The Fight for Wisconsin’s Soul→

Dan Kaufman, writing for the New York Times:

“WISCONSIN has been an environmental leader since 1910, when the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment promoting forest and water conservation. Decades later, pioneering local environmentalists like Aldo Leopold and Senator Gaylord Nelson, who founded Earth Day in 1970, helped forge the nation’s ecological conscience.

But now, after the recent passage of a bill that would allow for the construction of what could be the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mine, Wisconsin’s admirable history of environmental stewardship is under attack.”

 Credit: Azael Meza

Once you start down the dark path of discounting environmental standards, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

Big data: are we making a big mistake?→

Tim Harford, writing for FT Magazine:

“Cheerleaders for big data have made four exciting claims, each one reflected in the success of Google Flu Trends: that data analysis produces uncannily accurate results; that every single data point can be captured, making old statistical sampling techniques obsolete; that it is passé to fret about what causes what, because statistical correlation tells us what we need to know; and that scientific or statistical models aren’t needed because, to quote “The End of Theory”, a provocative essay published in Wired in 2008, “with enough data, the numbers speak for themselves”.

Unfortunately, these four articles of faith are at best optimistic oversimplifications. At worst, according to David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge university, they can be “complete bollocks. Absolute nonsense.””

Infocux Technologies

Reliable knowledge generally requires randomization. When systematic bias you have, work as good, it will not.

Rebuilding the Natural World: A Shift in Ecological Restoration→

Richard Conniff, writing for Yale Environment 360:

“Restoring degraded ecosystems — or creating new ones — has become a huge global business. China, for instance, is planting 90 million acres of forest in a swath across its northern provinces. And in North America, just in the past two decades, restoration projects costing $70 billion have attempted to restore or re-create 7.4 million acres of marsh, peatland, floodplain, mangrove, and other wetlands.

This patchwork movement to rebuild the natural world ought to be good news. Such projects are, moreover, likely to become far more common as the world rapidly urbanizes and as cities, new and old, turn to green infrastructure to address problems like climate change, flood control, and pollution of nearby waterways. But hardly anyone does a proper job of measuring the results, and when they do, it generally turns out that ecological restorations seldom function as intended. ”

Morento-Mateos et al. 2012. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001247

We need to work on bigger wetland restoration projects (>250 acres). Bigger is better.

Structural and Functional Loss in Restored Wetland Ecosystems

State of Europe's Seas→

Nature's News Blog:

“The report notes that the levels of various pollutants — such as nutrients causing algal blooms and subsequent oxygen depletion in the Baltic and Black seas — are above acceptable limits; that fish stocks are over-exploited; and that the seas are full of litter. Gaps in data are also a huge problem, and very few member states have put forward a strategy to close these gaps, the Commission complains.

Another report on the same subject — released today by the European Environment Agency — notes that between 2001 and 2006, conservation status was inadequate or bad for 50% of the marine habitats assessed in the EU, with only 3% of marine species deemed to be in a “favourable” state and 70% being of unknown status.”

Monitoring is the first step in attempting to find solutions -- assess, adapt management, repeat.

Water or sulfide mining: Which is more valuable?→

Clint Jurgens and Mary Ann Jurgens, writing for MinnPost:

“When evaluating the impact of the proposed copper-nickel mines like PolyMet and Twin Metals on the natural resources of Minnesota, regulators, political leaders, and the public should consider the value of water as a natural, replenished resource.

The target of copper-nickel mining companies is an ore formation called the Duluth Complex, which lies in the middle of some of most beautiful and enjoyable lakes, streams and forests in the world. The problem with the proposed mining is that these ores are embedded in sulfide rocks. Unfortunately, the process of mining and recovering metals from sulfide ore has a long and sordid history of water pollution.”

Brian Hoffman

From ore to oil, get it now and use it up as quick as you can. Why is it that is seems like our species lives for the moment without regard to future generations?

Authorities Investigate Pollution in China's Iconic Erhai Lake→

Gao Shan, reporting for RFA's Mandarin Service (translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie):

“An iconic lake at the heart of a popular beauty spot in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan has turned milky-white with pollution from nearby companies, local residents and officials said.

Local residents began posting photos online in recent days of the now turbid and white waters of Erhai Lake in the tourist region of Dali, historically famed for its crystal-clear waters.

”The government and the companies are all in it together.””

Erhai Lake, April 6, 2011.

Greed transcends economic or political systems. Capitalism and communism both treat the environment as an externality. Ponzi scheme you are in, consume you it will.

Is white--or green--the new black in cities?→

Cheryl Dybas, writing for NSF Discoveries:

“How well some of these adaptation technologies, including so-called “cool roofs”—white roofs, green (or garden-planted) roofs and hybrids—work, and how they perform in various locations “has been a big unknown,” says Georgescu.

No one-size-fits-all

The scientists suggest that planning and design choices—and where they will be implemented—should be considered in efforts to mitigate climate change and cities’ growth. Counteracting “urban climate change,” Georgescu says, “depends on specific geographic factors that need to be considered.”

lbl.gov

Place matters.

Animals see power lines as glowing, flashing bands→

Damian Carrington, reporting for The Guardian:

“Study suggests pylons and wires that stretch across many landscapes are having a worldwide impact on wildlife.

Scientists knew many creatures avoid power lines but the reason why was mysterious as they are not impassable physical barriers. Now, a new understanding of just how many species can see the ultraviolet light – which is invisible to humans – has revealed the major visual impact of the power lines.”

Joseph Younis

Sometimes we don't understand because we can relate to how others see the world.

Shrink to Fit→

David Malakoff, writing for Conservation (a good read pick):

“Around the planet, relatively large species are in big trouble—from lions and tigers and bears to cod, condors, and conifers. Even some heftier snails and salamanders are struggling. “Size matters,” says biologist Chris Darimont of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who notes that the assaults are coming from several angles. On one front, “a larger body size makes a species more vulnerable to all kinds of problems, from getting hunted by humans to habitat change.” One result: Nearly half of the world’s large “megafaunal” mammals—and more than half of the largest marine fish—are now considered vulnerable to imminent extinction.”

Natural selection at work.

Illustration by Philip Nagle

Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?→

Nafeez Ahmed, writing for the Guardian:

“A new study sponsored by Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.

Noting that warnings of ‘collapse’ are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that “the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history.” Cases of severe civilisational disruption due to “precipitous collapse - often lasting centuries - have been quite common.””

Societies come and go. Ignoring the environment means they come and go faster.

MPCA issues early analysis of study on sulfates and wild rice→

Stephanie Hemphill, reporting for MinnPost:

“Minnesota’s current standard to protect the iconic grain is ten milligrams of sulfate per liter. But industry has attacked that standard as unscientific. Mines, wastewater treatment plants, and other industries dispose of sulfate in rivers, and native groups have long complained the stands they rely on have been declining.

The research shows that bacteria convert sulfate into sulfide in the sediments in which wild rice typically grows. Researchers found strong correlations between the amount of sulfide in the porewater (water that flows in and around the sediments) and the amount of sulfate in surface water.

The agency concluded that the range at which sulfide limits the plants’ ability to grow corresponds to a range of sulfate in the surface water of 4 to 16 milligrams per liter – neatly bracketing the current standard.”

A Lake Manager’s Notebook: Citizens’ Roles in Managing Lakes→

Dick Osgood, posted at Conservation Minnesota:

“Most lake impairments are the result of widespread and hardwired changes to the landscape. BMPs, at best, provide minimal mitigation. In addition, many impaired lakes no longer are responsive to pollution reductions because the impairments are internalized.

Then, should we abandon these practices? No. We should urge their use in a larger management context, applying them strategically as part of a management plan that has clear expectations and outcomes.”

The job of lake protection and restoration is difficult and it requires changing systems.

Wendell Berry: A Strong Voice For Local Farming and the Land→

Interview with Wendell Berry by Yale Environment 360:

“e360: I’ve heard you describing the difference between optimism and hope, and you said that in terms of the issues you really care about, you would not describe yourself as optimistic but as hopeful. Can you explain that?

Berry: The issue of hope is complex and the sources of hope are complex. The things hoped for tend to be specific and to imply an agenda of work, things that can be done. Optimism is a general program that suggests that things are going to come out swell, pretty much whether we help out or not. This is largely unjustified by circumstances and history. One of the things that I think people on my side of these issues are always worried about is the ready availability of cynicism, despair, nihilism — those things that really are luxuries that permit people to give up, relax about the problems. Relax and let them happen. Another thing that can bring that about is so-called objectivity — the idea that this way might be right but on the other hand the opposite way might be right. We find this among academic people pretty frequently — the idea that you don’t take a stand, you just talk about the various possibilities.

But our side requires commitment, it requires effort, it requires a continual effort to define and understand what is possible — not only what is desirable, but what is possible in the immediate circumstances. ”

Photo by David Marshall

Read more Wendell Berry is a good resolution.

Tahoe program targets runoff pollution from urban areas→

Jeff DeLong:

“An effort to get a clearer picture of the worst pollutants flowing from urban areas into Lake Tahoe is gaining momentum, with the program’s supporters insisting one of the most important benefits will be determining how well the costly projects are addressing the problem.

By next fall, some 15 monitoring stations are expected to be operating around the Tahoe Basin as experts zero in on pollutants contained in urban runoff entering the lake.”

Vijay Kalakoti

Measure, plan, do.

The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking→

Maria Popova, reporting for Brain Pickings:

“Carl Sagan was many things — a cosmic sage, voracious reader, hopeless romantic, and brilliant philosopher. But above all, he endures as our era’s greatest patron saint of reason and common sense, a master of the vital balance between skepticism and openness. In The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (public library) — the same indispensable volume that gave us Sagan’s timeless meditation on science and spirituality, published mere months before his death in 1996 — Sagan shares his secret to upholding the rites of reason, even in the face of society’s most shameless untruths and outrageous propaganda.”

Everyone should read this classic.

Fish forced into the ‘foraging arena’ when lakes lose their trees→

Adam Hinterthuer, writing for University of Wisconsin-Madison:

As water levels drop and submerged trees rise above the waterline, some fish are forced into the "foraging arena" to face predators

“In attempts to predict what climate change will mean for life in lakes, scientists have mainly focused on two things: the temperature of the water and the amount of oxygen dissolved in it.

But a new study from University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers is speaking for the trees — specifically, the dead ones that have toppled into a lake’s near shore waters.

For fish in northern Wisconsin lakes, at least, these trees can be the difference between pastures of plenty and the Hunger Games.”

Interesting study from the Center of Limnology.

Watch the Great Lakes Freeze Over→

Time lapse satellite imagery shows the Great Lakes icing over in one of the coldest winters in memory

Byran Walsh, reporting for Time:

“You can measure a winter in many ways: temperature records, snow cover, even travel delays. But to truly see how frigid this winter has been—at least for the eastern half of the U.S.—you need to go way up. Satellite imagery shows that an incredible 88% of the Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie—are now frozen over. That’s the largest ice cover the Great Lakes have experienced since 1994, and it means that there is an astounding 82,940 sq. miles (214,814 sq. km) of ice covering the biggest collection of fresh water in the world.”

As we've changed the system, things that were once normal are now seen as abnormal. 

Fertilizer Limits Sought Near Lake Erie to Fight Spread of Algae→

Michael Wines, reporting for the New York Times:

“A United States-Canadian agency called on Wednesday for swift and sweeping limits on the use of fertilizer around Lake Erie to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering the water and creating a vast blanket of algae each summer, threatening fisheries, tourism and even drinking water.

In a report on the algae problem, the agency, the International Joint Commission, said that fertilizer swept by rains from farms and lawns was a major source of phosphorus in the lake. It recommended that crop insurance be tied to farmers’ adoption of practices that limit fertilizer runoff, and that Ontario, Ohio and Pennsylvania ban most sales of phosphorus-based lawn fertilizers.”

Other States have banned phosphorus lawn fertilizers, and the evidence is that such bans are effective in protecting water quality.

Science Takes on a Silent Invader→

Robert Boyle, reporting for the New York Times:

“Since they arrived in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, two species of mussels the size of pistachios have spread to hundreds of lakes and rivers in 34 states and have done vast economic and ecological damage.

These silent invaders, the quagga and zebra mussels, have disrupted ecosystems by devouring phytoplankton, the foundation of the aquatic food web, and have clogged the water intakes and pipes of cities and towns, power plants, factories and even irrigated golf courses.

Now the mussels may have met their match: Daniel P. Molloy, an emeritus biologist at the New York State Museum in Albany and a self-described “Bronx boy who became fascinated by things living in water.””

What Does a Sustainable Future Actually Look Like?→

Todd Reubold, writing for Ensia:

“Ask a hundred people if they’re interested in living in a “more sustainable world” and I bet the vast majority would respond, “Yes.” The trouble is, they’d probably all have a different idea in their heads of what that meant. We need to start talking about a sustainable future in specifics. Sustainability over what time frame? Where? For whom? ”

Sustainability is a goal -- a thing to continue to strive for, and as such it is a journey. Are we willing to live with the needs of future generations in mind or not? Should we save North Dakota oil for future generations and use less oil today? Today we are trying to pump it out as fast as we can (at the expense of wasting natural gas). Or should we be oblivious and uncaring for those that have yet to be? It would appear that we almost always say that it is up to future generations to live with the benefits, overexploitation, and pollution that they inherit. 

NPR Story on ND natural gas