Check out Dartagnan's post on this subject.
Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don't attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) normally appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The most recent Wednesday Spotlight can be seen here. More than
22,130 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
Antarctica hits 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit as Mitch McConnell promises to sabotage global climate pact—by
pakalolo: "National Geographic reports: Scientists have measured what is likely the highest temperature ever on Antarctica: 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit (17.5 Celsius). The measurements were made last Tuesday at Argentina's Esperanza Base, on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the meteorological website Weather Underground. The previous hottest known temperature on the continent was 62.8°F (17.1°C), recorded at Esperanza Base on April 24, 1961. The Weather Underground called last week's temperatures a 'remarkable heat wave,' although they occurred during the end of the austral summer, when Antarctic temperatures are typically highest."
Climate apathy and ignorance—by
DWG: "Sadly, the weight of climate science is not swaying public opinion. In survey (Gallup) after survey (Pew Research Center), the issue of climate change has achieved some head-space but lacks heart-space. A majority of Americans think climate change is real but few see it as an urgent priority. Here is another disturbing fact, public opinion regarding climate change appears to be unchanged for a generation. Gallup has been polling on global warming/climate change for over 25 years. In its 2015 survey, only 32% of Americans are greatly concerned about the threats posed by climate disruptions. That is the same level found when polling on the issue first began in 1989. The tragic irony is that children born in 1989 will live to see some of the most severe climate impacts in their lifetimes if carbon pollution continues apace. Efforts to persuade political conservatives to ignore climate science have been extraordinarily effective. Less than one in six Republican-leaning people in America think the impact of global warming will be substantial or that climate changes are due to human activity. The Merchants of Doubt are winning."
You can find more rescued green diaries below the orange garden layout.
Oceans, Water & Drought
A drop in the bucket?—by citisven: "In light of California's historic drought and Governor Brown's executive order to impose a 25 percent reduction on municipal water use, my partner and I thought about ways we can conserve more water than we already do. The 'problem' we have is that like many long-time California residents who have been through droughts before, water awareness and conservation is very much ingrained in our daily routines. We don't flush the toilet unless necessary (and have a low-flow toilet), we don't have house plants that need watering, we don't take showers every day (and keep them short when we do), and the three sources of water in our apartment are equipped with low-flow faucets (provided for free by the SF PUC!). The one in our kitchen sink even has a convenient switch to cut off water during dish-doing unless you absolutely need it. After some brainstorming—including a wee bit of righteous indignation about how this mandatory 25% cut shouldn't really apply to those of us who have been tightening our faucets all along—we discovered a weak spot in our system."
California Drought Garden - Green and Native—by
Martha Ture: "We've been reading about the restrictions on California water this week, and though 25% reduction from 2013 levels does not amount to a lot, it is better than nothing. People have been expressing reluctance to let their lawns brown, their expensive landscaping die, Comments abound about brown and grey landscapes, people replacing their gardens with stones, painting their front yards green—no need. Below the orange cheeze whizze are photos of my California native plant garden. [...] As you can see, it's not brown or grey. I don't water it. Birds love the shade, cover, and food. And it's by no means unique. Googling 'California native plant gardens' will show you stunning photos of superior landscaping done with natives."
Water Works (Part 3): How National Governments Are Incentivizing Droughts—by GregWright : "There are several threats to regional and global freshwater supplies besides the usual industrial pollution methods that pump chemicals into lakes and rivers. Climate scientists note that As weather patterns shift and extremes worsen due to climate change, future weather will become increasingly difficult to predict. Future weather anomalies are less guesswork than they were in years past, but today’s best predictions are still just estimates of the most likely scenarios. Scientists can say with relative certainty that California will face a mega-drought within the next few years based off the state’s current methods of water usage and average expected rainfall patterns. They cannot reasonably say, 'California will not receive any rainfall next year. A drought will occur.' As the United States and other countries are learning the hard way, balancing water consumption to achieve a surplus will mitigate losses during drier years and is becoming increasingly necessary. This is exactly why governments should step in and regulate the amount of water that is consumed through different uses. But as we will see, both national governments and corporations can be prone to making economic decisions without considering the devastating environmental consequences."
California's Days of Turning Water into Wine May be Over—by Wolf10: "In California we are not only up a creek without a paddle but up a dry creek without a plan. That is unless not being served water in restaurant without requesting it and cutting back a bit on watering the lawn can be called a plan. I wrote this a few days ago and things have changed since then. But are those changes enough? There are 38 million people in California. It has the largest economy within the U.S., 8th largest in the world. While agriculture represents less than 2% of the state's GSP it accounts for 13% all U.S. agricultural sales and a much higher percentage of fruits and vegetables as well as being the top milk producer and in the top 5 or higher for most other animal products."
Universal Employment and Mitigating the California Drought—by Eternal Hope: "The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would sell out US sovereignty by putting large multinational corporations in charge of our government instead of the other way around. It would upend over 200 years of checks and balances that were set out in the US Constitution and replace it with government by the corporation for the corporation. In today's New York Times opinion section, Richard Haas and Roger Altman write about why we need the TPP. But they undermine their own case when they write: Six of the 11 other nations in the TPP already have free-trade agreements with us. And the other five face only minimal tariffs. So, if six of the 11 other nations in the TPP already have free trade agreements with us and the other five only have minimal tariffs, then why the urgency in getting it passed?"
New Analysis Finds Harm in Governor Brown’s Drought Order—by Dan Bacher: "Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build water export Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to Gov. Brown’s executive order.'While urban water conservation measures are desperately needed, Governor Brown is not calling for shared sacrifice,' said RTD Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. 'What he is enacting is sacrifice by 98% of Californians, and the sacrifice of the most magnificent estuary on the west coast of the Americas, for the top 1% of water and land barons on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.' Waters upstream and downstream of the barriers within the Delta will stagnate. When the dilution action of flows is greatly reduced during summer heat, water temperatures increase, salinity is projected to increase, and pollutant and contaminant concentrations will increase as well."
Governor Brown's drought order lets corporate agribusiness, oil companies off the hook—by Dan Bacher: "Governor Jerry Brown on April 1 issued an executive order that he claimed will 'save water' during California's record drought by imposing mandatory 25 percent reductions in water usage by cites and counties. Critics of the Governor’s water policies quickly responded that Brown’s order lets corporate agribusiness interests and big oil companies, the biggest abusers and polluters of the state's water, off the hook. The order follows the lowest Sierra Nevada snowpack ever recorded in California history, only 5 percent of the historic average, with no end to the drought in sight."
The heat is on: California water restrictions a frightening harbinger—by Molly Weasley: "I share a running joke with some cousins in California. Whenever they brag about basking in the sunshine and poke fun at our extreme cold or heavy snowfall in the Midwest, I always say, 'Yeah, but at least we’ve got water.' Somehow, that’s not so funny anymore. California Gov. Jerry Brown has imposed mandatory restrictions on water usage in the drought-stricken state, on residents, businesses, and farms. All cities and towns must reduce their water usage by 25 percent by February 2016, although the restrictions would not affect the state’s agricultural industry. That move is being criticized by many, as the industry uses about 80 percent of the state’s water. California agribusiness will have to report more information on groundwater use."
Climate Chaos
I Live at Ground Zero for Climate Change: Here Are the Pictures—by bigjacbigjacbigjac: "According to Munich Re, a big insurance company that insures the regular insurance companies, there is a trend of more property damage claims in the last forty years, in the area where I live, in the middle of North America. I live in Wichita, Kansas. I have pictures to show you, pictures of storm damage. The storm was early Friday morning, 3rd of April, 2015. [...] Climate change is truly scary, since we don't know how fast a feedback loop will develop, and we don't know how drastically the climate will change, in any part of the world. But for now, it seems to me, that we should ask ourselves, which of the threats to humanity will most likely kill millions of humans in the foreseeable future: Disease, such as ebola or a flu pandemic? Maybe. Thermonuclear war? Maybe."
—by gmoke: "Helping to kick off Harvard’s first annual 'Climate Week,' centenarian F. Gorham Brigham, Jr., and 97-year-old Del Markoff, Harvard Business School’s oldest living alumni, are calling on the school’s alumni, staff, faculty, and students to fulfill the HBS mission by being the leaders who will make a difference in the world—in this case, on the matter of climate change. Brigham and Markoff are the last remaining members of HBS’s famed Class of 1939. In recognition of their longevity and leadership on both business and social causes, Brigham and Markoff are being featured in an alumni-supported, full-page advertisement on the back of the April 6th edition of the student-run HBS campus newspaper, The Harbus. The ad, in the form of a letter to the school (see below), suggests that HBS undertake a project to, among other objectives, 'examine the true existence of global warming, if and how it creates weather change, and the associated impacts.' The letter goes on to suggest five specific areas of research."
They Once Denied Pollution on Land and Ocean, Now Conservatives Deny Climate Change—by alexwire: "The first Earth Day in 1970 was a ground roots movement taken on by those of us that were watching the pollution destruction that was being created. We took the challenge, making a vow to take the first steps and participate as activists to do something about it. Although young and idealistic, we believed that if people were educated, they would help to alter the damage and as we embarked on that quest, we came face to face with the conservatives that denied. We were pitted against people who had financial investments in the toxins that were being dumped on the land and in the lakes and streams, and generations later, it is the same type of people that are denying that climate change is real. If for a moment, you turned back the clock and took a hard look at the massive amount of toxins that were being spewed onto every area of the earth, viewing pictures of the annihilation of entire eco-systems and water areas that had signs displaying a skull-and-crossbones, you would shake your head in wonder that anyone would deny what mankind was doing to our planet. But then, just as now, the corporations and big businesses that were profiting from the dumping, redirected attention away from the problems so the general populace would join them in making the word ‘pollution’ a nonexistent term. From the board rooms to the Congress and Senate, money was being poured in to support their profit and greed, with the main goal of reducing the topic of ecology to being just a bunch of extremists."
Critters & the Great Outdoors
The Daily Bucket - freshwater for seabirds—by OceanDiver: "March 31, 2015. Salish Sea, PNW. Two pairs of Gadwalls have returned to my nearby bay. I saw them most days last summer, and then they were gone all winter until a week ago, opposite the pattern for most ducks here. Their presence will be welcome in a comparatively empty bay over the summer after the flocks of winter ducks—like the buffleheads, wigeons, mergansers—go north and inland to breed. The Gadwalls usually hang out around one part of the beach, by the outflow culvert that drains the wetland across the road. They feed on the ample sea lettuce that proliferates here, and like to drink the fresh water. [...] With few exceptions, most ducks here frequent both fresh and saltwater, making use of the variety of foods found in these very different habitats. We all know drinking saltwater is a bad way to quench our thirst: our kidneys can't produce a salty enough urine to excrete so much salt and will draw on our body fluids to dilute it, dehydrating us. Aquatic birds remove the excess salt in seawater by concentrating it in salt glands in their forehead, letting the supersalty fluid drip out of their nostrils. Amazing adaptation! They are even able to change the size of their salt gland to some degree depending on how salty their habitat's drinking water is. Cool huh?"
The Daily Bucket: Wild Florida--Florida Cottonmouth—by
Lenny Flank: "The Cottonmouth, also known as the Water Moccasin, is the subject of a whole slew of myths and legends, most of them not true. The Agkistrodon genus of snakes is exclusively North American, found in the eastern part of the continent from southern Massachusetts to Costa Rica. Biologically, they are pit vipers--heavy-bodied snakes with venom glands, long folding fangs, and heat-sensitive pits on their cheeks which they use to locate prey. They can be best thought of as rattlesnakes (to which they are closely related) without rattles. [...] Like most pit vipers, the Florida Cottonmouth is big, fat, and lazy. Their adult size averages around 3-4 feet (the record length is just over 6 feet), but they are very heavy-bodied and can weigh as much as five pounds. Young Cottonmouths are brightly colored with red, brown and orange bands across their body and, for the first few months, a bright yellow tail tip (used as a lure to attract frogs or small mammals into striking range). As they get older, they become darker in color. In the northern varieties, the adults tend to be plain olive-brown or black; the Florida subspecies often retains at least some of its juvenile pattern into adulthood. The most visible characteristic is the mahogany-colored bandit's mask at the side of the face, and the bright white interior of the mouth which is displayed at interlopers as a warning (hence the name 'Cottonmouth'). The pit vipers do not lay eggs to reproduce, but are live-bearers, giving birth to a dozen or so live young, about as long as a pencil and fully venomous, in the spring."
The Daily Bucket: Spring Starts—by
RonK: "Spring is always when the important things begin, at least to me. Color returns to our gray veiled water, sky, and landscape. Now that there is light it is time to get the vegetable and herb gardens going and try to net the tender shoots before the deer sniff them out and nip all the young buds. Recent buckets by O[cean]D[iver] and Milly have roused me to take a few shots of my own backyard. It is interesting to compare our growing progress. Although we are all in the PNW part of Washington State, on or very near the water, just 54 and 28 miles apart (as the crow flies), we have rather different micro-climates that make some differences in the timing of growth. Milly is clearly in a rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, and OD gets some moderating effects of the shadow as well. [...] Here are some of my versions of the plants that OD and Milly showed [...] Then comes Salmonberry. This one looks about the same as those of OD and Milly."
Citizen Scientist Discovers Amazing Tanner Crab Migration in Deep Ocean—by MarineChemist: "This diary is based on a recent blog by Fabio De Leo a scientist working with Ocean Networks Canada on March 19, 2015. Ocean Networks Canada is a fiber optically cabled observatory that powers instruments and returns data from a array of nodes distributed in the Salish Sea and northeast Pacific Ocean. They maintain a number of high definition cameras that return images and real time video from the seafloor in various locations.One of these cameras is deployed at more than 1000 meters depth in Barkley Canyon off the coast of Bamfield and Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. On February 12, 2015, a citizen scientist logged on to the POD 1 camera in Barkley Canyon and saw a most amazing migration of Tanner crabs (Chionoecetes tanneri). Michael, a post-office worker from Minnesota in the United States, saw the following and contacted ONC scientists to report his discovery."
Energy
NRDC: Most states don't track oil industry violations, and those that do assess piddly penalties—by Meteor Blades: "The Natural Resources Defense Council and FracTracker Alliance came out with a new report Wednesday titled Fracking’s Most Wanted: Lifting the Veil on Oil and Gas Company Spills and Violations. One of the environmental advocacy group's key findings, however, was that it's tough to lift that veil because less than a handful of states out of the 36 that have oil and gas development make records of spills and other eco-violations readily accessible to the public: We found that information about the frequency and nature of oil and gas company violations is only public[ly] accessible in three states. Although 36 states have active oil and gas development, most state and federal oil and gas regulatory agencies publish little or no information regarding oil and gas companies’ compliance records. Yet in states where data are available, we found significant violations both in number and severity. These violations include a wide range of dangerous infractions like improper well casing, illegal air pollution, failure to conduct safety tests, improper construction or maintenance of waste pits, various spills, contamination of drinking water sources or other water bodies, and non-functional blow-out preventers."
Three states averaged 2.5 fracking violations a day—by Walter Einenkel: "Bloomberg News is reporting on a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Colorado gas and oil companies were cited 4,600 times between 2009 and 2013. Citations include pipeline ruptures, wastewater spills, and well leaks. 'It’s extremely difficult for the public to get this kind of information,' said Amy Mall, an author of the report for the New York-based environmental advocate. “The companies are violating the law too often, and we need policy solutions to increase transparency and to change the consequences for not complying' with the rules, she said."
Jonathan Franzen's @NewYorker diatribe re #birds & #climate change is for the birds—by A Siegel: "Many Americans recognize that the introduction of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards was a key tools to reduce US oil demand in face of OPEC's emergence and the various oil embargoes. While today liquid fuel (oil) and electricity have minimal overlap in most of the developed world, few recall that oil once provided a major share of U.S. electricity production and that 'increased reliance on coal was a crucial part in the Carter Administration energy program' as part of the effort to reduce oil import requirements and the risks of foreign disruption of our fuel supplies. With this in mind, on 3 April 1980, 'the most trusted man in America' spent a few minutes exploring the implications of coal burning and its carbon dioxide for global warming."
Bankers Breaking Frackers—by patbahn: "well, now that Oil has dropped through the floor, we are seeing the results. Lenders are preparing to cut the credit lines to a group of junk-rated shale oil companies by as much as 30 percent in the coming days, dealing another blow as they struggle with a slump in crude prices, according to people familiar with the matter. Sabine Oil & Gas Corp. became one of the first companies to warn investors that it faces a cash shortage from a reduced credit line, saying Tuesday that it raises 'substantial doubt' about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. About 10 firms are having trouble finding backup financing, said the people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the information hasn’t been announced."
Offshore Oil Rig Explosion Kills 4—by BlackSheep1: "The death toll from an explosion and fire at an offshore platform operated by national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos rose to four,as rescue crews battled the blaze and accounted for hundreds of workers, authorities said Wednesday."
Renewables & Conservation
Today Obama announced new solar training initiative: 75,000 new solar jobs by 2020!—by VL Baker: "Just days after submitting the US commitments to reduce GHG emissions to the United Nations, President Obama has launched a new solar training initiative, with emphasis on veteran training, which will add 75,000 new solar jobs by 2020.
Dan Utech, deputy special assistant to the president for energy and climate change, told reporters in a phone call Friday the initiative reflects the president’s conviction that “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.' Utech noted the solar industry is adding jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy, and many of them are in construction and installation. Last year the solar industry the US installed 6,201 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics and 767 MW of concentrating solar power, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, enough to power the equivalent of about 1.4 million homes. Obama made a point of making the announcement in the very red state of Utah, where he stressed the economic advantages and growth to come from the new solar job creations. The President also talked about the new veterans program called "solar ready vets" which will create a federal training program for veterans."
Energiewende: Germany's Energy Transition—by gmoke: "Solar began with the 1000 roofs project in 1991-1994. There are 1.7 million solar roofs now although, currently, Spain and Portugal have faster solar growth rates than Germany. Renewables provide 27% of electricity, have created 80,000-100,000 new jobs directly in the industry, up to 300,000 if indirect jobs are added, and is contributing 40 billion euros per year to the German economy. By producing energy domestically Germany has built a local industry, increased tax revenue and Social Security payments, and maintained a better balance of trade through import substitution. During the recession that began in 2008, Germany had more economic stability and was even able to expand the renewable sector because steel for wind turbine towers was available at lower prices and financing was forthcoming."
Fracking
Oklahoma's Earthquakes Are Becoming Too Frequent For The Oil and Gas Industry To Hide—by Dartagnan: "Blame for the surge in earthquakes in Oklahoma over the past five years is finally being placed where it belongs, on the oil and gas industry, despite the best efforts of that industry to buy off or chill efforts to expose the dangers of disposing the wastewater byproduct of oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing into the state's porous limestone foundation. From 2010 to 2013, Oklahoma oil production jumped by two-thirds and gas production rose by more than one-sixth, according to federal figures. The amount of wastewater buried annually jumped one fifth, to nearly 1.1 billion barrels. And Oklahoma went from three earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater to 109 — and to 585 in 2014, and to 750-plus this year, should the current pace continue. In the United States, only Alaska is shaken more. The increase in earthquake activity is not directly caused by fracking, but by the disposal of the wastewater byproduct of oil drilling and fracking--a salty, often toxic miasma that is produced along with the oil and gas from wells, then theoretically removed to a 'waste disposal site' where it is injected deep into the ground. With its conservative, deregulation-obsessed legislature and a poorer, rural population eager to reap the fruits from the state's dominant industry, Oklahoma has become a favored dumping ground for wastewater byproduct of fracking and drilling. The state's largest dumping site is situated over a massive bed of limestone. When the wastewater saturates the limestone, it expands into harder rock beds that contain the faults responsible for earthquakes."
Wasting Away: new report investigates the mess fracking leaves behind—by EARTHWORKS: "I once worked at an office with a big sign in the employee kitchen: 'Your parents don’t work here. Clean up after yourself.' Some years later when I began to visit gas drilling areas, those words often came to mind. Today, Earthworks released a report detailing the many ways that gas and oil operators—and the regulators charged with overseeing them—appear unwilling to heed this basic request.Wasting Away: Four states’ failure to manage gas and oil field waste from the Marcellus and Utica Shale is a comprehensive examination of what Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York are doing about rapidly increasing volumes of contaminated and potentially hazardous waste. We decided to look into the issue in response to questions asked with growing frequency as oil and gas development expands: What does the waste contain? Where does it go and what happens as a result?"
DC, State & Local Eco-Politics
Hypocrisy much? Arizona's legislature rejects federal laws, then denies cities their rights—by Mother Mags: "The toadstools who run the legislature, being toadstools who've been increasingly hostile to education, do not want blue communities, which represent the majority of people in the state, to pass fair and commonsense policies like Bisbee's same-sex marriage law. Arizona's legislature will happily tell the feds to fuck off: "States rights!" We actually have a legislative committee called Federalism and States Rights. But then the very same peckerheads turn around and deny cities and counties their autonomy. When a town's citizens want to pass a gun law that's tougher than the state's, the legislature clamps down. They've toyed with the idea of not just overturning local law but fining elected officials if they enact a more restrictive weapons measure. They're doing the same to environmental policy, like recycling and whatnot. The blue towns I mentioned all run sustainability programs; ASU in Tempe is home to one of the largest sustainability centers in the world; the other cities practice it proudly, and most citizens support the green policies. Not surprisingly, though, at the legislative level Arizona is one of the ALEC-fueled idiot states that's been trying to ban the word sustainability as well as the concept's practice—because it's a UN commie plot. This lunacy played out in practice today. Wonderful Bisbee was the first Arizona town to pass a ban on plastic bags, and now Tempe is considering one, similar to hundreds of laws nationwide. When Arizona's grocery stores and other commercial juggernauts realized that larger cities were considering the ban, they instructed their tools at the legislature to stop this madness, regardless of what residents want."
Obama's Complicated and Contradictory Environmental Record...in Two Press Releases—by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "On Tuesday, two back-to-back press releases from the Sierra Club in response to announcements from the Obama administration highlighted the administration's contradictory environmental record perfectly. The first press release was on the White House's submission of the US's 2025 emissions target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in advance of the COP21 talks in Paris this December. [...] This morning, the United States announced its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), the country’s highly-anticipated commitment to climate action in the run up to the COP21 climate negotiations in Paris later this year. As other countries have announced their INDCs—including Mexico, Switzerland, the European Union, and Norway—the U.S. has announced an ambitious plan for action, including cutting carbon pollution by up to 28 percent by 2025. Just hours later, the Sierra Club issued another press release: this time, on the Department of the Interior's decision to open the doors for oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean: Anchorage, Alaska. Ignoring its own environmental review, the U.S. Department of the Interior has opened the door for drilling in the remote and iconic Arctic Ocean. The agency announced today that it is reaffirming controversial Bush-era Arctic oil leases, after a court-ordered re-analysis of the lease sale decision showed that opening the Chukchi Sea to oil drilling will have even more dramatic and long-lasting effects and risks than previously disclosed."
Agriculture, Food & Gardening
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging :: Vol. 11.6 • Hello, Spring?—by jayden: "After a warm period in January and February we were hit with an unusually late but not totally unprecedented cold streak that lasted several days into March. As a result Spring was delayed a few weeks here in Central Texas but the emergence of the new growing season is finally beginning to pick up steam. Temperatures have been running above average again which apparently is the new normal but at least we've had rain on a somewhat regular basis. In between the springtime showers the days have been bright and mostly sunny which is perfect for generating new energy and bringing life and vitality to the garden. Bluebonnets are blooming in full force and other wildflowers are starting to make their appearance known in the meadows and along the roadsides. The wonderfully sweet-smelling golden balls of the huisache trees are on stunning display thanks to above average rainfall the past few months whereas the redbuds are already dropping their bright pink buds and leafing out in glorious green. Blackfoot daisies, square bud and pink evening primrose, Georgia blue speedwell, Carolina jessamine, Mexican honeysuckle, and trailing lantana are all showing their vibrant colors and sharing their intoxicating fragrances as well."
Department of Agriculture just added $31.5M grant to help low-income families buy healthier food—by
Walter Einenkel: "A few months back I wrote about a farmers market programs that, in tandem with different city and state agencies, were trying to incentivize better and healthier food options for lower-income families. On Wednesday, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) added $31 million in grants to help families that rely on SNAP programs.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA has awarded $31.5 million in funding to local, state, and national organizations to support programs that help participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) increase their purchase of fruits and vegetables. Recognizing that all Americans fall well short of the servings of fruits and vegetables recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the grants will test incentive strategies to help SNAP participants better afford fruits and vegetables. These grants were made through the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) program authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. $3.7 million of that money will be going into programs in the Los Angeles area."
Eco-Essays and Eco-Philosophy
The critique of relationships—by Cassiodorus: "The ecosystemic meltdown currently taking place on planet Earth, the ecological disaster we currently face, is defined through the 'Anthropocene Era' term as the result of 'human activity,' without any reference to the human social relationships which stand as the most proximate causes of this meltdown. In short, what we're being told is that human beings are ecological monsters pure and simple. [...] The human race has been on this planet for around 200,000 years. What is so special about this portion (and indeed we are talking about a small portion indeed, maybe 6% of the total timespan) of human existence on the planet that it is characterized by such pronounced ecosystemic impact? Well, clearly, human organization was at one point characterized by the development of agriculture, and then at later points by sophisticated technologies, from metalworking to electrical systems to air and space travel. Perhaps, then, we might speak of a 'technocene,' an era of geological history in which technologically-empowered humans changed the planet. Insofar as our relationship to the planet was massively altered by technological dissemination, we can say that we have changed the ecosystems of the planet. It isn't just us, then—it's our technology. But the fact that we have technology doesn't mean we're obliged to use it destructively. Our relationships, to the planet and to each other, are at fault. An approach that gets us closer to the human relationship problem is suggested in an article highlighted in Jacobin online magazine this week: 'The Anthropocene Myth.' Its subtitle is: 'Blaming all of humanity for climate change lets capitalism off the hook.'"
Trash, Pollution & Hazardous Waste
Study: Air pollution damaging children's brains in utero—by gnosticator: "The research, from the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, measured the exposure of the mothers to PAH air pollution and used brain imaging to look at the effects on their children’s brains. PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are widespread pollutants formed when organic materials are incompletely burned. They originate from vehicle exhausts, burning coal and oil, waste incineration, and wildfires. They can also be found inside the home, for example from tobacco smoke or open fires and stoves. The study found an association of areas of reduced white matter with the processing speed of that part of the brain. Yellow, red and orange show areas where white matter had affected the processing speed of that part of the brain. There was a stronger correlation in the left side of the brain."
Miscellany
Breaking news from VT: SunCommon Discloses Massive Energy Spill—by nuclear winter solstice: "The Valley News of West Lebanon, NH is reporting on attempts to contain a massive energy spill in Waterbury Center. Full spectrum radiation arriving at roughly 1366 W/m2. Details below the muddy tire tracks. [Another April Fools' video prank.]
The Shocking Truth About Global Warming—by guardDOG: An April Fools' Day video prank.