This is the 615th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the October 19 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
Pakalolo writes—US Army finds that the ‘military could collapse within twenty years’ thanks to climate breakdown: “According to a new report prepared by the US Army and, commissioned by the Pentagon, found that the next couple of decades will be so chaotic due to a warming climate that we will be unable to adapt in time. Our inability to change will be the result of years of inaction by ‘leaders’ who have kicked the proverbial can of worms down the road for future generations to solve. The report predicts that within the next twenty years, our power grid infrastructure will be unable to adapt to the expected extreme temperatures that are bearing down upon us. During this time, people will be hungry, thirsty, and unable to cope with unbearable heat. The PGE crisis provides a glimpse into the future, Millions Of Californians Brace For Power Outages As Wildfires Ravage State. The key players in the study were NASA, the military, and defense intelligence agencies, and they warned the Pentagon ‘to urgently prepare for the possibility that domestic power, water, and food systems might collapse due to the impacts of climate change as we reach mid-century.’”
Chase Iron Eyes writes—Petition: Greta Thunberg Visits Lakota Country and Joins Our Call to Stop Keystone XL: “What an important time it is for us in Lakota Country. A few weeks ago, we had the honor of hosting Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg at the Pine Ridge and Standing Rock reservations. Greta came at the invitation of my daughter, Tokata, who is a fellow 16-year-old environmental warrior. I’m so proud of Tokata for fostering this connection and inspiring Greta’s visit, and I must say the two of them make an effective team! At events at schools on the two reservations, they showed the power and inspiration of the youth movement to protect Unci Maka, our Grandmother Earth. Chief among their message was the pressing need to stop the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline. I ask you today to hear their message clearly, and TAKE ACTION now by writing to the UN Environment Programme and your congressional representatives.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket – heron downshifting: “October 13, 2019. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. Most of the time we see Great Blue Herons standing very still, in watchful feeding mode. Sometimes we’ll hear their primeval kronk as they take wing, and see it passing by with slow flapping.”
Zooming in on the cormorants my guess was confirmed: these are Brandt’s. You can see their buff colored chins, and a few still have their turquoise chin patches from breeding season (they go out to the open coast to breed and spend the winter in the Salish Sea. Like the Steller sealions).
OceanDiver writes—Dawn Chorus: Autumn Boat Trip on the Salish Sea: “This edition of Dawn Chorus is a photodiary of our trip up to the marina and back a few weeks ago. Autumn is a transition time for birds, molting plumage for most, and in some cases migration. Our 25 foot Albin does a lot of bouncing around in the swells and currents, and birds are mostly pretty far away, so I end up deleting most of my pictures, but I do have some to show you who we saw out there at this season. We keep our boat on a buoy down at one end of the island and every autumn drive it the eight miles around the island to the one place it can be pulled out of the water for its regular maintenance. We picked a day the tide was coming in to help speed our way north through a narrow channel, and a morning several days later to use the ebb tide back through the same channel. Elansa is not a speedy boat so scheduling around tidal currents makes a big difference: her usual maximum speed of 7 knots can increase to 11 knots over a mile or so where the current is running. The Salish Sea is not open ocean but if you get away from the shoreline the water gets deep and rough pretty quickly, which means a different set of birds compared to what I see from the beach. Offshore bathymetry is extremely varied, with reefs, rocks, channels and kelp beds. The birds gravitate toward upwellings and swift currents for foraging, and rocks and islands for roosting.”
Female Rhinoceros beetle.
CaptBLI writes—The Daily Bucket – Rhinos in Mississippi: “I saw a large White Oak leaf lift off the patio and begin to glide toward the edge. Since there was no wind, I had to explore. The title photo showed the beetle I found under the leaf. This big boy didn’t scamper away. He had a very determined gait and an obvious reason to get there. I took a photo of the female of his focus. These insects are herbivorous so I figured the cat was safe but maybe not my roses. I understand (but haven’t tested the information) these beetles will make a noise if disturbed. They hiss or screech by vibrating their legs against the wing guards (much like crickets) but for defense instead of mating or territorial announcement. I see beetles often, but pay little attention unless my plants are in danger. This thing was a huge thrill and worthy of sharing.”
Username4242 writes—How the American bison were saved. Ghosts of the Prairies series, episode 3: “For those interested in American wildlife and its history, this is the 3rd episode in a youtube series examining the history of the American bison and its place in the modern world. In this episode, I tell the little known story of those who worked to prevent its extinction.”
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Dan Bacher writes—September trawl survey finds zero Delta smelt as feds set to release weaker fish protection rules: “The Delta smelt, once the most abundant fish in the entire Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, has come closer and closer to extinction in the wild in recent years. In the first month of the fall midwater trawl survey, September, zero Delta smelt were caught in the survey. The Delta smelt, constantly maligned by San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests, is an indicator species, found only in the estuary, that demonstrates the health of the ecosystem. […] An array of factors are behind the demise of Delta smelt and other fish species, including toxic chemicals, pollution, changes in dam operations and invasive species, but none is more significant than the export of massive quantities of Delta water through the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project pumping facilities in the South Delta.”
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: New Trump Administration Rules Will Boost Delta Water Exports, Imperil Salmon: “The Trump administration, under former Westlands Water District and oil industry lobbyist and now Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, today released a new set of rules allowing much greater water exports from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests that will imperil Chinook salmon and other endangered fish species in California. Public trust advocates say the set of new Endangered Species Act permits (biological opinions) will significantly weaken existing federal protections for salmon and other endangered species in California’s Bay-Delta watershed. These biological opinions determine the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project and set the allowed levels for water exports to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, according to a statement from Restore the Delta (RTD).”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket–The Foliage Frogs of Fall: “Some years I stop seeing my tiny backyard frogs by August. The Spring-hatch of tadpoles have all morphed, and the older frogs have dispersed to nearby areas, beyond my vision. This year, however, The frogs ‘ Spring-hatch was plentiful, and I often found 5 or 10 frogs on every morning walk. Now the Summer days are done, but unlike other years, I can still find active frogs in October. […] I made a point of leaving plenty of rotting pears and apples in the underbrush to attract lots of fruit flies. The frogs (and hummingbirds) cashed in on that tiny bounty.”
What greater gift can one give?
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket–I Fly to Pieces: “I fly to pieces, Every time that I see you preen, I fly to pieces, I can’t forget what I’ve just seen. You want me to act as if we have no bond. You want me to forget (to forget). You ate fish from my pond (from my pond). And I’ve tried and tried. But I haven’t yet. You glide by, and I fly to pieces.”
RonK writes—The Daily Bucket: October Colors and Seals on Orcas Island: “October 201. Orcas Island, Salish Sea. An October family gathering at Deer Harbor on Orcas Island was met with three days of rain and about a half an hour of glorious sun on Saturday. For the most part, the heavy cloud cover muted the usually brighter fall colors but they were great anyway. Getting to Orcas Island is always a pleasant trip. The ferry leaves from Anacortes and stops as Lopez and Shaw Islands before depositing us on Orcas. The ride is about one hour total. Although most of the color was the Big Leaf Maples, I was particularly attracted to the Madrone/Madrona (Arbutus menziesii) as they were shedding their red bark and exposing their yellow for the winter. Also they appeared to having a bumper crop of red berries this year.”
Madrona along bluff above Deer Harbor
CLIMATE CHAOS
Vlanka6 writes—No Planet B:
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Deniers Outraged That Polar Bear Propagandist Loses Unpaid Adjunct Researcher Position: “These days, the number of climate change deniers still active in academia is pretty tiny, and getting smaller. The University of Victoria in Canada decided not to renew Susan Crockford’s adjust professor title in May, and deniers are all of a sudden up in arms about it. You may remember Crockford as the woman whose blog posts deniers rely on to argue that everything’s fine with polar bears, despite the rapid melting of sea ice upon which they rely to hunt and reproduce. A study back in 2017 used Crockford’s posts to explore the difference between how mainstream, consensus scientists talk about climate change, and how deniers do. While mainstream scientists refer to peer-reviewed studies to highlight the risks of a melting Arctic, deniers point to Crockford’s blog posts to say that polar bears are fine because their numbers are recovering. While it’s true that polar bear populations have grown in recent decades, it’s mostly thanks to a mid-century hunting ban, and it seems likely that warming will undo this growth. But, of course, deniers insist that because populations are growing now, they’re safe forever.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—New Report Explains how to Debunk ExxonMobil’s Denial, As Legal Cases Against It Proceed: “On Thursday evening, Bloomberg reported that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is proceeding with the state’s case against ExxonMobil for “engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices” in its efforts to cast doubt on climate science. ExxonMobil brass may be particularly annoyed by the notification that Massachusetts is moving forward. This Wednesday, the oil giant will appear in a New York court for that state’s case against it. As E&E explains in an (unpaywalled) story, the New York case revolves around the company’s use of two sets of “proxy costs” to gauge how much of a hit the company would take from climate policies. One set of books assumed an $80 per ton price on carbon in developed countries by 2040, whereas the other only assumed a $40 charge per ton. In one set, the $80 price was presented to investors to show the company would survive climate action even at a high carbon price, while the other, lower $40 set was used internally for decision-making. But when that higher price was used to consider the appropriateness of certain investments, per the New York State memorandum, “the results were disastrous.” That’s pretty complicated stuff, but the Massachusetts case will likely be more straightforward. It will address how ExxonMobil internally understood that its product caused climate change, but externally funded groups to cast doubt on that scientifically robust conclusion.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Though Exxon’s In The Hot Seat, Coal and Rail Companies Coordinated Climate Denial Too: “This week the New York trial against ExxonMobil begins, today’s there’s a hearing in the House about the industry’s efforts to ‘suppress the truth,’ and yesterday, the Supreme Court denied the group of big oil companies’ request for a stay in the Baltimore case–meaning it can move forward to the discovery stage. Suffice to say, Big Oil is probably not feeling particularly happy at the moment. Fortunately for them, a new study published, covered by E&E, shows that they’re not alone. Dr. Bob Brulle, author of the Brown University study, looks at the coalitions that created the climate change countermovement, breaking down the membership organizations of the groups of companies that pushed denial from 1989-2015. Brulle found that 2,020 organizations belonged to one of the dozen major coalitions, with the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth as the biggest with 1,416 members, and the Information Council on the Environment the most sparse, with only four members. These coalitions ‘drew their membership from a broad cross section of the U.S. business community,’ but Brulle found that ‘there is a clear preponderance of organizations from the Coal/Rail/Steel, Electric Utilities, and Oil & Gas Sectors’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—NY Post Columnist Miranda Devine Bizarrely Blames Climate Concern for Boeing Disasters: “We generally ignore content in the New York Post because no one really takes tabloids seriously anyway, but a recent piece by columnist Miranda Devine is just so disgusting it warrants being addressed. It uses the tragic deaths from Boeing 737 planes to argue that Greta Thunberg’s ‘climate ideology can have fatal consequences.’ First, who’s Miranda Devine, and does she have any particular expertise on planes? Not exactly. Rather, as her Wikipedia page demonstrates, she’s better known for her controversial conservative commentary, from anti-LGBT attacks, to blaming women on welfare for domestic violence men commit, to propagating white supremacy conspiracy theories, to defending disgraced Cardinal George Pell, who was convicted of sexually abusing two choirboys. She has also referred to Trump’s use of an ethnic slur against Senator Warren as ‘brilliant’ and attacked transgendered children–attacks that were not only morally rephrensible, but also found to be factually incorrect. And on the ‘not just evil but also wrong’ front, she’s a long-time climate denier who once wrote something described as ‘what could be the dumbest thing ever written by a Murdoch employee on climate change.’ Devine recently attacked Greta Thunberg with the standard paradox that Thunberg is being exploited, adding that she has the ‘words and demeanor… of a totalitarian dictator.’ Devine also referred to Greta’s viral stare-down of Trump, looking like she ‘would like to strangle the president with her bare hands,’ as ‘not a healthy emotion for a 16-year-old’.”
Pakalolo writes—As permafrost slumps and turns to mud, a large climate study finds global impacts are imminent: “The Arctic is unraveling before our eyes. As our understanding of the changes continues, scientists have been fine-tuning models to give us a sense of how quickly we can expect tipping points to arrive. One of the most terrifying is the permafrost feedback. A new study finds that the feedback just may have arrived. The reason? Winter permafrost carbon emissions are now greater than what can be stored in the summer. To be clear, not all scientists believe that the tipping point has arrived. But regardless, the rapid changes we see in the Arctic, which has warmed 3 times faster than the rest of the earth, are glaringly obvious.”
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‘an influx of permafrost-derived methane into the atmosphere in the mid-21st century, is not currently accounted for in climate projections’ “Within my lifetime…it should be ramping up. It’s already happening… within a few decades, it should peak” 🤯https://t.co/YA5DGD4IJE
— Ben See (@ClimateBen) October 8, 2019
macknacat58 writes—Climate research: why “univocality” leads to “underestimation”: “In their new book—Discerning Experts: The Practices of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy—Dale Jamieson, Michael Oppenheimer and Naomi Oreskes wrestle with one of the more aggravating trends we see in climate research: Why do we seem to get more and more data that show much more dire implications for the Climate Crisis than the large ICPP studies predict? While climate skeptics and deniers often accuse scientists of exaggerating the threats associated with the climate crisis, the available evidence suggests the opposite. By and large, scientists have either been right in their assessments, or have been unduly conservative. We noticed a clear pattern of underestimation of certain key climate indicators, and therefore underestimation of the threat of climate disruption. When new observations of the climate system have provided more or better data, or permitted us to re-evaluate earlier conclusions, the findings for ice extent, sea level rise and ocean temperature have generally been worse than previously thought. I must admit that I wondered about this —I saw a report a while back where a climatologist said that she has yet to go to a conference where the news was better than any one had predicted.”
flucies writes—Advertising’s unrecognized impact on the Climate Crisis: “Concupiscence is a word that I’ve always loved. It was drilled into me in my Catholic upbringing and eventually in the Seminary. Here’s the dictionary definition: strong desire, especially sexual desire; ardent, usually sensuous, longing. Given the fact that churches are typically obsessed with sex, the term has therefore been focused on sex. But titillating desire is the core dynamic of advertising. It’s no secret that sex sells and playing on human desire is a core attribute of adverting. You need to have: • the latest Mercedes • more new clothes • the hot new box for G5 • Tide for a cleaner wash • YOU NAME IT!!!!! What would happen if I only buy what I absolutely need? That’s what I try to do, and I haven’t crashed the economy yet.”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Lefty Coaster writes—Greta Thunberg mural in Edmonton, Canada vandalized: “This is saddening to see. Alberta is the Texas of Canada. Greta Thunberg mural vandalized in Canada: ‘This is oil country’. A newly painted mural of 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was vandalized in Canada with a pro-oil message, and later with French slurs. Thunberg on Friday lead a climate strike outside the Alberta legislature in the province’s capital city of Edmonton. The Province newspaper reported about 8,000 were in attendance. Local artist AJA Louden told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that he painted the mural on a free expression graffiti wall across the city at the same Thunberg spoke. While the CBC was filming footage of the mural Friday, James Bagnell sprayed “Stop the Lies. This is Oil Country!!!” over the image of the teenager’s face.”
Dan Bacher writes—Extinction Rebellion Sacramento Organizes Funeral Procession, Die In and Freeway Banner Waving: “On October 17, Extinction Rebellion Sacramento joined the October International Rebellion when it held a funeral procession, eulogy and die-in at the North Steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento. The direct action began at 11:15 a.m. at 1100 L St. with a funeral procession of over 40 people, followed by the eulogy and die-in back at the Capitol’s North Steps.After the die in, people marched down the Capitol Mall to the Highway 5 overpass, holding their signs and banners over the freeway so folks in cars and trucks going by could see them. Many people honked their horns in their cars and trucks for support. According to a statement from Extinction Rebellion Sacramento read at the event: ‘We are facing a planetary emergency. The biggest challenge humanity has faced is a threat to our very existence. We have already experienced losses of animals, plants, habitat and humans. Emergency is not a future problem, for many it is a crisis of now. It is a fact of life for people and communities across the world’. […]”
ENERGY
PadreMellyrn writes—Once again We the people must Possible suffer PG$E’s gross negligence: “Seriously, I a really beginning to fell like a mushroom. PG$E (ProfitsGone$Eleswhere) just sent “Public Safety Power Shut off” again, because of course to actually do something like repair their infrastructure would cause them cut into their Billion dollar Profit margin, and the poor darlings might not be able to vote themselves another fat Bonus of ‘Job well done.’ But that isn’t the worst of it, I had signed up with their alert system to get the messages. However I just got this notice at 4:30 in Afternoon. The spouse business where she works got the message a long time ago. Further they keep sending the exact same ‘message’ so when I try to go to the PSPS site I keep getting the exact same address of ‘Gyserville’ which is 80 miles up the Road. So they can’t keep up the maintenance of their infrastructure, they can’t even work a good website for showing where the affected areas are, and they flat out refuse to allow S.F. to buy the infrastructure in spit of them being Bankrupt, but they sure can vote themselves a big fat Bonus and Pay raise. Reminds of the old joke Sign we used to have on our submarine in the Officers Quarters (Disclaimer, I was Enlisted).”
Assaf writes—Oil Companies Race to Out-Pump Each Other. If Only We Could Do Something… Oh Wait: “[Excerpts from the Guardian ongoing series The Polluters, posted last week; emphases mine] The world’s 50 biggest oil companies are poised to flood markets with an additional 7m barrels per day over the next decade, despite warnings from scientists… ….Shell and ExxonMobil will be among the leaders with a projected production increase of more than 35% between 2018 and 2030 – a sharper rise than over the previous 12 years. The acceleration is almost the opposite of the 45% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 that scientists say is necessary to have any chance of holding global heating at a relatively safe level of 1.5C.”
MTmofo writes—Navajo Sovereign Immunity vs Montana bonding authority closes coal mine: “Montana’s largest coal mine has been shut down over bonding issues with the state Department of Environmental Quality. DEQ has denied an operating permit to Spring Creek Mine owner Navajo Transitional Energy Company. NTEC is wholly owned by Navajo Nation. There are concerns the tribe won’t be backing mine bonds with its full faith and credit as NTEC takes possession of Montana and Wyoming coal mines it bought this month at a Cloud Peak Energy bankruptcy auction. Backing the mine bonds would require Navajo Nation waiving sovereign immunity, something it hasn’t done and continued to debate doing even as NTEC sought DEQ permitting this week. The company has sent most of its 300 Spring Creek workers home until the dispute is resolved, though it didn’t say when that might be. Without that waiver of tribal sovereign immunity, it becomes difficult for regulators to sue over any problems at Spring Creek or to collect for environmental liabilities.”
Dan Bacher writes—Community leaders put their bodies on the line outside Aliso Canyon gas storage facility: “Impacted community leaders and activists are putting their bodies on the line right now outside of the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility to defend their neighbors from its dangers, according to Alexandra Nagy, California Director of Food & Water Action and Food & Water Watch. Nagy is urging you to show your solidarity by calling Governor Newsom at 877-796-1949 and urging him to permanently shut down the dangerous Aliso Canyon facility immediately! Yesterday, on the fourth anniversary of the methane blowout at SoCalGas’s Aliso Canyon gas storage facility, community members called on Gov. Newsom to issue an executive order to shut the facility once and for all. ‘The 2015 blowout spewed 100,000 metric tons of climate-polluting methane into the atmosphere along with other toxic substances. 25,000 people were forced to leave their homes while SoCalGas took four months to plug the leak. Many still suffer from chronic health problems stemming from the blowout and ongoing leaks,’ according to Nagy. ‘Last week, flames from the Saddleridge fire entered the facility, underscoring just how dangerous the gas field is, located near homes, schools and businesses. Gov. Newsom has promised to close the facility, but has not yet taken action,’ said Nagy.”
Renewables, Efficiency, Energy Storage & Conservation
Mokurai writes—Renewable Friday: AOC, Cities’ Global Climate Summit, PreCOP25: “C40 Cities Global Climate Summit. Applause at Global Summit as Ocasio-Cortez Calls Climate Crisis ‘Consequence of Our Unsustainable Way of Life’ ‘She got a rockstar welcome in that audience,’ Nicholas Reece, a city councillor from Melbourne, Australia, told The Guardian. ‘There’s just something about her which is really mobilizing and electrifying people around the world, particularly young people.’ The Guardian reported that “from the moment she began speaking, the main hall at the summit became completely still, and when she finished, the ovation she received far exceeded that received by the veteran climate campaigner and former Vice President Al Gore, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen; or the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres’.”
This video is more than just AOC. She starts at 16:00.
Pipelines & Other Oil and Gas Transport
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Rei writes—EV Tuesday: Picking the High-Hanging Fruit – Electric Aircraft are Landing Soon: “We’ve all seen this annoying line of argument from people opposed to us cleaning up our act with respect to the environment: Oh, you FLEW over here, now didn’t you? You’re such a hypocrite – that airplane emits tons of CO2. But you did it because there’s NO OTHER REASONABLE OPTION, right? Batteries aren’t even close to the energy density of fuel needed for air travel! That’s the problem with you people, you want us to do things that are TOTALLY IMPRACTICAL, and don’t even live up to your own rhetoric! While every part of the above will be addressed, the primary response to this can be encapsulated in this graph: While I would disagree about a number of the things they list as “difficult to eliminate” — long-distance EV road transport can be handled by things like the Tesla Semi, pozzolanic concrete mixes and FRP rebar can significantly lower CO2 footprints while increasing longevity, there’s many ‘green steel’ projects in the works, etc — there’s no question that shipping and in particular aviation are in the ‘difficult’ category. But difficult does not mean impossible. So rather than just throwing up our hands, we need to pick the easy, low-hanging fruit while focusing on building a ladder to the high-hanging fruit. And that means electric airplanes.
WILDERNESS, FORESTS, PARKS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
cityduck writes—BLM Head: Greatest Threat To Public Lands Is Wild Horses (Seriously), NOT Climate Change: “You just can’t make this up. Speaking at the annual conference for the Society of Environmental Journalists, Trump’s acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management William Perry Pendley refused to acknowledge that climate change poses a threat to public lands. This is not surprising, as Pendley took the position in his prior job as head of the Mountain States Legal Foundation that a lawsuit filed by kids against climate change should be dismissed, stating: With public support for the fiction of man-made climate change at an all time low, it is little wonder these plaintiffs demand that the courts do what elected officials will not do,” said William Perry Pendley, MSLF president. At the conference, according to Bloomberg, Pendley dodged questions about climate change and its impact on public lands: When pressed on the effects of climate change on federal lands, Pendley said he hadn’t yet been briefed on the issue. ‘There’s a ton of topics I haven’t been briefed on and one of the reasons is all of my recusals,’ Pendley said. The ‘recusals’ he refers to result from his ties to the climate change denying legal advocacy group he previously directed.”
AIR POLLUTION
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Disbanded EPA Advisory Panel Reconvenes To Say Pollution’s Bad, EPA’s Polluter-Packed Panel Unsure: “If the past few years haven’t yet turned your brain into sludge, you may remember when Scott Pruitt decided to revamp the EPA’s science advisory bodies, purging academics and replacing them with pseudo-experts that were hand-picked by polluters. Since then, further research showed the racial disparity in air pollution impacts, and the contracting out of a similar panel to provide expert advice and guidance on how strongly to regulate pollution. Well, we can now see the difference that has made, as a panel of real experts that was disbanded has reconvened unofficially to offer advice, while the existing panel is offering, in the words of PoliticoPro’s coverage, ‘mixed opinions’ about whether or not to strengthen pollution limits. By putting industry lackey and Chamber of Commerce-nominated Tony Cox in charge of the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Council, polluters guaranteed that the panel wouldn’t offer a unified view that pollution is bad and we should work to make sure fewer people are exposed to less of it.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
Magnifico writes—Overnight News Digest: EPA approves bee-distributed pesticide: “A New Study Paints Bright Future for Humpback Whales But With a Caveat The western South Atlantic humpback whale suffered incredibly at the hands of humans, with the population dipping to just 450 by the 1950s. A new study, however, has found that the species may be bouncing back thanks to conservation efforts to protect whales. Published Wednesday in Royal Society Open Science, the study found that the current number of humpback whales in this specific population is around 25,000, a dramatic jump from the 1950s low point. The study authors predict that within the next 10 years, the western South Atlantic humpback whale may return to the 27,000-stronghold it was back in 1830 before people began their killing spree.”
occupystephanie writes—Regenerative Culture: Livestock & Crops in Town: “I graduated with my masters in 2008 just in time for the banksters to collapse the economy. At my age, I found myself economically obsolete and feeling fairly useless. I decided to use my time to invest in our property to provide food for my family. For that one winter, I put in six-hour days regardless of the weather. What I wanted was an urban farm which would be sustainable in itself and that begins and ends with the soil. That first year, I bought soil from Soil Smith, truly a maestro of compost. The first thing I did was convert our front yard into garden since it had more sun than the backyard. My enlightened town’s sustainability center launched yearly front yard garden tours, so that first summer, I had ninety people traipse through. The one item that I got the most compliments on was the dead brown lawn! It remains much greener now without watering since I have encouraged the white clover to take over.”
MercyForAnimals writes—Progress: Oregon Bans Cage Confinement of Hens Used for Eggs: “Governor Kate Brown just signed legislation championed by The Humane Society of the United States requiring that eggs produced or sold in Oregon come from cage-free facilities by 2024, reducing suffering for 2–3 million birds each year. This victory comes on the heels of a similar confinement law for hens in Washington state, enacted in May. Oregon’s new law means that the U.S. West Coast now has the strongest laws in the world for egg-laying hens. Last year Californians voted overwhelmingly for Prop 12, which bans intensive confinement in California for egg-laying hens, pigs used for breeding, and calves used for veal, as well as the sale of products in the state from intensively confined animals. Around 20 million hens are raised in the three states, so these new laws will have a huge impact. While all hens used for eggs in factory farms suffer, cage confinement is particularly cruel. In cage facilities, each bird is forced to spend her life on floor space smaller than an iPad, leaving her without room to even spread her wings. The new laws in Oregon, Washington, and California will address this cruelty by prohibiting cages and requiring more space per bird, as well as mandating that hens be given some opportunity to exhibit more natural behaviors, with perches and areas for nesting, scratching, and dustbathing.”
SassyDemocrat writes—Our Vanishing Farmers (and Why They Mostly Vote Wrong): “Only a century ago fully a third of us lived on farms, and half of us in rural areas. Today only a percent or two of us are farming. What happened and is happening still? Farming never was a business in the conventional sense, it was a way of life that provided a modest standard of living for the farm families and a future for the children. You bought or the government gave your farm family a quarter section, 160 acres more or less, and using basic skills, animals, and a bit of capital you built a home, produced most of your food, and hopefully had a bit left to sell. The same story was repeated in farm after farm, four farms to a section, across the 36 sections excepting the 2 school sections adding up to over 100 farms, enough kids to fill a couple small schools, and a population often pushing a thousand in most townships. Then came recessions, a depression, mechanization, “get big or get out” farm policies, investors driving up land prices, and monopolized suppliers and processors driving supply prices up and crop and livestock prices down.”
SassyDemocrat writes—Quit Hating Farmers! “Most progressives are supportive of family size farmers, but I’ve learned from a recent blog here and a few other forums some of you have a real ax to grind against farmers. Farmers are a minority like most ethnic and racial minority groups, having chosen against all odds to pursue a career of long hours and short profits. Nobody in the progressive sphere would dare attack jews, muslims, immigrants, gays, etc. and farmers deserve the same respect. It’s time we quit bashing the farmers that largely gave birth to our progressive movement a century or so ago. So to educate both our farmers allies and the ‘guilty parties,’ I’m gonna set out to debunk some of the myths, falsehoods, and out and out Trump grade lies about farmers. In no particular order…”
Between the hydrangeas and the Amsonia, it is very difficult to walk on this path!
Mimer writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging. Vol 15:43: The Colors of Autumn in my Northern garden: “There is not much going on in the garden now. It is waiting for winter, and I have decided to do very little garden clean up this fall. (Just cutting back peonies and iris, and anything obviously diseased). Everything else will stay up for the insects, birds and critters. (Maybe there will be some winter interest later!) So today I can only share some photos of October colors in my garden, taken from mid month until now. […] As I have mentioned elsewhere, my garden is my therapy and my refuge. It is hard to think of all the months ahead without my hands in the dirt, not seeing the butterflies and bees and hummingbirds. This is the time of the year when zone envy creeps in, and I think about those of you fortunate enough to garden all year, or at least for several more months. But curling up with a good book in front of the fireplace also has its charms, as does looking forward to the catalogs that seem to come earlier every year, and happy days going over garden photos and updating iris charts! I am not going to get too depressed!”
MISCELLANY
Austin Bailey writes—5 Things: Savannization, Shinrin Yoku, Coke Says – “No Deposit,” Sick Plastics, Plastic Shoes: “No Deposit Says Coke. When the Atlanta Recycles coalition met in January to review the new year’s recycling plans and budget, one of the group’s financial partners, Coca-Cola, made it clear that they would pull their support for the group if it promoted a “bottle bill”—a container deposit law to encourage plastic bottle recycling. Audio from a meeting of recycling leaders obtained by The Intercept reveals how the soda giant’s ‘green’ philanthropy helped squelch what could have been an important tool in fighting the plastic crisis — and shines a light on the behind-the-scenes tactics beverage and plastics companies have quietly used for decades to evade responsibility for their waste. Coke and its beverage company competitors may be at war in the grocery store aisles, but they have amazing solidarity in their opposition to deposit laws. These companies and the organizations they support have aggressively lobby against bottle deposits to the extent that only 10 states have bottle bills.”
Austin Bailey writes—5 Things: Trump’s Island, Vertical Farming, Abandoned Wells, Seashells, Blackouts: “Steel City Farming. In the Pittsburgh suburb of Braddock, a relic of the regions steel making past is being renovated and fitted out as an indoor vertical farm. We wrote about a new vertical farm being completed in Ohio back in August. Urban industrial farming like these start-ups may be a high-tech vision of the future of farm to table agriculture or money sucking high tech busts. One thing that gives me confidence that this may be a viable concept – the Koch brothers are against them. In the shadow of one of Pittsburgh’s long-standing steel mills, a startup is hoping to cultivate a farm out of the grit of Braddock. Next door to U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, Fifth Season is building an indoor vertical farm that will integrate high-tech elements like artificial intelligence, data analysis and robotics to seed, harvest and package leafy greens to ship to local grocery stores and restaurants. The Braddock farm is expected to produce more than 500,000 pounds of lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula and herbs from a 25,000-square-foot grow room during the first full year of operation.”
Austin Bailey writes—5 Things: Rats Can Drive, Girls Scouts & Bees, What’s a Whale Worth, No Coal, More Renewables: “Renewable energy capacity will increase by 50% over the next five years in the IEA bases case, with the potential to match the output of coal power generation by 2024. This would mean global hydro, wind, solar and biomass capacity rising from 2,501 gigawatts (GW) in 2018 to 3,721GW in 2024. The increase of 1,220GW means the world would be building renewable capacity equal to the entire U.S. electricity system today, says the IEA. It is worth noting, however, that the IEA’s base-case has historically underestimated the pace of growth, as the chart above shows. As a result, successive forecasts have been revised upwards in light of increasingly favorable policy conditions and faster-than-expected reductions in cost.”
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