See OceanDiver's post on paths
here.
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) normally appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The most recent Wednesday Spotlight can be seen here. More than
20,600 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.
2014 Warmest year on record while solar cycle weakest in 100 years—by
FishOutofWater: "2014 was the hottest on year record according to NOAA, NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency. The high temperatures were not associated with a strong El Nino or a strong solar maximum. There is no credible scientific explanation for the record high temperatures except record high levels of greenhouse gases. CO2 levels hit the 400ppm milestone, a level not seen in millions of years when the climate was much warmer, in spring 2014. About the same time the solar maximum apparently was reached, but it was the weakest since the first decade of the twentieth century. The peak of solar activity was reached in the mid twentieth century and has been declining ever since. Man-made climate change, not natural solar cycles explain the record high temperatures."
2014 was the warmest year in NOAA's 135 year record.
Poll: American Voters Against Republican Energy Policy—by
DRo: "According to new polling data released Thursday. advancement of the Republican energy policy just doesn’t resonate with American voters. XL Keystone and crude exports don't fly with the people, who believe in climate change and want a greener policy. The Senate has formally launched debate on legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline, that also set the stage for weeks of arguments on climate change, crude exports and oil spills. Ted Cruz, senator from Texas and likely 2016 presidential contender, has started a push to end the decades-old ban on crude exports. The people want no part of it. 82% want to require oil companies to use oil from US public lands/offshore here, not export it."
Action/2015: A Crucial Year For People & The Planet—by
boatsie: "Action/2015, a collaborative campaign involving over a thousand organizations from around the world, launches today, with an urgent demand that local and world leaders take immediate action this year on three key interconnected issues: halting man-made climate change, eradicating poverty and addressing inequality. The future of billions of people is on the line if world leaders fail to take aggressive action at two crucial summits in New York and Paris later this year—September's UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development and the November-December UN Climate talks. According to recently released calculations by the Action/2015 coalition, almost a billion additional people will experience extreme poverty, with billions more remaining highly vulnerable to impacts of these three crucial issues if leaders fail to deliver equitable and powerful solutions. […] The Action/2015 coalition is one of the biggest campaigns ever to launch, combining over one thousand environmental, human rights, development organisations and faith networks from over 120 countries. Action/2015 is also backed by high profile activists such as Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Bill and Melinda Gates, Bono, Ben Affleck and Mo Ibrahim and also equally involves grassroots NGOs working with local communities."
You can find more rescued green diaries below the orange garden layout.
Climate Chaos
NOAA/NASA: 2014 was the hottest year on record—by Lawrence Lewis: "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have this morning announced that 2014 was the hottest year on record. From the NASA announcement: The year 2014 ranks as Earth’s warmest since 1880, according to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists. The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York. In an independent analysis of the raw data, also released Friday, NOAA scientists also found 2014 to be the warmest on record."
Ocean threat stories are hyperbolic, says apparently hyperbolic research—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "In a recent paper published in the journal BioScience, marine biologist Carlos Duarte and co-authors argue there should be "an organized auditing of ocean calamities" to better assess the drivers behind large scale disruptions of ocean ecosystems and, importantly, whether the disruptions are human-caused. The over-arching goal of these audits, as described in the full-text, would be to prevent the public from becoming overwhelmed in response to an "overly negative message" that suggests the "ocean is beyond restoration." The authors hold that some internal bias inherent to science as well as external biases in the media "contribute to perpetuating the perception of ocean calamities in the absence of robust evidence." Duarte, et al.'s argument is restrained, academic and sophisticated compared to the criticisms from the deniersphere, but that doesn't mean it's entirely accurate. As evidence, the Nature write-up ends by quoting Ralph Keeling of the Scripps Institution, whose work on coastal 'dead zones' Duarte et al use as an example in their study. Keeling points out that while Duarte, et al. suggest it's wrong to call disruptive changes to ocean ecosystems "calamities," his own paper didn't actually even use the term calamity. So the Duarte et al paper, according to Keeling, 'is kind of committing the same sin it's railing against in the cast of this as a series of calamities. The literature doesn't call it calamities. That's their own hyperbolic language.'"
Pope Says Global Warming is Man-Made—by ericlewis0: "Pope Francis waded into the global debate about climate change on Thursday, saying that he believed that man was primarily responsible and that he hoped this year’s Paris conference would take a courageous stand to protect the environment. The Pope said his long-awaited encyclical on the environment was almost finished and that he hoped it would be published in June, in time provide food for thought ahead of the UN climate meeting Paris in November. This is great news, no matter how you slice it. President Obama is probably glad the Pope has his back."
Conservative American Farm Bureau admits that climate change is real and is impacting water supply—by VL Baker: "They must hate to admit it but the conservative American Farm Bureau can't pretend that climate change doesn't exist because it's staring them in the face with a shorter snow fall season. Of course they're not going so far as to suggest that we try to take action to slow the impacts, just that it's getting too hard to ignore so we better try to do something about making water supplies available for agriculture. Grist gets the scoop from the Washington Examiner. The influential American Farm Bureau, citing climate change, said a shift to collecting rain must happen now because it could take up to 30 years to build a new infrastructure. At a meeting in San Diego, California Farm Bureau Federation President Paul Wenger said that up to now about 70 percent of water storage has been in mountain reservoirs filled with melting snowpack. 'As climate change comes, we have to adapt, and that means we’d better have lower-level capturing systems to be able to capture that water, because it’s going to come as rainfall, not snowpack,' he warned, at a workshop at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 96th Annual Convention and IDEAs Trade Show."
Petition: They're climate deniers, not skeptics—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Picking up on December's open letter from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Forecast the Facts has started a new petition urging the media to stop referring to climate change deniers as "skeptics" and to instead call them what they are: deniers. At the time of this writing, the petition was just over its original goal of 20,000 signers. But due to the initial success, they've upped the goal to 25,000. We're impressed by how quickly they've gotten signatures, but not that surprised considering that Bill Nye the Science Guy was one of the letter signatories. We're thrilled by the success so far, and hope it is enough to cement the shift towards labeling skeptics as deniers. Because when you reach the opposite conclusion of the overwhelming weight of multiple lines of independent evidence; when you disagree with the position of every scientific society; when your arguments are full of simple errors, logical failings, cherry-picked trend lines; and when, no matter what all the studies say, you just know humans don't need to rein in emissions to prevent further climate change, you're not a skeptic. You're a denier."
Critters & the Great Outdoors
The Daily Bucket - paths—by
OceanDiver: "Most of my wandering in nature is along beaches or out on the water, where paths are irrelevant. In the woods or cross-country however, paths - aka trails - are essential or I'll get lost unless I want to explore. Bushwacking can be fun or hair-raising, depending on the situation, but getting somewhere isn't generally the main point. Usually I'm on my way to a site, or walking to see what's along the way, and that means using a path. They come in all kinds. All of us nature-lovers use paths specific to the kind of countryside we want to trek through. Some of us even construct paths (kudos, PHScott!). I think it would be fun to share the paths we know. I'll kick it off with some in my neighborhood, and some out on the Olympic peninsula, where I'm headed tomorrow for a few days. […] That path has been graded with gravel to some extent at least. Many others are at the mercy of the deluges of rainfall and become streambeds instead. This section of path has been getting deeper and deeper over the years."
Daily Bucket: A Walk At Sawgrass Lake—by Lenny Flank: "Just some photos from a recent walk at Sawgrass Lake in St Pete FL."
Yearling alligator.
The Daily Bucket - Skunks Mating Early in CA—by
enhydra lutris: "We ran up to coastal Mendocino County for a couple of days earlier in the week. On the way we noticed a seemingly large number of roadkill skunks, especially given the relative lack of other roadkill. My wife wondered aloud if it were mating season or something. Upon our return we discovered that, at least in the Bay Area, it is skunk mating season. This is according to a wildlife rescue and rehab facility in Marin. They are seeing 5 to 10 skunk intakes per day and have stated that this is about 2 weeks early, with such activity normally occurring at the end of January. Accordingly, one might wish to be a bit more cautious on suburban and country roads and in such habitats where these guys might be found."
Another Rocky Mountain Snowshoe Adventure ~VERY Photo Heavy!~—by Thinking Fella: "A few days ago, we here in the southern Rockies were treated to an abundant snowfall over the course of 24 hours. Prior to that snowstorm we had been experiencing warm temps & limited snow--but that was corrected with a foot of snow in the City of Durango & 2 feet of fresh powder up on the peaks & mountain passes. I thoroughly enjoy snowshoeing, but you knew that, right? I suspect that is at least partially because I enjoy hiking. Being outdoors, being surrounded by nature, seeing things few if any other humans get to see--all enjoyable to me. Snowshoeing allows me to go hiking even in the Winter! I occasionally get pushback: 'Ooo, it's so cold' or 'I hate the cold!' I'm here to tell you that while I would never argue that being outside when it is 10 degrees is warm—it isn't cold either. First off, yes, I'll grant you that it is cold when you first start. But the amount of exertion required--especially at high elevation—will cause you to feel warm quickly. If you aren't at least a little cold when you first begin you'll be sweating up a storm after 10-15 minutes. I often break a sweat due to the exertion, even at well below freezing temperatures … and who could argue they're cold when they're sweating?"
Engineer Mountain
Whale Watch—by
hobie1616: "I took some friends out whale watching this morning. We cruised around for a while and finally ran across three whales lazing about and spouting occasionally. One of the 65 foot tour catamarans showed up so I decided to reposition my boat so we could get better pictures. The law says you must maintain a minimum of 100 yards between the whales and your boat. If they decide to get closer you should put the engine in neutral. We gave the whales a wide berth and were almost in position when another whale surfaced about twenty yards off our stern. I shifted to neutral. This apparently was seen as an invitation as he cruised right over and started to rub up against the boat, dove underneath and circled us for over ten minutes."
Pectoral fin of this whale is the size of a Piper Cub wing.
Energy
Here are the Senate Democrats who voted to move forward on building the Keystone pipeline—by
dreaminonempty: "One of the first things the new Republican-led Senate has done is moved a bill forward to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. Ten Democratic senators and independent Angus King of Maine voted Yea, as seen above. Five of the eleven are from states won by Mitt Romney in 2012. Angus King, Tom Udall, and Tom Carper, however, are from states President Obama won by more than 10 points. A White House spokesman has said the president will veto the bill."
An endless stream of questions emerge over the Keystone XL—by Samuel Vargo: "Bill O'Reilly and the Teamsters Union claim the Keystone XL will see an overall 42,000 jobs created. Really? Some are questioning this as fact. Some critics propose that this is a grossly inflated figure and that other trades and professions will be negatively effected if the Keystone XL is constructed. And there are a lot of other questions left unanswered, like where exactly will the crude be refined? Will any of it be used domestically? And how's about existing treaties with American Indian tribes? Will the U.S. government break them like they've broken, altered, or discarded more than 500 other treaties since Colonial times? And how's about those two billionaire brothers from Wichita, Kan.? Is the Keystone XL something that will benefit David and Charles Koch and not the American people?"
Solar jobs are booming, growing at 20 times the national average—by Jen Hayden: "Incredible news about the solar industry from Computer World: The solar power industry created 31,000 new jobs last year, a growth rate that was 20 times the national average, according to the fifth installment of the Solar Jobs Census, released today. Since the first Solar Jobs Census in 2010, solar industry employment has grown by 86%. Solar jobs outpaced the big boys of energy production: In addition, the solar installation sector added nearly 50% more jobs in 2014 than were created in both the oil and gas pipeline construction industry and the crude petroleum and natural gas extraction industry. There are now twice as many solar jobs as coal jobs. What's behind the growth?"
Obama Announces Actions to Cut Methane Emissions by Almost Half—by ericlewis0 : "FACT SHEET: Administration Takes Steps Forward on Climate Action Plan by Announcing Actions to Cut Methane Emissions. The Obama Administration is committed to taking responsible steps to address climate change and help ensure a cleaner, more stable environment for future generations. As part of that effort, today, the Administration is announcing a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40–45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and a set of actions to put the U.S. on a path to achieve this ambitious goal. U.S. oil production is at the highest level in nearly 30 years, providing important energy security and economic benefits. The U.S. is also now the largest natural gas producer in the world, providing an abundant source of clean-burning fuel to power and heat American homes and businesses. Continuing to rely on these domestic energy resources is a critical element of the President’s energy strategy. At the same time, methane – the primary component of natural gas – is a potent greenhouse gas, with 25 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. The entire fact sheet is well worth the read - although most of the initiative will be run by the EPA, it requires coordination with the Department of Energy, the Dept. of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Transportation. Though ambitious, it strikes me as an extremely well thought-out plan - so many details appear to have already been worked out."
Subsidizing Environmental Degradation—by diligentbureaucrat: "As of 2012, the global amount of fossil fuel subsidies has been estimated to be in the range of $544 billion, according the the International Energy Agency, although the IMF has estimated it could be closer to $2 trillion in post-tax subsidies. America alone accounts for $502 billion of the post-tax subsidies that IMF estimates. 'The fact that energy products are taxed much less than other products...contributes to the high level of post-tax subsidies,' explained the IMF in their report. The numbers are staggering, especially when compared to the global subsidies for renewable energy (which actually needs them) being just $101 billion as of 2012. To be fair on the United States, the top spending countries on more direct subsidies come from the underdeveloped economies you might expect: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, India (300 million Indians have no electricity), Venezuela, and China. However, of the developed world economies, America predictably comes way out on top, giving nearly 3.5 percent of GDP if considering the post-tax subsidies. Not only do these subsidies make little economic sense, they also accelerate greenhouse gas emissions when the world is in desperate need of rapid decrease."
DC, State & Local Eco-Politics
Governor Rauner's Environment & Energy Adviser Represents Illinois' Worst Polluters—by Willinois: "One of Bruce Rauner's first appointments as Governor is a troubling sign for citizens hoping he'll protect the public and environment from toxic pollutants. Rauner's new Policy Adviser for Environment & Energy is Alec Messina, previously Executive Director and registered lobbyist for the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group (IERG). At IERG, Messina represented the interests of some of the state's largest polluters, including Peabody Energy, ExxonMobil, Chris Cline's Foresight Energy, Prairie State Generating Company, Dynegy Midwest Generation, Ameren, ADM and others. Messina previously worked for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency during the Blagojevich administration. IERG was founded by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to help their members study and influence regulation. They comment on proposed rules and often assist companies that argue for delaying compliance. The group has argued for expediting and "streamlining" the process of attaining permits for major sources of pollution in order to create a more business-friendly climate. Rauner's report released this week outlining an agenda for the state echoes those demands in its recommendations for energy and the environment."
In West Virginia, a huge victory for climate science (and students)—by Jen Hayden: "Only a month after West Virginia's School Board voted to dumb down standards for teaching climate science, they've done an abrupt about face: After widespread criticism from teachers, professors and others, the West Virginia Board of Education voted Wednesday to withdraw a set of science education standards containing controversial modifications to the teaching of climate change. The reaction to the planned changes was swift: On Monday, about 100 members of West Virginia University’s Faculty Senate unanimously voted to ask the board to reverse the changes, Faculty Senate Chairwoman Jennifer Orlikoff said."
New Year's Revolution—by Michael Brune: "Welcome to 2015, a year when scientists have documented the hottest global temperatures since record keeping began, analysts have recorded the most solar industry jobs since record keeping began, and Congress has begun its assault on clean air, clean water, and clean energy— perhaps the most misguided policy-making initiative since—well, you get the point. Given the dysfunction and denialism rampant in Congress and in many statehouses, why do I think this year will actually be a great one for clean-energy solutions and climate action? Because a revolution is already underway that will have a far greater impact than Congress's ham-handed pandering to fossil-fuel billionaires. Three things are driving this change. Recognition of the urgency of global climate action. […] The inexorable economics of clean energy. […] The power of communities (and the people who live in them)."
Eco-Essays and Eco-Philosophy
Living In Denial: Big Oil and the Religious Right's Alliance Against Our Environment—by diligentbureaucrat: "In our new Congress, there sits a perfect blend of anti-intellectualism and corporate interests that will challenge what America can do to fight the future catastrophes that global warming will cause. According to the Center for American Progress, over 56 percent of congressional Republicans deny or question the science of climate change, and 170 of the elected representatives have accepted over $63.8 million from the fossil fuel industry. So, can the American tradition of anti-intellectualism be blamed for this massive denial movement, or is it simply a case of being bought off? Hostility towards science is nothing new, and happens on both the left and right. The scientific fact of evolution is still highly contended in America, and according to a 2013 Pew poll, only 43 percent of Republicans believe that humans have evolved, which is down from 54 percent in 2009. Even on the Democratic side, which is not usually considered hostile towards science, 27 percent believe that humans have always existed in present form."
If you believe in science you should understand tipping points—by don mikulecky: "Change in the real world is most often nonlinear unless we are speaking of the rare system near equilibrium. The 1970s brought a time of excitement for those of us engaged in modeling real world systems. Breakthrough after breakthrough came one after the other. They had to do with nonlinear mathematics. One example was Catastrophe theory. In mathematics, catastrophe theory is a branch of bifurcation theory in the study of dynamical systems; it is also a particular special case of more general singularity theory in geometry. Bifurcation theory studies and classifies phenomena characterized by sudden shifts in behavior arising from small changes in circumstances, analysing how the qualitative nature of equation solutions depends on the parameters that appear in the equation. This may lead to sudden and dramatic changes, for example the unpredictable timing and magnitude of a landslide. A long time has passed and yet awareness of these breakthroughs seems to have not penetrated the minds of many people. One place where this is very dangerous is with respect to Global Warming and Climate Disruption (Climate Change)."
Oceans, Water & Drought
Jerry Brown's True 'Green' Legacy: The Death of the Delta?—by Dan Bacher: "I also discovered that the one connecting thread of my 10 favorite destinations is that every one of these locations, from the Trinity River that is diverted to the Sacramento, to Monterey Bay, to Spicer Reservoir on the North Fork of the Stanislaus, is intimately connected to the Bay Delta Ecosystem. If there is one message that I urge you to take home today, it is that if anglers, hunters and outdoors people don’t stand up now, this precious ecosystem and all of the great trout, salmon, steelhead, striped bass, halibut, and other fisheries that we enjoy will be lost forever. There are two stories that I broke recently that really bring this home. American River steelhead collapse—On December 29, I found out from the Nimbus Fish Hatchery manager the alarming news that only 10 adult steelhead have returned to the American River. Normally there would be hundreds or thousands of these fish. Last year there were over 335 adults by the same time. In banner years, over 2,000 steelhead would have returned by this time. As one who has spent many hours in meetings, rallies and events to restore the river, this is very disappointing. The previous low for the river was 200 fish in 1994."
New Pro-Bay Delta Conservation Plan Group Launched—by Dan Bacher: "Today, a new and growing coalition of residents, business leaders, labor, family farmers, local governments, water experts, environmentalists and others—Californians for Water Security—announced plans to mount a comprehensive, multi-year campaign in support of the plan to fix California’s broken water distribution system, through implementation of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The coalition will wage an active advertising, grassroots lobbying, social media and public advocacy campaign to support this important project to fix our aging water distribution infrastructure and improve water reliability and security throughout the state. As part of this effort, the coalition unveiled a new statewide online advertising campaign that began today that will reach millions of Californians and opinion leaders over the coming weeks and months."
Delta Community, Business Leaders to Sponsor H2O Hackathon – A Water Challenge—by Dan Bacher: "iHUB San Joaquin in partnership with Restore the Delta, the Delta Coalition, Café Coop, the San Joaquin Partnership, the A.G. Spanos Companies and various Delta businesses announced today that they have joined together to sponsor a 'H2O Hackathon: A Water Challenge' to identify sustainable solutions for water use. The event will take place March 27th and 28th. 'The H2O Hackathon will recruit policy and technology experts on sustainable solutions to key water challenges California faces,' said Kathy Miller, Chair of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors. 'There are sustainable solutions, and we will bring together the best available intellect and technologies on key aspects of solving these challenges,' added Mike Ammann, executive director of the San Joaquin Partnership and member of iHub San Joaquin."
California toxic waters rise despite decades of regulations and expenditure of $50 Billion—by Dan Bacher: "Below is Patrick Porgans' groundbreaking report on how California toxic waters are rising despite decades of regulations and an expenditure of $50 billion. Public records attest to the fact that after 40 years of regulatory programs, and more than $50 billion in expenditures, the Golden State’s water bodies have increased in toxicity! Trends Include 170% Increase In CA Toxicity Listings Since 2006: Increased water monitoring data shows the number of rivers, streams and lakes in California exhibiting overall toxicity have increased 170 percent from 2006 to 2010. More of California’s waterways are toxically polluted “water quality impaired” than previously known, according to a list of polluted waterways submitted by the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and finalized by the agency in 2011. Map California’s Impaired Waters. All assessed waters in the 2010 Report are a compilation of the latest approved data. The data indicate an increase in toxicity and listing of water impaired bodies will continue to rise. The State Water Board and regional water boards administer the provisions of the CWA under an agreement with EPA."
Agriculture, Food & Gardening
All Chipotle is saying is give tofu a chance—by VL Baker: "Chipotle does it right. Again. The fast casual icon who bucked tradition by sustainable sourcing of its products is doing it again by sticking to its principles of antibiotic, hormone free meat, when possible. And it's not budging on its commitment to humanely raised livestock. About a third of Chipotle restaurants are without pork because the company stopped taking pigs from one of its suppliers. A routine audit found that farmers were not complying with the company’s animal welfare standards, Chipotle communications director Chris Arnold explained in an email."
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 10.47: Planning for Summer—by blue jersey mom: "Good morning, gardeners. There is absolutely nothing happening in my garden here in the greater Trenton-Princeton area of New Jersey. We have taken down all the holiday decorations, and I am headed back to class in just over a week. This is not my favorite time of the year. I am a daughter of the summertime. I like to garden, swim, walk, and jog, and I do not like the cold. The only bright spot is the arrival of the seed catalogs. I received lovely catalogs from Territorial, from Burpee, and from John Scheepers, and we are working to plan our garden for the summer. We are facing some challenges as we try to plan a vegetable garden. Dad and I need to be in Turkey for most of the month of August. We are the zooarchaeologists for two excavation projects, and we have LOTS of animal bones and bone tools waiting for us. We want to focus on plants that ripen early, like lettuce, peas, and beans, and small plants that can be grown in containers. They will be easier for our son to take care of while we are away."
Transportation & Infrastructure
The Problem With High Speed Rail—by BOHICA: "Will anybody be writing songs about it? From Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight train" to Curtis Mayfield's "People get ready" and Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans", there has been a long tradition of songs about trains. Big rumbling beasts and sleek streamliners carrying passengers from coast to coast. Trains as metaphors of freedom and redemption. The feel of big drive wheels pounding along the ground. Songs about getting the train number wrong. You get the picture. Here in Portland we have the Southern Pacific 4449, a huge streamlined 4-8-4 steam engine. I've seen it a number of times and is impressive to say the least. Big, loud, smokey and a whistle that can't be beat."
Why is it taking so long to build high-speed rail?—by terrypinder: "A comment in a diary about CAHSR got me thinking. The comment faulted the Obama administration for not having the national HSR system, so grandiosely proposed in 2009, open for business in 2010—something that simply is not possible in the United States, or many other places outside of China. It’s not because of the lack of money (well, actually it IS to an extent, but that's a another diary), but it’s because our legal planning processes take a very, very, very long time. It occurred to me that many people really don’t know how a project, especially one as grand as national high-speed rail, gets from paper to public open for business, and that unlike places like France, Italy, even the UK, and of course China, there are a lot more entities to deal with. The Feds. States. Local governments. And then 'The People.'"
Sustainability & Extinction
Global warming masks a bigger problem: Mass Extinction—by andrewrex: "The global warming debate is over: it's happening, it's our fault, and we're doing major damage to the planet. There's controversy, but no debate. The controversy is not whether there's global warming; the controversy is how can we allow these short-sighted denialists to steer us faster into oblivion. The conversation that we avoid, when talking about global warming, is mass extinction. It's happened, it's happening—and it could happen to us. Take a look at today's New York Times headline: Ocean Life Faces Mass Extinction, Broad Study Says.<?i> According to this study … There are clear signs already that humans are harming the oceans to a remarkable degree, the scientists found. Some ocean species are certainly overharvested, but even greater damage results from large-scale habitat loss, which is likely to accelerate as technology advances the human footprint, the scientists reported."
Humans Are Destroying The Planet—by Richard Lyon: "In the last few years the debate about climate change has consumed most of the focus of environmental attention to the exclusion of other issues. Major new studies place that in perspective. Climate change is not the only threat to the environment and not the most serious one. […] Humans are 'eating away at our own life support systems' at a rate unseen in the past 10,000 years by degrading land and freshwater systems, emitting greenhouse gases and releasing vast amounts of agricultural chemicals into the environment, new research has found. Two major new studies by an international team of researchers have pinpointed the key factors that ensure a livable planet for humans, with stark results. Of nine worldwide processes that underpin life on Earth, four have exceeded “safe” levels—human-driven climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land system change and the high level of phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into the oceans due to fertiliser use."
Forests, Wilderness & Public Lands
Republicans Act to Prevent the Scourge of MORE National Parks—by jamess: "I guess they really do—'want to take 'their' country back' … New Congress Begins Anti-Environment Attack With ‘No More National Parks’ Bill Earlier this week, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) introduced a bill to strip current and future presidents’ authority to designate national monuments, proposing an overhaul to a law that presidents have used for nearly a century to protect some of the country’s most iconic and treasured places. […] Sixteen presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have used the Antiquities Act to permanently protect public lands and historic sites since the Act’s passage in 1906. Some of America’s most beloved and iconic landmarks, like the Grand Tetons and Arches National Park, were originally protected as national monuments under the Act. President Obama recently used the Act for the 13th time in his presidency to protect the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument outside of Los Angeles."
Miscellany
Center for Public Integrity Reveals How PR Firms Manufacture Consent for Oil, Big Business—by Steve Horn: "The Center for Public Integrity has broken new ground by publishing a months-long investigation into the public relations and influence-peddling spending conducted by Big Business trade associations between 2008-2012. That investigation highlights spending for trade associations ranging from theAmerican Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association, Edison Electric Institute, America’s Natural Gas Association and many others not in the oil, gas and coal industry. The energy industrial complex, though, by far spent the most on public relations according to the Center. API by far spent the most money on public relations according to the Center’s analysis, which explained its research methodology as a side-bar to the story."
107 Years of Warming Climate—by LeftOfYou: "The historic residence that we are rehabilitating in preparation to live there during our retirement was built in 1908. […] The climate that this unique historical house will endure during its next 107 years will look a lot different than the next 107 years. An almost straight line leads from years when global temperature was the farthest ever below modern averages, to years global temperature has risen to hit highest levels above average in modern history. A home built during a time cooler, milder climate faces a future climate that is warmer and sure to be more violent."