See Mark Sumner's post, The Ghost Canoe
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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 21,850 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.
The Spotlight will be taking a one-week hiatus and will not appear on Feb. 18 and Feb. 21.
The Megadrought is Coming: Climate Scientists Predict Decade Long Droughts For Much of America—by
Steven D: "A recent research article published in the online journal Science Advances by 2050 major portions of the Southwestern and Great Plains states will suffer from droughts much, much worse than the ones we have seen over the last 15 years. If you think things are at a crisis point, now, just wait. […] When someone starts talking about mega droughts that would dwarf any ever experienced in the region in nearly a thousand years, I sit up and take notice. And just to be clear, the droughts in the region during the Medieval era were significant, and likely were a major contributor to the end of one of the longest lasting Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, the Ancient Pueblo peoples. For those of you unfamiliar with the Ancient Pueblo peoples, its civilization in what is now the Southwestern United States lasted for over a thousand years, from at least 100 B.C.E. (some scholars place them in the area as early as 1500 B.C.E.) until roughly 1300 C.E. Their pueblo communities extended throughout the mountains, mesas and grasslands of Southwestern Colorado, Southeastern Utah, Northern New Mexico and Arizona. The most famous of their cliff dwelling sites are ruins found in Mesa Verde National Park."
Environmental racial disparity and Keystone XL—by
MRDFS: "My hometown of Port Arthur, Texas may be considered "famous" for a few things: natives Janis Joplin and former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson, rappers Pimp C and UGK, who collaborated with Jay Z ("big pimpin down in P-A-T"), and for its past as a central point of vice and corruption in Texas; in the late 1950s a special state legislative committee convened to investigate the complicity of law enforcement with open and notorious illegal gambling and prostitution (the actor Steve McQueen once worked as a bouncer at one of Port Arthur's bawdy houses). But Port Arthur's most notorious legacy may be related to its status as home to one of the largest oil refining capacities in the world, and the disproportionate rate of cancer and other diseases and ailments experienced by Port Arthur's poorest black residents, who live in close proximity to Port Arthur's refineries. Now, Port Arthur is the terminus for the Keystone pipeline."
Máxima Acuña
Stand with the Woman who Stood Up to Mining Industry Bullying—by
EARTHWORKS: "In 2011, the mining company Minera Yanacocha eyed the land of Máxima Acuña Chaupe, an indigenous farmer whose property was located near the Blue Lagoon lake (Laguna Azul) in the Peruvians highlands of Cajamarca. Access to this lake was crucial for Yanacocha’s proposed Conga mine, but Máxima refused to sell her property. So Yanacocha, which is owned by US-based mining giant Newmont, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Peruvian company Buenaventura, sued Maxima for ownership of the land. The company ultimately lost when an appeals court ruled in Máxima Acuña’s favor. Máxima’s life has not been easy in the past few years. She and her family have been beaten, robbed and even sentenced to prison. Perhaps what is most troubling is that this harassment continues even after the court ruling in her favor. Just over a week ago, on February 3rd, police and security officers backed by the company [video] invaded the farmer's home to prevent her from making repairs to her house. Officers even destroyed parts of her home. This was the third such invasion of her land in 2015 itself. We ask you to take action against Newmont for sanctioning this violence."
You can find more rescued green diaries below the orange garden layout.
Daily Tck: Day four of the UN climate talks in Geneva—by Joshua Wiese: "Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher and mathematician from the 1600’s, once famously opened a letter explaining ‘I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.’ His logic could explain why government negotiators more/less arrived at their Geneva session goal of agreeing a draft negotiating treaty in less time than many expected. Putting a long list of ideas and options on a page is not difficult. Additional progress, on cutting and consolidating those ideas and options, is proving much harder to grasp. Negotiations stayed fairly abstract throughout Wednesday, with the merits of different approaches to streamlining the now 80+ page draft text featuring prominently. Discussions also focused on the potential structure of the new global climate agreement - touching on some of the crux issues like how to ‘differentiate’ between developed and developing countries obligations, the balance between different elements, and how the agreement might promote cycles of increasing action. Delegates agreed to continue informal discussions on how to streamline Thursday, while formal negotiations pivot back to pre-2020 actions that could bridge the massive gap between what the world’s climate scientists say needs to happen, in order to avoid catastrophic consequences, and what is actually being done."
Daily Tck: Day five of the UN climate talks in Geneva—by Joshua Wiese: "It’s official! The UN climate talks in Geneva gave birth to a draft ‘Negotiating Text’ at 10pm on Thursday evening, weighing in at a hefty 86 pages of options and ideas for the new global climate agreement. With that, governments have achieved their primary objective for this session, but negotiations aren’t done yet. Boosting climate action prior to commitments under the new agreement taking effect - i.e. between now and 2020 - is another important objective, and negotiators dug into the topic on Thursday morning. Government envoys used a significant chunk of the day to build on conversations about where to focus a series of meetings with technical experts later this year. They discussed how the UNFCCC’s finance and technology mechanisms can speed the adoption and scaling-up of solutions; what role outside institutions and other non-state actors might play; and many rightly emphasized how developed countries slow pace of emission reductions and backsliding on climate finance commitments have hindered potential progress. There’s a lot that this process could help achieve toward boosting government’s pre-2020 ambition, but what countries will agree over the course of this year on remains unclear."
Quick, go visit the ocean one last time before it dies—by VL Baker: "We know that the last ten years have seen unprecedented warming, with 2014 the warmest ever measured. We have evidence that the warming is influencing extreme weather including drought, floods, heavy snowfalls and rising seas. But the area most affected by atmospheric warming lies below the Earth's surface. Check out the chart on the right for a stunning look at what is happening out of sight. Andrew Freedman at Mashable writes that 'Ocean heat content is climbing so quickly that the tracking chart "broke."' And a new study is predicting a mass extinction of marine life a lot sooner than we anticipated. The ocean warming and acidification is having a profound effect on Coral and in fact, there is concern about a major Coral bleaching as soon as 2015 writes Tom Philpott at Mother Jones. [..] coral scientist C. Mark Eakin, who coordinates the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch program, is surprised that the warning he has been sounding since last year (PDF)—that the globe's reefs appear to be on the verge of a mass-scale bleaching event—hasn't drawn more media attention."
Ocean warming is off the charts. Literally.
New study defines bad faith criticism—by
ClimateDenierRoundup: "Wrapped in academic jargon like 'epistemically detrimental dissent,' a new science philosophy paper lays out four conditions to help differentiate between helpful criticism (that advances the state of science) and bad-faith, biased contrarianism (meant to hinder scientific progress, like tobacco companies disputing the smoking-cancer link). According to the paper, dissent is 'epistemically detrimental' if it meets the following four conditions: the real world consequences of dissent are severe; the dissent "violates established conventional standards" (is overtly biased); it protects industry/producers while putting the public at risk; and if the risks of consensus versus dissent 'fall largely upon different parties.' So dissenting from a hypothesis with no real world impact is not inherently bad (because why would you bother faking criticism of an unimportant hypothesis), whereas dissenting from a hypothesis involving dangerous conditions may be bad faith and done to protect a particular party. If the dissent isn't up to par regarding academic standards and practices, then it may be biased and is therefore epistemically detrimental. If it's defending an actor engaged in some activity producing conditions that scientists hypothesize to be bad (like tobacco or fossil fuel industries) against a threat to the public, and if the public and producer face different risks, then it's a bad faith criticism and not advancing scientific understanding."
Denial went down to Georgia—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Charlie Daniels of 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' fame has an op-ed in the rightwing site cnsnews.com. It's amusing, to say the least. Daniels opens by saying citing the Bible as his source for evidence against human-caused climate change, which makes sense coming from this Devil-bestin' fiddle maestro. He then trots out the standard denier lines, from the supposed name change from global warming to climate change, to polar bears being just fine, to the temperature record adjustment faux-controversy, to Climategate, to climate change really being about political control. One odd bit about a mysterious conference shows that Daniels is being fed some of this misinformation from someone else, but his poor English gives away that he still probably wrote the piece all by himself (without the benefit of an editor). About the consensus, he says, 'They tell you that it's "settled science," knowing full well that two out of three imminent, world class scientists at the recent Mombasa conference disputed the "settled science".' First off Charlie, the word you were looking for is 'prominent.' 'Imminent' means 'about to happen.' Second off, what Mombasa conference? What aspect of the consensus did scientists dispute? How imminent prominent can these scientists be if they're speaking at a conference that doesn't even show up on Google? "
The Daily Bucket - PNW Snow No Show—by Milly Watt: "While the east coast has been contending with heavy snow this winter, the Pacific Northwest mountains are seriously in need of snow. I was curious if this winter has been unique in its lack of snowpack, so I went looking for the history. I chose to look at data from Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. It looks like 2005 and 1981 had similar snowpack measurements on Feb. 1 of those years as we do now. Even if it's not unprecedented, the lack of snow is worrying. Cliff Mass suggests that it's very likely the end of winter (such as it was) here in the PNW. In discussing the low snowpack, he says 'I am not optimistic for the remainder of this year and virtually every tool at my disposal suggests that the preternatural warmth will continue.' There are bare meadows behind the visitor center at Hurricane Ridge. Any precipitation lately has been in the form of rain instead of snow."
The Daily Bucket - hidden marsh—by
OceanDiver: "
February 11, 2015. Pacific Northwest. The mellow hooting of Trumpeter Swans has been absent from the marsh near my house for weeks now. February is too early for them to be migrating back north. Where did the swans go? A few days ago I ran into someone I know bicycling by, stopped to chat, and in the course of our conversation heard she'd seen a mass of swans through the trees a couple of miles away. Through the trees was an understatement. From the road there, the brush surrounding the marshy area is quite impenetrable, and the water starts where the brush ends. I could see tantalizing white specks of swans through the wall of thorny vegetation, but even standing on the tailgate of my truck I couldn't see well enough to count how many. Quite a few though, and some gray juveniles too."
Cold, Dead Fish Awards for 2014—by Dan Bacher: "The year 2014 started off with a record drought that was aggravated by the impact of the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources draining Trinity, Shasta, Oroville and Folsom to record low levels to fill southern California reservoirs and the Kern Water Bank. Folsom dropped to its lowest level ever, forcing the closure of the American River to fishing as releases were reduced to 500 cfs. While February and March were wet months, the drought continued throughout the year, with the exception of a few big storms in December. 2014 was one of the toughest years ever for fish in California history. As a result of the mismanagement of Folsom Reservoir by the Bureau of Reclamation during a drought, Nimbus Fish Hatchery staff counted the lowest number of steelhead ever recorded, 10 fish, by December 29, normally a date when hundreds if not thousands of fish had already returned to the river. For its disastrous water policies and the near-extinction of American River steelhead, as well as its continuing drive to raise Shasta Dam, David Murrillo, MidPacific Director of the Bureau, receives the 'Extinct Steelhead' award."
The "Clean Coal" Myth—by Rick San: "What do clean coal, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy all have in common? THEY DO NOT EXIST! There is no such thing as "Clean Coal." It is an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms. Coal is dirty. Burning coal produces ash, smoke, and toxic chemical fallout. There is no clean way to get energy from burning coal. Don't listen to the experts. The energy companies hired them to lie to the public, not to invent clean coal. The experts know it is impossible. Why do American corporations persist at coal? It is an energy source that is not renewable. It is not safe to handle, and it requires too much handling. It has to be mined, stored, transported, and used, which all take risk, maintenance and energy use. The technology has hardly changed in over a century. Coal still has to be dug out of the earth by hand, pick and shovel."
BLM Reaches Major Solar Milestone—by jamess: "If this is what they call "fast-track" -- I'd hate to see the 'slow one'. The Climate Clock is ticking people. As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Western Solar Plan, the BLM is releasing three Environmental Assessments analyzing impacts for three proposed utility-scale solar energy projects in the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone in Clark County, Nevada. Following public comment, the BLM will proceed with final consideration of the projects. The projects, which propose to generate a combined total of 480 megawatts of electricity on 3,083 acres within the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone, are the first to reach this stage of permitting under the Western Solar Plan. The reviews were completed in less than six months, compared to reviews under the previous project-by-project system that took on average 18 to 24 months to complete."
Oklahoma's love of fracking can only be matched by their love of setting earthquake record—by Walter Einenkel: "Oklahoma's fracking boom coincides with the ground shaking. We all suspect/know this: In 2014, the fault line-riddled West Coast state experienced 180 earthquakes of a magnitude 3 or higher. Oklahoma, which pre-2009 averaged one per year, had 562 — tripling the former record holder’s total count. These quakes are not just the kind that scientific machines can feel. It's the result of the wastewater injection wells, from fracking operations. Exactly how is not fully known but the correlation is there. So, even though California still owns the deadliest earthquakes in the United States' record, this sudden change in seismology means everything must be re-evaluated."
House approves Senate bill in favor of building Keystone XL pipeline 270-152, too few to beat veto—by Meteor Blades: "As expected, the House passed a bill approving building of the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday afternoon. The vote was 270-152. Twenty-nine Democrats voted for it and one Republican voted against. It's the same bill passed 62-36 by Senate and it is headed for a presidential veto. There aren't enough votes in either house to override that veto."
Big Oil Gave $250,000 to Each Senator who Voted for Keystone XL—by ericlewis0: "The biggest recipient of oil largesse was Sen. Cornyn (R-TX), who took in over a million dollars for his "work". Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), who wrote the bill, was a distant second, with $275,998. And they played Joe Manchin (D-WV) for a sucker—though he was a freaking co-sponsor of the bill, he only received $200,000. Enjoy that money, jerk. Kudos to the 36 Senators who stood firm against the pipeline. It's kind of amazing that even they get tens of thousands of dollars from Big Oil—maybe just to give them a taste. This is what we are up against, folks—one step short of Boehner walking the halls of Congress, passing out checks."
Nebraska judge temporarily blocks TransCanada's ability to use eminent domain for Keystone XL—by Meteor Blades: "The Keystone XL pipeline that both the Senate and House have voted in the past two weeks to approve just ran into another possible hang-up. Joe Duggan reports: Holt County District Judge Mark Kozisek granted a temporary injunction Thursday to landowners who challenged the ability of TransCanada to use eminent domain to acquire land for the controversial pipeline. The judge made the ruling after landowners filed new lawsuits challenging the state’s pipeline routing law, which was narrowly upheld by the Nebraska Supreme Court in a decision last month."
One of the oldest gardens in the world, Orto Botanico di Firenze, was established in 1545—by Missys Brother: "As a gardener, I couldn't believe we stumbled on the world's third oldest botanical garden while just rambling along in a non-touristy area. My friend is not a gardener and has no interest but said let's go inside. He didn't have to beg me. This garden has over 9,000 plants including a three-hundred year old tree. The garden is managed by the University of Florence and we were told that we had to leave our roller suitcases at the front desk. Thank goodness for that. […]
There was really no rhyme or reason to the greenhouses which was part of its charm as you felt as if you were on an expedition. Watch out for all the cactuses!"
When Bush was bulls**ting Americans on limiting carbon dioxide emissions—by
Jon Perr: "In his speech in Saginaw, Michigan on September 29, 2000, Governor Bush tried to beef up his 'compassionate conservative' credentials by outflanking Vice President Gore from the left: 'As we promote electricity and renewable energy, we will work to make our air cleaner. With the help of Congress, environmental groups and industry, we will require all power plants to meet clean air standards in order to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide within a reasonable period of time. And we will provide market-based incentives, such as emissions trading, to help industry achieve the required reductions.' As it turned out, Bush kept that promise only until he was safely ensconced in the Oval Office. In March 2001, only 10 days after EPA administrator Christie Todd Whitman publicly pledged to fulfill Bush's campaign promise, the White House reversed course. Later that year, Whitman was rolled again over the issue of 'new source review' for the nation's older power plants. The EPA's suggested rule changes were rejected by the administration, she said, because the White House 'wanted something that would be more pro-industry.' (Caught completely off-guard while in climate meetings in Europe, Whitman soon resigned.)"
Consuming vs. Preserving Our Resources—by yunohu: "Here is one aspect of resource extraction vs. climate & environmental destabilization I don’t understand why nobody is focused on: preserving resources. Keeping resources for the future rather than using them up seems to me such an obvious choice: if you use up resources now, you won’t have them in the future, when you may need them more & they are likely to be more valuable, & you’d have them available in case of an emergency. You lose resource security by consuming them now. Unbridled greed for fossil fuels & minerals & reckless disregard for the health of water supplies or ecosystems has prevailed over our nation & world for the last several decades. Resource extraction or consumption should not be considered a plus in any way to our economy, & therefore should not be part of any measurement of prosperity like GDP except negatively. The amount of resources you maintain shows the true wealth & economic security of your country—that is what needs to be considered in measuring a nation’s prosperity. Therefore, what we need to do is develop as quickly & as massively as possible clean alternative resources & less wasteful ways of living so that we can greatly reduce resource consumption & preserve such wealth."
GMO trees Are Gonna Getcha – Or Maybe Not.—by foresterbob: "Today’s email included a passionate plea from CREDO. A company called ArborGen, Inc. is developing genetically modified pine seedlings, and CREDO wants me to sign a petition to save the planet from Trees Run Amok. Let me begin by stating that I do not have a strong opinion one way or another. Genetics has never been my strong suit. I simply have not studied the issue enough to know whether GMO trees might pose a potential problem. I have met representatives of ArborGen at trade shows, and they seem like nice enough people who have no devious plans to forever alter life as we know it. When I attempt to research an unfamiliar topic, I look for sources that present the evidence in an informative and balanced fashion. Then I make up my mind. Or if the topic is complex, I might remain undecided. […] Most of the forestland in the southern US is privately owned. It is perfectly reasonable to encourage property owners to make their lands more productive. Southern forests are awash in invasive plant species, such as privet, kudzu, English ivy, and Asian wisteria; each of which form dense stands which limit tree growth and can scarcely be stopped by any means besides herbicides. For many property owners, the most attractive alternative to growing trees is to sell the land to a developer. I have yet to see a subdivision that is as ecologically viable as a forest. Where did those previously mentioned invasive species come from? Folks unwittingly planted them in their yards, and government agencies planted them along roads. Every new subdivision becomes an incubator for invasive species, and it fragments the remaining forests in the area. We need to encourage owners of forested lands to keep them in forests, even if they plant trees and use herbicides. And we should not be outraged if they earn a profit."
The Daily Bucket: The Ghost Canoe—by Mark Sumner: "But it's strange that many things that are not lovely in their making, which are lovely in decay. Old barns may be too ramshackle to serve the purpose they once held, but their sagging roofs and sun-scorched beams hold a beauty the structure never achieved when intact. An old car left to rot in the wood becomes a fretwork of rusty curves, overrun with vines and pierced through by saplings. An old stone fence becomes a lichen-covered surprise, rearing up in woods that look otherwise primordial. Even simple neglect can lend an object a strange dignity and life that it lacked when serving it's original purpose. And that's the case with the ghost canoe… The ghost canoe appeared in the lake last summer. I first saw it on a stormy day with its aluminum gunwales hard against a granite block sea wall and rain-lashed white caps spilling their load into the canoe's interior. It was more than half sunk. It was all sunk. And when I saw that it wasn't there against the wall the next day, I assumed it had been either retrieved by its owner or slid down under the gray surface."
The Weather People And The California Drought—by Emmet: "Mr. Emmet and I watch a lot of local news. I think it’s a Zen thing. There’s a comforting familiarity, a seamless sameness, to it. […] And the best part of the local news, the sparkle, the champagne, the part you always look in from the kitchen for, is the weather people. This being Southern California, the production values are the finest, and our weatherpeople are stars. The camera loves them. The anchorpeople love them. They wave the weather around on their big maps, and tell us about weak lows and dirty highs and we all pretend to know what they're talking about. I fully expect to see Dallas Raines at the Oscars—in Armani. […] But a big ole rock has been dropped into the serene pool of local news, and in particular, local weathercasting. More and more often, the five second mention of Important California News has to do with THE DROUGHT. The historic drought. The historic drought that's draining the reservoirs, that's hurting the farmers in the Central Valley (who all think, according to their homemade billboards that litter Interstate 5, that Nancy Pelosi caused it), that's saying Not So Fast to the burgeoning wine industry on the Central Coast, and that's stressing the beautiful old camphor trees that line our street. Snowpack in the Sierras was 25% of normal at the end of January (though it's improved a bit since then because of the precip in Northern California). If we don't get a lot of rain this winter, they may not survive."
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging :: Vol. 10.51 • A Very Thorny Issue—by jayden: "It's Valentine's Day and not only is it the day of boxed chocolates, candy hearts, and cupid's arrow but it's also the day marked on the gardening calendar as a reminder that it's time to prune the garden's most beautiful flower, the rose. Could the date be any more fortuitous? Well at least for those of us living in Central Texas anyway! Join me below the orange fleur-de-not-a-rose for more about civilization's most beloved and time-honored flower: Throughout the history of mankind, people from around the world have held the rose close to their hearts. The earliest known flower gardening included roses planted along the travel routes of early nomads. Roses are known to have flourished 35 million-years ago; fossilized rose hips have been found in Europe and petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed from ancient Egyptian tombs."
Tesla's Elon Musk says they've created a battery to power your home and it's coming soon, very soon—by Walter Einenkel: "Last night, Tesla's CEO and in-house genius Elon Musk revealed some amazing plans: 'We are going to unveil the Tesla home battery, the consumer battery that would be for use in people's houses or businesses fairly soon,' CEO Elon Musk said, according to Bloomberg. On Tesla's earnings call, CTO JB Straubel said the company would most likely hold an event in the next "month or two" to reveal the battery, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. The battery would enter production in "about six months or so.'"
Yes, we should fear science.—by The Orchid: "Whenever the subject of GMOs or vaccines come up, there's always a small cadre that urges us 'not to fear science' and not-so-subtly sneers at those with concerns about either or both for 'fearing science.' But we should fear science. Science is dangerous. Many would like to believe that science is merely a benign, if not benevolent, pursuit of knowledge, and a tool to test hypotheses. Science has given us plenty of the worst our current world has to offer us, as well as some of the best. My point is that, like fire or a loaded gun, science can be used for great harm as well as great benefit, and it therefore should be feared. The worst, though, in my mind, are those who blindly stumble forward using science as if it could never be of harm to anyone. All of you who support GMOs—and you are apparently legion—how are you so sure GMOs are absolutely safe?"