit. Members of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit and Hungryneck Straphangers will attend the Tuesday, August 8 Mt. Pleasant Town Council Meeting to object to approval of the proposed CARTA Budget on the ground that it fails to include appropriate funding from the half penny sales tax to establish and maintain the improved regular bus service promised voters in the November 2016 referendum. The public can speak for 2 minutes during the comment period, early in the 6 pm meeting. You can sign up to participate on Facebook. The meeting is free and open to the public and will take place in the Town's stunning new council chamber in its news town hall. at 100 Ann Edwards Lane in Mount Pleasant, steps from the CARTA #40 and #41 bus lines stop near Whole Foods.”
MISCELLANY
GreenPowerCA writes—This Week in the Environment 8.03.17: Climate Change is on the Horizon: “Welcome back to This Week in the Environment, our weekly collection of important environmental news. [...] 3. More Than a Dozen Democratic Candidates with Scientific Backgrounds are Running for Congress Mother Jones An unprecedented number of scientists and doctors are seeking a congressional ticket for the 2018 race as a reaction against the anti-science rhetoric that has overtaken our government. The Trump administration and its supporters have promoted and embraced a dangerously Orwellian attitude toward fact and reality that threatens American democracy as well as the future habitability of this planet for our species. However, there comes a time when even the most apolitical groups stand up and demand representation and, for American scientists, that time is now. Hopefully their training in critical thinking and unbiased communication will not be an impediment to being elected! When we reject the people we have trained to find and speak objective truth, we have failed as a society.”
Karen Hedwig Backman writes—Our Global Warming Gray Skies: “For well over a week in the Pacific Northwest there has been a tinge of fire in the air, with the skies gradually changing from noticeable particulates in the heavens above to utterly stable gray skies day after day after day. It took a while for the local media to own up to the surge of smoky air surging south from the wildfires in British Columbia. Animals are miserable. Humans are constantly hacking. One small benefit. The air pollution is moderating the heat wave we are experiencing, Instead of three digit temps we only nurse the nineties.”