This is the 519th 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 Aug. 5 Green Spotlight. More than 27,520 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
7th term is small writes—Off the Road, Onto a Trail. There's a First Time For Everything. (Photo heavy): “I ride my bike to work. Occasionally I have been known take a ride on one of the many Minnesota bike trails built from converted rail beds. I have never left the wide, relatively flat, debris-free road-shoulder and rail-trails to try mountain biking — at least until last Monday. Minnesota and mountain are not words that go together. The highest point in the state (Eagle Mountain) is only 2301 feet above sea level. And while the Sawtooth mountains on the Superior Hiking Trail deliver a memorably painful backpacking experience, they are not mountains like those I knew when I lived in Utah. Even so, a search for ‘Minnesota mountain biking’ will certainly lead you to the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area which has ‘the best mountain biking in Minnesota.’ The Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area includes 4600 acres of land that was abandoned by mining companies several decades ago near Crosby and Ironton MN. It includes 25 miles of mountain bike trails over 600 acres. In the winter there are 20 miles of groomed fat tire trails. The mines have closed but the land still serves the residents of Crow Wing County — now as a tourist destination.”
Pakalolo writes—Canada's forests are being incinerated and the smoke is enveloping the Arctic's vulnerable ice: “ ‘If and when the plume drifts over populated areas, it may turn day into night. There’s that much aerosol in the air.”’Mike Fromm of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Over a hundred wildfires are active in the heavily forested Canadian province of British Columbia. The fires have spread to the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut provinces after a cold front pushed through the region with powerful winds according to NASA. The fires have been caused by the abrupt warming of the planet from climate change. The endless conifer forests have been stressed from mountain pine beetles who thrive in a warming world when the winters are mild and their larva are not killed from the cold. This beetle is an epidemic. The infestation has brought down more than 16 million hectares of B.C. forest, and has begun destroying huge swaths of Alberta's boreal habitat. The stress on trees from drought and heat also are tied to global warming.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: Study Reveals New Salmon Species! “This week a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis led by Dr. Michael Miller, published a report in the journal Science Advances that may have sweeping ramifications for salmon fisheries management all along the west coast and Alaska. The report describes the genetic difference between Chinook (or King) salmon that migrate into rivers in the spring versus the fall. The research provides new insights into salmon evolution and reveals that spring Chinook salmon deserve to be treated as its own evolutionarily distinct unit separate from fall Chinook. Before the age of dams, industrial mining, and clear-cut logging, spring Chinook salmon were the most abundant run of salmon in many Pacific Northwest Rivers. Today these fish are nearly extinct throughout much of its historic range. Already, the report has led the Karuk Tribe to start the process necessary to have spring Chinook in the Klamath River added to the Endangered Species List.”
kishik writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 13.32 : Portraits: “How are you taking your photos these days? Are you lugging around a camera or are you like me, mostly take photos with a smart phone? The dragonfly photo above was taken with a camera (Canon EOS Rebel T7i). Some subjects don’t want a phone thrust before it! So I mainly take photos of dragonflies and birds with the camera. With some more stationary insects, sometimes I will take the time to take a shot with a macro lens. Like this one. [...] But when it comes to flowers, most all my photos are taken with my iPhone these days. It’s something that’s stuck in my pocket so I can listen to an audiobook or music while outside weeding or doing other chores. The convenience has made me both photo prolific and camera lazy. Since this garden season to a very large extent has been a bust because of my recovering from surgery, about all I can do these days is take a stroll outside and take photos with my phone … framing out the weeds of course!”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: John Heinz NWR has birds too! “Bird pictures from the John Heinz NWR in Philadelphia, PA. Previous diaries for this day covered plants, insects, and egrets chasing each other. A lot were heard and seen that were not willing to hold still for the camera.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - blackberry season!: “Berries grow beautifully in this corner of the country. You can buy them, or pick them for free in season, either what grows in your garden or the wild ones out and about. That's what I’ve been doing lately now we’re into blackberry season. While there’s a native trailing vine blackberry, the Dewberry (Rubus ursinus), it doesn’t produce much fruit. I pick from Himalayan bushes. Himalayan blackberry (Rubusarmeniacus) was brought to California in the late 19th c by Luther Burbank (of Russett Burbank potato fame, www.npr.org/...) for commercial fruit production and has gone feral in a big way in Western states. It is an aggressively invasive thorny shrub that can get 15’ high forming dangerously impenetrable thickets, the bane of our yards, driveways, fields and wetlands. Along with the Evergreen blackberry (Rubuslaciniatus), another alien, it smothers and displaces native vegetation, causes erosion along streams, and is almost impossible to eradicate. Himalayan blackberry is a real menace.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Time and Chance Happens to Them All: “I dug out and maintain two fishless small ponds and a short connecting creek in my back yard. I keep fish out because the tiny native chorus frogs breed there. The frogs, and their tadpoles and eggs are so small that everything larger than an ant preys on them, including spiders, wasps, dragonflies, snails, water bugs, juncoes, bullfrogs, coons, possums, skunks, and squirrels. [...] I watch the ponds closely to discourage predators because they could quickly wipe out these small tadpoles and frogs. Only one in 100 tadpoles survives to become a frog. However I’ve never actually seen a critter prey on a tadpole. Tadpoles are especially vulnerable when they become froglets with nascent limbs. They stop eating as their internal organs reform. [...] This year an unexpected adversary killed several morphing frogs. I’d never seen that before. Heat did it. The temperature reached a record 106 degrees F the first week of July, maybe for the first time ever in this area. Some of the froglets weren’t ready for it.”
ban nock writes—$1,100,000,000 for Wildlife Conservation This Year Alone: “The Secretary of Interior announced Tuesday the 13th of June, the amount of the annual allocation of funding via the Pittman-Robertson/ Dingell-Johnson funds. These funds are a tax voluntarily levied on sportsmen and recreational shooters. The funds are earmarked for wildlife and sport fishing restoration as they have been most years (though there was a misallocation scandal during President Clinton’s Presidency).www.doi.gov/… A state by state breakdown of allocations is below. wsfrprograms.fws.gov/… In looking at the numbers I noticed something that rang a bell. Thinking about our recent electoral loss. Alaska got the most funds, then Texas. Funding is allocated based on number of licenses sold and other data which is mixed into an algorithm to determine who gets what. (No more money for bonuses for political appointees or European trips.) Can you tell I’m still really pissed at the scummy stealing of conservation funding by anti hunters back in the ‘90s?)”
CLIMATE CHAOS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Two Thumbs Down for Deniers Playing Film Critic for Gore Flick: “Given their almost pathological hatred for Al Gore, it’s no surprise that deniers have attacked An Inconvenient Sequel at every turn. Well, at every fake news turn anyway. From those like Lomborg who didn’t even wait to see the film to use it for self-promotion, to Heartland’s president writing in the Washington Examiner to James Delingpole at Breitbart, deniers are rejoicing in the fact that the movie hasn’t performed as well as they perhaps feared, given the original’s success. As of yesterday, for example, a search for ‘Gore’ on Climate Depot’s home page returns an impressive 56 results. But not all these blatant attempts to insert themselves into Gore’s pseudo-celebrity news cycle is working out well for the deniers. GWPF, for example, reluctantly admitted that a graph used in Lord Lawson’s BBC interview purportedly showing temperatures are cooler now than in 2007 when the original movie was released, is erroneous.”
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: eclipse chaos - what to do before, during, and after the ring of fire: “People are driving hundreds of miles hoping to see daytime blue sky deepen to black. As the moon obliterates the sun, their reward will be Baily’s Beads dancing around the edge of the moon, followed by 100 seconds of thrilling totality as one remaining Bead forms the diamond ring and then the solar corona becomes visible. What will you see? Today, tell us your plans for viewing the ring of fire — the Great American Eclipse. Will you travel far? Have you considered the traffic chaos from all the people moving towards a narrow band across the continent? Will you join a citizen science project? [...] On Monday August 21st, the Daily Bucket will discuss what biologists already know about wildlife reactions to eclipses. Throughout the day as the eclipse moves across the US, we hope you’ll share your experiences in the comments. Did the sun’s corona flare out in a burst? What colors appeared? How did local wildlife and house/farm animals respond?”
guavaboy writes—Elephants to the rescue. Long ago in a galaxy far away: “Last week the worst flood in 24 years hit Nepal, the Himalayan country between China and India. Six million people in the Terai region were directly affected, and since 80% of the crops were destroyed in the only flat region of the country, there will be risk of “food insecurity.” Prior to the flood, this region had areas with high rates of childhood stunting (up to 60% IIRC), and so, the flood is not good news. And of course, nobody reported this catastrophe in the USA news. [...] The eastern Terai, where the worst of the flooding took place, is also “Province 2” in the new constitution, and the politics there are gnarly — impossible to explain in brief. This is the area that postponed elections last June due to inability to organize. This event is the latest in a long list of disasters to hit Nepal.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Meteor Blades writes—EPA report: 20% of the nation has been exposed to potentially unsafe drinking water in past decade: “A team of young reporters from News21 has added flesh to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency that concluded 63 million people in the United States have been exposed to potentially contaminated drinking water over the past 10 years. No surprise that large numbers of the 680,000 violations of safe drinking water rules were discovered in economically poor places populated mostly by people of color. Naturally, babies and immunity-challenged individuals are most at risk [...] America is rich. There is simply no excuse for this situation. And it’s no solace to hear officials claim that our drinking water systems are safer than those of most other nations. That’s because it’s baloney. The World Health Organization ranks the United States 64th in rural drinking water quality. If and when we have a Congress with a brain and a vision, funding fixes for these substandard drinking water systems ought to be near the top of the list for infrastructure spending.”
Dan Bacher writes—Winnemem Wintu, fishing groups sue to block Trump/Brown Delta Tunnels: “On August 17, a California Indian Tribe, two fishing groups, and two environmental organizations joined a growing number of organizations, cities and counties suing the Jerry Brown and Donald Trump administrations to block the construction of the Delta Tunnels. The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, North Coast Rivers Alliance (NCRA), Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) and the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association filed suit against the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in Sacramento Superior Court to overturn DWR’s approval of the Twin Tunnels, also know as the California WaterFix Project, on July 21, 2017. ‘The Winnemem Wintu Tribe has lived on the banks of the McCloud River for thousands of years and our culture is centered on protection and careful, sustainable use of its salmon,’ said Caleen Sisk, Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe near Mt. Shasta. ‘Our salmon were stolen from us when Shasta Dam was built in 1944’.”
Dan Bacher writes—Fitch Ratings Concludes Delta Tunnels Project Would Further Increase Water Rates: “On August 16, Fitch Ratings confirmed what Delta Tunnels opponents have been saying for years — the proposed California WaterFix project being currently fast-tracked by the Trump and Brown administrations would likely drive a significant increase in monthly water rates. This increase in water rates would have a particularly egregious impact upon people in low income and environmental justice communities in Southern California that are right now struggling to pay their water bills. The increase in water rates driven by the construction of Jerry Brown’s ‘legacy project,’ the Delta Tunnels, would only make things worse for families having a hard time getting by in these difficult times. The ultimate fate of the California Water Fix, the controversial plan to divert water through two 35 mile long tunnels under the Sacramento San-Joaquin River Delta, is ‘nearing resolution as agencies that would benefit from, and pay for such water, take a position on the outcome,’ according to an analysis from Fitch Ratings.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
Mark Sumner writes—Wall Street Journal's 'Coal Makes a Comeback' is real fake journalism: “On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board lauded Trump for making coal barons dreams come true. [...] Yet the Trump Presidency seems to have lifted animal spirits and coal. Weekly coal production has increased by 14.5% nationwide over last year with even bigger bumps in West Virginia (19%), Pennsylvania (19.7%) and Wyoming (19.8%). [...] Honestly, I don’t know what “animal spirits” are or how they get lifted, but the contention that Trump has given a big boost to coal is simply, what’s that term? Fake news. Or, in language that’s even easier to understand, it’s a big, fat lie. In their attempt to support Trump, The Wall Street Journal is distorting the truth about coal and cruelly raising the hopes of people who have bought into a false promise. They’re performing a disservice to their readers and to their nation.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Ojibwa writes—Public Lands: The Newberry National Volcanic Monument (Photo Diary): “Just south of Bend, Oregon, the Lava Lands Visitor Center is the interpretive hub for the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. From the visitor center, there are self-guiding interpretive trails leading to the 7,000-year-old lava flow from Lava Butte and a trail through the young ponderosa pine forests. These public lands are managed by the National Forest Service, a part of the Department of Agriculture.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
gmoke writes—City Agriculture - August 16, 2017: “Lufa Farms - three rooftop soil-less farms to feed 2% of Montreal, IGA Extra Famille Duchemin in Saint-Laurent, a borough of Montreal which is pushing green roofs, now claims to be the first grocery store in Canada to sell produce grown on its own roof. Urban farmer in Detroit. City Tree - ‘binds harmful particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and CO2, matching the enormous environmental benefits of up to 275 urban trees.’ ”
Pakalolo writes—HEALTH ADVISORY: Chronic wasting disease may cross the human species barrier warns new study: “The Canadian government has issued a warning to hunters and those that consume meat from deer, elk, moose and caribou that can transmit chronic wasting disease which is an incurable, and fatal illness. Even cat and dog food maybe at risk as the ingredients can include these species as a meat-by-product. Environews in a piece titled HEALTH ADVISORY: Venison, Elk May No Longer Be Safe to Eat — Study: Deadly Chronic Wasting Disease Could be Moving to Humans notes that the wasting disease ‘is one of several prion diseases (pronounced pree-on), of which the most well-known is mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) identifies six known animal prion diseases and five that affect humans. The most common prion illness in people is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)’.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Jen Hayden writes—How petty is Trump? His admin ripped out an Obama-era bikeshare station at the White House: “Benjamin Freed of the Washingtonian did some digging and yes—Donald Freaking Trump’s administration ordered it to be removed: Turns out Matlesky’s intuition was correct. The station was removed earlier this week at the Trump Administration’s request, District Department of Transportation spokesperson Terry Owens tells Washingtonian. Owens adds that the station was installed in 2010 at the request of the Obama Administration, which had a favorable record with the cycling community. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery—or TIGER—grant program in the 2009 stimulus act funded bike-infrastructure programs throughout the United States, including the installation of several bike lanes and cycling paths around Washington. Before former President Barack Obama left office in January, his Transportation Department signed off on new regulations redefining traffic as people who move on roads, rather than strictly vehicles—a change considered a coup for cyclists and pedestrians. Who would want such a thing removed? You know who.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Trump’s Ctrl+Z Presidency Targets Flood Protection, Threatening to Put Federal Investment Underwater: “Compared to Trump’s revealing off-script commentary on Charlottesville Tuesday, his infrastructure executive order went relatively unnoticed. While the idea of streamlining the permitting process certainly sounds noble, the reality of easier approval for dirty projects is certainly not. More specifically, Trump’s decision to revoke an EO from Obama that directs the federal government to take future flood risk, amplified by climate change, into account deserves attention. Not only is it ‘irresponsible’ and ‘not fiscally conservative,’ according to Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, it’s also patently hypocritical. After all, as New Republic’s Emily Atkins points out, Trump’s own golf course in Scotland requested permission to build a seawall to prepare for rising seas driven by climate change. Yet Trump doesn’t want to protect taxpayers’ pocketbooks the same way he does his own. Like Trump’s reversal of Obama-era protections against power plants dumping toxic waste into our water, this is ‘just another example of this administration trying to undo everything the Obama administration did, whether it makes any sense or not,’ as the president of American Rivers said about the flood rule revocation.”
MISCELLANY
GreenpowerCA writes—This Week in the Environment 08.17.17: We're All In This Together: “ 1. Chile’s Energy Transformation Is Powered by Wind, Sun and Volcanoes [...] Light, air, earth, and water. These are what Chile is using to grow its economy, clean its land, preserve its culture, and revitalize its indigenous communities. The Chilean people have accepted the reality of climate change and the reality that continuing to use fossil fuels is something they and the world cannot afford. They’re quickly and purposefully moving away from the exploitative smash-and-grab extraction of coal, gas, and oil toward the sustainable acceptance of the massive amounts of power the Earth and Sun offer us every day. Not only that, they are using it to illuminate their homes and villages at night to help educate even the poorest among them. This is the power of renewable energy. This is the power of choosing to embrace the truth and act bravely.”
JohnPDottson writes a satire—Energy Independence Just Isn’t Enough: “It’s time for something to change in the American oil and gas industry. Our executives and their golf caddies have struggled through eight hard years of Obama-era regulations that cost our industry millions in profits and nearly killed dozens of energy firms. We oil and gas executives made serious sacrifices in order to weather the storm of Obama’s White House. New Learjet orders were postponed and vacations were canceled in order to make ends meet. Despite our tough circumstances, however, American oil and gas production has more than doubled over the last decade. New technologies like hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” unlocked fossil fuel resources that were previously thought to be unprofitable. And the resulting growth in production has allowed the United States to finally achieve energy independence. But energy independence is just no longer enough, folks. ‘Energy dominance’ is now the name of the game, and new sacrifices will need to be made if we are going to achieve such a lofty goal. With the price of oil so low, we need to drill now more than ever to keep our competitive advantage over the renewable sector. We need more land and we need it now.”
enhydra lutris writes—THESE ARE THE MOST RECENT DIARIES FILED UNDER THIS TAG: Declining Sperm Counts in the West: “According to this July 25, 2017,Scientific American article, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sperm-count-dropping-in-western-world/?WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20170802. Sperm counts in men from America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand have dropped by more than 50 percent in less than 40 years, researchers said on Tuesday.The article further states that the rate of decline is not slowing. The article is not based on original research, but cites a study that was a meta-analysis of some 185 prior studies. Causality isn't part of the study but, per the article: The analysis did not explore reasons for the decline, but researchers said falling sperm counts have previously been linked to various factors such as exposure to certain chemicals and pesticides, smoking, stress and obesity. Though a clarion call for more and further research, I suspect that it really is no big deal. I'm certain that Monsanto, Eli Lilly, Syngenta, et. al. are desperately trying to cash in on this discover a solution and will soon come up with some sort of cocktail (heh) of assorted modified hormone homologues that they will sell to very wealthy males and distribute free to employees of the FDA.”