This is the 627th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the January 11 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
skralyx writes—African gray parrots voluntarily show kindness to others: “To a deplorable few, the Golden Rule may be, ‘Have all your toilets gold-plated.’ But it’s reassuring to know that even parrots understand its real meaning. There is something fundamentally right about helping others out. It’s been known for a few years that some other higher primates (especially orangutans) will voluntarily help others, especially if they think they’ll get something in return, and that doesn’t seem too surprising. But a nicely conceived test of the very intelligent African gray parrot shows that it willfully helps other parrots out of what appears to be empathy when presented with the opportunity. Not in dangerous situations or anything like that (as in food sharing to avoid starvation in vampire bats), but just to help the other parrot be a little happier. The study, by Désirée Brucks and Auguste M.P. von Bayern of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, appears in the January 9 issue of Current Biology. They tell us that it is the ‘first proof of instrumental helping in a non-mammalian species’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—With Big 2020 Push, Koch Group Leader Admits Koch Folk Lied About Shift Away From Politics: “Hey remember back in 2018 when Politico ran a whole big feature about how fortunate son Chase Koch isn’t passionate about politics, and we were skeptical that it signaled the network’s direction would change as Politico suggested? Or what about in 2019 when the Washington Post ran a big piece on the Koch network’s new name and supposed shift away from politics, and we pointed out it’s not such a shift at all, as was confirmed by later documentation that showed the network increased levels of lobbying? Good. Because yesterday, Emily Seidel, the CEO of the Koch networks’s Americans for Prosperity, told CNN that ‘the people who thought that we may have been backing down from politics are going to be surprised, because the reality is we’ve been strengthening our capabilities to go bigger than ever before’.” And it’s not like they haven’t already been big. In 2018, they reportedly planned to spend $400 million on politics, and worked to influence the outcome of 64 different races. In 2020, according to Seidel, they’re looking to double or triple the number of races, suggesting they may be dropping something in the neighborhood of a billion dollars on the 2020 election cycle.”
billofrights writes—Did Paul Krugman Just Endorse a "Green New Deal"? He did, sort of, driven by the Aussie Apocalypse: “The only thing more shocking than the scenes from Australia was, as economist Paul Krugman wrote in the subtitle for his article, that ‘the political reaction is scarier than the fires.’ His article’s title was that ‘Australia Shows us the Road to Hell.’ The story ran Thursday, January 9th, and was of course competing with the drama of yet another potential war in the Middle East, so many may have missed it, and its significance, in that whole fraught period. Here’s the link: www.nytimes.com/…Now Krugman is an important figure, representing the centrist and technocratic tendency in the Democratic Party, if not the West in general. Therefore, when he signals, as he does here at the end of his article, that the only way out of the terrible dilemmas posed by climate chaos setting in far more quickly than even the alarm sounding scientists have projected, and the dramatic indication that the Neoliberal Right and Center are willing to go down with the economic status quo, Ahab like, and will not change course on fossil fuel dependency even as their surroundings go up in flames—then we all should sit up and take notice.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - winter storm in the islands: “We usually get one or two big storm events every winter. Our climate is typically so mild it creates a bit of excitement when we do. Some of us even deliberately go out to see the drama. This storm started last Friday with a powerful blast of Southeasterly wind and spitting rain which is how storm fronts off the ocean arrive here in the islands. Saturday was fairly calm, and then Sunday the heart of the storm hit. We had strong westerly winds blowing up the Strait. 40mph gusty winds across a long fetch like that piles up big wind waves that break on west-facing shorelines. This beach is usually flat calm, but the bluff is eroding — one day of a storm like this does more erosion than a year of lapping swash. I sheltered from the rain and wind behind a spruce that is nearly undercut, and could feel the pounding of driftlogs and surf through the ground.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - PNW winter storm, part 2: snow: “My previous bucket left off on Sunday afternoon. Our big January storm had started with gale west winds and big waves. By Sunday night the wind shifted around, blowing from the north and the temp dropped to below freezing. Precip was graupel, which collected in a frozen layer on the ground, crunching underfoot. Monday The morning was cold but fairly calm. Light north wind. We decided to grab the break in the weather to take our trip over to a neighboring island to pick up a new washer (old one was crumbling into rust and leaking badly). There was light snow at times, with some snow on road, but drivable. Not much traffic on the ferry either.”
DannyB writes—Galapagos giant tortoise retires after saving his species: “This Galápagos giant tortoise saved his species. Well done, Diego! A Galápagos giant tortoise estimated to be about 130 years old is returning home after having so much sex that he saved his species. Diego, part of the Chelonoidis hoodensis species that lives on the Galapagos island of Española, was one of the tortoises brought to the U.S. between 1928 and 1933 and was later placed into the Charles Darwin Research Station for protection after the species was declared critically endangered in the 1960s, according to the San Diego Zoo. MORE: Back from the abyss: These are the animal species that resurfaced in 2019 after they were feared lost Diego spent 30 years at the San Diego Zoo's breeding program before he returned back to Ecuador in 1977, joining his fellow tortoises at the Charles Darwin Research Station. [...]Thanks to Diego, the population on the Galapagos Islands has gone from 15 to 2000, 800 of them his progeny. All the best to ya, Diego.”
giddy thing writes—Dawn Chorus: Forest Grouse in the House: “Like bison, bald eagles, and wild turkeys, grouse are icons of the North American continent, inhabiting nearly every landscape from treeless tundra to boreal forests to steppes and prairies. Twelve grouse species are native to North America. These can be loosely grouped by habitat type into forest grouse, prairie grouse, and tundra grouse. Today’s diary will highlight the forest-dwelling grouse of North America: Ruffed Grouse, Spruce Grouse, Dusky Grouse, and Sooty Grouse. Prairie grouse and tundra grouse (ptarmigans) will be the subjects of future diaries. Forest grouse are members of the family Phasianidae (pheasants, grouse, and allies). Members of this family are ground-dwellers with feathered nostrils, short, strong bills, and short, rounded wings. In some species, males perform elaborate courtship displays.”
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: sorry but even the good news is depressing: “The official census data hasn’t been released yet but news is trickling out of the California monarch overwintering colonies. This year so far, counts show no increase in population size over last year. Last year’s number was below the minimum population size biologists estimate is adequate to sustain the western monarch population (30,000 butterflies). I haven’t heard actual numbers yet, just that this year’s population isn’t lower than last year’s—that’s the good news such as it is, but neither is it higher. Right now, of the 3 usual overwintering sites in Santa Cruz (Natural Bridges, Moran Lake, Lighthouse Point), only Lighthouse has monarchs. The largest site is in Pismo Beach with 3,001. Last year’s census of the western subpop that overwinters in California was dismal: 28,429 monarchs counted at 213 sites, an 86% decline from 2017.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Michael Brune writes—On the Beach: “Sixty years ago, the movie On the Beach portrayed Australia as a distant land where humanity’s last survivors perished after a global apocalypse. I can’t be the only one who thought of that when 4,000 desperate people fled to a beach in southeastern Australia to escape horrific wildfires caused by extreme drought and heat and exacerbated by climate change. The scale of the destruction is hard to fathom. Nearly 18,000,000 acres have burned (an area the size of Indiana). At least 27 people have been killed, with many more missing. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. The toll on wildlife could extend to a billion animals, including as many as 8,000 koalas. Some species might even go extinct. The choking smoke, responsible for air pollution levels 20 times greater than a hazardous level, reached New Zealand, a thousand miles away. It’s heartbreaking, and the world’s first response has to be concern and compassion (find out how you can help fire victims here). But the nations of the world—and particularly their leaders—also need to see this tragedy for the warning it is. Australia is particularly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather, but not uniquely so. Sooner or later, every nation in the world will experience hazardous effects from the climate crisis. If we don’t cut emissions dramatically and rapidly, our world will become unrecognizable.”
senorjoel writes—Climate change is not personal. Make it political: “I hope Daily Kos readers will look at this excellent NYT editorial by Emma Marris. We all need to be taking action on this issue. And the main point here, carefully laid out in terms that I consider indisputable, is this: You cannot fix this problem by making lifestyle changes. Your lifestyle changes are welcome, but if they are accompanied by shame, either of yourself or others, they are doing more harm than good. Yes, our daily lives are undoubtedly contributing to climate change. But that’s because the rich and powerful have constructed systems that make it nearly impossible to live lightly on the earth. … And yet we blame ourselves for not being green enough. … As the climate essayist Mary Annaïse Heglar writes, ‘The belief that this enormous, existential problem could have been fixed if all of us had just tweaked our consumptive habits is not only preposterous; it’s dangerous’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Beaten Down By Science, Deniers Turning To Science Fiction To Scare Their Followers: “For some reason, [Larry] Kummer decides that ‘reproduction is the key to the future,’ and describes how the “traditional” system wherein reproductive decisions ‘were made by families’ as they helped women “choose mates” has been upended by feminism. Now, Kummer writes, women ‘choose guys based on tingles, often picking guys that knock them up and leave…’ or while ‘under the influence of birth control hormones (simulated pregnancy), which drastically changes their preferences.’Further, Kummer fears that ‘as the feminists push their gender revolution even farther, they might take one step too far and provoke a new kind of change.’ Enter his two imagined scenarios of what this new future might look like. In one, the left welcomes state control over reproduction so that it may force eugenics to ‘interbreed the races’ or to fertilize eggs without men. In the other, ‘a new religion’ or ‘a new ideology’ of the right arises, in which ‘women face severe constraints on their reproduction,’ and ‘contraceptives and abortion might be rigorously regulated.’ (Apparently, Kummer is unaware that the political-right needs no new religion or ideology to try and restrict women’s reproductive rights.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—New Study Confirms Value of Consensus Messaging, Review Paper Summarizes Ways to Reach Skeptics: “Two new studies on denial came out last week. While they’re not exactly breaking new ground, confirmation is always nice. The first is a literature review led by Stanford’s Gabrielle Wong-Parodi that examines psychological studies on climate denial in the US and found four big lessons for appealing to conservatives. Although the press release is promisingly headlined as ‘pathways to changing the minds of climate deniers,’ we remain skeptical that there’s any real way to change a denier’s mind. After all, if they were open to change, they wouldn’t be deniers! Nonetheless, the findings are still helpful and relevant for communicating with the cohort that we like to think of as a denier’s family. No amount of carefully crafted climate messaging is going to undo the results of a lifetime of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News indoctrination, but the wife and children of a denier, who are only second-hand exposed to that steady stream of politicized content, may be reachable.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—The Other NAS Complains In WSJ Of Cancel Culture In Science, Where False Ideas Apparently Never Die: “The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (often referred to as NAS) is the collective scientific body created by President Abraham Lincoln to keep the country on the cutting edge of science, and it publishes PNAS, one of the premier scientific journals in the world. The similarly titled National Association of Scholars is a conservative front group designed to look like a real scientific society, but in reality serves to attack science in service of anti-regulatory ideology. We’ve previously touched on their obsession with ‘reproducibility’ as a front for undercutting the science that justifies regulations, something UnDark explored more fully. Now they’re organizing an event on the topic in partnership with the Koch/Exxon/etc-funded Independent Institute, and academics have pushed back on the group’s transparent ploy. For example, Dr. Dorothy Bishop’s blog post points to how the group is using the classic Merchants of Doubt approach, and that the event is ‘weaponising the reproducibility debate to bolster the message that everything in science is uncertain -- which is very convenient for those who wish to promote fringe ideas’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—When it Comes to Ocean Warming, Deniers Prefer Over-Simplified Models To Hard Data: “Who to trust, thermometers, or oversimplified one-dimensional climate models? One might think that deniers, with their regular assailing of climate models as being unreliable, would prefer a study based on actual temperature measurements to one based on modeling.But these days, thermometers are not exactly friendly to climate denial. Case in point, the new study showing that the oceans in 2019 were ‘the warmest in recorded human history.’ At WUWT, Willis Eschenbach did his best to downplay the findings of rapid warming that a CNN headline described as ‘the same rate as if five Hiroshima bombs were dropped in [the ocean] every second.’ Unfortunately, Eschenbach ran into some problems early on, apparently failing to find the data he was looking for, so instead he just eyeballed a graph and went from there. In his defense, the page isn’t the most beautifully designed, but it’s not like the data was all that hidden, as deniers often allege. In fact, the page on which he couldn’t find the data had 16 different links to datasets, each of which were preceded by the word “DATA” in large bold capital letters.”
Pakalolo writes—Climate models suggest global food system crisis at hand; dust bowl scenarios now locked in: “We know from the National Climate Assessment that climate disruptions to agriculture over the past 40 years has increased and, will only worsen as the climate crisis continues to unfold. Drought and flooding will increase, heatwaves will come earlier, be more frequent and, last longer threatening the lives of agricultural workers, food crops and livestock alike.Multiple breadbaskets can fail if two or more of them experience extreme climate conditions at the same time. These conditions can shock the entire global food system, a devastating reality with devastating consequences for our ability to survive as we transition to a new normal of known and unknown unpleasant impacts.”
Pakalolo writes—Australian fires may have opened the gates of hell by changing the globe's climate patterns: “The smoke from Australia’s raging bushfires will make the full circuit around the globe and return to Australia to blanket the country with the same smoke generated by incinerated plant matter in parts of New South Wales and Victoria. This extraordinary event, though not unprecedented, was captured by satellite and animated by NASA Goddard. From NASA: The fires in Australia are not just causing devastation locally. The unprecedented conditions that include searing heat combined with historic dryness, have led to the formation of an unusually large number of pyrocumulonimbus (pyrCbs) events. PyroCbs are essentially fire-induced thunderstorms. They are triggered by the uplift of ash, smoke, and burning material via super-heated updrafts. As these materials cool, clouds are formed that behave like traditional thunderstorms but without the accompanying precipitation.”
siab writes—Is increased tectonic activity a consequence of global warming? “I saw a number of comments this morning wondering why there are more earthquakes happening. Puerto Rico seems to be the canary in the coal mine for this awareness (thanks, Denise), and I noticed that AKALib has a diary up on volcanos going more active than usual in the Philippines. I got to thinking. Maybe climate change is only the beginning. So, what if sea level rise and the loss of ice in Antarctica and Greenland are doing more than just playing merry hob with the weather? Remember that the Earth is essentially a thin skin of movable plates over a molten core. For several hundred thousand years, at least, pressures on various parts of those plates have been effectively stable. Now, though, two connected things are happening; the Antarctic continent is rising as the pressure of surface ice decreases, and oceans around the world are getting deeper. Every centimeter of water not only increases the risk to coastlines, but also puts increased pressure on the ocean bed.”
AmericaAdapts writes—PODCAST: Fundamentals of Extreme Heat and Climate Change: “In episode 104 of America Adapts, host Doug Parsons talks with Dr. Ladd Keith, Assistant Professor in Planning and Chair of Sustainable Built Environments at the University of Arizona. Doug and Ladd discuss what is extreme heat in the context of climate change; how urban heat will get worse and what cities are doing to plan for it; what extreme heat means for social and climate justice; how urban planning is evolving to include adaptation; how to integrate extreme heat planning into emergency management systems; how to communicate the threat of extreme heat to the public and much more!”
Lib Dem FoP writes—David Attenborough Warns We Have Reached "Moment of Crisis" on Global Warming: “The BBC has just launched a year-long series of special programming and reporting that will lead up to the COP 26 conference in Glasgow in November. As part of its coverage of “Our Planet Matters”, they have interviewed the distinguished broadcaster and environmentalist Sir David Attenborough. In the interview he warns that we have reached a critical turning point in the climate crisis. ‘The moment of crisis has come’ in efforts to tackle climate change, Sir David Attenborough has warned. According to the renowned naturalist and broadcaster, ‘we have been putting things off for year after year. As I speak, south east Australia is on fire. Why? Because the temperatures of the Earth are increasing,’ he said.”
Angmar writes—Climate Crisis: "2019 was second hottest year on record Last decade also hottest yet in 150 years": “The year 2019 was the second hottest on record for the planet’s surface, according to latest research. The analyses reveal the scale of the climate crisis: both the past five years and the past decade are the hottest in 150 years. The succession of records being broken year after year is ‘the drumbeat of the Anthropocene,’ said one scientist, and is bringing increasingly severe storms, floods, droughts and wildfires. The previous hottest year was in 2016, the year that a natural El Niño event boosted temperatures. The new data is for the average global surface air temperature. More than 90% of the heat trapped by human greenhouse gas emissions is absorbed by the oceans, but on Monday scientists revealed 2019 as the warmest yet recorded in the seas, calling it ‘dire news’.”
Angmar writes—Court Tosses Landmark Youth Climate Change Lawsuit(+Greenpeace included with neo-Nazis in UK): “The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a landmark climate lawsuit brought against the federal government by 21 children and young adults from around the country due to lack of legal standing. ‘The panel reluctantly concluded that the plaintiffs’ case must be made to the political branches or to the electorate at large,’ the court wrote. The complaint, filed by the nonprofit Our Children’s Trust, asserted that the federal government is violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to life, liberty and property by promoting fossil fuel production and failing to take action on climate change.www.huffpost.com/...”
Aldous J Pennyfarthing writes—What Greta Thunberg knows that you might not: It’s easy to take a bite out of climate change: “There’s a common belief reflected in popular culture and even ‘progressive’ entertainment media that vegans are part of some ghoulish, otherworldly cabal disgorged from Satan’s viscera to rob our planet of joy. Lazy screenwriters often portray vegans as preachy, joyless, listless, pale, and weak. Similarly, vegan food is seen as tasteless, distastefully Spartan, or just plain gross. Above all, though, vegans are often stereotyped as annoying gadflies who should be avoided at all costs. Now, I know none of this is true—particularly the stereotype about vegans being annoying—because I’m a vegan, and my veganism is one of the least annoying things about me.”
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
Angmar writes—Australia: Disinformation Campaign spread by social media re 'Arson Epidemic' & more: “Lies have spread faster than grassfire during Australia’s unprecedented national emergency. They’ve ranged from the exaggerated to the outrageous. One conspiracy bizarrely claims bushfires have been lit to clear a path for high-speed rail down Australia’s east coast. Others baselessly claim Islamic State is instructing its followers to wage war on the country with fire, that Chinese billionaires are using lasers to clear the path for new cities, or that eco-terrorists are trying to spur action on climate change by manufacturing a catastrophe. Accompanying these laughable mistruths, though, are more dangerous distortions. They are the ones being used to deflect from climate change’s role in creating longer, more severe fire seasons. Two pieces of disinformation stand out from the rest: that an ‘arson emergency,’ rather than climate change, is behind the bushfires, and that ‘greenies’ are preventing firefighters from reducing fuel loads in the Australian bush.”
Magnifico writes—Overnight News Digest: Aussie Dinosaur Trees Saved: “Firefighters have saved the only known natural stand of Wollemi pines, so-called ‘dinosaur trees’ that fossil records show existed up to 200m years ago, from the bushfires that have devastated New South Wales. The state’s environment minister, Matt Kean, said a specially deployed team of remote area firefighters helped save the critically endangered trees from the giant Gospers Mountain fire. The pines are in an undisclosed sandstone grove in the Wollemi national park, in the Blue Mountains, about 200km north-west of Sydney. They were thought extinct until discovered 26 years ago.”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Lefty Coaster writes—Australian PM Morrison: "we are working to - outlaw these indulgent and selfish" Climate Protests: “Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of coal. Just weeks before unprecedented wildfires broke out across Australia, killing an estimated 1 billion animals, the prime minister declared that the country faced a terrible threat: environmental protesters. ‘A new breed of radical activism is on the march,’ Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a November speech. He added that there was a ‘place for peaceful protests,’ but he wasn’t going to stand for environmentalists obstructing and delaying mining projects or calling for boycotts of banks that finance the country’s coal industry. He promised to find a way to “’successfully outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihoods of fellow Australians’.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels & Emissions Controls
Frank Palmer writes—Reducing US Fossil-Fuel use: “The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are already causing serious problems like storms, droughts, and flooding. If they keep increasing for several more decades, they are predicted to reach a ‘tipping point’ which will make present human society unsustainable. CO2, carbon dioxide, is hardly the only greenhouse gas, but it is the key one. Human activity increases the CO2 in the atmosphere principally in two ways, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. While they have similar results, they are different sorts of activity, and it would be sensible to regulate them separately. We must regulate both. Stopping one source of greenhouse-gas pollution and not the other will only slightly delay the collapse of civilization. In the global effort to avoid the catastrophe, the US is AOL in two different ways. 1) One of our major political parties hides its head in the sand. Currently this party has enough control to have withdrawn our country from the Paris Accords. 2) Among large countries the US has the highest per capita carbon footprint.”
Renewables, Efficiency, Conservation & Green New Deal
Mokurai writes—Renewable Monday: Nevada Elections have Consequences, Hooray! “Nevada shows us what can happen when we put Democrats, particularly women, in charge. We tip the tipping point, and all of a sudden, everything seems to start improving at once. Renewables, EVs, buildings, jobs, the works. Now, if we can get the NV electric utilities to tap that clean-burning desert sun at scale…Nevada reviews 2019 work done on natural resources — NRDC: This year was one of rapid progress for clean energy and climate commitments in Nevada. In fact, it may be the most impactful year Nevada has ever seen on these issues. With a new administration and the nation’s first female majority legislature, this year saw bills passed and signed on renewable energy standards, energy efficiency, electric transportation, and greenhouse gas reduction, as well as executive branch steps toward an inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy. The year also saw troubling reminders that the climate crisis is already here; accelerating our transition from fossil fuels to clean energy will support the state's air quality and public health. In this blog, we’re highlighting some of the actions the state has taken to build a clean energy, low-carbon future that will foster healthy communities and a strong and diversified economy.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Tuesday: Divest from Evil, Invest in Good: “”I have called attention to various moves to divest tens of trillions of dollars from fossil foolishness and the MIC. Everybody also needs to invest in the clean economy, whether in corporate stock or in real stuff: renewable energy, storage, electric vehicles, trees, agriculture, or other sectors. Here is how each and all of us can make it happen. 1. Join appropriate organizations that push for these initiatives. 2. Quit any evil bank you have done business with. Consider a responsible credit union with solar panels on its own roofs and electric cars for operations. 3. If you have any investments such as an IRA or 401K, check out what you have and what is available. Ask your employer or fund manager for a green option if necessary. Not just solar and wind, but storage, grid interties, electric car parts, recycling, and so on. 4. Check out the investments of any organizations you are involved with: college or university, union, local government, bank or credit union, civic organizations…Ask for a report. Find out who is talking to them about divestment and reinvestment. Join up, go to the meetings, put pressure on. 5. Join any of the organizations that are on any part of this, educating governments large or small, corporations, financial institutions, or whatever. Tell them about the information you find here. 6. Let your politicians and your community know each time you do something. 7. Call out the lying liars when you encounter them. No, better still, invite them to make more money, and then point and laugh if they refuse.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Wednesday: How to Stick Trump's Finger in His Eye: “Donald J. "Jerk-in-Office" Trump, Republicans generally, the fossil fool industry, the MSM, and some national Energy Ministers don't want it known that we are solving Global Warming. But there are lots of dots out there, and I am here to connect them. This is a follow-up to my 2014 Diary How to Solve Global Warming: We know what to do about Global Warming, but we do not all know that we know what to do, much less that we are doing it. Much has happened since then. You won't hear it from Trump or the MSM, but it is in the honest financial papers all the time. Even sometimes in the WSJ, in the sections about real money. And of course in the scientific, engineering, trade, and specialty consumer press.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Thursday: Yes, Oil and Gaslighting, But Coal, Too: “ ‘Coal is good for you and the environment’," say coal profiteers, not least the greedy, lying railroads. They also carry exploding tar sands oil. And sometimes spill chlorine, metam sodium, ammonia, propane, and I don't even know what other ultra-toxic or explody chemicals. Trump plans to add LNG (liquified natural gas).The Atlantic: A Major but Little-Known Supporter of Climate Denial: Freight Railroads. For nearly 30 years, America’s four biggest rail companies—which move the majority of the country’s coal—have spent millions to deny climate science and block climate policy. • BNSF Railway • Norfolk Southern • Union Pacific • CSX. They are the leading members of the American Association of Railroads and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, or ACCCE.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Friday: Scotland to Reach 100% Renewable Energy This Year: “They said it couldn't be done, but you don't tell a Scottish engineer that when there is money-saving technology to deploy. So if the UK Brexits from the EU, and Scotland secedes from the UK, how will they manage cross-border sales to England? Iceland has some ideas for using extra power. As do Australia and North Africa. Scotland Is Now Generating So Much Wind Energy, It Could Power Two Scotlands. In the first half of 2019, Scotland generated enough energy from wind power to supply its homes twice over. Specifically, turbines generated 9.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity between January and June, enough to supply power to 4.47 million homes – not bad for a country that has around 2.6 million homes to its name. OK, that's not the entire economy, but take a look at this. Scotland on track for 100% renewable electricity in 2020 | World.”
rebel ga writes—Stop The Corridor-Central Maine Power (CMP) Electric Transmission Power Line! “Stop The Corridor, is a coalition of concerned citizens and organizations worried about the new CMP proposal to build a new High Voltage Direct Current transmission line from the Canadian border in Northwest Maine down to Lewiston. The 145-mile-long transmission line would devastate natural resources that are important to the culture and tradition of western Maine. It would negatively impact; the Kennebec Gorge which creates tourism because of its pristine waters used for rafting and recreation, the scenic views of the forest and Appalachian hiking trails, and wildlife habitats from deer to fish. contact@corridorno.com Facebook.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Mokurai writes—EV Tuesday: Drivers and Passengers Love Electric Taxis. What about Republicans? “Safer, more luxurious for drivers and passengers both, much cheaper to run, silent, no diesel stink…Even Republicans will have to accept enjoy riding in electric cabs, saving tax money, and seeing solar panels on taxi garages. There will be charging points inside, and at hotels, airports, and other common taxi destinations and pickup points. Electric cars may seem like a contemporary, eco-friendly concept, but did you know they made a brief appearance in 19th-century New York City? Back in 1895, hundreds of electric taxis called ‘Electrobats’ cruised the streets of Midtown Manhattan. They had a charging station on Broadway and, unlike other vehicles, didn’t leave passengers covered in soot. People loved them! OK, everything old is new again.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Angmar writes—Climate crisis: "Ocean temperatures hit record high- rate of heating accelerates": “Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates.Oceans are clearest measure of climate crisis as they absorb 90% of heat trapped by greenhouse gases. The heat in the world’s oceans reached a new record level in 2019, showing ‘irrefutable and accelerating’ heating of the planet.The world’s oceans are the clearest measure of the climate emergency because they absorb more than 90% of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuel burning, forest destruction and other human activities. The new analysis shows the past five years are the top five warmest years recorded in the ocean and the past 10 years are also the top 10 years on record. The amount of heat being added to the oceans is equivalent to every person on the planet running 100 microwave ovens all day and all.”
Dan Bacher writes—Salmon Advocates Slam Bureau of Reclamation Order to Slash American River Flows: “On Friday, January 10, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued an order to reduce water releases on the American River below Nimbus Dam from 2,500 cfs to 2,000 cfs at a time when fall Chinook salmon eggs are incubating in the redds (nests). Peggy L. Manza, Reclamation spokesperson, cited ‘storage conservation’ (in Folsom Lake) as the reason for reducing flows. Over the past 18 years, salmon runs on the American River, the crown jewel of the Sacramento are, have declined dramatically from a record run of over 150,000 fish in 2003 to relatively small numbers in the past few years, as the above chart reveals. In only one year since 2005 - 2013 - did the run exceed 50,000 fish. The cut in flows will undoubtedly result in the dewatering of salmon redds (nests) and the stranding of salmon fry in pools. The dropping of flows will also adversely impact steelhead that are now spawning in the river.”
Dan Bacher writes—Yurok Vice-Chair to Testify Before Congressional Committee Tomorrow: “The Yurok Tribe is honored to announce that Vice-Chairman Frankie Myers will be providing testimony before the US House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife (WOW) at a legislative hearing to be held on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth House Office Building. This hearing will be focusing on ways to improve the Federal Fishery Resource Disaster Relief program of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and ensure more timely disaster relief for impacted communities, such as the Yurok Tribe. The Tribe is pleased to support H.R. 5548, Fishery Failures: Urgently Needed Disaster Declarations Act (Fishery FUNDD Act) as the bill addresses some of the key obstacles in the existing disaster relief process. Prominently, it acknowledges the vital role of subsistence fishing to Tribal communities by making tribal subsistence fisheries disasters eligible to receive relief funding. This is critical to the United States upholding its treaty obligations to Native American Tribes and to continue the long tradition of tribal fishing ways of life.”
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: Newsom Administration Officially Begins Delta Tunnel Planning with 'Notice of Preparation': “Drawing strong criticism from salmon advocates and environmentalists and praise from water agencies and agribusiness, the Gavin Newsom Administration today formally began the planning process for a controversial single tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta when the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released its Delta Conveyance Notice of Preparation. The notice starts the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the ‘Delta Conveyance Project’ that will divert water from the Sacramento River through a tunnel to the state and federal water pumping facilities in the South Delta, to then be shipped to San Joaquin Valley irrigators and Southern California water agencies. According to the documents, the state will consider a tunnel that would divert 6,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water from the Sacramento River. Tunnels with the capacity to divert 3,000 cfs and 7,500 cfs will also be considered as alternatives.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
elenacarlena writes—Regenerative Culture: Winter Rest, Recharge, Read; and Other News: “Many of our group diaries so far have involved sustainable farming and gardening and trees. Hopefully you are now motivated to do some planting of your own! I know I am. But since it’s midwinter, of course some of you have soil warm enough to plant now, but what about the rest of us where the ground is frozen or nearly? Well, there are still plenty of regenerative activities you can engage in, as well as things to read, so I thought I would cover a few of those here tonight. Otherwise, take a break if you need to, get what exercise you can so you’ll be fit for planting in the Spring, and catch up on the news below! [...] Here are 10 ways to fight climate change now, including adding insulation to your older home if it needs it, https://www.greenamerica.org/... and of course there's the old standby, turn down the heat and wear a sweater.”
Womanthinker writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, Vol. 16.03: The World's Only Conoidal Glass House: “Good morning Saturday Garden Bloggers. Winter expresses itself mainly in black, white and gray colors, so you may be tempted to visit a botanical garden during this time of the year. It is an opportunity to nourish your spirit, learn something new, and bring bright colors to your gardener’s mind. We visited The Domes last November. If you are close to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you may want to visit Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, also known as Milwaukee Domes. It consists of three domes whose construction started in 1959. It is the world’s only conoidal (not geodesic) glass house; the shape allows a better angle for solar heating and more height for tall trees. Each dome is 140 feet across by 85 feet high from the lobby floor; 750,000 cubic ft.”
Ojibwa writes—Oregon Garden: Bosque and trees (photo diary): “The Oregon Garden in Silverton is an 80-acre botanical garden which features more than 20 specialty gardens. The Spanish word bosque means grove or forest. The Bosque in the Oregon Garden is a large central plaza featuring four brick reflecting ponds and 20 planter boxes, each planted with a single Pacific Sunset Maple.”
MISCELLANY
Galtisalie writes—Anti-Capitalist Meetup: In the eco war, plastics is the choke point on a planet-killing industry: “Critical attention is being focused on single-use plastic as a global waste disposal problem—one that dramatically affects our oceans, uses up landfill space, and befuddles recycling programs desperate to find legitimate recycling facilities instead of developing country dumping grounds. (Our own greenandblue has written extensively on the subject, as recently as last weekend's open thread, www.dailykos.com/...). Those of us who live near plastics and associated petrochemicals manufacturing facilities, which are notorious for environmental injustice against persons of color and the poor, may focus more on the carcinogens and other hazardous air emissions weakly regulated by the EPA (www3.epa.gov/...). Others correctly point out that the amount of fossil fuels used in plastics manufacturing is enormous, growing, and itself contributing to climate change (www.earthisland.org/...)”