The spotlight is a weekly, categorized compilation of links and excerpts from environmentally related posts at Daily Kos. It appears at 11 a.m. Pacific Time each Sunday. Any posts included in the collection do not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of them. Because of the interconnectedness of the subject matter, some of these posts can be placed in more than one category.
CRITTERS & THE GREAT OUTDOORS
The Daily Bucket - fish diversity on the reef: odd shaped swimmers by OceanDiver. Just back from my happy place — I’ve been floating around in the warm tropical waters of coral reefs watching the wildlife going about their daily activities. This time we went to the atolls off the coast of Belize, a remote enough location for the reefs to be as healthy as coral reef ecosystems can be these days. To be sure we did see some signs of stress, but with relative isolation and active protection measures (to which scuba divers contribute by Belizean law), on the outer islands you get a chance to see some of the amazing biodiversity of this special world, the most diverse and threatened ecosystem in the world. One feature of that diversity is the variety of niches since a lot of creatures are packed together in a limited three dimensional setting, interact in highly complex relationships, and must have functional ways avoid too much competition for food. Amongst the fish, one consequence is a surprising range of shapes. Typically fish have a fusiform shape, ie wide in the middle and tapering at both ends, an effective shape for fast hydrodynamic swimming. Such fish mostly swim using their whole body, as these do in the video below, an assemblage of many kinds congregating on a coral knob, a common sight for divers.
Red-breasted Sapsucker
The Daily Bucket. A spring day at Williams Loop, Spring Garden, CA. by funningforrest. Williams Loop is a complete 360o circle of railroad, east of Quincy, CA about eight miles with an elevation increase from Quincy of just a bit over four hundred feet. In fact, it is explicitly elevation gain that is the entire purpose of this circle of railroad; by going around the circle, about one mile in circumference, there is an elevation gain over a nominal 1% grade that is equivalent to more like 3%. If you don’t know much about railroads, let me just reassure you that three percent, in railroading terms, is considered rather darn steep. [...] On my walk into the loop from where I stashed my bicycle my first wildlife encounter was a Red-breasted Sapsucker. Rather obvious that this tree is a well-exploited food source for this bird, and perhaps generations preceding.
President Biden Is Saving Trees: Boosting Biden Day 85 by GoodNewsRoundup. President Biden has shown a real commitment to trees — right from the beginning of his presidency. As Vox explained a couple of years ago, 2021 was a game-changing year for trees! The year started out bleak for some of the nation’s most important forest ecosystems. The outgoing Trump administration slashed federal protection for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest — the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest — and finalized a rule to stop protecting more than 3 million acres of the Pacific Northwest that’s home to the northern spotted owl, a threatened bird. Biden reversed these policies, and others, after taking office. “We’ve now had 12 months to get us back to where we were in 2016,” said Aaron Weiss, deputy director at the Center for Western Priorities, a research and advocacy group. “I don’t know if you can call that progress as much as it is stopping the bleeding.”
Daily Bucket - Quiet Time at the Yolo Bypass Nature Area by Cal Birdbrain. The waters that closed the Yolo Bypass Nature Area two weeks ago finally dissipated, leaving only traces that any flooding had ever happened. Most of the ponds are dry meadows. Yolo in May is a far different place than it is in December. During the winter, it teems with hundreds of migrant birds spending their time on flooded rice fields in the mild winter weather of California. The rice paddies in May are nothing but dirt, tilled and ready for planting. Most of the birds have left with just a few permanent residents in the area. [...] I wandered over earlier this week to see who stayed behind. There were a few birds hanging around the remnants of the ponds. All were a distance. Our year-round birds include the snowy and great egrets, great blue heron, killdeer, mallards, red-winged blackbirds, mourning doves and ring-necked pheasants.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY & EXTREME WEATHER
Guardian survey: 52% of climatologists under age 50 think we're headed for disastrous 3°C (5.4°F) by Meteor Blades. The Guardian reached out to “every contactable lead author or review editor” of reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2018. Of 843 contacted, 380 replied: Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating above preindustrial levels, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met.Damian Carrington, who wrote The Guardian story, noted that while a quarter of those who replied said it’s still possible to hold the average global temperature to a rise of 1.5°C, even most of them are gloomy about enough action being taken to achieve that goal. Said Henry Neufeldt, at the U.N.’s Copenhagen Climate Center: “I am convinced that we have all the solutions needed for a 1.5°C path and that we will implement them in the coming 20 years. But I fear that our actions might come too late and we cross one or several tipping points.” The survey found that 52% of respondents under 50 expect a temperature rise of at least 3°C. That compares with 38% of those over 50. Women scientists were more pessimistic than male counterparts, with 49% thinking global temperature would rise at least 3°C, compared with 38% of men.
Atmospheric CO2 Increasing at Record Rate: Accelerating our fossil foolish leap off a cliff by A Siegel. In the clean economy revolution, globally, there are truly many great stories and tremendous advances. Solar power continues its double-digit growth, clean generation is blowing away fossil fuels in new power plants, battery prices continue to fall rapidly , 40 million Ebikes were sold globally in 2023, and the list goes on. For the optimist side of this pessimistic optimist, there are too many to keep track of positive developments. Well, so much for today’s positive side of the optimistic pessimist. While there are tremendous clean economy advances, it is hard to see their impact in the real world when considering what is going on with the Keeling Curve — the measurement of atmospheric CO2 at Mt Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Not only are atmospheric CO2 levels higher with every passing moment*, 2023 saw the fastest Co2 emission growth ever recorded (e.g., ever happened in a single year during humanity’s existence). March 2024 was 4.7 parts per million (ppm) higher than March 2023. The second highest year-to-year was 4.1 for 2015/2016.
2023: Highest Co2 Emission Growth Ever Recorded
Fixing the Constitution: Why it is a Matter of Life and Death for Billions of People by Erik of Mpls. The flaws of the US Constitution not only prevent us from taking needed action on urgent crises, they also distort our self-image as a country. When we dare to peek between our fingers at the predicted impact of climate change, the reality is horrifying and depressing: tens, maybe hundreds of millions dying, hundreds of millions forced to migrate, ecosystems disrupted or collapsing. And while the provisions to fight climate change included in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 are significant, it has been striking how slow and halting America’s action on this front has been in comparison with much of the industrialized world. So why don’t Americans care? We don’t we act? It is beyond frustrating to see that seemingly half the country votes for a party that promotes the idea that climate change is a hoax and advances policies that will actively make the situation worse. How is real progress possible when half the population are committed to this delusion as a core part of their political identity? Except they aren’t. Sure, too many people deny the reality of climate change, but it’s way under half. According to a 2022 Pew Research Poll 69% of Americans favor the US taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050, while only 28% oppose. Similarly, 67% want the US to prioritize developing renewable energy, while 32% want us to prioritize fossil fuels. Even among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 42% want us to prioritize renewables, including 67% of Republicans under 30.
New York Times Doomerism by Dooey. Climate Change—The Planet is heating up. If we don’t make changes it will get really unpleasant for humans. Doomerism—This is extinction. You will die from climate change. We will all die from climate change—and that moment is here unfolding right now.I was impressed to find a deeper level of conversation from the NYT on Climate change. Here is the summary—1. the ocean is heating much faster than the scientists NYT consults with expected.This is bad and it is so bad that we haven’t really imagined what this reality will be like. It’s gonna happen. 2. The polar caps are gonna melt. That’s really really bad. If you didn’t know these things and want to hear East Coast intellectuals mull over the obvious with great panache and erudite verbiage—this is for you.
April was the moistest on record, evidence of a long-predicted water vapor humidity feedback by Pakalolo. Ben Noll is a meteorologist at the Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand. He is responsible for monitoring the atmosphere's moisture content and discovered a record-setting pattern of increasing moisture. He found that April was the wettest month on record, and March was the wettest month on record.That is not all. For eleven consecutive months, the Earth has experienced unprecedented heat temperatures. Last month, it was 1.58 Celsius warmer than the average, per Copernicus. The ocean, the largest ecosystem on Earth, comprising seventy percent of the planet's surface area, has been the warmest recorded daily for the past thirteen months. Part of that warming can be attributed to El Nino, a natural climate cycle, as well as the greenhouse effect. The issue is that increasing water vapor is due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.
The conditions are beyond dire in Gaza-punishing summer heat will only intensify agony in the strip by Pakalolo. Eleven days ago in Gaza, a heatwave topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit enveloped the Gaza strip, bringing with it even more misery, which piled on to starvation, no potable water, the smells of decomposing bodies buried under tons of rubble with raw sewage seemingly everywhere as conditions continued to deteriorate across the occupied territory. Health officials worry that the two-day wave of extreme heat for this time of year is an ominous sign of exacerbating epidemics and infectious disease outbreaks. Germs, pollution, and exposure to vectors such as mosquitos create waterborne and airborne diseases. Well over one million Palestinians are crammed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Most are housed in makeshift tents and under tarps, exposed to the cold and rain in winter. Summer is coming, and a two-day heatwave is a preview of what is to come, with temperatures predicted to be in the 120 F to 140 F range in the months ahead.The refugees are starving, sick, and weak; there is no anesthesia for treating bombing and sniper victims' wounds. Heat domes could be the final blow for hundreds of thousands.
Wildfires from 2023 reignite, and thousands from NE British Columbia and possibly Alberta evacuate by Pakalolo. Last night in NE British Columbia, 3000 residents of Fort Nelson and the nearby First Nation of Fort Nelson and Prophet River First Nations were ordered to evacuate their homes after a fast-moving wildfire advanced on the localities. The blaze started yesterday afternoon seven and a half miles from Fort Nelson. Residents with vehicles were asked to take those with no transportation options to consider taking them with them. The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) and the Fort Nelson First Nation advised residents to take the Alaskan Highway south, a four-hundred-long mile single-lane highway, to avoid fires to the north. Flames blocked the northern route close to the Yukon border.
Southern Brazil flooding continues to worsen. The imagery is apocalyptic, I am by Pakalolo. Southern Brazil has been hit hard by record rainfall for weeks. There has been a pause as the rain bands moved and dumped rain in Uruguay for the past two days. That is about to change as the storms move back to Southern Brazil. Too many have lost their lives or are missing, thousands are homeless and stranded, there is little food and water is contaminated, and the severity of the damage is so vast the government is overwhelmed. Four million people are affected, and 800,000 need assistance. The current situation remains dire. These disasters are not easy to recover from. Brasileros are in for a lot of suffering and PTSD. Acapulco is just a remnant of what it once was before Hurricane Otis last year; it has been described as a “grim scene.” We will receive our first summer heatwave in the US, and I’m really scared. Even though the heat has swept the globe, we in the US are not ready. We are as vulnerable to extreme and potent weather as much as Brazil. Republican States such as Texas and Florida are denying outdoor workers a sip of cold water and a ten-minute break in the shade on occasion. How cruel can they get?
Flash flooding kills hundreds in Afghanistan after torrential rainfall by Pakalolo. Afghanistan is ranked fourth among the nations most at risk from our changing climate "and eighth on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index of countries most vulnerable and least prepared to adapt to climate change. The nation is totally unprepared for what is bearing down on them. Afghans face their fourth year of severe drought. According to the United Nations, sixty percent of the population depends on rain-fed agriculture. However, rainfall and snowfall patterns are changing and ravaging agriculture, which leads to malnutrition, disease, and a reduced food supply in the decades-long war-ravaged nation. Drought is the most frequently reported shock experienced by households in Afghanistan, increasing from 39 per cent in 2021 to 64 per cent in 2022. Today, 25 out of 34 provinces experience either severe or catastrophic drought conditions, affecting more than 50 per cent of the population.
Massive flooding sparked by heavy rains on Friday kill more than 200 people and destroy or damage thousands of houses in Afghanistan’s Baghlan province
Soooo... I think things are heating up in Palestine by Peter Olandt. I noticed that in addition to Israel harming Palestinians, that climate change had begun to harm them too. The area is rather dry and even if the Palestinians get control of their own water sources, weather is becoming more unpredictable and heat waves are likely in that area. I thought that we might install a space umbrella to shade just the Palestinians to make things cooler for them. The orbital mechanics of it seem a little tricky so I haven’t figured it out yet. We’d probably have to make it really big and put it the Earth/Sun L1 Lagrangian. But then we’d still need daily orbital corrections to keep it over Palestine. Perhaps we can fly planes overhead seeding cloud layers at the right level? But really the easiest way would be for everyone to get together and decide not to keep putting CO2 and methane into the air. I know this is not important for the rest of the world, but thousands of Palestinians will probably die due to global warming unless we do something. I’m pretty sure we’ve missed several important CO2 targets already and the longer we delay the worse the damage to the Palestinians.
Trump promises he'll destroy Earth if Big Oil execs give him $1 billion by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing. The next time a MAGA tries to convince you the Biden family engages in influence peddling, show them this story. Just as Donald Trump plotted to withhold congressionally approved money for Ukraine unless its president did him “a favor,” he’s now vowing to make the fossil fuel industry’s pre-apocalyptic dreams come true. All he needs in exchange is a $1 billion cash infusion to his campaign. Assuming you’re not Rep. James Comer—who’s so into Trump, the producers of “The Human Centipede” franchise have a viable case for trademark infringement—it’s clear that the kinds of things Republicans are falsely accusing President Joe Biden of doing are the very things that Trump does all the time … and openly. And, indeed, he’s so openly corrupt, he’s barely trying to hide it anymore.
Trump is Willing to Trade Our Children’s Future for a Billion Dollars by ThomHartmann. The Washington Post revealed yesterday that Donald Trump told a group of fossil fuel executives that if they’d give him a billion-dollar bribe, he’d use it to become president and then eliminate all of President Biden’s environmental regulations and prevent any new ones from coming into law. The industry barons had been grumbling that they’d already spent more than $400 million lobbying the Biden administration over the past year to little effect. They really shouldn’t have a basis to complain: just the three largest oil companies operating in America made $85.65 billion dollars in profits last year, which they could split up among shareholders and senior executives. Nonetheless, Trump’s brazen appeal for them to grease his palm seemed to shock even these hardened planet-killers.
Hurricane Season is coming; will the Hurricane Hunters be able to handle the increasing workload? by Xaxnar. Hurricane Hunters Say They Need More C-130s To Meet Record-High Demand...As hurricane season gets longer and storms roam farther north, the Airmen of the 53rd find themselves flying more storms farther from their home station with the 403rd Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. There is no rest in the winter, when the squadron travels to the Pacific to gather data on atmospheric rivers: massive bodies of vapor that dump snow and rain on the west coast. With just 10 aging WC-130J aircraft and 20 crews, the Airmen and their equipment are feeling the pinch. “The resources we’re working with today were established and set in 1996 and no significant changes have happened since the
The Great Disruption - Part 3 - Heat Waves by Philip S Wenz. The Heat Will Kill You First — Title of a 2023 book by environmental writer Jeff Goodell. The remote mountain settlement of Lytton, British Columbia, home to about 250 people, essentially exploded on the evening of June 30, 2021. A wildfire that started just south of town, and was pushed north by 44 mph winds, swept through the entire community in minutes as residents fled with no time to collect their belongings or even warn others. The advancing fire’s force was so powerful that water from volunteer firefighters’ hoses was blown back toward them; so hot that propane tanks detonated as it passed. Two residents were killed immediately, and ninety percent of Lytton’s homes and businesses were destroyed. Similar wildfires recently have destroyed other towns, of course—Lahaina, Hawaii, and Paradise, California, come to mind — but the Lytton fire was directly connected to an extreme climatological event, the Western North America Heat Wave, that gripped the Pacific Northwest from late June through mid-July of 2021. During that time, regional temperatures ranged between 20ºF and 35ºF above seasonal norms. Temperature records were broken from Salem, Oregon, to the Yukon, and related unseasonal warming occurred as far east as Labrador, Canada. The day before the fire, Lytton’s thermometer reading of 121.3ºF — more than twice the area’s seasonal average of 52ºF — shattered Canada’s all-time heat record.
Heritage Foundation to Project 2025s Critics: ‘Radical leftists are terrified … and they should be’ by Bill Berkowitz. The Heritage Foundation, the country’s most powerful right wing think-tank, has come under intense scrutiny by journalists and progressive activists over Project 2025 -- also known as the Presidential Transition Project – and its 900-+ page Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, an authoritarian blueprint for seizing. and maintaining, hard line conservative political power for decades to come. Project 2025’s agenda, backed by more than 100 right-wing organizations, is detailed in Mandate for Leadership, a version of which Heritage has written as transition plans for each prospective Republican president since 1981. This year’s version of Mandate for Leadership is its most complete and toxic ever as it puts democratic institutions and democratic ideals on the chopping block by threatening civil and human rights, eliminating reproductive rights, infusing the government with Christian values, denying climate change, rounding up and deporting undocumented people, taking over the Justice Department, intimidating journalists.
Climate Crisis -- What Are Your Plans For Fire? by birches. This week’s question is What are your plans for fire? In a hotter world of more extreme temps, we all need to be planning for fire. Preparedness. SF has burnt to the ground multiple times, most famously in 1906, so preparing for fire is a big deal here. SF is mostly wood until you get downtown but, as we’ve seen with the CA fires of the last few years, metal burns and melts, too. In SF, there’s no space between us and neighboring buildings; walls touch. A suburb in Santa Rosa burned to the ground in the Tubbs Fire in 2017, and that’s with distance between each house. [...] The insurance industry is waking up to the fact that the fossil fuel industry has put them on a hook, and they’re increasingly refusing to sell or renew policies for homeowners in much of CA. This will spread. Reinsurers have been freaking out for a while about big payouts year after year, and the increasing size and frequency of massive fires is making the insurance industry start to freak out, too.
Overnight News Digest for May 8 (Worms Ate My Brain edition) by jeremybloom. The Guardian (UK) — World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target. Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds ...Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met.
ENERGY, TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Oil company profits and Subsidies by nailkeg. Subsidies provided to oil companies in the United States have been a contentious issue for many years, with critics arguing that these subsidies are a form of corporate welfare that benefits already profitable companies. On the other hand, proponents of these subsidies argue that they are necessary to support domestic energy production, create jobs, and maintain energy security. For the years 2021,2022, and2023, the government subsidies provided to oil companies in the United States have remained relatively consistent. According to data from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), the estimated value of subsidies for oil and gas production in the U.S. was $20.5 billion in 2021, $21.1 billion in 2022, and is projected to be $21.8 billion in 2023. These subsidies come in the form of tax breaks, direct payments, and other incentives designed to support the exploration, production, and distribution of oil and gas. The reasons for these subsidies vary from country to country, but generally include supporting domestic energy production, maintaining energy security, and promoting economic growth. However, these subsidies also have negative impacts on the environment, as they encourage the production and consumption of fossil fuels, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to climate change.
Renewable Tuesday 5/7: It's Finally Happening EVERYWHERE by Mokurai. Countries making the most progress on renewables rate a lot of attention, but we need to look at the other end of the spectrum, too. Compare the UK, above, with Turkmenistan, below, just starting its first real solar projects, or Benin, one of the poorest countries in Africa. Which Country Uses the Least Alternative Energy? Countries like the United Arab Emirates Benin, Bahrain, Botswana, Kuwait, Mongolia, Oman, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore are listed by the Data World Bank as countries with virtually 0% of their energy being sourced from alternative and nuclear means. Both oil-rich and desperately poor countries on this list are opening up serious development in renewables in 2024 for the first time.
Want better passenger rail in America? Recent good news! by Xaxnar. As a Rail Evangelist for Solutionary Rail, a supporter of the Climate Rail Alliance, a member of the Empire State Passengers Association (ESPA), and a member of the Rail Passengers Association (RPA), I try to keep an eye on what’s happening with railroads in America. I’m passing on some recent passenger news and commentary of interest. Location, Location, Location. With plans for Amtrak expansion across the country thanks to Amtrak Joe and the Infrastructure Act, a lot of things are in motion. Part of the struggle to improve passenger service in America often turns on seemingly small choices and interactions between government at local, state and federal level. Take Portland, Maine. There’s currently an ongoing effort to decide where to locate a new station for the Downeaster. The current stop takes the train onto a branch line to the Portland Transportation Center at Thompson’s Point. To get back to the main line requires a back-up move and about 15 minutes of time. This has larger effects than might be obvious at first glance.
Distressed About Climate Change? Let's Build A Bike Trail by this is only a test. Prince George’s County, Maryland is awash in underused asphalt. We have empty parking lots all over. We have streets that were built for four lanes when only two are needed. We have overwide, highway-like roads bisecting our neighborhoods that were built like interstates, with wide shoulders and guard rails and overhead signs, instead of normal main streets. Meanwhile, our neighboring jurisdiction, Washington DC, builds bike trails on unnecessary pavement, like in the picture above. Why can’t Maryland? Eight years ago, I proposed a bike trail on one such stretch of unused asphalt, to connect our local High School with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, a large regional employer. Nothing happened. Then in 2022, retired by the pandemic, I decided it was time to get the Greenbelt East Trail built for real. We’ve set up a nonprofit and posted a website, won grants, organized trail walks with community and public officials, done a lot of community meetings, received letters of support, written lots of articles, scheduled monthly stakeholder calls, lobbied MDOT engineers and planners all the way up to the director of the State Highway Administration, and now ... nearly two years later, we have our first official feasibility study for one section of the trail. I’m very grateful end excited! But…
Trail walk with Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail, the Maryland Department of Transportation, and community officials.
Watchdog Exposes Phony Oil Refiner Arguments In Price Gouging Penalty Proceeding by Dan Bacher. In comments filed with the California Energy Commission (CEC) Friday, Consumer Watchdog made the case for a maximum gross refining margin that penalizes refiners for profits of over 70 cents per gallon, according to a news release from Consumer Watchdog. The nonprofit group pointed to state data showing 2022 and 2023 as unprecedented years for refining margins and that refining margins for the rest of the last decade averaged 64 cents per gallon. By contrast, refiners reported an average annual margin of $1.01 in 2023. Consumer Watchdog called out California’s big five oil refiners, which make 98% of California’s gasoline, for creating artificial supply shortages that allowed them to make excessive profits. “Research verified by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and Division of Market Oversight (DMO) shows that with every price spike during the last decade there has been a corresponding margin/profit spike,” Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court said.
POLLUTION, TOXINS, PLASTIC
Just another long-term, unreported oil leak...by netop. ...until someone called. I’m feeling a bit good about myself today. Because I was the person who called. And then called another number and a couple more numbers. And then sent some emails. And then made another call or two. A couple of days ago, I started with a couple of calls, trying to find online, the number I see on all the construction site signs around town that says “To report runoff at this site, call 202-xxx-xxxx.” I ended up hanging out in a couple of phone trees and finding a couple of people in city government who were pretty sure I had to contact someone else. Then yesterday, I made some progress. Found the right person along with their cell phone number. Didn’t get to speak to him, but close, right? I least I’m leaving a messages in the proper voicemail box place, right?. The 311 operator was also helpful.Then I called the EPA. If you see or suspect oil or other pollution leaking into a waterway, call the EPA first. They do not mess around. And yes, you can remain anonymous. The person who answered took a report, emailed me a copy and within 30 minutes, I had not one, but two, follow calls for more details.
The Evil People Will Do To Make Money: DuPont and PFAS Forever Chemicals! by ThinkOutsidetheBox. Everyone who has access to Netflix should watch the incredibly well made film, "Dark Waters.” You will learn in great detail how DuPont has betrayed the entire world! If you don’t have access to Netflix, “The Guardian” has written an excellent summary on the history of DuPont’s creation, cover-up and the current harm being caused by Forever Chemicals. DuPont’s behavior is a very good example of sociopathy. [...] Which leads me to another important point. If a huge company, like DuPont, can keep secret for decades a family of chemicals so harmful that the EPA has recently stated: “There is no safe level of exposure to PFAS without risk of health impacts, and it will require that public water utilities test for six different types of PFAS chemicals to reduce exposure in drinking water," then how in world can we trust anyone who wants to make huge amounts money from harming the rest of us?
AGRICULTURE, FOOD, GARDENING, WATER
Despite state deficit, Delta Conveyance funding via DWR bonds threatens taxpayers by Dan Bacher. Despite a Superior Court ruling that sets limits on the Department of Water Resources’ ability to sell water bonds, a potential $27.6 billion budget deficit that will impact workers, healthcare, and education, and reversals to land-water restoration investments to mitigate climate change impacts, the Department of Water Resources will be releasing a Delta Conveyance (Tunnel) finance planning documents in the near future, according to a press release from Restore the Delta: “Although Governor Newsom stated in his press conference on the budget that there would be no impact on advancing the Delta Conveyance Project, what he described as the state’s ‘number one climate resiliency program,’ the potential financial impacts on future state bond repayments should not be ignored, as well as the Governor’s climate resiliency claim. “The Department of Water Resources (DWR) says that revenue bonds will be used to fund the project in a recent public information sheet. However, there continue to be several reasons to question the financial viability of the DCP.
36 hours of vegan food in NYC -- a 2024 history by soupbone60. My wife turns 50 tomorrow, and in celebration we went to New York City with her foodie sister to eat vegan food in several restaurants. As we were driving in from our home in Central PA I had the thought, “I bet in ten years the food we get this weekend will be completely outclassed everywhere.” I still think that’s true, but as it happened, our first two restaurant experiences illustrated past and current vegan trends, and our third meal showed the transcendent possibilities for the future. Here is a 25 year history of vegan food in the 21st century, as captured by a 36 hour whirlwind of vegan restaurant dining in early May, 2024. [...] I could go into more detail about each place, but what occurred to make me want to write this review was the thought that in our 36 hours we traced a pretty direct line from vegan past to vegan present to vegan could be. First we had vegetables being treated like whatever else might stick with the eating public – broccoli like KFC! Vegan mac & “cheese!” Most of the chef’s creativity went to matching vegetables with treatments that would resemble some already known and popular food, and the ideology was front and center. And needed to be, because the food itself sometimes wasn’t so great.
MISCELLANY & AGGREGATIONS
The rotting corpse of the GOP spreads fumes of evil, poisoning the world by mikeymikey. This is a very short diary or perhaps a very long caption for the drawing that accompanies it. The many political cartoons posted on this site have encouraged me to offer it as the focus here. However, unlike them, it lacks humor and has its roots more deeply intwined in 19th century social and political commentary art which was often sharp and unsparing. (Thomas Nast for example.) I have heard that when Krishnamurti attained enlightenment it altered the neuronal structure of his brain in measurable ways. Perhaps something similar happens when individuals or groups slide into doing evil and their sociopathic tendencies become ascendant, entrenched and immutable. When this happens they lock into behavioral patterns that are highly destructive, and ultimately self-defeating. It is a form of ‘demonic possession’. In a previous diary regarding corporations, I spoke about how collective human endeavors such as business entities, governing ideologies and conspiracies (which are the rumor mill’s ’premium brand’), could eventually grow to take on a life of their own. The people involved interweave their convictions, obsessions and, in many cases, paranoia, causing these forces to develop, mutually reenforce and spread—until the spark of life ignites—by which time they can be rampantly malignant.
Earth Matters: Ever-worsening eco-crises mean more dead journalists; battery storage soars in CA, TX by Meteor Blades. As the climate and biodiversity crises become worse, environmental reporters are facing greater risks of violence, including murder. Reporters Without Borders (RSF is the French acronym) has counted several dozen murders of environmental journalists in the past 10 years, with the worst records being in Asia and Latin America. In India 13 out of 28 murdered journalists since 2013 were covering environmental issues entangled with government corruption and organized crime when they were killed. RSF reports: The latest journalist to be murdered for covering an environmental story was also in Asia. It was Cresenciano Bunduquin, a Philippine radio journalist known by his listeners as “Cris.” He was gunned down as he left his home on 31 May 2023 after reporting in one of his latest radio shows that the operating permit of an old tanker responsible for a recent oil spill had been forged. On the other side of the Pacific, in South America, journalists covering the crucial challenges of deforestation in the Amazon are also constantly subjected to threats and harassment that prevent them from working freely. The scale of the problem was highlighted in 2022 by the double murder of Dom Phillips, a British reporter specialising in environmental issues, and Bruno Araújo Pereira, a Brazilian who defended the Amazon’s Indigenous communities.
Earth Matters: GOP climate caucus's malarkey; Biden protects more land, adds $$ to lead pipe fix by Meteor Blades. The Conservative Climate Caucus boasts 82 members, more than a third of the Republicans in the U.S. House. You might be led to think from the name that at least a part of the GOP has finally wised up about what scientists have been warning for at least 65 years in private and 36 years in public about our future if vigorous action isn’t taken to ameliorate, mitigate, and prevent some of the worst potential impacts of the changes the planet is undergoing. You might be led to think the CCC would have a positive impact on policies designed to actually take such action. But no. With a handful of exceptions, it’s clear the caucus is mostly a decoration for Republicans to wear when campaigning, especially this year if they’re one of the 12 Republicans in districts President Joe Biden won in 2020. Several members have histories of climate science denial. Let’s start with what the League of Conservation Voters has to say about the caucus. Every year, the moderate LCV creates a congressional report card on all members of the Senate and House of Representatives based on around 20 pieces of environmentally oriented legislation brought up for vote in the past year. It’s not the whole picture, but it offers pretty good evidence of the real stance of senators and representatives. On a score of 0-100, with 100 being greenest, the lifetime average score of those 82 CCC members as of 2023 was … 5%.
To Breathe or Not To Breathe—an environmental poem by Paul Frea.
Overnight News Digest, Saturday Science - Beef, anti-aging, Stonehenge, “Gateway to Hell” by Rise above the swamp. Welcome to Overnight News Digest- Saturday Science. Since 2007 the OND has been a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of science stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.Topics in this edition include:
