The spotlight is a weekly, categorized compilation of links and excerpts from environmentally related posts at Daily Kos. Any posts included in the collection do not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of them. Because of the interconnectedness of the subject matter, some of these posts can be placed in more than one category.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY & EXTREME WEATHER
Climate change is scary now. It will be terrifying under Trump by Dartagnan. The political right is well aware of the public’s indifference and the opportunity it presents. As noted by Stephen Marley, writing as a guest essayist for The New York Times, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initial objective would be the complete evisceration of nearly all of the Biden administration’s environmental efforts. As Markley writes: The report recommends a repeal of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, which would shred the tax credits that have led to hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in clean energy, the jump-starting of factory openings and the creation of jobs in virtually every corner of the country. Also lost will be investments in environmental justice, those measures that aim to reduce pollution in marginalized communities, provide affordable clean energy and create jobs in low-income neighborhoods. As for electric cars, which are critical to meeting the nation’s climate goals, the report recommends an end to all federal mandates and subsidies. A second Trump administration would most likely grant permits for fossil fuel drilling and pipelines basically anywhere it has the say-so, scrap the methane fee on oil and gas producers and dismantle new pollution limits on cars, trucks and power plants. It would almost certainly revoke California’s waiver to approve higher standards under the Clean Air Act, seek repeal of the Antiquities Act used to protect endangered landscapes and attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act.
Europe's colonization and the extensive slaughter of Native Americans cooled the global climate by Pakalolo. A 2019 scientific study by the University College London, UK, and published in the Quaternary Science Reviews, found that European colonization and genocide of the indigenous people of the Americas at the end of the fifteenth century cooled the planet, the authors concluded:
The new research, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, suggests that this led to a regrowth of forests and a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, which in turn contributed to the Earth’s cooling. [...] The scientists report that as the population plummeted, land was abandoned and farming ceased causing natural vegetation to grow back. Scientists believe that the changes to land use led to a lowering of CO2 levels sufficient enough that the concentration of the gas in the atmosphere eventually fell by 7-10ppm.
Relentless floods in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, are yet another warning of a shifting climate state by Pakalolo. Heavy rainfall events are seemingly becoming common across the globe. From the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil to Texas, the Netherlands, Kenya, and Guangdong, China is breaking records for floodwaters, killing hundreds, and destroying infrastructure, including dams that collapse from the weight of additional water into their reservoirs, bridges, highways, potable water systems, and sewage treatment plants. In Brazil, a hydroelectric dam partially collapsed, releasing torrents of water into an already dire situation in cities and rural areas flooded from days of rainfall. The southern state of Rio Grande do Sul has been submerged in heavy water for a few days from heavy rainfall, which killed 373; after the dam break, a 6.6-foot wall of water swept dozens of people from their homes, and they are missing and presumed dead. The dam is between Cotiporã and the city of Bento Gonçalves—the surge of whitewater in the Taquari River valley flooded entire cities like Lajeado and Estrela. Families were recused from the rooftops of their flooded homes, and electricity, safe water, and the internet were all collateral damage in a desperate fight for survival on the ground. This is the fourth flooding event with landslides this year in the state. The water has yet to recede.
A near-permanent marine heatwave is in store for the Indian Ocean warn climatologists by Pakalolo. Global warming is leading to deadly heatwaves in the atmosphere and oceans. Due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, oceans trap and store 91% of excess heat in the climate system. The process has led to a rapid rise in sea surface temperatures worldwide. The definition of a marine heatwave is where extreme temperatures last for at least five days (SST) and where Sea Surface Temperatures exceed the “seasonally-varying 90th percentile threshold based on the 1970–1999 reference period or hotter than 90% of the typical temperatures for each season”. In the Indian Ocean, a rapid increase in the ocean averages of one degree Celsius (1.8 F) throughout 1951-2015 “at a rate of 0.15 degree Celsius per decade.” That may not sound like much. Still, it takes enormous solar energy to heat water to that degree. The ocean has experienced rapid warming, but the Indian Ocean stands apart from other ocean basins, where the heat content can be 328 feet deep. A new study has found that marine heatwaves are expected to soar from 20 episodes to 225 to 250 episodes per year by 2050. Mongabay has the story. The findings of this new research, led by Roxy Mathew Koll, scientist with Climate Research Lab, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, are published in a recent book, The Indian Ocean and its Role in the Global Climate System, released on April 26.
“Two years left to save the world” U.N. Climate Chief/ Still enough time to save Gaia and our kids by mikeymikey. Survival is supposed to be our number one imperative as a species, but generally speaking, something in the wiring of our ‘magnificent’ brains has short circuited its ‘superior’ cognitive skills when facing the looming shadow of self-annihilation. I found this dark pearl of discord, ‘set’ with other gems of lesser value in Magnifico’s past diary of April 12th. UN climate chief says humans have 2 years left 'to save the world' | AP News. Essentially, the U.N. Climate Chief says we have 2 years left to get a sustainable level of control over environmental collapse. Since I felt the inestimable worth of his message sufficient to be of more than passing interest, I decided to enter it into the daily competition on DK to pick the most newsworthy topic currently impacting our lives. While the Tangerine Traitor’s trial is providing stiff competition, I thought it might stand a chance, as it is in its own way, a remarkably compelling saga of ‘can kicking’ taken to Mount Everest heights of cliffhanging, nail-chewing and finger-pointing procrastination. It is already in the running for “most important information in human history”, but should it win, it will likely lose the crown two years from now. Stay tuned (out).
Jamie Raskin will testify on congressional exposé of still more fossil fuel lies Wednesday morning by Meteor Blades. For the past two years, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and his congressional team, have been scrutinizing a gigantic pile of internal company communications to suss out how fossil fuel corporations intent on promoting lies about climate change and their commitments to doing something about it used extensive academic connections to assist in their propagandizing. In a 65-page report on the documents released Tuesday, congressional investigators said they found that the industry has engaged in “an elaborate campaign of deception and doublespeak” to throw up obstacles to climate action. That assessment is not news, but the report adds a ton of detail that shows these companies in a still more unflattering light. Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, one of the Senate’s fiercest climate hawks and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has invited Raskin, among others, to testify on the documents Wednesday morning. The hearing is titled “Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.” The huge collection of a wide range of memoranda, emails and other private correspondence, as well as presentations from top executives at BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will be the focus. In a statement, Raskin said, “The evidence uncovered by Oversight Committee Democrats shows that Big Oil has run campaigns to confuse and mislead the public while working unceasingly to lock down a fossil fuel future. [...] Big Oil continues to conceal the facts about their business model and obscure the actual dangers of fossil fuels, including natural gas, in order to block the climate action we need. Despite knowing about the devastating effects of their oil and gas products on the planet for decades, the industry has always prioritized its bottom line and chosen low-road PR tactics over a high-road commitment to addressing the crisis.”
CRITTERS & THE GREAT OUTDOORS
CA salmon, Delta fish populations are in worst-ever crisis as pumps keep exporting water to Big Ag by Dan Bacher. Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations are in their worst-ever crisis ever as California Governor Newsom forges ahead with the Delta Tunnel and Sites Reservoir projects and the Big Ag voluntary agreements while fish populations get closer and closer to extinction. California salmon fishing was closed in 2023 and will be closed this year also. The 2024 stock abundance forecast for Sacramento River Fall Chinook, often the most abundant stock in the ocean fishery, is only 213,600 adults. The return to Coleman Fish Hatchery was an absolute disaster. Meanwhile, abundance of Klamath River Fall Chinook is forecast at 180,700 adults. Endangered Sacramento River spring and winter-run Chinook also continue their march towards extinction. The spawning escapement of Sacramento River Spring Chinooks (SRSC) in 2023 totaled 1,479 fish (jacks and adults), with an estimated return of 106 to upper Sacramento River tributaries and the remaining 1,391 fish returning to the Feather River Hatchery: www.pcouncil.org/... The return to Butte Creek of just 100 fish was the lowest ever. In 2021, an estimated 19,773 out of the more than 21,580 fish total that returned to spawn in the Butte County stream perished before spawning.
Overnight Science News: Debunking colonizer grizzly myths & restoring ‘the horrible bear’ by Besame. “...grizzlies were never as vicious or purely predatory as the stories made them out to be. The narrative of the huge killer bear instead fed a larger settler story of a landscape — and a people — that could not coexist with the settlers themselves. And that story became a disaster for more than just bears.” FRONTIER MYTH VILIFIED THE CALIFORNIA GRIZZLY. SCIENCE TELLS A NEW STORY.The grizzly, a subspecies of brown bear, has long held a place in mainstream American myth as a dangerous, even bloodthirsty creature. Its scientific name, Ursus arctos horribilis, means “the horrible bear.” But that image is being challenged by a new set of studies that combine modern biochemical analysis, historical research and Indigenous knowledge to bring the story of the California grizzly from fiction to fact. In January, a team of experts led by Middlebury College paleontologist Alexis Mychajliw published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B about the diet of the California grizzly bear and how that influenced its extinction. The results challenge virtually every aspect of the bear’s established story. “Pretty much everything that I thought I knew about these animals turned out to be wrong,” said Peter Alagona, an ecologist and historian at the University of California at Santa Barbara and co-author of the study. [...]
Daily Bucket - First of Year sights; April at Sardis Lake, MS by CaptBLI. My Earth Day 2024 morning was spent at the Sardis Lake Waterfowl Refuge. I chose the best day and place to collect new species for my files. Many of these are FOY birds. I’ll start with the singers and work toward the unusual. The video below includes both the male and female Orchard Oriole with an interesting twist at the end. I’ll have a few of the unseen singers after the video.
Daily Bucket - Prothonotary prefer cavities by CaptBLI. Prothonotary are pretty little birds (but large for a Warbler) that live near water in thick wooded areas. They are usually ground feeders or only as high up as the insects roam. Though habitually bashful, they have a strong, high pitched “Tweet” that pierces the woods in rapid blasts of 4 to 5 notes. Usually as one turns to face the siren strength call, the bright flash of yellow will dart through the foliage and vanish. In a previous discussion about these birds, I learned (through a “Nook nudge”) that there are only two warblers that nest in cavities rather than in the open Prothonotary being one, (Lucy’s Warbler being the other). With that new information, I looked for Prothonotary using the combination of the bird’s preferences.
Daily Bucket, Friday Sequence - Inevitable Flicker Eviction by CaptBLI. Most of you will remember that this particular nest was constructed over 10 years ago by the Red heads and the couple have raised chicks there every year. They have a solid claim to the property. Their tenacity will ensure their family continues to thrive. As predicted, the male Red head returned to prepare the nest for his mate. He found his home occupied and took steps to remove the interlopers. The first video shows the Red head removing the adult from the cavity. [...] The technique the Woodpecker used was grabbing the Flicker by the bill and pulling it out of the hole. Bracing his body against the pole (and once the Flicker is out) letting gravity take them both away from the opening. The Woodpecker released his grip once they were a few feet from the entrance.
Daily Bucket - Time for Soft Fuzzy Babies by Cal Birdbrain. Went out to take more photos of the eagles nest on Monday only to be turned away by a street paving job that blocked the trail entrance. So I headed to a park near my house to see what was there. I found lots and lots and lots of fuzzy Canada Geese goslings plus their ever vigilant eagle-eyed parents. I must have seen at least 50 babies with about 20 adults taking turns on keeping watch. Given the craziness and stress most of us are dealing with, I thought we all could use a little soft fuzzy babies in our lives.
Dawn Chorus: Texas Road Trip by cardinal. I left home (Fort Worth) early morning and drove six hours to this Central Gulf Coast city nicknamed “The Birdiest City in America.” Outside of migration season, the area’s biggest birding attraction is usually Aransas NWR, the wintering home for nearly every whooping crane in existence. Whooping cranes—the endangered cousins of the abundant sandhill cranes – are the USA’s tallest birds (5 feet). After decades of habitat loss and hunting, their numbers dwindled to about 15-25 in the 1930s. Bringing them to their current count of 450-550 (plus more than 100 in captivity) required every weapon in the conservation arsenal, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1916, the Endangered Species Act, the establishment of Aransas NWR as well as a Canadian national park on their summering grounds, and decades of hit-or-miss breeding, fostering, and reintroduction programs. Although lucky birders may find them in several locations between Corpus Christi and the barrier islands that border Aransas Bay, the only way to guarantee this addition to your life list is via organized boat tours. Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures runs a highly rated three-hour tour of ANWR on a comfortable (and bathroom-equipped) catamaran—so off I went.
ENERGY, TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Renewable Tuesday: Vroom! Vroom! By Mokurai. IEA—The world’s electric car fleet continues to grow strongly, with 2024 sales set to reach 17 million. Despite near-term challenges in some markets, based on today's policy settings, almost 1 in 3 cars on the roads in China by 2030 is set to be electric, and almost 1 in 5 in both United States and European Union. IRENA—@IRENA. As of 2023, #RenewableEnergy reached a record 3 870 GW of total power capacity. Solar & wind dominated by jointly accounting for 98% of all net renewable additions in 2023. Learn more from @IRENA's latest Capacity Statistics.
Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - May 2024 by gmoke. Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - May 2024. These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them. This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https://theworld.com/~gmoke/AList.index.html). A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn’t already been done. If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact. George Mokray. gmoke@world.std.com: http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books; http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency; https://zeronetenrg.blogspot.com - zero net energy links list; http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list; http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list; http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds
AGRICULTURE, FOOD, GARDENING, WATER
Jared Kushner has his filthy, greedy, corrupt eyes focused on Europe's last intact wild river delta by Pakalolo. Trump's son-in-law has grandiose plans for Europe's last wild river, particularly the Vjosë delta and its lagoon. The Vjosë River is undammed in Europe outside of Russia, flowing 170 miles from the mountains of Greece through canyons. Unconstrained, the river reaches the Adriatic Sea, spilling across an expansive 59,000-acre delta. Silt is deposited from over 2,500 square miles of the river basin and its tributaries (Voidomatis, Sarantaporos, Drino, and Shushicë). River protectors campaigned for decades to prevent the Albanian government from building hydropower plants. In 2023, the Albanian portion was declared a national park, and hydropower plans were canceled—the Vjosë Wild River National Park was to be off-limits for development. The law protected the stream only, but somehow, the delta was not protected, and any joy from a National Park designation quickly turned to despair as Albania attempted to build an airport in the delta to attract tourists and their money.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing Friday - 'tunas with good taste' and cultivated lab-grown meat by annieli. Beyond the chocolate-covered kind and snails, I haven’t eaten bugs that I can remember— intentionally anyway other than the bugs allowable in processed food. The last time I wrote on lab-grown meat, it wasn’t approved in the US. I will try them at least once. 25% of all protein consumed by humans is of insect origin. Mostly larvae/grubs, in Africa & Asia. Darn globalists. Cultivated meat, also known as lab-grown meat, has been cleared for sale in the United States. Upside Foods and Good Meat, two companies that make what they call “cultivated chicken,” said Wednesday that they have gotten approval from the US Department of Agriculture to start producing their cell-based proteins. Good Meat, which is owned by plant-based egg substitute maker Eat Just, said that production is starting immediately. Cultivated or lab-grown meat is grown in a giant vat, much like what you’d find at a beer brewery. Wednesday’s move follows a series of previous approvals which have paved the way for sales of cultivated meat in the US.
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 20.18 - The Charm of Yellow by CWalter. We grandkids were required to help out at dinnertime. Setting the table and drying the dishes, mostly. As a kid I hated it, but the passage of time has eased my annoyance and made me wish I could go back with a tape recorder for those conversations, and dry dishes quite a bit slower. Even more conversations were had over the heart cookies we made each Valentines day. Prettily iced, of course. I still have those cookie cutters. Pieces of her. My yard has a small memorial garden, showcasing yellow flowers, dedicated to her. While I love the idea of her own special place, the shine of yellow doesn't wish to stay just there. The sunny pop of color just finds its way around, and it's so lovely when it does. There was a lot to love about Grandma. She was generous. Very active in her church. Not the witnessing type, she simply lived the Word. Always making a quilt with the ladies, or making sandwiches for a funeral, the same as one day the ladies did for hers. Old age with dementia was her ending. She was frugal. Loved a garage sale and sometimes my Christmas sock had a hand-me-down tucked in it. As she was a small child in the 1930's, it's no wonder. I'll never forget her tales of eating lard on bread on the SD farm during the depression. She saved everything. Peanut butter jar lids, rubber bands, every green plastic berry container. One of my favorite tasks was helping her clip coupons.
MISCELLANY & AGGREGATIONS
Earth Matters: Biden puts up $7 billion for low-income solar; 7 win Goldman Environmental Prize by Meteor Blades. Solar for all. That’s what we were about 45 years ago at the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Research Institute in Golden, Colorado. While solar thermal panels were getting a lot of attention then, rooftop photovoltaic systems were exceedingly rare, generated tiny electricity output, and were frightfully expensive. A cohort of us were anxious over how long it would take for improved technology to bring the price down to the point where most Americans could afford one. Prices have come way down since then, especially since 2005. But the upfront costs—around $20,000 depending on where you live—remain daunting for a large portion of the population. To help remedy this, on Earth Day this year, President Biden announced a real Solar for All, a $7 billion grant program overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency to make solar energy available to more than a million low-income and disadvantaged American households, saving them at least 20% on their electricity bills. All 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico are included in the 60 selected programs chosen for grants. States, tribes, municipalities, and non-profit groups will use the grants and low-cost financing to provide solar and energy storage for single-family homes and multi-family dwellings. As Biden could rightly say, this is a BFD. The money is part of the $27 billion the Inflation Reduction Act includes in what is called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Early last month, $20 billion was awarded to get a national network of green banks up and running. This is another attempt to lower energy costs.
Overnight News Digest for Weds May 1 (May Day edition) by jeremybloom. The Guardian (UK) — Big oil privately acknowledged efforts to downplay climate crisis, joint committee investigation finds. Internal documents revealed by committee show companies lobbied against climate laws they publicly claimed to support ...Major fossil-fuel firms have also pledged support for international climate efforts, but internally admit these efforts are incompatible with their own climate plans. And they have lobbied against climate laws and regulations they have publicly claimed to support, documents newly revealed by the committee show.
Overnight News Digest: South and Southeast Asia scorched by extreme heat by Magnifico. Extreme heat continues to scorch large parts of Asia. The Straits Times (Singapore). Large swathes of Asia are sweltering through a heatwave that has topped temperature records from Myanmar to the Philippines and forced millions of children to stay home from school. In India, record temperatures have triggered a deadly heatwave and concerns about voter turnout in the nation’s marathon election. Extreme heat has also forced Bangladesh to close all schools across the country. Extreme temperatures have also been recorded in Myanmar and Thailand, while huge areas of the Philippines are suffering from a drought.