This is the 548th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the February 24 Green Spotlight. More than 28,465 environmentally oriented stories have been rescued to appear in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - more low tide on the beach (even lower): “I haven’t been walking very far lately so my go-to easy-walking beach — the bay I reported from last time — is where we’re visiting for today’s Bucket too. [...] The tide was even lower this time even though I was out there at the same time of day. Short explanation: Tides are about an hour later each day. That has to do with the revolution of the moon around the earth, the moon’s gravitation being the primary driver of tides. Roughly speaking, it takes the moon 28 days to revolve around the earth, so each day it’s 1/28 further around. The day has 24 hours, so as the tide highs/lows advance in step with the moon overhead, they are an hour later each day. There a few other variables complicating this basic pattern, but that’s the basics. [...] With more of the beach uncovered, more of the Ornate Tubeworm bed was exposed. I watched a gull munching on something in the middle of the bed and discovered using my zoom lens it was NOT a tubeworm but a crab. Big surprise ;-)”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Courts Questioning Trump’s Pipeline Policies as Protesters Face Fossil Fueled Front Groups: “On Wednesday the 21st, a US District Court Judge ruled that the Trump administration needed to turn over documents explaining its decision to reverse course and approve the Keystone XL pipeline, or explain why that reasoning should be kept secret. The Obama administration spent years studying the pipeline’s impacts, and ultimately that body of evidence justified blocking the pipeline. But upon assuming office, President Trump almost immediately decided the opposite. Given that such decisions are required to be based on facts, what new evidence did the government suddenly find to change its mind so quickly? As we’ve said before, according to the Administrative Procedures Act, federal decisions need to be based on science and facts. If not, they can be struck down in court for being ‘arbitrary and capricious,’ a fancy way of saying something is done for political reasons that aren’t supported by the evidence. [...] Another totally unsolvable mystery? Why ALEC and pro-pipeline politicians are trying to get the Department of Justice to prosecute pipeline protesters as terrorists. Alex Kaufman at HuffPo explored last week how the ‘valve turners’ who shut down a pipeline as an act of protest against climate change are being equated by the lawyers prosecuting them to the 9/11 hijackers and the Unabomber.”
No categories listed today since there is a low number of green posts
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: If You Fill It*, They Will Come: “A bucket dedicated to the birds I usually see at backyard feeders in the northeast in the late winter.”
Lenny Flank writes—Photo Diary: Some Florida Critters: “Some various critters encountered lately in the Orlando FL area. For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and am traveling around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I have visited.”
matching mole writes—Dawn Chorus: Where Do You Fall in Birder Space? “I’m not sure how this is going to go over but here goes. Those of us who enjoy birds are a varied lot. In addition to variation in the ‘usual’ ways (gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc.) we also vary in how we enjoy our feathered friends. I’m going to try a little experiment here with any willing participants and look at variation in where each of us finds ourselves in ‘birder space’. What the heck is the mole talking about you may be asking yourself and rightfully so. I’m going to define three scales on which to measure your birding tendencies. These three scales will make the axes of a three dimensional ‘birder space’. Each scale will range from -5 to +5 and it is important to note that there is no value associated with this scales — a +5 isn’t good and a -5 isn’t bad. There is no good or bad way to enjoy birds but it is interesting to look at the variation in those ways across the DKos birding community.”
Mark Sumner writes—Pesticides that are killing bees can also kill birds: “Neonicotinoid pesticides are among the most common chemicals used in farming and home gardening. They are considered harmless to people and other mammals, but they attack the nervous systems of insects. Many seeds are sold pre-coated with these pesticides so that the plants have protection before they even sprout. This class of chemicals is successful both in the sense that they’re highly widely used and strong revenue generators for the companies who make them. However, they’ve long been suspected as one of the primary reasons for the decline in the number of honeybees. But Mother Jones is reporting on new studies that show the danger of ‘neonics’ goes well beyond just insects. Lots of bird species scavenge seeds for their meals. And these days, many of those seeds are coated in neonics. In a study published last fall, Canadian researchers dosed white-crowned sparrows—a seed-eating, migrating songbird—with the insecticides at various levels. They found that just four seeds coated with imidacloprid, consumed over three days, was enough to cause ‘significant declines in fat stores and body mass’ in the bird and a reduced ability to navigate.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - swans in the field: “The Trumpeter swans are still around in my neighborhood, although they have mostly abandoned the wetlands. From their arrival last fall, the largest group could be reliably found in the large wetland in the center of the island until mid January. I noted the swans had decamped right after we had a lot of heavy rainfall that filled the wetland a foot or so higher. Greater depth might have been the reason — swans being dabblers — but it might also have been depletion of grasses there. A swan eats 20 lbs of forage per day, and 50 or so swans pulling up submerged grasses for several months would put a big dent in the vegetation. Since then I’ve been seeing a tight group of about 40 in various fields nearby. This field is one, midway between the large wetland and another downhill from it.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Deniers Losing their Favorite Journal, Energy and Environment, to SAGE Publishers: “With a name so mundane it’s practically impossible to Google, the journal Energy and Environment has been the ‘journal of choice’ for deniers who want to try and slip something into the peer-reviewed literature. The journal is held in exceptionally low regard by the academic community and considered heavily biased in favor of industry. (And to be clear, it’s entirely different from the energy and environment news outlet E&E.) Pieces published at Energy and Environment seemed to lack a quality peer-review process, but hopefully that will change. Mat Hope at DeSmog UK broke the news on Friday that the journal has been acquired by peer-review-giant SAGE publishing. With this change in leadership, the journal has adopted a new ‘double-blind peer review policy for the journal’ as well as an online submission system. After the transfer, denier Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen resigned from the journal’s editorial board. The new ownership and the vacuum of denier power at the top editorial levels means we can expect to see fewer denial papers published there. Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to see the sort of content Energy and Environment is (hopefully) leaving behind.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—What’s Old is Wrong Again: Deniers on Polar Bears, Groupthink, and Sensitivity: “For all their many, many faults, one thing deniers know well is the value of repetition in public communications. While legitimate scientists are always searching for the newest finding or latest emerging theory, deniers are content to drive the same talking points into the ground. Polar bears are a good example. Deniers like to claim that warming must not be bad for them, because their populations are growing (since humans stopped regularly hunting them in ‘73). Susan Crockford, zoologist, bone identifier and deniers’ favorite polar bear expert, has built a cottage industry of polar bear pseudo-science. Crockford released a new report on polar bears this week (produced for GWPF), and penned an op-ed in the Financial Post claiming that because ‘polar bears are thriving,’ it ‘should have meant the end of its use as a cherished icon of global warming doom.’ We’ll put aside for a moment the fact that many climate advocates have moved on from the polar bear to focus on the human impacts of climate change. And we won’t waste your time by diving into Crockford’s report, which provides a rosy picture of polar bear populations. Instead, we’ll remind you of a study from last year that examined the difference between how real science blogs and deniers support their polar bear posts. While legitimate blogs cite peer-reviewed papers, 80% of denier blogs cite Crockford, who has never published a peer-reviewed paper on climate and polar bears. And with this new GWPF report, she still hasn’t.”
Pakalolo writes—Massive carbon store discovered in the Congo: “Right dab in the middle of the Congo basin is a low lying swamp called the Cuvette Centrale depession. It is the earth’s second largest tropical wetland, after the Panatanal in Brazil. The Congo basin is covered by tropical rainforests and swamps. Together these ecosystems make up the bulk of Central Africa's rainforest. Tropical wetlands are able to absorb and store about 80 percent more carbon than can wetlands in the world’s temperate zones. Peatlands are rich in carbon. They cover just three per cent of Earth’s land surface, but store one-third of soil carbon, according to a study published in the journal Nature. The Congo has the largest tropical peatland on earth. [...] In a guest post for Climate Brief, Prof Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at the University College London and the University of Leeds writes on the massive peat-land discovery and it’s implications for climate change. He notes that while peat covers only ‘4% of the whole Congo Basin, it stores below ground roughly the same amount of carbon stored above ground by the trees that cover the other 96%’.”
Pakalolo writes—How NASA averted the 2060 apocalypse: “From Big Think: Pop quiz! Which NASA mission has been most critical to humanity? It's not the Moon landing. It's not the Apollo 8 mission, with its iconic Earthrise photo. It's not even spinoff tech like cell phones, baby formula, and GPS. "All those kind of fall flat, to tell you the truth," says Michelle Thaller, NASA's assistant director of science communication. "I think that people don’t understand." Thaller says the greatest mission NASA ever pulled off was saving your butt. While conducting blue sky research—curiosity-driven scientific investigation with no immediate "real-world" applications—that scientists in the 1980s discovered that the ozone layer was being depleted. Realizing the danger this posed to life on Earth, scientists—and NASA's crack team of science communicators—mobilized the public, the U.N., and governments to get the Montreal Protocol signed, and to ban ozone-depleting chemicals for good. "We’ve since done atmospheric models that show that we would have actually destroyed the ozone layer, had we done nothing, by the year 2060..." says Thaller. "That would have destroyed agriculture. Crops would have failed all over the world. You couldn’t have livestock outside. People couldn’t have lived outside. We very nearly destroyed civilization, and your grandchildren would have lived through that’.”
Dan Bacher writes—Ratepayers urge Metropolitan Water District to oppose taking over major share of Delta Tunnels cost: “Food & Water Watch, Los Angeles water ratepayers and consumer advocates will today urge Mayor Garcetti and the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) Board of Directors to oppose Governor Jerry Brown’s updated Delta Tunnels Plan. [...] ‘MWD is not only considering the state’s proposal to construct the tunnels in phases for a preliminary $5.5 billion investment, but will also deliberate on taking over the majority stake to build the $17 billion twin tunnels together,’ said Brenna Norton of Food and Water Watch. ‘When Westlands Water District and other agricultural customers pulled out of tunnels project last year, MWD and other state water project contractors began considering downsizing the plan to one tunnel or funding the agricultural districts’ share with ratepayer money’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Replacing Coal, Renewables Reduced Emissions As Much As Nat Gas: “A new study published last week in Energy Policy finds that from 2007 to 2013, CO2 emissions from energy production in the US fell by 10%, thanks in nearly equal measure to renewables and natural gas. As the study authors point out in an EDF blog post, conventional wisdom credits the switch from coal to gas as the primary driver of emissions reductions. But their analysis shows that renewables and energy demand reduction both played just as big a role as natural gas. Key to this downward trend in production, of course, is the falling price of renewables, which when combined with batteries are increasingly cost-competitive with both coal and natural gas. In fact, when financial firm Lazard released its annual study on the full costs of energy last November, it found that building new renewable capacity is already cheaper than running existing coal and nuclear plants in many places across the country.”
Mark Sumner writes—Scott Pruitt to eliminate EPA office that protects children from environmental threats: “Scott Pruitt, speaking from his custom soundproof booth behind his wall of bodyguards on the entire floor of the EPA building that he has dedicated to himself, has declared a major reorganization of the Environmental Protection Agency. In furtherance of his plan to turn the EPA into a footstool for corporations and a mouthpiece for polluters, The Hill notes that a few things are going to have to go. Perhaps best known for its handling of fellowships that study the effects of chemicals on children’s health, [National Center for Environmental Research] will be dissolved and science staff serving there will be reassigned elsewhere within the department, EPA said. Both the 2018 and 2019 budgets put forward by Trump cut funding for NCER, making it clear that someone at Trump’s White House is determined that no one look into how pollution harms kids. But Congress failed to actually enact those cuts, so Pruitt is left to take care of destroying the office on his own.”
Mark Sumner writes—Lawsuits seek to lift Scott Pruitt's cone of silence: “When Scott Pruitt isn’t spending your money on extravagant getaways to Morocco for himself a few dozen friends, or busy dodging the dirty hippies at the back of the plane, he spends the taxpayer dime on an ever increasing stack of ridiculous security measures. These include: installing an extra security card system inside the EPA’s existing security system for double-plus good security, hiring at least 30 personal bodyguards because attacks on cabinet officials have happened never, clearing an entire floor of the EPA for his personal use, having his offices swept for bugs, and installing a special “cone of silence” within his office—and yes, that last part is exactly as ridiculous as it was on Get Smart. And then, because as the head of a public agency, Pruit has dedicated himself to never, ever letting the public know what he’s doing, he regularly leaves his office to make phone calls from some random other office. Naturally, Pruitt takes these steps because everything he’s doing at the EPA is entirely on the up-and-up. Nothing says ‘honest and open’ like conducting business in a custom $25,000 soundproof booth.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Scott Pruitt says he's doing God's work by ignoring climate change and repealing Clean Power Act: “The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) has the heartwarming story of how EPA chief Scott Pruitt was spoken to by the Almighty Himself, in deciding to roll back the Obama-era Clean Power Act. Pruitt believes God commands us to take care of the environment and that also means to use what He has provided. ‘The biblical world view with respect to these issues is that we have a responsibility to manage and cultivate, harvest the natural resources that we've been blessed with to truly bless our fellow mankind.’ Which is why, when asked about climate change, he has this to say: As for climate change or global warming, the 'environmental left' labels Pruitt a science denier. ‘Truly and clearly, the climate changes,’ Pruitt acknowledges.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Trump administration stalls transport safety regulations from being implemented across the board: “In 2016, the government proposed safety regulations that would require large transport vehicles, like new heavy trucks, to have speed limiting software. As CNBC explains, this came after yet another tragic accident involving a transport vehicle and many dead people. On a clear, dry June evening in 2015, cars and trucks rolled slowly in a herky-jerky backup ahead of an Interstate 75 construction zone in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Barreling toward them: an 18-ton tractor-trailer going about 80 mph. Despite multiple signs warning of slow traffic, the driver, with little or no braking, bashed into eight vehicles before coming to a stop about 1½ football fields away. Six people died in the mangled wreck and four more were hurt. The driver was convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges last month. Like any regulations, safety regulations have had opposition from the big businesses that they directly affect. No one wants to pay up to create safer conditions when the ‘collateral damage’ is a touch cheaper, and usually not paid for by the company employing the service. Since that time, the Trump administration has stalled out rules that would have required the most basic and sensible of steps to be required in the transport industry.”