This is the 542nd 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 January 27 Green Spotlight. More than 28,(324) 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
Pakalolo writes—Endangered whale's calving season peaks, but no babies seen: “ ‘We're in a bad spot with right whales, there's no doubt about it. Everybody's anxious to see more calves and the calves aren't coming.’ Barb Zoodsma, U.S. Southeast for NOAA Fisheries. Last year was devastating for North Atlantic right whales. They suffered a loss of 17, about 4 percent of their population. This is depressing news for such a critically endangered species. Their population is currently estimated at only animals with only 100 females of reproductive age. NOAA notes that the majority of deaths in 2017 were female and that live births have been declining in recent years they say. Whale necropsies have confirmed that blunt force trauma (being struck by shipping vessels), and drowning from entanglement in fishing gear were the reason for the deaths.”
NBBbooks writes—Protectionism in the age of solar cells: “When the Trump administration announced last week that it was imposing tariffs on solar cell panels mostly coming from South Korea and China, it appears that the progressive blogosphere was almost unanimous in condemning the action as an attack on solar energy.cI was dismayed that the neoliberal lies about free trade had apparently been accepted by so many. As Jon Larson wrote on Real Economics, ‘In certain corners of the economic world, this is a major story—mostly because it flies in the face of neoliberalism's first commandment—Thou shall not condone protectionism!’ The tariffs should be attacked, but not because they are tariffs, not because they are protectionist, not because they may lead to less imports of panels and therefore the loss of jobs of people installing them. The tariffs should be attacked because they are not accompanied by a robust industrial policy that will help USA manufacturers replace panels no longer being imported, by panels of domestic manufacture.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Kestrel writes—Dawn Chorus: Crappy Bird Photo Fun: “Do you take pictures of birds? Do you surprise yourself sometimes when you upload your photos and discover just how crappy some of your photos turned out? Me too, so let’s have some fun with our misfortunes. Today’s Dawn Chorus is all about shitty bird photos. Before I go further, let me note that there is a wonderful Facebook account called Shitty Bird Photos. If you’re active on Facebook, you might want to check it out. People post their awful bird photos and describe the shot in a humorous way and people comment with generous helpings of satire. Our own lineatus who started Dawn Chorus here years ago is a proud member of the Shitty Bird photos group as am I. I want to invite you to join in here today by posting your own crappy photos so we can all share in the broad range of shitty photos we’ve collectively taken. If you haven’t kept any of your crappy photos, feel free to post whatever you’d like as Dawn Chorus is always open to all things birdy being posted here. But I’m going to add some crappy photos to get things started.”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket: Lake O, and the Great Lakes rising pollution levels: “The Great Lakes have been facing growing numbers and levels of threats to their ecosystems and to the human-use of their resources in recent years. Large-scale toxic blue-green algae blooms, high-levels of mercury and PCB pollution, invasive species, etc, have been doing significant damage to the lakes. A newly released report by the Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping Project has detailed these problems and found that Lake Ontario is currently the most-threatened of the five Great Lakes, followed closely by Lake Erie.”
MorrellWI1983 writes—Bristol Bay fishery gets reprieve as Trump EPA backtracks on gutting protections: “In a surprise reversal, the EPA has decided to keep in place Obama — era protections for the Bristol Bay watershed. the Pruitt-led EPA had settled with Pebble Partnership last year and as part of the settlement allowed it to file for permits and began the work of rolling back the 2014 protections granted to the watershed. the 2014 preservation of the waters of the bay itself was rolled back when interior released its 2017-2022 leasing plan, which opened nearly all U.S. continental shelf waters to drilling, and which removed permanent protections for both Bristol Bay and the Arctic. Governor Walker, to his credit, has said that the fishery must be protected in perpetuity, and has argued vehemently with Pruitt about allowing Pebble to even file for permits. There is only one way for Bristol Bay to be protected forever, and that power , unfortunately, lies in the hands of the person most unlikely to use it- President Trump. That one way is designating Bristol Bay as a national monument in its entirety.”
ban nock writes—Coyotes Eating Your Dog: “This morning I got an email from our local municipal police department. The Town of Xxxxx Police Department has been notified that the USDA APHIS Wildlife Services in conjunction with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will be increasing their efforts for coyote trapping beginning tomorrow morning, January 27, 2018, in the area north of xxxxx. This probably means a coyote became too aggressive towards a human. Usually our state division of wildlife doesn’t take measures to remove coyotes just for preying on dogs. I live in the suburbs. Sprawl. Part of the Fort Collins/Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs sprawl. Being composed of almost all new construction our town has great bike paths and open spaces between housing developments, and HOAs require the typical open 4’ high fencing. Coyotes wait for someone to let the dog out at night, grab it up, hop over the fence, and consume it. 37 dogs have been killed and 4 kids have had ‘contact’ with coyotes in my town. I’m not sure what contact means. We are experiencing a lot of coyote issues this year. A few years ago a dad in Boulder prised his toddler out of the jaws of a yote.”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: A Descent of Woodpeckers: “The most common woodpeckers I see here in the northeastern US are the very similar looking Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. [...] Northern Flickers are also not that uncommon. One major difference regarding them is that they are also ground feeders (eating ants for instance) as compared to the hairy and downy which pretty much exclusively feed in trees. [...] Northern Flickers are also not that uncommon. One major difference regarding them is that they are also ground feeders (eating ants for instance) as compared to the hairy and downy which pretty much exclusively feed in trees. [...] The sapsuckers are known for drilling holes in trees in order to eat tree sap. They also eat insects and other things as well. [...] Woodpeckers will “drum" on hollow tree trunks or another surface that resonates to indicate territorial claims. A sapsucker once discovered that my brother’s propane tank made a excellent (and loud) drumming location and spent a number of occasions using it — bong bong bong bong.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Gore in Snowflake-Filled Davos Triggers Photoshop Loving Climate Deniers: "”Every time it snows and Al Gore is seen in public, deniers rejoice in pretending that Gore’s climate awareness campaign is somehow incompatible with cold weather. At last week’s elite meet-and-greet in Davos, snow in the Swiss Alps in January provided enough irony for deniers to enjoy, as they gleefully and nonsensically tagged Gore on Twitter and trotted out their favorite photoshops of a frozen Gore. Deniers haven’t done much to hide their fixation on Gore and their particular love for amateurish photoshops of him frozen in ice. But here’s a surprise: there’s a chance some of these images aren’t hastily slapped together in a dank basement by by trolls who are definitely not going to make it to the South Pole to collect a sandwich left for them by an intrepid 16-year-old. Rather, they could well be a product of a multi-million dollar lobbying and PR firm.”
Mark Sumner writes—Donald Trump found plenty of time to clap for himself, not a moment to mention climate change: “Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was mostly notable for the casual racism, call for a government purge, and for making Americans grateful they haven’t had to undergo an amputation with no anesthetic while eating dirt. But what it didn’t include was a single word about the most important issue facing this or any other nation. President Donald Trump didn’t mention climate change or global warming in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. This is, on one hand, the most predictable thing in the world. Throughout his political career, Trump has rarely seemed interested in understanding the science of Earth’s climate. Last week, he misspoke about the climate again, claiming ‘it was getting too cold all over the place.’ He has canceled policies that prepare national parks for climate change and adapt U.S. naval bases to rising sea levels. Repealing President Barack Obama’s extensive climate legacy has unified the Trump administration like little else. Ignoring climate change in the SOTU follows Trump’s interview earlier in the week in which he not only showed his ignorance about the term ‘climate change,’ but stated that the ice caps were hitting ‘records,’ which is true—but not in the way Trump intended.”
Walter Einenkel writes—New study says that 2017 the hottest on record for the Earth's oceans: “A new study says that 2017 was the warmest year on record for the world’s oceans. [...] The long-term warming trend driven by human activities continued unabated. The high ocean temperatures in recent years have occurred as greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have also risen, reaching record highs in 2017. The results support the provisional announcement by the World Meteorological Organization in November 2017 that ‘Global ocean heat content in 2017 to date has been at or near record high levels.’ National Geographic says that the findings show a ‘long-term warming trend driven by human activities’.”
right defender writes—Trump Is Dangerously Stupid. Claims Sea Ice At “Record Levels”: “He. Is. Dangerously. Stupid. ‘The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but now they're setting records. They're at a record level.’ In 2017 in September, the annual low was only the eighth lowest on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. But the 10 lowest years of sea ice have been all in the last 11 years… Arctic sea ice is declining at a rate of 13.2 percent per decade, according to NASA. It’s all good folks. 2017 was only the eighth worst year for ice cap melt on record.”
Bob Johnson writes—Trump's (latest) breathtakingly stupid lies about climate change go unchallenged by Piers Morgan: “I know it’s been said many times in the past two years, but satire is so, so dead: ‘The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but now they’re setting records. They’re at a record level," Trump said. No, they’re not, you stupid, lying fuckwit: Sea Ice Extent Sinks to Record Lows at Both Poles. One would think Piers Morgan would call him on this obviously false bullshit...”
Walter Einenkel writes—EPA emails depict Scott Pruitt as very active in clearing climate change websites: “It seems that Donald Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, took a personal interest in the scrubbing of the EPA’s climate websites after taking control of the agency in 2017. Pruitt is the veritable fox running the henhouse, having spent most of his career protecting oil and gas companies from their misdeeds in Oklahoma, and he’s taken his brand of craven greed to the EPA, using it to begin the process of climate change obfuscation that has served the Republican Party and their overlords so well for decades. Inside Climate News reports that new documents released by the EPA show how much of Pruitt’s fingerprints were on the process to manipulate reality—specifically the deletion of Clean Power Plan information on EPA websites.”
R Holloway writes—Al Gore would have WON global warming bet, math says: “In 2007 Scott Armstrong, Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book Principles of Forecasting: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners, issued the so-called ‘global warming challenge’ to Al Gore, involving a $10,000 bet, with the winnings to be donated to charity. Gore declined to accept the challenge, but in 2018 Professor Armstrong is claiming that Gore would have lost, had he accepted the challenge. [...] The Professor’s claim is based—in this writer’s considered opinion--on an error in the way he sets up the IPCC model. He makes the IPCC model intersect his naive model (a flat line corresponding to the average temperature anomaly—see Reference [8]—from 2008 through 2017) at the beginning of the decade, as shown in the Professor’s chart in Reference [9] below and the second chart above. This is incorrect, and is equivalent to adding an offset error to the IPCC’s model. The total error is a combination of the random and offset errors. It is the contribution from the improperly introduced offset error that makes it appear as if the IPCC’s model produces a greater cumulative error than the naive model. The correct way of setting up the IPCC’s model is to make it intersect the naive model at the center of the decade (this is equivalent to taking as given the IPCC’s slope and regressing only the intercept, ensuring that the regressed model and the data have the same mean).”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Even Tol’s Gremlins Are Getting in Line on Climate Damages: “Richard Tol is a Dutch economist who through the ‘00s and much of the 20-teens has argued that warming could be good for the global economy. Tol’s reputation took a big hit in 2013 when Bob Ward of the London School of Economics pointed out that Tol had made fundamental errors, counting four different studies that showed a significant cost from climate as instead benefiting the economy. After Ward continued to identify problems with Tol’s work, Tol eventually admitted the error in the form of a correction to the study. But instead of taking responsibility for his egregious error, he blamed “gremlins” who “intervened” in the preparation of his paper. Literally. Weirdly, this incident didn’t dampen his credibility among deniers, who in 2015 were happy to cite his (not-peer-reviewed working paper) research showing that if warming could be beneficial if kept to 1C. Since the gremlin incident, Tol has stuck mostly to attacking consensus research but otherwise not giving much denier-friendly research on environmental economics. But now Tol’s 2015 working paper, a literature review of economic impacts of climate change, has finally been published in the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. Odds are we’ll see some deniers champion it.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
valkyrry writes—Whither water, South Africa and elsewhere? “Now at the height of summer, South Afrikaaners don’t wash cars; they dream of showers. In the teeth of a drought that’s persisted for years, that’s the worst in 100 years, on February 1st — the day after tomorrow — they’ll be rationed, 50 liters/person/day. They are about to run dry; they call it ‘Day Zero.’ There’s been breathless US news coverage of pretty much every USA ‘presidential’ tweet. There’s barely a mention of a major, international city running out of water. What will happen to them — and the rest of us. Many who can drive visit a natural spring twice a month to fill up jugs. Will they be forced to give up their pets? — Because one dog water bowl holds one liter. Nurseries have let their workers go, as gardens lie crisped, unwatered, undeveloped. All containers capable of holding liquid have been bought up, including vases — will there ever again be flowers to salve the soul? Tourism will plummet. Will the elderly who have no-one lie unwashed?”
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: California Water Research requests Ex Parte communications with Governor's Office, CNRA: “California Water Research has filed a Public Records Act request to the State Water Resources Control Board, requesting that the Board disclose Ex Parte communications with the Governor’s office and the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) to the WaterFix Hearing parties. Communications regarding the WaterFix hearing, or permit terms for the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, are requested, according to a news release from California Water Research. California Water Research’s principal, Deirdre Des Jardins, stated, ‘the issue of providing increased flows to restore the Sacramento Delta estuary has become extremely politicized. The Board’s WaterFix Water Right Change Petition hearing is a quasi-judicial process and there needs to be better transparency’.”
Dan Bacher writes—Tribes and fishermen slam Trump plan to export more water from the Delta: “Members of the Yurok Tribe on the Klamath River, Hoopa Valley Tribe on the Trinity River, Winnemem Wintu Tribe on the McCloud River and the Pit River Tribe joined with commercial and recreational fishing groups and Restore the Delta to protest Trump administration water grab in front of the federal building on Capitol Mall in Sacramento on January 23. Many of them also later testified at a public comment period inside the building to to voice their opposition against the Trump Administration’s proposal to ‘maximize water deliveries’ to the federal Central Valley Project. In fact, every single one of the 15 people that spoke at the meeting testified against the increased exports plan. They spoke to stop a propose to increase Delta exports to agribusiness interests that could devastate populations of salmon, steelhead and other fish species on the Sacramento, Feather, American, San Joaquin, Trinity, and Klamath Rivers at a time when salmon populations on many rivers and Delta smelt numbers have reached historic lows.”
Dan Bacher writes—California WaterFix Hearing Rescheduled to February 8: “A critical hearing needed to approve Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial Delta Tunnels project has been delayed until February 8. The California Water Fix Hearing Team of the State Water Resources Control Board has delayed the hearing as it continues to review several motions to delay a key hearing by 90 days over alleged illegal exparte communications between the Board’s staff and California Department of Water Resources (DWR) personnel. The Part 2 hearing is considering the permit by DWR and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to change the point of water diversions required to build the tunnels, considered by opponents to be potentially the most environmentally unjust public works project in California history.”
ENERGY
rebel ga writes—Stop Northern Pass-Tell SEC To Deny Northern Pass New Hampshire: “The Northern Pass Transmission Project, which would slice through 192 miles of New Hampshire’s scenic landscapes and communities, is wildly unpopular in the state. Out of 31 towns that would be affected, 21 have stepped up to oppose it, and more than 95 percent of 4,500 public commenters have stated their strong opposition. [...] The line would carry hydroelectricity from Canada to southern New England, simply using New Hampshire as a huge extension cord to bring power to Massachusetts and Connecticut. New Hampshire needs our help to STOP Northern Pass from ruining its natural heritage. From the North Country to Concord, this project would destroy the scenic landscapes and habitats. The Northern Pass project will have negative impacts and is a bad idea for residents.
EARTHWORKS writes—California urges mining company: Stay out of Pebble mine: “Today, the California State Treasurer, John Chiang, sent a letter to First Quantum Minerals, a potential investor in the proposed Pebble Mine, urging the company to stay out of the controversial project. The State of California is one of the largest shareholders in First Quantum through the state’s pension funds. In the letter, Chiang says, ‘I am concerned that the Pebble Mine operation will trigger unavoidable significant environmental and social damage, infringe on the rights of indigenous peoples and raise a host of regulatory, operational, legal, and reputational risks for any company that pursues the endeavor.’ The California State Treasurer then calls on First Quantum to: ‘immediately undertake all measures necessary to sever any connections — financial or otherwise — with the Pebble Project or its owner Northern Dynasty Minerals, including termination of negotiations on a potential option agreement and any further financial payments to the Pebble Project’.”
MISCELLANY
Pakalolo writes—The exhaustion of Gaia: “Something horrible will happen tonight when Donald Trump sells his infrastructure plan to the nation in his first, and hopefully last, State of the Union address. The infrastructure plan is the wet dream come true for the Koch brothers and the Mercers. People may fall for his Make America Great Again ignorant rhetoric once again. We can count on the media to gobble the bullshit up, ignore nuance and cheer for a bipartisan plan to build what many imagine would be a green energy grid and modernization of and elimination of our fossil fuel dependent transportation systems. But it will be anything but that, and it will come with a heavy cost to pay. His plan will destroy the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act by gutting environmental regulations. Gaia is exhausted, she can’t take any more abuse. If we fail to stop this Administration’s assault on the earth, she will as George Carlin famously said, ‘shake us off like a bad case of fleas’.”