Great Blue Heron with ruffled feathers along the St. Petersburg, Florida, ocean front.
Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don't attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The most recent Saturday Spotlight can be seen here. So far, more than 18,935 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing - 8.4.14 ...... How Frackers defeated Butte County—by
paradise50: "Butte County California had the most organized group in California to get a petition on November's ballot allowing voters to have their say about banning fracking in their county. Butte County was going to be the first entire county to not allow fracking according to the most recent polling. The group, Frack Free Butte County needed to get 10% of registered voters to sign the petition to have it be on the ballot. Ten percent is 7,605 signatures. After our County Clerk-Recorder went through them she tallied 7,975 valid signatures as of June 5th when they were turned in. Everything was proper. It was a slam dunk. The citizens were going to get to vote about fracking in Butte County. But then things suddenly got weird. What happened next should never have been allowed to happen. [...] A Sacramento Law Firm representing a pro-fracking organization called Californians for a Safe, Secure Energy Future was well aware of what was going on in Butte County as these Butte County folks were very open about what they were attempting to do. [...] The Sacramento law firm contacted Candace Grubbs (Butte County Clerk-Recorder) and told her the petition was invalid and so all the signatures needed to be thrown out because it didn't meet certain formatting requirements, so Candace put it on hold June 16th. It went to the Butte County Superior Court on July 23rd and after being closely scrutinized was declared perfectly valid. The judge told the clerk to move ahead with it. Unfortunately this delaying tactic by the Sacramento law firm, which caused confusion for nearly 5 1/2 weeks, resulted in exactly what Californians for a Safe, Secure Energy Future intended as their goal even though they were totally full of it in declaring that a (fabricated out of thin air) formatting issue invalidated the whole thing."
Water and the Future—by
Muskegon Critic: "The drought in the Southwest troubles me incredibly. I'm here in Michigan where we seem to have an inexhaustible supply of fresh water. Six quadrillion gallons of the stuff pounding the shorelines of sugar sand beaches, wave after wave. And that, incidentally, is how it should be. Or how it's been for 10,000 years or so. And while I often lament the falling water levels here, we're not in the same water-starved ship as our fellow countrymen and women in the West. I worry about the people in the southwest. I worry about the crops grown there that feed my family. I worry about the ecological damage. And of course I worry that a water thirsty nation will turn its eyes on the Great Lakes with intentions to siphon it to places far outside the Great Lakes watershed so Civilization can continue there as it has for the past half century."
Kings of the ashes: Republicans refuse to fight climate-fueled wildfires—by
RLMiller: "Overlooked among the chaos of last week's border bill fiasco: Republicans rejected aid to fight climate-fueled wildfires, and the social contract frays a bit more. Tuesday, the House denied President Obama's request for wildfire funding, contained within the border bill, entirely. Obama requested $659 million to deal with an unusually strong wildfire season with an estimated price tag of $1.8 billion. The House's allocation in response: zero. The Hill quotes Hal Rogers: 'Although on wildfires, the agencies have a big pile of money already,” Rogers said. 'I don’t think there’s an urgency on the money part.' Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked wildfire aid again, both in the border bill and in a separate standalone bill. President Obama requested $615 million to help fight Western wildfires. Senator John Cornyn R-TX) objected, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) demanded cuts elsewhere, stating that 'I also want to make sure our children have a future,' and that was the end of that. The House did manage to find $35 million to beef up border patrols, because what's more scary: refugee children wanting a better life in America or thousands upon thousands of acres burning to a crisp in the tinderbox of drought-stricken California? [...] What's going on here? Is the modern Republican Party now driven by anarchy, the real-life Joker who just wants to watch the world burn? Does raw ambition blind it to the consequences of action—the modern Littlefinger who'd be king of the ashes?"
You can find more rescued green diaries below the sustainable squiggle.
Climate Chaos
Vilsack: Money allocated to fight wildfires will run out by end of August—by Joan McCarter: "Remember how the Republican House melted down last week over the and Republican obstructionists in the Senate halted most action on emergency funding in that body? That included emergency funding to respond to a wildfire season in the West that started early and is becoming massive. Well, here's the result. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday that about $400 million to $500 million in projects will have to be put on hold in what has become a routine exercise toward the end of the fiscal year. He predicted that the money set aside strictly for firefighting will run out by the end of August. 'When we begin to run out of money we have to dip into the very programs that will reduce the risk of these fires over time,' Vilsack said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. There are about 30 large fires raging now in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho."
White House video ties climate change to longer, more intense wildfire seasons—by Laurence Lewis: "President Obama's Science Advisor, Dr. John Holdren, has a new, concise video explaining the connection of climate change to the growing number of wildfires. [...] the Arizona Republic reported on July 26: The cost of fighting wildfires has nearly quadrupled since three decades ago, and to feed the mounting expenses, the U.S. Forest Service has been forced to tap into funds that would help mitigate future fire damage. A new study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that federal fire-management efforts are disproportionately skewed in favor of fire suppression, costing more than $1 billion every year since 2000."
Delaying Action on Greenhouse Gases Will Hurt the US Economy—by StewartAcuff: "Delaying action on greenhouse gases will have a very negative effect on the US economy in the near future. The White House Council of Economic Advisers predicts that every decade of delay to cut greenhouse gases will cost an extra 40 percent because of increasing costs of remediation and resolution. Greenhouse gases created by humans burning carbon fuel are the cause of global climate change. Global climate change has already begun to change weather patterns. The council pointed out that that the disastrous California drought has cost $2 billion and 150,000 jobs. The Environmental Protection Agency has recently issued new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. I sat in numerous meetings with EPA Director Gina McCarthy to make sure jobs are considered in EPA’s actions. She repeatedly reminded those of us in the meetings that the new regulations are required by the legislation which created the Environmental Protection Agency. While the coal industry is complaining bitterly about the new regulations, investment in scrubbers would allow many coal fired plants to continue to operate."
Let's talk about melting permafrost—by don mikulecky: "A lot has been said about this lately (and earlier) yet I sense that in spite of that most folks are whistling in the dark. Here is a good place to get schooled on the phenomenon even if you are an armchair expert like me: Permafrost In a Warming World. Permafrost is permanently frozen soil, and occurs mostly in high latitudes. Permafrost comprises 24% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere, and stores massive amounts of carbon. As a result of climate change, permafrost is at risk of melting, releasing the stored carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, which are powerful heat-trapping gases. In addition, permafrost is structurally important, and its melting has been known to cause erosion, disappearance of lakes, landslides, and ground subsidence. It will also cause changes in plant species composition at high latitudes. There is little wonder that human minds are having trouble grasping the significance of this. We have enough of our own human activity to drive us up the walls with Gaza, elections, etc. Each of those has the possibility of triggering other forms of nonlinear positive feedback kinds of change. Nor is any one of them isolated from the things discussed above."
PR firms distance themselves from deniers—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "The Guardian has a very interesting story about a survey conducted by the new Climate Investigations Center. The Center reached out to 25 leading PR firms, inquiring about their internal position on climate change and whether they would accept climate change denying clients. 10 groups responded, and most said they acknowledge climate change and would not represent clients who deny it, or support campaigns attempting to block regulations to limit carbon pollution. While there are caveats (some said that their sub-brands had autonomy, others used very careful language) the message is clear: even PR companies know you can't fool the public when the science is settled. Of course, deniers are now claiming they never had any PR to begin with, which is obviously untrue."
Stratospheric cooling baffles deniers—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "The journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics published a new paper, which has apparently caused confusion in the deniersphere. The subject of the paper is the stratosphere, the layer of atmosphere above the troposphere. The troposphere is where GHGs trap heat, so climate change theory holds that, in response to GHG emissions, the troposphere should warm while the stratosphere cools. The paper confirms a cooling trend in the stratosphere over the past 52 years, which you'd think deniers wouldn't want to highlight. However, they use this as a chance to claim scientists don't really know what causes stratospheric cooling. In a Hockey Schtick post, the author says, "fans of anthropogenic global warming don't agree as to why GHGs would cause the stratosphere to cool and the troposphere to warm." The post then points out how the paper found a little (not statistically significant) cooling in part of the troposphere in the early 20th century. What this all amounts to, according to the Hockey Schtick, is that the paper fails to provide evidence for climate change, even though it confirms a prediction of climate science."
Food, Agriculture & Gardening
The Daily Bucket-First Paragraph of an Unfinished Novel—by
6412093: "It was 1.7 million years ago. We called it the Middle Proterozoic. No one watched the volcano erupt and the river flood at the same time. Those forces slammed into what would be Montana's Belt Supergroup. We called it the Prichard Formation. Prichard Creek was just over the next ridge. The water and fire split the sedimentary cliffs along its bands. That revealed its argillite. We called those bands of blue and grey indurated mud. What caught my eye was the oxides of iron that stained its sandstone surface. One slab fell heavily. It bridged the surging river beneath. The Gods could not have placed it better. I used this iron-stained slab of sedimentary rock to bridge my little creek in the Frog Mitigation Area. It took powerful forces, the danged thing weighed 80 lbs."
California is dying of thirst, while it uses its precious water to raise livestock in China—by VL Baker: "California is thirsty and on fire. The worst drought in recorded history is now responsible for an early severe wildfire season which Gov. Brown has declared a national emergency. With California producing almost half of the vegetables and fruits grown in the US, the drought is creating a water crisis with farmers looking to maintain their production status quo by using a dangerous short-term strategy of draining aquifers, lakes and rivers without regard for future sustainability. Some attention is now focusing on the water intensity of the crops grown and although fruits, vegetables and nuts do utilize vast amounts of water for production, there is no California agriculture product that comes near the water intensity used by the livestock sector."
Ohio dirty drinking water linked to livestock factory farms—by VL Baker: "When I read about the contaminated drinking water in Ohio I had a good idea about the cause. All one has to do is take a look at the population of factory farms in the affected area. Dr. Doug Gurian-Sherman writing at Civil Eats brings his expertise to the subject and provides a map of overlap between the location of most Ohio CAFOs and the Maumee River, the source of most of the phosphorus that caused the blooms. Industrial corn and soybean production are clearly linked to the problems in Lake Erie via fertilizers. But factory farming of livestock is also suspect. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have a manure problem. Because so many animals are confined in such as small area, they often produce far more manure than can be applied to the surrounding farmlands without causing runoff. That means more nitrogen and phosphorus gets into streams. When livestock farms were smaller, and more dispersed geographically, manure could be used to fertilize nearby crop fields in a balanced way, but today CAFOs are large and often located near one another. And it is simply too expensive to transport manure far enough to spread onto fields in amounts that won’t end up in streams or groundwater. [...] The case against industrial farming especially industrial animal farming is apparent and growing stronger every day. Global warming beings an additional element to the crisis because rising water temperate creates a fertile growing atmosphere for pollutants contributing to the safety of our drinking water sources."
That "secret serum" Ebola treatment? GMO.—by mem from somerville: "This morning I checked in at some of my regular reading sites, and I found one headline about the 'secret serum' that has been obtained and used on the American Ebola patients. First, I rolled my eyes about headline writers, but then I actually did read the article. They will have to wait and see what the actual outcomes are, and whether or not this treatment was a factor. However, I'm glad there was a treatment option available to try. We all know how deadly Ebola has been, and certainly a medicine would be welcomed to stop the horror. And I think it's fine to try experimental treatments when the alternative is so dire. Last year I had seen the film 'How to Survive a Plague' about the early AIDS years—and I was remembering the demands for access to novel treatments for compassionate use. I think if adults want to try experimental treatments, it's fine for them to do so, as long as they understand the risks. What I found out later today about this treatment also pleased me. The treatment option appears to come from a GMO tobacco plant."
Neil deGrasse Tyson tells GMO haters to chill out–people get angry—by SkepticalRaptor: "Although he has made comments and tweeted about his skepticism of the anti-GMO crowd in the past, it was only recently, when Neil deGrasse Tyson was recorded telling people to 'chill out' about GMOs, that most people found out about it. To quote Tyson: Practically every food you buy in a store for consumption by humans is genetically modified food. There are no wild, seedless watermelons. There's no wild cows...You list all the fruit, and all the vegetables, and ask yourself, is there a wild counterpart to this? If there is, it's not as large, it's not as sweet, it's not as juicy, and it has way more seeds in it. We have systematically genetically modified all the foods, the vegetables and animals that we have eaten ever since we cultivated them. It's called artificial selection. His comment led to a huge outcry from anti-GMO activists [...] There's an old saying that 'I fucking love science except when it doesn't support my beliefs.' The anti-GMO crowd uses the same ridiculous anti-science rhetoric of the anti-evolution and anti-global warming crowd. I seriously could just change "global warming is fake' to 'GMO's are dangerous,' and literally nothing else, and they would say the exact same thing. I am convinced that all science deniers meet at an international convention somewhere and share strategies."
Energy & Conservation
Miami's nuclear plants have received Fed permission to run cooling system above previous 100F limit—by
Pakalolo: "The cooling system at Turkey Point is unlike that used at any other nuclear plant in the country. Instead of cooling towers, water circulates through a 168-mile long series of canals. It cools the nonnuclear side of the power plant and is discharged back out into the canal system. These canals allow the use of the same water over and over. But the canals are heating up past the limit set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The canals are full of slimy green algae which only helps to heat the saltwater canals further. Utility and federal regulators say there is no threat to the millions of people who live in greater Miami or it's water supply, the Biscayne Aquifer. The 100 degree temperature federal limit is supposed to mandate an expensive shutdown at a time when power demands are soaring. Florida Power & Light went to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with an emergency request. increase water temperatures to 104 degrees. Several times this summer, with power demand high, FPL reported that canal water approached or exceeded a 100-degree limit, which requires the reactors to be shut down. NRC agreed to temporarily, until final rules are finalized in a few days, allow the nuclear plant's cooling system to exceed that 100 degree limit - up to 103 degrees if necessary. FPL has been pumping water from the Floridan Aquifer in an attempt to cool the canals."
New Fukushima Marine Radionuclide Monitoring Network—by MarineChemist: "The purpose of this diary is to inform the DailyKos community of a newly funded monitoring program that will look for the presence of Fukushima derived radionculides in seawater and marine organisms collected off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The diary is part of an ongoing series dedicated to understanding the impact of the Fukushima disaster on the North Pacific Ocean and inhabitants of the west coast of North America. Information about the project can be found at the project website. Once exciting aspect of the project will be the direct involvement of citizen scientists who will provide seawater samples up and down the Pacific coast."
Renewables
A Historic Week for Clean Air and Energy—by Michael Brune: "Wow! I was confident that people would turn out to support the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan at last week's public hearings in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Denver, and Washington, D.C., but I wasn't counting on a success this big. Advocates for clean air and cleaning up carbon pollution made their voices heard with both passion and eloquence. The opposition showed up, but they really couldn't compete with the notion that clean energy will cut costs, create jobs, clean up our air and water, and give us a shot at stabilizing our climate. All week long, the hearings confirmed the broad support we've seen from all kinds of people since the day the EPA announced its plan. The diversity of the voices demanding action was especially impressive. In Denver, for instance, testifiers included a retired Air Force Captain who literally wrote the book on the national security implications of climate disruption, local clean-energy business owners, some kids from New Mexico who sang a song in support of the Clean Power Plan (lots of kids at these hearings!), representatives from the ski and winter sports industry, and tribal leaders from across the West."
Fracking
CO-GOV/CO-SEN Gov Hickenlooper Makes a Deal with Rep. Polis; Seeks Dropping of 4 Ballot Measures—by LakeSuperior: "Governor John Hickenlooper, Senator Mark Udall and Representative Jared Polis came to a deal over the weekend concerning the 2 ballot measures that were being promoted by Polis. Instead, there is proposed agreement for an expert panel to examine the oil/gas drilling site setback issue and Hickenlooper is withdrawing the state's lawsuit against the City of Longmont anti-hydrocarbon extraction ordinance. Hickenlooper, Udall and Colorado Dems might thus be dodging a bullet and the prospect of a statewide energy-industry-run anti-ballot proposition campaign that would have probably rolled both Hickenlooper and Udall out of office."
Keystone and Other Fossil Fuel Transportation
American Petroleum Institute Shaping Weak Oil-by-Rail Regulations—by Justin Mikulka: "In the 200 pages of the new proposed oil-by-rail regulations the American Petroleum Institute (API) is mentioned 31 times. The mentions include everything from comments the API submitted during the last public comment period to the reality that the regulators writing these new regulations are relying on the API to develop new testing standards for Bakken crude oil. While the new regulations are supposed to address the need for proper testing of the Bakken crude for classification purposes, they fail to address several important concerns. And when it comes to creating an industry standard for testing crude oil, the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA), who wrote the proposed regulations, are actually relying on the API to do that for them. From the regulations: PHMSA is encouraged by the development of such an industry standard and API’s continued work in the standard and beyond to improve the accuracy of classification of materials and the overall safety or operational rail requirements. Once finalized PHMSA may consider adoption of such a standard and in addition those in the regulated community may petition for the incorporation of such standard through the processes outlined in section 106.95 of the HMR. So, the API is developing an 'industry standard' for testing crude oil and PHMSA 'may consider adopting it' in the future or the 'regulated community', which includes the API, could petition to have that standard adopted. But there is no proposed standard in the current regulations."
Railroads don't have anywhere near enough insurance to cover cost of oil-train accidents—by Meteor Blades: "Most railroad insurance policies don't come close to covering the potential damages of a major oil-train accident and, if adopted in its current form, a newly proposed U.S. Department of Transportation rule governing the carrying of crude oil by rail won't include any help on that score."
Eco-Related DC & State Politics
Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) Starts a public feud with Renewable Energy CEO—by tmservo433: "Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) is one of those characters who is known for saying well, crazy things. But on July 2, Huelskamp and his primary opponent held a dueling press conference debate. That is to say, they both gave 5 minute pitches to the same audience one after the other without taking questions or addressing each others issues. While the event had a few surprises in it (like Hueldskamp saying he would 'never' debate) one story didn't really get to the press or anyone until weeks later. Now, the CEO of Conestoga, a renewable energy company has come forward and claimed that Tim Huelskamp basically threatened his business post the event."
Rick Scott is Suddenly an Environmentalist—by jamess: "Rick Scott, who has now decided to give Florida voters what they want—more hot air on Environmental issues, from another sunny-day Republican: Gov. Rick 'I'm No Scientist' Scott is suddenly all about helping the environment, after spending four years pretty much ruining it. During a campaign stop in Martin County on Monday, Scott is expected to pledge hundreds of millions of dollars on environmental programs, if we completely ignore how he's screwed the environment in the first term and elect him for a second term. Particularly, he's pledging to spend $500 million to springs restoration, according to the Associated Press. You might be shocked to know that he pledged a similar amount to springs restoration before. But thanks to this new fangled thing called the Internet, we're able to learn that Scott never came through with that promise the first time around, all while his administration has been pretty much gutting Florida's environmental protection programs."
NC-Sen: Thom Tillis (R) Says He's Cracking Down On Coal Pollution But Green Groups Say That's BS—by poopdogcomedy: "Mother Jones has a new piece out about U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis (R. NC) that is certainly worth a read: North Carolina Senate candidate Thom Tillis is making an unusual argument—for a Republican. In recent weeks, he's accused his Democratic opponent, Sen. Kay Hagan, of sabotaging critical environmental regulations because of her "cozy relationship" with a powerful energy company. At the same time, Tillis has trumpeted his own role in fighting for what he claims are tough new rules that will clean up the coal industry. But North Carolina environmentalists say he's full of it. 'That's pretty bold, as a line of attack, considering the environmental record he's got,' says DJ Gerken, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. The back-and-forth is the latest skirmish in the political war over one of the worst environmental disasters in the state's history. In February, a toxic waste dump at one of Duke Energy's coal-fired power plants ruptured and belched up to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. Thousands of people lost access to drinking water, and the river was polluted with toxins like lead and arsenic. In response to the disaster, Tillis—who leads the state's GOP-controlled House of Representatives—is pushing legislation that ostensibly tightens regulation of Duke's remaining coal ash pits. But critics say the bill as written would actually leave North Carolina even more vulnerable to future spills than it already is."
Critters
The Daily Bucket - Sunday Bucket—by enhydra lutris: "Today I noticed what appear to be three Lesser Goldfinch fledglings. When I reported this to my wife, she told me that she saw a housefinch fledgling yesterday. This seems awful late in the year for fledges, but they are perhaps second or third clutches, possibly due to the ample food provided by us and our neighbor. My records are far from what they should be. They are sporadic at best. In part this is due to keeping track of exceptions only, and skipping the repetitious "Today, yet again, I saw no eagles" type of entry. However, that omits the background, the ordinary every day birds hanging out n the yard at this time of year. Here they are: Lesser and American Goldfinches, plenty of the former and a few of the latter. Mourning doves. Oak Titmice and Chestnut Backed Chickadees. Housefinches. Bewick's Wrens. Anna's Hunningbirds. California Towhees. These are all a constant presence, throughout the whole year, as a matter of fact. Red-breasted Nuthatches are nearby and pop into or through the yard as does the Nuttal's Woodpecker. Sporadic American Crow and Western Scrub Jay noise from within and without the yard."
Daily Bucket: A Walk Along the Oceanfront—by Lenny Flank: "A little while ago I took an afternoon walk along the St Pete FL waterfront with the specific purpose of seeing how many shorebirds I could find on a typical summer's day. So here are the results of my photo safari. (Some of my IDs are only tentative, and I welcome any corrections for anything I got wrong.)"
Elk Masacree—by ban nock: "A wolf pack has to be one of the best land predators, they're made for it. The perineum is the safest place to bite a bull elk, skin is thinner, lots of blood close to the surface. Elk liver is big, maybe ten pounds or more, packed full of vitamins to last the winter, heart is good too, covered in fat no bones. I've heard of wolves revisiting old kills to eat bones and skin. I think they kill as much as they possibly can whenever they can. In the grand scheme of things bulls don't matter, compensatory take as they say. The calves that are regular wolf winter diet , and then the pregnant cows in the spring are much more damaging. That take is additive. When hardly any calves live to become yearlings and lots of cows get eaten in late winter pretty soon populations crash. Roper and people like him are pretty pissed off. Pissed at not only the folks that brought the wolves but at their own State Division of Wildlife for being the people that implemented what was a national policy. Pissed because there has been not enough effort at maintaining populations or even getting accurate counts for what's left."
Dawn Chorus: "Michigan Seems Like a Dream to Me Now..."—by tgypsy: "I was born in and grew up in southeastern Michigan. My dad, two sisters, and other family members still live there. So I was very excited to be able to combine a family visit to Michigan with Netroots Nation 2014 in Detroit. I got to celebrate my dad's 91st birthday (twice) and also catch up with on-line friends that I haven't seen for while. I even got share a bit of the NN14 adventure with two of my sisters, who stayed with me for the first two nights. I started the trip staying with my dad in my hometown of Adrian. My sisters and I helped him clean out and reorganize the house. It wasn't all drudgery - there were those two birthday parties, after all. Plus I was able to do a bit of birdwatching from his backyard, watching Chimney Swifts and Turkey Vultures careen overhead. We also took walks to Trestle Park, just a couple of blocks from my dad's house. There, we were greeted by many of Michigan's most common birds, including much loved Northern Cardinals, American Robins (the state bird even though it should be Kirtland's Warbler), Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Phoebes, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, a momma Mallard with her small clutch of chicks, and, among my favorites, Gray Catbirds."
The Oceans, Water & Drought
Time to Demand Trinity Water and Klamath Dam Removal: Day of Action August 19—by Dan Bacher: "Last week federal officials at the Department of the Interior announced that, unlike in previous years, they will not preventively release Trinity River water from Lewiston Dam to avoid a Klamath River fish kill. They instead will only release water once the fish are sick and dying. This unscientific process will take at least four days and will likely lead to a large-scale salmon die off. Water will instead go to the Central Valley to allow farmers to irrigate the dry eastern valley. It is unacceptable that junior water right holders hundreds of miles away are getting water while the salmon die. Juvenile and spring run adult salmon are already dying in the Klamath and there still one month of summer until the fall run enters the river. There is no doubt that if water is not released from the Klamath's largest tributary, the Trinity, we will have a repeat of the 2002 Klamath River fish kill."
Sustainability & Extinction
Scott Walker says the rest of Wisconsin shouldn't become another Milwaukee. Here's why it should.—by rlegro: "According to Gov. Scott Walker, people do not want to see Wisconsin "become another Milwaukee." He made that assertion about the state's largest city more than once during his gubernatorial campaigns. However, Walker would do well to rethink that view because, according to experts, Milwaukee is among a handful of cutting-edge cities worldwide that are consciously remaking themselves into survivable, humanistic habitats that are not only urban and livable, but -- get ready for a new word -- biophilic. [...] The article recounts how Tim Beatley, a landscape architect at the University of Virginia, has developed a list of criteria describing the biophilic city and came up with a worldwide list of examples. Among them: Milwaukee; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; Phoenix; Singapore; Wellington, New Zealand; Oslo; Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; and Birmingham, England."
Glimpses of the End of Our World—by Th0rn: "Things happening around the world in recent weeks have got this discussion about climate change between Bill Moyers and David Suzuki a couple of months ago haunting me: (Y)oung kids often ask me, Mr. Suzuki how can I save the world? And I say to them, well, look, the world's not in trouble. We're in trouble, but the world's not in trouble ... The world, the planet is undergoing immense changes. Humans now are the major force shaping the properties and the functions within the biosphere. That's why scientists refer to this as the Anthropocene epoch, a period of time when human beings have become a geological force. We're altering the physical, chemical and biological features of the planet on a geological scale. So there's no question the planet's undergoing change. But the planet is going to be here long after we're gone. The planet will continue to go on in this altered state. I have no doubt life will persist. ... (A) lot of my colleagues have now said it's too late. Clive Hamilton, an eminent eco-philosopher in Australia wrote a book, 'Requiem for a Species.' And we're the species it's a requiem for. I've read everything, the entire book, and there's nothing I disagree with there. James Lovelock, the man who invented this idea of Gaia, says 90 percent of humanity will be gone by the end of the century."
Transportation & Infrastructure
Sunday Train: Fast and Slow Transit Should be Friends—by BruceMcF: "As noted this week at The Overhead Wire: There has been a lot of chatter recently on the issue of fast vs slow transit. This week is the perfect time for this discussion as two major United States transit projects of differing stripes opened up; the Metro Silver Line in Washington DC and the Tucson Streetcar. On the one hand you have neoliberal Matthew Yglesias as the neoliberal "let us explain to you why There Are No Alternatives (TINA)" site Vox saying: Without a dedicated lane, a streetcar can't really run much faster than a bus under ideal conditions. And since unlike a bus, a streetcar can't shift out of its lane to avoid an obstacle, in real-world circumstances it's likely to move slower than a bus. There are some objectives related to real estate development and tourism that this kind of project can serve, but they're nearly useless in terms of transportation. And on the other hand you have the piece by Robert Steuteville at Better Cities and Towns, Place Mobility: Sometimes good transportation is slow [...] "
Eco-Philosophy, Eco-Essays & Eco-Poetry
Promoting an effective discussion: Capitalism causes climate change—by Cassiodorus: "Should we be trying hard to get everyone's attention merely by producing ever-scarier stories about global warming? Separate this, if you will, from the actual and ongoing catastrophe of climate change, which merits our full attention. The truth may be scary. But is that all we've got? My question, more exactly, is pointed at those who would continue to scare us without proposing anything radically new. See for instance "Climate Tipping Requires Precautionary Accumulation of Capital and an Additional Price for Carbon Emissions," as posted on Naked Capitalism yesterday. Its initial analysis wrong-foots the whole idea: Climate policy aims to internalise the social cost of carbon by means of a carbon tax or a system of tradable permits such as the Emissions Trading System set up in the EU. But how do we determine the social cost of carbon? Answer: we don't. Climate change is not going to be solved by further entrapping people in a system of "costs," i.e. commodities exchange."
Canto XXVII.1: Or, Where Would Dante Put Climate Change Deniers?—by Eowyn9: "A while back, a friend and I were talking and (somehow or other) Dante's Inferno came up in the conversation. I've always had an admiration for Dante, who (exiled from his native Florence for his political connections) wasn't afraid to speak truth to power, and did so loud and clear in his Divine Comedy. Our conversation got me thinking: if Dante was writing today, how would he tackle contemporary issues (such as rampant capitalism, globalization, and the environment?) In particular, where would Dante put climate change deniers in his Inferno? (I don't mean people who are simply ignorant about climate science, or who are apathetic about the environment, or even who are genuinely convinced that anthropogenic climate change doesn't exist. I mean the so-called "scientists" who work for, say, the Heartland Institute, or Enbridge, or the Koch brothers, to deliberately confuse people and spread lies about climate change.) After giving it some thought, I decided that Hell needed...a small expansion. So I pulled up a new document, channelled Dante (as best I could), and -- voila! A long-lost "Dante" canto, wherein climate change deniers finally receive the punishment their deeds deserve."