Joshua Frank writes:
It must be election season. Like other prominent Democrats, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson has been making the rounds. Two weeks ago she popped up on Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" and explained that regulating toxins like mercury from coal burners across the country would prevent thousands of deaths and create jobs. She even rallied people to action.
"Environmentalism is not a spectator sport," Jackson told Stewart, as if she was encouraging viewers to turn off their televisions and get busy. "You actually have to stand up and demand that we be vigilant in protecting our air and water."
It was certainly a boisterous display of support for stronger environmental statues, something Jackson happens to know a little bit about. However, just one week after Jackson's Comedy Central performance the EPA indefinitely delayed essential health protections designed to reduce public exposure to airborne toxins such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and acid gases by thousands of tons per year. …
"Environmentalism is not a spectator sport," Jackson told Stewart, as if she was encouraging viewers to turn off their televisions and get busy. "You actually have to stand up and demand that we be vigilant in protecting our air and water."
It was certainly a boisterous display of support for stronger environmental statues, something Jackson happens to know a little bit about. However, just one week after Jackson's Comedy Central performance the EPA indefinitely delayed essential health protections designed to reduce public exposure to airborne toxins such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and acid gases by thousands of tons per year…
Atop the administration's abandoning of its "wild lands" policy, it was not the best week for the environment affected by humans' shaping of it.
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Green Diary Rescue is a regular Saturday feature at Daily Kos. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
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The Cunctator announced ThinkProgress Green: The Climate Hawk Manifesto: "The Kyoto Protocol is in shambles, greenhouse pollution is at record levels, and climate disasters are growing in frequency and intensity. To preserve the promise of civilization, we must start anew. Twenty years ago, the world agreed that the increase in greenhouse gas emissions needs to be reversed as quickly as possible, or dangerous and potentially irreversible degradation of the global climate system would begin in about twenty years. Those twenty years have passed, and now the world must mobilize to eliminate global warming pollution and defend humanity against the dangerous climate change that is now happening."
Mary Anne Hitt was all jazzed from Making My First Clean Kilowatt: "On May 25, my husband and I generated our first kilowatt of clean, solar electricity from the rooftop of our home here in West Virginia. It was AMAZING — as in, your-first-paper-mache-baking-soda-volcano amazing. As soon as we turned on the system, I kept running back outside to check out the new meter that measures our total solar output. On our very first day, our net meter showed we were making more energy on our rooftop than we were using, pushing that extra energy back out onto the grid and powering the homes of our neighbors. "
Air, Water and Soil Pollution
LaEscapee explores a growing problem in Nitrogen, Phosphorus or My "Dead Zone" is bigger than yours: "Simply put the affects of fertilizers containing nitrogen and manure containing phosphourus combined with other natural releases and changes in seasonal water flow in the Gulf combine to form an area at the mouth of the river (spreading mostly west) becomes deoxygenated due to the growth of algaes in the water. NOAA described it as pdf"the hypoxia effect" in a report in 1999. They also pointed to another contributing factor,subsidence, which I touched on in 2007 as to not put this all on the farmers."
Agriculture, Gardening & Food
In a Tuesday edition of Macca's Meatless Monday, beach babe in fl took us on a Magical Mushroomy Tour: "The easiest way to reduce meat consumption is with great meatless recipes so here on MMM each Monday (in this case Tuesday lol) we offer delicious, healthy recipes to add to your cooking repertoire. Today I am showcasing one of my all-time favorite foods the mushroom."
NourishingthePlanet looked at Sweet detar: Food, Fragrance, Fodder, and More: " From food to fragrance, virtually no part of the sweet detar tree (Detarium microcarpum) goes unused. A study of the Mare aux Hippopotames Biosphere Reserve in western Burkina Faso identified the tree as one of six multi-use species “most appreciated by people” and thus “most important”. Two varieties of the species exist. The tall, forest variety produces bitter fruit while the shorter savannah variety produces a sweet, green fruit that is particularly popular in West Africa. The brown pods of sweet-sour fruit have the shape and size of apricots but a shell and pulp akin to its relative the tamarind. "
annie em talked nutrition in NYC schools feed students good food, test scores rise 16%: Before holding teachers accountable for every single ailment of our education system became fashionable, school districts experimented (in the true sense of the word) to find data to support the hypothesis that poverty and achievement are related. It's hard to believe that just 25 short years ago we cared enough about kids to fund a jaw-droppingly innovative experiment like the NYC one. I hope you'll join me below because this isn't just about feeding children good food so they can do better at school, it's about a paradigm shift. Not a good one. We should pay attention. "
notdarkyet had some tough words of our society being over-sugared and blamed subsidies for part of the probem in the diary Sugar Politics and Why Our Children are Paying the Price: "Because of the high price in sugar in this country, we pay twice as much for sugar than the rest of the world. Pepsi and Coca-cola switched in 1984 from sugar to HFCS. It has now become the major sweetener in most products in the grocery store because it is cheaper than sugar. Ketchup, cereals, cookies, pies, cakes. … Why do we continue this sickening cycle that is risking the health and jeopardizing the lives of our children? Politics. Our sugar politics have cost us billions, jobs and now our health. Politics got us here and is keeping us from doing what we need to do. And the government knows we have a major problem."
But Iowa Farm Activist had a different story to tell about Sugar and Subsidies: Policy Myths, Relativism and Contradictions: "Food progressives, mainstream media and conservatives misunderstand how the farm bill has worked historically, and almost always give false analysis and call for false advocacy, related to farm subsidies. The recent diary, 'Sugar Politics and Why Our Children are Paying the Price, is a prime example of these trends. The case of misunderstanding sugar is a special case, and calls for a separate line of corrective explanation.I have no argument with the many concerns in the diary about high fructose corn syrup, and with sugar in general, though that is not my area of expertise. My concerns are with discussions of the policy, programs and politics of the issue."
the fan man explored killer bacteria in EU Ecoli: Organic cukes off the hook, we're all on one: "It's a new page in the annals of food borne disease and a very bad day for all of us. Somewhere, perhaps in the EU, two strains of disease causing ecoli swapped some secrets. The method, horizontal gene transfer, is nature's very own eons long GMO project. The new bug, 0104:H4, has never been seen before and by all accounts is a very deadly agent, causing a variety of severe, life threatening symptoms. Some symptoms have never been seen before in ecoli infections. It attacks not only kidneys, causing kidney failure in a large percentage of infections, but also the liver, adrenal glands and nervous system. There is nothing remotely benign about this bug."
NNadir took a different tack on the subject in Europeans Call Russian E.Coli Related Food Ban "Disproportionate.": "NY Times: E. Coli Strain Was Previously Unknown, Official Says. I think 'they' told us our food supply was, um, 'safe,' didn't 'they?' I don't know who they fuck 'they' are, but clearly the Russians have decided since 'they' were wrong, they've decided to ban, um, food, on the grounds that food is not risk free. Apparently, by way of contrast, not eating fruits and vegetables is risk free, where 'risk free' is a determination that only those technologies that assure uninterrupted immortality are, um, 'safe.'"
And james321 pondered what would happen in the United States with such an outbreak in Just Sayin' Single Payer: E. Coli in Europe Would Be Disaster in USA: "Just sayin' that if this whole E. coli disaster had first appeared in the good ole' US of A lot more people would probably have already died. Those lucky ducky European 'socialists' can just hop off to the hospital whenever they want — somebody better tell the Aetna CEO that these bastards need more 'skin in the game.' They're so greedy going to the hospital when they feel like death without price shopping first! 'Oh, I'm vomiting my brains out and coughing up blood, but is this an "I want to go bankrupt from hospital bills?" case of 'vomiting my brains out and coughing up blood'?'"
Frankenoid was back again with Saturday Morning Garden Blogging: "At the duplex across the street, the new owners have had the existing landscaping ripped out, the soil removed and replaced with bagged 'garden soil' — despite the fact that the soil in our neighborhood is a lovely sandy-loam. New sod, which is already wilting from one day of high temperatures, was unrolled over the whole plot. But, at least they put in sod. Last year at the rental next door, the owner had a crew come in and strip everything but the weed-infested lawn — stands of bearded iris, a lovely clematis, a small bed of perennials a former tenant had established — were ripped out and replaced with nothing. The trees-of-heaven that had been growing everywhere were only cut, but not killed and are re-emerging. The yard is now a mosaic of bare dirt, bindweed and mallow interspersed with tufts of dying grass."
Animals
noweasels mourned the loss of one of the last creatures of its kind in Remembering Nesari: Another species, almost gone: "A 39-year-old northern white rhinoceros has died at a Czech zoo, further reducing the world's dwindling population of the endangered animal, an official said Friday. … (F)ew of these rhinos are now left: two at a zoo in San Diego while three or four who are believed to live in Sudan have not been seen since last year."
In the Dawn Chorus series,
Julie Waters introduced us to
Occam's Warbler: "Warblers are small, fast moving birds, which can be very hard to identify, but when you are lucky with them, it's pretty awesome. … Below is a warbler quiz — I've included a lot of photos of warblers. In every case, you can click on the image to get the information about the bird. It also gets you to a larger version, but see if you can ID some of the birds without looking. Some are trickier than others. Some are duplicated under other bird #s, but generally with a different form of plumage.
She quenched our curiosity in "Occam's Warbler" quiz answers.
ban nock opined on a study in Wolf Dog Coyote: "A recent genetic study of wolves and coyotes of the eastern states has produced some undesired results and has had a few scientists grumbling. … In general the more east and the more south one goes the less wolf a given animal is and the more coyote. The eastern coyote itself is part wolf part dog. Reminds me of this mountain town I know where the most confusing holiday is Father's Day. I seem to remember somewhere in the statement the Federal Government issued along with their intent to delist the thousands of upper Great Lakes wolves was that some of the wolves are considered 'eastern wolves' and a separate unthreatened species."
Climate Change
worldforallpeopleorg discussed labeling in Climate Birthers: "An excellent diary here last week pointed out that the USA Today, a national paper with rightish leanings one could argue, has equated climate change deniers with 'birthers.' It is fair and its meanings are clear. I think we should consider mentioning that in every related conversation, and labeling — fairly in my opinion — climate denialists or climate zombies, Climate Birthers instead. It's a title that really gets down to what's going on. And we have the USA Today to back us up."
In News from the Arctic, which doesn't seem to be getting better, billlaurelMD wrote: "During May, the global circulation is transitioning from its winter to summer flow regimes. Usually there is lots of variability in May as a result, with alternating warm and cool spells. As a result, the temperature and sea-level pressure departures from normal persist for less time and any departures that exist tend to be smaller than during the winter months especially."
beach babe in fl deplored the consequences of news on the greenhouse gases front in
Worst. Ever. Carbon. Emissions....We Are Losing The Fight: "'Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.'"
She followed up with a bleak assessment in You're Going to Have To Change Your Life: "We are in crisis mode and if this community doesn't recognize that than no one will. We are supposed to be the reality based community with the best progressive minds able to make the changes necessary and yet there seems to be a non urgent spinning of wheels approach to the greatest challenge our planet has to face."
In a pair of equally pessimistic diaries, Keep Oregon Blue wrote We have lost the climate change battle, whas the endgame?: "Despite all the growing evidence that we are already well into irreversible climate change, many people have no idea what's going on. Many people think it just means polar bears will disappear, and that we'll have some sea level change. They don't realize that as we keep up our dependence on fossil fuels, the change grows worse and worse, endangering far more than we realize." And There is no next generation: "Runaway climate change has already started, and if we stopped using all fossil fuels today, I'm not sure there is anything we can do about it. The only thing would be if we could invent a device that could take CO2 out of the atmosphere many thousands of times faster than a tree, and make millions of those devices."
Elisa talked about better-safe-than-sorry answers in Is It Possible To Build Consensus on "Climate Change"?: "Here is my take as a non-scientific bystander: I rather err on the side of caution. If global warming really turns out to be a hoax, how can we go wrong with burning less fuel and having cleaner air? On the other hand, if the climate change worriers prove to be right, then I fear for us, our children and grandchildren. Food shortages? Homes destroyed? Lives lost due to horrific storms? No thank you."
Bill McKibben via TomDispatch explained why he is not happy with the President in Obama Strikes Out on Global Warming: "Strike two against the Obama administration was the permission it granted early in the president’s term to build a pipeline into Minnesota and Wisconsin to handle oil pouring out of the tar sands of Alberta. (It came on the heels of a Bush administration decision to permit an earlier pipeline from those tar sands deposits through North Dakota to Oklahoma). The vast region of boreal Canada where the tar sands are found is an even bigger carbon bomb than the Powder River coal. By some calculations, the tar sands contain the equivalent of about 200 parts per million CO2 -- or roughly half the current atmospheric concentration. Put another way, if we burn it, there’s no way we can control climate change."
FishOutofWater discussed Smog Hell Planet, Warming-Smog Feedback Loop Discovered: "The EPA and scientists have known for many years that smog is worse on hot days. Reactions involving hydrocarbons, sunlight, water vapor and oxidants are sped up rapidly as temperatures rise. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences using earth systems models that incorporate chemical reaction models shows that hot climates in the geologic record generated large amounts of natural smog from volatiles in trees and plants. This smog contained large amounts of greenhouse gases other than CO2. These other greenhouse gases including methane, oxides of nitrogen and ozone amplified the greenhouse effect in a positive feedback loop."
Energy
Mentatmark gave us a history lesson and alerted us to political action on mountaintop removal in Rednecks return to Blair Mountain: "The Call to Action has given me an opportunity to make a difference in my home region. There are two options for those that also make a difference by attending. The March itself, from June 5 to the 10 (to Blair from Marmet) and the Rally/March up Blair Mountain on the 11th. For those just attending the Rally, camping in Chief Logan State Park and shuttles is the plan."
workingforprogress was one of several diarists taking note of a move by Europe's biggest industrial engine in Germany ends all Nuclear Power, The "Great Shutdown" begins.: "This is the beginning of the end. The end the being resisted by the industry across the world. With lies of course. I am sick unto death of the posts about 'you don't understand the science.' 'it's not that bad really,' 'no one was ever killed by radiation,' 'a little radiation is good for you' but it allows us to identify those who would continue to threaten the thin endangered life envelope that all life, all known life in the Universe, needs to survive. It allows us to identify and remove them from any office they hold. "
Also writing on the coming nuclear shutdown was BentLiberal in Germans abandon Big 4 Energy Companies in droves - Govt. to Close Nuke Plants: "Four days after anti-nuclear protests attended by 200,000 people in four German cities, the German government announced Monday plans to close all of its nuclear reactors by 2022. Since the tragic nuclear events in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Germans have taken notice. Many are quitting traditional energy companies and seeking out greener alternatives. And there's anecdotal evidence that the Merkel government felt political pressure to make a change."
HoundDog wrote about it in Germany Will Abandon Nuclear Power by 2022, Fukushima Risks Chernobyl-Like Dead Zone: "Do you also get the impression that the political systems of other countries respond more quickly and objectively to changes in the external evironment? We need to have Congressional reviews of safety issues in US nuclear reactors, and lessons learned from Japan. We should support Representative Ed Markey who seems to be leading the way, in US Congressional Oversight."
But davidwalters noted that while Germany is shutting off fission power, one of the nations that is going to opposite way is a bit of a surprise: Saudi Arabia to Build 16 Nuclear Reactors: "Seems that the idea that a stake has been driven through the heart of the 'nuclear industry,' as articulated by many commentators and a few DK diarists, simply shows the American-Euro centric view of those believers. It is this writers belief that the actual future of all forms of energy is almost as … we see it now...lots more solar and wind (I don't use the fake term 'renewables' because it's unclear whether one includes or excludes hydro), coal, natural gas and nuclear. Added to the mix will be some localized, albeit sometimes significant investments in hydro (India, Venezuela and China) and geothermal."
sdelear wrote about the Saudis from a different angle in Saudi Prince seeks to sabotage green energy: "'Saudi Arabian prince Alwaleed bin Talal would like to see oil prices drop to the $70-$80 a barrel range in a move to thwart western development in alternate fuels. The prince is aiming to do this to prevent the U.S. and Europe to invest in alternative energy sources, his family member told media. "We don't want the West to go and find alternatives," Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, said in interview with CNN.'"
Aximill explained why My Solar Panels Rock: "While I am very pleased with the performance of my panels, I want to stress that it is not the easiest or most effective way to make an impact on your energy needs or impact on the planet. Energy efficiency is a much easier, faster, and cheaper way to make a dent in your energy bill and carbon footprint. Check for local programs from your energy provider or these tips from the Dept. of Energy."
Ross Lampert promoted a proposal the green-blue alliance has been urging for some time in Mr. Obama, It's Time to Launch a New Apollo Program: "The current policies are driven by entrenched interests, consumer demand, the state of our transportation infrastructure (ie. lack of alternative transportation modes), relative price of fossil fuels when the above named cost are externalized (nationalized), etc. Obviously, a one day boycott won't do a darn thing in the face of these factors. The question then becomes, 'What can we do about it?'"
Steven D mocked a particular line of reasoning in Commodities Market Speculators Do Not Cause High Gas Prices - Except When they Do (all the time): "High gas prices must be the result of that invisible hand, one which we must believe controls all our economic destinies. Well, that's their story every time they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar (i.e., cheating their asses off) in order to make big money for themselves, and damn the rest of us suckers who aren't as bright or bold or sociopathic as they are. "
Michael Brune argued that now is No Time to Be Timid: "Most obviously, a strong fuel-economy standard saves people money because they don't have to buy as much gas. By 2030, a strong standard (at least 60 mpg by 2025) will have saved Americans $370 billion at the pump more than the weakest standard that the Obama administration is considering (and that's at $3.50/gallon -- does anyone really believe we’ll be paying $3.50 per gallon two decades from now?). Already, today's consumers are showing that they value fuel economy. The recovery of American automakers is based on their newfound ability to build great cars and trucks with smart technology that get superior gas mileage. (There's nothing like a near-death experience to encourage rethinking your priorities.) "
The fact that the Feds shut down current Keystone pipeline gave RLMiller some hope that as news about leaks gets out to people, maybe it will stop the proposed extension of the pipeline: "The existing Keystone pipeline, carrying tar sands oil from Canada to Oklahoma, has sprung its 12th leak in 12 months, the latest about 10 barrels in Kansas. The federal agency overseeing it, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, has ordered it shut until such time as repairs are made and safety is tested. "
Green Essays, Green Philosophy & Green Poetry
jamess looked at our overly consumptive lifestyle's impact on the planet in After the last tree is cut, the last barrel is burned ...: "The unrestrained Free Market is a strange beast ... It consumes Nature's Resources, without a thought for their true value. If a Commodity can be sold -- then the Commodity MUST be sold -- the market demands it. Resources are Free for the taking, or so the theory goes ... You snooze -- you Lose! The fatal flaw, in the theory however is the true currency of nature, is life, not death. — is sustainability, not endless consumption."
He also examined the vice president's recent comments in Biden on 21st Century Energy: "We either lead or we follow": "In the Vice President’s view, developing new energy technologies is this generation’s 'moon shot.' 'There’s not a single person who thinks we can navigate the 21st century with the same energy policy we had in the 20th century. We either lead or we follow.'
[...] "
Regina in a Sears Kit House offered some guidance for Connecting the Dots: 'One World, One Health™' The Environment and Human Disease: "A wise endocrinologist once told me in so many words, 'All you people with marginalized diseases or illness without known causes are fighting for the same charity or research dollar. What you need to do is to form coalitions. You have mutual interests and should be cooperating. 'We all have a vested interest in protecting the environment and living in and with a healthy ecology. Nowhere does this become more clear than in the realm of vector and tick-borne diseases. "
In the Living Simply series, cordgrass gave credit to the lessons from extremists, writingZero waste is a journey: "I think in any movement, there has to be the leader out in front who is extreme. With residential zero waste, one of those leaders is Bea Johnson. She has received a lot of heat from people who think she's too extreme, and also some from those few who think she hasn't gone far enough. Those sorts of leaders are groundbreaking, polarizing, and completely necessary to galvanize a movement."
Green Policy, Green Activism & Politicians
The Cunctator provided us one more reason why Mitt Romney will probably not survive the GOP primaries in Video Of Mitt Romney Admitting Global Warming Is Real: "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told voters in New Hampshire that the pollution causing global warming needs to be reduced. Breaking with Tea Party Republicans who explicitly deny the overwhelming science, Romney said that it is 'it's important for us to reduce our emissions' that cause global warming."
atdnext suggested that if we Want Jobs? Go Green!: "If green jobs are the future, then my home state is at the center of it all. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country, yet we also have immense opportunities to take the climate bull by the horns and actually revive our economy with new jobs."
RLMiller reported that Obama abandons "Wild Lands" policy.: "The 'wild lands' policy was an effort to create wilderness-quality areas where Congress was unwilling to act. Only Congress can declare wilderness by passing a bill, and odds of getting wilderness bills through the House have been slim-to-none. Instead, the Administration attempted to declare that certain lands would be managed as though they were wilderness. Wilderness-hating members of Congress were displeased. They blocked all funding to implement the Wild Lands policy. Wilderness-hating Western governors, including those in Utah and Alaska, were equally displeased. They sued the Department of the Interior. Today, the administration gave up on Wild Lands. Call it a cave-in or a recognition of reality."
The Natural World & The Great Outdoors
Ojibwa had a great trip of the coast and wrote a few diaries about it, including Ona Beach State Park (Photo Diary): "Eight miles south of Newport, Oregon is the Ona Beach State Park. This is a day use park which has the picnic area in a wooded section. From the picnic area, cross over Beaver Creek on a footbridge and you are on the beach. State parks such as this one are great examples of the civics lessons which should have been taught in grade school. Government is about providing services for the people—not the corporations, but the actual living, breathing homo sapiens.
And The Oregon Garden: "The Oregon Garden provides a good example of landscape architecture: a careful crafted cultural space. It is a work of art using the land as a canvass and plants as the oils. It also contains within it many other works of art. What follows are some photos of the garden. These were taken in late May, at a time when few flowers were in bloom."
Plus The Oregon Coast, The Oregon Coast: Bullards Beach State Park and Wildlife Safari in Oregon.
Phoenix Rising gave us a historical and scenic tour of another National Park in Rocky Mountain, Reflecting The Changing Parks: "In the years before 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Rocky Mountain National Park our nation's tenth park, the area had already been witness to several changes in human history. The area of the park, sometimes called RMNP by locals, had been occupied by Native tribes as far back as the Clovis culture around 10,000BC. The ancestors of the modern Ute, Apache, and Arapaho tribes all roamed the mountain passes of the region, hunting the abundant Elk population that remains a signature of the park today. As European settlers moved in to the area in search of gold and homesteading, they found something of greater value — the waters of the Colorado River, which they diverted in part back to the plains cities developing on Colorado's eastern Plains, setting up a struggle for control of water that also continues to this day."
Dream Lake
The Daily Bucket series
Mark Sumner: Backyard Science: The 13 Year Invasion: "Like the next act in a biblical spring that has battered Missouri with tornadoes and floods, now it's the return of the 13-year Periodical Cicada (Magicicada neotredecim). Of course, it's not only Missouri that's getting this visitation. This is Brood XIX, one of 15 recognized recurrent cicada broods. Also known as 'The Great Southern Brood,' this one spills across (at least) 15 states. This is the largest brood in terms of the land area covered, and possibly the largest in terms of sheer number of insects. You can find more info at Magicicada Central."
Adult Cicadas
bwren: Crows: "The big crows in the forest are getting belligerent - challenging me as I walk the same paths we've all shared for years. Some afternoons a feathered honor guard accompanies me for a hundred feet or so, then peels off back into the forest. Behind them, way back up there in the trees, is a shrill, incessant 'waahh...waahhh.....waaaaahhh'.... "
bwren: Barred Owl kids: "Fluttering in my peripheral vision — an adult owl rises up into the maple. Hissing erupts everywhere. I catch a brief glimpse of adult and fuzzy kid making contact. Food delivery. Around them the hissing rises into whistles, whines, squeals. The adult moves away, but I've located one youngster. The second one is easy, one branch over. With the immediate anticipation of food removed, its attention is now directed at me. It bobs its head ridiculously, hisses, bobs some more. Another voice joins in and the third youngster takes shape, just above the first. It looks directly at me too, hisses, bobs its head up and down in parallel with its sibling. Three owl kids."
bwren: summer birdsong: "I've been totally flummoxed over the past 24 hours by the variety of unfamiliar buzzes and chips and trills coming from around the house. They are everywhere — up in the canopy, over by the roses, down under the woodpile. The trills sound kind of like a warbler, way up there in the treetops. I haul a chair and the binoculars out onto the back porch and sit goggle-eyed until my neck hurts. Nothing."
bwren: Golfballs on chopsticks: "Really cool shorebirds do find their way to Seattle and are known to hang out here - along the shorelines and in the wetlands and up in the recovered garbage dump by the University. Dowitchers. Yellowlegs. Least Sandpipers. Even a Wilson's Phalarope. Down here in the South End we have Killdeer. Maybe an occasional Wilson's Snipe or a Western Sandpiper. One time a Black Turnstone stayed for an hour or two. But mostly we have Killdeer."
enhydra lutris: Invisible Landscapes: "Today I walked out into the front yard in pursuit of an unusual and unfamiliar bird call in the hope of spotting and indentifying the bird. I couldn't help but notice the bottle brush blazing away in full bloom. How often have I had nothing new to report while that plant first started to bud and then to blossom? When did it start? It is simply an invisible fixture, like the Alstromerias which are going crazy too. "
Oceans, Wetlands & Water
Patric Juillet pointed us at some Water News You Could Use: "To most it may seem obtuse to talk of a water crisis when we've had recent floods and deluges in some countries and yet we know water scarcity already affects 45% of the world’s population. The next twenty five years will be crucial for not only governments but food producers worldwide. The message is stark: less water, less food."
Round-ups, Wrap-ups, Live Blogs & Summaries
Gulf Watchers #523 by Lorinda Pike: New Deep Well Drilled - BP Catastrophe.
Gulf Watchers #524 by peraspera: 8 centuries worth of oily muck on sea floor - BP Catastrophe.
Transportation
More Sunday Train from BruceMcF in Why We Fight: "Remember what the other 49 States of these United States get from the California project. If California builds an Express HSR system, we get information. We get ridership information. Apart from ignorance or a paycheck based on believing otherwise, connecting the Bay Area to the LA Basin by an intercity rail route that takes 3hrs or fewer is obviously going to get a substantial chunk of a quite large intercity transport market. Add in stations in the substantially under-served San Joaquin valley, and an Express HSR in this area is a slam dunk."
nthelurch gave us the skinny on Week 6 for his My Electric Ride: "As for the car itself, I decided to play a bit to check out the performance. I've started dropping out of Eco mode a bit into drive. It's a very noticeable difference. The Eco mode sets the engine to maximize the reclaiming of energy. In Eco mode, taking your foot off of the accelerator leads to a much quicker slow down than drivers are used to. Whereas the same in the Drive mode coast just as a normal car. But the real fun was powering up steep hills. I was surprised at just how fast I could get up to speed even on a steep slope. It was very responsive. I've been a bit too busy to update the numbers this week, but everything seems to be consistent for now. No major issues and no more nights forgetting to charge."
Ann Mesnikoff urged us to start Rallying for Smart Transportation Choices: "Today, in a Washington Post editorial — "A Rescue Worth Fueling" — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner points to the success of GM and Chrysler after billions of tax payer dollars of bailouts. Geithner concludes: 'What happens next for Chrysler and GM is up to their executives, managers, and workers...' Secretary Geithner should have included the President in that list - GM and Chrysler and the others need the direction a strong pollution and fuel efficiency standard will give. Geithner also notes that 'years of bad decisions had caused them to progressively lose market share.' "
Fukushima Nukes
HoundDog: Risk of Catastrophic Release of Radioactivity From Spent Fuel Ponds Greater in US than at Fukushima: "Robert Alvarez has just published his latest analysis of the Spent Fuel Ponds from nuclear reactors in the United States and Japan and concluded that the risk of an accidental release of a catastrophic level of radioactivity from such ponds is greater in the United States than at the Japanese Fukusime Daiichi plant. … Even if you only read the summary of this new 90-page report by Alvarez, it will scare the stew, right out of you. I encourage everyone to support Representative Ed Markey's initiative to get full top to bottom hearings on the the US Spent Fuel issues, as well as lessons learned from the ongoing Fukushima accident. "
Joieau : Fukushima Update: 5-28-11: "The Times of India reports today that all but three radiation monitoring systems near the Fukushima Daiichi AND Daiini nuclear installations broke down after the earthquake and tsunami, presenting large holes in the initial release data from three to five hours after the earthquake. Which means, as with the meltdowns that occurred at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl in years past, that yet another nuclear accident has no real record of how much radioactive contamination went out during the worst initial phases of the crisis "
seanwright: Old age hath yet his honour and his toil: "The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60. They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young. It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant. The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him."
FishOutofWater: Radioactive Fukushima Water Nears Overflow: "Heavy rains from the tail end of a weakened typhoon have pushed levels of highly radioactive water at Fukushima to near overflowing. Enormous quantities of radioactivity, 720,000 terabecquerels, are contained in 28 million gallons of contaminated water according to TEPCO. TEPCO is rushing to install a water decontamination system by June 15 because they calculate that water will overflow by June 20 if additional decontamination and storage systems aren't installed. With Japan's rainy season beginning, TEPCO will be challenged to keep large amounts of radioactive water from overflowing directly into the ocean."
mahakali overdrive: Fukushima Soil Radiation Hits Chernobyl "Dead Zone" Rates: ROV #58.
Adept2u: Fukushima: Crimes Against Humanity Lies: "'The Japanese government has expressed regret for not disclosing some important results of the radiation monitoring conducted near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant soon after the accident.' "
