CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Answer: the blue-winged Amazon parrot (this is a male).

Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Who looks like a parrot and screams like a hawk? “After a few centuries of naturalists exploring the New World, we figure that vividly colored, loud animals already are cataloged by science. So when Mexican veterinarian Miguel Gómez Garza was exploring the Yucatan for his book Parrots of Mexico he was surprised to hear a group of parrots sounding quite un-parrot-like. Curious about the calls, he found a tree with pods attractive to parrots and hung around to see if they’d show up. His attention to detail was rewarded when a group of six parrots flew into the tree. Clearly they were Amazons but their blue wingtips and vivid red fronts (foreheads) were different than the other Amazon parrots known from this area. Plus, they sounded like hawks not parrots. [...] Several Amazon parrot species live in the Yucatan, including yellow-lored and white-fronted. As is true with other Amazons, they are predominantly green with accent colors (blue, white, yellow, red) and medium size (like a big pigeon). None of the other Amazons anywhere calls like a hawk, though. Gómez Garza speculated that this might give them a foraging advantage. Other birds might stay away thinking a hawk was present.”

Crow waits for chance to grab Black Oystercatcher’s lunch.

OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - one shorebird bathing: “That’s a Black Oystercatcher (www.allaboutbirds.org/...), a special shorebird in the Pacific Northwest. It is a resident, for one thing, which means it can find enough food year round here unlike most shorebirds that must migrate to keep up with seasonal sources over long distances. Even so, Black Oystercatchers are very limited in where they can find that food: strictly marine intertidal zones where there is bedrock or beaches with boulders or cobbles. [...] That other quality I mentioned (there are many beyond this!) is a willingness to confront other birds it meets on the shore. I’ve seen them drive away gulls twice their size. This time it was a Northwestern Crow (www.allaboutbirds.org/...). Crows frequent the beaches hunting for food. They eat a lot of clams, which they’ll dig up on their own. But they’re also always alert for a quicker meal if they can steal it from another bird. Oystercatchers are extremely industrious foragers.”

CLIMATE CHAOS

Pakalolo writes—Deepening Fears As Evidence Confirms Risk That Middle East And N Africa Will Become Uninhabitable: “’ ‘The math is brutally clear: while the world can’t be healed within the next few years, it may be fatally wounded by negligence [before] 2020.’ Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Think about that headline for a moment. It suggests that 400,000,000 people will become climate change refugees flooding into Europe by 2100. How the hell is the world going to deal with an exodus like that when we can’t adequately deal with current refugees from war torn Syria? We also are incapable of dealing with the Sahel region of Africa where millions of people are dying of starvation caused by climate change and other factors such as war and the general chaos of a collapsing society. Three years left to stop dangerous climate change warn top climate experts including the IPCCC and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. But it will require a worldwide herculean effort the signatories emphasize by governments, businesses, citizens and scientists. Three years! As my mother often said ‘goodness gracious.’ The authors, including former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculate that if emissions can be brought permanently lower by 2020 then the temperature thresholds leading to runaway irreversible climate change will not be breached,’ reports Fiona Harvey of The Guardian.”

ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Don't Feed The Trolls--They Already Run Washington: “Deniers have been touting a study that supposedly shows how the electric cars are more carbon polluting than regular ones. Apparently, they’re concerned about Tesla’s emissions. Except, of course, that isn’t true at all . Another example can be seen in ‘ CoreNews ,’ the blog of the GOP’s opposition research group . They’re currently running stories attacking Tesla for using rare earth metals, despite the fact that gas cars use the same ones. They’re also touting solar’s environmental problems, a story that comes from ;Environmental Progress,; a pro-nuke group that you know is serious about being pro-environment because it attacks environmental groups , and encouraged people not to go to the Climate March . These baldly bad faith arguments can be seen coming from the administration, with Pruitt’s bogus ‘ EPA Originalism’ and Perry’s ‘ total BS’ call for a red/blue team debate on climate science. So please, don’t get suckered into arguments when we know they’re not actually trying to have a discussion, but are clearly pushing politically correct talking points . Don’t feed the trolls , even (or especially) those who troll their way to the White House.”

OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT

Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: Fishing and Conservation Groups Sue to Block Salmon-Killing Delta Tunnels Project: “Fishing and environmental groups today filed two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's biological opinions permitting the construction of the controversial Delta Tunnels that were released Monday. This litigation is expected to be the first of many to be filed against the biological opinions and the project in the intensifying water wars. Four groups — the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Defenders of Wildlife, and the Bay Institute — charged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Endangered Species (ESA) a landmark federal law that projects endangered salmon, steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species. The lawsuits said the biological opinions are ‘arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion’.”

Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Oroville spillway update - repair is too small a word: “The work of restoring a safe functional spillway for Lake Oroville is a massive undertaking estimated to cost nearly $300 million. The lower 1,400 feet of the spillway are being demolished as part of the reconstruction. Much of this was destroyed this past winter when the spillway was needed to keep the lake from overtopping and flowing over the emergency spillway, an area that had never been used since the dam was built in the 1960s. [...] All that leads to today when construction work maintains a 10-hour workday in an attempt to re-establish a safe functional spillway before the onset of winter rains in November. The lake water is being held at low enough levels to ensure adequate space for snow melt run-off that is higher this year than seen since 1998. The June 21stLake Oroville Spillways Emergency Recovery Project update from DWR reports multiple levels of work occurring simultaneously.”

CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS​

Dan Bacher writes—Oil Money Out Sponsors Week of Action as Governor Acts Like 'Stenographer for Chevron': “Fortunately, increasing numbers of Californians are waking up to the inordinate role that Big Oil plays in California, a state that has ironically been portrayed as the nation’s “green leader” by the mainstream media. On May 20, a new grassroots group, Oil Money Out, held a successful march and in Sacramento to protest the huge role that Big Oil has in California politics — and to urge elected officials and candidates to refuse to take money from oil industry. [...] Brown, who has received over $9.8 million in contributions for oil companies and the energy industry, has become infamous for his close relationship to Big Oil and for the many fossil fuel industry folks that he has appointed to key staff and regulatory panel positions since he began his third term as governor in January 2011.”

“When we turn the Forest Service over to the bird and bunny lovers and the tree huggers and the rock lickers, we’ve turned our history over,” BLM pretender, UT state representative Mike Noel.

annieli writes—Utah rep: "bird & bunny lovers and the tree huggers & the rock lickers turned over history": “Mike Noel is the perfect Trumpian pick and has a change.org petition against him, but there are the realities of the Trumpian tendency to destroy the administrative state by means of rank stupidity (see Rick the animal husband, Perry). And then there’s his affinity for the Bundyist snack-sovereignty commandos and their local-state mania turning sheriffs into feudal warlords. Noel would administer the continuing misuse of the Congressional Review Act after the overturning of BLM land use planning rules with greater effect on limiting public accountability. It’s enough to make you snack on a rock. [...] Utah State Representative Mike Noel is lobbying to become the next Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). [...] Mike Noel is a proponent of Utah’s $14 million wasteful lawsuit to ‘take back’ Federal lands.”

quaoar writes—Report: Alabama Sen. Luther Strange implicated in bribe offer made to quash a Superfund site: “Luther ‘Big Luther’ Strange hasn’t been Alabama’s junior senator very long. And if the report in the Alabama Political Reporter by reporter Josh Moon is true, he won’t be one for much longer. State Rep. John Rogers told federal investigators that he was approached by executives from Drummond Coal and then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and offered what Rogers considered a bribe if he would lead the State’s and Drummond’s efforts against the EPA’s cleanup of a superfund pollution site in north Birmingham, a source close to Rogers told APR. As Scooby Doo would said, ‘Rut roh’.”

GreenpowerCA writes—Action Item: California Continues to Lead on Climate with SB 100—Tell Your Legislators to Vote YES! “A new bill, SB 100 , passed the state senate on May 30, 2017. Proposed by Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin De Leon of the 24th district, the bill would enhance California’s already groundbreaking goal of procuring 50% of all energy generated from renewable sources by 2030 to 50% by 2026, 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2045. The bill has already been endorsed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). SB 100 was read on the Assembly Floor June 1, and currently resides in the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy where it will be read at a July 5th hearing . If you are a resident, you can help California achieve 100% renewable energy by telling members of the Assembly Energy Committee that you want them to Vote YES on SB 100. Send your message here today! ”

ENERGY

Fossil Fuels

TomP writes—Largest "Clean Coal" Plant Will Not Use Coal, Going with Natural Gas Instead: “I always thought clean coal was an oxymoron, like Army Intelligence or compassionate conservative. It ain’t clean. Apparently it is not cost-effective either. The biggest supposed clean coal plant is only using natural gas and not coal: The operators of the largest ‘clean coal’ power plant project in the United States announced Wednesday that they no longer plan to utilize coal at the facility. Southern Company and Mississippi Power said in a statement that they will suspend efforts to turn on the coal gasification portion of the company's Kemper County power plant in rural Mississippi. The facility will instead operate using natural gas, something the state’s Public Service Commission ordered at a meeting last week.”

Mary Anne Hitt writes—“From the Ashes,” Live in Your Living Room“: “Recently, I’ve found myself in places I never imaged, from sharing the stage with actor Edward Norton at the Tribeca Film Festival , to walking the red carpet in Paris with the city’s dazzling mayor Anne Hidalgo, to addressing the Aspen Ideas Festival , where I am this week. I’ve been speaking at advance screenings of a new film by Radical Media, ‘ From the Ashes ,’ that tells the story of the true cost of coal, and introduces viewers to people across America working to shift our nation to clean energy and provide an economic transition for coal communities. [...] I’m included in the film, along with community leaders and advocates from across the nation, and I can’t wait for you to see it. If you’re one of the people out there working to tackle coal pollution and make a just transition to clean energy in this country, then this is your story, too. The filmmakers traveled to states including West Virginia, Montana, North Carolina, Wyoming, Texas, and Washington to capture the stories of people hit hard by coal pollution , community leaders fighting for clean air and water, and the innovators working to build a new economy in coal country. For every person featured in the film, there are thousands more effective leaders doing inspiring work in their communities, and I hope this film will help lift up all that incredible work.”

poorbuster writes—The Fossil Fuels Industries Have Trump Bringing US a New World Order: “Donald Trump appears to be incompetent in many areas especially in foreign affairs. His recent trip to the Middle East and Europe is prima facie evidence of bungling ineptness or so it would seem. According to Michael T. Klare writing for TomDispatch by way of truthdig.com. …Donald Trump is not only trying to obliterate the existing world order, but also attempting to lay the foundations for a new one, a world in which fossil-fuel powers will contend for supremacy with post-carbon, green-energy states. The article is well worth reading for its analysis and insights, but I think Klare missed an important point. His idea that Trump is trying to align the US with fossil-fuel producers Russia and Saudi Arabia (and all the states in their respective spheres) against the green states that include Germany, China and, I would include India, is becoming evident. But I think to credit real estate developer and TV personality Trump with this idea is a mistake. Rather it seems to me that this policy shift has the fingerprints of Big Oil and the Koch brothers all over it.

ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Lawsuits Scare Republicans, As They Should: “On Wednesday, a barely-noticed House hearing held by Republican lawmakers to address ‘aggressive litigation’ against the DOI delivered a clear takeaway: the GOP is scared of lawsuits . Given their tweeted derision but feckless policy deference to the Misogynist -in- Chief , Congress is hardly acting as a check on Trump , which leaves only the courts to balance federal overreach.Which, of course, presents issues for the GOP’s anti-environment agenda. For example, an appeals court ruled this week that the EPA doesn’t have to study lost coal jobs from Clean Air Act enforcement, overturning a lower court decision. This was a loss for states that sued the EPA, along with coal company Murray Energy, and those still fighting in the (fake) the War on Coal. In a second win for the climate this week, a judge ruled that the Our Children’s Trust lawsuit against the government can proceed . This suit, brought by a group of kids charging the government with a betrayal of the public in failing to reduce emissions, is going to be drawn out for years: the court date is set for February 2018. That means plenty of opportunities for (more) stories about these heroic kids . ”

Pipelines & Other Fossil Fuel Transport

lncolnpk writes—Big Oil Train Derailment in Plainfield, IL: “This happened tonight in Plainfield, Illinois. Hazmat crews from all over the area have been called in. I live about 1.5 miles from the tracks and about 3 miles from the accident. The oil , I believe, is from the tar sands in Canada or the North Dakota. I have real concern because the accident location is near the Dupage River and oil has escaped. There has been a a ½ mile evacuation zone.”

RockyMtnHigh writes—Mni Wiconi, Water is Life: wisdom from LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: “LaDonna Brave Bull Allard established the Sacred Stone camp on her own property near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in order to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. On May 24, I had the privilege of hearing her speak when she was recognized by Conservation Colorado as their 2017 ‘Rebel With A Cause.” Just a week later — on June 1 — two notable and interrelated events took place. As widely reported including on Daily Kos, Donald Trump announced that the the US would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Less noticed was that June 1 is the first day that the Dakota Access Pipeline began commercial service. In reversing President Obama’s decision and directing the Army Corps of Engineers to authorize the pipeline, Trump added another chapter to our nation’s sorry history of mistreatment and betrayal of our native people — and June 1 was the day that decision became action. [...] If you can, I encourage you to watch her full half hour speech:

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”

REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS

Leslie Salzillo writes—MN scientist shuns EPA head who pressures her to lie—this is what Scientific Resistance looks like: “We often hear news about the corruption and mafia-like pledges being “requested” within the White House by Donald Trump, but we don’t hear as much about it taking place in other areas of the government.On Tuesday evening, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow interviewed scientist and former professor Deborah Swackhamer from the University of Minnesota. Swackhamer was asked to change her testimony about the EPA to Congress. Here is the transcription followed by the video.”

Mark Sumner writes—Scott Pruitt goes beyond blocking climate change data—will use EPA to build new arguments for denial: “Scott Pruitt is taking the EPA past simply refusing to act on climate change, and acting as an idea factor for climate change deniers. U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is leading a formal initiative to challenge mainstream climate science using a ‘back-and-forth critique; by government-recruited experts, according to a senior administration official. The program is designed to discover ‘vulnerabilities’ in the scientific argument that can be exploited by climate change deniers. The program will use ‘red team, blue team’ exercises to conduct an ‘at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science,’ the official said, referring to a concept developed by the military to identify vulnerabilities in field operations.”

committed writes—pruitt/trump/perry/gop wants to "debate" global warming: “EPA head launching initiative to 'critique' climate science—Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt is leading a formal Trump administration program to ‘critique’ mainstream climate change science. Pruitt is skeptical of the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity, via greenhouse gases, is far and away the primary cause of climate change. But he’s stated he believes the climate is changing and humans have some role. The initiative will be a ‘back-and-forth critique’ of climate studies, using scientists recruited by the government to take different positions on the matters, Climatewire reported Friday, citing a senior administration official. The program will be modeled in part on the ‘red team, blue team’ exercises common in the military to help leaders identify vulnerabilities.”

WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS

Ojibwa writes—Public Lands: The Deschutes River Trail: “There are many kinds of public lands in the United States: some public lands are managed by the federal government through agencies such as the Forest Services, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Army Corps of Engineers. About one-fourth of the federal public lands in the United States are managed by the Forest Service which is a part of the Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service manages 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The mission of the Forest Service is: ‘To sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.’While many people view the national forests as a source of timber to be harvested by private companies, the national forests also provide recreational activities for many people. Shown below are some photographs taken along the Deschutes River Trail near Bend, Oregon. This trail, maintained by the Deschutes National Forest, is near the Lava Lands Visitor Center at the Benham Falls East Day Use Area.”

AGRICULTURE​, FOOD & GARDENING

First sighting June 13, 2017 — Long Island, NY

Kishik writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 13.26 ~ The Eagle has Landed: “Well, no. Not THAT eagle. Unless I had a huge pond with yummy fish, I don’t suspect I could find a way to feed a bird eagle and this is a garden diary after all. Gardens feed people and other critters. But this is the eagle that has landed — on June 13. If you plant it, they will come. My milkweed, with the past week’s heat, is growing up fast. And I do have other “filler” plants for butterflies and hummers and bees, meaning other flowering plants. The one that this little lady landed on is a lollipop verbena. The tag read: attracts butterflies. Wow. It was right! [...] Reading up on Monarch Watch and Journey North it seems this years migration northward is earlier than usual. If you plant it, they will come.Are you planting a monarch garden?”

MISCELLANY

GreenpowerCA writes—This Week in the Environment 6.29.17: Facing the Facts: “It is perhaps appropriate that our No. 1 story in this edition of This Week in the Environment starts out at a place called Cape Grim. In prior weeks—even when Trump bailed out on Paris—we found silver linings. We do like to keep things positive, when we can. Unfortunately, this week a number of studies and several noted scientists all seem to be saying the same thing on different fronts: Time is short, and we need to face the facts. The oceans are rising and warming more rapidly than ever, and damage to priceless (or are they?) natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef may be harbingers of the great catastrophe to come if we don’t wise up and change our ways. [...] 5. The Great Barrier Reef is Literally a Treasure. It’s Worth $42 Billion. [...] The value of natural resources like clean air, clean water, and healthy ecosystems is a deeply disputed topic, often reflecting the worldview of the person or group doing the valuation. Should natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef be valued only by the services they provide humanity, or do they possess some inherent value distinct from what we can exploit from them? A recent estimate of the monetary value of the Reef combines both the exploitable services such as fishing and tourism, as well as the existential value it has for Australians—literally the price they would pay to have the Reef continue to exist.”

JustaJ0e writes—Science division of White House office left empty as last staffers depart: “If there is one thing you can count on with the trump show … if he is having a twitter fit you should turn away from that distraction and look the other direction. Because almost certainly something ELSE much more important going on. According to a CBS report “The science division of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was unstaffed as of Friday as the three remaining employees departed...” On Friday afternoon, Eleanor Celeste, the assistant director for biomedical and forensic sciences at the OSTP, sent one last tweet before departing… ”