Our World and Everything in It

I received this e-mail from Defenders of Wildlife:

The Senate will vote on an amendment to the national Flood Insurance Bill offered by Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) and co-sponsored by Senator Pete Domenici (NM) that threatens polar bears and other wildlife.

Rather than addressing high oil prices and dependence on foreign oil by moving toward better alternatives and practical solutions, this amendment promotes more drilling in more places for more oil profits. 

This is not a solution, it’s a sell off. Please take action right now…

1. Make the call. Either today or tomorrow morning, please call your Senators at one of the numbers below:

 Carl Levin - (202) 224-6221 or (313) 226-6020 - http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

 Debbie Stabenow - (202) 224-4822 or (517) 203-1760 - http://stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm

 If you are calling after 5:00 PM or before 8:00 AM Eastern time, please be sure to leave a message.

2. State your name and where you are from and tell your senators to “OPPOSE the McConnell-Domenici amendment (#4720) to the Flood Insurance Bill. This awful amendment would allow harmful drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, promote the use of unproven coal-to-liquid technologies, promote environmentally harmful shale development and end the decades-old moratorium on new drilling off the coasts of Florida, California, Virginia and other coastal states.”

3. Report your call. Your feedback will help our activists on Capitol Hill more effectively target their efforts to defeat this awful proposal.

The McConnell-Domenici amendment is the latest in a long string of ill-conceived, cynical and increasingly desperate attempts by the oil companies and their allies in Congress to industrialize our wild places under the guise of “energy security.”

Here are some facts about the amendment that the oil companies don’t want you to hear…

• It won’t lower summer gas prices in America.
  New drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wouldn’t hit the market for many years. Even then, its effect on prices at the pump will be small. In fact, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data indicates that in 2030, when oil discovered in the Arctic Refuge would be near peak production levels, the effect at the gas pump would be only about two pennies per gallon. 
• The MConnell-Domenici amendment will threaten polar bears.
  The noise and disturbance caused by drilling in the Arctic Refuge — the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s struggling polar bears — could cause polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs to die. Such drilling would also further extend America’s dependence on climate-changing fuel sources that are threatening the very survival of these and other animals.
• The MConnell-Domenici amendment will threaten birds, sea lions and other wildlife.
  Last year’s disastrous oil spill off the coast of San Francisco, which killed birds and raised concerns about the long-term impacts on the area’s sea lions and harbor seals, demonstrates the dangers of increased oil production and shipping off our coasts.      
• The amendment will undercut efforts to fight global warming.
  The McConnell-Dominici amendment would not only extend America’s addiction to oil, it would also encourage the use of coal-to-liquid technology technology — which emits high quantities of greenhouse gasses – and promote environmentally destructive oil shale development.

I made the calls locally to Senators Stabenow and Levin just a half an hour ago.  Just tell them you want this bill opposed. My calls were answered by a person who recorded them, and I’ve reported my calls to Defenders so they have a head count to oppose this on Capitol Hill. It’s extremely important to call, especially since I just posted that scientists have evidence upon evidence that man has affected the environment for thousands of years. We’re the culprit and to just continue to pollute is absolute suicide first for the animals and eventually for us. If you care about generations to come stop big oil once and for all.

 

“Strange Days on Planet Earth” series from the National Geographic channel previewed the North Pacific Gyre, a swirling clockwise vortex, of ten million square miles. We wonder where all the debris goes that gets into the water.  It ends up where it’s ashamedly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Among other things tons of plastic has accumulated here. Some argue plastics do eventually bio degrade, well, not so much. Plastic photodegrades, which means it gets smaller and thinner, and thinner until it is in micro pieces.

 

Most people are not aware of this gyre. Others know to avoid it’s swirling outer perimeter and the dead calm center. So many haven’t actually experienced the mess. In the series “Strange Days,” a boat decided to motor across the gyre to cut down on time on its way to another environmental study. It would only take a week to cross. But once the boat entered, the captain could not believe what he encountered day after day. He said it was literally a cesspool of large items and what appeared to be floating flakes. The captain decided to lower a skim for plankton that pretty much looks like a cheese cloth wind sock meant to gather plankton. What he gathered were small plastic particulates in the millions. According to Wikipedia: “These pieces, still polymers, eventually become individual molecules, which are still not easily digested.^[1] Some plastics photodegrade into other pollutants.”

 

Birds and other mammals are feeding on this stuff. Birds feed it to their offspring. Industrial plastic pellets are washing up near shorelines also, and look like fish eggs. Baby albotross’ dead on the beach showed exposed stomachs filled with plastics of all kinds. There is more polymer in the N. Pacific Gyrate than there is plankton. According to Wickipedia: “Besides ingestion and entanglement of wildlife, the floating debris absorbs toxins in the water which, when ingested, are mistaken by the animals brain for estradiol, causing hormone disruption in the affected wildlife.” This is evidence of more hormone disruptors that affect the genetics of young life. We’re seeing gender bender fish, wait until we start finding gender bender birds and mammals. That’s food for thought. Right now we’re eating into this polluted animal chain, and will more than likely suffer the same consequences in the future if not already. So keep using and throwing out plastic of all kinds and keep saying man doesn’t have an affect on his environment and that recent rapid changes in climate are happening naturally. Sure. 

 

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7312777.stm

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/the-plastic-killing-fields/2007/12/28/1198778702627.html?page=fullpage

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a presentation at MCCC’s Meyer Auditorium tonight called “Coming Home. State of the Straits: Status and Trends of Key Indicators. This is an effort to present the results of compiled data on the ecosystems health in the Detroit River and Lake Erie. I wanted to go but I’m 40 minutes away from MCCC’s parking lot and don’t like the looks of the weather. What I did is find the results of the program and printed out about 30 pages that comprise the comprehensive and integrative assessment.

This presentation is based on information in “50 key trend data sets and indicators” according to the report itself. However, it also states that this comprehensive and integrative assessment is initial and heavily weighted on state information with “important data and knowledge gaps.” Nevertheless, it “lays the foundation for continuous improvement in the future.”

But I can’t tell from the report what we’re improving on. There are percentages of increase or decline of contaminants with no beginning measurements given. There are also very few quantitative targets. So we don’t know what aiming for.  The study is over a 35-year time span. In 1970, we were polluted. The Clean Air and Water Act improved everything initially in a huge way. So to tell me from 1970 until now there has been an overall improvement in our water, well no kidding. What I want to know is what transpired over the past 10 years? For instance, regarding contaminants in western Lake Erie sediments, there is a record in 1971, and another in 1995 for mercury and PCB’s. Two records, 24 years apart are telling us there is a 70% decline in mercury in sediment and a 50% decline in PCB’s and other organochlorine contaminants. I don’t think that is very thorough. The mercury is 70% lower from what amount? Does this constitute a good amount? Mercury may have been 85% lower in the 90’s with pollution levels going up some 15% since then and the overall reading from 1971 will still look good at 70% reduction in pollution even though it’s rising again and quickly. Many of these reports concerning water end in 2004 too, like amounts of mercury in walleye.

Reports from 1977-2004 show that mercury in walleye has seen a 60% decline between the late 70’s and early 80’s; levels have remained steady since. What? Nothing has changed in over 25 years? It may be because there is more fishing, and therefore more fish caught at an early stage. We’re told to eat the smaller fish, especially in the ocean, because they have had less time to ingest mercury. There is nothing in this report that shows the accumulative affects of mercury either like from sediment, to fish, to birds, to larger predators.

I had to consider the source and motivation of this report too when I saw the list of editors and funding. Two of the editors are from the USFWS, the controversial agency that currently aims to kill the wolves and buffalo out west without presenting a solid answer as to why.  And the funding sources include DTE, and the US EPA, another favorite controversial agency of mine. But like I said, I really wanted to hear this presentation. The presenters probably had really good slides of the wildlife that is thriving. Nothing is all bad news. If anyone attended please let me know about it.

I’ve included an article from the Toledo Blade about this presentation relative to receding shorelines and loss of water in the Great Lakes too.  http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NEWS06/801070402.

These are the actual tables resulting from the compilation of data for the trends reported in the presentation. http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/sos/assessment.pdf.
 

 My mind works in strange ways and so all the things I’m blogging about here go together in my mind. I was watching the Super Bowl and I caught the beginning where everyone was reciting the Declaration of Independence. I thought I just wrote something with the Declaration of Independence in it, and sure enough I did a blog on the 4th of July. I was urging people to be patriotic and contact their reps to support a moratorium on CAFO’s in Michigan. That didn’t happen. As a matter of fact thanks to the MI Farm Bureau and Republican Senate, it’s easier than ever to come to Michigan with a CAFO. Go to the link about CAFO’s below and check out the aerial pictures. Tell me during downpours of rain that those lagoons don’t breach. Groundwater runoff in Michigan ultimately ends up in a lake somewhere. So the opening of the Super Bowl brought up a sore subject for me.

Today, I’m reading an article in the Detroit Free Press about botulism killing Great Lakes birds. It said: “The deaths of hundreds of loons, cormorants, gulls, long-tailed ducks and grebes were scattered across the sand washed up and rotting.” There were 2900 dead birds along a 14-mile stretch of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. That’s ugly. The botulism is being blamed on two foreign, Black Sea area, mussels and round gobies that look like minnows but fatter. Biologists think they are the cause, and it looks like warmer weather, and lower water levels contribute to the problem. The botulism is native to the Great Lakes but hasn’t been around for more than 20 years. The cycle of botulism works like this:

The lakes are warmer and more shallow. The mussels are so numerous they filter the water, which becomes clearer. The sun penetrates to the bottom farther in clear shallow water, and a type of cladophora algae over grows from the sunlight. When the algae dies, it rots and the botulism comes to life. The mussels absorb the botulism, the gobie fish eat the mussels, the birds eat the gobie fish—and ultimately die from botulism.

The article in the Free Press said that the cladophora algae flourished in the 60’s and 70’s because it was nourished by the phosphorus from fertilizer runoff and poor sewage treatment. Bans in Michigan on phosphorus and improved sewage treatment reduced that algae in the 80’s and 90’s. Well, it’s back. 50,000 birds have died from E botulism since 1999.

I remember yesterday’s game, the Declaration of Independence, the CAFOs, and now sewage. I started thinking about a proposal I did for septic systems in Michigan as an assignment for class. Boy was that an eye opener. I found a fairly current article in the Sanitation Journal that said there are over 1.2 million septic systems in Michigan, and up until a few years ago Michigan didn’t have a state sanitary code. Over 40 percent of the new homes in Michigan are in rural areas where septic systems are necessary, and new homes near the water must have above-the-ground engineered septic fields now. But what about older homes like mine?

My husband is a stickler about our septic system, but there are homes along my road that are 40 years old with the original owner in them. Many of Michigan’s septic fields are only inspected when a home sells. Get the picture? The Sanitation Journal said one of the biggest contaminants of our lakes and streams, rivers, springs and such, is failed septic systems, so that’s something the state is really watching.” I don’t know about that, not all of it anyway. I thought we were supposed to be keeping a watchful eye on the ballast water of freighters too, and look at all the mussels.  

The Detroit Free Press story link is below. It was an exceptionally poignant story because one of the biologists rounding up the dead birds found one with a band on its leg. It was an old loon he tracked for 14 years or more. A loon that kept a mate for one of the longest pairings ever recorded, and most amount of chicks raised. That would have really got to me.

 http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=87.

If you want to see what I mean about CAFO’s: http://www.mythinglinks.org/FactoryFarms_WalmartManureDoc.html

More about CAFO’s: http://www.ccofdc.org/documents/CAFO.pdf

http://www.sanitationjournal.com/mstadavesnyder.html.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802040334

 On Christmas Eve I think it’s important to remember where the Christ Child was born, AMONG THE ANIMALS in a manger. Every nativity scene is one with animals. A manger in those days was: “a feed trough found in a stable. In Bible times mangers were made from clay mixed with straw or from stones held together with mud; sometimes they were carved in natural outcroppings of rock,” http://www.padfield.com/1999/manger.html. There is an actual picture taken of a manger at Megiddo used in the stables of King Ahab on the linked website.

So the King of Kings was placed in the feed trough of the animals of a stable. This is a quite a statement about the beasts of the earth, that they were worthy of such an event. This Christmas take the time to reflect not only on mankind, but peace for the earth and all of the living things that are in jeopardy of extinction. The “beasts” as in animals of the earth are written about in the old and new testament over 200 times. Their importance is undeniable. We weren’t meant to live in a world without animals, especially those that have been here for centuries that are now in danger.

PEACE

I happened to turn on The Weather Channel the other night to check on upcoming weather and I stayed on that station awhile. I ended up watching about an hours worth of fascinating travel, weather, climate, and interesting information about the big island of Hawaii. Did you know that the Big Island sports 10 of the world’s 13 climates?

There was beautiful video coverage of the island, all types of info about the wind currents, the climates, and the terrain. It showed the 13 observatories on top of Moana Kea, the highest place to look at the stars. It is the tallest mountain on earth if you consider the part of it under the ocean.  And up there it is a sub arctic climate on this tropical island.

The program showed the Parker Ranch of about 150,000 acres with 50,000 head of cattle and how they’ve managed to be ecological about furnishing water to their cattle. They have diverted fresh mountain water through 75 miles of pipeline to 650 troughs located around the ranch.

Since then I’ve been trying to catch all that The Weather Channel has to offer. There is a program called “Forecast Earth,” “Weather Ventures” like the one about the Big Island, and “It Could Happen Tomorrow” about disasters waiting to happen that are as good as many presented on the Discovery Channel.

I’m telling you about The Weather Channel because many people no longer have premium channels. I know I’ve had people ask me where I saw many of the latest green business innovations on Eco Tech and when I reported it was on The Science Channel, they simply did not have access to it.

Unfortunately people with growing families are watching their expenses and have cut back to basic subscription channels. They don’t get to see all the latest environmental programs out there on premium channels. This is where The Weather Channel is invaluable. It’s a great place for the whole family to view places all around the country and world with all types of info about the climate, wind, animals, plants, and not to mention great cinematography. When I was done watching about the Big Island I wanted to visit there. We’ve been to many of the islands but not the Big Island and that program was my incentive. It was an informational, environmental, travelogue.

To catch the times and days to view some of the programs I’ve mentioned goto:

http://www.weather.com/aboutus/television/programming/?from=secondarynav.

You won’t be disappointed. I just watched part of the feature tonight about the Grand Canyon. Happy viewing.
 

 I’ve read tht Humanities courses are down compared to Business and Marketing in most colleges and think it’s a shame because things like literature can be reassuring. From literature we learn nothing is new under the sun and we get a good view of mankind’s mistakes: wars, plagues, and even abuse of the environment. Enjoy this translated letter to President Pierce by the Indian Chief, Seattle, back in 1855. It speaks for itself. 

     “We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers’ graves, and his children’s birthright is forgotten. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand.
     There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insects wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand, the clatter only seems to insult the ears. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a mid-day rain, or scented with the pinon pine. The air is precious to the red man. For all things share the same breath—the beasts, the trees, the man. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.
     What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.
     It matters little where we pass the rest of our days; they are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the children of the great tribes that once lived on this earth, or that roamed in small bands in the woods, will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours.
     The whites, too, shall pass—perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in our own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires, where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival? We might understand if we knew what was that the white man dreams, what he describes to his children on the long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. The white man’s dreams are hidden from us.

Clean up is under way in the San Francisco Bay where there is a 58,000-gallon oil spill. So far 5,900 gallons have been skimmed up with 11 ships, and 13 agencies involved. Seventeen beaches have been closed and everyone in the area has been told not to go to the beaches, do any fishing or boating. What a mess! Governor Schwartzenegger has called a state of emergency.

The spill began Wednesday when a Cosco-Busan container ship hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Birds covered in oil are being rescued; hundreds more are still at risk. This is a significant spill that is spreading. It’s 13 miles north of the San Francisco bay Bridge already. The area is one of the richest wildlife habitats along the Pacific coastline, a crucial spot for migration and winter nesting.

The ship’s captain wasn’t drunk, but it is the first time anyone hit the bridge. 58,000 gallons is a lot of oil for an area like this. Oil spills will become more frequent if we continue to drill everywhere we can in a frantic search to secure more oil on our turf. It’s the law of averages. More tankers carrying our oil, more spills.

All of a sudden there is an urgency to get away from foreign oil only because it’s hitting us in our pockets. Otherwise, it seems we just don’t care anymore. Sometimes I think the rise in oil prices are a ploy to get the American people to give this administration the go ahead to drill in the Arctic. Just recently the push to drill in the Arctic Circle was defeated again, and bingo, oil prices are going up rapidly. Someone is thinking at $4.00 per gallon people are willing to kill off the polar bears. I hate to say but there are those that would.

If we start moving on, getting away from fossil fuels now, so that we can slowly build sustainability with other sources, it will be much better for our future than doing everything in panic mode down the line. Panic mode is what administrations like this one love. People will do anything in panic mode.
 
 

Germany is leading the world in a renewable energy surge. It truly believes that the world needs to turn around by 2020 and is aiming at a 100% green future. We have to remember that close to 40% of Germany’s energy is nuclear though. Some consider it a renewable energy source, so Germany may reach its goal easily. After all, Iceland plans to be totally hydrogen powered in the near future.

Germany has a lot of faith in wind and solar power. A double row of solar panels lines the Autoban Hwy. outside of Munich. And the government offers cash incentives to anyone that installs expensive solar panels. There is a price guarantee and they get the equivalent of 50 cents for every KW that goes back to the grid. People slapped panels up everywhere. Germany also got its farmers involved. They use part of their land for either solar panels or wind towers. Loans are easy to get because of price guarantees on renewable energy. Germany leads the world in wind power. 7.3% of all German electricity comes from it.
 
With the incentives, it looks like Germany may make the 30% mark by 2020. And switching to this economy created 170,000 new jobs. That’s a lot of jobs. It doesn’t look like it’s all that efficient a source of power yet, but with practice… The price of solar panels will drop with new innovation and better efficiency. Wind towers will come along that are quiet and not a risk to birds.

Perhaps when Germany becomes a model for other countries the U.S. will finally get in gear. We already have the innovation, we just need to set it free. Germany had virtually no alternative energy use 10 years ago, and now it leads the world. It can be done. Oh, and the first hydrogen powered Beemer is out already. Need hydrogen stations on the to do list!
 

I’ve got a little riddle. What was in the air today, to make the birds stay away? It started last night. I was working in the yard until 0-dark thirty, and noticed a lack of birds. I filled our feeders that are usually bustling with birds of all types. I also have some 30 birdie apartments in the form of two large purple martin houses. My yard backs up to a canal and beyond that a protected wetlands marsh. Unless you live around this yourself, you can’t imagine the racket of birds chattering, singing, whistling, and calling to each other starting at 5:30 am to dusk. Personally I like it. Well maybe not the B-52’s (huge, screeching herons).

Last night already the birds did not come to eat. I noticed while I was outside that I kept getting itchy. It was not from the many, many mosquito bites I got. There really wasn’t anything there. It felt like an overall itchy rash with no rash. I didn’t think much more of it, until this morning. There hung my bird feeders with food in them. Now, you have no idea how spoiled my wild birds are. Those feeders need to be filled sometimes twice a day. My favorite bird is the sparrow. They are so spoiled that if we forget to feed them, they line up on our deck railing, pool railing, anywhere they can and stare into the house. It works. When I look out and start feeling like I’m on the set of Hitchcock’s “The Birds” I pretty much jump up and feed them. We also have a birdbath that has to be replenished more than twice a day on hot days it gets so much use. 

By 10:30 am this morning the sun was shining away but absolutely no birds were around. I haven’t filled the feeders since last night and there is plenty left. When I stepped outside, I could hear a pin drop. There was nary a chitter. Something was not right in the air today. I started looking around for a hawk. After 20 years of living out here, I’m good at spotting them. No hawk and no eagle either.

Finally, a blackbird stood on the pole that holds the feeders looking around. He looked puzzled. I thought it was funny his beak was open like he was really hot, but it was not hot yet. When I looked out the front of the house, one bird sat on a line looking around also. No sound, no birds. I told my husband about it when he got home from work.  He walked around everywhere tonight—no birds.

I saw a handful of sparrows show up earlier, and about 15 birds ate for about 5-10 minutes and are gone. That was it for today. Right now there is usually a bunch of cardinals. They eat at dusk, but nothing is around. There were bees, and butterflies doing their thing all day. So where are the birds? They aren’t even in their birdhouses.

I didn’t let my parrot outside today. My cats came and went but weren’t interested, and stayed in a lot. When I went outside to tell my husband to look and listen for birds, I got itchy again. This isn’t right. Nature was un-natural last night and today.

All I think about is the end to a poem I know that states better to live in a birdless country without sun than go your way always alone. I’ll tell ya, a birdless country is a very, very lonely feeling. For the first time living out here, I felt seriously alone today without the birds and their chatter around. There was something wrong in the air I fear, something that we’ll never hear about. Anyone else notice diminished bird sightings lately?