CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Pond at the center of Fred George Greenway with cypress knees in the foreground

PHScott writes—The Daily Bucket: Fred George Greenway - From Wetlands to Farm to Park: “This new Leon County park is located in NW Tallahassee and opened 2 years ago. It’s on Fred George Rd and named after, you guessed it, Fred George (1890-1983). Fred and his wife lived on the property all their lives. Their house was torn down about 30 years ago. The general area is noted for sinkholes, basins and wetlands. Lake Jackson, the disappearing lake, is not too far away. The park is only a few miles down I-10 from me and the other day I decided I should stop and look it over after a bit of shopping in town. The high ground on the SW corner has ballfields, playground and picnic areas. Also a small museum with photos and artifacts from the Fred years. Naturalist that I am, I was there to explore the woods and see what is growing.”

Lenny Flank writes—Florida's Invaders: The Flamingo: “The Pink Flamingo is, of course, the ubiquitous symbol of Florida, found on front lawns all over the state. Despite this, there are not actually any wild Flamingos in Florida. Or at least there haven’t been for a long time—and now their presence raises the issue of just what is a ‘native’ species and an ‘invader’. [...] When settlers from Europe arrived in Florida, they found scattered flocks of the big pink birds: apparently Florida was the northernmost extent of their range at the time. John James Audubon recorded seeing a wild flock in the Keys in 1832, and there is an account of Flamingos sitting on their nests in 1901. But at this time the trade in bird feathers—used for women’s hats—was intense, and Florida’s entire population of Flamingos was apparently wiped out. From the 1920s to the 50s, Flamingos were imported from the Caribbean for the tourists. When occasional birds were seen in the wild, it was presumed that they were just escapees from captive flocks. And some reported sightings were dismissed as likely mistaken identifications of the Roseate Spoonbill. But then, in the 2010s, it began to appear as if maybe the wild Flamingos were returning to their ancestral Florida homes. Several birds were found in the Everglades that had been banded as youngsters in the wild in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.”

Lenny Flank writes—Study: Mosquitoes Learn to Avoid People Who Kill Them: “Translation: the little bastids learn to stay away from individual people who swat other mosquitoes. So smack away, folks.”

Green Iguana, native to Central and South America

Lenny Flank writes—Photo Diary: Invasive Species in Miami: “Florida is the land of invasive non-native species—we have everything from kudzu plants to Burmese Pythons. Worldwide, invasive species are the second-leading cause of extinctions, behind only ‘habitat loss.’ Here are some of the non-native species that I have encountered and photographed during my stay in Miami. For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and am traveling around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I have visited.”

Mark Sumner writes—Scientists have cloned monkeys, no technical obstacle remains to cloning humans: “Ever since Dolly the Sheep showed that most of the problems with cloning large mammals had been, in large part, resolved, we’ve been walking closer to the day when a human being could be cloned. Now Nature is reporting that scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have succeed in cloning a pair of long-tailed macaques. This achievement indicates that previous difficulties in cloning primates using the same somatic cell nuclear transfer technique used to clone Dolly and thousands of sheep, pigs, cattle and other animals since. It also means that cloning humans is not even one technical leap away. Previous efforts to clone primates often successfully created embryos, but damage to the nuclear material during extraction affected development and the efforts ended in failure. Even this successful effort was not without a large number of failures.”

Pakalolo writes—Musk Ox, a living remnant of the Ice Age, may not survive Anthropogenic Climate Change: “Most people have no idea what musk oxen are, as it is often overshadowed by polar bears, walrus, seals, reindeer and caribou and other iconic species of the Arctic. The musk ox, however, has evaded and survived ancient overhunting and it is the largest Arctic land mammal today (polar bears are classified as a marine species). It roamed the tundra and hillsides with wooly mammoths and somehow only they survived against all the odds. The species is not related to cattle despite it’s name. It is actually related to sheep and mountain goats. So it does not prefer the open plains in their range, but rather hillsides and steep cliffs. It survives because their nuzzle can shove the deep snow out of the way so that the herbivore can feast on the exposed grasses below the snowpack. [...] Musk oxen are beautifully adapted to extreme Arctic conditions. They live on open, unsheltered tundra, enduring shuddering gales, blowing snow and temperatures of –40 degrees or colder in the winter. A serious overall concern for musk oxen is the rapidly warming arctic climate, which is likely to cause wholesale changes in tundra ecology. This includes forests spreading northward, displacing the essential habitat for tundra animals like musk oxen and caribou. There are also more immediate concerns, especially about winter thaws and rains followed by freezing temperatures that create a thick crust on the snow. When this happens, their food is locked under the icy crust. These conditions are especially challenging for calves.”

Pakalolo writes—Chimpanzees can catch the “common cold” from humans—and it can kill them: “Scientists investigating a respiratory outbreak in a small chimpanzee town in Uganda's Kibale National Park were devastated to discover that the entire population had caught the common cold, rhinovirus C, in an otherwise healthy chimpanzee population. Five chimpanzees died including Betty, a two year old chimp. Betty’s body was retrieved and autopsied before predators and decay set in. Rhinovirus C was the cause of her death researchers determined, and discovered that there is a species-wide susceptibility of chimps to the virus. ‘Chimps seem to be genetically predisposed to have problems with this virus. The virus found in Betty was one that looked like it came from a human, and the level of virus in the lung was comparable to what we see in children.’ stated James Gern, a senior author of the study and a professor of allergy and immunology in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health”

Trumpeter Swans at Otto’s March.

OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - Trumpeter swans on the move: “I was seeing unprecedented numbers of Trumpeter swans this year in Otto’s marsh, one of the largest wetlands on the island and the most visible from a public road. During the last days of December I was counting swans numbering in the 70s, an assemblage understandably flagged by eBird as being ‘rare for this location.’ I took photos and submitted them. An expert western Washington birder came through the county at this time and counted 82 in this marsh, so my reports were independently confirmed. The most I’d ever seen there before was last winter in December/January during our big freeze, when all ponds and wetlands froze over, and even this large marsh was largely ice. Even at their most concentrated, 52 was the maximum I counted in the winter of 2016-17. Once the weather broke and our surface water thawed, swans dispersed around the island. I saw the last ones at Otto’s on March 4 — they departed soon after for their summer breeding grounds in northern Alaska. This year they returned on October 26, and their numbers grew throughout the fall, until the beginning of January. We had a brief light cold snap at the end of December, but nothing like last winter. [...] Imagine my surprise the next day when the marsh emptied of swans, and most of the mallards, wigeons, ringnecks and buffleheads. On the 10th, there was just a single swan standing on a submerged hummock.”

CLIMATE CHAOS

mc24 writes—Trump, GOP’s Denial Of Climate Change and Science in General Makes Us Less Prepared For Future: “Over the weekend, it was reported that the new National Defense Strategy (NDS) no longer includes the words climate, warming, planet, sea levels, and temperature, in a reflection of the continued Republican refutation of basic, decided science. Climate change and its attendant destabilizing effects have been part of the National Defense Strategy since the 2008 NDS version created by the administration of George W. Bush. Now, I’m pretty sure that the Defense Department has not dropped its focus on the potential effects of climate change and continues to game out scenarios in those areas where rising sea levels or severe drought creates the potential for serious unrest. And the concern about climate change strikes close to home for the US Navy in particular. As you can imagine, rising sea levels will threaten US naval bases all over the world. Already, the Navy’s most important base, Naval Station Norfolk located right here in Virginia, suffers from regular flooding which requires continual raising of the docks at the base. But the refusal to acknowledge climate change will certainly make it more difficult for military leaders to plan effectively for the future. A small example of that is that the raising of the docks in Norfolk is covered under the maintenance budget and not under some long term appropriation that might address a more permanent solutions to the problem.”

ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Leading Climate Lawyer Falsely Labeled a Climate Skeptic: “Anyone perusing Climate Depot yesterday was sure to see a shocking headline pointing to an external link: ‘EVEN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYERS ARE CLIMATE SKEPTICS.’ What a claim! Who are all these environmental lawyers, and why are they skeptical about climate change? For confused readers looking for clarity, we followed the trail of links out of the Depot and found that, as usual, deniers are blatantly misrepresenting reality. The initial Climate Depot blurb that caught our attention linked to, and excerpted from, a post from the GWPF’s website . This post, in turn, was an excerpt of a blog post at PersonalLiberty.com, which itself excerpted heavily from an Axios story covering the climate lawsuits against ExxonMobil and big oil. In that original Axios story , Michael Burger , Executive Director of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, is described as being ‘skeptical the lawsuits will succeed.’ He’s quoted as saying the suits are ‘are very tough cases to win’ because of the difficulty in ascribing causation for climate damages to specific fossil fuel firms. How anyone could take that quote and make the leap to decide that Burger is a climate skeptic is a mystery.”

GCHoward writes—Man made climate damage is looking more and more dire: “Plastic waste can promote microbial colonization by pathogens implicated in outbreaks of disease in the ocean. We assessed the influence of plastic waste on disease risk in 124,000 reef-building corals from 159 reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. The likelihood of disease increases from 4% to 89% when corals are in contact with plastic . Structurally complex corals are eight times more likely to be affected by plastic, suggesting that microhabitats for reef-associated organisms and valuable fisheries will be disproportionately affected. Plastic levels on coral reefs correspond to estimates of terrestrial mismanaged plastic waste entering the ocean. We estimate that 11.1 billion plastic items are entangled on coral reefs across the Asia-Pacific and project this number to increase 40% by 2025. Plastic waste management is critical for reducing diseases that threaten ecosystem health and human livelihoods. You read that right. The data suggests that there are more than 11 billion errant pieces of plastic tangled up in our coral reef systems, some of the most important microhabitats in the ocean that are already under drastic threat from a phenomenon known as Coral Bleaching.”

ENERGY

Fossil Fuels

Mark Sumner writes—Ryan Zinke's lies about Florida's special exemption from drilling get even more blatant and bizarre: “Why did Florida get an out? The initial excuse from Zinke was that it was done because Rick Scott asked to be left out. When other states made the same request, they were immediately granted … nothing. With a rising tide of anger, Zinke shifted his excuse to Florida needing tourists for its beaches made it ‘unique’—a claim that was quickly shouted down by other states. But now Zinke is back with an all-new, all totally believable excuse for why it’s okay to blacken every beach in America … except for the ones next to Mar-a-Lago. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke defended his surprise decision to exempt Florida waters from the Trump administration's push for new offshore drilling, saying in an exclusive interview with CNN that the state's coastline is unique. ‘The coastal currents are different, the layout of where the geology is,’ Zinke said Sunday. The geology in Florida is … everywhere. So is the geology everywhere else. The Florida current is famous, but it also runs past several other states.”

Dan Bacher writes—Oil Money Out calls for Governor Brown to stand up to oil industry: “Following Governor Brown’s State of the State address today, Gabriela Garcia, a victim of urban oil drilling in Los Angeles joined health professionals and members from the Oil Money Out Campaign, a coalition of environmental, advocacy and political groups at a press conference on the steps of the state capitol delivering 80,000 petitions to Governor Brown calling for oil money out of California politics. Garcia, whose family lives near LA’s oil wells, shared her personal experience and health problems that resulted within her family and community due to living in close proximity of urban oil drilling. She was joined by Melissa Johnson-Camacho, RN, as well as other experts and advocates, who sent a clear message to Governor Brown demanding he listen to state scientists who have determined in the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) report that fracking and urban oil drilling are dangerous for Californians.”

Dan Bacher writes—Victim of Los Angeles oil drilling joins advocates to demand Jerry Brown stand up to Big Oil: “In 2015, the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) report, mandated by SB 4, the state’s law on fracking, determined that fracking and urban drilling are dangerous for California. It urged mandatory human health buffer zones around all oil operations to protect public health. [1] To date, none of the scientific recommendations have been implemented, leaving communities and individuals vulnerable to impacts. ‘What's the point of doing studies, and then not implement the recommendations?’ said David Braun, director of Rootskeeper and Oil Money Out. ‘Thanks to independent state scientists, we know oil drilling, which utilizes extremely dangerous chemical agents, is toxic for our water, air and communities. Sadly, the fact that the Brown administration has not made better efforts to enact mandated scientific protections seriously calls into question his environmental leadership, not to mention his legacy’.”

Dan Bacher writes—Big Oil Praises Governor Brown's Final State of the State Address: “A statement from Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) President Catherine Reheis-Boyd praising the Governor's State of the State address pretty much summarizes the oil industry's deep partnership with Jerry Brown since he began his fourth term as Governor In January 2011 and their strong support of his controversial carbon trading program. In fact, documents leaked to the media in 2017 revealed that Brown’s highly touted cap-and-trade bill, AB 398, was based on a WSPA and Chevron wish list.”

Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation

fortyhays writes—Tell Your PA Legislator: 100% Renewable Energy: “Today, there is a tremendous opportunity to reverse Pennsylvania’s history of extracting dirty fuels from the ground and switch to the renewable energy sources of tomorrow, including wind and solar. If adopted by our elected leaders, this proposal will transition PA to 100 percent clean power by the year 2050. This forward-thinking action would fulfill our state’s moral obligation to combat climate change, while creating good-paying, family-sustaining jobs in the wind and solar industries. Several municipalities have pledged similarly ambitious goals, including Phoenixville and Allentown, but a statewide switch would send a powerful message to Washington that action on climate change will not wait for them. Future generations and countless species cannot afford to wait.”

Mystic54 writes—Solar Tariffs Are All About Protecting The Fossil Fuel Industry: “I have business consulting clients in the solar industry. There seems to be some confusion on solar tariffs. Let me explain why this hurts American jobs and revenue. The tariff is on imports. 99% of the solar panels sold in the US are made from components from the PacifIc Rim, 80% of finished panels. The US has a small market share here and less abroad. This makes American priced panels even less competitive because the components used in US produced panels now become more expensive. The only serious US Solar players are the German subsidiary of Solar World and First Solar. The process is highly automated which means that US jobs are mostly on the installation side. If there were more US manufacturing, they would still need to use outsourced components since they hold many of the patents. Even Tesla uses pacific rim panels and components. Not only are they the best, and most energy efficient they are also the most cost effective.”

First Amendment writes—SunPower puts $20M U.S. factory expansion and hundreds of new jobs on hold, because of Trump Tariff: “Climate change denier Donald Trump and his solar panel tariff are already causing huge problems for US companies that sell solar panels. Unless SunPower is able to get an exemption from the Trump tariff, hundreds of new jobs and billions in new investment will be gone. Dumb ass Donald doesn’t understand that there is a growing demand for clean energy and that demand will create investment and jobs in the United States. First the #GOPTaxScam that’s starting to kill off jobs and now the #TrumpTariff. SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) on Thursday said it was putting a $20 million U.S. factory expansion and hundreds of new jobs on hold until and unless its solar panels receive an exclusion from federal tariffs the Trump administration imposed this week.”

Meteor Blades writes—Trump's 30% solar tariff takes 1st casualty: SunPower has put a hold on a $20 million expansion: “SunPower Corp., a San Jose, California-based company that makes high-efficiency solar panels mostly in Mexico and the Philippines, announced late Thursday that it will hold off on a $20 million factory expansion that would employ hundreds of people in the United States unless it is exempted from the Trump regime’s 30 percent tariff on solar cells and solar panels. The tariff takes effect on Feb. 7. The Solar Energy Industries Association has calculated that it will cost 23,000 solar-related U.S. jobs in its first year. The tariff will be reduced at the rate of 5 percent a year for four years. Supporters of the tariff—including the two foreign-controlled cell- and panel-making companies that made the complaint to the International Trade Commission which led to the it—have argued that imposing the duty would spur creation of solar manufacturing jobs in the United States. The two-facedness of the Trump regime in this matter would be stunning except that it is the Trump regime. In May, the White House released documents that showed cuts in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to just $636 million in new funding compared with a budget allocation of $ 2.07 billion in 2017. If you don’t have your calculator handy, that’s a decline of more than 69 percent. The idea that the Trump team cares about solar jobs is ludicrous.”

Rmuse writes—Trump Is Helping the Kochs Kill America’s Solar Industry and Jobs: “Although Trump is the culprit in putting a tariff on solar panels, Republicans in Congress have maintained a relatively steady assault on renewable energy since another dirty Republican, Ronald Reagan, declared war on clean power sources. That Republican war on solar power was gaining steam at about the same time China realized that the future of energy independence and a highly profitable and job-creating industry was in solar power. While Republicans were blocking progress on solar power, one forward-looking advanced nation took the number one solar energy spot away from the world power that invented and developed solar panels while it was embracing more costly and dirty fossil fuels. Over two decades later, nothing has changed except an escalation in the Koch-Republican war on clean renewable energy.”

MINING

Winter Rabbit writes—Black Hills Gold Mine Permit Granted 2 Mineral Mountain Resources w/ NO Tribal Consultation Update 2: “Gold is not just what the United States through Mineral Mountain wants to extract in the Black Hills - tribal sovereignty is with everything that means. Company's plan to drill for gold angers some Rochford landowners: Mineral Mountain has said in company documents that it considers the Rochford area to be under-explored for gold and similar to the geological environment of the former Homestake mine in Lead, where much of the 45 million ounces of gold mined in the Black Hills since the 1800s was found. The fascist Tr*mp Administration wants tribes to lose. To illustrate , this push toward privatization, commercialization, and development will strip many native tribes of their sacred lands in the process.”

REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS

Walter Einenkel writes—Trump's EPA ends Clean Air Act policy that oil and gas industry has fought for decades: “On Thursday Donald Trump’s EPA, led by oil servant Scott Pruitt, did away with a decades-old thorn in the oil and gas industry’s side known as the ‘once-in always-in’ policy under the Clean Air Act. AP reports that while this is not been officially filed, it’s happening, and it stinks. The Environmental Protection Agency said it was withdrawing the ‘once-in always-in’ policy under the Clean Air Act, which dictated how major sources of hazardous air pollutants are regulated. Under the EPA’s new interpretation, such ‘major sources’ as coal-fired power plants can be reclassified as ‘area sources’ when their emissions fall below mandated limits, subjecting them to differing standards. What’s the reasoning for doing away with this mandate? The much loathed ‘regulations’ on industry, of course. But how are they spinning this assault on clean air? The policy, according to the EPA, has been read all wrong for the past couple of decades.”

datadata writes—So-called EPA: “Let’s see. Political advertising paid for with taxpayer money. How many pix of Dumbf* is that? ‘WOTUS’ is not ‘Wackjob of the US’ or ‘Wanker of the US’ — his pictures are at the top of the poster — but rather the Waters of the US regulation that allows federal jurisdiction over small but important parts of ecosystems.”

x EPA has put these posters up at agency buildings. Celebrating regulatory rollbacks pic.twitter.com/vwGHy54oq9 Ã¢ÂÂ Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) January 25, 2018

AGRICULTURE​, FOOD & GARDENING

Spring shoots in January

robtctwo writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blog Vol14.4 is it Spring yet? “We are having a bit of normal weather: highs in the 40s, lows mid 30s with regular dumps of rain between drizzle and sun breaks. Pretty good growing weather for all the plants I consider inappropriate for landscaping (weeds). I have my winter camellias in bloom. We have a few resident hummingbirds in the neighborhood feeding on them. I have identified a number of places where I would like additional plantings so will be doing a big cloning project this spring. Our local indoor gardening specialty stores seem to have lots of products and information on cloning. Apparently that is a very common way to cultivate pot and our indoor growing community has evidently exploded in the past year. I hope you all have your plans for Imbolc, the beginning of Spring for the Celts. Western Oregon is showing signs of Spring with new shoots prodding out of the soil.”

MISCELLANY

Mark Sumner writes—Trump's biggest investors are making a new purchase—dozens of fake science groups: “The Huffington Post reports that billionaires Robert and Rebekah Mercer are making a massive commitment to American ignorance by upping contributions to climate change denial. The spending is notable not only for the large amounts, but because it seems to mark a shift in the world of climate-denial funding, which was once bolstered mainly by fossil fuel titans like Koch Industries and Exxon Mobil Corp. but has now become too extreme even for some of its original benefactors. Those companies have not only found that their companies have been hurt by playing with the fake-science ‘institutes’ that the Mercers are now funding, but many have found that their own profits are better supported by shifting toward renewable energy. While still riding out the fracking boom in oil and gas, Exxon has been devoting a great deal of time and attention to where it goes next.”