This is the 646th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the May 30 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
skralyx writes—Renewable hydrogen fuel is gaining momentum: “Renewable energy is on the rise, providing a larger percentage of our energy needs every year. One of the big keys to practical renewable energy is the ability to store it. Lithium-ion batteries have come a long way, and that has helped to extend the reach of solar and wind into times when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. It’s also permitted things like electric vehicles, whose cost keeps creeping down. One thing we are not very good at yet, though, is storing renewable energy in a chemical form, like a liquid fuel. Batteries are terrific for many things, like lights and motors, but liquid fuels are much better when you need ignition, like in jets or rockets, or for lighting your stove or your grill. Don’t get me wrong, though; hydrogen fuel cells can absolutely make electricity (and heat along with it if you want to harness that, too). There are most assuredly hydrogen vehicles out there, and some people think they will do surprisingly well. After all, you don’t have to recharge a liquid fuel. You fill the tank in a couple minutes and you’re ready to go. And the range of a hydrogen vehicle can be significantly longer than that of an electric one. Hydrogen fuel cells haven’t yet benefitted from large-scale production like batteries, so their costs are still higher, but they too will come down.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
CaptBLI writes—The Daily Bucket - They grow up fast: “I made it back to Lamar Park (Oxford, Mississippi) to check on residents and new arrivals. I was not disappointed in my findings. Let me give you a reminder of my last visit on May 4th. [...] I had to get video when I recognized these lovely creatures. First, is a 1:23 minute film of the Heron hunting. You’ll know the exact moment when he catches his prey. I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story.”
greenandblue writes—The Daily Bucket - Lunch at Clover: “This is a photo heavy diary showing what happens when you mow around clover patches and let the flowers mature. Across the country, communities are erupting in outrage over another incident of cops horribly killing a black man. I’m a month late on a manuscript, and we’re busy in planting season at work, which is on top of extra work from working at home. Forgive me, I need a break. I hope this brief respite helps a few others who could use a little time on a lawn too. These pictures are from an approximately 200 square foot patch of clover in Missouri. They were taken in a total time of about one hour spread over two mid-afternoons on May 28 and 29, 2020. Selection of decent pictures and preparation of the compilations took much longer. Until community members provide suggestions, there are no initial names provided. I would never post this if I took the time to ID these bugs. Community annotations will be welcome and added to the diary and image tags as time permits.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Let all the Little Creatures Come Forth: “Multiple robins have occupied my yard for months now. Somehow their presence seemed to make the Spring come a few days sooner. I cannot tell the boys from the girls. I thought the female were supposed to be drab, but they all look alike to me. They seemed more like a collective than paired off couples. At first it seemed like several robins participated in building a nest in my arbor vitae tree. They attacked the squirrels and other birds. (See www.dailykos.com/...) They flew into the arbor vitae’s canopy with beaks full of nest materials and worms, sometimes every minute. I dug up a wormy compost pit for them. I thought I even saw a nest, with movement. Then activity ceased at the arbor vitae for weeks now. But the half-dozen robins were still hanging around. o I followed the old rule that robins will nest in the most inconvenient place possible.”
OceanDiver writes—Dawn Chorus: Have You Seen a Salmonberry Bird? “In a Daily Bucket last week, Pandala mentioned hearing about the Salmonberry Bird in a Birdnote episode. It seems Northwest Coastal Indians knew the bird we call Swainson’s thrush as the Salmonberry Bird because that sweet summer migrant with its sublime fluty song arrives in the Pacific Northwest at the same time as the salmonberries ripen. It’s not because they eat the berries — in spring they rely on insects and other high protein food for nesting (although they will feed on berries later in the season). But the confluence of events — the arrival of the migrant and the ripening of a wild berry in the same location — speaks to the nature of the bird in a way that naming it after some arbitrary human does not. Bird names in general range from those Named After Important People, to Can Be Compared To, then on Its Appearance/Behavior, all the way to Bird As Ecological Being, which I see as a progression from the human-centric to the ecological.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - octopus neighbor & warming oceans: “You and I are a terrestrial species, which means we are mostly oblivious to what’s going on in the oceans and the changes there. Global climate change is rapidly warming the ocean, and one consequence is a shifting of populations toward the poles, more rapidly even than terrestrial populations. Invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans require oxygen-rich water and oxygen is less soluble in warmer water. It’s pretty well established that the cause of the biggest extinction event in history, the Permian-Triassic Extinction 252 million years ago that killed off 95% of all marine species, was due to a warming of the oceans, with its consequent deoxygenation. Research studies are measuring the effect of our current ocean warming on biological populations, mostly looking at commercially valuable marine populations like squid and crabs, and on the fish and mammals higher up the food chain. Octopus are relatives of squid. Our biggest local octopus is the Great Pacific Octopus (known to scuba divers as GPO), a creature I was privileged to meet when I used to dive locally. I haven’t seen any studies about their movements specifically, but it’s not unlikely that they will show a similar northward pattern. A Southern Hemisphere octopus population has already been documented shifting poleward. It seems inevitable that our Pacific Northwest marine ecosystems will be significantly different below the surface even within our lifetime, and who knows what that will mean for our octopuses.”
Desert Scientist writes—An Estuary on Puget Sound: “Birders have recorded nearly 100 species of birds at Pine Ridge Park in Washington state, as I reported in a recent diary (www.dailykos.com/...), but over 180 have been documented at Edmonds Marsh, a few miles southwest along Puget Sound. In fact the Marsh is really an estuary that has been largely cut off from the sea by the railroad and other developments. [...] The estuary once encompassed over 100 acres and was a source of many resources used by local Native Americans www.sierraclub.org/...). The 22 acres left are now a park and wildlife refuge in Edmonds, Washington, a city of about 40,000 north of Seattle, and they serve as a test of the question—‘can a wild estuary be maintained and retain its character and wildlife within an urban setting?’ I moved to the area in 2015 and was almost immediately involved in the struggle to retain, enhance and expand the Marsh by first establishing proper buffer areas, even if they overlapped with current developments. We had excellent leadership and I volunteered to became the chairperson of the science committee within the Save Our Marsh group. My colleagues on the committee and I developed data bases that our group used to eventually convinced the city council that we needed at least 100 ft. buffers. After this we dissolved the committee and I have become less active. Now the group is pushing for adding the old bulk fuel terminal to the park and to use it to restore access for salmon to the creeks.”
lostintheozarks writes—The Daily Bucket - Here, There be Dragon(flies): “Douglas County, Missouri. June 3, 2020. So, this morning I started out for my walk a little earlier than usual because it gets too hot later in the day. It turns out there is much more activity at that time. Right outside my driveway I noticed that the Common Whitetail Dragonflies are suddenly everywhere. [...]And even though I am still seeing male and female ebony jewelwing damselflies all over the place right now: I have not yet seen any of the other more colorful damselflies around here yet this year
Dan Bacher writes—Exploring the Mysteries of American River Shad During the Time of Coronavirus: “The silvery fish leaped out of the clear water and then surged on one last run. It was Memorial Day 1969 and this was the first time that I had ever fished for or hooked a shad. I was using a light spinning rod with a Mitchell Garcia 300 reel and 4 lb. test line of indeterminate origin. I worked the dogged battler toward me and finally landed it in the cold waters of the American River at Ancil Hoffman Park. I admired the fish, an anadromous member of the herring family with a metallic body and dark spots on its shoulder, and put it on a stringer. I had just caught a fish that I would spend thousands of hours pursuing for the rest of my life. I had hooked a shad – but that first shad had also hooked me. Since that time, I have caught countless numbers of shad in the American River, as well as in the Sacramento and Feather rivers. Fifty one years later on Memorial Day 2020, anglers were still fishing the river on a warm evening at the beginning of a heatwave. The world has changed dramatically, much for the worse, since then. The fishing wasn’t as good as it once was, due to the export of water through the state and federal water projects, other water diversions, pollution of our rivers with an array ot toxics and other factors. But anglers, young and old alike, were still avidly pursuing shad with spinning gear in the beginning of a heatwave at Harrington Access. Success was mixed, with anywhere from zero to four shad per rod, but in these crazy coronavirus times, the shad is still a fish that attracts big crowds of anglers. ”
funningforrest writes—The Daily Bucket: Out to Pasture? “These few photos could be the last ones I post on The Daily Bucket using my trusty and faithful old Nikon Coolpix L830 camera. My new Nikon B600 should be here any day now. When it comes I’ll be putting my faithful companion “out to pasture”, up on my closet shelf. I’ve taken hundreds (thousands?) of photos with Old Faithful, but it is showing it’s age a bit with stripped-out threads where a monopod/tripod would attach and the shutter button often fails to operate.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Meteor Blades writes—Friday Night Owls: U.N. chief, Friday for Future activists call for bolder global climate action: “As a pandemic that's killed over 393,000 people rages on and demonstrations demanding racial justice continue across the globe, the international community on Friday marked World Environment Day with scientifically supported warnings about the importance of protecting nature for the future of humanity. Climate campaigners, including members of the youth-led Fridays for Future movement, as well as other activists, scientists, policymakers, and global figures such as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres publicly called for more ambitious environmental action around the world.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Deniers Attack Climate Scientists Who Are Speaking Out About George Floyd: “If there was any question as to the depths of despicability to which deniers dare reach, let the answer be found in their reactions to the nationwide protests against the homicides of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other victims of the white supremacy still ingrained in the United States and enforced through policy brutality.nNot that the climate movement itself has been perfect, as Emily Atkins painstakingly demonstrates in a piece about how many green groups have been slow to respond, no doubt in part because of the ‘Climate Chads,’ who unwisely seek to divorce climate and social justice. But climate and green groups, scientific organizations and even the solar industry are starting to speak up and say unequivocally that ‘Black lives matter,’ and of course climate justice groups have been quite vocal, as Atkins ends her piece with a number of quotes from them. For example, Hip Hop Caucus’s Liv Havstad explained how ‘incredibly important’ the words ‘I can’t breathe’ are to climate groups, and asked ‘How do we make sure our movement is responding to all the ways people can’t breathe, particularly black people?’ ”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Opposition to Climate Action Comes from ‘Carbon Connected’ Industries, Rather Than Just Fossil Fuels: “Back in 2017, when President Trump promised to bring back coal jobs, the fact that Arby’s employed more Americans than the coal industry went viral, and people realized just what a small subset of the population it is that is profiting off of climate change. The idea that only the fossil fuel industry is profiting from climate change, however, may be wrong. A new study published recently in the American Journal of Political Science, shows that opposition to climate action encompasses a much wider set of companies than just the fossil fuel industry. By examining lobbying records and memberships in 83 different climate policy coalitions, the study finds that ‘public opposition to climate action’ isn’t just coming from the fossil fuel industry but also ‘carbon-connected industries’ and is ‘therefore broad-based, highly organized, and matched with extensive lobbying.’ It’s not just the fossil fuel industry that’s lobbying against climate action, but also companies that rely on fossil fuel energy for their own products, and those who sell goods and services to the fossil fuel industry.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Climate Change Making Downpours More Intense is Especially Bad News for Marginalized Communities: “By analyzing federal flood insurance payments, the E&E analysis found that ‘flooding disproportionately affects neighborhoods with a substantial black population.’ For example, the populations of four of the seven zip codes with the highest insurance payouts after Hurricane Katrina were at least 75% black. It’s not uncommon that you ‘find in our floodplains many of society’s vulnerable populations,’ according to Chad Berginnis’s comments this week at a conference on flooding. So we know that climate change is making extreme precipitation worse, and we know that black and brown communities are hurt worse than others as a result of the flooding from those exceptionally heavy rainfall events. Those two facts alone should be enough to convince any climate organization that keeping people safe from climate change also means addressing racism, but if not, let’s remember why vulnerable and marginalized populations are so often found in floodplains: redlining.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Deniers Reach For Misogyny And Other Ancient Attacks Against Dr. Katharine Hayhoe: “In Tuesday’s DR we were somewhat surprised to report that Marc Morano was going after NASA’s Dr. Peter Kalmus for harassment, targeting a man for a change. But true to form, Morano followed the Kalmus-outrage-manufacturing with a similar post targeting NASA’s Dr. Kate Marvel for her solidarity tweet that said “’we’ll never head off climate catastrophe without dismantling white supremacy,’ followed by a link to Mary Heglar’s twitter list ‘green voices of color.’ At the same time, Morano was also running the latest attack on Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, a repost from CFACT’s David Wojick. It is based on a rebuttal to a report Hayhoe co-wrote for Alberta, with a distinctively, if not misogynist, then at least unnecessarily gendered framing: ‘If Greta Thunberg is an alarmist princess then Katherine Hayhoe is the queen of climate alarmism.’ First of all, literally no one has ever called Greta Thunberg ‘an alarmist princess,’ and in fact the only other time that royal title appears to have been used is in a nearly 400 page Japanese web novel.”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Audrey Carleton via Our Prism writes—As Californians face pandemic, ‘environmental racism’ puts many lives at risk: “Cesar Aguirre has spent incalculable hours tracking air pollution levels around Kern County, California. In the region responsible for an estimated 75% of the state’s oil production, Aguirre, a community organizer with the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), says it’s not uncommon to encounter houses, schools, and healthcare centers located mere feet from fracking wells. He’s heard stories from residents who report experiencing constant dizziness, frequent nosebleeds, and severe asthma attacks because of air pollution. He’s spoken with parents whose children have gotten trapped at school because of explosions from nearby wells. He’s seen, through finely tuned infrared cameras, the way these wells spew clouds of toxic chemicals into the air. So on April 3, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom quietly lifted a nine-month statewide fracking moratorium to issue 24 new well permits in Kern County, it felt like a slap in the face. ‘It's in these places where they feel that they can sacrifice communities,’ Aguirre says. ‘We feel like targets’.”
Meteor Blades writes—Eco-advocacy groups step forward with vows to fight for racial justice in wake of police slaying: “Eco-organizations, some of which have struggled with their own lack of racial diversity and an inadequate focus on environmental justice, have stepped up with statements in support of justice for murdered African American George Floyd and for a transformation of America’s policing and other racist policies. Journalists at Inside Climate News have highlighted statements issued by several of them. This is encouraging. As always, however, the question is how much will these words be turned into continuing action once the protests inevitably wane and the hard work begins of making the transformation happen? After all, in 2015 under President Obama, the entirety of The Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing is sitting on a government shelf. Some eco-advocacy groups already have a history of working for environmental justice, or, like the youth-led Sunrise Movement, have made it a crucial element of their credos from the get-go. Among these are the grassroots Communities of Change and the Bronx Climate Justice North, which includes on its website: ‘Without a focus on correcting injustice, work on climate change addresses only symptoms, and not root causes’.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Doloresfor272020 writes—Happy to Receive the Sierra Club Endorsement: “It means a lot to me and the people in our district because it recognizes our strong support for the environment and our track record concerning environmental issues. A chapter of the national Sierra Club, Sierra Club Florida is made up of volunteer leaders and civic activists representing over 32,000 members from all over the state. Their mission is to enjoy, explore and protect the natural places in Florida, to teach others to understand and respect the fragile environment in which we live, and to practice and promote the responsible use of Florida’s ecosystems and resources. The strength of the Chapter comes from the efforts of local, grass-roots volunteers in the 16 Sierra Club Groups across the state.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels & Emissions Controls
Dan Bacher writes—State Air Resources Board Study Confirms: Oil and Gas Drilling Hurts Babies: “The new study by the California Air Resources Board found that pregnant women who lived in rural locations within 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) of active oil and gas wells in the state were 40% more likely to have babies with low birth weight than those not near active wells. The researchers at Berkeley’s School of Public Health also found that pregnant mothers living in rural locations within .62 miles of the highest-producing oil wells were also 20% more likely to have babies small for their gestational ages than people living further away. More than 5.4 million Californians live within one mile of a well. ‘Such babies face higher risks of developmental and health problems throughout their lives and the communities affected are predominantly low-income communities of color with a long legacy of extractive and polluting industries,’ said Consumer Advocate Liza Tucker. ‘They deserve environmental justice and what that means is instituting a barrier of at least 2,500 feet between people and oil production. Governor Newsom must also ban the issuing of any new oil permits to operate within that limit anywhere in the state’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Despite $3Billion In Damages, Big Oil Says Pipelines Are Safe So There’s No Need to Protest: “Yesterday we came across a tweet from the oil industry’s PR team, Energy in Depth, linking to a page from February accusing activists of ‘fear mongering’ about the safety of a proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline. EiD has two key rebuttals to the Texas Real Estate Advocacy and Defense Coalition’s warning that ‘Kinder Morgan is building a blast zone through your community but it’s ‘safe,’ they promise.’ EiD’s rebuttal wants you to believe two things, that pipelines are already totally safe, and that ‘pipelines are heavily regulated by overlapping layers of federal and state regulatory agencies.’ So on the first count, how safe are natural gas pipelines and the accompanying infrastructure? According to the Climate Nexus tracker of federal data over the last decade, a combined 1,435 ‘significant events’ have killed 109 people and injured 605 additional Americans. But as recent events have shown, some consider money more important than lives, so we’ll also point out that natural gas transmission and distribution accidents have caused an incredible three and a half billion dollars in property damages since 2010. Plus, Texas is a leader, in that it has more reported incidents than any other state: 138.”
senorjoel writes—Guardian: Coronavirus crisis could cause $25tn fossil fuel industry collapse - updated: “A report by Kingsmill Bond says the fossil fuel industry could collapse to a fraction of its current value as a result of Covid-19; I assume that the present oil glut and Russia-Saudi price war will play an active role in this as well. (Link is to the Guardian Article, not the original report, which I did not find.) Demand for fossil fuels has dropped by more than 10% during the lockdown, and the International Energy Agency warns it could get worse. This may be bad news for the world’s economy: … a blow to fossil fuel companies could send shockwaves through the global economy because their market value makes up a quarter of the world’s equity markets and they owe trillions of dollars to the world’s banks. Bond continues: ‘The bizarre thing is that the fossil fuel incumbents have been so resistant to the idea of change for so long, and put out so much bogus PR, that they risk falling victim to their own rhetoric.’ Can we survive without coal, oil and gas? We better hope so, since the ecosystems we depend on cannot survive with them.”
Renewables, Efficiency, Energy Storage & Conservation
billofrights writes—Wind Turbines in Western MD: Prop. Rights, Power Politics, Public Process, NIMBYism...: “I am a citizen and environmental veteran who supports alternative energy, especially solar and wind, to replace all fossil fuel sources. However, I am not in favor of the wind turbine project on Dan’s Mountain which has been on the policy table and in the courts for almost two decades. [...] My objections to this project rest on three grounds. First, there has been no thorough, independent environmental review of the project. The only environmental reviews have been carried out by the wind developer’s hired consultants, and the voices of Maryland’s professional environmental staff have been deliberately muted in the wake of a 2007 Maryland law passed on behalf the project developer himself. [...] Second, if approved, the project threatens to signal that all the mountain ridges in western ‘Mountain Maryland’ (the term popular with many citizens in the region) are open to wind development, left to the mercies of revised and weakened state laws since 2007. As the policy landscape stands now, these wind turbine projects essentially become private deals between favorably inclined land owners and wind developers, with impaired property owners objecting—and intervening legally. Third, those of us who are ‘lifers’ in the environmental movement must be engaged on two vast fronts, to meet two different if at times overlapping threats: the first is atmospheric and weather related, the challenge of excessive greenhouse gases creating climate chaos; the second is the collapse of species and the natural systems of forests, wetlands, grasslands…the oceans, all pushing towards the human caused Sixth Extinction.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Monday Misch-Masch: “Here are some Global Warming stories that have been bubbling up recently in profusion, from Renewable Charlie's feed on Quora. I am a contributor to his Quora space, and I started a Space, Calentamiento Global, on Spanish Quora. Graph of the Day: Germany reaches 56% renewables for 2020. Major milestone: Coal consumption falls behind renewable energy in the United States. The last time the United States consumed more renewable energy than coal was in the 19th century, when hydropower was just getting started and wood burning was a major fuel source. Largest Solar Power Plant In UK History Gets Final Approval. Three years in the planning, the Cleve Hill Solar Park has gotten final approval from the UK Planning Inspectorate Office. When completed, it will be the largest solar power plant in the country with 880,000 solar panels producing a maximum of 350 MW of electricity — enough to power 91,000 UK homes. The entire facility, which will include some unspecified battery storage capability, will occupy 364 hectares (900 acres) of farmland in Kent, 96 km southeast of London.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Tuesday: Solar-Powered Cities for India: “India is endlessly fascinating, but not always in a good way. Here their PM is calling for a massive solar development, but with a vast lack of imagination, and onerous strings attached. India continues to insist that economics must follow Indian law, not its own logic of chained cause and effect. Narendra Modi calls for a rooftop-solar-powered city in every Indian state — PV Magazine. This article was amended on 02/06/20 to remove the phrase “the divisive prime minister, in reference to Narendra Modi. That should be ‘the divisive bright twit PM,’ or maybe ‘you moron’ delivered in the voice of Dr. Gregory House. Modi calls for a rooftop-solar-powered city in every state — PV Magazine India. The prime minister again emphasized the need for India to develop its own solar manufacturing industry and also urged officials to get on with plans to make the region of Ladakh carbon-neutral. ‘Each state should have at least one city – either a capital city or any renowned tourist destination – entirely powered by rooftop solar systems,’ suggested Modi at the meeting.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Wednesday: Best Countries for Solar Investment: “ Latin America becomes more attractive for renewable energy investment, as Europe suffers the reverse tren. Emerging markets, especially in Latin America, are becoming hot beds for renewable energy investment, while European countries tumble down the league table of the Ernst & Young renewable energy country attractiveness index. That's not in fact what the numbers below show, where European countries have moved up a place, while India and Japan have slipped down. As was said in the New Stone Age of the Internet. Please check your facts before posting nonsense to Usenet.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Thursday: Refrigeration: “Most of the attention on Global Warming quite rightly goes to renewable electricity and EVs. But we have to thank those who focus on the less glamorous parts of the problem. Refrigeration, including air conditioning, turns out to be another critical issue. Alternative Refrigerants — Drawdown. Fluorinated gases are not the only refrigerants available. Alternatives, such as ammonia or captured carbon dioxide, can replace these powerful greenhouse gases over time. Impact: Pursuant to the Kigali accord signed in 2016, the replacement of HFC refrigerants with a mix of alternatives can result in a range of emissions reductions equivalent to 43.5-50.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide from 2020-2050. Although the exact mix of alternatives is not projected and so the cost of adoption is not yet modeled, current and emerging refrigerants and appliances (including ammonia, carbon dioxide, and propane) can replace between 67%-82% of HFC refrigerants by 2050. Ammonia is usually manufactured by burning the carbon in methane, and combining the hydrogen with nitrogen from the air. Work is being done on other methods that would be carbon-neutral.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Friday: Moore Movie Madness: “Michael Moore definitely knows how to stir up a controversy, sometimes to good effect. But it is nearly universally agreed that Planet of the Humans (like Planet of the Apes, ha-ha, get it?) gets the science and technology all wrong, with disastrous policy implications. No, let me be precise. Policy prescriptions: • Abandon renewable energy, because it's a fraud. Wind and solar increase CO2 emissions. • Abandon all steam-powered technology since the Industrial Revolution, because that's the only way to stop CO2 emissions. Radically reduce the global population immediately, because that's the real problem. But without saying how. If you haven't seen the movie, those points must seem like … exaggerations? A hit job? Hoaxes? No, it's what they say out loud. You would have been better off just burning the fossil fuels in the first place. The movie does have one point. Biomass burning commonly is a fraud, an excuse for clear-cutting forests.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENS
robctwo writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blog Vol 16.23, then and now: Photo diary showing 17-year transition of gardens on home turf.
POPULATION, EXTINCTION, SUSTAINABILITY
Angmar writes—"The Extinction Crisis Is Accelerating, New Study Finds": “The sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is accelerating as humans rapidly and relentlessly destroy the natural world, according to a new study looking at the loss of terrestrial vertebrate species. And the crisis poses an existential threat not only to thousands of animal and plant species, but to human civilization as a whole. www.huffpost.com/… The analysis, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, comes as nations around the globe reel from the coronavirus pandemic — rooted in environmental destruction and the latest novel infectious disease to leap from animals to humans, with devastating.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Mokurai writes—EV Tuesday: New Price Cuts from Tesla; Terafactories May be a Reason: “Tesla Terafactories Will Resolve Battery Constraints & Help TSLA Scale To 1M Units Per Year, Says ARK Invest. Terafactories first came about when Tesla Chief Finance Officer Zachary Kirkhorn mentioned how massive the company's Gigafactories could be in the future. ‘It could start being called Tera,’ said Elon Musk, during the Q1 2020 Earnings Call. ‘Tesla will reveal the machine that will allow them to scale to terawatt-hours, fulfilling the promise to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. We can’t do that unless you have factories that can crank out massive amounts of batteries. That’s why I’m excited about it.’ Tesla Roundup: Hot Stock, Bigger ‘Terafactories,’ Better Battery Tech, Fremont Factory Reopens — Forbes.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—State Water Board Gives Reclamation An 'F' Grade for Refusing to Save California Salmon: “In a letter, “as scathing as bureaucrats write,” the State Water Resources Control Board is ‘taking the Trump administration’s Bureau of Reclamation to the woodshed over its refusal to take meaningful steps to avoid annihilating California’s salmon runs this fall,’ according to a statement from the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA). The letter states, ‘In 2014 and 2015, temperatures were not maintained at protective levels below Shasta and Keswick Reservoirs, resulting in near total mortality of winter-run in those years and the near extinction of the species. Extinction of the winter-run was likely only avoided by maintaining high levels of hatchery production. In those years, adequate reservoir storage and cold water pool levels in Shasta Reservoir needed for temperature control were not maintained. Reclamation’s modeling and monitoring was also inadequate to inform regulatory agency decision making and adjustments to operations that could have allowed for adequate temperature management. This year’s hydrology is very similar to the hydrology the region faced in 2013, the year before temperature control was lost. Over the last 21 years, every year with similar hydrology to this year was followed by another dry year.’ The GSSA said the State Board’s action ‘follows months of advocacy’ by the Golden State Salmon Association calling attention to the impending overheating of the upper Sacramento River spawning grounds this fall due to release of too much Lake Shasta water during the irrigation season.”
Dan Bacher writes—Advocacy & Water Protection in Native California - Summer Series and Certificate Program: “Northern California- Humboldt State University’s Native American Studies Department (NAS) and Save California Salmon invites the public to engage in our Advocacy & Water Protection in Native California Summer Speakers Series & Certificate Program. This will be a free online web series every Friday at noon in June, July and August. The series will culminate with the virtual Advocacy & Water Protection in Native California Symposium on September 25th. The speaker series will focus on issues such as the state of California’s salmon, culture, advocacy & environmental justice for Tribal communities, sustainable food systems, and direct action & allyship with Indigenous movements. Along with being available on Zoom, the series will be broadcast live on Humboldt State’s NAS Facebook pages and posted on Youtube for use by educators. Registered attendees will have the option of obtaining a Certificate in Advocacy & Water Protection.”