Climate activists threaten to shut down world’s major coal sites

Posted on March 1, 2016 by GarryRogers

“Climate activists will use direct action to try to shut down major fossil fuel sites across the world in May, including the UK’s largest opencast coal mine in south Wales.

“The dozen international sites facing civil disobedience from the Break Free 2016 campaign span the globe from the US to Australia and South Africa to Indonesia.

“The Ffos-y-fran opencast mine, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, is about halfway through extracting 11m tonnes of coal. Ellie Groves, from the Reclaim the Power network, said: “The only way we can stop catastrophic climate change is taking action to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

“The local community have battled Ffos-y-fran for nearly a decade and now face the threat of a new mine next door at Nant Llesg,” said Groves. “Enough is enough. We need a ban on opencast coal mining across Wales, and the rest of the UK.” From: www.theguardian.com

GR: Direct action by citizens is necessary when business control over government becomes so strong it blocks rational rules and enforcement. Help stop fossil-fuel mining and use, help block military actions and the international arms trade, divest in energy, financial, and chemical stocks. Help your government do the right thing. Take part in protests whenever you can!

REDD in the news: 22-28 February 2016

Posted on February 29, 2016 by GarryRogers

REDD-Monitor’s weekly round up of the news on REDD, forests and climate. The links are organised by date (click on the title for the full article). REDD-Monitor’s news links on delicious.com are updated regularly.

Here’s the news item for 22 February 2016:

Airline Manufacturers Escape Threat of Big costs from New U.N. Climate Standards. By Allison Lampert, Reuters, 22 February 2016

A flight test engineer holds an Airbus Group flag after the first flight of the Airbus A320neo (New Engine Option) in Colomiers near Toulouse, southwestern France. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

After six years of negotiations over U.N. greenhouse gas regulations, the aerospace industry dodged the threat of spending billions of dollars to re-engineer airplanes. The industry got help from European and Russian negotiators, who successfully argued that the standards should not render newer, more efficient planes obsolete, according to three people familiar with the U.N. talks in Montreal this month. The latest planes from companies such as Boeing Co(BA.N) and Airbus Group SE(AIR.PA) – which cost tens of billions of dollars to develop – will meet the new emissions standards. European negotiators also led an effort to forge a compromise exempting older, fuel-guzzling aircraft from the standards until 2028 – five years longer than a competing proposal pushed by U.S. negotiators, according to U.S. and European sources with direct knowledge of the talks. From: www.redd-monitor.org

GR: I included one of the “round up” items because it is a good example of corporate unwillingness to make financial sacrifices to stop CO2 increases. It’s the type of human behaivor that the pessimists say threatens nature and human survival.

Washington considers nation’s first carbon emissions tax

Posted on February 29, 2016 by GarryRogers

SEATTLE (AP) — “Washington could become the first state in the nation to impose a direct tax on carbon emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline and natural gas.

“A ballot measure before the state Legislature would create a carbon tax of $25 per metric ton of fossil fuel emissions burned in Washington, while reducing taxes.

“Lawmakers have until the end of the session on March 10 to enact Initiative 732, offer an alternative proposal or automatically pass the carbon-tax measure to voters in November as written. It’s not clear whether lawmakers will approve an alternative by the end of the session.

“The grass-roots group Carbon Washington — which gathered more than 350,000 signatures to qualify the initiative — says a carbon tax is the best way to reduce emissions and tackle global warming. It says the tax encourages people and businesses to switch to cleaner energy by making fossil fuels more expensive.” From: bigstory.ap.org

GR: It might be possible for people to break fossil fuel’s deadly grip on our future. Of course, the industry will spend huge sums on advertising and publicity to confuse voters and block a tax. While we have to be hopeful about the outcome in Washington, we can’t wait to see what’s going to happen. The matter is so urgent that petition drives need to open up in all states.

Human Supremacy Will be Our End Game –

Posted on February 28, 2016 by GarryRogers

“Some use the word speciesism. Some use anthropocentrism. While still others use humanocentrism. In the end they all lead to the idea of human supremacy. The thought that humans are the central species on the planet and therefore are intolerant of other species and act in a discriminatory fashion by treating “others” as inferior. This belief will terminate humanity.

“So what to do? We want polar bears, salmon, old growth forests and rain forests. The predicament is we also want grocery stores, municipal water and a house with heat and central air. We love cars, cell phones and Amazon but not the Amazon itself. We want our children to grow old and enjoy the perks of a growing economy. Our existence is all about us. That’s okay, as long as you don’t mind mass extinctions, severe and abrupt climate change, shortened lives for you and your children, and the mental and physical illness that come along with this brief, shiny, bright existence of our industrial culture. We can’t have civilization without eliminating species and ourselves along with it. That fantasy is about over.” From: goodmenproject.com

GR: Here’s an important though intensly fatalistic perspective on nature conservation and the human impact. I would argue that if we acted immediately and drastically to end our harmful impacts, we might save a few of the things we like. Hospitals, schools, libraries, and research institutes would be my picks.

The AWA at 50 — Call for Papers

Posted on February 28, 2016 by GarryRogers

“The Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School is pleased to announce The Animal Welfare Act at Fifty, a conference that will bring experts together to assess the first fifty years of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and consider recommendations for the future. The event will include conference presentations as well as a separate academic workshop component.

“We welcome submissions on both broad and specific law and policy issues. In an effort to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue, we encourage submissions from legal scholars and lawyers; government officials and staff; academics in disciplines outside of law, such as sociology, anthropology, political science, and economics; international scholars and regulators; veterinarians and animal behaviorists; and others with perspectives on the AWA. We also encourage submissions from experts in other areas of legislation and regulation who can bring a comparative approach to the study of the AWA. We encourage submissions from advocacy organizations, industry representatives, think tanks, and others outside academia, but emphasize that this is a scholarly conference and abstracts will be judged by academic standards.” From: animalblawg.wordpress.com

GR: I added the graphic to define an important distinction.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)

Posted on February 28, 2016 by GarryRogers

Humboldt’s Importance

Alexander von Humboldt was the most influential man of his age. His contributions helped unify our understanding of nature and how human alterations could lead to dangerous changes. Heads of government, scientists, engineers, artists, and authors were inspired by and consulted with him on a range of topics. Around the world, there are more cities, parks, mountains, and rivers named for Humboldt than anyone else that ever lived.

Dr. Ulloa Ulloa (front, left) and field assistants at the Humboldt statue on Chimborazo in 2009.

Humboldt’s strengths were his curiosity, his tireless desire to record his experiences, his ability to see connections, and his ability to write about objective facts with lyrical prose. He described nature as a web of life, noting and mapping the plant and animal changes with elevation on Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador a century before C. Hart Merriam mapped life zones in central Arizona. He invented isotherms, the lines on maps connecting areas of equal temperatures, and he warned that human destruction of nature was having widespread consequences. He described the drop in stream flow, lake level, and general climate change resulting from cutting forests and diverting streams for monoculture farming. Humboldt influenced and inspired Goethe, Darwin, Hooker, Bolivar, Thoreau, Muir, and many more. Without Humboldt’s books, Darwin might never have gone to sea, South America might have remained a slave-holding Spanish colony for another century, and nature conservation might have lagged even farther behind human alteration of the land.

Humboldt’s zonal flora and fauna map of Chimborazo.

I am delighted to report that my grandson born in October, 2014 bears the name Alexander. Alex’s birthplace is just 15 miles west of my home in Humboldt, AZ.

The essay introduced below provides links to some the books by and about Humboldt. The one by Andrea Wulf is one of my all-time favorite biographical works.

Humboldt and Bonpland’s Essai sur la géographie des plantes and its significance

By: Randy Smith, Image Technician | Metadata Librarian. Peter H. Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden

“Over 210 years after Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland’s work titled Essai sur la géographie des plantes was published, climate science, book conservation, and botanical research have converged around this 1805 work. This book was digitized and made available in 2008 by the Missouri Botanical Garden for the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Modern science meets historic data

“In 2015, scientists published a paper detailing their findings as they retraced the path that Humboldt and Bonpland took on their ascent up the dormant volcano, Chimborazo, in Ecuador. The paper, “Strong upslope shifts in Chimborazo’s vegetation over two centuries since Humboldt,” utilized the data and map contained in Essai sur la géographie des plantes and presented modern data from the same locations as detailed in Essai to reveal the effects of climate change on the volcano.

“As Stephen T. Jackson writes in the 2009 book, Essay on the geography of plants, the significance of Humboldt and Bonpland’s work describing their ascent up Chimborazo lies in the detailed data they collected at various elevations. Jackson and historian Andrea Wulf have noted that while most people have forgotten Humboldt, his significance in unifying early scientific disciplines into an inter-connected web of life cannot be understated. Measurements taken on Chimborazo include light intensity, temperature, barometric pressure, and gravitational force. Descriptions of the flora and fauna at various levels of Chimborazo were described and illustrated on the map contained with Essai sur la géographie des plantes.” Continue reading.

US Oil Sands announces slow down and lack of funding! USOS STOCKS plummet!

Posted on February 27, 2016 by GarryRogers

June 27, 2016: Utah Tar Sands Resistance is hopeful about the real impact of the recent announcement by US Oil Sands of the scale down of their plans for tar sands strip mining at PR Springs Utah. All beings will continue to gain from the existence of this remote ecosystem and the preservation of this historic source of spring water. From: www.tarsandsresist.org

Consider joining a tar-sands protest vigil in June.

International Animal Rights Conference 2016!

Posted on February 27, 2016 by GarryRogers

GarryRogers Effective nature conservation requires maintenance of stable ecosystems. Because animals and plants are necessary for stability, humans must recognize that they have a responsibility to support other species and must learn to respect them. Had we learned respect a few, or even a single century ago, today there would be far fewer humans, there would be no invasive species problems, there would be no polluted air and water, there would be no deforestation for livestock and crops, and there would be no soil erosion.

Avian Botulism Stimulated by Global Warming?

Posted on February 26, 2016 by GarryRogers

Regarding the bird deaths, there is a good chance that global warming will increase incidents such as this since warm weather triggers production of the toxin by bacteria in the soil and warm water. Outbreaks decline with rain and cooler weather.

Earth Report

65-Year-Old Bird Hatches Her 30th Baby

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The world’s oldest known wild bird has become a mother yet again at the age of 65, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Laysan albatross, known as Wisdom, was first tagged in 1956 and has been monitored as she has reared more than 30 chicks and flown over 3 million miles during her lifetime.

Wisdom is currently raising her chick Kukini, which means “messenger” in Hawaiian, on Midway atoll in the central Pacific.

Her mate, Akeakamai, or “lover of wisdom,” was sitting on the nest when the chick hatched on February 1.

New Zealand – Botulism Among Wetland Birds

Hundreds of birds in a South Auckland wetland have been killed in a botulism outbreak.

The Department of Conservation and Fish and Game are working with the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre to contain the outbreak.

The wetland is home to tens of…

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