The spotlight is a weekly, categorized compilation of links and excerpts from environmentally related posts at Daily Kos. Any posts included in the collection do not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of them. Because of the interconnectedness of the subject matter, some of these posts can be placed in more than one category.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY & EXTREME WEATHER
Tropical Atlantic Heat "Off the Charts" with global oceans at record high temperatures by FishOutofWater. Global sea surface temperatures have apparently peaked at a new record high of 21.2 Celsius (70ºF). Cooler than normal water has started welling up in the eastern Pacific ocean likely indicating the beginning of a switch from warm El Niño to cool La Niña. The switch form El Niño to La Niña is good news for global temperatures because La Niña brings on increased upwelling of cold water stored below the warm surface layers of the Pacific ocean. It should bring some relief by late this year from the rapidly rising global temperatures that we have observed for the past year. However, climate forecast models and climatology show that it is not likely to bring relief to the tropical north Atlantic ocean which is experiencing midsummer sea surface temperatures in mid-March when they should be at or near annual lows.
Climate Crisis -- What Is Your Timeline? by birches. Climate chaos is here and we need to talk through our options, choices, decisions, and plans, then share if we’ve got anything we think can help with survival. Each week I’ll present a question or a topic that’s about something every one of us is likely to face, and see if we can figure out ways to deal with it together. Last week’s question was Do You Stay or Do You Go? This week’s question is: What’s Your Timeline? From glaciers melting to species extinctions, everything is changing, and the rates of change are increasing.
- When do you think your life will permanently flip to a new reality due to climate chaos?
- Are you preparing for this change?
- Why do you think this is the timeline?
My Timeline: I think we’ve got 2 years until a major permanent change in the U.S. due to climate chaos.
The United States just had its warmest winter on record by Pakalolo. From NOAA. February 2024. The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. last month was 41.1 degrees F, 7.2 degrees F above the 20th-century average and ranking as the third-warmest February in NOAA’s 130-year climate record. Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin each had their warmest February on record. An additional 20 states saw their top-10 warmest February on record. Persistent winter warmth resulted in a steady decrease in ice coverage across the Great Lakes, which reached a historic low of 2.7% on February 11 — the lowest amount of ice coverage on record during mid-February. February precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 1.86 inches, 0.27 of an inch below average, ranking in the driest third of the climate record. Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont each saw their second-driest February on record.
Update: Extensive damage at Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf by Pakalolo. The ocean is still open in front of Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that sea ice will form soon, providing stability by buttressing the marine extension of the vulnerable glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica.
Overnight News Digest: ‘Happy’ Overshoot Day, America! + Why the world cannot afford the rich by Magnifico. A country’s overshoot day is the date on which Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed like the people in that country. Country overshoot days are published on January 1st of each year, using the latest year of the most recent National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts edition. Therefore, the 2024 country overshoot days are based on the 2023 edition. […]
March 14 marks the United States of America’s Overshoot Day for 2024. The Overshoot Day marks the date when our demand for ecological resources in a given year exceeds what our planet can regenerate in that year. This deficit arises from liquidating stocks of ecological resources and accumulating waste, primarily greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. In 2023, Earth’s Overshoot Day was August 2.
CRITTERS & THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Coalition asks Newson to amend Salmon Strategy to add flows needed by collapsing salmon populations by Dan Bacher. Salmon populations are in deep trouble in California and a large coalition wants to stop the current march to extinction. On the International Day of Action for Rivers on March 14, a big coalition of California’s Tribal organizations, environmental non-profits, and fishing groups released a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom asking for flow protections and pollution controls to be added to Newsom’s controversial newly released Salmon Strategy. The groups said that “while they appreciate the focus on dam removal and restoration, California's salmon and fishing industry are facing an unprecedented crisis.”
Bas-relief hand sculpted/painted wood door displaying artistic skill and beauty. Toucans in the jungle.
Saturday Morning Garden Blog Vol. 20.11 Another Adventure in Costa Rica by mahdalgal. My long-time friend, Judy, and I spent time in Costa Rica in February, trying to accomplish a daunting task: find places to rent long term in a small(er) town area, preferably higher in the mountains (cooler with a breeze) and away from the beach (noisy, packed with people and traffic). Our schedule was crammed with locations to check out by ourselves and one day with a realtor. We found two locations while we crisscrossed the country by bus, shuttle, taxi, foot, and airplane. It was great fun and a giant learning experience, just a bit exhausting for two women who are closer to 80 than 70. J arrived 10 days before I did and she stayed another 8 days after I left. I was exhausted when I got home to my ‘velcro cat.’ J and I didn’t talk for two weeks...never thought that would happen. Knowing what was ahead, we began with a relaxing two days in Manuel Antonio before we headed out to a permaculture farm in Londres so I could learn how to grow vanilla bean orchids. [...] It is affiliated with the hotel/spa. The farm grows fruits and vegetables of every kind. And coffee beans and vanilla bean orchids. [...] We met my teacher, a young man, who has been growing and hand pollinating vanilla bean orchids since he was 14 years old. He has a degree in botany. I listened intently to both his Spanish and English-Latin (botanist-ese), asked questions in both languages and was mesmerized by the hand pollination method. It involved a steady hand, a long thorn and one thumb. This pollination method is the only way to get the vanilla bean orchid to grow beans. The Melipona bee is the only natural pollinator that only lives in Mexico. Learned just as much about growing the vines as I did about the pollination/harvesting/drying of the beans.
Coalition raises alarm about protected steelhead dying in Delta water pumping facilities by Dan Bacher. The many millions of fish, including endangered salmon and steelhead, that have perished in the state and federal water project facilities in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in recent years is just one in the long list of horrors that expose the tenuousness of the “green” California myth. On March 6, a coalition of environmental and fishing groups reiterated their request that a federal court modify federal agencies’ proposed interim plan for operating the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), in coordination with the State Water Project (SWP), to protect fish species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California Endangered Species Act (CESA). [...] Coinciding with that filing has been a surge of protected Central Valley steelhead dying at the projects’ water pumps, called by many anglers and environmentalists the “Death Pumps” or “Pumps of Death.” “The CVP and SWP are still largely operating under rules written in 2019 under the leadership of, among others, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the powerful Westlands Water District,” according to a press release from the coalition. “Those rules ignored legal requirements and the best available science. Federal agencies are in the process of developing new rules, but the previous rules remain largely in place.”
Every juicy prize is worthy of immediate ingestion. Although each prize may not be large Eagles work hard and fast enough their intake can add up to a hefty amount in pretty short order.
Daily Bucket Friday Sequence: Eagles Everywhere (Part 2) by Appy. Flint Hills of Kansas. The Eagles I have watched this year had put together a plan enabling them to manipulate me by pulling my strings like I am some sort of puppet. With two sessions of photo success on my camera card despite the Eagle’s tactical adjustments I called it a day and went home to dream up a plan of my own, hoping to at least gain equal standing in order to get more and better pics of them doing what they do. The first stage of my plan was to get out there before sunrise and get set up in a hidden spot close enough to click off some sharpies. The get there early and get set up part went exactly as hoped. However, how the rest of the plan happened wasn’t exactly as planned on my part. I didn’t plan on the Eagles being able to read my mind. I had deduced these Eagles do not roost here in my neighborhood. They roost all the way over at John Redmond Reservoir. That is a long way from where I expected to greet them which is about 3-4 miles (as the Eagle flies) from my home. What I didn’t expect is that they would make their flight from the lake to here in the dark before dawn. But that is exactly what they did. They were already there, perched in their favored lookout trees...waiting for me!
The Daily Bucket - Spring struggles by CaptBLI. I thought the issue had been laid to rest after I saw the Bluebird couple exploring an old bird box in the neighbor’s yard. I also thought the Northern Flicker, that bullied his way into the unused Red-headed Woodpecker nest, had settled the matter. Yesterday, my assumption was challenged. The background of today’s diary can be found on the link to my previous article. Bluebird House Hunting. As usual, I had the camera with me as I was walking around the yard. I happened to hear the commotion from the power pole where my favorite pair of Red-head’s home is located. I captured what little bit of the drama took place there. The first video was taken the day after the Bluebirds discovered the bird box (which I thought was their choice of new home).
Dawn Chorus - Eagles learning to hunt by CaptBLI. I drove out to Hurricane Landing (Sardis Lake, Mississippi) at dawn on St. Valentine’s Day. The wife had to work and would not be awake for another few hours when I arrived. She had a card and box of chocolate covered cherries to supplement my absence. I trusted Cupid’s bow to deliver my message via Brock and Hallmark projectiles.I mentioned to OceanDiver that I had watched the local habits of the Bald Eagles in my area for several years. One point I made was the location of nests used for purposes other that raising chicks. I wanted to see if the eagles were keeping their sites active (and true to my observations).
The Daily Bucket - windy days on the Salish Sea by OceanDiver. March 2024. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. The wind has been nonstop in the Pacific Northwest islands for the past two weeks, aside from a couple of gloriously calm days last week. It’s been blowing 20-40 knots from the Southeast/South, and gusting higher. What that feels like depends on where you are. Three locations, from this past weekend: In a windward bay: One of the bays I visit on my regular daily walk faces southeast. When the wind is from that direction, as it usually is at this time of year, everyone is in the teeth of the gale. Ducks, me, driftwood, seaweed, you name it. By Saturday midday the wind had dropped into the 20s from the high 30s, and while the swells kicked up by the wind were still breaking on shore, some diving ducks had returned to hunt for food. The red-breasted mergansers and buffies are packing on the grams in preparation for their migration sometime in the next month or so.
Re-breasted Nuthatch
February Backyard Bird Race Reports and Daily Bucket Open Thread by 2n10. My Yard is the area around my apartment complex. My Patch is my yard plus a nearby park with ponds. My other groupings are County, State, US and above. Not many new species in February thanks to old man winter returning to my area and not choosing the right places to bird when the weather was good. I added 2 birds my yard list, Brewer’s Blackbird and Red-breasted Nuthatch, bring the year to date total to 21. I added the Nuthatch to my patch bringing the total to 30. I added 5 species to my County, State and Country lists for the year, upping the totals to 113 for each. The birds were Bushtit, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Northern Mockingbird, Pine Siskin and Red-breasted Nuthatch. Next Bird Race report day is April 20, 2024.
Daily Bucket - Spring at Bodega Bay by Cal Birdbrain. On Saturday, my spouse needed a break from dealing with a new cancer treatment, so we headed to the coast to see birdies and watch the sunset. We reached Bodega Bay about an hour before the sunset, so I stopped at several places along the bay to check out the avian residents. The tide was out and dozens of people were on the mudflats digging for clams even as daylight started diminishing. Western Gulls stood watch nearby looking for an opportunity to purloin a morsel. I scored two new lifers — a trio of Surf Scoters and a Common Loon were out in the middle of the bay. Surf Scoters are winter migrants and can be found along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts as far south as Baja California and Georgia. In the summer, they nest near ponds and lakes in the spruce forests of Alaska and Northern Canada. Common Loons have a much larger range. They are also winter migrants along the both coasts and much of the south including the Gulf Coast. They migrate through most of the US and summer in the northern states and all of Canada.
A Western Gull forages near a spot where some folks had just dug up a couple of claims.
AGRICULTURE, GARDENING & FOOD
Food and Climate Change by ybruti. In her article We Need to Talk About Food Prices, a professor of nutrition and global health at George Washington University writes: If we want more U.S. residents to raise their voices about climate change, focusing on fossil fuels won’t get us there. We need to talk about something much more tangible, immediate, and universal to all: food. Dr. Uriyoán Colón-Ramos says there was a 5.8% surge in food prices last year, and a 2.9% increase is projected for 2024 despite a slowdown of inflation rates. She says climate change is “the one constant and increasing factor” in rising food prices, while armed conflict and inflation are other factors. Rising food prices should be our constant reminder of the havoc that climate change is causing. In 2023, extreme weather, such as heat waves, droughts, and floods, was the main disrupter of food prices, causing widespread damage to crops and livestock globally.
ENERGY, EMISSIONS & TRANSPORTATION
Lower Gas Prices: The Democratic Way by CorpFlunky. Economics 101 explains that there are actually two different ways of lowering prices. Republicans have long been ‘supply-siders’, meaning that they support policies to lower prices by increasing supply. However, the other, equally effective way to lower prices is by reducing demand. Despite this fact, I never hear Democrats use this argument. And, it is a game changer. Take the most selfish, rolling-coal, damn-the-polar=bears a$$#ole you can think of and tell him this.
- Every time a liberal buys an electric vehicle, there’s more gasoline left over for you. So gas prices drop.
- Every time a windmill goes up, there’s more gasoline left over for you. So gas prices drop.
- Every time a solar panel is installed, there’s more gasoline left over for you. So gas prices drop.
- Every time a home is insulated or heat pump installed, there’s more gasoline left over for you. So gas prices drop.
- Every time a liberal governor raises fuel efficiency standards, there’s more gasoline left over for you. So gas prices drop.
Why Fossil Fuels Subsidies Seem Impossible to Kill by Solarman55. As I have written before, is that Democratic Administrations cannot just eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. The price of energy would skyrocket- whether or not justifiable the industry giants would do it- and Dems would be blamed. They’d be voted out and the incentives would be reinstated, at likely even higher levels than before. Instead the Inflation Reduction Act largely leveled the playing field, launching vast incentives for renewable energy.Now investment in renewable energy projects is skyrocketing. This will continue to grow, eclipsing fossil fuels. It is not fast enough. But it is in the right direction. It creates opportunities to do more. Read, appreciate, understand. And please take action to reduce your own fossil fuel energy use.
3/12 Renewable Tuesday: Terabucks from Terawatts! by Mokurai. The time for lies, obfuscation, Oil and Gaslighting, and greenwashing shaping policy on combating Global Warming is OVER! We’re talkin’ REAL money here! 💵 💵 💵 💵 $T from tW! 💵 💵 💵 💵 Just lookit alla this good news! Now we are down to arguing with corporations about their refusal to pick up all of this free money lying on the ground, and to convincing blinkered “public servants” that we can actually do it, far more quickly than they have previously been told. The Cooldown: Stanford study suggests remarkable savings made possible by clean energy transition: 'Reliable and inexpensive' "The results provide countries with concrete evidence and the confidence that 100% clean, renewable grids are not only lower in costs but are also just as reliable as the current grid system." The study, titled "Batteries or hydrogen or both for grid electricity storage upon full electrification of 145 countries with wind-water-solar?" and published in the scientific journal iScience, modeled different combinations of energy storage systems — battery storage, green hydrogen storage, and hydropower storage — to find the least expensive and most efficient.
GIFTS FOR GAIA Wilding & cement batteries/Spider silk from plastic/Mycelium ‘earthing’ & :-) by mikeymikey. Ironically, after years of shunning the emotionally destabilizing content of most climate posts on DK, as awareness builds and readers find their courage, many seem to gravitate toward information that bolsters their feelings of despair and doom. This is to be expected, because they are still in the thickets of denial. Positive environmental news about the many things being done, innovations both gestating and blossoming, the application of knowledge reshaped or newly revealed, as well as many other aspects of positive pro-action, still fare poorly when compared to the ‘negative’ choices on DK’s ‘lazy Susan’ of topical offerings. Nevertheless, the positive is critically essential, as without it negativity becomes ascendent, enabling denial to continue its reign of terror. Partial environmental knowledge, especially when gathered together with an ear biased for the dirge of doom, does not adequately represent our present environmental situation — and it stops proaction dead. For as dire as things are, this crisis is decidedly not without hope and having hope does not constitute blinded optimism — provided hope is nurtured and informed by the many positive actions people are taking to try and save our sorry asses.
CO2 Emissions In The USA - An Overview by RustyRobot. We talk about greenhouse gas emissions but how much of that is due to the USA energy consumption. All of this info is from the Energy Information Administration total energy environment section. We will just look at the USA for now and expand to the rest of the world in a future article. We have three main sources of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. The first is coal of which 90% is used to generate electricity and the rest for industry. The total usage is decreasing and the planning is to eventually go to zero coal consumption. The second is petroleum of which almost 75% is used to fuel engines and the rest is used for a wide variety of purposes — some of which, such as lubricating oil, also involves engines. The third is natural gas which is used for a wide variety of purposes but mostly space heating, water heating, and electricity generation. Natural gas can completely replace coal and can replace petroleum in several applications. The chart below shows the tons of CO2 emitted per year by each of the three sources since 1974.
Trump threatens to 'drill, baby, drill' like it's not already happening by Mark Sumner. The idea that President Joe Biden is holding back American energy production and has “destroyed U.S. energy independence” is being spread not just by Trump but also by Republicans in the House and Senate. Claims of a Biden “war on energy” are front and center in Republican campaigns, in claims by the conservative Heritage Foundation, and in Trump’s dictatorial ambitions. But all of this is just lies, baby, lies. The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that the U.S. not only produces sufficient energy to meet its own needs, but also is exporting record levels of energy. And it’s not just oil. Similar trends are happening with natural gas, propane, butane, gasoline … just about every way that energy can be moved long distances.
New Paper Confirms Much Higher Methane Emissions From U.S. Oil Production by Justin Mikulka. Yesterday I toured oil production sides in the Permian region of Texas with Sharon Wilson and Miguel Escoto from Oilfield Witness. For years, Sharon has been using her FLIR camera to make the invisible methane emissions from oil production visible and educating us all on how it is impossible for the oil industry to not emit methane after they drill holes in the ground to pump out fracked shale oil and a lot of associated gas (methane). But that gas is worth almost nothing in the Permian so there is no financial incentive for the oil industry to care. Yesterday the journal Nature published a new paper on methane emissions which concludes that methane emissions from oil production in the U.S. are much worse than previously reported. Dr. Robert Howarth of Cornell University has been warning us about methane emissions from oil production for years and yesterday he posted the following comment on Blue Sky about that paper and his work. "I am revising my LNG lifecycle paper using this new estimate, 4.6% emissions (not including urban/surburban distribution systems) for the best studied major US shale gas fields. I had used a 2.6% value in my submitted paper on LNG. Shale gas and LNG are really bad for climate."
MISCELLANY
What is Pronatalism? by populationmediacenter. Pronatalism is the policy or practice of encouraging the bearing of children, especially government support of a higher birthrate. Many who push pronatalism fear that falling birth rates in certain developed countries, like the United States and most of Europe, will lead to the extinction of cultures, the breakdown of economies, and, ultimately, the collapse of civilization. Many who believe in pronatalism simply don’t want people to have control over their own bodies. Some who believe in pronatalism simply want more children, so there are more consumers. Many societies are characterized by pronatalism—a cultural value that promotes having children. Many parts of society are characterized by pronatalism. The tech world has recently shown signs of promoting pronatalism. Religion definitely promotes pronatalism. The patriarchy has promoted and enforced pronatalism. Political movements and public policy decisions have been based on pronatalism throughout history and in modern times.
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF BIRTH CONTROL AND CONFRONTING GLOBAL PATRIARCHY by populationmediacenter. In the realm of sexual and reproductive health, birth control and contraception stand as powerful tools that have fundamentally reshaped women’s lives. The advent of oral contraceptives and other family planning methods has granted women unprecedented control over their reproductive choices, offering the freedom to decide when, how, and if to start a family. These innovations not only empower women to pursue education and careers — but contribute to narrowing gender disparities by offering a practical means to manage family size. Despite these strides, a global struggle persists against entrenched patriarchal structures that seek to limit women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services. In many parts of the world, cultural norms and discriminatory practices hinder women’s ability to make informed choices about their bodies and lives. Whether through restricted access to contraception, limited educational resources, or inadequate healthcare, women continue to face barriers erected by patriarchal systems. Confronting these challenges is an essential step toward achieving true gender equality, recognizing the power of birth control not only as a personal choice but as a force for dismantling systemic inequities.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing: Charging Fossil Fuel Companies With Homicide by boatsie. A movement to prosecute fossil fuel companies with homicide is currently being considered along with legislation to hold them guilty of “fraud, deceptive advertising, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, conspiracy, racketeering...” according to an article in the New Republic. “Climate change is not a tragedy, it’s a crime.” This refrain, increasingly common among climate activists, encapsulates rising moral outrage at major fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP as more information has come to light about their knowledge and conduct regarding global warming. The essential fact pattern is this: Fossil fuel companies have long understood—with shocking accuracy—that their fossil fuel products would cause, in their own words, “globally catastrophic” climate change. Instead of shifting their business model or at least alerting the public to this threat, the companies concealed what they knew and executed a multimillion-dollar disinformation campaign to spread doubt about climate science. [...] The crime that best captures the nature, scale, and gravity of their misconduct in most jurisdictions might be homicide. In criminal law, homicide means causing a death with a culpable mental state. If someone substantially contributes to or accelerates a death, that counts as “causing” it.
Overnight News Digest - Saturday Science-Dirt energy, Men’s ALS risk, CA water, Betelgeuse by Rise above the swamp. Welcome to Overnight News Digest- Saturday Science. Since 2007 the OND has been a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of science stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Topics in this edition include:
- Contamination at composting facilities
- The future of power — dirt energy
- The rarest mineral
- Roll-to-roll printed solar cells
- Some men’s hobbies drive a 300% ALS risk
- Menstrual fluid’s medical treasures
- Four facts about measles
- Permanent California water-restrictions details
- Electric factories reshaping heavy industries
- Is Betelgeuse fading again?
Overnight News Digest for Weds March 13 (Oklahoma is NOT EFFING OK edition) by jeremybloom. From Vox — Spring is here very early. That’s not good: Whether it’s fewer snow days or disconcertingly hot temperatures, people across the US are experiencing an increasingly common phenomenon: a winter that doesn’t feel wintry. That’s the result of warmer conditions in many places driven both by climate change and a particularly strong El Nino phenomenon this year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2023-2024 winter is the warmest one it’s seen in the 130 years it’s been tracking. And per the University of Arizona’s National Phenology Network, signs of spring in certain parts of the country — like the budding of the first lilac and honeysuckle leaves — have emerged the earliest they have since the organization began keeping records in 1981.
Something positive for a change: creative solution for flooding in cities by Naseweiss396. Have you heard of sponge cities? No? I hadn’t either until today. Apparently, this is already a ‘thing’ in China. It is being practiced in some other parts of the world but under different names, such as ‘low-impact development’ or ‘sensitive urban design.’ In China, they have been experimenting with this type of urban design for twenty. An NPR report gives you an idea of how this works. The idea is to create spaces and conditions that allow for the absorption and redirection of water runoff. Some of these designs are lovely. In the city of Jinhua, in eastern Zhejiang province, there was a flood wall at the confluence of two rivers that failed to protect the area from annual inundation. The concrete wall was replaced with a permeable landscape with overflow ponds and permeable footpaths, lined with grass, willows, and reeds. The designer Yu Kongjian, the godparent of sponge cities, even included an elevated walkway painted red and yellow to evoke the idea of a dragon.
Besieged World by TimmyOGoodwin. A poem. The first two stanzas:
Beneath the endless expanse of sky, where time whispers by, ancient and sighing,
The wind carries tales, secrets nestled in the rustle of leaves, in the silence between heartbeats,
A narrative unfolds, woven not in the gold of sunlight but in the hues of twilight's deepening mystery.
"Can we," it breathes, a question hanging in the air, "be the guardians of a balance once cherished, now teetering?"
From the depths where corals lie fading, to the forests echoing with the sound of their own disappearing,
The Earth sings a song of beauty besieged, a melody seeking champions,
To rise, to mend, to weave anew the fabric of an existence where every strand vibrates with life's tenacity.
Is it within us, then, the power to heal, to reconnect, to embody the stewards we were meant to be,
In this dance, might we rediscover the steps to harmony, to a choreography of coexistence? [...]
