Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) returns! This is the 648th edition of the series. Here is the most recent previous edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it. You may also be interested in Earth Matters, my semi-weekly compendium of environmental stories.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
Major Kong writes—Electrify Your Ride: “We talk a lot about electric cars here but I haven’t seen much about electric bikes.For as long as there have been bicycles and motors, people have been trying to attach motors to bicycles. As far back as 1914 you could attach a Briggs and Stratton “motor wheel” to your bicycle and get 25 mph and 80 miles out of a tank of gasoline. Pretty good for 1914. E Bikes have been around for a while but have really come into their own in recent years. You can either buy one ready made or get a kit to convert an existing bike. Ready made E Bikes come in a lot of different flavors. The vast majority are what I would call ‘commuter’ or ‘city’ bikes but I’ve also seen fat-tire bikes, mountain bikes, folding bikes, beach cruisers, cargo bikes and even high-end road bikes with motors built in.”
Briggs and Stratton Motor Wheel circa early 1920s.
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Pakalolo writes—The whole fu@king world is on fire—in Brazil, fires sweep into the largest wetland on Earth: “Earth’s most extensive tropical wetland engulfed in a wildfire since the beginning of January. Still, recently the fires have accelerated due to climate change and human stupidity and greed. Plantlife and iconic wildlife are paying a devastating price in this human-made ecological calamity. The Pantanal is a massive area that includes parts of Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia. The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro has calculated that over 5.8 million acres have burned. Remarkably few animals have survived. Those that have are charred, and many need euthanization to end their excruciating suffering.”
giddy thing writes—Dawn Chorus: Found Feathers: “Finding a loose feather is a sweet, serendipitous gift of a bird in our midst, whether from a familiar resident, a secretive lurker, a migrant in transit, or the remnant of a predator’s meal. In Native American culture, a feather that falls to earth carries all of the bird’s energy and signifies honor and connection between the finder, the Creator, and the bird from which the feather came. When we find a loose feather, a first question we ask is: What bird did this belong to? Sometimes it’s obvious, but more often it’s not. Feather identification can be incredibly complex considering the many bird species using a habitat and the several types of feathers found on any one bird.”
WordsandBirds writes—Two condor chicks succumbed to the Dolan Fire: “Another casualty of the fires ravaging our precious West Coast, as reported yesterday on the condor refuge website, ventanaws.org: Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS) biologist Joe Burnett returned from the field yesterday in low spirits with the sad news that two condor chicks, chick #1022 and chick #1029, did not survive the Dolan Fire.”
WordsandBirds writes—Wonderous Warbler, Maybe: “My husband and I had just heard the “priDEEP” call of a Western Tanager one recent morning in Seattle when this bird landed in a Holm Oak. But while Western Tanager females can be pale, they have strong wing bars and don’t have caps. This bird appears to have no wing bars and a dark cap. However, the angle in these photos may obscure any wing bars. A knowledgeable birding buddy suggested a female Wilson’s Warbler. That made sense because of the cap, but this bird looked different from the female Wilson’s I’ve seen, as well as from photos in several sources. Finally I looked at Stokes, which showed a first-year female Wilson’s Warbler. That looks like the bird. What do others think? I’d appreciate any ideas. Another friend thinks the insect in its bill is a sawfly.”
Jeff Graham writes—Purple Martins: “Purple martins are the largest of the swallows. They had not been breeding in the Seattle area where I do most of my birding. When one martin was seen examining a wood duck box, it set in motion a transformation of the wood duck box into a swallow box. An addition was added to the other side of the wood duck box since martins have communal nesting areas. I had not successfully photographed a male purple martin, but I got my chance this year when two pairs of martins used the nesting boxes to rear young. The photos show a male in flight (not easy the way they dip and change directions quickly), an adult with two chicks on the box and two more in the hole of the box, and one where an adult is flying in to feed a bug to the chicks. The GBH on the box just added to my story. At one time, twenty purple martins were seen flying in the air near the nest box site. Several successful broods were hatched.”
David Neiwert writes—Therapy for the crazy season: The sound of orcas breathing: “The endangered Southern Resident orcas have been scarce in the San Juan Islands this summer, appearing for two weeks in July and then disappearing for the rest of the summer. Their appearance this year was full of hopeful signs, including several noteworthy pregnancies, and the fact that they largely appear to be well-fed. The J pod made a reappearance here Wednesday, passing by Lime Kiln Lighthouse on the western side of San Juan Island—close enough to hear their breathing, which is a marvelously therapeutic sound that places the listener immediately in the whales’ world. In this madhouse of a political season, it was a healing sound for some of us.”
CaptBLI writes—The Daily Bucket - Low to the ground: “I nearly walked over this beautiful fungus during my daily stroll. I love blue in nature and the different shade always catch my eye. With that bias stated, this is the most striking mushroom I have ever seen. My discovery got better with a bit more research. Let me tell you more about it. Just looking at the leaf litter, the top of the mushroom has a pale, powdery hue. When scratching the leaves off, I found a deeper blue emerged along my finger nail path, (as seen in the title photo). There were several growing together so I choose one to examine.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - smoke comes west after 80°F nor’easter windstorm: “Wildfire smoke is an ongoing horrible story for folks in the West this summer. We’ve been hearing reports from our California bucketeers; today western Washington is under a thick pall of it. The smoke is coming from the Eastern Washington wildfires, primarily the Evans fire out by Yakima. Last night the moon rose orangish so we knew it was coming in. This morning it’s dense and acrid. [...] The hot windstorm would have been the primary news to report from here: masses of leaves, needles and cones all over the yard, including fir scales. True firs bear cones on upper branches and the cones don’t fall off as units. The scales break off individually. In this unprecedented wind, they all broke away in one day. The chippies are probably in heaven.”
Lenny Flank writes—f: “Some Florida critters encountered during my daily walks.”
Squirrel with an M&M that someone gave him. He peeled off the candy part and ate the peanut.
Jeff Graham writes—Green heron likes to dance: “I get so much enjoyment watching birds. This green heron provided much entertainment as it caught fish, groomed and then made my wife and me break out into laughter as it broke out in a ‘funky chicken’ dance. ”
David Neiwert writes—All-too-brief orca gathering welcomes healthy new calf with its once-mourning mother: “Late last Saturday afternoon, seemingly out of the blue, whale watchers out in Haro Strait between San Juan and Vancouver islands were treated to what has become a rare event: a ‘superpod,’ one of the large gatherings of all three pods—some 72 whales—in the endangered Southern Resident killer-whale (SRKW) population of the Salish Sea. They put on a remarkable display, too: breaching, porpoising, romping with one another in an abundant show of play behavior, almost as if they were celebrating. They apparently had something to celebrate, too: J-35 Tahlequah, the pregnant 22-year-old female orca who had gained global attention in 2018 by mourning her dead calf for 17 straight days, showed off what appears to be a healthy new calf, promptly dubbed J-57. The news was greeted excitedly by the scientists studying the Southern Residents—although the gathering in Haro Strait was short-lived. The next day, the whales had vanished, returning to the coastal continental shelf where they have been spending the large majority of their time.”
Jelly Ear Fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae)
lostintheozarks writes—The Daily Bucket - There's a Fungus Among Us: “Douglas County, Missouri. September 7, 2020. Over the past few weeks we have had an unexpected amount of rainfall — not the flooding type, just a good soaking rain almost every day for about 10 days. On a recent morning walk I encountered several different types of fungi. Ahhh! A bucket full of mushrooms and other fungi is in the works! Most of the fungi I saw today were growing on tree trunks and boughs — most of which were fully alive, such as this Jelly (or wood) Ear Fungus: Auricularia auricula-judae, known as the wood ear, jelly ear, or by a number of other common names, is a species of edible Auriculariales fungus found worldwide. The fruiting body is distinguished by its noticeably ear-like shape and brown coloration; it grows upon wood, especially elder.”
After scratching that itch he realizes there are no bird feeders where he can get at them and senses that there are humans close by, so he ambles back in the direction of the woods.
lostintheozarks writes—The Daily Bucket - A Morning Surprise: “Douglas County Missouri. September 11, 2020. This morning we were sitting in the sun-room enjoying a quiet morning when all of a sudden I saw a dark figure meandering in our direction along the walkway through our woods toward our front yard. I managed to say “oh, oh, oh, bear!” And we both headed for our cameras. Mine was further away than his, so by the time I was ready to shoot, he had the prime position looking through the glass on our sun-room door. I had to settle for shooting through the screens on our windows!”
CLIMATE CHAOS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Two Moore Climate Denial Docs That Will Fail To Fill The Gore-Sized Hole In Denier’s Egos: “When Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, he won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, deniers have attacked Gore at every opportunity, but they’ve also tried their hardest to emulate his documentary’s groundbreaking mainstream relevance. They’ve failed, but not for lack of trying. The latest example, found at WUWT, comes from Canada, where one filmmaker’s denial doc was apparently nominated for an impressive six awards at the illustrious and world-renown Alberta Film and Television Awards. Oh-so-cleverly titled ‘Global Warning,’ the video apparently blames Calgary’s economic problems on climate policies. According to a story about it from last fall, the filmmaker started planning this documentary in 2008, and indeed, it sounds pretty stale, featuring the same cast of characters as similar works.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Dr. Curry’s Newest Kook: (Not Quite) Fresh New (False) Ideas From the “Ethical Skeptic": “The latest example of something that someone should’ve known better than to have posted comes from Dr. Judith Curry, who has reposted ‘a thought-provoking article from [her] new favorite blog, The Ethical Skeptic.’ She prefaces the post with an excerpt from the Ethical Skeptic’s about page, and to be honest it’s amazing Curry could see anything on the site through all the giant red flags indicating that this is a less-than-reputable source. The blog has the design feel of a frayed inspirational poster barely clinging to the wood-panel wall in the basement rec room of a youth ministry, yet the tone of the writing is more of a math student’s Adderall-addled impersonation of a philosophy professor. And then there’s the sidebar, which features a variety of definitely-very-real blurbs, like the glowing praise from ‘Tech Journalist,’ who said, ‘I suspect that I possess neither the lifetime nor competencies to grasp all that is said therein; nevertheless inside I also suspect greatness’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Climate Contrarian Movement In Europe Looks A Lot Like U.S. Denial: “The latest is from a group of Spanish academics, working with UC-Boulder denial expert Maxwell Boykoff to map out the European Climate Contrarian Movement. The paper, published just yesterday in the journal Climatic Change, not only examined which organizations are pushing climate denial, but then also examined their messages. They found, despite the rather different contexts, European denial looks and sounds quite similar to its American counterpart.”
PinkistheNewBlue writes—Global Warming - the Past is Our Future:
(The research paper is here.) Past and future trends in global mean temperature spanning the last 67 million years. Oxygen isotope values in deep-sea benthic foraminifera from sediment cores are a measure of global temperature and ice volume. Temperature is relative to the 1961-1990 global mean. Data from ice core records of the last 25,000 years illustrate the transition from the last glacial to the current warmer period, the Holocene. Historic data from 1850 to today show the distinct increase after 1950 marking the onset of the Anthropocene. Future projections for global temperature for three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios in relation to the benthic deep-sea record suggest that by 2100 the climate state will be comparable to the Miocene Climate Optimum (~16 million years ago), well beyond the threshold for nucleating continental ice sheets. If emissions are constant after 2100 and are not stabilized before 2250, global climate by 2300 might enter the hothouse world of the early Eocene (~50 million years ago) with its multiple global warming events and no large ice sheets at the poles. Credit: Westerhold et al., CENOGRID
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
Mark Sumner writes—To fight forest fires, we may need ... more forests. And much better data about the changing climate: “There is absolutely no doubt that the horrendous fire season in the western half of the United States is directly attributable to human-caused climate change, and not to either fairy-tale terrorists or a failure to sweep the forest floors. Intensification of seasons, with shifting rainfall patterns and extremes of temperature, have made for a whole series of nightmare events in the West over the last decade. And that’s even when there are not increasingly common thunderstorm blasting the scenery with tens of thousands of fire-starting bolts. Still, just knowing the root cause of the life-threatening fires doesn’t help when it comes to fighting them. Something that would help: Predictions. Knowing when fires might start, the areas that are most threatened, and achieving greater accuracy in determining wildfire risks would help to allocate resources, plan budgets, and understand where fires are going, not just right now, but over the coming years.”
FoundingFatherDAR writes—Gov. Newsom Tours Butte Co. Fire Damage, Unloads About Climate Change and Path Forward:
Homer J writes—They're evacuating Shaver Lake. The mountaintop is on fire. We knew this day would come: “My family’s world is one of smoke and fire today. Our family has a home down the hill from Shaver Lake, CA near the base of the escarpment of the High Sierra, in the shadow of Black Mountain. Black Mountain is pine forest and it used to be green. But five years of drought weakened the trees, killing some of them. The warmer winters allowed bark beetles - normally dormant in sub-freezing winters - to kill off thousands of trees out our back window. Two years ago, Black Mountain turned brown - from dead trees. The whole area above us is a tinderbox.
Yesterday, they closed off Route 168 eastbound, the four-lane road up the mountain. The closure point is in Prather, a little more than a mile from our place. It's closed to all but emergency vehicles.”
Homer J writes—Creek Fire: We Lost Cressman's overnight. Our family had to evacuate. The worst may be yet to come: “The Creek Fire continues to make national headlines. Military chopper pilots and crews have rescued another 78 people today who had been trapped on the mountain amid the flames. The have battled thick smoke and hellish terrain, often trying again and again to land safely. Some of those rescued have sought safety wading into lakes and reservoirs. There are still more waiting and praying for rescue. [...] Our family had to evacuate our home yesterday. More on that later. I’m still trying to process the loss of a little general store that’s been a part of the area for more than a century, and means a lot to me personally. We lost Cressman’s General Store to the fire last night. Cressman’s was located in Pine Ridge, at the 4,000 foot level, midway from the bottom of the four lane road to Shaver Lake. It had been there since 1904, back when logging was king. Before Shaver and China Peak/Sierra Summit were resorts, and before PG&E built generating stuff at Shaver and Huntington and Edison Lakes, Cressman’s was there.”
Homer J writes—Creek Fire: Smoke blots out sun, temps 30 degrees lower, stories of loss. We may still have a home: “Creek Fire Update as of Friday morning: 6% containment. 100,000 gallons of retardant dumped Thursday to hold the line. Winds were generally calm. The fire has now consumed 175,000 acres, which equals about 275 square miles, or four times the size of Washington, DC. The smoke is so heavy up the mountain towards Shaver Lake that the TV crew that went up to see what was left of Cressman’s yesterday had to turn back part of the way up the hill this morning. The reporter said it was getting too smoky in their car and the air filtration system couldn’t handle it all, so they went back down the hill to Sierra High School to do their 530am live shot. Today’s heavy smoke will hamper visibility, and that will make fighting the fire by air even more difficult this morning, if not impossible in some places.”
lineatus writes—The West Coast is burning. Thoughts? “This is the view to the west from my home in San Francisco. It’s 10:30 am and looks like twilight. Cars have headlights on. The sky is the color of a rusty steel beam, or maybe tea with a splash of milk. The smoke going past is from fires hundreds of miles away in Northern California and Oregon. Looking at the satellite maps it will probably continue for a few days. And we’re lucky — it’s just the smoke here, not the actual flames. That will take months to end. I hope that Biden and/or Harris talk about what’s happening out here. You know that 45 won’t, at least not in a way that shows any genuine concern for the people. We were fortunate that our 90 year old family cabin, built by hubby’s family from scrap lumber during the depression, was not lost in the Santa Cruz fires a few weeks ago. Even more fortunate, our neighbors there — all full-time residents — came through safely. But though our little community was safe (this time) other friends and beloved local businesses lost their homes in the fires”
Grabber by the Heel writes—Our valley is on fire: “Our Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon is on fire. Areas of Ashland, all of Phoenix, all of Talent, and all of Medford are being evacuated. The pastures, pear groves, and wineries are swept with flames and high winds, and the local channels 5, 10, 12, all owned by national media conglomerates, are airing America’s Got Talent, Love Island, and What Would you Do?”
ninkasi23 writes—West Coast Fires: Disaster Check In! “There are so many devastating fires all throughout the Pacific Northwest and California that many of us are worried about fellow kossacks as well as family & friends. Information is spotty and localized so finding reliable stuff is important! I’m here in Medford OR and we are ok,so far. The fires near us were terrible Tuesday night and I am getting lots of info from Facebook and Twitter regarding evacuation alerts as well as resources. I will be putting up links as I can and welcome folks to add important stuff in the comments.”
Dan K writes—Apocalypse San Francisco [Update with Satellite View]: “We get sunrise in San Francisco around a quarter to seven these days. Which is about when the cats get me up (I’m the one they expect to feed them). This morning the cats were late, and when I looked out the window I could see why — it was pitch black outside. For the last couple of days we’ve been able to look at the sun through breakfast without even blinking, because the smoke layer was thick enough. This morning, and even now (11:15), we can’t even find it. What’s happening is that smoke from several fires is accumulating high over San Francisco — so at least our air quality is OK. But underneath that is a layer of heavy fog, which came in last evening around 6 and is only now starting to break up.”
funningforrest writes—
The Daily Bucket. A Succession of Smoke: (A photo diary) “
It started quietly enough. The lightning that came through on August 17 made little thunder here where I live in Quincy, CA. The sky was merely overcast, no big cumulonimbus clouds with anvil tops, no gusty winds or rain or hail, no brilliant flashes from lightning bolts. But Mother Nature can be subtle in Her appearance and movement yet devastating in Her strength and punches.”
Besame writes—I hate to do this again, but the west coast is burning so let's have a wildfire check in: “I’ve lost track of all the fires in California, Oregon, and Washington. It feels like the whole west coast is aflame or darkened by smoke and ash. I know fires are raging in other states but for the past day, my focus has been from southeast Washington through Oregon to northern California. The Creek Fire that triggered dramatic helicopter rescues of campers is further south, as is the fire started by the ridiculous gender reveal stunt. In Oregon, a fire started just north of Ashland and burned up the I-5 corridor to Medford but reports are it has calmed, spared Medford and some evacuations have been downgraded. Another Oregon fire east of Eugene (Santiam Fire) burned down several small towns along the McKenzie River. There are too many more fires to list. CalTopo has a real-time map of the fires with wind speed/direction. Big Sur’s Dolan Fire has info here.”
Meteor Blades writes—Smoke and flames engulf West Coast as blazes force evacuation of 12% of Oregon's population: “The California governor said, ‘We don't have a fire season anymore. It starts in the beginning of the year and goes all year around and so it has created, of course, big challenges.’ That isn’t Gavin Newsom, the current Democratic governor, talking. It’s Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was the Republican governor in 2008. It didn’t make the relentless climate science deniers filling the ranks of his party’s elite happy when he dared blame the situation at least partly on climate change. Scientists have no doubt. As apocalyptic wildfires in California, Oregon, Washington, and other Western states burn millions of acres, destroy thousands of structures, kill scores of people, blanket the air with unhealthy smoke, and force the evacuation of dozens of communities, denial has become ever less tenable and the not-so-distant future ever more worrisome.”
Aldous J Pennyfarthing writes—Trump hasn't tweeted about West Coast wildfires since November, when he tweeted nonsense: “I live in Oregon. My state is burning. People are losing their homes and being forced to evacuate. I’m choking on smoke and God knows what else. Where is Donald Trump? Oh, that’s right. I live in a blue state. Never mind. So in case you’ve never checked out the Trump Twitter archive, I can tell you from experience that it’s a great resource [...] I know Trump has no chance of winning Oregon — or California or Washington — so he obviously doesn’t give a shit about what happens to us. But could he at least pretend to care?”
Lefty Coaster writes—Trump hasn't mentioned the Western Wildfire Crisis in over four weeks (because he hates the West): “The last time Mr Trump even mentioned the wildfire crisis in the west was August 20th, when he provided this ridiculous, childish advice: Trump hits California officials over wildfires: 'You've got to clean your floors'. [...] ‘And I see again, the forest fires are starting,’ Trump said. ‘They're starting again in California. And I said, you've got to clean your floors. You've got to clean your floors.’ ‘I've been telling them this now for three years, but they don't want to listen,’ he added.”
Lurker in the Dark writes—Oregon Wildfire Maps: “Wanted to provide a couple Map resources to track size, direction, and areas impacted by the Wildfires raging in Oregon. The sites below can also be used to track fires all up and down the west coast as well as inland states. NASA Satellite Map. Appears to be accurate and up to date. Inciweb. InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident information management system. Good information, sometimes slow to update as it relies on front-line assessments/updates and God knows those folks are busy. Either search for specific incident or state and map will zoom in. You can also zoom in/out by using the controls on the left hand side of the screen.”
DocLT writes—
An update on Monterey bay area CA's heat wave: “Last week folk in the foothills were breathing smoke from our Bay Area fires. So today we’ve been breathing their smoke from the Creek Fire, which is the fire that caused Shaver Lake to be evacuated as well as surrounding over 100 campers at Mammoth Pool reservoir, who required rescue by helicopter. Our particle count all day over pretty much the entire San Francisco Bay area was over 150 ppm > 2.5 microns, which is unhealthy and likely to result in respiratory symptoms even for those without underlying conditions if exposed for 24 hours. Unlike yesterday, there was some temperature relief at the beaches—not everywhere on the coast but at select locations, abating within the first mile away from shore.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—CA Water Justice, Tribal Advocates Host “Mobilizing for Water Justice" Webinar Series Sept. 14-18: “The organizers of the Advocacy and Water Protection in Native California Speakers Series are hosting a new webinar series aimed at taking action against environmental racism and for water justice in California. Humboldt State University Native American Studies and Save California Salmon are organizing the ‘Mobilizing for Water Justice in California’ Webinar Series on Sept. 14-18 at 3:30 p.m. The series will focus on taking action for issues related to water diversions and dams on Native lands, water privatization, environmental racism and access to clean water. Webinars will be an hour long and will include an overview of a water injustice and an opportunity to take action.”
Dan Bacher writes—Trump Administration announces public comment period extension for Shasta Dam proposal to October 5: “The Bureau of Reclamation today announced a “virtual open” house website for the controversial Shasta Dam raise proposal EIS, officially known as the Shasta Lake Water Resources Investigation Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement: http://www.virtualpublicengagement.com/usbr_shasta/index.html. Additionally, the public comment period is extended to October 5 to allow more time for public engagement.Reclamation has been pushing the dam raise proposal for years to deliver more Sacramento River water to the Westlands Water District and other corporate agribusiness interests in the San Joaquin Valley. The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, other California Tribes, environmental groups and fishing organizations are opposing the proposal because it would result in the destruction of imperiled salmon and steelhead populations and result in the inundation of the remaining sacred cultural sites of the Winnemem Wintu. In an enormous conflict of interest David Bernhardt, the Secretary of Interior, is a former lobbyist for the Westlands Water District, the main proponent of the dam raise proposal.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
poopdogcomedy writes—IA-Sen: Climate Denier Joni Ernst (R) Is About To Face A Reckoning With Iowa Farmers: “Inside Climate News has been doing profiles on the major races this year and how climate change has been an issue in these races. One of the big races they’ve been following is the Iowa U.S. Senate race between U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R. IA) and businesswoman Theresa Greenfield (D. IA): The state has been battered by a succession of droughts, floods and heatwaves in recent years. Then in August, a freakish series of hurricane-force "derecho" storms swept across the central part of the state, decimating 10 million acres of crops, or about 40 percent of the state's output. The state's farmers—largely conservative and resistant to the science of climate change—have had to accept that something is, indeed, happening. Ernst, who has repeatedly said she doesn't believe that human-caused emissions are fueling a warming atmosphere, does not connect that erratic, destructive weather to climate change.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENS
Missys Brother writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blog - Vol. 16.37: when life gives you tomatoes, make Gazpacho! “Gazpacho is truly one of summer’s finest pleasures in our household. It is like drinking pure vitamins straight up as a liquid salad. Gazpacho origins are thought to date back to the 7th century. Benefits: Whatever the ingredients, gazpacho is a healthy soup rich in minerals, antioxidants, fiber and in vitamins C, A and E. Red tomatoes, for example, are high in carotenoids such as lycopene and beta-carotene, antioxidants that can prevent prostate cancer, high blood pressure and eye problems. There are literally hundreds of gazpacho recipes online. My spouse, P, is originally from Chile (Spanish with a heavy dose of German and Irish thrown into the mix), lived in New York City for over twenty years and while there had a lot of Chilean friends. A few of them had lived in Spain for years and this is where our recipe below comes from. P is quite a chef and never uses recipes or cookbooks. (exception is The Gaijin Cookbook but mainly for inspiration) Also each batch of gazpacho is never quite the same but always delicious. The three main Spanish ingredients are tomatoes, green bell peppers and cucumbers and they also insist on Sherry Vinegar.”
MISCELLANY
paradox writes—Those Far-Left Radicals and Their Electric Engines: “The second major immediate change will be the disappearance of gasoline, thank god, the angels, Buddha and Mohammed the fucking internal combustion age is over too. All of our engines—the cars, the yard appliances, the compressors—all of them will very soon be replaced with electric engines, we can’t wreck the atmosphere for future generations, they deserve the same environment chance given to us. What sacrifice us liberals demand from the country, yes, the radicalism is amazing, isn’t it? Replace one type of engine with another, oh my god, you mean the air will always be clear? Every day? The asthma and bronchitis diseases will vanish from our children? The Middle East will no longer have us by the balls? Oh my god, the terror of it all!”
Meteor Blades writes—Earth Matters: Orca that lost calf 2 years ago has another; green groups fund Democratic candidates: “Earth Matters is a Daily Kos compendium of wonderful, disturbing, and hideous news briefs about the environment. • Sen. Tom Udall reportedly on Biden’s short list for interior secretary: The New Mexico senator announced last year that he wouldn’t run for a third term in 2020, but he said at the time he wasn’t retiring from politics. Others—including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee—are on the list, but sources say Udall is on top. Six decades ago, President John F. Kennedy picked Udall's father, Stewart Udall, to serve as interior secretary, and he is widely viewed as having been exemplary in the post he held for eight years. Sen. Udall was also considered for the job in 2013 when Ken Salazar resigned. Sally Jewell was chosen instead.”
mettle fatigue writes—Closing the loop: UBQ plant in Netherlands converting waste into plastic, wood, concrete substitutes: “UBQ’s patented process converts landfill-destined household waste into a sustainable, bio-based thermoplastic material. This novel composite material can substitute for conventional plastic, wood and concrete in the manufacturing of thousands of everyday products. [...] Diverting the waste from landfills prevents the emission of methane, groundwater leakage and other toxins. According to Quantis, a leading provider of environmental impact assessments, every ton of UBQ Material produced diverts 11.7 tons of CO2 equivalent, qualifying it as ‘the most climate positive thermoplastic material on the planet’ [...] The Netherlands facility is expected to produce 70,000 tons of UBQ material per year for the manufacturing of everything from construction goods (like pipes, bricks, floors, roofing and panels) to supply chain logistics (like shipping pallets, bins, crates and display units) and even 3D printing.”
