This is the 581st edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the November 17 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
Bésame writes—Daily Bucket: Late fall monarch butterfly reports from overwintering sites: “The West is bereft while Mexico’s overwintering sites have countless butterflies streaming in to take up winter quarters in the high mountain forests. Here are some reports from California and Mexico. Remember, this summer the monarch populations in the west (those who overwinter in California) were considered abysmally low while the eastern population excited people by its abundance. First the sad but not unexpected news. Pismo Monarch Grove sees massive decline in butterflies. ‘Right now, we have about 800 monarchs in our grove,’ California State Parks Interpreter Mallory Claassen said Wednesday. ‘Last year at this time we had roughly 12,000 monarchs.’ Claassen said more than 20,000 monarchs were counted at the Pismo Monarch Grove the previous year.The population of monarchs worldwide has been declining year after year and the most recent count from the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity found just 150 million monarchs fluttered in 2016. That’s a 68 percent decline over the past 22 years, according to the CBD.”
jamess writes—Funny, Finland's Forest Management Plan says nothing about "Raking," But it does talk about This ...: “Who would have guessed, that ‘raking your forest floors’ is NOT a practice that has caught on in Finland, in spite of the president’s tall tales to the contrary? The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland talks about: Sustainable forest management: ‘The purpose of forest legislation is to promote economically, ecologically and socially sustainable management and use of forests in order that they produce a good output in a sustainable way while their biodiversity is being preserved.’ Forestry practices in Finland: ‘In Finland forestry generally involves the management of small forest stands where trees are of a similar age. Such stands are managed according to a regeneration cycle extending from planting or natural regeneration to the final harvesting phase. Forests may be regenerated naturally, by leaving a few selected seed trees during final harvesting, or artificially, by sowing seeds or planting seedlings grown in tree nurseries. The aim is always to ensure the regeneration of a productive stand of a suitable tree species for the specific site within a reasonable time’.”
NewsCorpse writes—Trump's Sickly, Self-Serving California Fire Propaganda Video Callously Forgets - the Victims: “Well, isn't that a pretty propaganda piece? Complete with emotional music and heart-tugging scenes of destruction and the charred remains of people's lives. What less would you expect from the White House whose new Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications is Bill Shine, the former president of Fox News? This is exactly the sort of Trump-fluffing disinformation that Shine was brought aboard to manufacture. The public relations purpose of this video is painfully obvious. Along with the burnt out buildings and countryside, it featured numerous clips of Trump standing near some piles of ashes and conferring with firefighters as if he were actually directing these ‘great heroes’ on how to proceed. However, there is something fairly important that this video has left out. There is not a single shot of any of the victims or survivors of the fire. There are no images of Trump consoling the people who were hurt or meeting with those who lost their life's possessions, work, or family. The absence of Trump engaging in activities that any other normal person would regard as essential - or human - under the circumstances is emblematic of his profoundly callous and neglectful behavior throughout his public life. And it underscores his comments to date that belittle the victims and distort the reality of the tragedy and its causes.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—Dawn Chorus: Coda, Autumn PNW Aquatic Birds ~ offshore edition: “Last week I presented the picture of what kinds of aquatic birds I’ve been seeing these days here in my corner of the PNW from shore: in the quiet bays and wetlands nearby. Today’s presentation is a coda to that: who is offshore in the middle of November. I don’t get out in the boat nearly as often as I walk along the shore, maybe once every 2-4 weeks, so what I saw is just a small sample. After all birds move around, and it’s a very big area they can do that. I miss plenty of the birds that are out there bobbing around in the surface swells, flying, diving, not to mention silhouettes when I’m looking into the sun. We also need to keep a safe distance from rocks and kelp beds. And I’m bouncing around trying to keep my 300mm zoom steady as the boat negotiates tidal currents (albeit at a slow 6 knots). With all that in mind, here’s my report from a day out on the water offshore, on November 12, starting with a segue from last week’s onshore report.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - liquidy patterns, seal & Mews: “November 2018. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. The light is different at this time of year, low in the sky, tipping across the edges of ripples or accenting reflections. A lone seal and several Mew gulls created some pretty patterns on the bay one day. They were all hunting fish. The seal circled around under the surface herding fish together and then swam up to snatch them. The Mews landed soon after to catch any slow ones, at the same time fighting over the patch of water. [...] Surfacing in a more relaxed way, the seal didn’t communicate available food, but the gulls stay nearby just in case things get more interesting.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - loosey goosey: “Gooses are on the loose in my neighborhood. Never seen anything quite like it. We’re talking massive numbers and even a life bird! So what’s it look like these days? and why? Usually we have a bunch of Canada geese here and there and that’s it, not counting the odd domestic goose escapee. Like much of Washington and the West in general there are quite a few Canada geese who have settled down to breed and live here all year. The ancestors of these were introduced in the early half of the 20th c after the goose population plummeted due to overhunting (bcbirds.files.wordpress.com/...). But here’s the thing: geese only learn to migrate from other geese, and with no one to show them where to go, we now have permanent resident populations which are proliferating and causing poop problems, especially in urban areas. Other geese show up in winter, as migrants from northern breeding grounds as they have for millennia, although in much greater numbers now. Archeological studies of middens show minimal goose remains, the most common bird bones being from mallards and Scoters. Why have goose numbers skyrocketed in the past 50 years? Human development and urbanization. They like the numerous parks, golf courses, fields and other convenient habitats we humans have provided for them, where they have lots of food and few predators. Honk honk.”
Pakalolo writes—Chimps beat, bite, murder and then cannibalize their former tyrannical leader: “ ‘The former leader of 30 plus western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) living in Fongoli, a 10-square-mile patch of savanna in southeastern Senegal’ was murdered by five young males and some flesh consumed by the mother of one of the five. The murdered chimp was named Foudouko. He was beaten to death with sticks and rocks. [...] There are nine known cases where a tribe of chimpanzees has killed one of their adult males, as opposed to killing a member of a neighboring tribe. Anectodal evidence suggests Foudouko was killed over competition for mates, as the group had a lopsided 2 males for every female. One researcher noted that the ratio was so out of whack because poachers target females for their infants to be sold in the pet trade.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Public Comment Period begins on Frog Mitigation Area's Unpermitted Expansion: “The gangly man at the podium had a bad haircut, with spiked and gelled hair of different lengths, standing on ends. His cheap grey suit completed his look of an indifferent bureaucrat. He tapped the mike a few times and the room quieted. He looked out over the audience of about 100, mostly men in nicer suits. Oddly, a few animals roamed in the back of the room. ‘Good Evening.’ He began, ‘My Name is Jonathan Dio, but please call me Johnny. And I am the Principal Investigator for the engineering firm of Cheat Em2 Hell. Tonight is the public hearing and the opening of the public comment period on the Environmental Assessment (EA) for some recent emergency repairs performed on a fish pond wall collapse’.”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket—Thanksgiving Bucket: Photo diary.
CLIMATE CHAOS
jamess writes—New Climate Change Impacts Study released: “This Climate Change news can’t be good. Call it ‘Fast and Furious’ meets ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ ...Climate change will bring multiple disasters at once, study warns. In the not-too-distant future, disasters won't come one at a time. Instead, according to new research, we can expect a cascade of catastrophes, some gradual, others abrupt, all compounding as climate change takes a greater toll. ‘Facing these climatic changes will be like getting into a fight with Mike Tyson, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Jackie Chan — all at the same time.’ That is how Camillo Mora, the lead author of the study released Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, describes the numerous impacts that are expected to hit us in the coming years. He adds, ‘I think we are way above our heads.’ In total, the researchers identified 467 distinct ways in which society is already being impacted by increasing climate extremes, and then laid out how these threats are likely to compound on top of each other in the decades ahead.”
Meteor Blades writes—Major U.S. report says climate change not a far-off concern, but causing 'substantial damages' now: “No doubt with the intent of deep-sixing it on one of the deadest news days of the year, the Trump regime announced Wednesday that the Fourth National Climate Assessment Vol. II would be released today, and it now has been. The report was produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Volume I was released a year ago. Bottom line: Climate change isn’t some far-in-the-future problem, but is already happening, inflicting ‘substantial damages’ on communities, and it’s going to get worse. Scientists believe that a rise of 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by century’s end is where we are headed. ‘Catastrophic’ doesn’t fully describe the impacts of that. No doubt the squatter in the White House won’t read the report. Just this week, he tweeted one of the most-repeated numbskull attacks on scientists, suggesting that because part of the nation is experiencing cold snaps, climate change must be a hoax. It’s like announcing at midnight that daylight is a myth.”
AKALib writes—Reactions to the Fourth US National Climate Assessment: “The latest National Climate Assessment (NCA), a 1,656-page report, was issued by the US govt. on Black Friday, in the hopes of burying its findings away from the collective conscience of the nation. It is no wonder, given the contents of the multi-agency report, that the administration wants to hide it and de-fund the agencies and groups working on climate science. The NCA’s assessment is quite clear and bleak -Climate change creates new risks and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth. Without substantial and sustained global mitigation and regional adaptation efforts, climate change is expected to cause growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of economic growth over this century. [...]”
A Siegel writes—Thanksgiving: Trump tweets climate denial; Black Friday: Scientists issue dire climate report: “Over the past several days, Trump has (yet again) tweeted out idiocy related to climate change, demonstrating (yet again) his arrogant ignorance on the most critical issue facing humanity.
Sigh … Pulling hair out … when things written in the past can be dusted off and used again verbatim. The classic climate science denial line: it’s cold outside, we really could use some of that global warming … Much of the US is incredibly cold — while the rest of the world isn’t … but let’s say Global Warming doesn’t exist …To be clear, one moment’s weather situation doesn’t prove climate change … just like a cold weather snap in part of the world doesn’t prove it doesn’t exist. Winter still happens, cold weather records still occur … but winters, globally, are shorter and not as cold. And, when it comes to weather records, they should be roughly balanced between hot and cold weather records — with human-driven climate change, high temperature records (including high lowest temperature) are blowing past cold records to the order of 10-1 globally decade to decade.”
annieli writes—a Dumb A.F. POTUS* “We all thought we had left behind the presidency of stupidity with GW Bush, but now we are at a new low as we suffer through what projects to be the worst presidency in history. On Thursday night, Trump triggered the libs or whatever by tweeting out this monument to ignorance. Scientists, climate action advocates and regular old people spent many a tweetstorm trying to explain that no, a cold snap in one part of the world does not disprove mountains of evidence that the climate is changing due to human carbon pollution. They also pointed out that Trump has yet to bring a science advisor onboard, and that this is the longest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA have gone without formal chiefs. A valiant effort for sure, and one that may net a few followers, but here’s the thing. Nothing is going to change Trump’s dumb stance. This is who he is, a guy who can’t see what’s beyond his own small world, hasn’t met a conspiracy theory he doesn’t like, and takes pleasure in the politics of grievances.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Falling Flakes Are Snow Reason To Doubt That It’s Warming, Or That An Ice Age is Coming: “With snow falling across the US last week, ‘tis the season for the dumbest of denier memes: snow means no warming! Ol’ reliable Marc Morano trotted out that sort of predictable nonsense for the Washington Times, for example, but the real action comes from those who took things a step further. According to some (like DRUDGE, who linked to a story in the UK’s free daily tabloid Metro), NASA is forecasting a new mini-ice age. Apparently, a record cooling is coming for us ‘in a matter of months’ because of a lack of sunspots (a bizarre theory we’ve discussed before). The difference this time is that instead of coming from foreign, fringe researchers, this ‘news’ is coming from NASA! What’s going on? Has Trump so thoroughly scared scientists that they’re publishing alternative facts? Has the constant stress of doing science in an anti-science administration driven them mad? Are we actually heading into a new ice age?! The news has generated more than 200 comments over at denier blog IceAgeNow, and only a handful spotted the real story behind the hype.”
billofrights writes—Long Overdue: A Select House Committee for a Green New Deal to Fight Climate Change. “Dear Citizens and Elected Officials: I don't like to send out requests for action, especially near major holidays, but I'm going to make an exception now because I feel I have no choice. The climate equivalent of ‘the dogs of war’ have been released this year, this fall, along the Florida Gulf Coast and in the toll from the fire in Paradise, CA, Paradise Lost, with a final accounting yet to be made. And much more, and much worse, will surely follow, as Elizabeth Kolbert has warned. When I read through the action plan below, to create a House Select Committee to address not only Global Warming but the economic ramifications for our citizens, and I looked at my own business card which has read ‘For A Green New Deal’ for going on four years now, how could I not send this out? It is the beginning, the necessary first step of serious, comprehensive planning at the national level, within the public's eye, not just in the national research labs where what had to pass for planning, planning done in ideological denial, has occurred for so long, to some, but not great enough effect. This is the necessary preliminary work for a national mobilization that our environmental and scientific visionaries have been calling for over the past decade. Especially Bill McKibben.”
Pakalolo writes—Enormous amounts of methane released from glacier connected to Iceland's active Katla Volcano: “Iceland’s glaciers and ice caps cover almost half of or located nearby to Iceland’s numerous volcanoes. The fourth largest ice cap, Mýrdalsjökull, sits directly on top of the Katla Volcano. That volcano erupts about twice every century and last erupted in 1918. Newsweek has the story: Researchers found that up to 41 tonnes of methane is released through meltwater from the Sólheimajökull glacier every day over the summer months. The study, published in Scientific Reports, is the first to show methane is released from glaciers on such a large scale. Methane is a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. It is becoming an increasing concern because of its potential to contribute to climate change. In Arctic regions, methane is locked up in permafrost—ground that is permanently frozen. As global temperatures increase, the soil thaws and methane is released, contributing to further warming. Identifying and understanding previously unrecognized sources of methane—like the latest study on glaciers—is hugely important to climate change models. If this volcano and glacier is representative of other similar systems, it could mean masses of previously unaccounted methane are being released into the atmosphere.”
Pakalolo writes—Arctic sea ice has been slow to refreeze this Autumn raising the specter of polar bear extirpation: “Faster than expected. The Guardian has the story on the ‘delayed formation of sea ice’ in the Arctic this fall that has frightened biologists enough to issue the first “extirpation event” or the local extinction of a species (in this case polar bears) that ceases to exist in its current range (though the population exists elsewhere, i.e.: zoos, Hudson Bay, Greenland). This local extinction of polar bears is happening faster than expected because pregnant females are unable to den due to exhaustion from swimming toward sea ice that no longer exists. The report focuses on the Norwegian archipelago, Svalbard. ‘The waters around Svalbard, an archipelago between Norway and the North Pole, have a little over half the average area of ice for this time of year’.”
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
Marissa Higgins writes—Trump announces he wants a 'great climate' after seeing California devastated by wildfires: “Surprising no one, however, he had a mindboggling response to a reasonable question about climate change. ‘No, no, I have a strong opinion. I want a great climate,’ Trump replied after he was asked whether or not the devastation before him changed his perspective on climate change. During a briefing held at a command center in Chico, California, Trump went on to say, ‘We're going to have that, and we are going to have forests that are very safe because we can't go through this...Every year we go through this. We're going to have safe forests, and that's happening as we speak.’ [...] On Air Force One, Trump was consistently incoherent. The president explained that he does disagree with Brown and Newsom on climate change, though he feels their views are ‘maybe not as different as people think.’ ‘Is it happening? Things are changing,’ Trump said. ‘And I think, most importantly, we're doing things about. We're going to make it better. We're going to make it a lot better. And it's going to happen as quickly as it can possibly happen’.”
Meteor Blades writes—Lying Trump told yet another one, this time about an extra $500 million for Calif. fire prevention: “Day after day after day after day, Donald Trump fabricates, falsifies, deceives, invents, concocts, manufactures, misrepresents, equivocates, and prevaricates. In short, along with all the other destructiveness he’s brought to the office of the presidency, he has normalized lying. Not that other presidents haven’t also told lies, sometimes very big ones. But Trump is clearly shooting for a record, to be a tremendous liar, the best liar ever to lead the nation. At the rate he is going, by the time he leaves office, even if that should occur next year, No. 45 will have lied more times since taking the oath of office than all 44 previous presidents combined. Last weekend, while touring the devastation caused by two California fires whose death toll now stands at 81, Trump told two more lies. One was about how he learned in discussions with the president of heavily forested Finland that the Finns rake their forests to keep the fire hazard low. The Finnish president’s response was a diplomatic version of WTF. There was no talking about raking that he can remember. The other lie—wrote Emily Cadei at McClatchy (whose editor wimped out and headlined as “an error”)—came when Trump said there would be a half-billion-dollar bump in the 2018 federal budget for mitigating wildfires.”
rebel ga writes—WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! WTF! 2018 CA Wildfires-Photos, Videos, Info Links: “2018 California Fire Tracker This interactive map developed in The San Francisco Chronicle newsroom provides information on wildfires burning across California. California Wildfires Update Videos. Images. 2018 California Wildfires In Photos NBC4 Los Angeles KNBC-Heather Navarro Nov 12, 2018 Wildfires are large fires which often start in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning and drought. In mid-July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state, including the destructive Carr fire and the Mendocino Complex fire. This; is when donald trump, should have visited California! Better late; than never, mr trump. Except, in the case on fire. On August 4, 2018 , a ‘National Disaster,’ was declared in Northern California, due to the massive wildfires, burning there. If this first set of fires had been given the manpower needed to put them out, we probably wouldn’t have had this latest mass destruction.”
Ishteeb writes—California fires should redefine our relationship with our forests: “In a nutshell, California is dry, even when it isn’t technically in a drought and it is especially dry in the fall when rain doesn’t come early. Also, California is becoming crowded in the foothills and along the edges of forest areas. People are increasingly living in the WUI (Wilderness/Urban Interface) and also scattered throughout the forests in cabins. California is getting hotter, the average temperatures have been rising steadily for years. I don’t think we appreciate how an average increase of just a few degrees changes conditions in a forest radically. But there is one more aspect to the California fires that Fivethirtyeight.com doesn’t address. That is forest management.”
AKALib writes—Make America Rake Again! “trump on his trip to fan the flames in California, made some alarmingly ignorant and stupid comments about forest fires — the key to preventing forest fires is to ‘rake the forest floors.’ You’ve got to take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important. You look at other countries where they do it differently and it’s a whole different story. I was with the president of Finland and he said, ‘We have a much different—we're a forest nation.’ He called it a forest nation, and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they don't have any problem. And when it is, it’s a very small problem, so I know everybody is looking at it to that end and it’s going to work out, it’s going to work out well. California Governor-elect Gavin Newsom and California Gov. Jerry Brown managed to keep their poker faces while listening to the drivel from the self-described forest-fire-management stable genius.”
LokiMom writes—UPDATED: Newsom is (ahem) also... 6'3'' tall (cough). And, a call for assistance, please: more links: “The Camp Fire in Northern California has been raging since 8 November. AQI in Chico is now 500. On November 15, the numbers of firefighters and equipment employed in fighting the fire included 5,596 firefighters, 622 engines, 75 water tenders, 101 fire crews, 103 bulldozers and 24 helicopters from all over the US. 74 lives lost. 1,110+ people still missing. 9,700 homes destroyed. But I am angry. I am seeing as how 45 demeans everyone and everything in any way he can to get a thrill, at his terrible tweets and comments for the last 2+ years and those stupid ones of today….so I’d like to be petty in my anger and point out that Gavin Newsom, the California Governor-elect is *ALSO* (AHEM) ….6’3’’ tall. If he’s that tall, why’s he leaning over 45 and why’s he … taller? Hmmm.”
Ursulafaw writes—'Rake News' Trump Says No More Fires If Californians Will Just Get A Rake: “You’ll be pleased to know that Californians aren’t suffering the effects of climate change, they’re just slobs. Happily, Donald Trump flew into the state on Saturday to offer housekeeping advice. [...] Now the latitude of Finland is 6,000 miles north of California, totally different climate, the arctic circle is…ahh forget it. This is Donald Trump, what else could you expect besides off point, blithering idiocy?Now, the Finns do in fact have fires and guess to what they're ascribed? Yes. Climate change, not landscaping.”
annieli writes—Make California Like Finland Again, because Trump knows Climate like he rakes forest floors: “Reporter: Mr. President, after seeing the devastation of the California wildfires, has it changed your opinion on climate change? Trump: ‘No. No. I have a strong opinion. I want a great climate’.”
pollwatcher writes—Let these tweets speak for themselves:
Lefty Coaster writes—Zinke on the California Fires: “I will lay this on the foot of those environmental radicals": “During a Sunday interview in Breitbart Trump’s sleazy Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lashed out at ‘environmental radicals’ as scapegoats for the deadly recent blazes in California. Days after touring the damage of the Camp Fire, the deadliest in California’s history, Zinke went on Breitbart News Sunday and declared ‘it’s not the time for finger-pointing’ on the causes of the fires. But minutes later, he put the blame squarely on environmentalists, contending that they stood in the way of clearing brush, doing prescribed burns and other actions. ‘I will lay this on the foot of those environmental radicals that have prevented us from managing the forests for years. And you know what? This is on them,’ Zinke said.”
vetwife writes—When you pick a fight with Smokey Bear..you are pretty stupid ! He has hated Smokey since 2015: “So Trumpy Bear Tried to Fire Smokey Bear? I am beyond embarrassed. There is absolute devastation in California and the orange man has managed to pick a fight with Smokey the Bear. Isn’t he just the BEST? I am surprised he has not tweeted LOCK HIM UP! Let’s just call it what it is. Trumpy Bear tried to say to Smoky Bear. YOU’RE FIRED!”
Ben Chapman writes—Why Forest Fire Politics Are A Hot Mess — And How To Fix It: “My aim is not to ‘politicize’ this tragedy, rather it is to note that this tragedy is to a degree political to begin with, and preventing it in the future requires political solutions. As grim as it is to say, we now have an opportunity to learn lessons, and if we don’t learn now, then we are simply asking to suffer and re-suffer this destruction for the years to come. I’ve divided this piece into six main sections, each viewing the problem and solutions from a different angle. 1. The section where Smokey Bear is wrong. 2. The necessary section about climate change and fires. 3. The obligatory section about President Trump. 4. The section about fixing all the problems. 5. The section where I tell you what you should remember.”
Laurel in CA writes—What Finland Actually Does Differently: Underground Power Lines: “A couple of years ago, my husband and I had the pleasure of spending time in Turku, Finland. This beautiful trail where I hiked one day on Nagu Island is pretty typical of the forests in that area of Finland — a lot of pine and birch, wild berries, and — what? Leaves and needles on the ground? No squadrons of Finns with rakes, clearing away the debris? How could I miss that? The other thing I don’t remember seeing in Finland is power lines. Here, for example, is the market square in Turku, on market day. Lots of flowers, lots of people even as market was just opening. Turku is the old capital, a university town, and the 6th largest city in Finland. Dark in the winter — it’s not that far from the Arctic Circle — surely they must need electricity? But where are the power lines? I can’t see any, can you? It turns out that Finland has been busily burying their power cables. Finland replaces overhead power lines with underground cables. They are motivated primarily by danger to the lines from ice in winter, not by fire danger. But of course Finland, with 75% of its land area in forest, also is at risk from forest fires, and more so with climate change.”
Walter Einenkel writes—'Make America Rake Again' begins to trend in Finland, because the world is laughing at us: “On Saturday, while speaking in front of cameras and microphones, idiot in chief Donald Trump explained that the California wildfires that have killed dozens and possibly hundreds of people could be resolved with a little housekeeping.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said … Wha? Niinistö told the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, a CNN affiliate, that the subject of raking was never brought up in his conversations with Trump. He said that they did discuss the California wildfires when they met, and that he told Trump “we take care of our forests.’ The Finnish President told the newspaper that he intended to convey that although Finland is covered by forests, the nation has a good monitoring system which has helped to prevent catastrophic wildfires. He added that he only sees raking in his own yard, and surmised that raking perhaps came to Trump’s mind after he saw firefighters raking some of the burned areas in California.”
ML MARTIN writes—Smokey's Rake: “The inspiration for this new comprehensive approach to preventing forest fires came from our great leader’s speech in Pleasure California. No wait, I meant Paradise, California. Sadly, that WAS Paradise, California, where we found out Governor Brown and Governor-elect Newsom could keep a straight face while President Trump explained the forest management of Finland.”
Samer writes—Finland rakes Trump over the coals: #haravointi: “As we all know, our president makes s**t up. All the time. ‘You gotta take care of the floors. You know? The floors of the forest. Very important,’ said Mr. Trump. ‘I was with the President of Finland and he said, “We have a much different — we're a forest nation.” He called it a “forest nation.” And they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problem. And when it is, it's a very small problem.’ Of course, the president of Finland has denied this. But, the Finns have decided to take this in stride, and rake Trump over the coals. Just search Twitter for the tag #haravointi, which is Finnish for ‘raking’.”
T C Gibian writes—The Devil Wind -- California's Bane: “Let me introduce you to the Devil’s handiwork. Others know it too, but not with the same tinge of fear: In the Alps it is the Foehn Winds, and in Japan it is Enshu-no Karakaze, but in those places the vegetation is not suitable for wide range fires. In my area the Tinnewa tribe had a name in their own language for this phenomenon which I will use here: Santana, the Devil wind. This name has been confused with Santa Ana, a city in Orange County, but this same wind appears all over the state and under various names. I think the original people here had it right. The Devil himself sends the Santana. He sent it to Paradise. Try to visualize it. The fire approaches, not as a flame front, but an invisible blast of super-heated air, up to 1200 degrees. This is basically the exhaust products of several acres of brush or houses burning simultaneously, and a roaring wind blows this concentrated heat along the ground, rather than letting it rise up into the sky. Once it spreads from brush or forest into housing areas, it can become even more powerful since houses are by far the best fuel available. One house burning touches off two or three others, and the result is what you see in the photo above. Nothing in its way will survive, and the end is quick.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: Departments of Interior and Commerce sign agreement (MOA) to expedite water deliveries: “When the federal and state governments make a big announcement that is expected to draw major controversy, they often choose the afternoon or evening before a major holiday or holiday weekend to issue the press release or release a document. That accomplishes two purposes: it ensures that many reporters are gone for the holiday — and it ensures that the reporters still available aren’t able to ask hard questions about the announcement because the agency staff is also already gone from the offices for the holiday. This was the case on this Wednesday, November 21, the day before Thanksgiving, when the Departments of the Interior and Commerce announced the signing of a controversial Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) the previous week to expedite the ‘reliable delivery and supply of water’ to Western water users, a deal that has ominous implications for the future of salmon, steelhead and other fish species in California and the West. While agribusiness groups applauded the MOA, fishing groups slammed the agreement for engineering a corporate take over of precious water that is needed to keep salmon, the San Francisco Bay-Delta and West Coast fisheries alive.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Dan Bacher writes—CARB delays vote on controversial 'Tropical Forest Standard' until April 2019: “November 19, 2018 (Sacramento) - Indigenous Environmental Network's International Sky Protectors Delegation and a broad coalition of local California tribal members, environmental justice groups, fenceline communities, people of color, academics and NGOs celebrated a significant win Friday, November 16th against California's cap and trade carbon market program. In a marathon hearing of the California Air Resources Board, Sky Protectors' eloquent testimonies played a significant role towards blocking the vote on the so-called Tropical Forest Standard until April 2019. Blocking the adoption of the Tropical Forest Standard, temporarily protects world's tropical forests and their guardians from a false solution to climate change called forest carbon offsets. The Sky Protectors also temporarily stalled momentum for the airlines industry, the United Nations and carbon markets all over the world to use such forest offsets, which often are generated by evicting Indigenous Peoples and local communities from their land and territories.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
john s mill writes—Saudi Arabia is not our friend. It is in the US National Interest to get off our Oil Addiction: “Here are just a few examples of Saudi Arabia hurting the US: • 15 of the 19 911 Hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. • Saudis may have funded 911. • Saudi Wahhabism is creating the Religious framework for Islamic Terrorism with OUR MONEY ($). We don’t have to get into arguments with climate deniers (97% of Climate Scientific papers support the threat of anthropogenic global warming (AGW). ). The US spends billions ($) of dollars a year on defending the Middle East besides purchasing oil from Saudi Arabia. This leverage would disappear if we made a national priority of producing carbon free energy.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Trump administration moves to lease 65 million acres of public waters for offshore drilling: “One of the nice little additions to the Republican money-grab-for-billionaires tax bill last year was to open up all kinds of oil and mineral drilling of wildlife areas and untouched natural environments. Their argument was simple: losing all of that government revenue—by giving it to billionaires—meant they needed to generate money some other way … by letting billionaires profit more off of public and protected lands. Global disaster in chief Donald Trump used an executive order to overturn President Obama’s protections of around 65 million acres of the Beaufort Sea section of the Arctic Ocean from offshore drilling. This has led to a federal lawsuit arguing that Trump does not have the legal right to do this. But while that decision is working its way through the courts, the fossil fuel industry, led by Trump’s Interior Department, is moving ahead in lining up its oily ducks. According to Inside Climate News, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced last week with the issuance of a ‘Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, announce the area identified for leasing, and hold public scoping meetings’ that it would be opening the plan for drilling up to public comments—a first logistical step in the process of destroying public waters. The good news? There isn’t much. The environmental lawsuit against the federal government continues on, hoping to bring reason to the unreasonable and greedy.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Numbers of the Beasts: EPA Not Protecting the Public from Pollution Like It Has in Years Past: “When Trump put Pruitt in charge of the EPA, the expectation was that the agency wouldn’t protect the public and environment nearly as vigorously as it has before. When Wheeler took over for Pruitt, odds that a former coal lobbyist would be tough on the industry dropped further. People worried that the EPA would step back from enforcing the rules protecting the public from pollution. And, no surprise, it looks like that’s exactly what has happened. Last week, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) released a report based on examinations of records and dozens of interviews with EPA staff and recent retirees. The report found ‘steep declines’ in enforcement actions, a 22 percent decrease in court orders to reduce pollution, a 42 percent decrease in administrative orders, and a 54 perfect decreases in orders requiring polluters to pay for clean up. What’s more, the EPA has issued 54 percent fewer fines, while the whole range of enforcement actions are at the lowest levels of at least the past decade.”
BGAlliance writes—Rolling Back Methane Rule will put Workers and Communities in Harm’s Way: “There is no benefit to a methane leak. They cost companies money, threaten harm to workers and local communities, and contribute to climate change. And yet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to roll back common sense standards that were put in place to limit methane emissions from new and modified sources in the oil and gas industry. These standards, finalized in 2016, would protect workers and local communities, address climate change, and create jobs for workers around the country. The EPA’s has proposed dangerous changes to the rule that would leave farm more time for leaks to go undetected and unaddressed. The proposal includes: Changing requirements for how often leak detection and repair must be conducted. The proposal would allow a year, and sometimes up to two years, between inspections instead of the current six-month requirement; Doubling the time requirement in which leaks must be repaired from 30 to 60 days; and Dramatically changing the inspection requirements for gas trapping and compressing equipment from every three months to every six months (and in some cases, once a year).”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
6414093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Prehistoric Water Plants: “When I was young, I loved dinosaurs, and never stopped loving everything about them. In arboretums, I also enjoyed the occasional collections that claimed to feature ‘prehistoric’ plants, most often horsetails and ferns. I always thought lotuses looked prehistoric, myself. To me, the lotus’ vascular (circulation) system seemed somewhat advanced for a plant. Its stems are honeycombed with tubing to carry nutrients throughout the plant and to each seedhead. The lotus can also control its own ‘body’ temperature. I wondered if water plants like lotuses pushed the evolution of circulatory systems ahead, by developing such elaborate piping. Water is where life probably began and developed in fits and starts. I ponder whether the lotus’ piping was one of evolution’s early efforts to advance circulatory systems to new levels. I was likewise impressed by the advanced vascular development in the water lily, after pulling several tons of lilies from two ponds. The lilies’ root system/rhizomes may have been dozens of feet long; we had to break it into pieces to lift it out.”
nkgodfrey writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 14.47 - Thankful: “This year I am thankful for the beginning of the rainy season. Hopefully this means the end of fire season. Since we had rain, I was able to fertilize my hill which tends to be nutrient deficient. In another week or so, I will sprinkle my wildflower seeds around. I am also thankful for the opportunity to observe wildlife in my garden which is one of my favorite pastimes. Let’s begin with turkeys enjoying the garden! [...] I cannot find my Western skink pictures so you may enjoy the link. It is an unusual looking lizard with a blue tail that I see periodically in the spring and early summer.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Xaxnar writes—Wall Street Is Killing Rail Just When We Need It More Than Ever: “Washington Monthly has a disturbing report from Matthew Buck: America’s freight railroads are cannibalizing themselves to make Wall Street happy, even as shippers are are having trouble finding enough trucks to move their goods. This holiday season, Americans are expected to spend a record $720 billion on all sorts of gifts from tablets to toys. But there’s a hitch. The demand for truck drivers far exceeds the supply of them. While many shippers are desperately turning to railroads to haul more of Santa’s bounty, Wall Street financiers are insisting that railroads turn away the business. Yes, you read that right. Even when demand for freight rail transportation is surging, railroad owners are dramatically cutting back on capacity and service to boost short-term profits. THE KEY WORDS ARE ‘SHORT-TERM PROFITS.’ Taking track out of service cuts maintenance costs. Running fewer if longer trains cuts payroll costs. That boosts short term profits and stock prices — but also means poorer service, longer shipping times, and decreasing ability to meet demand. It means long-term decline as infrastructure decays and shippers abandon rail. It means increasing likelihood of derailments and other accidents as resources become constrained.”
MISCELLANY
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Koch Foundation Funds Conservative Media, Like The Daily Caller, American Spectator and Reason: “Investigative reporter Alex Kotch has gotten his hands on the Charles Koch Foundation 2017 tax forms, and guess what! The foundation gave nearly a million dollars to the Daily Caller News Foundation; 960,000 dollars, to be precise. That would pay for a lot of ‘journalism,’ if that’s what the Daily Caller did. On the many occasions that we talk about the Caller, and refer to its staff like Michael Bastasch or Jason Hopkins as the Koch’s political operatives masquerading as reporters, it’s not just implied based on how their stories so consistently serve the Koch’s interest. Nor is it simply a contextual point about how Bastasch’s entire careerhas been in the Koch orbit and his sole journalism training has come from a Koch program. We mean it literally. The Kochs pay for media like the Daily Caller, as well as the American Spectator ($84,000) and the Reason Foundation ($268,000).”