This is the 650th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the Sept. 19th edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
skralyx writes—Engineers outwitted by sea sponge: “The humble deep-sea sponge Euplectella aspergillum (or Venus’ flower basket) has been found in a study published this week by Matheus Fernandes and other Harvard researchers to have a significantly better design than we’ve historically been using for light but strong lattices that don’t buckle under stress. Let’s start with the trestle bridge. It’s basically a big lattice that has to bear a lot of weight, and we want to build it using as little material as we can, arranged in a network pattern that makes it strong. For centuries, right up to this day, we’ve used a couple of main designs for that. There’s the simple crosshatch, for when the weight load is not so great [...] So Venus’ flower basket has shown us how to use the same amount of material and yet get a bridge, skyscraper, or spacecraft with a structure that’s 30-40% stronger. It had already been known, by the way, that the clear silica (basically glass) fibers that Venus’ flower basket anchors itself to the seabed with not only have light-propagation properties that equal or exceed those of optical fibers currently in use, but can also bend much further than conventional glass fibers before breaking. That’s at least two other cool things this organism is teaching us.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - 3 trees: “Late Summer 2020. Pacific Northwest: “There’s a variety of trees in my backyard. One direction I enjoy looking is toward the north where three of our most common local conifers grow side by side. In the title picture, they are, left to right, Shore Pine, Douglas Fir and Grand Fir. While they are all conifer evergreen trees, their cones are radically different. Grand fir, being a true fir, has its cones way up on the highest branches, and they sit pointing upward. These cones never fall to the ground. The scales fall away from the core individually and disappear into the duff below. The only time I ever see its intact cones is when a whole branch comes down. [...] After a major daylong windstorm, the fir cones in the tree mostly disappeared, replaced with bare sticks: the core of the cone that scales had been attached to. But more visibly, the ground was littered with scales. Now I can get a closeup view of them. True fir species can be differentiated by the shape of the scales, as described and illustrated in this article: The Elusive Fir Cone Mystery.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - September Salish Sea news: “September 2020. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. Another baby orca was born into the critically endangered SRKW population it was reported just this morning! Second baby orca this year! On September 8, Tahlequah (J-35) gave birth to a male calf, and yesterday a new baby was seen with Eclipse (J-41), a 15-year old whale in their small family. J pod is currently widely spread out near the Canadian side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The births are heartening news for a population near extinction. What’s threatening their survival is lack of Chinook salmon, boat noise and harassment, and persistent marine pollution. (Another new orca baby born to J pod — the second this month).”
The Lipsticked Pig writes—Dawn Chorus: One yard, two worlds (worlds apart in 100 feet): “It looks pretty dry out there, and it is. Lovely pines but a lot of brown at ground level. It’s mostly hardpack and pine needles and cones. I did notice there were a pair of western bluebirds in the bluebird nesting box, which was exciting. And of course the nuthatches. But I didn’t think there was anything else going on really. I was wrong. The local murder of crows was in and out and up and down and across all day long! They would sit in the tree and discuss it and then hit the ground walking. They walk a LOT! All over the place. I began putting a few pieces of kibble on the picnic table and, sure enough, while nervous about it, they would swoop in and get some. They liked it better if I put it on the ground, funnily enough. They have introduced this year’s youngsters to the yard. Strutting this way and that among the grasses. Not really targeting the kibble, just checking out the neighborhood and no doubt expressing their superiority. Smart creatures. Fun to watch.”
funningforrest writes—The Daily Bucket. Dellinger's Pond, Quincy, CA. Autumnal Equinox Report and Review: “When I was a kid growing up here in Quincy, CA, the large local water feature of Dellinger’s Pond was a frequent playground. In summer we’d go after frogs and catfish (just for fun; catch and release), in winter if it got cold enough the pond would freeze over and we would ice skate on it. Here's a link to a personal blog by someone who knows the pond well. Today the pond covers just about five acres or so, but back in the day it was nearly twice that large. New road construction in the early 60’s just about cut the pond in half. The south and west side of the pond was formed by the natural hillside to which it abutted. The east and north containment of the pond was formed by construction of an earthen dike. To the best of my knowledge the pond was constructed to keep the adjacent pasturage from flooding. It still serves that purpose to a fair extent these days (albeit the pasturage is becoming more and more housing tract), but its greatest service is as a wildlife habitat. And not all the wildlife is necessarily benign; back in February a mountain lion was seen prowling around.”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket: Open Thread for the Autumnal Equinox: “ "Autumn Equinox 2020 in Northern Hemisphere will be at 9:30 AM on Tuesday September 22. All times are in Eastern Time." Autumnal equinox, two moments in the year when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length; also, either of the two points in the sky where the ecliptic (the Sun's annual pathway) and the celestial equator intersect.”
CaptBLI writes—The Daily Bucket Open Thread - A Moment of Magic in Magnolia Movement: “I stepped out in the garage to have a cigarette. I had the camera with me in case some creature became available. A movement caught my eye. I’ll let the 40 second video show you what I saw.”
lostintheozarks writes—The Daily Bucket - I Spy, Something Beginning with "B": “Douglas County, MO. September 23, 2020. It has been a week since my last diary, and that has given me several opportunities to go out on my daily walks and take some photos along the way. To make things even better, the temperatures have been very mild — even chilly — in the early mornings, my favorite time to go for a walk. [...] So, what have I been seeing in this cooler weather? Birds! Lots of different birds! Several that I definitely have not seen in the past. I knew that the yellow-billed cuckoo up above lives around here, but the only time I had ever seen one previously was after a neighbor hit and killed one with his pickup truck. A few days after taking the photo at the top of the page I saw another yellow-billed cuckoo more than a mile down the road, near Fox Creek, but that bird did not want to pose for me. Moments after taking the first photo I saw this red-bellied woodpecker working its way up the side of a dead tree not more than 100 feet from where I had just seen the cuckoo. I took over 20 shots of this bird on various parts of the tree until I finally decided to move on — he stayed put!”
CLIMATE CHAOS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—As COVID and Climate Show Danger of Disinformation, Heartland Puts Death’s PR Man On Board: “With 200,000 Americans already dead from coronavirus, it’s rarely been more obvious that disinformation is a threat to public health. And for better or for worse, climate change can offer some hard-won lessons on how to handle disinformation, as can be found in the forthcoming volume of the Annual Review of Public Health, where disinformation expert Stephan Lewandowsky lays out how disinformation has distorted the climate conversation, and what can be done about it. It’s a great overview of the consensus and climate communications, and how they’ve been sabotaged by disinformation. By using creative and artistic approaches that make for good messaging, no matter the topic, while incorporating the lessons of social science on defanging disinformation, we can make otherwise unappealing physical science stories more robust and harder to attack.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Want To Prevent Action On Climate? Tell People To Take Personal Action: “There’s been a long-simmering debate, of sorts, about whether climate communications should focus on messaging that asks people to do their part as individuals (by driving less, eating less meat, recycling, etc.) or on messages that call for systemic changes through legislation and other policy reforms. Earlier this year, Mark Kaufman had a feature in Mashable about how oil giant BP ‘first promoted and soon successfully popularized the term “carbon footprint”,’ starting with their ‘carbon footprint calculator’ in 2004. It was, to quote the words of Benjamin Franta in Kaufman’s piece, ‘one of the most successful, deceptive PR campaigns maybe ever.’ And it’s not like that was an accident. BP put significant resources into carefully crafting and then testing the message to make sure it did exactly what we wanted. While some well-intentioned voices may remain committed to the concept of individual action as a messaging priority, a new study provides the latest confirmation that this is a misguided approach.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—The World’s Both Burning And Drowning But GWPF Says There’s No Cause For Alarm: “With one storm after another churning through the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, to the point that we’re running out of names, and wildfires burning through not just California, where they’re somewhat expected, and Oregon and Washington, where it’s less normal, but also through the vitally important forests of Indonesia and the Amazon, and in totally unprecedented places like Siberia and the Arctic, you may be worried about climate change. According to our dear denial-peddling friends at the UK-based Global Warming Policy Foundation though, the “U.S. climate has been changing very gradually, and mostly in a benign way.” On Friday they published a ‘paper’ by Paul Homewood, the blogger behind ‘Notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com’ who has a long history of producing laughably blunt denial for blogs and for GWPF that have even made for a case study in a book about misrepresenting science.”
Pakalolo writes—Antarctica's Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are tearing themselves apart, and it is horrifying: “It is no surprise to those who follow the deglaciation process in Antarctica and are aware of the real threat posed by these glacial behemoths to human civilization. Rapid sea-level rise is likely when Pine Island and Thwaites (A/K/A The Doomsday glacier) glaciers collapse and take all of West Antarctica with them. These two glaciers hold 11 feet of sea-level rise. Stef Lhermitte, an assistant professor at Geoscience TU Delft, shares his remarkable visuals of the ‘preconditioning’ currently in the process for eventual collapse. Due to the western wildfires and multiple hurricanes swirling in the Atlantic Basin, the climate crisis has broken through media outlets. They now report on the situation more than I can ever recall. Part of this current climate coverage was of these two glaciers that are crucial for the stability of West Antarctica.”
Meteor Blades writes—Summer melt season shrinks Arctic sea ice to second-lowest level in satellite record: “In the spring of 2004, freelance adventurer Ben Saunders, then just 26 years old, had to give up his attempt to make a solo trip across the North Pole from Cape Artichevsky in Siberia to Canada. He set out on skis March 5 and reached the pole on May 11. But 72 days after starting out, he had to be rescued about 30 miles from Canada because open water blocked his way. He had trekked 599 miles, often without mittens or hat, with temperatures as high as 60 degrees Fahrenheit compared with 2001 when it had averaged 33 degrees F. ‘The weather this year was the warmest since they began keeping records,’ he told a reporter at the Ottawa Citizen before flying back to his U.K. home. At the time, and for many years afterward, a number of climate science deniers asserted that ice in the Arctic Ocean was not melting more than in the past, but actually expanding. Last week, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center based at my alma mater at the University of Colorado in Boulder announced that the extent of ice in the Arctic at the end of the summer melt season in 2020 is the second lowest in the satellite record, 2012 still being lowest. The 40-year trend, though not a straight line, is continuing its downward path and will someday soon result in ice-free summers in the Arctic Ocean, though predictions for that range from a few years to mid-century. The impacts for species dependent on the ice, for shipping, for weather around the planet, and for the people who live in the circumpolar world will be immense.”
Michael Brune writes—The Climate Emergency Is Here: “The climate emergency is here. It is threatening our homes, our families, our livelihoods, and everything we hold dear. And the storms, fires, floods, and droughts will only get more destructive. As we come together to support those hit the hardest by this year’s extreme weather, we need to act swiftly to move our communities beyond fossil fuels and toward the clean energy future we need. As a country, we have no more time for half-measures. California, as one of the most progressive states in the country, has an opportunity to show the rest of the country what it means to tackle the climate crisis at the speed and scope that science and justice demand.”
A Siegel writes—Sheldon Whitehouse & Naomi Oreskes discuss Climate Science Denial (this evening): “This evening, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Professor Naomi Oreskes will take an hour to reflect on climate denialism in a Clean Energy For Biden event moderated by the Nancy Sutley, the former Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Sen. Whitehouse has been one of the most serious climate hawks in the Senate. He has given speech after speech on the floor on a range of climate issues, introduced legislation, and spear-headed efforts to bring attention to — for example — the US Chamber of Commerce’s wrong-headed role in promoting climate science denialism. Prof. Oreskes is one of the world’s leading historians on environmental issues and her book Merchants of Doubt remains a go-to reference and documentation of the systematic effort to create doubt as to climate change issues as a tool to undermine effective (or, well, any) climate mitigation efforts (that would, for example, threaten fossil fool business interests’ profits).”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Delta Legacy Communities slams DWR’s $15 million loan for Delta tunnel engineering design: “In a year of record fires, record heat and the coronavirus pandemic in California, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) continues to fast track the Delta Tunnel Plan, potentially the most environmentally destructive and unjust public works project in California history. On September 17, Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. sent a formal objection to the Department of Water Resources providing a $15 million loan to the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA) for Delta tunnel engineering design. ‘Since May of 2019, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has loaned $33.8 million to the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA) for Delta tunnel engineering design, through amendments to the Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement,’ according to a statement from Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. The group said DWR is proposing to provide another $15 million to the DCA, for a total of $48.8 million in loans.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Turn Florida Blue writes—The Environment Will Make or Break Florida's Economy: “Florida has immense natural beauty, but Republican control of the state is destroying its environment – and by extension, millions of jobs. The disastrous environmental policies of Gov. Rick Scott (R) caused severe backlash, culminating in years of devastating algae blooms that killed countless fish, dolphins, and manatees and caused widespread health damage to residents. Beyond the clear health consequences, algal blooms and worsened red tide also devastated Florida’s economy. Southwest Florida was one of the hardest-hit regions in the state – its local businesses saw their steepest drop in business since September 11, 2001. Current Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has done nowhere close to enough to protect Florida’s natural beauty and resources – he received a “D” grade from The Sierra Club for his weak environmental record, and businesses have continued to suffer. But many Florida Democrats are stepping up. In Southwest Florida, Drake Buckman is running on a strong environmental platform —his red tide page begins, “My name is Drake Buckman and I hate Red Tide.” He emphasizes what Floridians know is true — ‘The stench of Red Tide represented a catastrophic failure of our legislature to protect our water supply’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—A Denier, A Twitter Troll and A Trump Campaign Staffer Are The Three Newest Trump Hires For NOAA: “After three years of near-independence from the Trump administration’s political interference on behalf of polluters, a la the EPA and DOI, it looks like someone finally learned remembered that NOAA exists, and they started staffing up. The first hire was David Legates, a U-Delaware professor who’s been something of a low-profile denier ever since he was asked to step down from a State Climatologist role nearly a decade ago. After that, his credibility took another major hit when he co-authored (debunked) studies with Willie Soon, the denier whose extensive fossil fuel funding was revealed in 2015 in the New York Times. After so many years of sloppy science on behalf of oil interests, and working with questionable (and corrupt) co-authors like Soon, this is quite a big step up to NOAA for Legates. It's basically the definition of ‘failing up’.”
GoodNewsRoundup writes—Biden has an aggressive plan to fight climate change: Day 67 out of 100 days of loving Joe Biden: “His path reflects the convergence of science, energy and activism trends. The culmination shows the new permanence the problem has gained on the campaign trail despite President Trump’s dismissal of it. Although this election is more about other issues, its outcome will significantly shape future efforts on this front. The Biden campaign, along with an increasing number of companies, states and countries, are now calling for a net-zero carbon goal by 2050, far more aggressive than the Obama administration’s 2016 goal.”
positron write—Open for debate? Climate crisis and the Presidential debates: “With four Presidential debates scheduled over the next month, now is the time for citizens to let the moderators know what should be covered by the questions. This post is inspired by a call to action on the FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) website: ACTION ALERT: With Planet at Stake, Moderators Must Make Climate a Focus of Debates. Sample messages can be found in the article’s comments. We already have a tentative list of topics for the first debate, and although it covers some important ground, the climate crisis is not among them — not too surprising given that the moderator is Chris Wallace of Fox News.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels & Emissions Controls
Assaf writes—What's in this "Piece Deal" for Gulf Sheikhs? The OIL ECONOMY: “After all, these sheikhs are rich and well-connected enough not to be susceptible to any arm-twisting from Trump, a rather unpopular figure in the Arab world. So why become his campaign cheerleaders? Here’s my explanation: the global oil economy is nearing its moment of truth. A Trump victory can postpone this moment by 4 years. Covid has caused a drop of ~10% in 2020’s global oil consumption. One of the sector’s leading growth segments, flights, is not coming back to growth vs. pre-covid levels anytime soon, if ever. An increasing number of large oil companies begin to acknowledge what climate activists and honest investment analysts have told them for years: many of ‘their’ oil reserves are for all practical purposes, stranded assets of little value. Lest anyone think that for ground transportation, the lion’s share of oil demand, things will eventually go ‘back to normal,’ enter the EV revolution, center stage.”
Dan Bacher writes—315 elected California officials applaud Newsom's executive order, but say it's 'not enough': “While 315 elected officials today applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring sales of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035, they said it is ‘not enough’ in a press release issued after he signed the order. They said Newsom also should declare a state of emergency for the climate crisis. ‘Governor keep your word to transition to 100% renewable energy — set the date to 2035 and stop CA from being one of America’s top crude oil producer,’ the group said in the release. ‘We applaud Governor Newson for his leadership on electric vehicles. It is a needed step to move us into a prosperous clean energy economy. However, allowing permits to extract the dirtiest oil in the U.S. is fueling the fires of climate change,’ said Elected Officials to Protect California President, former Marine veteran and State Legislator Alex Cornell du Houx in the release. ‘We can not protect our health, and prosperity without phasing out fossil fuel extraction. Let’s lead the world and sign executive actions that remove this blight on our health and California’s leadership’."
Dan Bacher writes—Climate Justice Advocates Criticize Newsom's Executive Order for Not Addressing Oil Drilling: “Representatives of member groups of the Last Chance Coalition commented on the Governor’s announcement. ‘Governor Newsom has once again missed the point when it comes to real climate action: In order to stem the devastating impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, we must halt new fossil fuel drilling and fracking now, not later. Gov. Newsom just doesn’t get it, or he apparently doesn’t care,’ said Alexandra Nagy, California Director with Food & Water Action. ‘Today’s announcements are infuriatingly more of the same from Newsom: Lofty words and predictions, but no meaningful action. He has repeatedly vowed to protect our communities, air and water from toxic oil and gas operations, yet drilling in the state has expanded under his watch. ‘If your climate leadership does not include relief for hundreds of thousands of Californians—the majority people of color—living with oil drilling in their neighborhood, then you are not serious about climate justice and creating healthier, more resilient communities,’ said Martha Arguëllo executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles and co-chair of STAND-L.A.”
Dan Bacher writes—Two Advocacy Groups Challenge CA Oil Regulator To Correct The Record On True Oil Drilling Permits: “In a letter released today, two advocacy groups, Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance, challenged the state’s Oil and Gas Supervisor Uduak-Joe Ntuk ‘to be honest with the public about the data’ on oil drilling in the state. They said his refusal to acknowledge data published by the Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) ‘sullies CalGEM and reflects poorly on an Administration that claims desperately to want to stem the cruel tide of climate change.’ The groups also called upon Ntuk to clear up the record and to publish the numbers of wells actually drilled and wells actually plugged as opposed to merely the number of permits issued for those activities. Read the letter here.”
Dan Bacher writes—The LA Times no longer maintains the 'Powering California' website for CA Resources Corporation: “On October 30, 2015, I wrote an article here about the Los Angeles Times and the California Resources Corporation, an Occidental Petroleum spinoff, teaming to create "Powering California," a Big Oil propaganda campaign website, as exposed by Clean Energy California. You can read the entire article here. [...] The website, produced by a supposedly "independent" department of the Los Angeles Times, proclaimed: ‘California oil and natural gas mean growth. They mean jobs. And, Californians need ample, affordable and reliable energy to thrive—to power our homes, farms, businesses and schools, fuel our cars, and produce products that we need and use every day.’ Well, I found out Friday that the Times is no longer producing or maintaining the website for ‘Powering California’.”
Dan Bacher writes—Center for Biological Diversity Notifies Governor Newsom of Intent to Sue Over Illegal CA Oil Wells: “As the Western States Petroleum Association and Chevron continue their capture of California regulators in a year of record heat, record fires and an unprecedented pandemic, the Center for Biological Diversity today notified California Governor Gavin Newsom of its intent to file a lawsuit to halt illegal permitting of oil and gas wells in California. Today in the letter to the governor, the Center says giving out such permits ‘causes unacceptable climate and health harms’ and that the permits are being issued illegally, without the review required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The letter was sent the day after protesters unfurled a banner proclaiming ‘Governor Newsom, Standup to Big Oil’ banner over a building across the street from the State Capitol. That event was sponsored by WE, a coalition of 30 climate justice and social justice organizations. They also conducted a ‘blockade’ of L Street in front of the Capitol while they painted a huge mural.”
Aldous J Pennyfarthing writes—GE announces it will stop making coal-fired power plants: “Someone wet-vac the McNugget sauce off Donald Trump’s adipose-cascading carcass and wake him up. GE has a message for him: Coal is over. You can stop lying about it now. [...] General Electric Co. said on Monday it plans to stop making coal-fired power plants, as the U.S. industrial conglomerate focuses more on renewable sources of power generation. The company said the exit from the business could include divestitures, site closings and job cuts, while it works with its customers to complete existing obligations. GE has said in the past it would focus less on fossil fuels and more on renewable energy, reflecting a growing acceptance of clean power sources by utilities.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
B12love writes—Battery Day business briefer. Is this really "Elon saves the world" day? Uh....yeah, kinda: “The logic chain unfolds like this, To address global warming we must transition to sustainable energy. To transition to sustainable energy we need transportation powered without fossil fuels, (and electric is the best way to go). To provide electric transportation, we need lots of batteries...as in, orders of magnitude more battery cell production than what is made today. But the battery companies are growing as fast as they can, and without a breakthrough allowing much faster throughput, there won’t be a huge jump in cell production. Battery day will tell us Tesla’s solution to manufacturing bottlenecks, and how fast battery production can be scaled over what time horizon. This, in effect, is the timeline along which planet earth can migrate from fossil fuels to electric, powered by solar and wind, and integrated through distributed grids. Scaling up battery cell production has to come first.”
B12love writes—Battery Day follow up: Tesla's path to the Tipping Point (with slides): “By 2030 Tesla will manufacture 20 million vehicles with carbon neutral batteries while deploying 1.5 TWh of grid storage solutions, annually. With 10 TWh/year market opportunities in both the transportation and energy industries, Tesla announced its intention to capture 3 TWh of the combined market using new 4680 cells they will manufacture in-house. That is 100x what Panasonic produced at Giga NV, last year and is enough cells to unilaterally push two industries across the tipping point! Tesla’s plan, fully implemented, will make widespread adoption irreversible. And the more cells they (and their competition) can buy from their existing cell suppliers, the sooner those tipping points will be reached. This plan is decisive action directly against global warming, while also strengthening localized supply chains and manufacturing base. So much win!”
paradox writes—Zero-Emission, Hydrogen Concept Designs from Airbus: “As a far-left radical in my F-150 with a #2 buzz cut all I demand is that the engines in our cars, planes, trains and ships be replaced with sustainable clean engines, the days of burning oil are over, forbidden. We still get to keep our marvelous transport means, just the engines change. Way out there, I know. Especially for cars electric engines are fine, but the battery issue essentially negates plane application, and it isn’t practical for ships and trains, it scales too small. But hydrogen use is combustion, very powerful portable fuel that emits water upon use. Gasoline was the available fuel in our combustion history, we chose a disastrously wrong one, that’s all. Replacing it with hydrogen or electricity means replacing all the existing equipment, eventually it’s going to wear out and happen anyway. The biggest challenge is building the infrastructure and storage capability for hydrogen, it all has to be installed everywhere from scratch.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENS
estreya writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, Vol. 16.39: A walk along the backyard trails ...: “For a variety of reasons, Summer, the little scamp, was a particularly difficult house guest this year. With one foot out the door, she spun on her heels, looked us straight in the eye, and tossed us a parting gift of back-to-back heat waves, followed by a series of wildfires that shook the Pacific Northwest to its core. For nearly two weeks, the smoke-filled air transformed the entire landscape into something resembling a storyboard for dystopian cinema. And we were among the lucky ones! At this point (knock wood), the worst of it is behind us. Air quality is out of the danger zone, temperatures have cooled, and we're finally getting a mixture of sunshine and rain, occasionally on the very same day. Although the main garden areas on our property are fussy and demanding, the backyard trails have proven to be remarkably self-sustaining and resilient. With no rain at all during the summer drought, the back woods remained green and growing. Now, beneath the shaded canopy, ferns abound in seemingly pre-historic proportions, blackberry vines are still offering the last of their sun-ripened fruit, and the deciduous foliage is gradually transitioning to an autumn color pallet. Without further ado, let's grab a water bottle, slip into our comfiest Crocks, and take a little stroll along the backyard trails ...”
NAT’L FORESTS, PARKS, MONUMENTS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
ericlewis0 writes—A Federal Judge just Removed Trump’s Corrupt U.S. Bureau of Land Management Head from Job: “ From the A.P. A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s leading steward of public lands has been serving unlawfully, blocking him from continuing in the position in the latest pushback against the administration’s practice of filling key positions without U.S. Senate approval. U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Land Management acting director William Perry Pendley served unlawfully for 424 days without being confirmed to the post by the Senate as required under the Constitution, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris determined. The ruling came after Montana’s Democratic governor in July sued to remove Pendley, saying the former oil industry attorney was illegally overseeing an agency that manages almost a quarter-billion acres of land, primarily in the U.S. West.”
Username4242 writes—Hiking and finding wonder in a less known National Park (Video): “2nd trail guide for the trails of North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park. A truly astonishing place!”
username4242 writes—One more Theodore Roosevelt National Park trail! (Video): “Last of my Theodore Roosevelt National Park adventures / trail guided. Next: a few days exploring the Black Hills in South Dakota!”
username4242 writes—Sacred land of blood and gold: Exploring the Black Hills of South Dakota, Part 1. (Video):
REGULATIONS & PROTECTION
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Trump’s EPA Uses 'Science Transparency' Excuse To Let Pesticide Give Babies Brain Damage: “Lisa Friedman of the New York Times reported Wednesday that Trump’s EPA has ‘rejected scientific evidence linking the pesticide chlorpyrifos to serious health problems, directly contradicting federal scientists’ conclusions five years ago that it can stunt brain development in children.’ There is scientific evidence that prenatal exposure to this pesticide is linked to developmental disorders, evidence the Obama administration cited when it began the process to ban chlorpyrifos in 2015. But in 2017 Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt decided ‘nah,’ and now, years later in response to legal challenges, the EPA is claiming transparency is why. Because studies about the health impacts of pollution are subject to patient privacy protections, they don’t publish all the underlying data that could easily be used to identify specific people. So all the studies that showed a link between poison and bad health outcomes were simply rejected by the Trump administration, supposedly because they didn’t have access to the raw data.”
POPULATION, EXTINCTION, SUSTAINABILITY
Angmar writes—Regenerative Culture: Controversy- geoengineering? This kind of revolutionary ‘solar geoengineering”’— known by some as the ‘Pinatubo Strategy,’ after a volcano whose 1991 eruption shrouded the planet in a sulfurous cloud — was once relegated to a far corner of academia. But a number of scientists and environmental advocates said this week that the IPCC report — punctuated by Hurricane Michael, which hit the Florida panhandle and may have been intensified by global warming — argues for speeding up the study of the once unthinkable. news.com/… A last-ditch global warming fix? A man-made 'volcanic' eruption. Scientists and some environmentalists believe nations might have to mimic volcanic gases as a last-ditch effort to protect Earth from extreme warming. news.com/...”
MISCELLANY
Meteor Blades writes—Earth Matters: Four former EPA heads endorse Biden; no new gas-powered cars in Calif. after 2035: “Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announces net-zero plan by 2050: The Democratic governor set a 30-year deadline for reaching greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. That makes Michigan the first state in the Midwest to make a pledge to carbon neutrality by mid-century. The announcement calls for 28% emission reductions below 2005 levels by 2025 and net zero by 2050 through actions by state government and the implementation of a plan by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Among the other states with net zero laws are New York, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Washington.”
Pakalolo writes—Facebook suspends the accounts of Climate Hawks Vote, Greenpeace, and Rainforest Action Network: “Facebook has been waging war on climate science lately. The Guardian reported that over this weekend, hundreds of social justice, indigenous, and climate groups had their accounts suspended apparently to disrupt a virtual protest against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline in British Columbia. [...]
ecowyoming writes—WY-Sen: "But I AM a scientist", Ben-David: “While breathing smoke from yet another wildfire that can’t be contained, because firefighters are already so busy in northern Colorado, I long for some common sense and scientific understanding in the Senate. From Wyoming’s US Senate Candidate Merav Ben-David: