This is the 529th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue), which appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the Oct. 4 Green Spotlight. More than 27,955 environmentally oriented stories have been rescued to appear in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
Pakalolo writes—
Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers: “A new study published in
PLOS One is shocking scientists across the world as it portends a catastrophic blow to the biosphere on which we all depend on for survival. Researchers in Germany evaluated 27 years of insect collection data in ‘protected’ areas and determined that the biomass of flying insects had fallen by a seasonal average of 76%. Insects pollinate most flowers on earth. They are also prey for other wildlife and the scale of the loss has huge implications for a over-populated world that is dependent on them for producing most of our food.
The Guardian reports:
‘Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some kind of horrific decline,’ said Prof Dave Goulson of Sussex University, UK, and part of the team behind the new study. ‘We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—
Shadow EPA Admin Milloy Wins as Pruitt Stacks Science Boards With Pollution Proponents: “
Scott Pruitt formally announced yesterday the new guidelines for and members of the Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Science Advisory Council that provide expert analysis of the science underlying EPA regulations. If you’re looking for a great explainer to email a confused friend or post for a non-climate-conscious Facebook audience, the Union of Concerned Scientists has a few posts ripe for sharing with anyone who isn’t down in the nitty gritty on the issue. In one post, UCS’s Director for Science and Democracy Andrew Rosenberg explains how Pruitt has inverted the idea of conflicts of interest, kicking out independent experts while taking on those with direct industry ties. In another, Deputy director of the Center for Science & Democracy Michael Halpern tackles what these boards are, and why it matters who’s on them: they act as internal fact-checkers for the science underlying the policy. Finally, Science and Policy Analyst Genna Reed looks at some of the nominees and their transparent conflicts of interest.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - early arrival for swans: “Right now as I’m typing this I’m hearing the mellow tooting of Trumpeter Swans. Melodic and haunting, quite unlike the squawky tones of Canada Geese. And it’s still October! The swans are early this year. [...] Mr O first reported a long-necked white blob on the distant far side of Otto’s marsh on his way to work on the 26th. It was still there the next day. I assumed it was one of the white domestic geese some neighboring folks have, but Mr O leaned toward swan. I gave him my camera to take the next day. Sure enough, with a 300mm zoom. [...] Next day, nothing, but the day after — more swans!”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - trailcam on the boat, round 1: “Early days yet for anything interesting to show up on the trail cam, but here’s to “not seen” as meaningful nature news. For our bucket today, I have a few quick photos of what’s showed up on the card after our first round of setting up a trail cam on the boat. With a special surprise for readers who don’t just skim over diaries missing a title-photo ‘hook,’ lol. Bucketeers may remember our ongoing battle with river otters who use our boat as a playground/dinner table/toilet. Mostly they’re on the stern deck but they are very persistent about trying to get into the cabin, which means unsnapping, turning toggles, unhooking bungee cords, unzipping the canvas — or just tearing through it. Which we’d rather they didn’t.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Are Mr. and Mrs. Loon Hooking Up at the Old Farmer's Pond? “For 20 years I’ve worked pre-dawn on Saturday mornings at a golf course with four ponds, converted from farmland in northwest Oregon. The course dug out three new ponds to torment golfers. The original farmer dug the 4th pond before the golf course, for watering livestock and other rural uses. It remains to torment golfers and provide aquatic habitat, both worthy goals. I watch the critters in these ponds and on the golf course. I see eagles, coyotes, ducks and more. By my second decade of work, I recognize how some of the critters grow and breed and migrate and leave and die. Over the years, the ibis came and left, the plovers grew wily, the salamanders vanished, and the coyotes emboldened. Like most folks working outdoors, I identify with some of the critters’ daily struggles. I’m currently following the life of a loon, a ducklike bird, that stopped by the course’s Rae’s Pond every winter, by itself.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Wisconsin State Assembly approves getting rid of minimum age requirement for hunting: “Good news, toddlers! It’s hunting season! Wisconsin’s Republican State Assembly approved a bill that would do away with those pesky attacks on the Second Amendment—letting babies go hunting. WMTJ 4 reports: Right now someone must be at least 12 years old to purchase a license or hunt with a gun unless they're participating in a mentored hunt. Children as young as 10 can hunt under that program. The Republican bill would allow anyone of any age to participate in a mentored hunt, effectively letting anyone of any age hunt. The measure also would do away with the requirement that a hunter and mentor have only one weapon between them. Proponents of dropping the age will say things like “I shot my first gun when I was four. I had my first beer when I was six on a hunting trip with my brothers and dad. I’m John, I’m an alcoholic.” You know, good healthy things like that. The argument that your parents allowed you to do such things is not a real argument.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Dartagnan writes—Trump Administration APPROVES Exhaustive Report Holding Humans Responsible For Climate Change: “Did they just not bother to read it? WASHINGTON — The Earth is experiencing the warmest period in the history of civilization and humans are the dominant cause of the temperature rise that has occurred since the start of the 20th century, according to an exhaustive scientific report unveiled Friday by 13 federal agencies. The report was approved by the White House, but it directly contradicts much of the Trump administration’s position on climate change. From the appointment of a rabidly anti-science, climate change denialist Scott Pruitt as head the Environmental Protection Agency, to the fossil-fuel embracing Kathleen Hartnett as the Administration’s top environmental advisor, to naming someone who blames the Sun for global warming to head of NASA, this Administration has demonstrated complete and utter disdain for the established scientific principle of human-induced climate change. And yet, they allowed the most comprehensive report on Climate Change to be issued without any substantive changes, with none of those agencies nor the White House moving to stop the report’s publication, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy signing off on the final release, despite fear among some scientists involved in the research that the Trump administration would block it or seek to water it down.”
pauliewallnuts writes—Global Warming is Real, and Everybody Knows It! “Directly contradicting much of the Trump administration’s position on climate change, 13 federal agencies unveiled an exhaustive scientific report on Friday that says humans are the dominant cause of the global temperature rise that has created the warmest period in the history of civilization. Over the past 115 years global average temperatures have increased 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to record-breaking weather events and temperature extremes, the report says.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Most authoritative government assessment of climate change points very clearly to human causes: “The US Global Change Research Project which prepares the National Climate Assessment (NCA4) is soon to be releasing its fourth iteration of findings on the state of climate change on our planet. It is the largest government driven assessment using multiple climate science agencies in its evaluations. You know. Science. NPR is reporting on seeing the NCA4 and the scientific consensus on how much of a negative impact humans are having on global climate change is as strong as ever.”
Meteor Blades writes—Surprise! At global warming confab next week in Bonn, Trump regime will push fossil fuels, nukes: “You would think it would be better not to show up at all next week in Europe for the 195-nation climate-change conference rather than to come promoting the burning of fossil fuels. But that’s exactly what the Trump regime plans to do at the latest session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany: ‘It’s embarrassing,’ said Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a Democrat. ‘After forfeiting international leadership on climate, the Trump White House is compounding their error with a silly stunt. Fossil fuel companies are not clean energy companies, and no amount of spin will change that’. ”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Deniers’ New Dodge is “All Energy Matters” and “Very Fine Scientists on Both Sides”: “All year we’ve been watching as Trump nominees squirm to answer direct congressional questioning about climate change. For the most part, they’ve avoided embracing Trump’s idea that it’s all a Chinese hoax. Gone, too, is the old axiom of ‘I’m not a scientist, but…’ Instead, they give more seemingly nuanced but similarly silly answers. The most recent example was at yesterday’s hearing for Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Trump’s nominee to lead NASA. At a lively hearing (where Twitter reports Brindestine was grilled to the point of turning red), he acknowledged that climate change is already causing destruction, that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and that greenhouse gases cause climate change. But like all the other deniers, he refused to acknowledge the degree to which humans are responsible for warming and suggested natural cycles could be playing a role in progressively warmer temperatures. The correct answer, per the leaked National Climate Assessment, is that human activity is responsible for 92-123% of the warming trend experienced between 1950 to 2010.”
Mark Sumner writes—Trump's senior environmental adviser nominee says climate change is treason and coal ended slavery: “Take one part black helicopter, blue-helmet troops coming to invade Texas. Add two parts climate change is a Chinese hoax. Mix well—apply as the new White House senior adviser for environmental policy. President Donald Trump's nominee to be the White House senior adviser for environmental policy has said publicly in the past that the goal of the United Nations and climate change activists is ‘all-powerful government’ that would effectively end democracy. What is her evidence for this claim? Evidence is for scientists. And Kathleen Hartnett White would never let anyone accuse her of being a scientist. In a 2016 appearance on the "Rush to Reason" radio show, White said the goal of those trying to control greenhouse gas emissions was a centralized economy controlled by elites, invoking the economies under Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union as examples.”
poopdogcomedy writes—FL-Sen: Watch Bill Nelson (D) Destroy Trump's Grossly Unqualified, Climate Denier NASA Nominee: “Sen. Bill Nelson on Wednesday blasted Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, President Donald Trump's nominee to run NASA, as unqualified for the job, too partisan and out of step on climate change. [...] It didn’t stop there: Nelson brought attention to some of Bridenstine’s past comments on climate science and alluded to a speech the representative made on the House floor back in 2013, in which he demanded an apology from President Obama for supposedly spending too much money on climate change research.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Speak up against Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels project at open houses, public hearing: “Do you want to show your opposition to Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels plan? Well, you will have your chance at two public ‘open houses’ being held today and tomorrow in Stockton and Sacramento, respectively. Today, Nov. 1, 2017, the Delta Stewardship Council (Council), pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), released the Delta Plan Amendments Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for a 47-day public review and comment period. [...] In addition, the Council will hold a public hearing to receive comments on the Draft Program EIR on Thursday, December 14, 2017 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in West Sacramento, CA.”
Dan Bacher writes—California Fisheries Groups Sue State for Failure to Protect Impaired Waterways: “Today three commercial fisheries organizations and one environmental group filed a lawsuit accusing the California State Water Resources Control Board (the Water Board) of ‘failing to fulfill their responsibility to protect clean water and public trust resources in the Bay Delta and Central Valley. ‘ ‘At issue is the state’s failure to list long-suffering Delta waterways as impaired on its 303(d) list, a regulatory process that is required by the Clean Water Act,’ according to a joint news release from the groups. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the Institute for Fisheries Resources, the North Coast Rivers Alliance, and the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association each work on behalf of commercial fishermen and women to protect their jobs and the living marine resources on which they depend. Without healthy salmon populations and functional river habitat free of toxic pesticides, the fishing way of life and thousands of coastal jobs are fundamentally threatened.”
Ryan Jackson via Dan Bacher writes—Hoopa Valley Tribe Battles Dangerous Environmental Assault: “The Hoopa Valley Tribe strongly opposes H.R. 1769, the San Luis Drainage Resolution Act, and is alarmed to learn today, November 1, that a clandestine effort is underway to include it in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We urge you to reject its inclusion in the NDAA. We assume that the purported nexus of H.R. 1769 to the NDAA is section 6(c) of the bill which provides for a water service contract for the Leemore Naval Air Station, so there is nothing about H.R. 1769 proceeding through the regular order that will impair national defense. [...] In addition to its adverse fiscal impacts, this bill represents a grave risk to the integrity of the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s rights and interests under existing federal reclamation law and the federal trust responsibility to the Hupa people.”
Besame writes—O'dam - this mess is supposed to be fixed by Nov 1st & ready for NorCal's rainy season: “One Lake Oroville disaster threat was enough. Record heat and wildfires held our attention the past few months while a winter 2017 disaster inched towards restoration. As we begin this year’s rainy season, construction should be winding down on the Lake Oroville spillway that fell apart last winter. For $250 million, Kiewit Corporation promised to fix it by November 1st. [...] And — ta dah — on October 30th, 2,400 feet of primary spillway has concrete the entire length. The top 1,000 feet below the spillway gates were repaired but not replaced this summer. (This segment will be destroyed and rebuilt next summer.) We hope this repair work was handled differently than the original construction that didn’t excavate the “native soils and incompetent rock overlying the competent rock foundation.” The forensic evaluation of last winter’s disaster also identified the failure to properly address flaws in the spillway channel. Was the ‘patch and pray’ form of maintenance used? The spillway gates have leaked since the late 1980’s and are part of the ‘regulated to failure’ problem. They were repaired this summer, but was it done to higher standards? When will we know?”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
Walter Einenkel writes—Rick Perry selling fossil fuel expansion: fossil fuels can help reduce sexual assaults: “In Rick Perry’s defense, he was trying to argue that there are undeveloped areas of the world where the needs for energy could help save lives. Of course, like most conservatives, the width of his vision about how to solve problems is restricted by how poorly he diagnoses them. The idea that the majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated in dark alleyways is not simply narrow view of the issue, it’s wrong. The world that Rick Perry is trying to create here consists of South Africans giving up their autonomy so that fossil fuel companies can penetrate the earth, regardless of what the people living on that earth want, and then lord their power over those people while deepening their leverage to do as they please. And when an entire country and continent begins to argue that they are being violated, those fossil fuel companies just respond by saying things like ‘you wanted it,’ ‘you needed it,’ what did you expect?’”
Mary Anne Hitt writes—The Launch of Europe Beyond Coal: “I just arrived in Germany for something remarkable - today’s launch of Europe Beyond Coal, a coalition of groups from across Europe who have been working to move their countries beyond coal to clean energy. It’s a sister effort to our US Beyond Coal Campaign, and these groups are joining forces to take their work to the next level. We’ll be meeting and strategizing together this week, and then traveling to Bonn for the next round of international climate negotiations, where tensions will be high thanks to Trump’s plan to exit the Paris climate agreement—and where our shared work to move beyond coal will be a critical engine to meet our Paris goals despite Trump.”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Taxes
BMScott writes—The Eighth Emissions Gap Report by the UN Environment Programme: “The UN Environment Programme’s eighth Emissions Gap Report came out yesterday. At 116 pages it’s impressively hefty; even the executive summary runs to ten pages. The first paragraph of that summary explains in general terms what the report is about: The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 set the specific goal of holding global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (°C) compared to pre-industrial levels, and of pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. This report, which is the eighth Emissions Gap Report produced by UN Environment, focuses on the ‘gap’ between the emissions reductions necessary to achieve these agreed targets at lowest cost and the likely emissions reductions from full implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) forming the foundation of the Paris Agreement. It also explores potential for enhanced mitigation efforts in a number of key sectors, presenting cost-effective options for enhanced action to close the emissions gap.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
Keith Pickering writes—Mark Z. Jacobson sues the scientists who debunked him: If you’ve ever heard anyone tell you that 100% renewable energy is possible and feasible, it’s almost certain that she or he got that idea from Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor at Stanford University who has been flogging it for years. Jacobson has been a tireless promoter of the meme that first the US, and then the entire world, could be easily and cheaply powered by what he calls ‘WWS’ — wind, water, and solar power. And Jacobson has also been a tireless promoter of himself, too. He has a slick website with slick graphics. He goes on talk shows. He’s been a darling of the media. Or he was until this past June, when a distinguished group of environmental scientists pointed out a major flaw (and a raft of minor ones) in his most recent paper on the subject. [...] Jacobson’s response was to immediately go on the attack, branding the Clack paper “intentionally scientifically fraudulent with falsified data”. Let me pause here and say that kind of language is really, really unusual in the scientific community. Generally you only hear that kind of rhetoric from hard core climate deniers, creationists, and other off-the-deep-end types.”
Meteor Blades writes—Open thread for night owls: 'Blocking the Sun'—how the Kochs and others undermine solar power: “The 45-page report is titled Blocking the Sun—Utilities and Fossil Fuel Interests that Are Undermining American Solar Power. Here is an excerpt from its executive summary: This report documents 20 fossil fuel-backed groups and electric utilities running some of the nation’s most aggressive campaigns to slow the growth of solar energy in 12 states, including eight attempts to reduce net metering benefits and seven attempts to create demand charges for customers with solar power. Citizens and policy-makers must be aware of the tools that utilities are using to undermine solar energy across America and redouble their commitment to strong policies that move the nation toward a clean energy future. A national network of utility interest groups and fossil fuel-backed think tanks has provided the funding, model legislation and political cover to discourage the growth of rooftop solar power.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
Mark Sumner writes—The EPA provides biblical justification for blocking scientists from scientific advisory boards: “The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday afternoon sweeping changes to who can advise the agency on its research and regulatory priorities, opening the door to more industry participation. Blocked from participating: Scientists who have received funding from the EPA. So … basically every scientists who has long done research on any topic related to the environment. EPA chief Scott Pruitt provided a highly scientific justification for his actions and how this will protect the advisory boards from conflicts of interest. On the journey to the promised land, "Joshua says to the people of Israel: choose this day whom you are going to serve," Pruitt said. ‘This is sort of like the Joshua principle — that as it relates to grants from this agency, you are going to have to choose either service on the committee to provide counsel to us in an independent fashion or chose the grant. But you can’t do both. That’s the fair and great thing to do.’ So, scientists who have taken money from the EPA can’t work for the EPA because they might feel beholding to … the EPA.”
Michael Brune writes—Trump's Carbon Cowboy: “As a casting decision for Donald Trump’s reality TV administration, U.S. Representative Ryan K. Zinke looked like an inspired choice. He’s from the West (Whitefish, Montana) and, unlike his boss, he actually visits and enjoys those parts of the outdoors that don’t have putting greens. He even donned a cowboy hat and rode a horse borrowed from the National Park Service to his first day on the job in D.C., which I have to admit is kind of genius. Although… did he have to pick a horse whose name (Tonto) is offensive to Native people? Still, you can see why a little more than two-thirds of the Senate voted to approve his nomination. Zinke looks the part and, with lines like ‘I shall faithfully uphold Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that our treasured public lands are for the “benefit and enjoyment of the people”,’ he knows how to act the part, too. But that’s all it is — an act.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Walter Einenkel writes—Trump administration recommends lifting ban on uranium mining in Grand Canyon: “For 20 years, mining for uranium inside of the Grand Canyon has been banned. For that same amount of time, the Koch brothers have worked tirelessly to get the ban lifted. Billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch are channeling money into an Arizona-based organization that’s fighting a plan that would include a permanent ban on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon. The arguments for upholding the ban are that it provides no public profit to allow private uranium mining and that by not allowing such, we relieve ourselves of the burden of worrying about the very real environmental damage uranium mining would open up. This is exactly why the new USDA report by the Trump administration is both unsurprising and grotesquely craven. In it they have all kinds of great recommendations for how we can ‘streamline’ things in our national parks. Lo and behold, one of them ‘could’ lead to uranium mining.”
7th term is small writes—When Tropical Forests Don't Carry Their Weight… “2016 showed the largest increase in the concentration atmospheric carbon dioxide in (at least) the last 2000 years. I first read about it in this diary by Craig Hunter. My monthly email from NASA contained an article which discussed the data gathered by NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) which is able to measure the carbon dioxide output of particular planetary regions. The data seems to indicate that three planetary regions released a lot more carbon dioxide in 2016 than they have in the past and that these increases, by natural effects, largely explain last year’s anomalously large increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. It seems that last’s year’s El Nio effect was the root cause of the observed burp of carbon dioxide – providing specific weather effects in three regions, each of which emitted approximately 0.8 gigatons more carbon dioxide than normal, Those regions are Northeast South America, Indonesia and East-central Africa. All three regions are the same general biome – tropical forest.”
Ojibwa writes—Public Lands: The Crescent Farm in the Arboretum (Photo Diary): “The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden occupies 127 acres in the heart of historic Rancho Santa Anita. One of the features in the Arboretum is the Crescent Farm. What is a water farm? According to the sign: ‘Crescent Farm is our new landscape dedicated to water conservation. Our aim is to share water-saving approaches that can help Southern Californians adapt to less water.’ The farm covers nearly an acre that was once covered by a lawn. The grass has been replaced by low-water alternatives, water harvesting features, and drought tolerant plants.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
kishik writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol 13.44 ~ Pondering in November: “Turquoise teeth and lavender ears
Red skirts and pink gowns
Rare magenta pearls and the common white
A unicorn horn is born
Fireworks and glowing orange suns
Early frost is near.”
MISCELLANY
Walter Einenkel writes—Rick Perry selling fossil fuel expansion: fossil fuels can help reduce sexual assaults: “Not unlike his overlord Donald Trump, Rick Perry can sort of read (maybe?), and he can definitely watch the news on the television set. You know what’s been on the news lately? Allegations of the epidemic-level sexual assaults and harassment perpetrated by powerful men. Rick Perry is the Secretary of Energy in our country and he’s been traveling around trying to figure out ways to promote fossil fuel energy over the cleaner and more forward thinking renewables that most developed nations are moving towards. Hey, he’s from Texas! Politico explains that while in South Africa, Sec. Perry had this bit of important information to share on fossil fuel safety: Perry, who traveled to South Africa last week to tout the Energy Department’s partnerships there, said he spoke with a young girl who wanted electricity so she could read without relying on the light of a fire ‘and have those fumes literally killing people. But also from the standpoint of sexual assault.’ ‘When the lights are on, when you have light that shines — the righteousness, if you will — on those types of acts,’ he told an Axios event.”