This is the 487th 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 March 4 Green Spotlight. More than 26,580 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
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Kestrel writes—Dawn Chorus: Crouching Photographer, Hidden Bird: “Do you see it? There’s a bird in this photo. If you see it, simply say yes without giving it away. Let others play, too. I’ll post some additional images of this bird after people have had a chance to weigh in on this photo. In the meantime, consider this an Open Thread. What’s been happening in your birding world? [...] Looks like most everyone here was able to spot the bird. So here are some additional photos giving you a close-up look. This little sweetie is a Western Screech Owl, only about 8 inches tall and about 8 oz in weight.”
Serval cat (Leptailurus serval)
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: L is For… “Welcome to the twelfth entry in our Backyard Science ‘Alphabet’ series. Today’s Bucket is brought to you by the letter ‘L’. A longer diary today since ‘L’ turned up a lot more nice examples that the previous couple of letters.”
RonK writes—The Daily Bucket, Eelgrass, Part 2 – Status, Threats, and restoration: “A recent study by NOAA and the University of Washington published in the Journal of Ecology examined the change in the eelgrass distribution over large sections of Puget Sound shoreline and reported some startling results. These data were based on over 160,000 observations of eelgrass beds covering over 300 miles of shoreline and were collected over the past 41 years. The surprising result showed that as a whole, the eelgrass population was ‘stable and resilient’ in spite of the fact that this region had doubled its human population during this time with its attendant pollutants. This finding was particularly surprising since world wide, eelgrass is in a significant decline. However, these results were not uniformly positive as there were site specific trends that were diametrically opposite of the general trend. Some areas had absorbed significant losses of eelgrass, including some sites where it totally disappeared over this 41 year time period.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Amplexus Delayed!! “Every early Spring, tree frogs have returned to mate in the Frog Mitigation Area (FMA), which is a pond in my side yard. Their mating is called ‘amplexus.’ Last year, the frogs’ choruses boomed from the FMA by the first days of March. This year, about five hustling frogs arrived two weeks ago, ahead of when I expect the main body of the chorus frog to migrate back to the Frog Mitigation Area. Tree frogs, also called chorus frogs or peepers; to scientists, they are Pseudacris regilla. If more frogs migrated, they are quiet. No frogs sounded off last night or during the day of March 6th, in startling contrast to last year’s symphony in ribbets. The unrelenting cycle of unseasonable cold and snow continues. The little froggies hunker down somewhere near, waiting it out.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - otters denning soon: “A lone otter at this time of year might be a female scouting out a den for starting this year’s family. I haven’t seen one yet this year doing that. Meanwhile, these two buddies were out fishing recently. One watched me as the other one wrestled a good sized fish. They don’t compete for the fish — finders keepers — and appear to work cooperatively, the other keeping an eye on a possible predator like me, especially when they are very close to shore like this. If you live near the shore, this is a good time to check around the perimeter of your house and seal it off. Otters are fond of crawlspaces and if they like your place they’ll be there into the summer. I’ve heard horror stories of yowling and messy smelly otter ‘kitchens’.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Pakalolo writes—Trump's refusal to act on climate change may label him as the world's greatest sponsor of terrorism: “If Donald Trump and his Republican controlled congress are able to defund the EPA, Department of Energy , Department of State, NASA’s Earth Sciences, NOAA as well as fulfilling their promise to withdraw from the Paris Climate pact, they will purposely and recklessly unleash social upheaval upon the earth the likes of which has never been experienced by humanity. C J Werleman has a must read piece in Middle East Eye. He begins the article by noting Osama bin Laden’s letter to the American people which outlined his justifications for the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. Werleman notes that among these justifications, were two that were largely ignored by the media and the American people. You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and industries.The life of all mankind is in danger because of the global warming, which is largely due to emissions of the factories of the major companies; nonetheless, the representatives of those companies in the White House insist on not observing the Kyoto Accord, notwithstanding…the death and displacement of millions of people as a result.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Climate denier's letter to Trump is followed up by MIT peer-reviewed letter slamming it: “MIT professor Richard Lindzen is a man of dubious intellectual veracity. He’s been shilling for big oil companies for quite some time now. He is now a ‘distinguished senior fellow’ at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank where ‘thoughts’ are made out of the fossil fuel industry’s agenda. Last month he sent a letter to unpopular new President Donald Trump telling him to have the United States leave the United Nations’ climate change initiatives. The letter got big headlines about ‘hundreds of scientists’ signing a letter to Trump, especially from right-wing rags. [...] Some of Lindzen’s MIT colleagues saw this letter and decided to give Lindzen something that climate ‘skeptics’ never get—a little peer review of their work. As Inside Climate News explains, amongst the many things that Lindzen’s letter offered up was a petition including hundreds of names of other ‘scientists.’”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Talking Trash with a (Figurative) Garbage Person: “Given that this is called the ‘Climate Denier Roundup,’ there’s little question on where we stand, and have stood for years, on the issue of naming and shaming deniers. We’ve mentioned here and there the Freudian roots of the term, of the psychological defense mechanism that locks out unwelcome thoughts. But now Peter Dykstra has laid it out nicely in a piece in Scientific American that tells climate deniers they’re deniers, and to ‘Deal with it.; It’s well worth the read, particularly if you’re gun-shy about using the word or reluctant to use it to describe the current administration, which is full of deniers. Though this nomenclature issue is by no means the most important part of defending climate science, it’s not unimportant either. After all, at this point we all know that presenting people with facts is not enough to motivate change. The information-deficit model is insufficient, due to the politicization of the issue, there needs to be a more culturally relevant response. There needs to be a certain appeal to emotions and rhetoric to break through the din and actually leave an impression on someone--in other words, science communications needs the humanities. So be accurate: don’t give deniers the benefit of the doubt by calling them doubters or skeptics.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Pakalolo writes—Deep oceans, a habitat that covers half the earth, will face starvation by the end of this century: ”Scientists have warned that the world’s deep sea oceans will be starved of food by 2100. [...] Scripps Institution of Oceanography reports on the alarming study that concludes that starvation of deep sea species will occur within a few decades. Organic compounds produced through primary production – the creation of chemical energy by algae and other phytoplankton through photosynthesis – sink to the deep ocean and make up much of the food supply there. Most of the deep sea currently experiences a severe lack of food, but according to Sweetman and his research team, it is about to receive even less. That’s because the phytoplankton deep sea organisms rely upon are themselves facing a dwindling supply of nutrients in the surface oceans as warming makes waters more stratified.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
ArthurAuthor writes—It's Time To Grab Your Public Lands and Hang On. Here's How: “While things have been bad in the past with the illegal disposal of our public lands, we ain't seen nothing yet. Now is the time get vigilant with protecting your local public lands. Traditionally, the real estate division of federal land holding agencies was targeted to consolidate in-holdings meaning connect unconnected parcels to create more ecologically sensible land tracts; however under different Presidential administrations, this has been subverted to favor the mining, oil, and gas interests, among others. Our current President is a real estate developer and the entire GOP administration at this time may have an interest in disposing of your public lands. Here is how to keep an eye on them but you will have to get off your ass, and you will have to show up.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
Mark Sumner writes—An open letter to America's coal miners, and to America: “For the miner, even the suggestion that there is something wrong with mining isn’t an attack on an industry. It’s an attack on their worth, and on the worth of the people they’ve both supported and depended on every day. It’s an attack on their values. On their family. It’s an insult to their best friend. A slur against their fathers. You know what the answer to ‘why don’t they just get up and move to some other place’ is? It starts with an ‘F’ and ends with ‘you.’ But miners, here’s the thing. The awful, awful thing. You’re being lied to. You’re being used as props in a war that’s not just bad for the nation, it’s bad for you and your families. You’re being sold a bill of goods, and and really, I think you know that. This is the hard truth. In 2000, coal generated almost 53 percent of all the electricity in the United States. By 2009, that was 45 percent. In 2014 it was 39 percent. One year later, it was 33 percent.”
subir writes—Pawnee nation sues oil companies in tribal court over earthquakes: “The county and city of Pawnee, Oklahoma, are home to the Pawnee (Chahiksichahiks) tribe. Over the course of the 19th century, the tribe declined in numbers from over 10,000 to approximately 4,000 people living on lands along the North Platte river in Nebraska and Kansas. By the 1870s, despite a long history of military service with the United States, the Pawnee were forcibly restricted to a reservation in present-day Nance County, Nebraska. In 1874, after inhabiting the great plains for centuries, several hundred members of the Pawnee tribe requested relocation to Indian Territory (what became the state of Oklahoma in 1906). The tribe settled residual claims arising from the illegal taking of its lands in Nebraska and Kansas by agents of the United States in the 1960s. On September 3, 2016 a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit Pawnee, Oklahoma. The earthquake damaged several buildings owned by the tribe, including the main administrative building: ‘These buildings were built almost 100 years ago and they’re sturdy as heck and ready to withstand everything Oklahoma could throw at them—except for earthquakes,’ tribal member Andrew Knife Chief told News on 6.”
Dan Bacher writes—White House Press Release Copies Paragraph from ExxonMobil Release: “I’m definitely no stranger to the dirty world of Big Oil regulatory capture, coming from California, where the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) writes Department of Conservation regulations and where WSPA’s President oversaw the creation of ‘marine protected areas.’ But the Donald Trump White House has brought Big Oil capture of government to a new level, choosing Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, as well as appointing other fossil fuel industry insiders to his cabinet. Now the White House is copying Exxon Mobil press releases.”
Dan Bacher writes—New Report: CA Democrats who received gifts from Big Oil gave gifts to Big Oil: “State officials and the mainstream media have for many years portrayed California as the nation's ‘green leader,’ but a new analysis exposing a correlation between oil industry gifts and California lawmakers' voting records shows a much different California, one heavily influenced by the oil and gas industry. This report reveals that California legislators received $253,771.98 in 2016 in free trips, dinners, and hotel stays from groups at least partly funded by or affiliated with companies from the oil and gas sector, according to legislators’ financial disclosure forms released last week and analyzed by the Energy and Policy Institute, a pro-clean energy watchdog organization. Stop Fooling California, a public education campaign that focuses on the oil industry in California, released the analysis.”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Pricing
Meteor Blades writes—Trump readies kowtow to Big Oil by deep-sixing Clean Power Plan and weakening fuel-efficiency rule: “This week, possibly today, the Trump regime will announce several more actions in its rotten plan to wreck the Environmental Protection Agency, harm people with more pollution, peel more dollars from their wallets, add to greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, and stop 13 other states from enforcing vehicle emissions standards that are stricter than those imposed nationwide by the federal government. Not only would these myopic moves postpone the day when coal no longer is used to generate electricity, they would also reduce the impetus of manufacturers to make electric cars. Unless the resistance can stop it with protests, lobbying and litigation, this retreat from several policies established or expanded under President Obama will cause hideous—and lethal—damage to the environment. All of it done at the behest of automobile manufacturers, the Kochs and other elements of the fossil-fuel industry to whom the bottom line is more important than the health of humans and the planet.”
Meteor Blades writes—Eleven senators send letter to EPA's Pruitt calling for fuel economy standards not to be rolled back: “Eleven Democratic senators have signed a letter to Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt calling on him not to do what’s rumored could happen this week: rolling back the fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks and prohibiting California from imposing stricter standards than the federal government does. All this could be a major setback for electric cars. That, of course, makes no never mind to Pr*sident Trump or Pruitt, both of them climate science deniers, and both attached at the hip and wallet to the fossil fuel industry. Led by Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, the senators, all Democrats except for independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, wrote: These automobile emissions standards are economically feasible and technologically achievable for the auto industry as the Final Determination demonstrates. They will enhance our national security by reducing our consumption of foreign oil. They will benefit consumers, saving them billions of dollars at the pump and reduce our carbon pollution. They provide certainty to the auto industry, which is already investing in the technologies and designs for the vehicles they will sell in these later years of the program. It is critical that they remain in place.”
Pipelines & Other Oil and Gas Transport
Eric Nelson writes—Trump nixes Pledge To Mandate U.S. Steel For KXL pipeline. Direct Beneficiary: Putin/Oligarchs: “Remember the Trump promise to ‘Buy American Hire American’(?) After green lighting the continuation of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline in an executive order January 24th, President Trump declared as recently as last week that the pipeline had to use American made steel ‘or we’re not building one.’ [...] That sharp reversal now paves the way for the use of a stockpile of steel manufactured in Canada by a subsidiary of Evraz, a company in which Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich owns nearly a one/third stake. ...apparently that promise is just more loose talk from the White House, including the worst part of this idiot move — what the KXL pipeline means for the future of protecting the environment, especially with a PetroChemical shill in charge of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, another Trump move.”
Troutfishing writes—Trump lets US pipeline $ flow to Putin ally, Russian billionaire whose wife is a friend of Ivanka's: “As one of his first actions as president, on his second working day in office, Donald Trump issued executive orders that cleared the way for two major, controversial oil pipeline projects, the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access pipeline. This generated some controversy because Trump has a minor financial stake in companies involved in the projects, but mainstream media has so far missed a dramatically more inflammatory issue : According to a meticulously researched February 13, 2017 report from DeSmogBlog, a watchdog effort which exposes fossil fuel industry efforts to prevent action to address anthropogenic climate change, Trump’s pipeline executive orders will also facilitate the flow of profits to one of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, a Russian billionaire oligarch whose company manufactures pipelines used in the projects (note: additional details on the pipeline scandal can be found at Native News Online.)”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Pruitt’s Emails Might End Up Making Him Les Miserables: “Last week, a number of sordid stories about Trump’s cabinet members came out, specifically in regards to their relationship to the truth. First, AG Jeff Sessions admitted he had in fact met with a Russian ambassador, despite claims otherwise. And it turns out VP Mike Pence used a private email account (an AOL account, no less!) to conduct official, sensitive state business. And more relevant to this space, newly-minted EPA Admin Scott Pruitt, who also committed the capital sin of using a private email address to conduct official state business -- and lied about it to the Senate. Pruitt, then, is clearly not someone whose words we can take at face value. So when he first addressed the EPA last week and talked about being able to be ‘both pro-jobs and pro-environment,’ it was a little weird. Because that is definitely true, as Dave Roberts at Vox explains. Environmental regulations ‘have little to no effect on long-term aggregate employment.’ To justify the claims of massive job losses (or the highest range of job gains, he points out) resulting from regulation, you have to use ‘funky, opaque models’ and a particular set of assumptions. (Sound familiar?)”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
TomP writes—Bernie, NAACP and Environmental Leaders, and Workers March Demanding Rights at Nissan Plant: “While Trump plays golf and calls for investigations of all who refuse to kiss his ass, the struggle continues against racism and for worker’s rights. Thousands marched for worker’s rights yesterday in Mississippi. On Saturday, Sanders and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, a Democrat, led hundreds of workers in a ‘March on Mississippi’ in Canton, Miss., to demand that Nissan grant factory employees the right to hold a union vote free from fear or intimidation. Also taking part in the march were NAACP president Cornell Williams Brooks, Sierra Club president Aaron Mair, and the actor Danny Glover. The march culminated in the delivery of a letter to Nissan officials "demanding the company halt its ongoing harassment of African-American workers who are organizing to form a union," the coalition of rights advocates behind the march, known as the Mississippi Alliance for Fairness at Nissan (MAFFAN), wrote in a statement.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
Paul Bland for Public Justice writes—Yakima, Washington Is Being Flooded with Cow Manure. Their Rep. Supports a Bill to De-Regulate It: “Cow manure is flooding homes right now in Yakima, Washington, and residents have been warned not to drink their water. The residents can’t use their water for any domestic uses, including drinking, cooking, showering, or even brushing their teeth. The very area where my organization, Public Justice, helped to bring lawsuits stopping a cluster of dairies from contaminating well water with cow manure is literally inundated with the waste from a levee breaking on a field at DeRuyter Brothers Dairy, where rushing water swept over a cow manure covered field and carried the manure into the local community. Meanwhile, the Dairy denies responsibility, and is pointing fingers at the local irrigation district, who in turn proved the dairy’s allegations to be false. While this was not one of the dairies subject to our suits, it highlights what happens when waste management is not carefully regulated at facilities that must deal with hundreds of millions of gallons of it every year.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Walter Einenkel writes—Transportation secretary admits that infrastructure plan is to make you pay tolls to corporations: “Unpopular President Donald ‘Tiny Hands’ Trump has said that he and other Republicans have big plans for America’s infrastructure. Those plans include putting a halt to infrastructure plans in California as well as privatizing the process, thus ensuring us taxpayers will have to pay twice in order to use things like roads and bridges. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao was on Sean Hannity’s news-gameshow and you could really see that Ms. Chao is not the seasoned scam-artist when it comes to articulating a hussle. After saying how we needed to come up with ‘new and innovative ways’ to revamp our country’s infrastructure, Chao started falling all over herself. So, basically, we allow foreign inv—uh, we allow different kinds of money, private sector money to come into the United States—I’m not saying foreign—to come and fund, let’s say a bridge or a road or it can be any kind of infrastructure. Wow. She just let all of those corrupt and swampy cats out of the bag, didn’t she? Chao takes a detour to do the rhetorical trick of telling you what infrastructure means—broadband and energy and bears, oh my.”
MISCELLANY
Walter Einenkel writes—According to WHO, 1.7 million children die every year because of environmental pollution: “The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new report with very distressing findings concerning the effects that our polluted environments have on children five years and younger. According to the WHO, about 1.7 million young children die every year as a result of the pollution in their environments. The causes include unsafe water, lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and indoor and outdoor pollution, as well as injuries. The new numbers equate to these pollutants being the cause of one in four deaths of children 1 month to 5 years old. Many of these deaths could be treated with smart interventions on the parts of governments and industry.”
CA148 NEWS writes—Donald Trump Got One Thing Right, Ignore it at Your Peril: “2007 was the peak year for electricity consumption by US industry. Unlike financial or corporate profit data electricity use shows actual US industrial activity. It is not a pretty picture. Consumption dropped two percent the next year then dived another 9% during the 2009 financial crash. It edged up some during the Obama administration, but has never fully recovered. Last year was the second largest decline this century. It dropped 50 trillion Kilowatt Hours from 2015 (4%). There is real economic hardship for the families that depended on the industrial economy. Our industry is disappearing. The higher paying jobs have disappeared. The choice in the last election was framed for many as having a narcissistic liar as a president or being broke and homeless. Food and housing trumps politics when people are made desperate.”
UncommonSense writes—Suspicion of science complicating new science standards for Louisiana schools: “It is the year 2017, and a debate over evolution and climate science is complicating the adoption of new science standards for elementary and secondary school students in Louisiana. Backers hope the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will endorse the standards, first in committee Tuesday and then by the full board Wednesday. The state has the third oldest standards in the nation, and students routinely rank low nationally in tests of science skills. But how evolution is dealt with in some courses is sparking concern, and state officials expect public opposition to the changes when a BESE committee considers the issue starting around 1 p.m. Tuesday.”
A Siegel writes—From Dark Ages to 21st Century, from CPAC to @ARPAE: “This morning, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPAE) Energy Innovations Summit will begin. This annual three-day event brings together many of the world’s leading thinkers, scientists, tinkerers, business-process gurus when it comes to leap-frogging the United States (and the world) into a new (cleaner, efficient, effective, less expensive, …) energy future. Not unreasonably, the conference subtitle: The premier event dedicated to transformational energy solutions. Wandering the Summit’s ‘trade-show’ (‘Showcase’) is enough to blow even the most brilliant mind — with many booths manned by PhDs working at the leading edge of opportunities to move 21st laboratory work into the real world.”
A Siegel writes—Government’s helping hand fostering 21st century prosperity: @ARPAE example“The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), partially modeled after and developed with the lessons from DARPA, is less than a decade old but is showing its power in helping to leapfrog energy technologies in ways that could powerfully impact U.S. society, the US economy, and U.S. global competitiveness for decades to come. [...] ARPAE is tackling the spectrum of energy challenges and opportunities including how to improve both the energy efficiency and comfort for people in the built space and, well, beyond. Typically most would think of this as improving ‘the’ building (insulation (which ARPAE is working on), building controls (again), more efficient air conditioning (again), window glazings for upgrading single pane windows to greater efficiency (lots there, including a paint option) etc…) but how about doing things that target the individual? Within the ARPAE program are companies developing air conditioning for shoes (so that you can have a building at higher temperature while people remain comfortable … or, by the way, making soldiers more effective on the battlefield in the Middle East during summer) and clothing that adapts to temperature changes.”
